Apple leaker Sonny Dickson claims his sources say the iPhone 11 and 11 Pros have bilateral charging hardware, but Apple has disabled it in software.
Kuo had said Apple cancelled the feature possible because the charging efficiency did not meet Apple’s requirements
Not a surprise, but they have gigabit Intel LTE modems.
Batteries appear to be up to 20-25 percent larger on the iPhone Pro models. The Max has an L shaped batter that could be a single cell.
Geek bench scores seem to indicate ALL of this years iPhone models are shipping with 4GB of RAM
Apple Watch Titanium IS lighter than the stainless steel model, but NOT by 45 percent
Apple had wrong specs in the marketing and tech specs on their site and that has been corrected.
Series 5 CPU seems to be the same S4 chip as in the Series 4
Apple TV+ is just 99 Rupees a month, or about USD $1.40
India only gets a 7 day free trial as opposed to a month in other markets
U1 chips untapped potential
Right now Apple is using it just to pinpoint other devices for AirDrop
Rumors about that Apple “tracker”
Can detect items down to an accuracy of 10cm and be further tuned to about 5mm
UWB uses time-of-flight calculations to come up with an accurate distance
Has a directional antennae, so can also detect direction and the angle of an incoming signal
Transfer speeds up to 27 megabits per second
Kuo expects demand to be good
He thinks demand is ahead of expectations based on online shipping estimates following pre-orders
In the US the iPhone 11 Pro seems to be out selling the iPhone 11. The reverse seems to be true in China.
New colors, Midnight Green, green and purple seem to be very popular
Though says production problems with the midnight green phone have been keeping it’s supply constrained.
Says upgrades are being helped by the trade-ins and zero interest payment plans
Raised his estimate for 2019 new iPhone shipments up about 5 million units to 70-75 million
Apple has filed for a trademark on the word “Slofie”. Honestly they can have it because nobody else wants to use it.
iPhone XR ‘saved’ Apple
At least according to the global affiliate marketing firm Awin
They say that model outsold the iPhone XS models at launch and has sold consistently well since
I take issue with a few of their statements
“Saved Apple”
For the average consumer the price savings was “worth” the loss of features
Many users were upgrading from something and the XR is a lot of phone
The iPhone XR is also profitable for Apple
Likely a BIG reason for the iPhone 11
Their data showed Apple gained brand share against Samsung and Google in 2019.
App Store billing grace period
Apple has added a “grace” period for apps that require a subscription.
The idea is that you won’t lose access to the app or services if there is a momentary issue with your payment
You can continue to use the app and the features you paid for while things get sorted
The grace period will vary depending on the terms of the subscription
A six day grace period on weekly subscriptions
16 day grace period on longer subscriptions.
Developers will continue to get revenue without interruption if a successful payment is made within the grace period.
Apple has expanded 3% cash back on Apple Card Apple Pay payments to Walgreens
Apple TV+ benefits from iPhone Sales
Goldman Sachs points out that Apple doesn’t record all revenue from iPhone sales as hardware revenue
They treat it as a hardware / software “bundle”
It takes the “cost” of free services offered, like iCloud, and applies that to Services revenue
The concern is that this years free year of Apple TV+ (~USD $60) will have a significant impact on Apple’s iPhone hardware revenue numbers and that will freak out investors.
Goldman thinks so much it could give Apple stock up to a 26% down kick.
Stock disclosure
Apple responded saying that they do not expect Apple TV+ to have a “material impact” on their financial results.
Apple TV+ News
Apple couldn’t land Bad Robot and JJ Abrams because they wanted exclusivity
Bad Robot ultimately turned down a lot more money, reportedly $500 million, from Apple and stuck with WarnerMedia because they wanted to be able to produce shows for other services
The reports say Apple’s terms would have also limited Abrams ability to do projects for other studios and Apple’s lack of original IP that could be adapted into shows or films.
There were also concerns over Apple’s lack of a theatrical distribution model
Even without an Apple exclusive deal J.J. Abrams is still working with Apple on at least three projects.
"Little Voice," "My Glory Was I Had Such Friends," and the adaptation of the Stephen King novel "Lisey's Story."
Disney’s Bob Iger leaves Apple’s board
The details came out in an SEC filing, but were not a surprise
It had been speculated this would happen once Apple announced their streaming service due to the perceived conflict of interest
Back in April Iger said he had been careful to recuse himself at board meetings when the subject of the Apple TV+ service would come up.
Iger had been on the board at Apple for eight years.
New shows coming
“El Gato Negro”, based on a Mexican comic book, coming
Robert Rodriguez will direct and executive produce
Diego Boneta will produce and also star in the series
“Shantaram” is a series based on the novels by Gregory David Roberts
The story focuses on a convict named Lin who escapes from an Australian prison and flees to the city of Bombay
It will star Charlie Hunnam who has starred in Sons of Anarchy, King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword and Pacific Rim.
“The Mosquito Coast” based on the novel by Paul Theroux
Will start Justin Theroux, and no you didn’t hear that wrong. Justin is Paul’s nephew.
Mosquito Coast was done as a movie in 80’s starring Harrison Ford, River Phoenix, and Helen Mirren
It is the story of brilliant inventor Allie Fox takes his family to live in the Honduran jungle, determined to build a civilization
Leaked iPad with ‘Cracker’ bump
Again from Sonny Dickson
Said to be a “Design mock-up”
Lenses are not in the same position as on the iPhone 11 Pros.
Square orientation with the flash in the lower right.
Also no glass cover. With just a square metal frame looks like it’s just “plopped” on the back.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Ordering the iPhone 11 Pro
Share my experience
Paid off my existing payment plan prior to the order date since I'm handing it down and not turning it in
Set-up and got approval for the iPhone Upgrade Program in advance
Had to choose the option to get a new loan and get pre-approved since I wan't continuing with my existing program
Down side is this probably dinged my credit
On order day
Took about a minute for the App to let me in.
Tapped buy, FaceID for Apple Pay, order was complete.
Start to finish in under a minute
Went for a midnight green 256GB model
Also ordered a new Meyer Lemon leather case since, my old case won't work with the new camera bump.
Apple TV app not “recommended”
I’m already discussed this, but some listener feedback this week reminded me what an issue this really is.
Ken wrote to share his experience
Was using the TV app to watch a series he had purchased via iTunes
Later the next episode was in his “Up Next”, but when he played it had ads in it
Confused he though at first Apple was injecting ads into his purchased content
Really what happened is the TV app had linked him to a version of the show through a channel on Amazon prime
I “get” why Apple made the changes they did when they added “Channels”, but it has completely ruined the user experience for me to the point where i no longer prefer to use the TV app
That make me sad
“Recommendations” for content I don’t own or don’t want to buy are completely useless.
It’s be like them promoting a killer new feature on a phone that is NOT an iPhone and then heavily handedly trying to get me to buy it
Apple has managed to make what might be the worst "freemium" app on iOS.
This behavior should NOT be the default and we need
A way to opt out of the hard up sell
Or at least a way to have “recommended” content more clearly labeled as, “you can’t access this content without paying up first”.
At least some sort of segregation of owned/subscribed vs. stuff you can access
I also HATE that Amazon content doesn’t distinguish between what is available through Prime Video and what it’s a Prime Channel
Like Showtime which is now a double whammy because it is an Apple TV Channel and an Amazon Prime Channel.
The whole point is the TV app was supposed to “simplify and unify” the TV experience.
Most frustrating was that it’s WAS doing that and then they broke it.
To help you navigate this maze here’s a tip if you click on a recommended show:
Do NOT click the big blue button that says “Play” or “Play Episode”
Scroll down to the “How to watch” section to see where it is available and which services you might have free access to
Or just use the services App which defeats the whole purpose of the Apple TV app, but oh well.
No, I'm not bitter. Why?
Apple Arcade is a winner
I lucked out and got early beta access to Apple Arcade and it's AMAZING
I have been sampling a handful of the 64 titles that are currently available and so far each one has been unique, innovative, well designed, visually engaging, and most of all FUN.
The quality of ALL the titles I have tried has been top notch
Developers not having to pressure you for in app purchases or micro transactions has really let them focus on the gameplay and the result are stunning
I ran across one title that does have a "Store", but it uses currency you earn during gameplay to let you "buy" more levels and content. It's an in game element, reward system, that makes the game more fun. It's not oppressive and soul crushing.
Some titles I have tried so far:
Sayonara Wild Hearts, Patterned, Shinsekai Deep Sea, Tint, Hot Lava, Where Cards Fall, Dear Reader
There have only been a few downsides so far
Not all titles seem to support external game controllers, though many do
I can see storage becoming an issue. Some title do run in the 1GB+ range for storage
The value here is real if you are a moderate level or up game player. It also might convert some more casual players into player that play more.
I do have a small concern at what this might do to other titles outside the Arcade?
best case scenario is devs see that there are MANY of us who HATE IAP and freemium and are willing to PAY to play.
worst case, it pushes games out of the App Store or to more heavily adopt the "freemium" model to compete.
I also have concern for the developers as there seems to be a lot of unanswered questions about how they make their money
We know up front that Apple partnered with some developers even providing funding in some cases
Do they each share a pool of money? How is it divided? Equally? By download? By playtime?
What happens as the number of titles grow?
Is it sustainable?
Closing
Supporters
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