Economic Daily News is out with a fresh report that sideswipes its way into saying Apple may just put an M-series chip into iPads… presumably the next iPad Pro. And… maybe even a 3 nanometer M-series chip, even more advanced than the current M1. An M2 or M3 maybe. So, I’m just going to read through the report and give you my reactions, live to video. And I’m going to do it right now.
One year later, I think Apple TV+ is doing something novel and interesting — massive international rollout with a slate of original, non-franchise content reminiscent of the HBO days of yore. Christina Warren, former USA Today, Mashable, Gizmodo — thinks, after The Mandalorian 2, we’re going to find Disney+ and their massive brands are now fully operational.
Watch the extended version on Nebula:
Facebook has just taken out not one but two, full-page newspaper ads, trashing Apple for the new iOS 14 prompt that forces apps to ask permission before they can track you across other apps and the web, calling it an all-out assault on small businesses and the free internet. Probably babies too. Maybe puppies.
And if you’re thinking newspaper ads, small businesses, and free not as in dom, what does this have to do with a tracking popup on the iPhone? Well, you’re not alone. I don’t think I’ve gotten this many requests for a video since Tim Epic stream sniped hundreds of millions of iOS users right off of Fortnite.
But, plot twist, I’ve already made that video. I just made it for Apple Talk, the podcast I host with psychotherapist Georgia Dow.
Apple absolutely will not tell you how much RAM is in an iPhone. They will hide how many milliamp hours the battery is. They won't even reveal the clock speed of their custom chipsets — it's not listed on the spec sheet. You can't even turn your own damn AirPods on or off your own damn self.
But why, though?
https://www.imore.com/why-apple-doesnt-talk-ram-battery-size-or-clock-speed
*That’s according to some research and analysis companies conducting a soft target search of every carrier store, rep, web search, back-of-house, henhouse, outhouse and presumably doghouse in a 5-mile radius. And saying "the iPhone 12 mini might not be a big hit."
But with Apple releasing an unprecedented 5 new phones this year, including not just a smaller, less expensive SE but splitting the market between a smaller mini and a less expensive SE, what is consumer demand really showing us to date?
To find out, I called up one of the best and brightest industry analysts in the business, Creative Strategies’ own Carolina Milanesi.
Watch the extended version on Nebula:
https://watchnebula.com/videos/reneritchie-why-iphone-12-mini-is-doomed-finally
Categories
The TRUTH About the Apple Ecosystem
Everyone always talks about the Apple Ecosystem. That it is. How it is. But I’m going to do you one better — I’m going to tell you why it is. And how it works. Just works. Sometimes.
How Apple gets you hooked and, most importantly how each product you buy makes all the other products you own just that much more valuable.
Categories
iPhone 13 — Touch ID Leak Bombs!
The iPhone X ditched Touch ID for Face ID. Now… the iPhone 13 just might be bringing Touch ID back. But.. Probably not in the way you expect and… probably not for the reasons you think.
Rumors of Touch ID coming back to the iPhone have been making the rounds for… a long time now.
In May of 2019, Financial Analyst Blayne Curtis said in a research note that:
2020 iPhones will have more significant changes, including 5G support, 3D sensing via the rear camera system, and acoustic fingerprint technology that could allow for full-screen Touch ID
And, yeah, well… two out of three ain’t bad, especially from back then.
In August of 2019, financial analyst and supply chain exfiltrator extraordinaire Kuo Ming-Chi pushed that date back to 2021, saying:
Apple will launch the new iPhone equipped with both Face ID and FOD to enhance security and convenience thanks to the multi-biometrics.
Just last week, Jon Prosser said he heard Touch ID was indeed in this year’s prototypes.
And there have also been parallel rumors about a next-generation iPhone SE Plus. Like an iPhone XR but with Touch ID instead of Face ID to keep costs down. Full screen, but with either in-display Touch ID or power button Touch ID, like Apple just shipped in the 2020 iPad Air.
Which, the latter of course, for an SE, yes, sure, makes just all the sense in the world that does.
But for the iPhone 13… why go to all the trouble of deleting Touch ID with the iPhone X in 2017 just to bring it back with the iPhone 13… or whatever Apple calls the 2021 iPhone in… 2021.
Well, see… the thing is… because the goal was never to delete Touch ID in the first place. Or even to make it. Or make Face ID.
Wait… I know… I know… That sounds just all shades of bananas, but the thing is… Touch ID and Face ID have always only ever been two different ways for Apple to achieve the one same basic goal — to make iPhone security more convenient.
To make unlocking the iPhone so easy people would be willing to lock it in the first place. Which, back before Touch ID, turns out a huge amount of people just weren’t even doing.
So, when Apple deleted the Home button in 2017, they knew they’d have delete Touch ID, their fingerprint identity scanner, along with it. I mean, that or move it.
And, back then, in-screen fingerprint identity scanners just weren’t ready for prime time, and putting regular old Touch ID on the back just seemed ordinary, common place. Worse… stuck in place. Failing to move forward. Whatever the opposite is of a wicked flex.
But with Face ID, a facial geometry identity scanner, Apple saw the opportunity to, sure, do something that would be really hard for anyone else to duplicate, like for years, but that would also be even more convenient. Everything else being equal, almost transparent.
As in, you didn’t even have to press a Home button to unlock your iPhone any more. You just had to look at it.
But, just like Touch ID wouldn’t work at a distance, like in a dock or car mount, or with gloves on or when your finger was wet, Face ID wouldn’t work at an angle, like on a table or shelf, or with a mask on.
And neither could be used for multi-factor authentication because, counter-intuitive as it may seem, if you force both passcode and fingerprint, for example, and then burn or cut your finger, you’re locked out of your phone. Unless you add a recovery key or security token, and then you’re dealing with even greater complexity. Which is… the opposite of convenience.
So, sure, when he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his men were well motivated.
Apple burned Touch ID. As a result the Face ID teams were well motivated. And… they… managed to ship.
But that was then. This is now. And with the early optical versions of in-display fingerprint identity scanners behind us, the kind that needed to light up and could be fairly easily spoofed by prosthetics, and the first couple generations of ultrasonics, which essentially used radar instead of photos, far more mature… Apple can say… pour ques no los dos?
Using their own acoustic in-display fingerprint identity scanner patents, Qualcomm’s ultrasonic patents — which I believe came with the licenses Apple took along with the 5G settlement and everything else — they can probably field a best-in-class next-generation in display Touch ID fairly soon.
And that, along with Face ID, means it wouldn’t matter if you were at a distance or at an angle, or if you had gloves on or a mask on, or if your finger was wet. Both systems would just fire and whichever one wins… well, we win either way.
Because it’s never been about just Touch ID or Face ID, right? It’s been about making iPhone security ever more convenient.
And not having to worry about the peccadilloes of one particular form of biometrics or another… you can look… or touch.
And I’ll do you one better — Apple long ago abstracted the security frameworks anyway, so all the iOS and Apple Pay and app features don’t care where the authentication token comes from, Touch ID or Face ID, they just care about the authentication token.
So, in other words, Apple could do this tomorrow… or next fall… and it would already all just work. Together. Amazingly well.
iOS 14.3 is here and Apple ProRAW for the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max is here with it. And to talk all about it, I’ve got Austin Mann on the line, who’s taken just a few minutes off from what I can only imagine must be filming the Yo-Yo Ma performing a pop-up concert for elephants in Gauteng, or writing up the next definitive iPhone camera review, to chat just all about it.
Watch the extended version on Nebula:
https://watchnebula.com/videos/reneritchie-apple-proraw-is-here-iphone-12-pro-pro-max-full
I think Apple should bring multitouch, capacitive touch screens to the Mac and that, post-iPhone, any screen that doesn’t respond to touch is just going to feel broken. John Gruber of Daring Fireball and The Talk Show fame thinks macOS and Mac hardware just aren’t optimized for touch and adding it would only make the Mac worse.
So, we’re going to argue about it. From macOS Big Sur to iOS apps on the Mac to Apple Pencil support. For you. Right now.
Watch the extended version on Nebula:
https://watchnebula.com/videos/reneritchie-touch-screen-macs-the-great-debate-feat-john-gruber-full
Categories
Is Chrome Killing Your MacBook?
Google Chrome might just be thrashing performance on your Mac. And I’m going to explain why, how, and most importantly — what you can do about it. And I’m going to do it, right now.
Because… this is a breaking controversy, with some people ready throw Chrome in a burning trash fire and others saying there’s no proof, and even talking about it is reckless and shameful.
But I think talking about it in a fair and upfront and as reasonable a way is how we get to the truth, so hit the subscribe button and bell, so you don’t miss a single update. Because this is going to be fire.
Read all about it in my iMore column:
https://www.imore.com/google-chromes-updater-killing-mac-performance