Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the iPhone 8 Plus replacement, Apple’s AR ambitions for FaceID, iPhone X lead time shortens, major iOS problems, falling iPhone 8 sales, why the best laptop in the world is a MacBook, the launch of GymKit, and what you learn by downloading every ‘App of the Day’ app.
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).
The Return Of LCD To The iPhone
Looking ahead to 2018’s iPhone portfolio, an updated iPhone X is a pretty safe assumption. Assuming all is well with the technology, a phablet sized ‘Plus’ version is an obvious upgrade. But what about replacing the iPhone 8 family? Leaks this week suggest another iPhone X model could take on that role, with an LCD helping to reduce the cost:
The new model sits curiously between these two high-end models. It is expected to have a 6.1 inch screen and follow the home-button free design of the iPhone X, as well as the required sensors to implement FaceID. That means the notch will be present, lending more credence to the idea that Apple will be placing a lot of branding power into that island of technology.
Even though the screen is larger, this is going to bring the price down to the current levels of the iPhone 8 at $699. It’s a screen material that Apple is comfortable with, that needs less R&D time, and the only trick will be cutting out the notch as required.
Here’s Looking At You
While an LCD equipped iPhone will take care of the lower end of Apple’s market, what can Tim Cook and his team offer the higher end market? It looks like AR is back on the cards after being suspiciously absent from the recent keynote. And that could mean using a second TrueDepth sensor at the rear of the smartphone:
By taking the TrueDepth sensor from the forward facing camera and putting it on the rear of the handset, the iPhone can gather data on its physical surroundings and the objects that are close by to it. Throw in the camera to see what is being observed, add in a dash of machine learning in Apple’s own hardware, and you have one of the key components of AR.
iPhone X Lead Time Shortens
The iPhone X stock levels appear to be improving, at least in the US. The initial boom of orders saw waiting times reaching out to three weeks, but that is slowly coming down now. Reports indicate shipping has around a ten-day lead time. Neil Hughes reports:
Production bottlenecks combined with overwhelming demand have led supply chain insiders to suggest that Apple may not catch up with demand for the iPhone X until sometime in the first half of 2018. But with shipping times improving just a week and a half after the iPhone X launch, it's possible that Apple could catch up to demand more quickly than was expected.
Such improvements bode well not only for Apple and sales of the iPhone X, but also for future products. In particular, the company is rumored to bring Face ID to the iPad Pro in 2018.
Big Problems In Little iOS Updates From Apple
It’s not all good news this week for Apple as the software team continues to fight issues in iOS 11. From poor battery life in older handsets and an increase in crashing apps, the latest update to the operating system is still causing problems. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:
…even after six iOS 11 releases in just over seven weeks, far too many users are still suffering.
Needless to say it doesn’t help that four of those releases (iOS 11.0.1, iOS 11.0.2, iOS 11.0.3 and now iOS 11.1.1) were rushed out to firefight serious problems introduced by previous releases which in turn introduced… you get the idea.
iPhone 8 Sales Are Falling
While Apple fights to build enough iPhone X handsets to meet demand, lust for the iPhone 8 is lower than expected, with the lions share of the sales going to the larger iPhone 8 Plus. Mike Wuetherlee reports on the potential to switch over the production lines to maximise Apple’s revenue.
On the other side of the coin is the iPhone 8. Given the demand for the iPhone 8 Plus being greater than that of the iPhone 8, production of the smaller device in the family is expected to fall between 50 percent and 60 percent in the holiday quarter. Kuo believes that the iPhone 8 Plus is "cannibalizing demand" for the iPhone 8, and some of Apple's manufacturing partners will switch production lines from the iPhone 8 to the iPhone X to work out supply and demand balance issues.
The Best Laptop In The World
Apple developer Marco Arment has been thinking about laptops, what makes a good laptop, if there is a ‘best laptop ever’, and if it will ever be equalled. Unsurprisingly for an edition of Apple Loop, it’s the MacBook Pro, but perhaps not the MBP you were expecting:
I recently returned to the 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro after a year away. Apple still sells this model, brand new, just limited to the integrated-only GPU option (which I prefer as a non-gamer for its battery, heat, and longevity advantages), but I got mine lightly used for over $1000 less.
I thought it would feel like a downgrade, or like going back in time. I feared that it would feel thick, heavy, and cumbersome. I expected it to just look impossibly old. It didn’t.
…It’s designed for us, rather than asking us to adapt ourselves to it.
More Gym For Your Watch
Apple’s GymKit will be welcomed by fitness focussed users as it rolls out around the world. Starting off in Australia, it allows personal data to be temporarily synced from the smartwatch to gym equipment during a session for better recording of data. Benjamin Mayo has been building up a sweat covering this:
…the watch would send heart rate data from the watch to the connected treadmill. The treadmill sent calories burned statistics to the watch, as it knew the person’s exact weight. Information such as incline is also sent from the treadmill to the watch automatically. Workouts automatically pause and resume if the treadmill is stopped or restarted.
The idea is that the watch and the paired gym machine have better knowledge about different aspects of the workout. GymKit allows that data to be shared back and forth, as appropriate.
And Finally…
Apple was always fond of saying ‘There’s an app for that’ in the past. Nowadays you have the ‘App Of The Day’ in the digital storefront. What happens if you religiously follow their recommendations? Alex Hern decided to find out:
My hope was that living life the Apple way would rekindle some of that excitement. Would I be fitter, happier and more productive? Should I seek professional help about my endless attempts to fix my life with a parade of glowing quadrilaterals?
Maybe. My first surprise was rather more prosaic: it turns out it’s actually really expensive to buy apps every day.
Unlike the free-to-play-dominated mobile games industry, where the many can have a perfectly fun life completely subsidised by the few who will drop £1,000 on power ups and cosmetic items, the app market is more traditional in its attempts to build revenue.
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.
