Taking a look back at another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the latest iPhone 16 and 16 Pro leaks, fixing the iPhone 15 screen burn, iPhone sales fall, MacBook Air delays, the new Apple Pencil, a surprising iPad release, updating your iPhone at the Apple Store, and all about the Apple corners.
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 Difference Between The iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Pro
Apple is working hard to differentiate the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models with higher specifications and extra features. That’s set to continue with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. Not only is Apple limiting the new Qualcomm modems to the Pro models, it’s also planning to create a second version of the A18 chipset for the more expensive models:
“…the four handsets are not going to have the same silicon heart. While the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will reap all the benefits from the A18 Pro, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will have a less advanced A18 Bionic. It will still be a step up in performance from the current setup, but it is another step where Apple is increasing the performance gap between the standard vanilla handsets and the more expensive Pro handsets.”
(Forbes).
Getty Images
iPhone 15 Screen Burn Fix Is Nearly Ready
Following on from the overheating while charging issues, the next problem for Apple’s iPhone team to deal with is the potential screen burn showing up on the iPhone 15 displays. Thankfully, the issue causing the ghost imaging on the display is something in the software, and that means a software fix should address the issue in iOS 17.1
“Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, with the betas coming one week after Apple released the third betas of iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1.”
(MacRumors).
Disappointing iPhone 15 Sales
Apple has faced two mighty headwinds in China during the iPhone 15 launch that have depressed sales. The first is the Chinese government’s monatorium on using iPhones in a widening range of offices, while the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is picking up plaudits and topping the sales charts. That’s left Apple with a decidedly un-Apple few weeks in the market:
“…analysis by both Counterpoint Research and Jefferies’ Edison Lee show a marked drop in sales of the iPhone 15 family compared to the iPhone 14 just twelve months earlier. Counterpoint’s numbers are more conservative but still show a 4.5 percent year-on-year drop for the first 17 days of sales.”
(Forbes).
The New Disappointing MacBook Release Schedule
The expected October release date for the new MacBooks and the M3 Apple Silicon chipset has failed to materialise. The new timescales, according to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, mean a mid-2024 release at the earliest for the consumer MacBook Air models; potentially, the professional MacBook Pro models will be ready a little earlier:
“Until now, Apple has launched the M1 and M2 Apple Silicon families with the 13-inch MacBook Air, with the larger MacBook Pro models launched later in the cycle. According to Gurman’s timelines the later MacBook Pro laptops, likely using the M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets, will be ready to launch first in spring 2024 while the consumer MacBook Air models will not be ready until summer 2024.”
A New Apple Pencil Arrives
This week saw Apple launch a new Apple Pencil. Priced at $79 it is the cheapest Apple Pencil released so far. That price has been achieved through the loss of wireless charging; you’ll be charging over USB-C. The USB port also manages the pairing, so you will need a USB-C-equipped iPad to use the new branded stylus:
“Apart from wireless charging, there’s no pressure sensitivity, something found on both the other Pencils. If you need this capability, which means you can alternate between light and dark strokes, you need either of the others. It also lacks the double-tap feature which lets you quickly change between tools, found on the priciest Pencil.”
(Forbes).
Apple’s Surprising iPad Release
The world waited for a new iPad to arrive in October, and for most of the world, they are going to leave this month disappointed. Except for readers in China, where a new iPad 10 was announced. The minor upgrade includes eSIM support for the first time in the country:
“The updated iPad (10th generation) wireless LAN + cellular network model supports eSIM in mainland China for the first time. It will be available for pre-order on October 19th and will be officially released on October 25th. The updated iPad (10th generation) wireless LAN + cellular model will support the eSIM cellular network data plan in mainland China, enabling fast, smooth, and secure cellular data connections without the need for a physical SIM card.”
An Update Before You Buy
When you buy a smartphone, part of the “things you should do first” advice is to update it to the latest version of the operating system; it’s time-consuming, a small barrier to entry, and, of course, if people don’t do so they will be left vulnerable to older bugs and security flaws. So what if you could update the firmware while the device is still in its box before it is sold? Apple has an almost magical plan to do just that:
“It seems that Apple is setting up a system for Apple Stores which will allow them to update the software before they are handed over to customers. Here’s how it works. According to [Bloomberg’s Mark] Gurman, “The company has developed a proprietary pad-like device that the store can place boxes of iPhones on top of.””
(Forbes).
And Finally…
Have you ever looked at an Apple product and wondered just how much of a circle the circles at the corners are? Arun Venkatesan has, and decided to work out how Apple decided how much corner to add to each corner:
“It didn’t immediately click at the talk, but I later realized that Apple follows the same idea. The small objects that are closest to our body — Apple Watch, AirPods case, Apple Pencil — are quite round. The ones furthest — desktop computers, displays — are slightly rounded, if at all.”
(Arun.is Blog).
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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I am known for my strong views on mobile technology, online media, and the effect this has on the public conscious and existing businesses.
I’ve been following this space for over ten years, working with a number of publishers, publications and media companies, some for long periods of time, others for commissions, one-off pieces or a series of articles or shows.
As Scotland’s first podcaster, I continue to be a prominent voice in the rise of podcasting and new media online, and picked up a British Academy (BAFTA) nomination for my annual coverage of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, alongside contributions to Radio 5 Live, the BBC World Service, presenting Edinburgh local radio’s coverage of the General Election.
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