Opinion pieces & commentary

The last time a sketchy report suggested that Apple was planning to move the Touch ID sensor to the rear of the iPhone 8, I wrote an opinion piece saying that I didn’t believe Apple was dumb enough to do it. I set out the four reasons I didn’t expect it to happen.

Alongside multiple reports of a Touch ID sensor embedded in the screen, and supporting patents for the required technology, I felt there were two reasons in particular to doubt the idea …

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Apple is famously one of the most secretive companies in the world. It believes in what Steve Jobs called the ‘magic’ of the surprise reveal. The ‘one more thing’ presentation style pioneered by Steve is so much a part of Apple’s DNA that it has a stock phrase it uses to answer questions about its product plans: ‘We do not comment on future products.’

It’s hard to imagine Apple would ever take a different approach. Today it did.

It not only revealed future product plans a year in advance – something so out of character it’s hard to believe it really happened – but it also did something else Apple almost never does: it admitted to a mistake.

Sure, none of the three Apple execs present ever used that word, but the mea culpa is clear …

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The iPhone 8 reports to date mostly point to Apple embedding the Home button and a new type of fingerprint sensor into the display itself, as a way to lose most of the ‘chin’ of the device. Today, however, the sketchiest of reports suggests that the company will instead move the existing Touch ID sensor to the rear of the phone.

The report mixes this in with a raft of things we’ve heard before. Glass backs, vertical cameras (which would be horizontal when used in the more common landscape mode) and iPhone Edition naming are all things that have been reported previously. So while iDropNews would like us to believe that its unspecified ‘insider’ has revealed a whole bunch of new things, the report is actually just a mish-mash of earlier rumors coupled to one piece of supposedly new information …

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The reality won’t be quite as bezel-free as this concept image …

A spring iPad event this year has so far been taken almost as established fact. Apple has held one annually in recent years, and we’ve heard multiple reports about what to expect this year – one of them even suggesting a specific date.

The flagship product expected to be announced at the event was a new 10.5-inch iPad with a micro-bezel design that would allow it to have the same external dimensions as the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

But recent events suggest to me that, while the 10.5-inch iPad is probably real, it’s unlikely it will be announced at a spring event. Instead, it’s more likely to be at WWDC – or even later …

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If anyone had asked you to describe Apple’s pricing strategy in a sentence, this would – until recently – have been extremely easy to do. Apple aims to sell premium products at high margins to upmarket demographics. The company had shown almost no interest in more affordable products pitched to those on tighter budgets.

But Apple has long recognized that you need a way of building your long-term customer base, and one good way to do that is to get them when they’re young. Apple has made considerable efforts over the years to get its computers into schools and colleges, and to make them more affordable to students through its education discount.

The MacBook Air line too has been priced at a level where it is just about affordable for those who would otherwise buy cheaper Windows laptops – again, in no small part because Apple wants to attract younger buyers whose lifetime value to the company will be substantial.

But as one analyst recently observed, there is now evidence that Apple is aiming to offer lower pricing across a broader range of products. Yesterday’s announcement of a low-cost 9.7-inch iPad was a good example of that new approach …

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Google couldn’t make Glass look cool – could Apple do better?

We’ve now heard more than one report that, while Apple has augmented reality plans for the iPhone, it is also planning to make some smart glasses further down the line. This is the product category made famous – or perhaps infamous – by Google Glass.

There are two undeniable facts about Google Glass. First, it’s cool technology. Second, it’s decidedly uncool to be seen wearing them. It was that latter fact that led to Google abandoning plans to pitch them as a consumer device and to target them instead at enterprise applications, like giving engineers hands-free access to manuals while repairing equipment.

Now, Apple is a master of taking once-geeky technology and making it cool. It did that with the iPod – turning a rather techy product category into the coolest product on the planet at the time – and of course with the iPhone. Previous smartphones were techy-looking things controlled by a keyboard and stylus, the iPhone was a friendly device that had mass-market appeal.

But could even Apple make smart glasses cool … ?

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Samsung’s Galaxy Edge design (left); iPhone 6/6s/7/Plus design (right)

Seemingly conflicting reports on the iPhone 8 screen have been causing confusion, some earlier reports describing a curved screen, while Business Insider notes that some analysts expect a flat display.

A large number of reports have suggested that the screen on that new device will be curved but an increasing number of iPhone watchers believe it will actually be flat.

The apparent contradictions may, however, be down to little more than semantics …

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I wrote an opinion piece last year speculating on Apple’s plans for its 2017 iPad line-up. A couple of factors led me to suspect that Apple may be planning to drop the iPad mini.

First, there was the fact that the starting price for the iPad mini 4 is exactly the same as for the iPad Air 2: $399. You’d already have to have a very strong preference for the smaller form-factor to want to shell out the same cash for the mini – especially given that you could combine phone and small tablet functionality by buying the Plus model iPhone.

Second, a KGI report suggesting that the 10.5-inch model would be the successor to the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro, while the new 9.7-inch model would be a low-cost model. That made it seem possible that Apple might be targeting an even lower price than $399, putting further pressure on the mini.

And now, consistent rumors of what we can expect from the iPhone 8 give a third reason to wonder whether the iPad mini has a future …

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Apple has an interesting tightrope to walk when it comes to entry-level products. While you and I may choose Apple products because we like the UI, the ecosystem and the designs, a large chunk of the company’s customer base automatically buys Apple simply because it is seen as the most premium brand. They may not know the specific benefits of Apple products, but they are – to quote an old ad slogan for a lager – reassuringly expensive. If they cost more, they must be better.

Indeed, in many markets, being seen with an iPhone, iPad or Mac bestows social status for that very reason, making them aspirational products.

Apple cannot afford to dent that premium image by offering low-end products, but at the same time it needs to bring in new customers to maintain growth. So far, its approach to doing this has seemed to me to be smart. But offering a 32GB iPhone 6 as an entry level iPhone in 2017? That I’m not so sure about …

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With Apple widely expected to embed a fingerprint reader into the display of the iPhone 8, the company has patented a number of different technologies it could use to accomplish this.

One approach would limit fingerprint recognition to the bottom section of the display, meaning that authenticating a fingerprint would have to be a deliberate step, as it is with today’s Touch ID sensor. But a patented granted today would allow a fingerprint to be recognized anywhere on the screen, with Apple specifically arguing that authentication could then be completely automatic …

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I wrote an opinion piece last year speculating on whether Apple would switch from Lightning to USB-C, and when it might do so. A new report today suggests that the company is planning to do so this year, in the iPhone 8.

I argued then that there were compelling reasons for Apple to make the switch. While the Lightning port is a clever standard, USB-C is even smarter and more capable. Adopting a single port across both Mac and iOS devices would massively simplify the cable and connector ecosystem. And the high-speed data transfer capabilities provided by USB-C would allow Apple devices to work together better than ever.

I addressed the three possible objections before, but let’s quickly summarize them here …

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A video of an iPhone 7 Plus catching fire has gone viral, with some drawing comparisons with early Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires.

This is not the first time that an iPhone has caught fire, and it won’t be the last. But as we’ve noted before, it’s important to view such incidents in perspective …

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While we’ve all been able to follow the construction progress of Apple Park thanks to drone footage, the company kept us waiting a long time before finally revealing two things: what the campus would be called, and when employees would move in.

The name attracted quite a bit of attention, with some feeling that it was perhaps a little tame to describe such a dramatic building – but I think Eli Schiff hit the nail on the head.

https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/834433705250742272

Xerox Parc was where the Macintosh story really began, and I think Apple did indeed intend to reference that when it chose the name for its new campus …

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Today’s KGI report is just the latest piece of evidence that Apple has serious plans to somehow work with 3D space. Acquisitions, supply chain reports, patents and even comments by Tim Cook all add up to a definite interest in something in the 3D space. The question is: what?

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding terminology, so we thought it would be a good idea to start by distinguishing between the various terms being thrown around in this space – Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) – before discussing Apple’s interest in 3D …

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It seems pretty clear by this stage that Apple is working on a near-bezel-free design for the iPhone 8. Not only have we heard consistent reports supporting this idea – and Jony Ive’s ambitions of a ‘single slab of glass’ design – but it’s also a pretty obvious next step in the evolution of smartphones.

Apple has been headed in this direction since day one. One of the major points of differentiation of the very first iPhone over existing smartphones of the time was that it dispensed with a physical keyboard in order to maximize the screen space. In the latest iPhones, Apple has ditched a mechanical Home button in favor of a touch-sensitive one, and it holds patents for multiple approaches to embedding a fingerprint reader into a screen.

But the latest KGI report echoes an earlier one in suggesting that Apple may be planning to drop Touch ID and switch instead to ‘new biometric technologies’ …

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There’s a joke about a time-traveller from the early 20th Century arriving today and asking someone what has changed. The present-day person pulls an iPhone out of their pocket and says: ‘Well, we all carry around this pocket computer that gives us instant access to the sum total of human knowledge.’ The time traveller looks stunned. ‘Wow, what do you do with it?’ they ask. ‘Mostly we watch cat videos.’

The Internet has been, in the main, a hugely positive development. We do have instant access to information on pretty much any subject under the sun, or, indeed, beyond it. We can communicate with people on the other side of the world, for free, as easily as we can those on the next street. We can virtually travel the world, exploring streets in distant locations from our armchair. And very much more.

The Internet also has its dark side, of course. But it’s the subversion of one of its most positive attributes – easy access to information – that poses one of the greatest threats today …

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Apple is rarely the first to adopt a new technology. From smartphones themselves to fingerprint readers, Apple’s usual approach is to sit back and watch what other companies do, then aim to produce a better version some way down the line.

With smartphones, Apple watched other companies launch devices which required a stylus, and then created one that could be used with your finger. With fingerprint readers, Apple looked at ones what required you to roll your finger across an optical reader and then created a far more reliable one-touch capacitive sensor. And so on.

For a long time, it looked like it was doing the same thing with wireless charging – but that now seems in some doubt …

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If you were in any doubt why Apple was going to so much trouble to deepen its foothold in India, new figures from Counterpoint Research provide the answer. While the global smartphone market grew only 3% last year, smartphone shipments in India grew by 18%.

The growing middle class in the country also meant that, for the first time, there were no Indian brands in the top five as consumers start to spend more on their handsets. There was also good news for Apple …

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Apple’s rumored Siri Speaker may be hitting the market this year and with it will likely come improvements to Siri itself. Apple, however, won’t be the first to release a standalone speaker with a built-in virtual assistant. Google has already released its solution, Google Home, while Amazon has its Alexa virtual assistant available in several forms, including the Echo and Echo Dot.

The Echo Dot and the Echo series as a whole has been a smash hit success for Amazon and it’s where Apple should take inspiration from for its Siri Speaker, but its success really hinges upon implements to Siri itself…

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Many were disappointed by Apple’s apparent decision to abandon the display market in favor of recommending LG models. While LG’s 5K UltraFine is an excellent display in many ways, neither the design nor the build quality live up to Apple standards.

As I said in an earlier piece, it may be shallow to care about the aesthetics of the monitor, but a display is something we stare at all day long. Given that part of the reason we buy Apple kit is the beautiful designs, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect an officially-recommended display to live up to the same standard.

Apple could satisfy many people by simply putting the 5K UltraFine innards into an Ive-designed casing. But I think a new Apple display could also help the company solve a second – less shallow – problem …

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There will be a lot of people complaining about price rises Apple just announced for apps and in-app purchases in the UK (along with India and Turkey). Once the price rises kick in over the next week, App Store prices will be literally pound for dollar.

But while some are complaining that Apple is price-gouging Brits, this isn’t actually the case …

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