A look back at this week’s Apple news and headlines, including new iPhone 16 features, iPhone 16 design leaks, a long wait for the M4 MacBook, the launch of the iPhone’s Mac Mirror, the success of the sales of the iPad Pro, the EU’s challenges to the App Store and the failure of iPhone AAA games.
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 Android news roundup here on Forbes.
An attendee takes a selfie with Apple CEO Tim Cook (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Apple confirms new iPhone features
In a whitepaper published this week, Apple discussed several new approaches to promote device repairability and extend battery life. The True Tone and battery meter features are now accessible to third-party components mounted on an iPhone and are part of the iOS 18 update:
“Currently, battery health metrics such as maximum capacity and cycle count are not presented to consumers with devices using 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 batteries, Apple will display battery health metrics later in 2024 with a notice that Apple cannot verify the information presented.”
(MacRumors).
New iPhone, new cases, new directions
Thanks to a leak of the latest iPhone 16 cases, we have confirmation of the three key features Apple is bringing to the base iPhone in 2024. Two new buttons are added: the action button and the camera button, but the changes to the camera to support Apple’s great AR headset demonstrate the interoperability that Apple has promoted:
“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 with the iPhone, but the arrangement of the lenses allows for side-by-side lenses when recording in landscape mode. That’s the orientation you would need to create stereoscopic videos that would enable 3D playback on the Apple Vision Pro headset.”
(Forbes).
A long wait for Mac’s M4
Apple debuted the M4 chipset in the iPad Pro last month. Apple Silicon’s M series previously appeared in the iPad Pro, but is mainly seen as a Mac chip. And the Mac community will have to wait almost six months for the M4 to appear on their Macs, MacBooks and iMacs:
“The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to get an M4 chip, while the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will be updated with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. The Mac mini will get M4 and M4 Pro chips. The MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro models won’t get an update with M4 chips until 2025, and it’s not yet clear when the iMac will get an update to the new chip technology.”
(MacRumors).
iPhone meets Mac
Apple’s new implementation of iPhone to Mac screen mirroring is now available through the iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia developer betas that launched at WWDC last month. The full public release is expected in early October. In addition to sharing controls and digital real estate, mirroring brings the device’s file systems a little closer.
“Chief among the “more” is a very cool feature that lets you drag and drop files from your Mac to your iPhone, which is the ultimate convenience. The connected Mac shows notifications from the iPhone on the Mac screen and when you press the Mac’s screen, they open on the screen.”
(Forbes).
Apple is finding success in retail
Canalys’ latest report looks at laptop and tablet sales over the past quarter, and Apple will be pleased with the positioning of the two form factors in the market:
“It means that Apple had 14.2% of the desktop and notebook computer market this quarter. The company shipped approximately 2,102,000 Macs, compared to 1,723,000 in the first quarter of 2023…. Apple shipped 4,928,000 iPads this quarter, up from 5,404,000 the year before. Nevertheless, the iPad remains dominant with 50.8% of the market.”
(Apple Insider).
The latest issues with the EU App Store
EU regulators have criticized Apple for its 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 assess the preliminary findings of the investigation and could avoid a monster fine if it comes up with a proposal that is satisfactory to the EU. The European Commission says developers should be able to freely tell customers when cheaper apps are available. stores are available than Apple’s.”
(BBC news).
And finally…
Apple’s push into AAA gaming has seen a handful of notable names hit the iPhone over the past year. Unfortunately, financial success hasn’t followed their releases, as research shows these titles have “bombed”:
“Assassin’s Creed Mirage has been downloaded about 123,000 times since June 6, Appfigures says. However, it has only grossed $138,000. The report believes that revenue level indicates that fewer than 3,000 people were willing to unlock the full game for $49.99.”
(MobileGamer.biz via Apple Insider).
Apple Loop brings you seven days of highlights every weekend right here on Forbes. Be sure to follow me so you don’t miss any future coverage. You can read last week’s Apple Loop here , or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.