Hardware

Apple developing their own MicroLED screens for the first time

Written by

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. is designing and producing its own device displays for the first time, using a secret manufacturing facility near its California headquarters to make small numbers of the screens for testing purposes, according to people familiar with the situation.

The technology giant is making a significant investment in the development of next-generation MicroLED screens, say the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. MicroLED screens use different light-emitting compounds than the current OLED displays and promise to make future gadgets slimmer, brighter and less power-hungry.

Significant innovation drives device sales. A new, innovative screen technology will bring buyers, hungry for the latest and greatest.

And the “less power-hungry” tag will, presumably, translate to longer battery life, or more power for the CPU.

Smart move on Apple’s part. Reduces dependency on other manufacturers, brings more of the full stack in house, and brings a proprietary, desirable technology into their exclusive control.

I wonder where this river of displays will be built. In the US? Subcontracted out to a manufacturer outside the US?

How iFixit became the world’s best iPhone teardown team

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[VIDEO] This is a terrific story, well told by Jason Koebler and the Motherboard team. From the video description:

Every year there’s a race to become the first to tear down the phone, with teams from around the world flying to Australia—where it’s first released—to compete to be the first to look inside the world’s most coveted new phone.

This video (embedded in the main Loop post) is riveting, well worth your time. If this sort of thing interests you, you might check out this Twitter thread, where Jason tells the story about dropping his MacBook, cracking the screen, and encountering iFixit for the first time.

iFixit’s brilliant HomePod teardown

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[VIDEO] Not sure how long iFixit has been posting teardown videos, but this one (embedded in the main Loop post) is the first I’ve seen. Brilliant to be able to watch someone tear this tech down to the nubs.

So much to learn about the work and material that goes into HomePod. That outer mesh is magical. I wonder how they manufacture it.

One thing that is clear: This sucker is tough to take apart. It’s no wonder Apple charges $279 to repair or replace a broken, out-of-warranty HomePod.

The best wireless chargers for iPhone X and iPhone 8

Written by

Jason Cross, Macworld:

Wireless charging isn’t always a great substitute for plugging in, but it’s a very convenient way to keep your phone topped off through most of the day. A wireless charger on your desk means no more plugging and unplugging throughout the day and a full charge when you head home from work. A wireless charger next to your bed makes it easy to grab and go in the morning, or just pick up your phone to “check one thing” without fussing with the lightning cable.

We’ve tested a big heap of wireless chargers, and these are some of our favorites.

Be sure to check out the second page, which talks about competing standards (iPhones only support Qi), 5W vs. 7.5W performance, and more.

Of course, you can wait for Apple’s announced AirPower charger. All we know about the ship date is “2018”.

Apple, their move to custom chips, and Macs with Apple-built processors

Written by

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

Steve Jobs long believed Apple should own the technologies inside its products rather than rely on mashups of components from other chip makers, including Samsung, Intel and Imagination Technologies. In 2008, the company made a small but significant step in that direction by acquiring boutique chip maker P.A. Semi. Two years later, Jobs unveiled the iPad. The world focused on the tablet’s giant touchscreen, book-reading prowess and creativity apps. But the most ground-breaking technology was hidden away inside: the A4, Apple’s first processor designed in-house.

And:

Apple’s push into the complicated and pricey chips business makes sense so long as the company is selling 300 million devices a year.

An interesting read. Lots of solid reasons for Apple to roll their own chips. Cost savings, for sure, but there’s also self-reliance. They can control chip production and act quickly if and when a flaw/vulnerability is discovered.

But most importantly:

So far, only two Mac lines include custom Apple processors: the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and the iMac Pro. Apple is working on at least three updated Mac models with custom co-processors for release as soon as this year, including updated laptops and a new desktop, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Well, that’s pretty big news. And a logical next step, if true.

Will we see a Mac Pro this year based on Apple silicon? How about a MacBook Pro? Can’t wait.

Inventec begins shipping long-awaited HomePods

Written by

Taipei Times:

Inventec Corp, one of the two assemblers for Apple Inc’s HomePod, has started shipping the US company’s long-awaited “smart” speaker with an initial shipment of about 1 million units, industry sources said.

I’m really interested in learning what features will ship with this first version of HomePod.

Obviously, the music capabilities will be first and foremost. But how much of Siri will be available? Will HomePod’s Siri be limited in any way? Will HomePod’s Siri domain be more detailed when it comes to music?

How will updates be handled? Will HomePod be linked to my iPhone, with a HomePod app for handling settings/updates like my Apple Watch?

How will HomePod distinguish itself from existing products like the Amazon Echo and Google Home? What is the value proposition here? How would a consumer justify the extra cost?

I’m very much looking forward to getting one, seeing all this for myself.

A custom, hand-made gift for the Technology Evangelism group at Apple

Written by

Josh Tidsbury, Apple:

I have the great honor of working as part of the Technology Evangelism group at Apple. Involvement in the annual WWDC conference is one of the key efforts by the team each year, and I was really taken by the conference this year. The developers I met were simply amazing, the team behind the conference immensely talented, and the conference branding and theme also spoke to me very deeply.

As someone who came into technology from the arts, and endeavors to bring the best of both disciplines into everything I do, it struck a chord in my heart.

And:

I wanted to create something of a keepsake for each of the other members of our team as a personal gift to each of them. I’ve always loved the aesthetic of the Apple Design Award, and wanted to create something of an homage to that design, but using my favourite material: wood.

Read the post, take a look at the pictures. What an amazingly thoughtful gift. So cool.

From CES: Handheld iPhone video steady-cam

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If you shoot a lot of video, take a look (embedded in the main Loop post) as this Osmo 2 rep walks through the features of this video stabilizer. It’s so tiny and light. And rock steady. It also has a power port so you can plug your phone in, if need be.

I love gear like this. Best of all, the previous version had a street price of about $159, and the Osmo 2 price will drop to $129. Shot by 9to5Mac at CES.

A photo tour of the heavily guarded heart of the internet

Written by

Peter Garritano:

Quietly tucked away in a few unassuming buildings in lower Manhattan, massive flows of data pulse through some of the world’s largest and most heavily guarded hubs of global internet infrastructure.

Check out the images. Pretty cool. I wonder how many of these sites there are in the world and how similar they are, design-wise.

Fundamental design flaw in Intel chips forces significant redesign of Linux / Windows / macOS kernels

Written by

The Register:

A fundamental design flaw in Intel’s processor chips has forced a significant redesign of the Linux and Windows kernels to defang the chip-level security bug.

Programmers are scrambling to overhaul the open-source Linux kernel’s virtual memory system. Meanwhile, Microsoft is expected to publicly introduce the necessary changes to its Windows operating system in an upcoming Patch Tuesday: these changes were seeded to beta testers running fast-ring Windows Insider builds in November and December.

And:

Similar operating systems, such as Apple’s 64-bit macOS, will also need to be updated – the flaw is in the Intel x86-64 hardware, and it appears a microcode update can’t address it. It has to be fixed in software at the OS level, or go buy a new processor without the design blunder.

The worst news is that since the issue is in the hardware itself, a software patch of something so deeply rooted in the pipeline will cause a performance hit.

Terrible new for Intel. More spark for Apple to roll their own CPUs.

UPDATE:

Finally, macOS has been patched to counter the chip design blunder since version 10.13.2, according to operating system kernel expert Alex Ionescu.

iPhone 6s running slow? Consider replacing your battery

Written by

Reddit:

My iPhone 6S has been very slow these past few weeks, and even after updating multiple times, it was still slow. Couldn’t figure out why, but just thought that iOS 11 was still awful to me. Then I used my brother’s iPhone 6 Plus and his was… faster than mine? This is when I knew something was wrong. So, I did some research, and decided to replace my battery. Wear level was somewhere around 20% on my old battery. I did a Geekbench score, and found I was getting 1466 Single and 2512 Multi. This did not change wether I had low power mode on or off. After changing my battery, I did another test to check if it was just a placebo. Nope. 2526 Single and 4456 Multi. From what I can tell, Apple slows down phones when their battery gets too low, so you can still have a full days charge. This also means your phone might be very slow for no discernible reason. Check your Geekbench scores and see what you get if your phone is still slow!

I would love to get an official response from Apple on this issue. Be sure to read the updates to this post, especially the second one.

UPDATE: Two things:

  • Via Bryan Lee on Twitter, if you are having issues with your iPhone 6s, Apple does have a battery replacement program for certain devices, manufactured in Sept or Oct 2015. Go to this page to check to see if your device is eligible.

  • As mentioned in the linked Reddit thread, there’s a free app, called CpuDasherX, you can use to check your clock speed, see if it’s running full speed. According to this comment thread, 1848 Mhz is the factory CPU speed for the iPhone 6s.

UPDATE 2:

As noted in this tweet and some of the comments, the A9 does vary its frequency based on load. So a different frequency is not indicative of a battery issue. It’s possible this Reddit thread is a red herring. Again, would love an official Apple comment.

UPDATE 3:

Take a look at this free battery life wear level tester. Might offer some insight.

KGI: Apple to adopt faster circuit board tech across Apple Watch & Mac lineups in 2018

Written by

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities is today out with a new investor note, obtained by 9to5Mac. In the piece, Kuo breaks down how Apple is working to integrate faster and more versatile circuit boards across its product lineup come 2018.

Currently, the iPhone 8 and iPhone X both use a new flexible circuit board made from liquid crystal polymer. Both phones use it in their antenna designs, while the iPhone X also uses it in its TrueDepth camera. This LCP FPCB technology allows for high-speed and low-latency data transfer.

More detail in the post, but nice to see this terrific, space-saving, performance-increasing tech making its way over to the Apple Watch and Mac.

Makes me wonder if this is part of the supply-chain scheduling driving the iMac Pro and Mac Pro. The iMac Pro was announced at WWDC, said to ship this month (December 2017). And the Mac Pro is, well, anybody’s guess. But good to know this tech is coming.

Interview with Apple’s chip chief, Johny Srouji

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From the Calcalist interview:

“Silicon is unforgiving,” Mr. Srouji said. “My team is already working on the chips you’re going to see in 2020. You make bets. We have the system and the software. We have better knowledge versus external chipmakers about where things are going to end up. Since we own the silicon, we own the software, the operating system and everything else, we deliver, always. We deliver for the exact specification of iOS and nothing else. We don’t have to worry about other operating systems.”

And:

In 2013, Apple acquired PrimeSense, an Israeli company developing hardware for 3D sensing, and many industry observers speculated about the Apple reasoning for the investment. Mr. Srouji said the team from PrimeSense was involved in the development of Face ID as well as other new features for Apple devices.

“The team in Israel is a key part of the overall engineering team in the U.S. and other areas of the world – wherever we have our R&D,” he said. “The things they do are key to any device we ship, to all devices.”

I found every bit of this interview fascinating, especially the insight into incorporating the work being done in Israel with the main body of R&D being done in Cupertino.

The iPhone X PenTile screen, in a single image

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The iPhone X OLED display is a diamond matrix PenTile arrangement, as opposed to the traditional RGB stripe arrangement. But what does that means in real life? Click through for some analysis and a great image that brings this home. […]

Bloomberg: Apple to ramp up work on augmented reality headset, fork new OS

Written by

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc., seeking a breakthrough product to succeed the iPhone, aims to have technology ready for an augmented-reality headset in 2019 and could ship a product as early as 2020.

Unlike the current generation of virtual reality headsets that use a smartphone as the engine and screen, Apple’s device will have its own display and run on a new chip and operating system, according to people familiar with the situation.

And:

Apple began putting together a team to work on AR-related projects a couple of years ago, Bloomberg reported in March. Led by Mike Rockwell, who previously ran engineering at Dolby Labs, the group has now grown to several hundred engineers from across Apple, the people said. Scattered across office parks in both Cupertino and Sunnyvale, California, the team is working on several hardware and software projects under the umbrella code name of “T288.”

And:

The new operating system, internally dubbed “rOS” for “reality operating system,” is based on iOS, the iPhone’s operating system. Just as tvOS powers the Apple TV, macOS runs on Macs and watchOS runs on Apple Watches, “rOS” will power Apple’s AR headset. Geoff Stahl, formerly a software manager for games and graphics at Apple, is one of the directors of the “rOS” software group.

Take with a grain of salt, but none of this is hard to believe.

iFixit iPhone X teardown

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Lots of interesting images, including some nice shots of the iPhone X next to the original iPhone.

Highlights include the pic showing the main innards (with two separate battery cells), and a cool little video showing the Face ID projector in action.

An iPad with a smooth finish to the finger, rough finish to the Apple Pencil

Written by

Patently Apple:

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to displays having a substrate with a visually imperceptible texture that provides tactile sensations varying with an object contacting the surface. Apple is considering applying a new finish on displays for Macs and iDevices that acts as an added protection layer with a different texture to the glass. The glass may feel smooth to the touch but slightly rougher with a little drag when using it with an Apple Pencil.

Not clear if this difference in feel is what they were going for in the first place, or a side product of the finish. What would really be cool is if there was a way to control that texture electronically, adjust it based on context.

Fascinating.

“Maybe it’s a piece of dust”

Written by

Over the past few days, there was a wave of discussion, back and forth across the net, about the MacBook Pro keyboard. Head to the main Loop post for all the gory detail. […]

The Pixel 2 XL would be the best phone in the world if its screen wasn’t so weird

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There’s been a ton of controversy over the past few days as Pixel 2 XL reviews come in. Though some reviews are glowing, a number of reviews (here’s one launch point we posted yesterday) are taking the Pixel 2 XL to the woodshed.

Vlad Savov, The Verge:

Look at that New York Times icon in the image above. Stop flinching and really look at it, soak in the kaleidoscope of colors washing over it. Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m seeing a haze of green in the middle of the gothic “T”, which then blooms into a red that eventually transitions into the white that the icon is supposed to be. But the fun isn’t over; when you get up real close, you’ll see the edges of the icon are all fringed by a sort of purply-red and, again, green. The neighboring heart icon, which is also supposed to be white, presents us with a crosshatch of red and green and white micropixels.

Click to Vlad’s review and really get up close and personal with that image. Hard to argue with his logic.

The impossible dream of USB-C

Written by

Marco Arment:

I love the idea of USB-C: one port and one cable that can replace all other ports and cables. It sounds so simple, straightforward, and unified.

In practice, it’s not even close.

And:

USB-C normally transfers data by the USB protocol, but it also supports Thunderbolt… sometimes. The 12-inch MacBook has a USB-C port, but it doesn’t support Thunderbolt at all.

And:

If you bought a USB-C cable, it might support Thunderbolt, or it might not. There’s no way to tell by looking at it. There’s usually no way to tell whether a given USB-C device requires Thunderbolt, either — you just need to plug it in and see if it works.

This goes on and on. The most frustrating part of all this is the opacity of it all. All the details hidden. True for both ports and cables.

Be sure to scroll down to the end for conclusion. Marco nails this.

KGI: All 2018 iPhones to adopt Face ID as Apple abandons Touch ID

Written by

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out tonight with a new investor note. Kuo explains that, despite initially believing Apple might readopt fingerprint technology, it’s now likely that all 2018 iPhone models will move to Face ID and leave Touch ID in the past.

I get it. The iPhone X is the future, charting the path of the next generations of iOS devices. But there is some value in being able to unlock my iPhone without looking at it.

With Touch ID, I can extend my arm to tap my iPhone on an awkwardly placed Apple Pay terminal, use my finger to verify my identity. The angle of my phone doesn’t matter.

That said, I’ll wait for the iPhone X and Face ID experience. After all, Apple product folks have been living with Face ID. I can’t imagine they’d abandon Touch ID if it still had value.

As always, take these sorts of rumors with a grain of salt.

2018 iPad Pro models may feature TrueDepth camera for Face ID

Written by

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

iPad Pro models set to be released in 2018 will come equipped with a TrueDepth Camera and will support Face ID, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told investors in a note this morning.

Kuo believes Apple will add TrueDepth cameras to the iPad Pro to introduce a user experience that’s consistent with the iPhone X and boost competitiveness. With all high-end iOS devices equipped with TrueDepth Cameras, “ecosystem development” will also benefit.

Here’s the quote from Ming-Chi Kuo:

We predict iOS devices to be equipped with TrueDepth Camera in 2018F will include iPhone X and 2018 new iPhone and iPad models. Because of this, we believe more developers will pay attention to TrueDepth Camera/ facial recognition related applications. We expect Apple’s (US) major promotion of facial recognition related applications will encourage the Android camp to also dedicate more resources to developing hardware and facial recognition applications.

Love the notch. Embrace the notch.

China: Another iPhone 8 swollen battery, case opening

Written by

Reuters:

On its website on Thursday, China’s state-backed ThePaper.cn cited an iPhone buyer surnamed Liu as saying his newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus arrived cracked open on Oct. 5. There was no sign of scorching or an explosion.

Liu told ThePaper he bought the handset through online marketplace of JD.com Inc. He said he did not charge the new device and returned it to the seller.

Pictures taken by Liu and displayed on ThePaper’s website showed an iPhone 8 plus split open along the side featuring the sim card holding, with the phone’s internal parts visible.

Puzzling. Just enough cases to make this more than a one-off, but does not appear to be widespread. Should be easy enough to tell if this is an issue with a specific part of the supply chain.

Thoughts on new Google phone, PixelBuds

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Lots of news from Google yesterday. Among the product announcements are a pair of new phones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, and an AirPods-like set of wireless earbuds, the PixelBuds.

A few thoughts: […]

Smart profile of Apple’s commitment to silicon

Written by

Horace Dediu, Asymco:

The Apple A11 Bionic processor has 4.3 billion transistors, six cores and an Apple custom GPU using a 10nm FinFET technology. Its performance appears to be almost double that of competitors and in some benchmarks exceeds the performance of current laptop PCs.

And:

Apple has come to the point where is dominates the processor space. But they have not stopped at processors. The effort now spans all manners of silicon including controllers for displays, storage, sensors and batteries. The S series in the Apple Watch the haptic T series in the MacBook, the wireless W series in AirPods are ongoing efforts. The GPU was conquered in the past year. Litigation with Qualcomm suggests the communications stack is next.

A name you’ll be hearing more and more of is the person who runs this silicon engineering effort for Apple, Johny Srouji. This is a great read.

How Apple built an iPhone camera that makes everyone a professional photographer

Written by

John Paczkowski, Managing Editor, BuzzFeed:

This year the company is particularly proud of these, which boast a marquee “Portrait Lighting” feature that brings a range of professional-looking effects to the already great photos the dual camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus is capable of taking.

This year’s leap, however, feels particularly meaningful.

And:

The camera’s effects don’t rely on filters. They’re the result of Apple’s new dual camera system working in concert with machine learning to sense a scene, map it for depth, and then change lighting contours over the subject. It’s all done in real time, and you can even preview the results thanks to the company’s enormously powerful new A11 Bionic chip. The result, when applied to Apple scale, has the power to be transformative for modern photography, with millions of amateur shots suddenly professionalized. In many ways it’s the fullest realization of the democratization of high-quality imagery that the company has been working toward since the iPhone 4.

i couldn’t agree more. Apple is changing the conversation. It’s no longer a simple focus on the reduction of low-light image graininess, megapixel count, or CCD capacitor thresholds. Apple is creating tools that help people take amazing pictures.

Love this review.

Apple adds to its hand based gesture patents

Written by

Patently Apple:

Last week Patently Apple posted a report titled “Apple invents a 3D Depth Mapping Camera for Hand Gesturing Interfaces for Future Macs & Smartglasses.” It’s a recurring theme (one, two and three) from Apple’s PrimeSense team from Israel. Today another such patent filing has surfaced titled “Gesture based User Interface,” based on hand gestures.

There’s more detail in the post and, of course, in the patents themselves. But in a nutshell, 3D mapping cameras and a host of hand gestures are likely in Apple’s future, along with tracking software for your Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Glasses.