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Why? The displays. At least according to the Korean site, “The Elec”
They say Apple is talking with both Samsung and LG Display about 11.1-inch and 13-inch OLED panels for the next iPad Pros
But Apple is requiring things for the move from LCD to OLED that been done before in panels of this size
Apple wants panels with two emission layers instead of one, like they have in current iPad displays. This means having panels with a two-stack tandem structure. It allows the panels to have double the brightness and up to four times the lifespan
They also want versions that use tech like low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO), thin film transistors (TFT), and a hybrid OLED structure so they can have thinner panels that are more energy efficient.
All this means higher component costs for Apple, really more than doubling the cost of the displays and it’s believed at least some of the costs would be passed on to consumers.
Looks like the iPhone SE is “not quite dead yet” despite what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said a few months ago
Now Kuo has apparently reversed his opinion.
Now he thinks Apple is working on a 6.1-inch iPhone SE that will be similar to the standard iPhone 14 with an OLED display and an Apple designed 5G modem
There was no timeframe given, but likely not until next year.
Some recent reports say that Qualcomm’s CEO has indicated that Apple has not approached them to discuss modem orders for 2024, so it could be Apple is closer to having something ready then previous reports have indicated.
A few bits of International news
The iOS 16.4 beta for HomePod seems to have enabled Hebrew language for Siri. Could indicate a pending release of the HomePod in Israel
Apple announced the expansion of it’s Silicon Design Center in Munich.
The company will be making a 1 billion Euro investment to design and construct a "state-of-the-art research facility" for their R&D teams to push their chip design efforts even further
Apple’s revamped Maps app is rolled out to Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Providing more detail, improved navigation, custom-designed 3D models of popular landmarks, immersive turn-by-turn walking directions with augmented reality, and more.
It also brings Look Around to those countries
A bevy of iPhone odds & ends
This week we have iPhone news, but really in some various tidbits
We are pretty sure the iPhone 15s will ditch Lightning for USB-C.
Now more reports that USB-C accessories will still need to be certified by Apple's own Made for iPhone (MFi) program
Un-certified devices will likely work, but still have the “device not supported” messaging and things like charging rates or transfer rates could be limited.
BOE is reportedly making the 6.1-inch panels for the iPhone 15 models and struggling to meet some of Apple’s specs
Specific tolerances for light leakage around the pill and hole cutouts for the cameras which would effect the Dynamic Island functionality
Predictions from industry experts via a DigiTimes report that the iPhone 15 Pro will trigger significant upgrade numbers from existing iPhone owners
They thing the updated 3nm A17 processor will excite these consumers
And the A17 will be limited to the Pro models
Should bring a 35% power efficiency improvement
With the move to a solid state button they volume buttons are likely to be a single “rocker” style button
The mute “switch” may also become a single button
Display analyst Ross Young still thinks Apple will transition to under display FaceID technology with the release of the iPhone 16 Pro in 2024. Followed by under-screen front camera on iPhone 18 Pro models in 2026
A Weibo post says Apple will release a new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in Yellow this spring
An Apple Silicon MacPro is coming
Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing reiterated in an “India Today” interview that Apple remains committed to transitioning the “entire” Mac line to Apple Silicon
Of course he did not make any kind of an announcement or mention any timeline.
You may have noticed Apple is just a bit behind on their original commitment to have the Mac transitioned in “about two years”
Mark Gurman claims the next 24-inch iMac has reached an "advanced stage of development,"
He says it will have an M3 chip, internal design changes, and a new manufacturing process for the stand and be arriving in the second half of 2023 at the earliest.
He also still expects an updated 13-inch MacBook Air and a larger 15-inch MacBook Air "between late spring and summer”, but is unsure about which chip Apple will feature in these machines. Would it be an M3 or an updated M2 (current 13-inch uses an M2 5nm)
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
Question about display resolutions
David is finally upgrading an aging 2010 iMac and getting a new m2 Mac mini.
Doesn’t need a really fancy display and has been looking at less expensive options like QHD / WQHD display. 2560 x 1440 resolution display. in 24-inches or 27-inches. vs a 4K (3840 x 2160)
But in his research he’s running across some folks who say that a 2560 x 1440 display is not a good resolution for the Mac
The gist is that at that resolution you basically have to options for running the display resolution.
At the native resolution 1:1 pixels, you’ll get the best screen real estate, but objects on the display like menus and text will appear physically pretty small.
Macs and macOS generally are setup to use screens as “high DPI’ where it will use more than 1 physical pixel to display a single “virtual” pixel. Generally 4:1
So in High DPI mode your resolution is 1280 x 720. This is good for readability, but you sacrifice screen real estate
The argument goes that a 4K display is better because at HiDPI it splits the difference. You get the best of both worlds with a 1920 X 1080 resolution and screen real estate.
I think a lot of this is going to come down to personal preference in many instances, but I understand the argument
4K displays have come down in price, but you’re likely still in the $300 range or so. You can get a 24 or 27-inch non-4K display probably almost half that or less.
In macOS you can go into the display settings and play around with the options
“Larger Text” or “More Space” and maybe adjust the “virtual” pixels.
These option may or may not be available with some displays or connections (like HDMI)
Also, they can tend to make images soft or blurry because you’re subdividing virtual pixels in a unequal way. Where parts of pixels are essentially “bleeding” into other pixels.
When you're in the display settings if you hover over the options “Default”, “More Space”, etc. it will display the resolution of that settings.
