Taking a look back at another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes confirmation of the iPhone 12, the surprising iPhone Mini, the long slow goodbye of the MacBook Air, a review of the new iPad, the secrets of iOS 14, iOS 13 is retired, how Apple measures your wrist, and Apple’s Swift arrives on Windows 10.
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).
Apple Confirms iPhone 12 Launch Plans
It could be closer than we thought. In a leaked video from UK network EE, the company’s CEO praises the team for their preparations, before Apple’s Eddy Cue pushing the Apple One subscription bundles EE will be selling. Gordon Kelly reports:
"Marc Allera, CEO of major UK carriers BT and EE, has been caught telling employees that the iPhone 12 launch is “just days away”. Moreover, Apple vice president Eddy Cue appears in the video praising EE for its plans to offer bundles of Apple services with the new iPhones at launch.
""We are just days away from Apple's next major launch, a 5G iPhone, which will be a huge boost for 5G," explains Allera "Teams in all parts of Consumer have been preparing all year to win this launch, and [we will] be Europe's number one partner for Apple.”"
MOSCOW, RUSSIA SEPTEMBER 20, 2019: A re:Store shop in Tverskaya Street as Apple launches iPhone 11, ... [+]
A New Name For Your New iPhone
The delayed iPhone 12 family looks to be getting a new model. Current details point to an iPhone Mini being launched in October alongside the larger models. Be careful though, this is actually a branding exercise around the entry-level model, what we knew as the iPhone 12 is now the iPhone 12 Mini, and the iPhone 12 Pro is the new iPhone. This is going to help Apple sell the more expensive models, as I reported earlier this week:
"The previous ladder allowed the lower priced entry level phone to be seen as the natural choice because it was the one called ‘iPhone’. Now that honor goes to the second rung, which naturally comes at a higher price. Yes you could have a ‘mini’ but the perception will be that to get a true iPhone experience will mean you have to get the phone called ‘iPhone’.”
The Long Slow Goodbye Of The MacBook Air
Apple has made it clear that the future of macOS is with ARM. That means the current Intel machines will need to regenerate to accommodate the new processors, or be left alone to wither away in the corer. The MacBook Pro will take the former route and thrive, while the MacBook Air will struggle to survive more than a handful of years. The fate of the Air is typical of Apple’s drive to leave behind legacy technology at every turn:
"What made the MacBook Air stand out in 2008 is now passé in 2020. The ‘Air’ is still seen as a machine that is ‘thin’, and there are countless thin laptops in the world. If you pick up the MacBook Pro you’ll find a laptop that is 1.56 cm thick. The MacBook Air is 1.61cm. Yes it has the taper to the front edge unlike the constant depth of the Pro, but is a small wedge enough to justify the Air moniker?"
Read more on the bleak future of the MacBook Air here.
Reviewing The New iPad's One Change
With Apple’s 2020 tablet range now complete, the models are starting to become available and the reviews are under way. The team at Wired have reviewed Apple’s entry-level tablet, starting with the only substantive advantage over previous iPads:
"For those of you currently using the 7th-gen iPad, it’s probably not worth updating, simply because the only difference between this one and its predecessor is its A12 Bionic chip. This offers an admittedly considerable 40 per cent performance boost, but if you aren't unhappy with your existing tablet, then stay put. If you’re considering upgrading from the original iPad Air or older versions of the entry-level iPad and don’t want to splurge too much, then the 8th-gen is definitely worth it."
The Surprises Inside iOS 14
With every new version o iOS, Apple adds in new features, options, and tweaks. Not all of them are listed in the change log. But these tips and tricks are always fun to know and can change how you use your phone. Gordon Kelly details some of the new additions, including the useful ‘Back Tap’ options:
"Custom Commands - Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap and you can set quick access commands for when you double or triple tap the back of your iPhone. Almost any command is available, from quick navigation shortcuts to opening Siri or the Notification Center, taking a screenshot, changing the volume, muting or locking the phone and many more. It’s great and even works with a case."
Say Goodbye to iOS 13
It’s important that you get used to iOS 14, because as of this week, you are not able to download or install any iOS 13 or earlier builds. Apple has revoked the digital certification, pretty much forcing everyone to the latest version, no matter the personal circumstances. Juli Clover reports:
"As of Monday, iOS 14 was installed on approximately 26 percent of active iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, and earlier today, the first jailbreak for iOS 14 devices was released. The jailbreak only works with devices that have an A9 chip and earlier because of new security mitigations put in place by Apple.
" iOS 14 is the current publicly available version of iOS that people can download, but there's also a version of iOS 14.2 that has been provided to developers and public beta testers. iOS 14.2 introduces a new Shazam Music Recognition feature for the Control Center, while also bringing some other Apple Music-related Control Center tweaks."
This Is Your Wrist. This Is Your Wrist As Measured By Apple
Writing at Daring Fireball, John Gruber, over two well timed blog posts, looks at the issues around the problems with getting the right size of Solo Loop bands for the Apple Watch
"Apple today updated its Solo Loop PDF sizing tool. The sizes remain exactly the same, but the instructions have been clarified, much as I suggested, and are now accompanied by a helpful illustration.
"...No more ambiguous “snug but not too tight”. Now they’ve made clear that it should wrap tight enough not to slide around. Apple also clarified what to do if your wrist seems to fall between sizes. [Choose the smaller number]."
This doesn’t feel like the Apple where Steve Jobs would fret over the smallest issues in presentation. Mind you, if this was that kind of Apple, we’d probably be told we’re wearing our Apple Watches wrong.
And Finally…
The team working on bringing Apple’s Swift programming environment to Windows 10 has published an initial public release of the project. The work of theUkrainian developer company Readdle has been key. Joseph Keller reports:
"Readdle's post dives more deeply into some of the different tools its used in its effort to build with Swift on Windows, including a number of the modules available, and covers topics like the build system and Swift's interactions with Node.js.
"Swift was originally announced by Apple at WWDC 2014 as a modern language that would eventually take the place of Objective-C as the primary language for building applications for Apple's platforms."
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.
