Originally published at: https://appletalk.com.au/2019/09/thursday-morning-news050919/
A leaked internal document paints a picture about what next week’s Apple event will have in store. It looks like the rumoured "iPhone 11" and "iPhone 11 Pro" nomenclature are a lock, if the document is anything to go by, although AppleInsider notes that there are parts of the 10-page document that are inconsistent with previous leaks, putting the overall document into question. In any case, the doc does tell us what will be revealed next week: three new iPhones, four new Apple Watch models, and the release of iOS 13, macOS Catalina, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 on September 23.
A thorough dissertation of iPhone naming conventions from John Gruber says that while it would be nice if Apple could drop the number from the iPhone, that probably won’t happen due to a number of factors which include how previous iPhones hang around to offer an iPhone lineup at most price points. That said, the most likely outcome is that Apple goes with the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max naming this year, no matter what you think about usage of the "pro" moniker in something other than the professional context. That’s a whole other kettle of fish.
But as for what features we’d like to see in these pro-named iPhones, well, Macworld’s iPhone wishlist covers what the rumours have said so far, and what would still be nice to have. It seems that it’s impossible to talk about the new iPhone without talking about the naming convention, because while camera improvements are great and all, but what about a little marketing simplification on the side? No other Apple products are named based on screen size, so why is the iPhone?
While you’re putting together that Apple Event bingo card, add another square for an Apple TV refresh. The AppleTV11,1, if it’s a real thing, purportedly bumps the on-board processor to an Apple A12, compared to the A10X of the current Apple TV 4K. It’s been a while since we’ve seen an Apple TV speed bump, but I’m glad they’re still a thing if only so Apple TV hardware doesn’t get left in the dust as newer A-series chips continue to drive higher and higher performance.
It’s hard to know whether new rumours of an iPhone SE successor are exactly that, or whether they’re attempting to fit a rumour of a cheaper, lower-cost iPhone with a smaller display into an iPhone SE-sized hole, but whatever device Apple is planning, it’s said to have a smaller display than the iPhone 8, many of the same internal components of this year’s iPhones, but a much lower-cost LCD display. That’s a pretty specific guess, and with no less than three sources claiming the same thing it’s hard to dismiss, but it still seems a lot like wishful thinking, or the Apple rumour-mill attempting to package a rumour in a more palatable form in the absence of any real information.
9to5Mac seems to land in the latter camp, saying that while it would be nice if Apple released a sequel to a device that was wildly popular, the devil is in the details, and in this case, the rumour reads a lot like this iPhone will simply be an update to the iPhone 8, albeit in a smaller form factor. It is curious that Apple would deliberately engineer a smaller display if they weren’t going for an iPhone SE device, but there’s nothing about the slab design or form-factor that suggest that this will be anything like the iPhone SE.
Apple is temporarily relaxing some app notarisation requirements to ease the transition to macOS Catalina for developers. I can see where Apple is coming from: while they want developers to be using the most up-to-date APIs, building their apps against the most up-to-date platform available, they also recognise that the macOS landscape/install base is a lot different than the iOS one, and that there are still plenty of users that use apps on older versions. Developers have until January 2020 to adopt the new requirements for app notarisation.
Apple and Burberry have developed a personalised retail chat service for anyone shopping for Burberry items. The pilot for the "R Message" service is being run via the internal Burberry app, allowing VIPs to book in-store appointments, receive personalised item recommendations, and "buy products more directly", whatever that means in the context of luxury goods.
Speaking of luxury goods, Hermès recently listed Series 5"watch bands on its online store, but quickly took them down after someone notice. I mean, we all know there’s going to be a new Apple Watch released this year, but I guess someone at Apple wanted it to be kept under wraps until they’ve had a chance to reveal it themselves.
MacStories covers the massively improved game controller support included as part of iOS 13. It’s been six years since Apple included support for controllers on iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV, but as it turns out, very few people want to buy a controller they can only use with one device that isn’t a dedicated gaming console. But being able to use your PS4 or Xbox One controller on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV? That’s the stuff, right there.