Apple weekly news roundup: iOS 9.1, Chipgate tests and more

The new Apple Store in Dubai will be the world's largest.

Apple seeded the 5th iOS 9.1 beta on Monday to both registered developers and the public. There is a second version of it specifically for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. iOS 9.1 is focused mostly on new features and compatibility with the new fourth generation Apple TV and the iPad Pro, which comes with a Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil. It also includes Unicode 8, which adds several new emoji, including a middle finger, a unicorn head and a burrito among others. No release date has been specified, but it will likely become available when the Apple TV launches later this month.

After the so called "Chipgate" recently made waves, Ars Technica ran a battery of tests comparing an iPhone 6s with a Samsung A9 chip to one with a TSMC chip. The results showed that they were virtually equal when it came to battery life, except for the Geekbench 3 which found the TSMC chip to perform 28% better under a heavy load (one that Apple has deemed unrealistic). Consumer Reports also compared the chips and found less than a 1% difference between the two.

Although Apple's streaming TV service won't be launching alongside the new Apple TV later this month as it had hoped, due to stalled negotiations with the networks and other content providers, progress may have been made on that front this week. During an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that a deal with Apple would likely be reached, he just didn't know when. The network broadcasts several popular shows including "The Big Bang Theory" and "Criminal Minds."

Apple announced on Thursday that it will be opening two retail locations in the United Arab Emirates on October 29th. The 50,000 square foot space in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates will be the largest Apple store in the world. The other will be located in Abu Dhabi's Yas Mall.

On Thursday Apple updated its iWorks productivity suite, which includes Keynote, Numbers and Pages, and took it out of beta. The updates include support for Split View, Slide Over and Picture in Picture on the iPad and 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s.

After receiving many complaints about Wi-Fi Assist causing excessive data usage, and thus higher bills, Apple this week posted a Wi-Fi Assist info page. Apple cautions that the feature could potentially result in higher data usage but that for the majority of users it would only be a small percentage higher.

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