Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes more details on Apple’s latest ‘cheap’ iPhone, features and specs of the new iPhones, Apple’s confirmation of MacBook Pro faults, macOS 12’s public beta, production notes for the A12 chip, and Apple’s surprising top-selling peripherals at Best Buy.
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).
More Details On This Year’s Cheaper iPhone
Starting off this week, we have more details about the low-end iPhone X model Apple is expected to announce in September. Of course with the cancellation of the iPhone SE 2, the low-end is still priced at the same level as the iPhone 8, and some compromises will have to be made. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:
The good news is, despite the budget pricing, the new iPhone (which I expect to simply be called ‘iPhone’ just like the entry level ‘iPad’ and ‘MacBook’) will indeed retain all the flagship styling of the iPhone X: bezel-less design, Face ID, glass back (there will be wireless charging) and leaks strongly indicate fast wired charging will be included free.
The bad news is users will have to compromise with just a single rear camera (which makes sense given this replaces the iPhone 8), there is no 3D Touch, and there will be an LCD rather than OLED display and aluminium rather than steel chassis.
Features And Specs Of New iPhones
So, Apple will use a cheaper LCD screen, drop 3D Touch, and rely on a single-lens camera for the basic iPhone discussed above. What about the rest of the portfolio? Let’s take a closer look at the iPhone’s new features, including the larger design, and the potential of a triple-lens camera on the rear:
Super Sized Designs - as confirmed in my schematics exclusive, Kuo states Apple will launch a full iPhone X range this year. The 5.8-inch iPhone X will be joined by a 6.1-inch budget model and a new 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus.
Triple-Lens Cameras - I reported earlier this month that a close source insists the iPhone X Plus will have a triple camera and Kuo notes Apple is toying with introducing this. But a decision has not yet been made if it will come to market this year or be held over until 2019.
MacBook Butterfly Keyboard Issues Confirmed
Apple has finally admitted what many have long suspected - the new butterfly design of keyboards on Mac products is faulty, and it will offer free repairs if this is an issue with your computer. I reported on the move earlier this week:
Introduced in 2015, the butterfly keyboard promised a narrower profile and the ability to design thinner laptop computers around the new input mechanism. Unfortunately for Apple the keyboards showed a far higher failure rate than previous designs, and most consumers reported that Apple was charging upwards of $700 for a repair if the unit was out of warranty and not covered by AppleCare.
Apple will now offer a free repair to users of certain machines affected by this fault. Users who have had previous repairs can discuss the issue of a refund with Apple. A plain-looking support page updated late on Friday confirms the details:
Is that going to be enough? Given the amount of time and effort that Apple has pent in ignoring this problem, that’s unlikely. Casey Johnson explains:
While the repair and replacement program covers costs and notes that Apple will repair both single keys as well as whole keyboards when necessary, it doesn’t note whether the replacements will be a different, improved design that will prevent the problem from happening again (and again, and again). Having become a one-woman clearinghouse for people complaining about these keyboards since I broke this story, I feel justified in saying that keyboard failures – dead keys, sticking keys, double-spacing spacebars – appear to happen early and often, and repairs do not permanently fix the issue. I also feel justified in saying that the design on offer as recently as February still presented the exact same issues as the design I purchased in the fall of 2016.
…Until Apple confirms that the design of its computers is somehow different, and even maybe then, given its overall poor judgment in this matter, my personal recommendation would still be: don’t buy them.
More on that angle at The Outline.
Next: macOS 12’s public beta, production starts on the A12 chip, and the port that never left the iPhone…
Mojave’s Public Beta Arrives
This week saw Apple release the first public beta of macOS 12. ‘Mojave’ has been tested as part of the developer program, but now members of the Apple’s public beta program have access:
The macOS 12 Mojave public beta supports the MacBook (early 2015 onwards), the MacBook Air (mid 2012 onwards), the MacBook Pro (mid 2012 onwards), the Mac mini (mid 2012 onwards), the iMac (late 2012 onwards), the iMac Pro (2017), and the Mac Pro (late 2013 onwards, plus 2010 and 2012 versions with suitable GPU support).
This public beta is the same release as the Mojave Developer beta 2 that has been made available previously through Apple’s subscription based developer program.
Read more on Forbes. Jason Snell has taken an extensive look at the new features:
With macOS Mojave, available today to the general public as a part of a public beta, the story is different. macOS Mojave feels like a macOS update that’s truly about the Mac, extending features that are at the core of the Mac’s identity. At the same time, macOS Mojave represents the end of a long era (of stability or, less charitably, stagnation) and the beginning of a period that could completely redefine what it means to use a Mac.
Is macOS Mojave the latest chapter of an ongoing story the beginning of a new one, or the end of an old one? It feels very much like the answer is yes and yes and yes.
New Apple Chip Production Under Way
This week saw the silicon heart of the new iPhones start rolling down the production lines, TSMC are working on what will likely be called the A12 chip, as reported earlier this week.
TSMC has started production of the next generation of chips destined to power the new iPhones that will be announced later this year by Tim Cook and his team. The presumptively named A12 chip will use TSMC’s 7nm fabrication process, and offer the iOS handset better power management and increased performance over the competition.
…While CEO CC Wei did not reveal who the chips were for, the market expects the lion’s share of the silicon to appear in Apple’s A12 chip that lies at the heart of the upcoming new iPhones that will be launched in September 2018:
More details on the new chip production here on Forbes.
And Finally…
What are Apple’s top selling peripherals? A close analysis of Best Buy’s sales rankings reveals the answer. Top of the list is the futuristic wireless AirPods earphones. And in second? The lightning-to-3.5mm dongle so you can run ‘old-fashioned’ wired headphones into a once universal audio port. Joe Rossignol reports…
The data is particularly interesting given that Apple already includes its headphone jack adapter in the box with its latest iPhones, so every customer that needs one should already have one. So, what is driving all of the sales?
[Researcher Joshua] Fruhlinger offered up a pretty reasonable explanation: people keep losing the adapter, thereby having to buy a new one. …Overall, the data suggests wired headphones remain popular, but remember that AirPods are the one Apple product outselling the adapter at Best Buy, so many customers are also embracing wireless.
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.
