Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the latest iPhone 8 delays, the leaked features of the iPhone 7S, some ideas on new iPhone naming convention, Apple living without TouchID, the untethered Apple Watch, iOS 11 imaging tweaks, going large on MacBook Pro memory, and a review of Apple's version of Carpool Karaoke.
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).
This Is Why You Can’t Have Nice Things Like The iPhone 8
Details around the delays to the iPhone 8 are becoming more prevalent as the expected September launch date approaches. While Apple may not delay the launch or release of the flagship handset, supply may be severely restricted. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly sums up the issues, including supply, colour options, and fast charging. But the key issue is the lack of OLED displays.
“The OLED version will be in short supply as we forecast shipments in 3Q17 will be 2-4mn units or less. We do not think production of the OLED iPhone will pick up substantially before 4Q17; and given strong demand, tight supply may persist until 1Q18 before improving much.”
To put this in context, Apple sold 41M iPhones in Q3 2017 and the newly released iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus accounted for almost 25M of them despite only being on sale for a few weeks.
Given the iPhone 8 is the first dramatic redesign of the iPhone in three generations, limiting it to 2-4M units could cause chaos. Furthermore Apple sold over 45M iPhones in Q4 2016 so if stock remains heavily restricted until Q1 2018 as Kuo predicts, then the crucial Christmas period is under threat.
More on the OLED issue here on Forbes.
The Best Bits Of The iPhone 8 Are In The iPhone 7S
And then there’s the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus. These new handsets will be eclipsed by the iPhone 8, but with Cupertino’s flagship expected to be available in very short supply if it launches on time, the 7S family will have to carry the weight of sales. Maybe that’s why the handsets are gaining features once thought to be exclusive to the iPhone 8?
Now Apple is reputedly bringing more unique features from the 8 to the 7S. Not only does [the use of a] glass back bring over a design cue and a new material, one of the primary reasons to switch to the more expensive and awkward to manufacture glass is to allow an electric charge to pass through the outer case.
Inductive charging doesn’t work with an aluminium back. It does with a glass back. Looks to me like the iPhone 7S will finally unlock the magical power of wireless charging for the iPhone generation, sabotaging a potentially unique marketing point of the iPhone 8.
More details from the latest leaks here on Forbes.
Forget The iPhone 7S Or iPhone 8, Something Else Comes This Way
And then there’s the question of the name. The internet has seemingly settled on iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus, and iPhone 8 - or at least those are the terms you need to search for to find any news. That doesn’t mean Apple will stick with those names. There’s more than enough evidence from previous launches that Tim Cook has something else in mind:
With all the talk of the iPhone 8 online, it’s unlikely that even Apple’s ivory tower view of the media would release three handsets with numbers lower than 8. Which means you have a basic model, a plus-sized phablet, and a highly specified and insanely expensive model. Apple already has a pattern for this, so let’s reconfigure the lineup around the hip new labels and fit in with the numbering scheme to offer us the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 8 Pro.
Except Tim Cook apparently has arithmophobia, So let’s drop the eight bomb and regenerate the line-up in the tenth anniversary of the first Apple smartphone.
iPhone. iPhone Plus. iPhone Pro.
Some justification on the new naming conventions here.
Can Apple Really Live Without Touch ID?
Touch ID, the biometric fingerprint scanner on the iPhone range devices, looks set to be missing from the iPhone 8. Thanks to the removal of the home button, Touch ID would have needed a new home in any case. Options such as embedding it in the power button or using the Apple logo on the rear chassis have been mentioned, but these are being ignored. Tim Cook is going to gamble on losing Touch ID altogether and rely on facial recognition:
As leaked in its own software, Apple will instead move all iPhone 8 security to ‘Face ID’ - a new facial recognition that will hopefully work better than Samsung’s erratic implementation in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus which struggles in bright sunlight, low light and when wearing glasses/sunglasses.
But Samsung played it safer than Apple because both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus still retain their fingerprint sensors as a fall back. They are idiotically positioned, but they were still my default method of unlock within a week of using each phone.
Improving Your Portrait
Lurking inside the latest iOS 11 beta release is new code for Apple’s portrait mode. This is the dual camera powered bokeh effect where the subject is in sharp focus while the background goes out of focus. Apple has refreshed the settings, but also stores data of the original image capture so you can remove the effect for a clean portrait at a later time. Mike Wutherlee has more:
Portrait Mode not only has exited its beta status, but has seen some improvements as well. The procedure to take the shot is unmodified, but the Edit feature now allows for the effect to be removed at will, and non-destructively.
The effect still can't be applied retroactively if the image wasn't taken in Portrait Mode to begin with.
All the details are at Apple Insider.
Calling Dick Tracy, Apple Style
For a companion device, a lot of people want the Apple Watch to operate independently from the host iPhone or iPad. Apple more than likely has the technology to do so inside Cupertino’s labs, but is it ready for the public? Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes so:
Currently, Apple requires its smartwatch to be connected wirelessly to an iPhone to stream music, download directions in maps, and send messages while on the go. Equipped with LTE chips, at least some new Apple Watch models, planned for release by the end of the year, will be able to conduct many tasks without an iPhone in range, the people said. For example, a user would be able to download new songs and use apps and leave their smartphone at home.
More on the unconnected Apple Watch potential here.
'Go Large’ An Option For New MacBook Pro
As it stands, the MacBook Pro machines top out at 2 terabytes of storage, provided by a pair of 1 TB V-Nand package. Now that the South Korean company has been able to increase the size of these chips, Apple will have the option to ship a Mac machine with a whopping 4 TB of storage in the near future.
Samsung announced a 1Tb V-NAND chip that it expects to be available next year. Initially mentioned in 2013, during unveiling of the industry’s first 3D NAND, Samsung has been working to enable its core memory technologies to realize one terabit of capacity on a single chip using a V-NAND structure. The arrival of a 1Tb V-NAND chip next year will enable 2TB of memory in a single V-NAND package.
More at Samsung, and a tip of the hat to Ben Lovejoy.
And Finally…
Following the lukewarm reception to ‘Planet Of The Apps’, Apple’s second original series has debuted and the reaction has not improved by much. ‘Carpool Karaoke' takes the short-format sketch from The Late Late Show, ports it over to Apple’s distribution system and increases the run time. Has it worked? Rebecca Nicholson reviews the show:
Apple has supersized his formula but, in doing so, has managed to misunderstand entirely what it is that made it charming. Judging by the first episode and what’s teased later in the series, this is less about getting a revealing interview out of someone who may otherwise seem distant, and more about bowing down to the power of celebrity. Will Smith, who stars in the first episode, isn’t there to have a conversation with Corden. He’s there to perform.
The full review is at The Guardian.
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.
