Tag: iPhone 15 Pro

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s Sunday and that means Sunday Morning Reading to share. This week was new iPhone week so I’m sharing some great coverage of the new iPhones and the operating system that runs them, as well as macOS Sonoma. In addition,  excellent writing on lying and other topics will lead the list.

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First up is the always excellent Natasha MH with Our Panche for Lies, Art and Storytelling. Using comedian and storyteller Hasan Minhaj as her point of entry she wonders why we get so upset when comedians do the same thing those less funny do: Lie.

Speaking of lying, Jeff Kosseff has a neat piece on Why The First Amendment Protects Liars. 

I’m not a fan of giving up meat. This dog is too old to learn any new tricks. But Matthew Clapham does have a good piece of writing about just that in Rewording the Golden Rule to Cause No Suffering. 

Kenneth L. Warner uses the occasion of Diane Feinstin’s passing to talk about age requirements for holdiing office in “When I Leave Elected Office, I’m Going Feet First.”

Much of the US political focus is on the gamesmanship over keeping the government open and some washed up TV reality star that got lucky and appointed too many Supreme Court Justices. Well, that Supreme Court is going to take up a few cases that might, or might not, have profound implications for the Internet. Take a look at Caroline Mimbs Nyce’s piece The Supreme Court Cases That Could Redfine The Internet to see why.

And as for those writers about Apple things I’ll lead that off with the always excellent Federico Vitcci and his review of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 on MacStories. I highly advise keeping this one in your bookmarks or read later app of choice to refer back to now and again.

His partner in crime, John Vorhees, does a great job of tackling macOS Sonoma. Again, hang on to this one as a reference.

And for a companion to Vorhees’ post check out Andrew Cunningham’s macOS review on Ars Technica.

Samuel Axon in Ars Technica says we may have reached the “final form” with the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. I think he’s correct.

Matthew Panzarino always gives us a good look into the cameras on new iPhones and this year’s trip to Disneyland is no different.

Last up is John Gruber’s iPhone 15 Pro review. John’s writing on all things Apple is always worth your time.

Ok, I lied. If you’d like to check out my thoughts on the iPhone 15 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 9, you can do so here.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Apple’s iPhone Announcement Has Some Vision Behind It

Apple has announced new iPhones and Apple Watches for 2023. They look nice. They always do. Apple by and large held prices at the same level. There are improved cameras in the iPhones. There’s Titanium on the Pro models. The Apple Watches get a new chip set, more memory and brighter screens. There’s a new 3 nanometer chip in the Pro iPhones and Apple is working hard to save the environment and tell you about saving lives.

And it all sorta, kinda feels obligatory.

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Even coverage of the event and the devices feels a bit underwhelming. (Except for the derision being tossed around over Apple’s environmental efforts video featuring Octavia Spencer.)  I’m betting the reviews will feel lackluster too. There’s a reason for that. Until at least “early next year” Apple’s vision for the Vision Pro and spatial computing is sucking up all the space, time and energy. What we’re seeing with this fall’s release of new iPhones and Apple Watches, and anything else that might come later, is merely marking time to keep the money machine churning until Apple flips the switch on its new paradigm.

Don’t get me wrong. The new iPhones and Apple Watches look like very nice devices. For those ready to upgrade or jump on the Apple bus for the first time I’m confident they will feel good about the devices they choose. We’re certainly not in any post-iPhone period. As I’ve said here and other places this is a mature product line and we’re seeing more iteration than innovation. It’s tough to make big splashes with iteration. And it seems like even Apple’s design folks responsible for colors are putting their focus elsewhere. For the most part, this is not going to change until after “early next year.” And maybe not even for awhile after.

But Apple did drop a few clues and if you’re paying attention it’s not hard to piece them together to suss out where things are headed.

We’ve become accustomed to the iPhone being the center of Apple’s universe. That will continue for quite some time to come. But in Apple’s universe the future belongs to spatial computing. No one knows when and exactly how that future will arrive, but Tim Cook is taking steps to make it possible. And we saw some of those steps and clues at this iPhone and Apple Watch event.

The first clue was lifting and refining the Double Tap gesture for the Apple Watch out of the Accessibiility options, where it has already been available, and making it a full-fledged feature of watchOS. The Double Tap got tent pole time at the event. And if you’ve been paying any attention at all to Vision Pro and spatial computing you immediately recognized that gesture from what Apple has revealed one of the ways users will interact in that new world.

Doubletap

Another big clue was the announcement that the new iPhone 15 Pro models will be able to record spatial video. That only makes sense. Spatial video from what everyone who has demoed the headsets says is pretty amazing to view in those devices. If Apple meets its target and releases Vision Pro devices “early next year” with spatial video as one of the signature features it doesn’t want to wait until next fall to have an iPhone that can record it. Yes, you can use the Vision Pro headset to record spatial video, but just about everyone agreed that poor dad at the birthday party looked pretty darned creepy.

Applevisiondad iCloud storage capacity levels are getting a bump up to 6TB and 12TB (at a price). I’m guessing those spatial videos will take up quite a bit of room.

Apple told us up front in the event that the focus would only be on new iPhones and Apple Watches. The pre-event rumor mill had pretty much quieted down talk about new iPads and Macs, much less anything about Apple TVs and other gear. So this annual fall event happened in essentially routine fashion. No big surprises, no “one more thing.”

There are folks that think we may see another event this fall regarding Macs and iPads. But I don’t think so. We’re not going to see new Macs until after we see the Vision Pro released. The reason I think that is one of the signature features of the Vision Pro and spatial computing: the ability to see and work spatially with the apps on your Mac.

Apple vision pro mac

I may be completely off base, but “early next year” sure seems like the perfect marketing one-two timing punch to sell newer Macs. I’m not sure how the iPad fits into that picture though. Which, as an iPad user is slightly concerning.

Spatial computing is the vision for the future. For better or worse Apple is taking us there. Until “early next year” things are going to feel a bit obligatory and routine when it comes to the current product lineup and maybe next year’s as well given that we probably aren’t going to see mass consumer take up of the Vision Pro in year one.

There’s nothing wrong with that. If Apple’s spatial computing bet on the future pays off then, at the moment, it feels like Tim Cook has timed this transition well. There are certainly enough iPhone users out there who will need and want to upgrade and there’s going to be a new iPhone every year going forward for quite awhile. But the vision is shifting and so too should our expectations.