A look back at this week’s news and headlines from Apple, including new iPhone 16 features, iPhone 16 design leaks, the long wait for the MacBook M4, the arrival of iPhone Mirror for Mac, iPad Pro sales success, EU App Store challenges and iPhone AAA games to bomb .
The Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple over the past seven days. You can also read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes.
A participant takes a selfie with Apple CEO Tim Cook (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Apple confirms new iPhone features
In a document released this week, Apple discussed several new approaches to promoting device repairability and extending battery life. The True Tone and Battery Meter features will now be available for third-party parts installed on the iPhone and will be part of the iOS 18 update:
“Currently, battery health metrics such as maximum capacity and cycle count are not presented to consumers whose devices have third-party batteries. This is because the accuracy of these metrics cannot be verified by Apple… In an effort to improve support for third-party party battery, starting in late 2024, Apple will display battery health metrics with a warning that Apple cannot verify the information presented.”
(MacRumors).
New iPhone, new packaging, new tracks
Thanks to the latest iPhone 16 case leaks, we have confirmation of three key features Apple is bringing to the entry-level iPhone in 2024. Two new buttons — an action button and a camera button — are being added, but improvements to the camera to support Apple’s gee-whizz AR headset show interoperability , which Apple supported:
“these have changed from the iPhone 15’s diagonal arrangement on a square camera island to a vertical arrangement on a more diamond-shaped island. This shouldn’t affect normal photos and videos taken on the iPhone, but the lens arrangement will allow the lenses to be side-by-side when recording in landscape mode – that’s the orientation you’d need to capture stereoscopic videos to enable 3D playback on Apple’s Vision Pro headset.”
(Forbes).
Long wait for the Mac M4
Apple introduced the M4 chipset in the iPad Pro last month. Apple Silicon’s M series has appeared in the iPad Pro before, but is seen mostly as a Mac chip. And the Mac community will have to wait almost six months before the M4 starts showing up on their Macs, MacBooks and iMacs:
“The base 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to get the M4 chip, while the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will be updated with the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. The Mac mini will get the M4 and M4 Pro MacBook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro models will not be updated with the chips M4 until 2025, and it’s not yet clear when the iMac might get an update with updated chip technology.
(MacRumors).
iPhone meets Mac
Apple’s new implementation of iPhone-to-Mac display mirroring is now available through the iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia developer betas launched at WWDC last month. Full disclosure is expected in early October. As well as sharing controls and digital real estate, mirroring brings a device’s file systems closer together.
“Chief among the “more” is a very cool feature where you can drag and drop files from Mac to iPhone, which is the ultimate in convenience. A connected Mac will show notifications from the iPhone on the Mac screen, and when you click on the Mac screen, they will open on the screen.”
(Forbes).
Apple is experiencing retail success
The latest report from Canalys looks at notebook and tablet sales over the last quarter, and Apple will be happy with the positioning of these two form factors in the market:
“It means Apple had 14.2% of the desktop and laptop market in the quarter. It sold about 2,102,000 Macs, compared to 1,723,000 in the first quarter of 2023…. In total, Apple shipped 4,928,000 iPads in the quarter, down from 5,404,000 in the previous year.However, the iPad remains dominant with 50.8% of the market.
(Apple Insider).
Latest EU App Store issues
EU regulators have challenged Apple over the implementation of third-party app stores and the ability of developers to inform consumers about alternatives to Apple’s own store:
“The tech giant has been given the opportunity to review the investigation’s preliminary findings and can avoid a hefty fine if it comes back with a proposal that is satisfactory to the EU. The European Commission says developers should be free to tell customers when cheaper app stores are available than the one operated by Apple.”
(BBC news).
And finally…
Apple’s move into AAA gaming has seen some big names on the iPhone over the past year. Unfortunately, financial success did not follow their release, as research suggests that these titles “bombed”:
“Assassin’s Creed Mirage has been downloaded approximately 123,000 times since June 6, Appfigures says. However, it has only grossed $138,000. The report believes that revenue level suggests that fewer than 3,000 people were willing to unlock the full game for 49.99 $.”
(MobileGamer.biz via Apple Insider).
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