Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/01/monday-morning-news140119/
The Wall Street Journal claims Apple will be releasing an iPhone this year with a triple-lens rear-facing camera setup, with recent renders adding fuel to the fire. The move to three rear-facing cameras will only be on the higher-end "2019 XS Max", with the regular XR also said to be going from one rear-facing camera to two. MacRumours tells us about the possibilities a triple-lens setup would afford, including improved 3D sensing, even more zoom, and improved low-light performance, all of which sounds great and all, but I’m just not so sure about having an even larger camera bump.
Sources within Apple’s supply chain are saying that AirPower has entered production and will be coming soon, with not one, but two sources claiming that current Apple manufacturing partners Luxshare Precision and Pegatron have begun production of the fabled charging mat. We’ll probably never know if AirPower’s delay was due to engineering or technical challenges associated with the design of allowing multiple devices to charge simultaneously in a variety of orientations, but three layers of coils in an 8-7-7 design certainly seems to suggest that’s the case.
Apple is facing two class-action lawsuits over failing to warn investors about slowing iPhone demand, which is just about the craziest thing I’ve read about Apple in 2019, and should give you some idea as to what is going on in the US right now. It seems unlikely that any of these lawsuits will result in any kind of legal action, but I guess you never know.
In its Chinese New Year gift guide, Apple has shown off a pair of Beats Solo3 headphones with a pretty cool-looking Chinese New Year design. Silver Wing Grey is a tasteful rendition of the Beats Solo3 headphones, with some nice graphics accompanying gold-coloured accents and logos. Unlike the other special Beats we’ve seen recently, this one appears to be a China exclusive.
US airline United has shared some statistics about its largest global account, which turns out to be Apple. Apple’s United account accounts for $150 million in annual revenue, with the San Francisco-Shanghai route accounting for $35 million of that, 25% of Apple’s annual spending, which works out to 50 business class seats per day. While there’s nothing stopping United from promoting its own business, deciding to share stats about its largest corporate client seems like an interesting move.
The Verge has a list of the first 11 apps you should be installing on your Mac. Not all of the apps will be for everyone, but like every other one of these "best-of" app lists, the idea is that you’ll be picking and choosing the ones you haven’t tried yet, or confirming your own good decisions about the best third-party notes app, or the best third-party image editor.
A post on using the iPad Pro as a main computer talks through the shortcomings of the Surface Pro 4, the delight of using the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, and even how it compares to Apple’s Mac hardware (it’s faster, and has a longer-lasting battery). And like every other one of these posts, even has a section on some things the iPad Pro can do better.
Design Camera for macOS lets you create, capture, and animate 3D mockups of your apps running on real devices, but that’s just what the website copy says. What it actually does is make your apps look great, whether you’re creating a short video for your Twitter feed, or an A-class animation to use on your app’s website.
9to5Mac wonders if Apple should bring the 2018 iPad Pro design to the next iPhone. Many people think the iPhone 4 and 5 were the best iPhone designs ever, and I think a return to that form factor would be welcomed by just as many. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with the current iPhone design, and the curved edges make it nice to hold.
But if we’re talking about the best design, then we’d be remiss to not talk about the 12-inch PowerBook G4. This Mac laptop was from an entirely different era now, but there was something about the form-factor that made it special and instantly recognisable, among many other unique selling points, as pointed out by 512 Pixels.