Taking a look back at another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes stunning iPhone 14 feature, the cancelled Mac Pro, no more Intel in your MacBook, Apple’s Q3 success, Apple’s lightning port replacement, Steven Spielberg’s one-shot iPhone, and new AirPods in GTA Online.
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).
iPhone 14 Screen Looking Sharper
Without any massive evolutionary steps, the iPhone 14 family looks decidedly iterative with little new in the offering. This week more details came through on the potential for an update to the screen technology. Gordon Kelly has more:
“…respected industry display specialist Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), revealed that Samsung’s ‘M12 OLED material set’ display tech is coming to all iPhone 14 models. And considering that it didn’t even make Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S22 Ultra, this is a shock.”
(Forbes)
Which Mac Pro Will Finish The Promise?
At WWDC 2020, Tim Cook and his team announced that the entire Mac range would be on Apple Silicon by the end of 2022. All that’s left is the Mac Pro. Many were expecting one at WWDC 2022 with a specced-out M1 chip. That never happened, and time is running out. And it looks like the M1 Mac Pro is not happening. Still, there’s good news on an M2 Mac Pro:
“And there’s one big gap in the portfolio. We’ve still to see an Apple Silicon Mac Pro, and the latest news is that an M1-based Mac Pro will not be released. Mac Pro fans should not fear, though. Apple is going to skip over the first generation and turn the M2 architecture up to 11 with the quietly named M2 Extreme.”
(Forbes).
MacBooks Missing Last Intel Signs
Speaking of removing Intel, investigations inside the M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have revealed that the last Intel chips – which controlled the Thunderbird 3 interfaces – are out of the design. It’s all Apple Silicon for the main chips and Apple’s own supplier choice for other components:
“Not all of the chips in the MacBook Air are made by Apple. The company is still using chips from Texas Instruments, Nexperia, and Samsung, among others. These chips are “smaller” than the CPU, GPU, and Thunderbolt driver, so it’s unlikely that Apple would not be interested in replacing all of them. But as the Thunderbolt drivers show, the Apple silicon transition is about both big and small chips alike.”
(MacWorld).
Apple’s Successful Third Quarter
Apple has announced a record Q3 revenue of $83 billion, up two per cent year on year. The iPhone family is once more the leading light, with a three percent jump in revenue, although Apple’s Mac platform is down ten per cent:
“The company’s fiscal third-quarter revenue and profit narrowly topped analysts’ estimates, with iPhone sales holding up better than expected. Though Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook decried a “cocktail of headwinds” hampering Apple’s business, he predicted that sales would begin to pick up in the coming months.”
(Apple and Bloomberg).
When Lightning Will Stop Striking
What hardware will lose the lightning port and switch to USB-C in the future? With a lot of pressure from governments and authorities around the world, Apple’s proprietary connector is coming under scrutiny. However, some products are running USB-C, and many more could join the universal team over the next year. Joe Rossignol looks at what there is and what there could be:
“Apple now offers USB-C ports on every Mac that it currently sells, ranging from the MacBook Air to the Mac Pro. Other devices with a USB-C port include the 2018 and newer iPad Pro, 2020 and newer iPad Air, sixth-generation iPad mini, Studio Display, and Pro Display XDR… Rumors suggest that at least five other Apple products and accessories will also switch to USB-C in the future, as outlined below.”
(MacRumors).
The Music, The Man, The Spielberg One-Shot
With the camera and smartphone photography one of the key differentiating features in the market, anything that allows a manufacturer to reinforce the quality of its cameras will be welcome. So Steven Spielberg using an iPhone is catnip to Apple’s PR team:
“When filming his very first music video, Marcus Mumford’s single Cannibal, he opted to use his phone as the camera. In a tweet, Mumford wrote, “On Sunday 3rd July in a high school gym in New York, Steven Spielberg directed his first music video, in one shot, on his phone. Kate Capshaw was the almighty dolly grip.”
(CNet).
And Finally…
This week saw the summer update to Rockstar’s totemic GTA Online. as well as allowing more nefarious activities, new clothing and accessories were added to the various stores in the sprawling city of Los Santos.The one that everyone wants? AirPods.
“I’m surprised in what people are interested in the most. During my livestream all you wanted to know was how to get the new AirPods in GTA Online.”
…Although it’s worth noting that, with its tongue in its cheeks, Rockstar have called these Beat Offs, Rather than the more legally problematic AirPods.
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.