Morning Report: MacBook Pro Spec Bump, iPhone 6 Logic Board Components

MacRumors today reported Apple has expanded AppleCare+ service in Mexico and Sweden to include iPhones and iPads. The extended warranty service, priced at 1,599 pesos in Mexico and 799 kronor in Sweden, must be purchased separately for each device and includes coverage for accidental damage. Cupertino was also busy with a rumored product refresh, which kicks off Tuesday's Morning Report...

MacBook Pro with Retina Display Receives Rumored Refresh

Right on cue, the Apple Online Store has been updated overnight Monday with refreshed MacBook Pro with Retina Display models, exactly as rumored over the weekend. The 13-inch and 15-inch notebook models now feature slightly faster versions of Intel's Haswell processors, with the former now featuring 8GB RAM with the base model and the latter getting a bump to 16GB across the board.

Apple is also making it more enticing to buy a MacBook Pro with Retina Display, now that the highest end 15-inch model is $100 cheaper than it was yesterday, dropping to $2499. The 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro also dropped by $100, bringing it down to a new record low of $1099, although without a spec bump of any kind.

As usual, build-to-order options are also available, with new options including a 3.0GHz dual-core i7 processor for the 13-inch model and a 2.8GHz quad-core i7 processor for the 15-inch model. Apple has also bumped the potential flash storage for both display sizes up to 1TB.

This modest refresh may have to appease MacBook Pro with Retina Display lovers, given that Intel's next-generation Broadwell processors may not be notebook-ready until sometime in mid-2015.

iPhone 6 Logic Board Components Allegedly Reveal NFC Chip

The iPhone 6 leaks just keep on coming, with the latest revealing bare logic boards from both of the rumored 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models. According to MacRumors, each of the components are larger than the one found in the current iPhone 5s, and are once again rumored to include support for near-field communication (NFC) at long last, which could line up nicely against rumors of a new mobile wallet service Apple may be planning to launch this fall.

Facebook Now Enforcing Switch to Standalone Messenger App

TechCrunch reported Monday that Facebook will start pushing smartphone chat users onto its free Messenger app starting later this week, a move the social network already started enforcing in Europe earlier this year. "Our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences," Facebook said in a statement. Curiously, Facebook users on mobile web, feature phones, Windows Phone, Facebook Paper or desktop computers won't have to endure such a change — at least for now.

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