Apple Loop: Apple Leaks New iPhone, Classic iOS Feature Returns, iPhone X Plus Release Date Tech| Innovation

Launch Date And Release Dates For The New iPhones

As for this year’s iPhone, there is a growing acceptance that Tim Cook and his team will announce the handsets on Wednesday 12th September. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber:

I have no inside information on this, but September 12 is definitely my guess, for all the same reasons Ritchie mentions [Rene Ritchie at iMore]. Since moving iPhone intro events to September in 2012 with the iPhone 5, they’ve had three events on Tuesdays and three on Wednesdays. For whatever reason, I don’t think they like Thursdays.

Backing that up is information from carriers that pre-orders will be opening on Friday 14th September, as I reported on earlier this week:

In terms of the competition, this gives Samsung the expected retail window of the Galaxy Note 9 of around three weeks before Tim Cook takes to the stage. That does give the South Korean company a window of opportunity (and pre-orders of that phablet have proved promising for 2018), but the initial enthusiasm for the Note 9 will have likely burned out – unless there is a sudden revelation in the reviews that makes an ‘iPhone killer.

What the date will do is reduce the impact of any successful launches from Berlin’s IFA tech event. Running from August 31 to September 5, a number of manufacturers are expected to launch their flagship handsets for the last quarter of the year. Anyone hoping to get any traction online is going to have to fight through the final leaks and rumors ahead of the iPhone launch, the launch itself, then the frenzied ‘out of stock’ reports during the first day of preorders.

More on the dates of the launch here on Forbes.

Here Comes The iPhone SE 2

Lurking inside the Xcode target devices is a new entry. What is the ‘iPhone xx’. The specifications and appearance of this mystery smartphone suggests an as yet unseen lower specced iPhone.  In other words, Apple’s ‘third’ handset may not a replacement for the iPhone 8, but for the iPhone SE.

That leaves a curious anomaly at the bottom of the portfolio. In the current climate the underpowered iPhone SE remains a solid seller for Apple, but it is getting very long in the tooth and is struggling to cope with the latest updates to iOS.

Put simply, the iPhone xx could be the mythical iPhone SE 2. The xx matches the specifications of the iPhone 7 family, it could easily accommodate the new design language of the iPhone, and help Apple increase its market share by bringing the lust of the iPhone to an entry-level price point that challenges the likes of Nokia and OnePlus.

More on what could turn out to be the iPhone SE 2 here.

Wireless Charging And The iPhone X Plus

As well as potential movement at the bottom end of the portfolio, Apple looks to be trying to create an ‘artificial’ level of difference at the top end to justify the increased price and size of the iPhone X Plus. Tim Cook and his team were very late to the wireless charging game, but last September promised a faster charging system. Now, twelve months later, the vapourware that is AirPower may be coming true… but only for the largest iPhone X Plus model:

It comes via an interesting report from China Times, which delivers good and bad news for potential buyers of the iPhone X Plus (details), second generation iPhone X (details) and iPhone 9 (details): only one of them may get fast wireless charging.

Breaking down the news, CT states Apple will introduce faster wireless charging with its new iPhones by switching the current FPC (ferrite polymer composite) charging coil to thicker copper (which has lower resistance) but warns only one of the models is sure to receive it.

Read more on the restrictive faster charging here.

What Is This MacBook Air Rumor?

Back to John Gruber this week, as he looks over the rumors and reporting of an update to the MacBook Air. Is there going to be a refreshed macOS powered laptop with a $999 entry point into the world of Mac? In a long and thoughtful stream of conscious, he finds a sensible answer:

Look past the product names, though, and it mostly makes sense — a retina MacBook Air starting at $999 would maintain the overall status quo of Apple’s MacBook lineup since 2015. If indeed this is Apple’s plan for the fall, I’ll be most interested to see just what gets updated other than the display and what doesn’t — particularly the ports and keyboard, both of which have been genuinely controversial.

And maybe there’s a middle ground between my scenarios 1 and 2 — something that is more of a total redesign than just putting a retina display in the MacBook Air as we know it.

All the logic is at Daring Fireball.

And Finally…

Why do people move rom Android to iOS? PC Mag’s latest survey attempts to answer that question. Chance Miller reports:

47 percent of people who switched from Android to iOS said they did so because of a “better user experience.” 30 percent left iOS and moved to Android for the same reason. Switching to iOS is also popular due to “better features” like camera and design, and faster software updates (shocker!)…

Tim Cook often touts switchers as a large driver of growth for the iPhone. During Apple’s Q3 earnings call last month, Cook said the active iPhone install base grew by double digits thanks to “switchers, first-time smartphone buyers, and existing customers.”

Mind you, doesn’t “switchers, first time buyers, and existing customers” account for pretty much all the major demographics? More details on the survey – which looks at travel in both directions – can be found here.

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.

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Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the return of TouchID, launch and release dates of the new iPhones, the iPhone SE 2 leaks in Xcode, fast wireless charging for the iPhone X Plus, thoughts on a new MacBook Air, and why people move from Android to iOS.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).

TouchID Returns To All Your Screens

Apple may be pushing ahead with the use of FaceID, but it’s still keeping up its expertise and research on fingerprint recognition. A recently discovered patent suggests that Apple has a method of implementing TouchID across an entire display. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:

What Patently Apple discovered is patent application number 20180225498, filed by Apple with the US Patent & Trademark Office in January and which quietly rolled into the public domain this week. It was filed by Apple engineer Dale Setlak, who joined from Authentec, the company Apple bought in 2012 to acquire the technology behind what would become Touch ID.

In the application, Setlak lays out Apple’s plans to use multiple cameras under the display to map the 3D structure of a user’s fingerprint for authentication when it touches the screen. This is a similar approach Vivo’s X21 and what Samsung will use in the 10th anniversary Galaxy S10, but Apple’s approach also lets you touch almost anywhere on the display.

More here on Forbes, although it’s worth noting (as always) that patents are not necessarily indications of technology that is ready for release, so this may not be for this year’s iPhone.

Launch Date And Release Dates For The New iPhones

As for this year’s iPhone, there is a growing acceptance that Tim Cook and his team will announce the handsets on Wednesday 12th September. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber:

I have no inside information on this, but September 12 is definitely my guess, for all the same reasons Ritchie mentions [Rene Ritchie at iMore]. Since moving iPhone intro events to September in 2012 with the iPhone 5, they’ve had three events on Tuesdays and three on Wednesdays. For whatever reason, I don’t think they like Thursdays.

Backing that up is information from carriers that pre-orders will be opening on Friday 14th September, as I reported on earlier this week:

In terms of the competition, this gives Samsung the expected retail window of the Galaxy Note 9 of around three weeks before Tim Cook takes to the stage. That does give the South Korean company a window of opportunity (and pre-orders of that phablet have proved promising for 2018), but the initial enthusiasm for the Note 9 will have likely burned out – unless there is a sudden revelation in the reviews that makes an ‘iPhone killer.

What the date will do is reduce the impact of any successful launches from Berlin’s IFA tech event. Running from August 31 to September 5, a number of manufacturers are expected to launch their flagship handsets for the last quarter of the year. Anyone hoping to get any traction online is going to have to fight through the final leaks and rumors ahead of the iPhone launch, the launch itself, then the frenzied ‘out of stock’ reports during the first day of preorders.

More on the dates of the launch here on Forbes.

Here Comes The iPhone SE 2

Lurking inside the Xcode target devices is a new entry. What is the ‘iPhone xx’. The specifications and appearance of this mystery smartphone suggests an as yet unseen lower specced iPhone.  In other words, Apple’s ‘third’ handset may not a replacement for the iPhone 8, but for the iPhone SE.

That leaves a curious anomaly at the bottom of the portfolio. In the current climate the underpowered iPhone SE remains a solid seller for Apple, but it is getting very long in the tooth and is struggling to cope with the latest updates to iOS.

Put simply, the iPhone xx could be the mythical iPhone SE 2. The xx matches the specifications of the iPhone 7 family, it could easily accommodate the new design language of the iPhone, and help Apple increase its market share by bringing the lust of the iPhone to an entry-level price point that challenges the likes of Nokia and OnePlus.

More on what could turn out to be the iPhone SE 2 here.

Wireless Charging And The iPhone X Plus

As well as potential movement at the bottom end of the portfolio, Apple looks to be trying to create an ‘artificial’ level of difference at the top end to justify the increased price and size of the iPhone X Plus. Tim Cook and his team were very late to the wireless charging game, but last September promised a faster charging system. Now, twelve months later, the vapourware that is AirPower may be coming true… but only for the largest iPhone X Plus model:

It comes via an interesting report from China Times, which delivers good and bad news for potential buyers of the iPhone X Plus (details), second generation iPhone X (details) and iPhone 9 (details): only one of them may get fast wireless charging.

Breaking down the news, CT states Apple will introduce faster wireless charging with its new iPhones by switching the current FPC (ferrite polymer composite) charging coil to thicker copper (which has lower resistance) but warns only one of the models is sure to receive it.

Read more on the restrictive faster charging here.

What Is This MacBook Air Rumor?

Back to John Gruber this week, as he looks over the rumors and reporting of an update to the MacBook Air. Is there going to be a refreshed macOS powered laptop with a $999 entry point into the world of Mac? In a long and thoughtful stream of conscious, he finds a sensible answer:

Look past the product names, though, and it mostly makes sense — a retina MacBook Air starting at $999 would maintain the overall status quo of Apple’s MacBook lineup since 2015. If indeed this is Apple’s plan for the fall, I’ll be most interested to see just what gets updated other than the display and what doesn’t — particularly the ports and keyboard, both of which have been genuinely controversial.

And maybe there’s a middle ground between my scenarios 1 and 2 — something that is more of a total redesign than just putting a retina display in the MacBook Air as we know it.

All the logic is at Daring Fireball.

And Finally…

Why do people move rom Android to iOS? PC Mag’s latest survey attempts to answer that question. Chance Miller reports:

47 percent of people who switched from Android to iOS said they did so because of a “better user experience.” 30 percent left iOS and moved to Android for the same reason. Switching to iOS is also popular due to “better features” like camera and design, and faster software updates (shocker!)…

Tim Cook often touts switchers as a large driver of growth for the iPhone. During Apple’s Q3 earnings call last month, Cook said the active iPhone install base grew by double digits thanks to “switchers, first-time smartphone buyers, and existing customers.”

Mind you, doesn’t “switchers, first time buyers, and existing customers” account for pretty much all the major demographics? More details on the survey – which looks at travel in both directions – can be found here.

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.