Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes confirmation of the iPhone 7 launch event, Apple cancelling the iPhone 7 Pro, the hoped for features of the iPhone 7, Apple’s secret upgrade weapon, details on the iPad upgrades, some thoughts on iOS 9.3.5, how Apple is removing the headphone jack, Apple’s response to its Irish tax bill, Frank Ocean’s iTunes success, and using the iPad as a pre-op sedative.
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 the weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
September 7th Is The Day
When is Apple Launching the iPhone 7? Strictly speaking we still don’t know, but Apple has invited a hand-picked list of the world’s press to an event next week on September 7th. We can’t be sure, but it’s a racing certainty that the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus are going to be on show on Wednesday. Maybe the Apple Watch 2 will join them?
Tim Cook’s job this September will be to sell the iPhone 7 as something that is new and exciting, while hoping that the world’s press will not focus on the fact that much of the iPhone 7 technology is already present in other handsets – Huawei debuted a dual-lens cameras earlier this year, and changes such as an increase in base storage, a larger camera lens and improved antenna placement are little more than iterative updates.
Expect this launch to be littered with iterative updates ‘that only Apple can deliver‘.
The press get to go to The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, everyone else can stay here on Forbes Tech for all the news and views of the event.
The iPhone That Never Was
One device that won’t be launched is the iPhone 7 Pro. Suspected to include the dual-lens camera, the iPad Pro’s smart connector, and improved storage, there was a time when Apple was looking to release three handsets on September 7th, but with regulatory notes and certifications now showing up around the world, Tim Cook is defaulting back to a more traditional line-up. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly looks at what we are missing:
As for the reasoning behind the cancellation, MacRumors says it came down to concerns that Apple would be unable to attain sufficient quantities of its new dual lens camera for the Plus model. These were overcome, but Apple had the iPhone 7 Pro in reserve even if it was in limited quantities because Apple was so keen to reclaim the smartphone camera crown it lost to Samsung in recent years.
On top of this, Apple intended to justify the premium status of the iPhone 7 Pro by integrating the same Smart Connector functionality as the iPad Pro range. This allows the Lightning connector to simultaneously offer data and power allowing third party accessories – like keyboards or headphones with integrated DACs – to slimdown by removing their need for a separate battery.
Read more here on Forbes.
Hopes And Dreams For The New iPhone
The openness of the modern supply chain means that many of the details around the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are known, although confirmation will not happen until Tim Cook reveals the handset (and even then some details might have to wait until reviewers get their hands on a demo unit). In the meantime, Tony Bradley has put together a list of what he hopes and expects from the new handsets, starting with the 32GB storage option.
Apple raised the high-end of storage for iPhones to 128GB, but inexplicably left the entry-level model at a virtually useless 16GB. The iOS operating system itself occupies some of that space, so you really only have about 12GB to work with right out of the box.
…The rumor—based on recent alleged “leaks”—is that there is definitely a 32GB model of the iPhone 7, but that doesn’t mean there won’t also be a 16GB version. Let me just go on record and state that there absolutely should not be a 16GB version available. The 16GB model should be stricken from all shelves and become a distant memory of our smartphone past.
[Source:-Forbes]
