IFixit’s teardown of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro gives us a look at the innards of the smaller iPad Pro. While there’s slightly improved capacity on the battery despite the auto-balancing four speakers, the smaller iPad Pro gets a low repairability score due to the difficulty involved getting it open, and very few user-replaceable parts inside once it is.
First impressions from customers of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro say that it’s a major improvement over the iPad Air that it replaced. The True Tone display is polarising, and despite everyone’s concerns about the camera bump affecting how the device lays flat on a table, there’s absolutely no wobble.
The bill of materials cost for the iPhone SE starts somewhere around the US$160 mark, according to estimate. Price drops on components such as the display since they were used in the iPhone 5s contribute to the lower cost of the device overall, and credit should be given to MacRumors for noting that a simple component costing is not a good indicator of how much every iPhone costs Apple, given the other expenses such as research and development, software, and distribution, among others.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said iPhone sales will fall this year, with total iPhone shipments falling below 200 million units. Kuo also says that sales of the next iPhone will be below that of the iPhone 6s.
Kuo also writes in his investor note that the dual-camera system will be a feature exclusive to the Plus-sized iPhone, which isn’t anything new. Dual-camera rumours have been around for a while now, but whether Apple will make them a Plus-exclusive will be another thing, as it seems like quite the differentiator.
Recent improvements to Siri means the personal assistant now knows a lot more about baseball. Both US and international baseball leagues are supported, with Siri able to pull statistics for thousands of past and present players.
Investigations into Apple’s use of an Irish tax haven will take a little while longer, due to the sheer amount of data involved in the case.
Frasier Spiers has given Apple Classroom a bit of a workout, and he’s written up some of his impressions on his blog.
Speculation on whether Apple will ever release a VR product from Michael Gartenberg says that the challenges facing VR are something Apple doesn’t really want to get into right now.
I have to agree with The Verge when they say Apple’s most iconic product is their on-stage showmanship, the magic show of the product reveal. Even before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, Macworld Keynotes were filled with all kinds of weird stunts — although the humour is a little more low-key these days, it’s still there.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/04/tuesday-morning-news050416/