4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Screen Put Under Microscope as New 1472 x 828 Resolution Emerges
Amid rumors of both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions of the iPhone 6, speculation about what resolutions Apple will use for the new devices has generated a number of different theories. The most concrete suggestion so far has been a 1704 x 960 resolution that could see the current “2x” Retina display move to an even sharper “3x” display.
A new photo from Russian luxury modified iPhone vendor Feld & Volk [Instagram page] now shows the display of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 under a microscope, with the firm telling MacRumors the panel does indeed carry a resolution of 1704 x 960.
The photograph posted by Feld & Volk does not, however, necessarily appear to agree with that claim, as it seems to show roughly 13 pixels per mm in the horizontal and vertical directions, while a 4.7-inch display at 1704 x 960 should be closer to 16 pixels per mm. The current iPhone 5s display is roughly 10.5 pixels per mm.
A potential answer to this problem arrives in another report today from 9to5Mac, which has discovered references to yet another resolution of 1472 x 828 within recent Xcode 6 beta releases.
This particular file outlines for the system where icons, by default, will be placed on an iPhone’s Home screen. This particular file, which was added in Xcode 6 beta 5 earlier this month and still exists in yesterday’s Xcode 6 beta 6, is optimized for an iPhone with a resolution of 414 (width) x 736 (height). The iPhone SDK parses hardware resolutions via “point values,” so the actual “Retina” resolution is in fact double (or potentially triple) whatever numbers the SDK presents.
While analysis quickly becomes speculative, one way Apple could use both of these rumored resolutions would be to to launch a 4.7-inch iPhone at 1472 x 828 and a 5.5-inch model at 1704 x 960. In that scenario, both iPhone 6 models would have pixel densities of 355-360 pixels per inch. This translates to roughly 14 pixels per mm in each direction, close to what is seen in the Feld & Volk photograph.
Depending on how the rumored 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes have been rounded for convenience, the two iPhone 6 panels could actually offer the exact same pixel density, slightly higher than current iPhones and allowing for efficiencies in the manufacturing process if the same technologies and production methods are used in the two new models.
Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 6 at a media event on September 9, but it remains unclear whether the company plans to show off both models at the same time, and even it does, there have been rumors that the larger model should ship up to several months later than the smaller version.
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Apple Seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 Build 13F18 to Developers [Mac Blog]
Apple today seeded Mavericks 10.9.5 build 13F18 to developers, just under a week after seeding the third OS X 10.9.5 beta, build 13F14, and more than a month after releasing OS X 10.9.4 to the public.
The beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Mac Developer Center.
It is unclear what improvements the 10.9.5 update will bring to Mavericks, but it is likely to include bug fixes and stability enhancements. Apple is asking developers to focus on USB, USB Smart Cards, Graphics, Safari, Thunderbolt, and Gatekeeper.
Along with working on improvements to Mavericks, Apple is also beta testing OS X Yosemite, which is due to be released in the fall. The last Mavericks update, 10.9.4, added several Wi-Fi fixes and improved wake from sleep reliability.
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Apple to Open New South Windsor, Connecticut Store on August 23 [Mac Blog]
Connecticut’s sixth Apple Store location is set to open on Saturday, August 23 at The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor. Rumors of a new Apple Store at Evergreen Walk first popped up in February, after a black construction box showed up at the location, between Ann Taylor and the Clarks shoe store.
The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk is an outdoor shopping area housing more than 50 different retail stores and eateries. The new Apple Store joins five other Connecticut locations in Danbury, Farmington, Greenwich, New Haven, and Stamford.
The Evergreen Walk store in July, courtesy of a MacRumors reader
Apple’s South Windsor store will open at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday, where employees will likely hand out T-shirts to the first customers to visit the new location. The store has already begun accepting reservations for workshops and Genius Bar appointments.
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Apple’s iWatch May Not Launch Until 2015
Apple may be planning to delay the launch of its iWatch until 2015, according to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Echoing several past reports that have also alluded to a 2015 launch date, Kuo suggests that difficulty manufacturing the device will lead to its postponement.
We reiterate our view that iWatch, as compared to existing products, and as Apple’s (US) first attempt at a wearable device, represents a much higher level of difficulty for the company as regards component and system design, manufacturing and integration between hardware and software. While we are positive on iWatch and believe that the advantages of the design and business model behind it are difficult to copy, we think, given the aforementioned challenges, that the launch could be postponed to 2015.
In a July report, Kuo predicted mass production on the iWatch would begin in November, with a launch coming in 2015. Kuo has suggested that the iWatch’s small form factor, its use of a flexible AMOLED screen, and its sapphire display cover have all contributed to production difficulties.
iWatch concept by Todd Hamilton, based on the Nike Fuelband
Kuo’s language in the report, which suggests the launch of the iWatch “could” be postponed, indicates that he is somewhat uncertain about the target ship date for the device. Though Kuo has a solid track record when it comes to Apple rumors, he has provided inaccurate guesses at times.
While it may seem like a 2015 launch date contradicts rumors that have pointed towards an October debut for the device, it is entirely possible that Apple will introduce the iWatch months before it is available to ship to customers. Historically, Apple has introduced some products in new categories ahead of their ship date.
The Mac Pro, for example, was introduced at WWDC in June before sales began in December. Steve Jobs also unveiled the original iPhone six months before it launched, and the iPad was shown at an Apple event more than two months ahead of its sale date.
Rumors have suggested the iWatch will contain a multitude of health and fitness sensors, measuring metrics like calorie consumption, sleep activity, blood oxygen levels, and more. It’s said to integrate deeply with iOS 8′s Health app and it may come in multiple sizes and at multiple price points.
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Yosemite National Park and Wellington, New Zealand Added to Apple Maps Flyover Feature [iOS Blog]
Apple has added two new locations to its Maps Flyover feature in iOS, including Yosemite National Park in California and Wellington, New Zealand. The new additions to Flyover allow users to take a close 3D look at the areas, zooming in on important buildings and landmarks.
Flyover data for Yosemite National Park comes as Apple prepares to launch OS X Yosemite, the newest version of its Mac operating system. As of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Apple began naming its operating system updates after major California landmarks and with OS X Yosemite set to be released to the public later this year, it makes sense to add Yosemite’s Flyover data to Maps.
With the addition of two new locations, Apple now provides Flyover data on more than 90 parks and cities around the world, with a full list available on its iOS 7 Feature website.
Over the last several months, Apple has been hard at work improving its Maps app. Users have reported significant improvements in Apple Maps data, with errors being fixed quickly and new Points of Interest popping up. Apple also made notable updates to Maps in China, Japan, and other countries earlier this year.
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Apple’s Share Price Hits $100 for the First Time Since June Stock Split
Apple today saw its stock hit the $100 mark for the first time since its seven-for-one split that took place in early June. Following the split, Apple was trading at roughly $92 a share, but since that time the stock has trended upward until hitting the $100 mark today.
The company is also very close to an all-time high stock price, accounting for the stock split. Apple’s all-time intraday high was set on September 21, 2012 at $100.72 ($705.07 on a pre-split basis), and the all-time high closing price was set just a few days earlier on September 19 at $100.30 ($702.10 pre-split).
Even as Apple sits at almost record high share prices, the company is not ready to set a new high for overall market capitalization, which is calculated as the share price multiplied by the number of shares available. That is due to Apple’s aggressive stock buyback program that has seen the company reduce its share count by almost 600 million over the past two years.
The move is intended to boost value to investors by reducing share supplies while also putting to use some of Apple’s vast cash holdings. Much of the share repurchase program is, however, being financed by low-interest debt, as the majority of Apple’s cash is currently held overseas, and it would be considerably more expensive for Apple to pay required taxes on that cash to bring it home for domestic uses than to simply pay for the repurchase program out of its ongoing domestic earnings over time where tax is already being paid.
The repurchase program has also signaled to investors that Apple has believed its stock to be undervalued, demonstrating the company sees purchasing its own stock as a better use of cash than other investment opportunities. And finally, reducing share counts also eliminates future dividend payments that would have been made on those now-retired shares, providing an additional financial benefit to the company.
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Mailbox for Mac Now Available via Public Beta Test [Mac Blog]
Popular email management app Mailbox for iOS is set to expand to the Mac, with the company making its desktop software available to the public through a beta test that begins today.
Mailbox for Mac resembles the Mailbox app for iOS, with a simple, clean interface that aims to help users reach “inbox zero.” It includes all of the features of the iOS version, like easy controls to archive and delete emails, along with snooze functionality and organizational lists. It supports swipe gestures and it includes several hotkeys to control specific functions within the app.
The Mac email app also includes more advanced snooze controls, allowing users to snooze emails until they return to their desks, and it also adds draft support, saving drafts locally and syncing with Mailbox on other devices via Dropbox. Draft support has been a long-requested feature for Mailbox.
Support for drafts is one of the most common feature requests for Mailbox and becomes even more important when managing an inbox across multiple devices. Along with the rollout of Mailbox for Mac beta, we’re also launching draft support for Mailbox on desktop (coming soon on iOS and Android). Drafts are saved locally to the device you’re on and automatically synced across devices when you’re signed in with your Dropbox.
First introduced in early 2013, Mailbox proved to be ultra popular, requiring a reservation system that restricted access to a limited number of users for several weeks. Shortly after its release, however, the app was acquired by file-sharing and storage service Dropbox, and the iOS version has seen several major updates since then. The Mac version was first announced back in April.
Users can sign up to beta test Mailbox on the company’s website. While the software can be downloaded immediately, activating the beta app requires a betacoin, which will be sent out via email over the next few weeks. Users who signed up to beta test the app back in April should be receiving betacoins today.
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Mailbox for Mac begins rolling out in beta to a handful of lucky testers
The transition from mobile to desktop seems like a natural evolution for Mailbox, which began as a clever time-saving email app for iOS. Four months ago, the Dropbox-owned venture excited fans by announcing that it would soon have an option on Mac as a limited beta. Today’s the day: Mailbox is ready to roll out the app to the first batch of early adopters. The service will begin rolling out to those who’ve signed up for the beta online, as well as a handful of current Mailbox users. If you’re not one of the lucky winners tomorrow, be patient — the rollout will come in batches, and the company assures us that you’ll still get your hands on it before the final version is ready. Each beta tester will be issued a betacoin (not to be confused with other forms of digital currency), and you’ll even receive additional betacoins to share with friends as soon as you download the app.
The app, which is compatible with OS X Mavericks and later (sorry, Mountain Lion users), is double-paned with a rail on the left side. The latter lists your folders, drafts and archives, while the former handles your inbox (or whatever folder you open) and the body of individual messages. It tries to maintain a minimal look, much like what you’d see on the mobile version, and it even comes with the same swipe gestures (both regular and long swipes are supported). There are plenty of hotkeys, and Mailbox makes it easy to remember which shortcut takes you to which feature: As soon as you hit the command key, each icon on the screen transforms into a letter or two that serves as a hint at what you’re supposed to press.
Mailbox has also integrated a feature that lets you hit snooze on an email on your phone and it’ll reappear when you get back to your computer (and vice versa). This makes it easy to push off a message until you have the time and ability — and faster typing with the keyboard — to take care of it efficiently.
A desktop email client also needs support for writing drafts, and Mailbox made sure to include it not only in the Mac beta, but in the mobile apps as well (on iOS right away, with Android coming “very soon”); company reps said that they wanted to keep the experience as consistent across platforms as possible. The only catch is that you’ll need to be signed into your Dropbox account to save your drafts, since it’ll use up your cloud storage space.
Mailbox reps didn’t want to nail down a specific timeline for when the final version will be ready to ship, though they felt confident that it won’t be too long. But since the beta is all about getting feedback from early users and fine-tuning the app, the company’s more focused on making sure it’s done correctly, rather than quickly.
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Mobile, Apple
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Supply Chain Indicates LG Display Will Be Primary iPhone 6 Display Supplier [iOS Blog]
According to supply chain sources, LG Display will be the largest supplier of display panels for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 handset. As relayed by G 4 Games, the Korean company allegedly beat out rivals Samsung, Sharp, and Japan Display to earn the top supplier spot. A March report had claimed Apple was working with LG, Japan Display, and Sharp on the panels, but a May follow-up indicated Sharp had been dropped over quality issues as Apple turned to Taiwanese company Innolux to fill out its display supplier group.
The original Feng.com report does not provide details on the number of panels being produced by LG and the other display manufacturers, but analysts predict Apple is preparing to manufacture up to 80 million iPhone 6 units by the end of the year.
While the next-generation iPhone is expected to ship in both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions, it is unclear whether the rumored sapphire crystal display will make its way into all iPhone models. A recent report from the Wall Street Journal suggested supply constraints may limit sapphire to more expensive, higher-end models.
These details and more likely will be revealed during Apple’s expected September iPhone event. Apple is rumored to be unveiling its iPhone 6, with the 4.7-inch version going on sale shortly after the announcement. The larger 5.5-inch model could launch alongside the smaller model or up to several months later.
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Apple Seeds iOS 8 Beta 6 to Carrier Testing Partners, but Not Broader Developer Community
While Apple released a sixth developer preview of OS X Yosemite yesterday, a corresponding sixth beta of iOS 8 was not provided to developers at the same time. As a result, the company’s iOS beta 5 released earlier this month may turn out to be the final build seeded to developers before the golden master release.
Though developers may not see another beta version, a new report from BGR claims Apple has released a sixth iOS 8 beta to its testing partners. The release would explain conflicting rumors as to whether there would be a sixth beta version if this version is made available only to carriers and other partners for testing rather than the broader developer community.
According to BGR, this beta 6 version of iOS 8 is being released only to testing partners and will not be seeded to developers for testing because the timing is so close to the golden master build. The build change log obtained by BGR is as follows:
OTA Software Update Paths
Carrier Builds
Not Available
User Builds
Not AvailableIssues fixed since Seed 5
Baseband & Telephony
Fixed an issue where incorrect pop up message was displayed when SIM was removed
Fixed an issue where clicking on cancel button turned LTE on
Fixed an issue where excessive registration was tried with dual IMSI SIMContinuity
Fixed an occasional mail continuity failure from OS X to iOS
Fixed an issue causing continuity to fail after opening control centerFaceTime
Fixed an occasional problem where MT call connection quality would be incorrectly treated as “poor”GameCenter
Fixed an issue where the active photo cannot be deletediCloud
Fixed a problem where document sync would sometimes consume excessive cellular dataiTunes Store
URLs for the store app are no longer broken in received mail
Fixed a problem with excessive prompts to sign in to the iTunes StoreKeyboard
Fixed an intermittent issue keyword shifting when rotating the screen
Fixed an issue where the emoji keyboard was unusable on Safari
Notes are no longer duplicated when opened through Gmail
Fixed an issue where after withdrawing a draft with attachments, browsing to another message resulted in the attachments getting lost
Fixed an issue where forwarding an email without a photo attachment still sends a photo
Fixed an issue when forwarding an email with an attached photo just brought up the original message without a photo
Fixed an issue where email could be deleted from the lock screen without prompting for a passcodeMaps
Fixed a problem where maps would sometimes consume excessive cellular dataMessages
Added support for SMS relay opt-in prompt
Fixed issue that caused devices to receive SMS via relay for unselected aliases
Fixed failures sending current location via MMS
Fixed an issue where messages partially overlap Chinese keyboards
Fixed an issue where changing a group name didn’t propagate to other devices until a message is sentPhone
Fixed an issue where an incoming call was being relayed back to originating phone
Fixed an issue where options on declining a call didn’t work with call relayPhotos
Fixed an issue where edited photos did not display properly after restoring from backup
Improved full screen photo sharing
Set default to keep all photos on device for users with 5GB iCloud space
Fixed an issue where a user could not select multiple photos and upload to Facebook via SafariPush Notifications
Improved push connection management upon account logout with multiple associated devices
Fixed a problem where Exchange push notifications would stop after responding to an invitation from the lock screen
Fixed an issue where a user does not receive a notification for incoming messages when the banner for the previous one is pulled downSpringboard
Fixed an issue unlocking an iPhone while on an active call
Fixed an issue where the keyboard would sometimes become unresponsive when the screen is lockedVisual Voicemail
Fixed an issue where Voicemail could not be played under certain error conditions
Fixed an issue where Phone App hanged when tried to check Voicemail
Testing partners with iOS beta 6 must approve the version by September 5, ahead of the final iOS 8 preview and the introduction of the iPhone 6 on September 9. A public release of iOS 8 for current devices will likely come roughly a week later, just a few days before the launch of the iPhone 6 in the first wave of markets.
According to BGR‘s sources, Apple may still have some work to do, as this build allegedly has already been rejected for an issue with YouTube playback in Safari.
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