Appleviews – 18th November 2022
Roll up, roll up….
It’s nearly Black Friday – but more of that in a moment.
Welcome along to another Friday’s Appleviews – it’s a happy place where we get together, and round up the best of the week’s Apple News & highlights…and this week we’re gonna kick off with Black Friday.
Time to spend
Apple has confirmed that their annual ‘Apple Shopping Event’ would return this year, as normal. The event will run from Black Friday, through until Cyber Monday (25th – 28th November 2022). Customers shopping between those dates, and making the relevant purchases, will become entitled to Apple Gift Cards.
Here, in the UK, if you buy an iPhone 13, 13 mini, 12 or iPhone SE, you’ll receive a £50 gift card. Buying a pair of AirPods Pro 2nd Generation, AirPods 2nd Gen, or AirPods 3rd Gen, will earn you a £75 gift card. Apple Watches, iPads, and Macs are also included in the offer, and worth taking a look at.
The need for speed
So, as the deadline approaches, over charging ports on mobile devices, we had more Apple related news this week. Whilst there is still speculation whether Apple will decide to go the MagSafe, port free route, or the USB-C direction, Ming-Chi Kuo waded in to the debate via Twitter.
Kuo, who tends to be pretty reliable with his tweets, believes that not only will Apple go the USB-C direction, but that we will, at last, get a massive speed bump for wired transfers as well. He said, “I predict that 15 Pro & 15 Pro Max will support at least USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 3. This spec upgrade means the wired transfer and video output user experience will significantly improve.”
As per this year, though, the divide will clearly be made between the Pro iPhones, and non-Pro ones. Only the Pro, and Pro Max will support the faster transfer speeds – the 15 and 15 Plus iPhones. Although the 15 and 15 Plus models will have the USB-C port, both will still only transfer at USB 2.0 speeds – unchanged from the speeds currently attained with the lightning cable.
Money for old Birkenstocks
There have been many auctions recently, selling off Steve Jobs memorabilia. And now, another auction, and another record sale price achieved.
This week, a pair of his beloved Birkenstock Arizona sandals were sold at auction. The listing from Julien’s Auctions listed them – “The cork and jute footbed retains the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use,”
Apparently, this pair were worn, whilst with Steve Wozniack, as they were planning the launch of Apple Computers in 1976. Birkenstocks were a staple of the Job’s wardrobe, and became something of a trademark. A former girlfriend said that seasons were no restriction on wearing them either, as he regularly wore them in the winter too.
The sandals currently sell for $125. This pair, though, fetched the highest amount, ever achieved by a pair of sandals at auction. An unnamed buyer paid $218, 750 and were sold with an accompanying NFT. They far exceeded the reserve of $60,000.
Beta change
Craig Federighi has seemed to suggest that there may be a change coming to the beta testing system.
Currently, developers, and public beta testers have early access to iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS. But, a member of the beta testing team, had a response from Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Federighi.
A MacRumors reader complained that Apple’s beta program doesn’t effectively listen to user feedback and suggestions. Federighi accepted that Apple faces a unique challenge “when literally millions of people participate in our betas, and many, many, many of them want to provide feedback to help influence Apple’s products.”
Testers provide feedback using an app, filling in information about their experience. Responding to the claim that much of the feedback goes unanswered, Federighi admitted, ”I agree that the current approach isn’t giving many in the community what they’d like in terms of interaction and influence.”
Nothing firm has been announced by Apple as to the future of the testing program, but Craig did say, “we could see an updated approach for next year’s batch of new updates.”
More SOS
This week saw the launch of Emergency SOS via Satellite for iPhone 14 users. The launch was restricted to the States & Canada. But, in a press release, Apple has now given more details as to when more countries will be able to use this groundbreaking feature.
According to Apple, France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK should all be getting Emergency SOS via Satellite in December, although no exact date was given.
Good job news
Forbes reported this week that Apple has plans to source American made chips for use in their iPhones. Clearly, that can only be good news for the job sector and US economy. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been busy building a facility just outside Phoenix, and as we know, they are the sole supplier for Apple’s iPhone chips.
As TSMC gears up for the new 3 nm process, extra production capacity was required for both the 3 nm wafer and the existing 5 nm one. Initial volumes are low compared to Taiwan, with only 20,000 chips being produced monthly, compared to a million from the combined Taiwan plants.
But, it represents an important shift from Apple to be less reliant on the overseas supply chain. It also fits in well with President Biden’s directive for less tech imports and to rebuild the US economy.
TSMC reports that their largest customer accounts for 26% of their turnover. We assume that to be Apple, with the next largest client representing only 10% of its revenue.
Plans are already in place for the development of another facility, adjacent to the current one.
Discounted Macs
If you are a business on the look-out to add to your Mac line-up, then I have good news for you.
As Apple looks to clear stock ahead of next year’s M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBooks, savings of up to 10% are available currently.
In what Apple describes as a “very special Mac campaign”, the deal means that if you buy between 5 and 24 MacBook Pro’s you’ll save 8%. Any company buying 25 or MacBooks will qualify for the full 10% discount. Read details in full here.
Christmas is coming
The big day is getting ever so close now, and it may be coming just a little too quickly if you had intended to buy an iPhone as a gift this year.
Following an unusual warning to investors, the picture seems to be changing rapidly. Last week, orders for iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max were still scheduled for delivery by mid-December, and certainly, before Christmas. As of today, that would no longer seem to be the case. Checking just now, the earliest date I got was 29th December.
Having severely underestimated the demand for the two Pro level iPhones, the company has even made the unprecedented move to halt production of the iPhone 14 Plus.
Although historically, Apple under-promises, but overdelivers, this would not seem to the case this time around. The shortages are being blamed on ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in China, leading to the factories operating “at significantly reduced capacity.”
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Get in the vibe and listen along to today’s chosen soundtrack. I wrote this whilst listening to get in the vibe and listen along to today’s chosen soundtrack. I wrote this whilst listening tohttps://music.apple.com/gb/album/in-control/70265022
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