Possible iPhone 17 Air pricing, iPhone SE cancellation, iPhone 17 camera design, Genmoji finally coming to macOS, consumers aren’t sold on AI, AirPods Max issues, happy birthday, and more on Apple this week Take a look back at the news and headlines. AirPods.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple over the past seven days. Also check out Forbes’ weekly digest of Android news.
Customers experiencing the iPhone 16 series at the Apple flagship store in Shanghai (Photo credit goes to) … (+)
Future publication via CFOTO/Getty Images
air price
At the time of its release, the MacBook Air was a premium-priced laptop that benefited from new technology and design decisions. Will the same thing happen with the iPhone Air, which is expected to be included in next year’s iPhone 17 family? Or will Apple include this as an iPhone Plus replacement and roll it out across vanilla and Pro models?
“Aaron Tilly and Yang Jie said these details are consistent with previous reporting.” Apple will launch an iPhone next year that is thinner than current models, which are about 8mm thick, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. The plan is to do so. But then it goes on to say, “This model is intended to be cheaper than the Pro model, with a simplified camera system to reduce costs.”
(Forbes).
iPhone SE 2022 has been canceled
Apple’s iPhone SE is the flagship of its portfolio and captures the mid-range market. This will not be the case in the first quarter of 2025, as new European regulations for USB-C charging hardware will remove the current SE from sale. It will take several months for Apple to replace the iPhone SE with the new Apple Intelligence support.
“Apple has always intended to replace the current iPhone SE when a new model comes out. Tim Cook and his team plan to replace the 2022 iPhone SE by 4 or 5 more until the 2025 version arrives. I’m sure they wanted it to stay on sale for months. Alas.” The European Union’s mandate to make USB-C the universal charging port for consumer electronics has made this happen. ”
(Forbes).
iPhone 17 camera redesign issue
This week, there was a lot of talk surrounding the location of the iPhone 17’s main camera lens. There are new centerline options and modified triangle placement, but it feels like these are just mockups to make sure they’re not the best way to go. After all, today’s lenses are set to tile in landscape mode for a reason:
“Secondly, one of the main reasons for the iPhone 16 design change was to allow a regular iPhone to capture spatial video for the first time when held in landscape orientation, something that Apple quickly discontinued. It seems strange to do that, but certainly it can be overcome by software and lens changes, if you crop the image differently.
(Forbes).
Mac’s Genmoji breakthrough
iOS and iPadOS adopted the emotionally powerful Genmoji in the 18.2 update, but macOS users were denied avatar technology. But rest assured, this software is coming as a beta version of macOS 18.2 and is expected to be generally available in early 2025.
Genmoji lets Mac users enter text prompts to create custom characters that behave like emojis on devices running iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1 and later. In earlier versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Genmoji appears as an image on Android devices. ”
(McRumors).
Thank you to AI, but no thanks
This week, a new study from SellCell provides a timely reminder that despite all the promotion and activity surrounding generative AI on smartphones, consumers are still not seeing the benefits of the technology.
“Surveys show that 73% of Apple Intelligence users and 87% of Galaxy AI users say new features are of little or no value, so smartphone users generally prefer existing AI Not satisfied with the functionality of their smartphone experience.”
(9to5Mac).
Classic AirPods Max issues
The latest AirPods Max may come with a USB-C charging port (mandated by the EU). However, the USB-C port lacks a key feature that the Lightning port offered. Option to use a wired connection.
“If you purchase Apple’s Lightning to 3.5 mm audio cable, you can connect your Lightning AirPods Max to any headphone jack and listen to them over a wired connection. This feature is great for listening on airplanes, recording podcasts, and more. While they technically don’t offer lossless audio playback, it was still nice to have a wired option… which Apple has now changed with the latest AirPods Max. , AirPods Max There is no way to do wired playback using USB-C.
(9to5Mac).
And finally…
Eight years ago this week, Apple introduced AirPods. After wired EarPods became a staple of iPhone and iPod advertising, what promises did Apple make in its 2016 presentation, and do you think it delivered?
“First-generation AirPods, priced at $159, introduced key features such as one-tap pairing with Apple devices and in-ear detection for autoplay/pause functionality. It delivers enhanced audio quality compared to wired EarPods and sets a new standard for battery life in a compact, completely wireless design.”
(McRumors).
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