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Apple Loop: New iPhone Details Disappoint, Steve Jobs' First Computer, iPhone SE 2 Leaked

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Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes more lost features on the new iPhone, 2017's replacement for the iPhone SE, leaked dates for a new iPad, the danger hiding in the new MacBook sales, the iPad Pro’s latest patent, Apple’s Chinese performance, more iCloud infrastructure for the US, and Steve Jobs’ first computer.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).

New iPhone Will Drop More Features

As 2017 continues, the innovative features that many hoped would be in the tenth-anniversary iPhone have been slowly been disproved. The latest lost feature looks to be the bezel-free display. Details come from JP Morgan as Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:

…the multinational giant claims Apple’s plans to introduce three new models: an iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus and new flagship iPhone 8 will prove underwhelming.

In contrast to the widely published, eye popping iPhone 8 renders seen recently, JPMorgan claims Apple's new device will not have tiny 4mm bezels around the display. Instead the smartphone will be more like Samsung’s Galaxy S8 with an edge-to-edge panel horizontally and reduced, but clearly visible top and bottom bezels. It published the following diagrams to illustrate this:

More on the report here on Forbes.

Here Comes Another SE

Apple could be updating the diminutive iPhone SE later this year. Leaked images of the follow-up to last year’s smaller-screened smartphone suggest that Cupertino will release a new version in the September window.

The images allegedly show the backs of a phone which could be called the iPhone SE 2 or iPhone SE Series 2 (like Apple Watch naming convention) and a design more in line with the curves of the iPhone 7 - including the single rear camera.

At this stage it is impossible to verify the /leak images, but it does fit the timeline laid out for KGI Securities’ famously accurate analysis Ming Chi-Kuo who said late last year that Apple would delay the launch of a second generation iPhone SE until the second half of 2017. To keep the 14 month old device competitive in the meantime, Apple doubled its storage a few months ago.

More details here on Forbes.

Ewan Sp

The Case For A New iPad

Should we be expecting a new iPad in June? Given the leak of a new Under Armor case for “the iPad 10.5” listed for the end of Q2 2017, it’s looking ever more likely. A case design is not much to go on, but the market power of UA makes this feel plausible. Ben Lovejoy has more.

Case manufacturer Urban Armor Gear appears to be preparing a case for the rumored 10.5-inch iPad Pro. A stock system at an Apple Authorized Reseller shared with 9to5Mac shows a UAG Metropolis Folio Case ‘for iPad 10.5-inch’ in three color combinations, with availability listed as June 2017.

The same case, which is compatible with the Apple Smart Keyboard and has a holder for the Apple Pencil, is already available for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Details at 9to5Mac.

Strong Mac Sales Hide Potential Danger

With an increase in revenue of fourteen percent and unit sales up by four percent, the Mac division is good health. Can Apple retain that advantage as Windows 10 manufacturers work on new designs alongside Microsoft’ software improvements?

I believe that much of Apple’s retail strength in the desk-bound computer market comes from momentum. The perceptions built up around the hard are over the last ten decades contribute more to the package than the specification bumps and almost gimmick-like additions to the hardware over the last two years. The only genuinely new Mac last year (as opposed to bump in specifications) was the aforementioned Touch Bar model. Until the Touch Bar is in place over the vast majority of machines in the wild, it can’t be relied upon by developers to provide unique functionality - any control will need to be duplicated in the menu system or on the keyboard for older machines.

More on my thoughts on here.

iPad Pro’s Multi-Tasking Patent

Apple’s methods of multi-tasking in iOS (primarily the iPad Pro) have been awarded a patent. Jack Purcher has the details on the legal protections that Apple now has over the look and feel of the tablet UI.

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to the need for systems, methods, and graphical user interfaces that provide intuitive and seamless interactions for multitasking on a handheld electronic device. Such methods and systems optionally complement or replace conventional touch inputs or gestures. This patent that is now fulfilled covers the iPad Pro's multitasking feature in detail.

More at Patently Apple.

Apple Invests In The Back-End

Apple is set to expand its data centers in the United States with major investments in Arizona and Nevada. The main recipient looks to be the Reno-based center, with $1 billion going into its facility at Reno Technology Park. Mikey Campbell reports:

According to AppleInsider sources, construction of a previously planned "phase 2" addition to Apple's Mesa, Ariz., data center is well underway. Contractors are busy outfitting the facility with new equipment, while construction crews work to build out roads and supporting infrastructure surrounding the campus.

Apple is expected to further increase the size of its Arizona data center in the near future as part of a "phase 3" expansion, sources said.

More at Apple Insider.

Apple Still Struggling In China

China is regarded as one of the key markets for smartphone manufacturers - success in this territory will be a key factor for growth in the future. That makes Apple’s Chinese performance critical, and it is still failing to deliver. IDC’s latest report is also covered by Jack Purcher:

“Apple has been seeing double-digit YoY declines for the fifth quarter in a row, but we believe that Chinese consumers are holding out for the launch of Apple's 10-year anniversary iPhone at the end of the year, and this will help Apple to see a rebound in the China smartphone market."

More at Patently Apple.

And Finally…

Seattle’s Living Computers Museum has put Steve Jobs’ Apple 1 on display - arguably his first computer. Donated by the estate of a former Apple employee, it is on display alongside another Apple 1 that visitors to the Museum can interact with. Devin Coldewey has more:

When Jobs left in 1985 he left in a hurry, and this I was left behind on a shelf. Don Hutmacher, one of the company’s first employees, grabbed it and it stayed in his possession until he passed away last year. His wife generously allowed the museum to take care of it, and you can imagine their gratitude.

The team had their suspicious, but a tag inside the metal chassis — and the fact that it had a chassis at all, since Apple Is came just as boards — suggested it was more than a rare Apple I; it was the rarest. It’s signed “BF,” which would have been employee number one, Bill Fernandez. This was definitely, the team decided, Jobs’ custom machine.

Read more at TechCrunch.

Apple Loop brings you 7 days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.

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