Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
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Scotty Allen who became famous earlier this year for building an iPhone entirely out of spare parts sourced from China is back again with another amazing project; adding a working headphone jack to an iPhone 7. Watch the video below …
Apple has started promoting iOS 11 to its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch user base ahead of the new OS’ launch later this month. The Tips app is sending out notifications like ‘Learn about the new Control Center coming in iOS 11’ as of this morning.
Users can tap through to the Tips app to preview some of the new features; Apple is advertising the new Control Center, Do Not Disturb While Driving, the new Files app, and more.
Pixelmator have today announced their next app, Pixelmator Pro for Mac, which will launch later this year. Pixelmator Pro adds major new photo editing features in a new single window user interface.
The app is built from the ground up to enable non-destructive editing, new effect layers, a new painting system with realistic brushes, and a lot more.
The new iPhone is going to be announced in a week’s time. In the runup to launch, we keep seeing new part leaks for various components and today is no exception. Benjamin Geskin has shared photos of the alleged iPhone 8 SIM trays.
Following previous rumors, Apple appears to be changing up the color lineup slightly for the 2017 iPhones as the SIM tray appears to be a different shade of gold than what Apple currently offers with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Apple has added a new addition to its W1 lineup, the Beats Studio 3 over-ear headphones ($349). The new models utilize the W1 chip for automatic pairing to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch as well as boasting up to 40 hour battery life. These look very much like Beats’ answer to the Bose QC35 headphones.
The other flagship new addition for the Studio 3 series is adaptive noise cancelling. The headphones listen dynamically to the surrounding environment and algorithmically adjust the intensity of noise cancellation. With noise canceling enabled, battery life drops to a (still impressive) 22 hours.
It certainly seems like Apple is approaching original content more seriously now, with Eddy Cue reportedly wanting to challenge the likes of Game of Thrones with Apple’s TV shows. The Financial Times is reporting that Apple is bidding on a new drama series starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, battling against Netflix for rights.
The concept of the show relates to morning television chat shows, pitched by HBO’s former head of drama. A previous report said Apple has budgeted a billion dollars towards original content efforts for the coming year.
With less than two weeks before Apple’s blockbuster event on September 12th, there’s still time for more iPhone 8 parts to leak out as production ramps. Today, new photos allegedly reveal the internal iPhone 8 speaker and Lightning connector components. Whilst Apple is pushing wireless inductive charging as a flagship feature of the new phones, the Lightning connector will be upgraded to support Type-C fast charging when using a wire …
Apple has notified members of the iTunes Affiliate program that it has opened up a new payment option for partners. Rather than sending money directly to your bank, iTunes Affiliate commissions can now instead be paid directly as iTunes Store credit. This means the payments are channeled as redemption codes to top up the credit on an Apple ID account, to buy apps, music, or pay for iCloud Storage.
Philips have announced several updates to their HomeKit-compatible smart home lighting range, Hue. Firstly, the new starter kits offer better value for money.
The flagship White and Color Ambience kit now features 4 bulbs and a hub for just $199, the best value Hue has ever offered for its multi-color bulbs. The cheapest entry point into the Hue smart home ecosystem is now the White starter kit, which bundles 4 A19 white bulbs and a hub for $99.
Hue also announced that new suspension and ambience ceiling Hue lights will go on sale from October, as well as selling multi-pack bulbs for the first time (i.e. four standalone additional bulbs, no hub) …
The ‘bezel-less’ iPhone 8 is going to be unveiled in under two weeks, and will be the first iPhone not to feature a physical home button. A report from Bloomberg provides fresh details on how Apple plans to replace the button with new gestures and navigational elements for the iPhone 8 user interface.
At the bottom of the screen, the display will show a ‘thin bar’ where a physical button normally resides. On the lock screen, users pull this bar upwards to unlock the phone — reminiscent of the iconic ‘slide to unlock’ action that Apple removed in iOS 10. Inside an app, dragging upwards opens a redesigned multitasking UI. It sounds a lot like the new multitasking gestures for iPad we’ve seen in iOS 11 …
The HomeKit ecosystem continues to expand with new accessories coming out all the time. Koogeek has now released the first hub-less HomeKit light bulb ($36) that can display more than 16 million colors. Existing solutions like Philips Hue require running a bridge hub in additional to buying the special multicolor bulbs. The Koogeek solution is simpler and easier to recommend as a gift item — just replace your current bulb and you are pretty much good to go.
The Smart Bulb integration with HomeKit enables users to toggle the light on and off, change color and set the brightness level; everything is accessible from the Home app on iOS or with Siri voice commands. The hub-less approach has some tradeoffs, but on the whole it is a great accessory that adds smart home features to a room with very little fuss. Read on below for my full hands on …
Apple has not yet finalized deals with movie studios for 4K content, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal. The clock is ticking as Apple readies a 4K Apple TV unveiling for September 12, and naturally the company wants to announce a sizeable 4K content ecosystem to back it.
It appears the studios are pushing back on pricing. Whereas Apple wants to sell 4K movies for $20, the same price it sells many new release HD movies at, studios are demanding an additional $5-$10 premium per sale.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has indeed scheduled an event on September 12. On that date, Apple is set to announce the new iPhone models, as well as cellular Apple Watch and a 4K Apple TV set-top box. We are still waiting for Apple to send out invites to press to make the event official, although it is all but confirmed at this point.
In terms of event location, the report says that the company is ‘aiming to use’ the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park for the first time …
Macotakara is the latest publication to report on the inclusion of wireless charging in the iPhone 8, set to be announced next month. The Japanese site notes that Apple has opted to use the slower standard charging profile, which means the inductive charging will run at 7.5W, about half the speed of the latest Qi 1.2 standards.
The unnamed sources also note that Apple may require MFI licenses for third-party charging pads, which would mean existing Qi charging accessories would be unsupported …
We are still waiting for Apple’s invites for the September iPhone event to go out, which is expected sometime in the first half of the month.
Until the official unveiling happens, there’s still time for iPhone 8 rumors. The price of the premium OLED iPhone has been the subject of much debate, and now The New York Times has chimed in. It reports that the iPhone 8 will be priced ‘around $999’ …
Mac4Ever is reporting that they know when the September Apple event will take place, where Apple will announce three new iPhones: the OLED iPhone 8 and the iterative ‘7s’ phones. The report says that the event will happen on September 12 citing carrier sources …
As Apple’s September event draws closer, the iPhone 8 rumors continue to circulate. Today, Chinese poster GeekBar (which has a decent track record of iPhone leaks, although by no means infallible) has reported that the new high-end OLED iPhone will be offered in three storage capacities.
The source says that the iPhone 8 base model is 64 GB, a welcomed doubling of the entry model 32 GB iPhone 7. The mid tier model would be 256 GB and — brand new to the iPhone line — a high-end 512 GB storage option would also be offered.
iPhone 8 parts continue to appear on Chinese social media as the official unveiling September Apple event draws closer. Whilst a timeframe has yet to leak out, historical patterns point to September 6th as a likely date.
In this latest leaks (via Slashleaks), various purported components for the iPhone 8 are on show, including the flex cables for power transfer, part of the internal components for the Lightning cable and the display assembly (with the notch, as expected). More photos below …
iOS 11 beta 6 (released earlier this week) includes a new feature to quickly disable Touch ID from the lock screen. Tapping the lock button five times to access the SOS screen or opening a Medical ID will cause the iPhone or iPad to temporarily reject all Touch ID attempts, requiring a passcode to unlock.
We have confirmed with sources that this behavior is intentional rather than a bug, as well as some explanation as to why it was added. Whilst in theory it can be used to prevent law enforcement from compelling suspects to unlock their device with fingerprint, it also helps protect people who have fallen unconscious…
Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones next month, the radically redesigned OLED iPhone ‘8’ and two modest updates to the existing iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models, colloquially referred to as ‘7s’ phones. One of the flagship new features for the lineup will be wireless inductive charging support across the board.
Images of the purported component that powers this feature for the iPhone 8 have surfaced on Weibo today. This part will sit beneath the glass back of the device and enables the inductive power transfer. More photos below …
[Update: Bloomberg corroborates.]
Apple appears to be taking original content production very seriously. Building on significant talent hires, the Wall Street Journal writes Apple has readied a $1 billion budget to ‘procure and produce’ content over the next year.
The report says the sum is about half what HBO spent on production last year. Apple could launch up to ten new shows, with Apple SVP Eddy Cue said to have ambitions to offer shows that rival Game of Thrones.
Bloomberg first reported Apple’s plans to bring cellular connectivity to the Apple Watch at the beginning of August. KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo mirrored those claims yesterday, positioning LTE as the key upgrade for the new generation.
A report from CNBC today corroborates the stories, with a firmer launch window. CNBC believes the new watch models will be announced alongside the iPhone 8 unveiling at Apple’s (as-yet-unannounced) September event.
IKEA announced earlier in the year that HomeKit integration was on the way for its smart bulb range by the ‘fall’. Slightly earlier than expected, the company pushed a software update to its WIRELESS hub today that enables HomeKit for its Tradfri lighting range.
As noted this morning on Reddit, workers on the Apple Park campus site are posting photos and video snaps to Snapchat for the world to see. Whilst this openness surely isn’t endorsed by Apple, it seems to have been going on for a long time unnoticed with snaps going back weeks. There is enough for it to appear on the ‘Snap Map’ as a heat spot at least.