Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes new battery problems for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the limited stock of the iPhone X, why Apple has lost its design edge, the arrogance of the iPhone X notch, the iPhone 7 vs the new handsets, iOS 11 update issues, Qualcomm and Apple’s legal fight, and Facebook Messenger’s Apple Music extension.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
iPhone 8 Battery Problems
Apple has confirmed that it is investigating issues with ‘swelling batteries’ on the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus handsets. A very small number of incidents have been reported where batteries have buckled the outer chassis and frames of the new smartphones. Gordon Kelly reports:
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At this stage little is known about the fault, though the Independent’s states Apple believes the problem is caused by “battery swelling” and it is not thought to pose a safety concern like Samsung’s infamous problem with exploding Galaxy Note 7 batteries.
That said Apple has had its own battery problems during the last year and initiated a battery recall program for some iPhone 6S models.
More on the problems here on Forbes.
iPhone X Supply Shortage
With upwards of fifty million pre-orders expected, the iPhone X could be Apple’s fastest selling iPhone when it goes on sale in November… but it’s not clear that Apple has the capability to fulfil the volume of pre-orders before the New Year. Ming-Chi Kuo’s analysis has been reported on by many, including Business Insider’s Kif Leswing:
“While we revise down 2017F iPhone X shipments on TrueDepth Camera production & assembly difficulties, it represents a great challenge for Android camp to replicate,” Ming-Chi Kuo, a KGI Securities analyst, wrote in an “Apple Insight” note seen by Business Insider. Kuo now thinks Apple will ship 30 million to 35 million iPhone X units in 2017, down from his previous estimate of 40 million.
Other reports paint a bleaker picture, but the clear message is this. Apple’s wonder-phone is going to be in short supply for the rest of 2017, and the chances are the situation won’t improve during the early months of 2018.
Apple Has Lost Its Design Edge
Apple’s legendary reputation for design is just that, argues Joshua Topolsky. A legend. The latest hardware and software releases have steadily been weakening Apple’s trump card of being masters of design. Topolsky suggests that the turning point was iOS 7, but the biggest visual sign of this loss of mojo is the sensor ‘notch’ in the iPhone X display:
It is bad design, and as a result, bad for the user experience. The justification for the notch (the new Face ID tech, which lets you unlock the device just by looking at it) could have easily been accomplished with no visual break in the display. Yet here is this awkward blind spot cradled by two blobs of actual screenspace.
It is, put plainly, a visually disgusting element. One which undermines the core premise of the iPhone X’s design (“all screen”), and offers a feature as an excuse which is really an answer in search of a question
More from Topolsky on this at The Outline.
Or Is The Notch Apple’s Arrogance?
The other angle to this view is that Apple has designed the notch the way that it wants, but the decision was made to put the branding and visual identity of the iPhone ahead of user interaction and a clean look to the handset’s interface. I argued this point earlier in the week:
Up until [the iPhone X], every iPhone had the circular home key and bezels in roughly similar proportions. That meant that a black outline of the bezels and a white circle under a white screen creates an iconic look. Marketing materials, website images, and in-app iconography could clearly identify that ‘this is an iPhone’.
With the move to ‘all screen’ smartphones and minimal bezels showing in the front-on profile, that iconography is lost in a sea of smartphones with the same design shape. From Samsung and Xiaomi, to Huawei and LG, and beyond, the smartphone is losing distinctiveness.
Not with the notch. Now the iPhone has something that makes it both ‘all screen’ and ‘all iPhone’. The notch is the identifier, and who cares how awkward and MacGyvered it looks.
iPhone 7 and iPhone X Go Head To Head
Although the model numbers and marketing put a lot of distance between them, there has only been twelve months between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone X. Should you forget about the 7 now Apple’s future is here?Gordon Kelly puts the old and the new under the microscope, starting with the most obvious change… the display:
The iPhone X display is also sharper (thanks to its increased pixel density) and more accurate as it integrates Apples’ True Tone technology (which colour balances the screen against ambient light) and was first introduced with the iPad Pro range.
It is worth noting Apple is playing catch up to Android rivals who have used OLED for years (and at higher 2K – 2960 x 1440 – resolutions) but the iPhone X display is nevertheless a major step up from the iPhone 7.
iOS 11 Update Is Not For Everyone
Following on from last week’s release of iOS 11.0.1, Apple has rushed out iOS 11.0.2 this week. Given the reports of battery drain up to twice as fast as iOS 10 and audio issues on the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus handsets, a new update was to be expected. Gordon Kelly has the details on the new release, what it fixes, and what it doesn’t:
What iOS 11.0.2 does well is address the three issues it set out to fix: speaker crackle, hidden photos and broken emails attachments. If you are suffering from one of these problems then iOS 11.0.2 is worth the risk.
For everyone else I would advise you avoid iOS 11.0.2. The battery issues which plagued iOS 11 and iOS 11.0.1 appear to continue, as does poor performance and instability. The scale of these problems is unknown at this stage but there’s no point upgrading to iOS 11.0.2 if your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is working well. There aren’t even security patches in this update.
More on iOS 11 on Forbes here.
Qualcomm And Apple’s Patent Deathmatch
The “billion dollar war” being fought by Apple over a Qualcomm patent continues to attract interest from all sides. It’s a complicated case, but boils down to the fees that Qualcomm charges Apple for the use of its wireless payments. Max Chafin and Ian King investigate in-depth:
The case, which could go to trial in a San Diego federal court as early as next year, could have a profound impact on the mobile phone business. A Qualcomm win would hamper Apple’s efforts to cut costs and preserve margins that have allowed it to capture most of the profits generated by smartphone makers worldwide. If Apple wins and succeeds in ending the Qualcomm tax, that could marginalize one of the most powerful American technology companies and upend the balance of power in the semiconductor industry.
Settle in for a long but worthwhile read at Bloomberg.
And Finally…
Facebook has brought Apple Music into its popular Messenger client. The extension allows anyone (not just subscribers) to talk with the bot and discover music from Apple’s services – although only subscribers get more than a 30 second preview! Rob LeFebvre reports:
To use the extension, simply tap the plus icon to the left of the chat field and add Apple Music to any conversation. You can also interact directly with the bot in a chat just like you would any other of your friends. Simply search for “Apple Music” from the Messenger home screen and start talking to it to discover new artists and genres. You can even send an emoji to the chatbot and it will suggest a playlist to match. It’s so 2017.
Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.
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