Apple

Apple is bumping up the energy density of the battery in its next iPhones, letting them last longer between charges, claims supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo notes that more density means more heat, so Apple is encasing them in stainless steel, which he says will also mean they’re easier to replace — something the EU now requires.

Recently, Apple unceremoniously dropped Apple Pay Later, which already felt like an odd, risky choice for the brand, not even a year after launching the small loans program.

Why? Regulation, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman:

In May, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced increased scrutiny of “buy now, pay later” services, saying providers would need to follow the same regulations as credit card companies ... The increased regulation wasn’t something Apple wanted to deal with, I’m told ...

In its quest to build a cheaper headset, Apple has asked manufacturers for technical details needed to develop 2-inch or 2.1-inch displays with a pixel density of 1,700ppi (or about half the Vision Pro’s 3,386ppi), according to an Elec report cited by UploadVR yesterday.

Assuming the same aspect ratio, the outlet pegs the resolution “somewhere around 2600 x 2300,” or just over two-thirds that of the current headset.

If you owned an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus between September 16th, 2016 and January 3rd, 2023 and met certain requirements, you may be eligible to claim part of a settlement after a class action lawsuit over issues with the Apple devices’ microphones.

The deadline was originally June 3rd, 2024, but it was extended earlier this month to July 3rd instead.

Bloomberg reports that Rain AI, which has OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as one of its backers, has hired Apple chip exec Jean-Didier Allegrucci to oversee the development of new AI processors that are supposed to reduce power consumption with “in-memory compute.”

Rain AI:

[Allegrucci] has worked and led silicon teams across a broad range of applications, including CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, ISPs, SoCs, and many others....At Apple, he oversaw the development of more than 30 SoCs used for flagship products, including iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watch, and many more.

The Information reports the reversible adhesive could be tried on one iPhone 16 and potentially every iPhone 17, replacing the stretchy pull tabs seen in every teardown.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “cool idea,” even if we’ll need to see how it works in practice. Here’s a demo from adhesives giant Tesa, which is also developing approaches using lasers, heat, solvents, and magnets.

Apple cited “regulatory uncertainties” and “interoperability requirements” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as reasons for delaying its AI features on EU iPhones, but Margrethe Vestager suggested something more sinister is at play at a Forum Europa event on Thursday:

“I find that very interesting, that they say ‘we will now deploy AI where we’re not obliged to enable competition.’ I think that is the most stunning, open declaration that they know 100 percent that this is another way of disabling competition where they have a stronghold already.”

The headset is now available to buy in China, Japan, and Singapore, with Apple documenting the international launch via a recent blog post.

The Apple Vision Pro will also roll out to Germany, France, Australia, the UK, and Canada on July 12th, with preorders for those regions available starting today at 5AM PT.

The next Apple Watch may have a two-inch display, according to CAD renders posted by 91mobiles, which said they were “sourced from industry insiders.” They supposedly depict either the Apple Watch Series 10 or a rumored special anniversary edition. If true, that means the wearable will feature the largest display ever on an Apple Watch.

RCS appears to be working for people with the iOS 18 beta installed — no tinkering necessary. RCS support is part of the second iOS 18 developer beta, but despite toggling the feature on it wasn’t working for people yesterday. 9to5Mac notes that this has changed today, indicating that carriers in the US have flipped the switch to enable RCS. It’s happening! It’s really happening!

We learned a lot about the “next generation” Apple CarPlay at WWDC 2024. Now, BlackBoxInfinite has tried rebuilding classic layouts from cars like the Acura NSX and Ferrari Testarossa in Apple’s framework.

This might not change anyone’s feelings about touchscreens replacing hardware in your dash, but it shows where Porsche and the others could take things in the future.