Apple Loop: Radical iPhone 15 Pro Decision, Futuristic Foldable MacBooks, Discovering The Average iPhone

Taking a look back at another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes radical iPhone 15 Pro decision, Apple’s speedy iPhone upgrade, foldable MacBook plans, the first Rapid Security Response update, good news for Safari on iPhone, Apple Watch’s new design feature, and the cost of an average iPhone.

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).

Apple’s Definitive Switching Of The Switches

The latest iPhone 15 Pro leak includes the CAD design of the hardware, and that means the decisions around the physical volume buttons, mute switch, and solid state magic action button have been decided. Mute goes, volume stays, action button arrives. Also of note is the camera bump for Apple’s new telephoto lens. Widely expected to bloat the rear of the handset, the leaked design suggests it will only be fractionally bigger:

“...the CADs show separate physical volume buttons will be retained and sit below a new, solid-state Action button which will replace the mute switch. According to previous leaks, the Action button will be programmable and take over multiple functions, including restarting the phone."

(Forbes).

TOPSHOT - The new iPhone 14 and 14 Plus is displayed during a launch event for new products at Apple ... [+] Park in Cupertino, California, on September 7, 2022. - Apple unveiled several new products including a new iPhone 14 and 14 Pro, three Apple watches, and new AirPod Pros during the event. (Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small / AFP) (Photo by BRITTANY HOSEA-SMALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Speedy Fifteen

Apple may be moving to USB-C for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, but the port has a speedy surprise… it’s a Thunderbolt 3 port, offering a step up in data speeds from the current lightning port, although it remains to be seen if Apple will restrict this speed to Apple authorized products.

"Thunderbolt 3 operates at up to 40 gigabits per second (Gbps), that’s equivalent to 5,000 megabytes per second (MBps). By comparison, the Lighting port on all current iPhones is limited to USB 2.0 speeds, which is 480 megabits per second, equivalent to 0.48 Gbps / 60 MBps. It’s a stratospheric upgrade."

(Forbes).

The Laptop Bends

Apple’s folding ambitions, long suspected, may not be built around a small iPhone with a big screen or a big iPad with a massive screen. The latest patent filings reveal continuing work to develop a laptop using foldable technology:

"Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published another continuation patent application from Apple relating to the 2020 invention that we covered but this time they clearly revealed in 20 updated patent claims that the invention relates to a foldable "laptop." Whether Apple would brand it a MacBook, such as a MacBook Fold or create a new category for this type of device is unknown at this time."

(Patently Apple).

Apple’s Install Now Alert

Apple has pushed its first Rapid Security Response this week. With minimal explanation beyond “you really need to get this installed” - hence the push alert and process - it’s been a rough roll-out, although things have stabilized now:

"The first 24 hours have been rocky for iOS 16.4.1 (a) and iPadOS 16.4.1 (a), with widespread reports of users being unable to install the update. This problem also applies to macOS 13.3.1 (a). The good news is no significant problems have been reported by users who have managed to upgrade. This should be a consistent theme, with RSR updates designed to be smaller and less disruptive than previous iOS security patches."

(Forbes).

UK Mobile Browser Investigation Loses Appeal

Following a ruling in March that it could not investigate Apple’s practices around mobile browsers and cloud gaming, the appeal by the Competition and Markets Authority to reverse the ruling has failed:

"Britain's antitrust regulator was on Wednesday refused permission to appeal against a ruling that it had no power to open an investigation into Apple Inc's mobile browser and cloud gaming services. Apple won an appeal in March against the decision by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to open a full investigation into the dominance of Apple and Alphabet Inc's Google in mobile browsers."

(Reuters).

Apple Watch Finds Multiple Partners

Apple is set to meet consumer expectations and allow the next generation of Apple Watch to pair with more than one Apple device. Currently, you are limited to a single device, and switching to a second device is not an easy process:

“...the key benefit will be the addition of syncing with multiple Apple devices. In fact, the only downside I can see is the one that many new users come across: information overload until you adjust exactly which email accounts and so on will send data to the Watch. But that’s easily fixed. We’ll almost certainly get a clue to this at WWDC in June.

(Forbes).

And Finally...

How much is ‘the average iPhone’? Given that Apple has a wide portfolio, this it’s fair to ask for the average selling price, but however you phrase it, the "$1000 for an iPhone” mark is here:

"Following up after revealing the most popular iPhones for 2023, CIRP is out today with its latest report that shows Apple has hit a new record for the iPhone’s average selling price in a normally challenging quarter. Here’s the new high… Apple was able to make an impressive increase in the iPhone average selling price not just during the March quarter of 2023, but steadily over the last year. It’s gone from $882 to $988."

(9to5 Mac).

Apple Loop brings you seven 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.