Appleviews – 30th June 2023
Old habits
Apple’s iconic iPhones have been doing very well at auctions this year – and now we have another gem that is about to go under the hammer.
Today LCG Auctions will auction off a factory sealed 2007 iPhone. Already this year we’ve seen two 8GB iPhones auctioned – one for $63,000 in February and another for $54,000 a month later.
The model included in this most recent lot is rare though – very rare. It’s the 4GB model rather than the 8GB models that sold earlier this year. When iPhone went on sale 16 years ago almost to the day on 29th June 2007 there were two models available – 4GB & 8GB. The larger iPhone proved far more popular and the 4GB model was discontinued after only a few months.
Because of the rarity, the auction house expects this lot to fetch around $100,000! Mark Montero of LCG Auctions said:
“Based upon our recent record-setting sales and the fact that the 4GB model is probably 20 times rarer than the 8GB version, we would not be surprised if it establishes a new record sale price.”
The original owner of this iPhone was part of the original engineering team at launch and comes with a letter of provenance. When they first went on sale the 4GB model sold for $499, while the 8GB version cost $599.
There will also be 8GB and 16GB factory-sealed iPhones up for grabs at the same auction.
Apple TV+ goodies
This week Hijack launched on Apple TV+ and it had me gripped from the very get-go.
Starring Idris Elba it wastes no time in getting into the plot and pulling you in with it. Elba plays Sam Nelson whose plane is taken hostage. Shot in a similar vein to the legendary 24 each episode is shot in real-time and covers one hour of the hostage situation. The first two episodes are ready to watch now.
This week we also had confirmation of the date that an Apple TV+ favourite will return to our screens. Morning Show with co-stars Reece Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston returns for its third 10-episode season on 13th September.
Joining the line-up for this third run are Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie. Although the plot for the season is a tightly guarded secret we can only guess that the story will carry on from the season two cliffhanger.
Morning Show like Hijack has transitioned to the now more favoured Wednesday release schedule.
A trailer featuring Hamm was released by Apple a few weeks ago and a fourth season of Morning Show has already been confirmed.
Enjoy your Mac
If you are a Mac lover you’d best get set to cherish the current offerings as Apple it appears are in no rush to release new models anytime soon.
The release of the M2 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac Pro and a refreshed Mac Studio could be it for the foreseeable future. With M2 Ultra being used in that new Mac Studio and the Mac Pro it means that the M2 cycle is now complete as we wait for the M3 chip with its 3nm architecture. The rumours suggest that the M3 processor could be as much as 25% faster and even more power efficient.
Apple processor partner, TSMC is struggling to keep up with Apple’s demands with priority expected to be given to the A17 chip ahead of the release of iPhone 15 this September.
The current iMac is aching for an M3 update but it looks likely that now won’t happen until early next year. The wait may be worth it though as we could see a larger 30-inch iMac. If that happens it would lend itself to having a 24-inch M3 iMac and a new 30-inch iMac M3 Pro model.
Although the 15-inch MacBook Air has only just been released it would be simple enough for Apple to drop an entry-level basic M3 into the entire range of MacBook Air.
I’d expect Apple to prioritise the better, faster-selling laptops over their desktops with the other updates though meaning they could decide to wait until late 2024 before looking at the Mac minis. They are both fairly fresh anyway with the M2 Mac mini only having first been released last year and the M2 Pro model earlier this year.
Back on track
These past 12 months have been a torrid time for the valuation of large tech companies what with higher interest rates and the ongoing fears of a recession looming.
Early last year Apple briefly got tantalisingly close to being valued as the world’s only $3 trillion company. With the news of Apple Vision still resonating their stocks rallied once again this week as their share price last night finished at $189.25.
That means their stock price has risen more than half this year as they once again edge closer to the magical $3 trillion valuation.
That logo
Have you ever wondered how that iconic logo that adorns all our favourite tech ever came about?
Contrary to popular urban myths it has nothing to do with the forbidden fruit of Adam & Eve from the Garden of Eden. Neither does it relate to half-eaten Apple alleged to have been found by the side of computer scientist & mathematician Alan Turing.
Sadly the truth is far more unglamorous. According to Rob Janoff, the logos designer the single bite was just a practical decision based on scaling. The size of the bite indicates it can only be an apple and no other fruit such as a cherry.
As for the multi-coloured stripes again the reasons for those are based on logic. The Apple II was the first home computer that could reproduce colour images on the screen – the colours in the logo are simply representative of that.
Stephen Fry once asked Steve Jobs about the logo having given a nod to the Turing story. Jobs response was “God we wish it were!”
AirPods Max bargains
I love my AirPods Max – they really are a great pair of headphones.
I wrote earlier this week about their current shortcomings and also what I’d like to see brought to the next version of them. At WWDC AirPods Max were neglected as Apple mentioned planned improvements coming to AirPods. All new functions will only be available to AirPods Pro 2 with the H2 chip.
With that in mind, some great offers are now available on the over-the-ear headphones. A quick flick through Amazon this morning shows you can now pick up a new pair for only £499 or even better, a pair from the Amazon renewed store for £470.
With savings of between £50-£80 these start to look better value for money.
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