From the past one week, Apple has been involved in numerous dramatic events. We take a quick look at how the firm is fairing on back in Cupertino.
Apple’s loophole comprises of billion dollar lawsuit against Qualcomm, iOS 10.2.1 battery issues, and speculation over its future iPhone X, the AirPods impact in luxury lifestyle, updates to Outlook for iOS, increase in App Store prices and Microsoft’s continued entanglement with Apple, reports Forbes.
Apple News Roundup is intended at reminding you the Apple discussions that have dominated the tech world in the last seven days.
Lawsuit against Qualcomm
Among the major issues that dominated Apple in the past week was the firm suing Qualcomm over allegations of extortion.
Apple reported that it had filed a $1bn lawsuit against the chipmaker for having “unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with.”
In a statement, Apple said that it was increasingly becoming unsustainable to fund various projects because Qualcomm is taking away most of the profits. Some of the features the firm says Qualcomm is unfairly benefiting from include TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras.
Further, Apple insisted that even a simple upgrade to an iPhone from 128GB to 256GB would result into Qualcomm getting more than enough royalties.
Essential iPhone 8 Leak
Apple’s 2016 flagship smartphone is presumably referred to as iPhone 8 but others prefer using the term iPhone X.
According to leaks from the world number one smartphone maker, the new iPhone 8 may upgrade IP68 water and dust resistance ratings. What this implies is that Apple will seek to have a device that can withstand water submersion of 1.5 metres for up to 30 minutes. As at the moment, only Samsung Galaxy S7 has this ability.
In addition, it was rumored that Apple was making a huge redesign of the iPhone 7.
But we expect a shift from the normal 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones. Reports emerged last week that Apple was working on another secretive iPhone X and that the normal numbering convention would be discarded.
Probably, they will just call it “iPhone” like they did with the iPad in 2012. Back then, everyone thought the next device would be iPad 3 but Apple decided to use the name “iPad” and a subtle note that signified its third generation status.
What of a Battery Fix In iOS 10.2.1?
Apple has recently released the new iOS 10.2.1 and each Apple device owner is busy asking around what’s new in it. Although the expectation is that it is a fix for the ‘thirty percent battery’ issue, the only information is in the download information box suggesting ‘bug fixes and improvements.’ Apple has chose to remain silent over the battery problem in the iPhone, something that has cast fear and concerns in most experts.
By choosing to remain silent, Apple has caused frustration but then created anxiety with the iOS 10.2.1 release. There are also speculations that iOS 10.3 is being built based on new features, making it a point that if the recent update doesn’t fix the battery problem, future iOS may not.