Apple Loop: Stunning iPhone 15 Ultra details, unusual MacBook Pro blueprints, powerful new iPhone 14 Pro glitches

Looking back on another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes Apple 15 Ultra news, more iPhone 14 issues, iPhone 14 Pro review, the hiding of the MacBook Pro update, Apple removing VK apps from the App Store, Microsoft removing Swiftkey and Tim Cook still teasing AR and VR plans.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions that have taken place around Apple in the past seven days (and you can read my weekly Android news roundup here on Forbes).

Stunning iPhone 15 Leaks

If you thought Apple generating a spec difference between the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro was interesting, then the introduction of an “even higher” third tier in the presumably named iPhone 15 Ultra is going to be something. thing you are going to be intense about:

“It will come with 256GB base storage, USB-C (potentially with Thunderbolt 4 speeds) and a display that incorporates dual front cameras…only the iPhone 15 Ultra will have dual front cameras and, while rivals have experimented with dual front-facing cameras in the past (notably the Pixel 3/3XL), the feature has disappeared in recent years, which is often a signal for Apple to reinvent something and show how things should have been done from the beginning.

(Majin Bear Going through Forbes).

No more problems with the iPhone 14

Other issues with the power management of the iPhone 14 family have come to light, with reports of random reboots when users charge their phones in various Apple communities. This is a problem that was there at launch and remains there even in the unreleased iOS 16.1:

“I just got the iPhone 14 Pro and since noticed it rebooting while charging (MagSafe/cable),” the initial poster wrote. “It doesn’t restart at all while it’s out of the charger. Anyone else having similar issues? »

“Expanding on this, affected iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro owners added that this happens on all versions of iOS 16, including the new iOS 16.1 beta, and reboots occur both on third-party and official Apple Lightning cables and MagSafe chargers.

(Reddit Going through Forbes).

iPhone 14 Pro camera review

That said, the iPhone 14 Pro is serious piece of kit (one that takes a lot more scrutiny and dissection than most flagships). As always, one of the main features used by manufacturers to show the evolution and advancement of a phone is through the camera. Jason Snell digs into this as part of his full review:

“While you can get a 48-megapixel image from the iPhone 14 Pro, you have to do so by enabling RAW capture in the Settings app. These RAW captures are slow – it takes a second or more for the camera to photo is available take another photo after taking one – and they’re huge (80-100MB each). But they’re also, especially in bright light, spectacularly detailed. Yes, they can be a bit noisy, but with a little work a RAW photo editor (I used Adobe Lightroom Classic), I was able to create stunning images with incredible levels of detail that I had never been able to do on an iPhone before.”

(six colors).

The MacBook update you may never see

October will see the launch of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops running the M2 architecture (the alleged M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets), as well as the debate over the first Mac Pro to run Apple Silicon. But will these key products be rewarded with a full launch or just a low-key press release accompanied by a few interviews with selected journalists? Mark Gurman speculates:

“None of these new products are major changes for Apple. They will benefit from improved specifications and a chip that was already announced at an official event in June at WWDC 2022. This makes me think: Apple in is there really enough here to make it worth hosting another highly polished launch event?

“That seems unlikely. Apple may end up feeling differently, but I think the company (for now) is more likely to release its remaining 2022 products via press releases, site updates web and briefings with select members of the press – rather than via a major iPhone-style keynote.”

(Power on via 9to5Mac).

Russian social media apps removed from the Apple Store

Apple has removed a number of Russian social media apps from the App Store, including the app for the VK social network. With Apple operating in the UK, the sanctions put in place by the government mean that Apple can no longer do business with the developers of the app, leading to the cancellation of developer accounts and subsequent delistings:

“Russia’s communications regulator on Wednesday demanded an explanation from Apple after apps operated by Russian state-controlled tech company VK were removed from the US company’s App Store…Apple said it abides by the laws in the jurisdictions the company operates in. Apple said the apps in question were distributed by developers majority-owned or majority-controlled by one or more UK government-sanctioned parties.

(Reuters).

Swiftkey’s not-so-fast release

Microsoft has confirmed that after a year without an update, its third-party keyboard for iOS, Swiftkey, is being removed from the App Store. Support will continue for anyone who has already installed the app, but no upgrades will be offered and no way to move the app to a new device (or one that needs to be reset) can be offered. The suspicion is that Apple does not allow Switkey to access the same functionality as its own built-in keyboard. Mary Jo Foley reports:

“I asked for the official reason why Microsoft made this decision and was told that officials had nothing more to say. I guess the decision had as much to do with Apple’s policies regarding the safeguarding its walled garden than anything else The Microsoft Phone Link team knows well that if Apple does not grant access to certain interfaces, there is no easy or good way to make a product that has need to be integrated.

(ZDNet).

And finally…

Tim Cook once again evangelizes AR and VR, addressing a topic that has been in tech discussion circles for decades, hinting that it’s a unique problem that only Apple can solve and unlock for the rest of the world. The bar continues to rise for the mythical Apple Headset expected “next year” for many years:

“I’m super excited about augmented reality. Because I think we had a great conversation here today, but if we could augment that with something from the virtual world, it probably would have been even better. So I think that if you, and it will clearly happen in a short time, if you look back at some point, you know, zoom out to the future and look back, you’ll wonder how you ever lived your life without augmented reality . Today we wonder how people like me have grown up without the internet. And so I think it could be so deep, and it won’t be overnight…”

(Università Degli Studi di Naples Federico II via MacRumors).

Apple Loop brings you seven days 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 hereWhere This week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.