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News
iPhone mini out in 2022
We sort of already expected this but, new iPhone “blanks” showed up this week via the Chinese site Weibo
These are probably molds for iPhone cases, not for the actual iPhone.
Still they indicate sizes of: 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max
The iPhone mini has really not sold well according to many sources which is why it might be out
Actually smaller phones in general seem to be suffering
A survey this week of US carrier stores by Wave 7 claims 56 percent said iPhone SE 3 demand “is weaker this year than it was for the previous iPhone SE.” with only 8 percent claim it was stronger
The other thing that’s notable with these blanks is the increased camera bumps on the Pro models
Expected to support the improved 48 MP wide angle lens
4.17 mm thick, or 0.57 mm larger and the overall space the bump uses growing about 5 percent to 36.73 mm by 38.21 mm up from 35.01 mm by 36.24 mm in the iPhone 13 Pro.
The post also talks about the “notch” noting the non-Pro models will still have one while stating the “Pro” line will have a “exclamation point” design referring to the rumored change to a pill plus hole punch display design for the True Depth camera system
Speaking of those “FaceTime” cameras on the iPhone 14… Ming-Chi Kuo this week said they would be getting some improvements as well
Getting an upgrade to autofocus and a larger aperture
Specifically a new f/1.9 aperture vs the current f/2.2
Adding a better shallow depth-of-field effect for selfie/portrait mode and enhanced focus for video calls
A later Weibo post also mentioned a possible new purple color for this years iPhone
The color would even shift tone based on lighting conditions according to the leak
It also claims a new True Tone flash that looks like "a small circle in a big circle," as opposed to the current design that contains two small separate LEDs on each half of the circle
Kuo also said that he’s expecting Apple to adopt a under-display Face ID design for the iPhone in 2024 for the iPhone 16
iOS gains share on Android
Of course Android devices continue to dominate the global market, but new data this week shows that they are slipping a bit and iOS is gaining ground
The data comes from StockApps and they say in the past 4 years Android’s marketshare has dropped from 77.32 percent to 69.74 percent
Meanwhile at the same time iOS usage went from 19.4 percent to 25.49 percent
Oddly… the report credits Apple’s focus on releasing lower cost entry level options like the iPhone SE and iPhone mini as likely contributing to the rise in marketshare.
Still this year Apple could face an uphill battle due to the supply chain. It won’t matter how popular iPhones are if they can’t ship.
Reports that as many as 200 of Apple’s suppliers have facilities in and around Shanghai being disrupted by COVID lockdowns
Apple does a pretty decent job at diversifying their supply chain, so they might be less impacted than some, but still there’s likely to be AN impact
One example seems to be Apple’s 3rd OLED supplier BOE who continues to be impacted by chip shortages and will struggle to hit Apple’s production targets for this year.
Apple TV + FaceTime + HomePod
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is still working on combining the functionality of an Apple TV with a HomePod and a FaceTime camera all into a single device
He said they also might have new HomePod mini’s in the works, but that the “combo” HomePod would be “at the center of Apple's approach” combined with mini spread throughout the house.
I have to imagine that Apple’s work on “Center Stage” would also be part of making a product like this possible.
Gurman also said he didn’t think Apple would do a “big stand-alone HomePod”, but maybe the should?
9to5 Mac’s Chance Miller tweeted this week that demand for the discontinued model seems to be alive and well on eBay
He noted sealed in box original HomePods selling for up to $700 USD and The Verge noted the average price (not mint in box) is around $350. About $50 over the selling price of $299 when it was discontinued.
Apple TV+ wants more live sports
Apple TV+ just launched Friday Night Baseball
They’ve been rumored for a while to be also going after an NFL deal. Specifically for the NFL Sunday Ticket package
A report from “Puck News” this week eludes that the deal between Apple and the NFL for 2023 is basically done and being kept under wraps
DirectTV had the deal for NFL Sunday ticket and was reportedly paying about $1.5 billion per year for the rights
Apple is expected to have paid up to $2.5 billion to get the deal which was also being shopped to Amazon
Apple also continues to expand the list of Apple TV+ shows
They announced a new children's series based on a popular app Sago Mini World
"Sago Mini Friends” will be a new series featuring Harvey the floppy-eared dog and his best friends, Jinja the cat, Jack the rabbit, and Robin the bird.
According to Apple’s press release, “In each episode, Harvey and all his friends express their true thankfulness for all things, big and small, through optimism, kindness, preschool-friendly humor and unforgettable original songs!”
Apple also announced the first project to come from the “first look” deal with Edris Elba
Elba will produce and star in a limited series called “Hijack”
The series will be a seven-part thriller about the hijacking of a London flight told in “real-time” over the seven hours of the flight
An M3, already?!!
Mark Gurman is now claiming that Apple is already in development of the M3?
We don’t even have M2s yet.
Ok to be fair… Apple is likely several years out in working on most of their processor designs
Also Gurman does reiterate that Apple is still planning server “M2” computers before the M3 some of which could be here as early as June
An M2 chip for a new MacBook Air, entry-level MacBook Pro, and Mac mini;
M2 Pro and M2 max chips for a new 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro;
A dual M2 Ultra chip for the Mac Pro (quad?)
As for the M3? That he expects Apple to release in an updated iMac he says probably near the end of next year.
He also says Apple is still working on an iMac Pro but don’t expect to see it “anytime soon”.
And Apple Watch Repair program
If you have an 40mm Apple Watch Series 6 model and have experienced the “white screen” issue there is good news for you.
Apple has a new service program for some owners of that model who displays might go blank permanently
Apple says the affected units were manufactured between April and September 2021.
The program covers eligible Apple Watch Series 6 for two years after the first retail sale of the unit.
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Feedback, commentary, opinions
iCloud Reminders remembers too much
This is actually an ongoing issue for one of our community members and others
Carlos contacted us before about an issue where the Reminders app was consuming a large portion of his storage, especially on iOS
He went back and forth with Apple Support and ultimately resolved it, at least temporarily, by completely deleting the app in iOS and re-installing it.
You probably also want to turn off iCloud syncing of reminders to the app as well? Backup first of course.
Also make sure you have at least one device, probably your Mac, that still has all your Reminder data locally stored and backed up.
To make it worse… some reminders data can get into the GBs and can cause Apple Watches to not be able to sync or use the data because the library is too big.
It’s not clear how wide spread this issue is or what the exact cause is but because the data is sync’d to iCloud it seems to often come back even when fixed on a particular device.
The most likely culprit mentioned, to me, seems to be a bug in iOS or iCloud cleaning up older “completed” data especially on “recurring” reminders.
The data is stored in a SQL Lite database and come have opened that file and found tons of old records they believed were already deleted.
Adding images to reminders, especially repeating ones, also seems to possibly duplicate that image and consume storage faster.
In iOS 15 Apple did make it easier to clean up “completed” reminders
Open Reminders
Tap on “All” reminders
Make sure “Show Completed Reminders” is on
Tap the “…” icon and choose “Show Completed”
At the top you should see a “Clear” link. Tap that and choose an option to remove completed reminders
All Completed
Older Than a Month
Older Than 6 Months
Older Than a Year
If anyone in our community has experienced this and better yet has a solid fix or solution… please share it.
Managing Large Photo Libraries
Play comment / question from Curtis
It’s for sure a problem…
One recommendation would be to just “purge” you Photo Library
Use the “hide” feature (Command+L) to locate and hide photos. Or an album (tag and smart album?) that you want to possibly delete from your Library
Then you can review them and delete bad photos
Purge “Screenshots” from the screenshots album
Albums > Media Types > Screenshots
Purge extra “Burst” photos
Albums > Media Types > Bursts
Choose a Burst Photos, open it (double click)
Click the “Make a Selection” option
Select the photos you want to keep (circle checkbox)
Apple will mark what it thinks are the best ones with a dot below the photo
Click “Done” and then “Keep Only Selection”
Using a “Smart Album” to organize images into years is also a great way to go.
Then you can export those images as the modified or unmodified originals and then import them back into a new Photo Library
To create a new library, hold down the option key while launching Photos, and choose “Create New” then you can import the exported photos.
Be aware you can only have one “System” library for syncing to iCloud Photo Library
So I got these because my Air Pods Pro mics stopped working and I am waiting for the new version before replacing them
These are $100 less expensive and have almost ALL the same features as AirPods Pro
Spatial Audio
Active Noise Cancellation
8 hours of battery life, up to 24 with the battery case
Works with “Hey, Siri”
And some options AirPods Pro don’t have
Colors… Blue, Grey, Black, Pink, Red, and White
No stems
USB-C charging (no wireless charging case)
The good
They sound great to me.
Despite not having a U1 chip the set-up experience was similar
Doesn’t auto switch devices
Mics sound good
Noise cancellation is good (though maybe not as good as AirPods Pro?)
The not as good
Don’t like the “push” style on bud control as much as the “squeeze” stems
The fit is good, but harder to pull out of your ear.
Case is a bit larger
If you’re looking for a bud that is almost as good as Air Pods Pro for $100 less I think these are a great option. Probably getting more bang for you buck than going with just the “Air Pods”
