This week on AI: New MacBook Pro leaks, 256GB 'iPhone 7,' Apple's new iPhone design cycle & more

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2016
Although there weren't any earthshaking developments this week, we did get more teases about the future of the iPhone and the Macbook Pro -- including suggestions that Apple might be moving to a slower, three-year cycle for major iPhone upgrades.




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Everything you need to know:



  • Photos of an alleged MacBook Pro chassis showed an OLED touch bar slot, four USB ports, and no MagSafe > >
  • Both 'iPhone 7' models may come in 256GB capacities > >
  • Many of Apple's internet services suffered a critical outage on Thursday > >
  • Apple may be moving to 3-year 'major' iPhone cycle, and adding complex vibrations to the 2017 model > >
  • Apple probably won't release a GPU-equipped Thunderbolt Retina display anytime soon > >
  • Apple Pay gained support for BMO, TD and Scotiabank in Canada > >
  • Apple launched its 2016 Back to School sale, offering free Beats headphones alongside some products > >


For in-depth discussion of this week's hottest stories, listen to the AppleInsider podcast. Subscribe here, or stream the embed below:



A roundup of all of our hottest stories this week:



Photos of purported MacBook Pro chassis surface with OLED touch bar slot, four USB ports, no MagSafe

Both 'iPhone 7' and 'iPhone 7 Plus' will come in 256GB capacities - report

Apple internet services suffer wide outage, iCloud, App Stores, Apple TV, iTunes, others down

Apple moving to 3-year 'major' iPhone cycle, adding complex vibrations to 2017 model - report

Apple won't release a GPU-equipped Thunderbolt Retina 5K display anytime soon - report

Apple Pay adds support for BMO, TD and Scotiabank in Canada

Indian government publicly rejects Apple's desire to sell used iPhones

Apple beefs up 2016 Back to School sale, offers free Beats with Mac, iPhone or iPad purchase

Apple issues new iOS 9.3.2 update to address update errors on 9.7" iPad Pro

Patent office gives Apple upper-hand in Smartflash lawsuit by invalidating two patents

Apple issues $1.04 billion in second round of Australian bonds

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    I don't understand why apple would want 3 years between major update.   it would seem to be counter productive considering the rapid advancements in technology.
    rfrmac6Sgoldfish
  • Reply 2 of 14
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    No new hardware at WWDC according to Gurman.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    wizard69 said:
    I don't understand why apple would want 3 years between major update.   it would seem to be counter productive considering the rapid advancements in technology.
    This can change at any time.
    edited June 2016 cornchip
  • Reply 4 of 14
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    Siri, give my friend Bob 20 bucks... better yet, loan Bob 20 bucks, request signature. Happy face.

    Micro payments will be big.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,103member
    I don't understand this "3 year cycle for major upgrades" BS.   Except for the 3 to 4 cycle, the number change corresponded with a screen size change.  Is that the only thing that's considered major?

    Going to 64 bit and adding ID Touch was a "minor" upgrade?  That was an "S" update.

    Apple will add any USEFUL improvements as they become deployable.  They're not going to wait 2 years to add an upgrade just to make it "major".

    patchythepirateurahara
  • Reply 6 of 14
    Any idea if the 4.7' one might get at least a 1080P display? Surely go in line with the 5.5' and give us real Retina please
  • Reply 7 of 14
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    wizard69 said:
    I don't understand why apple would want 3 years between major update.   it would seem to be counter productive considering the rapid advancements in technology.

    Could be they're getting close to a Liquidmetal body but won't be ready for this cycle so they're reusing the 6 - 6S design for one more year.



    Wishful thinking, I know.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Apple pretty frequently had repeated cloud outages or hiccups ahead of WWDC. I would assume that they have begun to upgrade their servers to support new features to be introduced for developer testing. Given the reliability of these "updates" in recent years, they can't test enough.

    What strikes me in an ironic way is that whole 256 GB thing (which I otherwise appreciate since all my 128 GB devices are full)... Apple does not have to assume how much the(ir) cloud is a failure overall, they must know it. Every single year new large capacity iPhones are out of stock, even at their pretty high prices. And with the reliability of iCloud Music Library, iCloud Drive and photo syncing (rather: the utter absence of any reliability and files showing up after days, if ever, and then not always in the correct version), I surely do want more storage on the devices myself. As much as I appreciate imaginative and futuristic solutions, the most reliable and fast way to get data onto my iDevices is still iTunes Sync, so why does it have to suck that much? Why can't my iPhone or iPad just show up in the Finder when connected (and be accessible by great tools such as ChronoSync, which would make my life much easier than anything Apple is offering)? Why can't I still get some stupid data off a USB stick or drive, since that it what everybody is offering me data on (and I do not want to give every dick and Harry my email address)? Since iCloud does not offer any sharing capability whatsoever (not even those iDisk had over a decade ago), it is not even a remote solution anyhow. And since iDevices can now officially connect via Ethernet (via the great - it simply works - solution involving device to Lightning to USB dongle with external power to USB-to-Ethernet adapter), where is the bloody GUI to configure it? It is great that >$100 and the better part of a Pound in accessories can give me something that was standard on every device before Apple improved it – but now give me a box where I can enter my proxy and gateway, because, you know, the world where you can do without these things only exists in marketing videos.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    NYChaosNYChaos Posts: 2member
    Any idea if the 4.7' one might get at least a 1080P display? Surely go in line with the 5.5' and give us real Retina please
    Any idea if the 4.7' one might get at least a 1080P display? Surely go in line with the 5.5' and give us real Retina please
    Any idea if the 4.7' one might get at least a 1080P display? Surely go in line with the 5.5' and give us real Retina please
    1080p 4.7" screen? Who cares? You can't tell the difference when the display is that small :)
    urahara
  • Reply 10 of 14
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    ireland said:
    No new hardware at WWDC according to Gurman.
    Oh this will piss people off...never mind its a software developer conference. I'd rather the OS's be the star of the show instead of some piece of hardware they can announce at any time. I know they've released new hardware in the past there, but it seems to be like they'd be better off sticking to software as the primary focus at WWDC. 
    cornchip
  • Reply 11 of 14
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    macxpress said:
    ireland said:
    No new hardware at WWDC according to Gurman.
    Oh this will piss people off...never mind its a software developer conference. I'd rather the OS's be the star of the show instead of some piece of hardware they can announce at any time. I know they've released new hardware in the past there, but it seems to be like they'd be better off sticking to software as the primary focus at WWDC. 
    Hardware has almost always been part of WWDC in some form or another. Without the stimulation of hardware developer wouldn't have much to do software wise.   Besides hardware debits barely take any time at all, a few minutes in a Keynote out of a week long conference.  The marketing and social pay off is huge. 
    6Sgoldfish
  • Reply 12 of 14
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member

    dreyfus2 said:
    Apple pretty frequently had repeated cloud outages or hiccups ahead of WWDC. I would assume that they have begun to upgrade their servers to support new features to be introduced for developer testing. Given the reliability of these "updates" in recent years, they can't test enough.

    What strikes me in an ironic way is that whole 256 GB thing (which I otherwise appreciate since all my 128 GB devices are full)... Apple does not have to assume how much the(ir) cloud is a failure overall, they must know it. Every single year new large capacity iPhones are out of stock, even at their pretty high prices. And with the reliability of iCloud Music Library, iCloud Drive and photo syncing (rather: the utter absence of any reliability and files showing up after days, if ever, and then not always in the correct version), I surely do want more storage on the devices myself. As much as I appreciate imaginative and futuristic solutions, the most reliable and fast way to get data onto my iDevices is still iTunes Sync, so why does it have to suck that much? Why can't my iPhone or iPad just show up in the Finder when connected (and be accessible by great tools such as ChronoSync, which would make my life much easier than anything Apple is offering)? Why can't I still get some stupid data off a USB stick or drive, since that it what everybody is offering me data on (and I do not want to give every dick and Harry my email address)? Since iCloud does not offer any sharing capability whatsoever (not even those iDisk had over a decade ago), it is not even a remote solution anyhow. And since iDevices can now officially connect via Ethernet (via the great - it simply works - solution involving device to Lightning to USB dongle with external power to USB-to-Ethernet adapter), where is the bloody GUI to configure it? It is great that >$100 and the better part of a Pound in accessories can give me something that was standard on every device before Apple improved it – but now give me a box where I can enter my proxy and gateway, because, you know, the world where you can do without these things only exists in marketing videos.
    Many of your points are of equal concern from the rest of us.    I kinda understand sand boxing apps as it does increase reliability and makes some of Apples features easy to implement.  However that is apps and has nothing to do with data, where it comes from or what you do with or where you want it to go.   Data handling is perhaps the most frustrating thing about iOS going right now.  This is why I see Apples vision with respect to iOS as a bit blurred or even blind to needs of the users.  If they really think that iOS will eventually replace Mac OS they are nuts.  
    dreyfus2
  • Reply 13 of 14
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    wizard69 said:
    Many of your points are of equal concern from the rest of us.    I kinda understand sand boxing apps as it does increase reliability and makes some of Apples features easy to implement.  However that is apps and has nothing to do with data, where it comes from or what you do with or where you want it to go.   Data handling is perhaps the most frustrating thing about iOS going right now.  This is why I see Apples vision with respect to iOS as a bit blurred or even blind to needs of the users.  If they really think that iOS will eventually replace Mac OS they are nuts.  
    The even more illogical thing (IMO) is that they already gave in and allow all kinds of extensions to get data off other cloud services. It is easier to get stuff on Dropbox or OneDrive to open on my iPad than anything on my computer or the flash drive a colleague hands me... Because those are safer?

    I do a lot of things on the iPad Pro, but the hoops they make me jump through are getting a bit silly. I had some hopes that they will eventually come up with something that is better than legacy file systems. But this was in 2007. And they did not. I don't blame them for trying, but it is high time to throw in the towel and give us some functionality.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    brian greenbrian green Posts: 662member
    I have to admit I'm curious about what all they will do to the OS, considering that the new customer facing stuff added to it hasn't been as significant as in the early years of OS X, when huge changes were made. Now it's just little stuff that the vast majority of people never even notice. I've heard friends say more than once that they never noticed a change to the OS after upgrading. I understand that change for change's sake isn't a good thing. No need to change something that works great to begin with. But I think if they want to catch people's eyes as having "done something different", they are going to have to switch things up. Adding Siri will be cool, and all, but I don't use it on my iPhone, and likely wouldn't use it in MacOS. It makes me want to relive the old days when a new OS coming out meant everything looked and felt different. I don't think we'll get much of that anymore. It feels like everything has been done. I'm also one of the .005% that actually hate the flat design. Hated it when it happened. Hate it today. Doubt they'll step away from the flat design in the next OS (pun intended), so that'll be one less thing to expect. At 42, I think I've seen the biggest of changes. I do hope for the "oh wow" moments. I just don't think there are any of them left out there. There certainly weren't any in el Capitan.
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