Weekend good reads for Apple developers #2023/42

Another weekend is coming, so here are some good reads to spend some free time.

That would be it for this week. Come back next Friday and we'll share more great articles.

iPhone continues to be most popular smartphone among teenagers, Apple Watch is gaining market share

Piper Sandler reports continued trend for iPhone to be most popular smartphone among US teenagers.

87% of teens own an iPhone; 88% expect an iPhone to be their next phone; 34% own an Apple Watch.

Piper Sandler

Report also contains information on spending, jobs, digital content consumption and so on.

Piper Sandler: Taking Stock With Teens – Fall 2023 Survey

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Wonderlust event recap – new iPhones, Apple Watches

Apple hosted its Wonderlust special event. As expected, Apple unveiled new iPhones and Apple Watch models.

Apple Watch Series 9

New Apple Watch Series 9 gets new S9 system-on-chip with updated CPU and GPU. New screen now has brightness up to 1,000 nits. And lowest brightness is now 1 nit. S9 allows on-device Siri recognition for many use cases.

New "double tap" hand gesture (similar to previously implemented accessibility features) allows one hand responses and actions to be performed on Apple Watch.

New UWB chip will improve Apple Watch spatial awareness, allowing, for example, precise iPhone lookup with directions and distance display.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Ultra 2 gets same S9 system-on-chip, screen is improved to have 3,000 nits maximum brightness.

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by A16 chip introduced in iPhone 14 Pro models.

iPhone 15 models now gain Dynamic Island. Charging port is now changed to USB-C with USB 2.0 data transfer speeds.

Also, iPhone 15 main camera is now similar to iPhone 14 Pro with 48MP resolution.

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

iPhone 15 Pro is running on A17 PRO chip. iPhone 15 Pro has titanium frame to reduce weight. Mute switch is replaced by Action button. iPhone 15 Pro Max has 5x camera with pentaprism design. USCB-C connector in iPhone 15 Pro supports USB 3.0.

Also iPhone 15 Pro could record spatial videos that will provide depth when viewing in Apple Vision Pro.

iPhone 15 Pro Max now has base model with 256GB of storage.

iCloud Storage Tiers

Apple introduces new iCloud storage tiers – 6TB and 12TB available for purchase later priced $30 and $60 respectively.

FineWoven

Apple now replaces leather accessories with new FineWoven material. This includes Apple Watch bands as well as iPhone cases.

OS Updates

Release Candidates are now available for iOS/iPadOS 17, macOS 14 Sonoma, watchOS 10 and tvOS 17. As well as iOS and iPadOS 16.7. Xcode 15 is also available as Release Candidate.

iOS/iPadOS 17, watchOS 10 and tvOS 17 are to be released on September 18. macOS 14 Sonoma will be released on September 26.

You could watch event replay on YouTube.

Apple Newsroom:

Release notes:

References:

Apple announces new iPhones, Apple Watches, AirPods Pro and publishes RC for iOS 16, watchOS 9 and tvOS 16

Apple hosted 'Far Out.' special event. During the presentation three product lines got major updates – Apple Watches, AirPods and iPhones.

Event is available for playback at Apple website.

Apple Watch

New Apple Watch Series 8 has addition of wrist temperature sensor which could monitor ovulation cycles. At the moment, this sensor does not provide absolute temperature readings and could not be used to measure exact body temperature.

Also, Apple Watch now has crash detection which will trigger call to emergency services when it detects a crash.

watchOS 9 will introduce Low Power mode which will provide more battery life by sacrificing some of the features.

Apple also updated Apple Watch SE with new specs.

But main announcement is introduction of Apple Watch Ultra which adds new design and extra programmable action button.

Apple Watch Series 3 are now discontinued.

AirPods Pro

AirPods Pro 2 will feature better noise cancellation, improved transparency mode (marketed as "Adaptive Transparency") which will silence some of the noises while keeping user within the environment.

Touch control on new AirPods Pro will allow volume control by sliding.

iPhone 14

iPhone 14 will come in two models – regular and Plus matching screen sizes of Pro models. iPhone 14 models will use A15 Bionic chip introduced with iPhone 13, screen will also be similar to last year's models.

iPhone 14 Pro models will have A16 Bionic chip and new pill shaped sensor area which will be used as Dynamic Island – this area will be used together with notifications and will be available for the third-party integrations.

All new iPhone 14 will feature satellite emergency SOS connectivity allowing users to send message through satellite connection. Service will be free for two years with all new iPhone 14 purchases.

Pro models will also feature significant upgrades to main camera – sensor is now 48MP. Typically camera will use 4 pixels together, however ProRAW format will allow to get full 48 megapixels for processing.

iPhone 14 US models will not have SIM tray and will rely on eSIM only.

Apple Fitness+ will no longer require purchase of Apple Watch.

Release Candidates

Release candidates are published for iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Xcode 14 Release Candidate is also available.

Apple plans releases for September 12, 2022.

Note that iPadOS 16 will not be released together with iOS. It is assumed that iPadOS 16.1 will be released later in October.

Apple also published iOS/iPadOS 15.7 RC and macOS 12.6 Monterey RC.

Beta download: Operating Systems

Release notes:

Apple special event ‘Far out.’ to be hosted in-person on September 7

It was a long time since Apple hosted in-person special events for announcements. This time Apple will announce next generation iPhones, Apple Watches and probably other devices at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino.

Presentation will take place September 7, 2022 at 10:00am PDT.

Apple Event: Far Out.

Reference: Apple Announces 'Far Out' September 7 Event Set to Feature iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8 and More

New OS releases drop support for older devices

New OS releases mean that some of older devices are left behind. This is true for iOS 16, watchOS 9, macOS 13 Ventura.

iOS 16 will not be available for iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 and original iPhone SE.

iPadOS 16 will be provided for:

  • iPad Pro
  • iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
  • iPad (5th generation and later)
  • iPad mini (5th generation and later)

watchOS 9 leaves Apple Watch Series 3 behind. Which is a bit strange since Series 3 are still sold by Apple as entry-level model.

macOS 13 Ventura also drops support for several older Macs. Currently supported are:

  • iMac (2017 and later)
  • ‌iMac‌ Pro
  • MacBook Air (2018 and later)
  • MacBook Pro (2017 and later)
  • Mac Pro (2019 and later)
  • Mac mini (2018 and later)
  • MacBook (2017 and later)

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