Appleviews – 21st April 2023
The eyes have it
Apple has at last got something to feel happy about when it comes to their beleaguered mixed reality headset.
Only last month one hundred or so of Apple’s top executives were summoned to Cupertino to take a look and give feedback on the new device – and the feedback was not too favourable! But finally, we are hearing some good news about the headset from leaker Evan Blass.
This week he claimed he knows one of the team that has been involved with the trials of the headset – and his opinion has changed from blah to being blown away. The tester told Blass;
“The leap they’ve made since late last year is giant. I was so sceptical; now I’m blown away in a ‘take my money kind of way,’”.
How things can change. Within the past few weeks, the New York Times reported that several Apple employees were concerned about the headset’s potential success and wondered whether it was a “solution in search of a problem.” Tim Cook even admitted that there would be loads of sceptics going on to say that it comes with the territory.
The $3000 device is now expected to be shown at this June’s WWDC event.
It’s airtight
There is some good and not-so-good news about the next M3 chip and the latest MacBook Air – and I’m mighty relieved!
The next generation of Apple silicon – the M3 3-nanometer process chip will enter mass production in the back half of this year. Late last night I was editing my next video about exactly this when some tweets popped up from good old Ming-Chi Kuo.
In his tweet, he said, “Mass production of M3 chip is anticipated to begin in 2H23, slightly ahead of M3 Pro and M3 Max. The new 15-inch MacBook Air will be using the existing M2 chip as I had predicted and will come with two CPU configs – an M2 which will ship with a 35W adapter and an M2 Pro which will use a 67W adapter. Apple expects the 15-inch MacBook Air to be popular and is looking to ship 5-6 million units this year!
The M3 chip will be manufactured by Apple chipmaking partner TSMC and will be based on their latest 3nm process, compared to 5nm for the M2 chip. The shift to M3 will offer significant performance and power efficiency improvements.
How damned cute
Being Mac people, you’ll know only too well what the folder icon looks like.
Well if you are looking to buy a pressie for the Mac fan that has everything, how about an actual physical version of it?
The cute little wallet which has three pockets was designed by Nicolas Bentel and it’s made from stitched two-tone vegan leather and is big enough to hold credit cards and your driver’s licence.
It sells for $49 ex shipping and you can order it direct from the Nicolas Bentel Studio. Ironically, there is no Apple Pay option at checkout though – only Google Pay or PayPal.
iPad goes OLED
OLED displays could be used on pro iPads as early as next spring reports revealed this week.
With no major re-vamps expected for iPad this year, the focus will be shifted to coming back hard with new pro iPads next year. In his most recent Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman told us that we shouldn’t expect the next iPad until spring 2024 at the earliest. But the wait should be worth it as there are expected to be major changes including an OLED panel for the first time.
OLED panels would mark a major upgrade on the iPad Pro’s already-impressive 120Hz display. OLED panels would mark a major upgrade to the current 120Hz mini-LED backlit display.
Gurman also sees the switch to OLED on the iPad as the start of the switch over to OLED displays on MacBooks which in turn will eventually lead to MacBooks with touch screens.
You’ve been ghosted
The new Chris Evans movie – Ghosted – premieres today on Apple TV+.
The rom-com turned action thriller also stars Ana de Armas as an undercover agent to the unsuspecting Evans. Cole (Chris Evans) and Sadie (de Armas) hit it off on their first date but before they make it to date number two Cole learns the truth that Sadie is actually a secret agent in the field on a covert mission. Sadie eventually goes on to save Cole and after that the fun really starts.
You can catch the official trailer here.
A nod to the OG
Do you recall over the past few weeks I’ve told you about a couple of original iPhones that have been sold at auction? The first went for a record $63,000 and then a few weeks later a bargain was had for someone when another went for only $40,320.
Turns out the buyer of that second model was Marques Brownlee of MKBHD. In his latest video, we see him open the iPhone up for the first time that was first packed and shipped in 2007. We get to see him unbox the old-style 30-pin charging dock and even the original embossed cleaning cloth.
The box has a ‘lucky you’ label on it which he discovered was a label used by Apple retail stores around the holiday period.
There have been some scams over the years where phones have claimed to be original only to turn out to be resealed devices. But having unboxed it the guys at MKBHD are pretty convinced theirs is the real deal.
Check out the full video here.
Word of warning
If you live in the UK don’t be shocked when your phone sends out an alert at 3pm this coming Sunday afternoon.
According to the official website, the government says;
On Sunday 23 April 2023 at 3pm, there will be a national test of the UK Emergency Alerts service.
The government doesn’t need your number or location to send the alert message and tell us that they’ll only ever be used to warn us of severe flooding, fires and extreme weather. The Emergency Alerts will only ever be sent by the emergency services, government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies.
The actual sound will be a siren-like alert, will vibrate and will last for 10 seconds.
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