Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes a look at the longevity of the iPhone SE, Tim Cook’s rearguard defence of Apple’s quarterly results, leaked details on the iPhone 7 battery, speculation on the next must-have iPhone feature, a review of the MacBook, Apple Music’s new UI, Apple’s naming patent case defeat in China, and installing a new OS on your Apple Watch.
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 the weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
Apple iPhone SE (image: Ewan Spence)
The iPhone SE Is Going To Last A Long Time
I’ve waited to post my review the iPhone SE to fully appreciate the device. Apple’s ‘not budget’ smartphone sits on the lowest rung of its portfolio. It may have the dated style of the iPhone 5, but the chipset inside matches the flagship handsets of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. That is certainly enough to make the iPhone SE one of the best phones to upgrade to from an older iPhone… and it promises to be a long-lived purchase:
The longevity of the new hardware is the biggest selling point in the iPhone SE. Apple has acknowledged that it expects first users to pass on a handset and pick up a new device after three years, and the length of time a device is supported reflects that. The iPhone 5 does cope with iOS 9 (just about) but iOS 10 arriving this summer for developers is likely out of reach. That’s not the case with the iPhone SE, which should be supported by usable updates until 2019 at the earliest. The SE is about as future proof (for software) as you can get in today’s market, and Apple is not shy about releasing updates.
Following the coverage of Apple’s recent earnings call (including the fall in iPhone sales, the dropping share price, and worries over growth markets such as China), Tim Cook sat down with CNBC Mad Money’s Jim Cramer to talk about Apple’s reaction and plans in more depth. It’s fair to say that very few people were impressed with the message or the performance, including Bloomberg’s Shira Ovide:
Here’s what Cook didn’t say: 1) Apple has been misjudging its own business, and that makes it tough to believe what executives say; and 2) The company failed to prepare investors for an inevitable slowdown in growth — even if that slowdown proves temporary. If one duty of public company executives is to underpromise and overdeliver, Apple has flopped in that job.
Nellie Bowles offered more background on the situation for The Guardian.
Wednesday marked the end of an era in Cupertino as Apple reported its first ever drop in iPhone sales, sending the company’s stock down to about 30% off its all-time high in May 2015.iPhone sales in China – a crucial market for Apple to continue growing – have plunged 26% as its economy stalls, with some reports indicating the Apple brand is losing prestige there. In the US, customers are upgrading their phones more slowly as the differences between generations, like the iPhone 6 to 6s, become more incremental.
Apple’s deft PR touch in situations like this seems to be slipping.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MARCH 9: Apple CEO Tim Cook exits the stage (Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images)
Battery Life Blues For iPhone 7
Much of Apple’s financial success in 2016 will come down to the sales of the presumptively titles iPhone 7. Expected to be released this September, the handset is not expected to differ that much from the iPhone 6s family. One potential change that has been noted is the increased battery size. Gordon Kelly reports:
Given the pressure on Apple to increase the turnover of handsets primarily through upgrades, this iterative approach to the iPhone 7 may not be enough. Which is where we turn back to the Jim Cramer interview…Yes, this is a small increase from the iPhone 6S (1715mAh) and iPhone 6S Plus (2750mAh) but actually still a notable step down from the iPhone 6 (1810mAh) and iPhone 6 Plus (2915mAh). Should you believe the rumours? At this stage it’s impossible to tell, though it would odd to invent a rumour based on such a modest – even underwhelming – spec bump.Does it mean the iPhone 7 will have battery life no better than its predecessors? Not necessarily. Much will depend on the efficiency of Apple’s new A10 chipset, though the removal of the headphone jack will mean the Lightning port will also need to power any digital headphones without their own battery pack – a new source for iPhone battery drain.
MacBook 2016 Reviewed
Chris Davis has reviewed the update to the MacBook. Apple’s minimal update to the 12-inch laptop has drawn a lot of discussion (not least from myself) but Davis has taken a very balanced look at the new hardware.
First, what’s changed. For 2016, Apple has gone hunting through Intel’s parts bin, coming up with the latest Skylake sixth-generation processors. They’re still the ultra-frugal, 5W versions, but you now get a choice of a 1.1GHz dual-core Core m5 (with up to 2.2GHz Turbo Boost), 1.2GHz dual-core Core m5 (with up to 2.7GHz Turbo Boost), or 1.3GHz dual-core Core m7 (with up to 3.1GHz Turbo Boost).
Numbers aside, there are times when the Macbook is the exact device that Davis needs.
My criticisms begin to pale when I actually get out and use the MacBook, however. It’s still beautifully crafted and feels premium and modern in a way that puts the MacBook Air to shame. Light enough that you can have it in your bag and hardly notice it, but more than capable enough for most of the day-to-day chores you might throw at it.
The full review is up on SlashGear.
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller introduces new features on the new MacBook (Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images)
Apple Music Goes Black And White
Apple is set to update its music applications at this month’s WWDC and rework the music applications on iOS with a clearer user-interface that drops the multi-colour approach, focuses on artwork, and improves the navigation through your own collection of music and Apple’s recommendations. Mark Gurman looks at the details:
The new version of Apple Music, which Apple recently announced has 13 million users so far, focuses on a redesigned user-interface, a few new functions, and reorganization as well as simplification of existing features. The new user-interface ditches the current colorful and translucent look in favor of a simpler design that emphasizes black and white backgrounds and text. For instance, the user interface in the albums view will no longer change in appearance based on the color of a particular album’s art. While the new interface will eschew color in the user-interface, album artwork will become “huge” and a larger part of the interface in order to avoid a dull black and white look, according to people who have seen the updated Apple Music service.
Apple’s music apps have grown in size as new features are bolted on, and it has been a point of discussion for many, including Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber:
This is a good test for today’s Apple on two fronts. First, will they actually succeed in streamlining the interface to Apple Music? I still think the most obvious solution is to make Apple Music its own standalone app. “All your music in one app” sounds like a great idea in theory, but in practice, I believe that is what has led to the confusing UI. It’s yet another major feature added to iTunes on Mac and Windows — an app that everyone seems to agree already has too many features and responsibilities. What do you see when you open the Spotify or Pandora apps? Just the streaming music you have access to. That makes them less complicated, by definition.“Everything you see is in the cloud, and you have access to it because you are a subscriber” is easy to understand. “Some of this is in the cloud, some of this you own” is more complicated.
China Defeats iPhone In Legal Case
Apple has suffered a defeat in the Chinese courts over the use of ‘iPhone’ as a trademark. Although Apple holds the name when it is associated with software and hardware, it challenged another use of it, specifically Xintong Tiandi Technology’s range of leather products named iPhone… Forbes Casey Hall:
Apple appealed an earlier decision to the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court to stop Xintong Tiandi Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. from using the “IPHONE” name, which the Chinese company first trademarked in 2007 for the leather product category – this category, and the company’s current assembly of products (as seen on their website) includes leather phone cases, passport covers and handbags.Though Apple holds the trademark to the “iPhone” name for computer software and hardware, on March 30 the court upheld an earlier ruling, from 2013, which found that Apple could not prove that “IPHONE” was already a well-known name in China in 2007, when Xintong Tiandi trademarked it for its leather goods. As such, the 2013 ruling reads in part, “the general public will not link the trademark in dispute with Apple to harm its [Apple’s] interests.” Apple did not start selling iPhones in China until 2009.
Hall takes a closer look at the legal case here on Forbes. BBC News has also covered the story.
The Apple Watch (image: Apple.com)
And Finally…
Would you like to install an alternate operating system on your Apple Watch? If so, Nick Lee can help you. Here comes Microsoft’s Windows 95 to your wrist. The only catch? The boot time…
Windows 95, 8 GB of storage and half a gig of RAM is an embarrassment of riches. It’s an embarrassment of riches. Only problem is, you’re not going to get the cycles you’d like out of that 520Mhz processor, since it’s an emulator, not a virtual machine.It seems there’s a way to get a WatchKit app to load arbitrary code, even if that code happens to be a port of a port of an x86 emulator apparently held together with chewing gum and a desperate prayer.Result: Lee had to affix a tiny motor to the crown to spin it constantly during the hour-long boot process
Get ready to ctrl-alt-delete on the Apple Watch at TechCrunch.
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,
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