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Monday, 27 April 2020

WSJ: iPhone 12 Models on Track to Launch This Year, But Mass Production Pushed Back a Month

Apple plans to launch its iPhone 12 lineup this year, but mass production of the devices will be delayed by around a month due to the global health crisis, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report claims that Apple is also slashing the number of iPhones that it plans to make in the second half of this year by as much as 20 percent.

Apple typically unveils new high-end iPhones in September. While a one month delay to production does not sound significant enough to impact that timeframe, rumors suggest that at least one model might not be available to order until October or November.

Apple is planning four 5G-enabled iPhones, including one 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch model, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and other sources. All four models are expected to feature OLED displays, flatter edges like recent iPad Pro models, and a smaller notch. High-end models are also expected to feature a LiDAR sensor.

Related Roundup: iPhone 12

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Why Do We Use Dark Humor to Deal With Terrifying Situations?

Life’s hard for the humorless—loved ones die, hurricanes and infections ravage the planet, and all they can do is sit around and grieve about it. Some of us, meanwhile, watching our houses burn down and our spouses succumb to hazily-understood pancreatic ailments, can at least leaven the pain with a well-timed joke.…

DigiTimes: Global Smartphone Market Facing 15% Decline in 2020

The global smartphone market is unlikely to recover from the impact of the global health crisis in the second quarter of 2020, according to DigiTimes.

Global smartphone shipments are expected to contract by 15% on year to 1.15 billion units in 2020, as major brands including Samsung Electronics, Huawei and Apple all have slashed their shipment targets for the year in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest estimate of Digitimes Research.

Apple in mid-February announced that its financial guidance for the March quarter would fall short due to the global health crisis. During its January earnings call, Apple said it expected to see revenue of $63 to $67 billion in the March quarter, but that is no longer a goal the company will be able to meet.

Apple cited lower customer demand in China and constrained ‌‌iPhone‌‌ supplies worldwide as the factors leading to lower than expected revenue.

Apple's primary ‌iPhone‌ assembler Foxconn has also slashed its 2020 revenue outlook after strict quarantines were implemented at its main base in China.

Today's DigiTimes report claims that Apple has cut its iPhone 11 orders for the second and third quarters of the year owing to the impact of the crisis.

Most of the factories in China that supply devices and components to Apple are back to churning out products, but Apple suppliers are said to be worried about how much demand there will be for the current ‌iPhone‌ models and the new iPhones expected in the fall.

Tag: digitimes.com

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Report Revives Rumors of 5G iPhone With Under-Display Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner

Economic Daily News on Monday revived rumors that this year's 5G iPhone will feature under-display fingerprint scanner technology.

According to a machine translation of EDN's Chinese-language report, touch panel maker GIS, OLED display maker BOE and Qualcomm are collaborating on the ultrasonic technology, which could feature in at least one of the high-end models in Apple's ‌5G iPhone‌ lineup.

EDN was a source of rumors last year that one of Apple's 2020 iPhones could have an under-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Those reports claimed that Apple would use Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor technology in at least one iPhone model set to be released in 2020, although the timeframe could be pushed back to 2021.

Those rumors also lined up with reports last year from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Barclays analysts, Bloomberg, and others who said they expect Apple to release an ‌iPhone‌ with both Face ID and under-display fingerprint authentication in 2020 or 2021.

However, rumors and leaks this year have not indicated that the technology will feature in 2020, and well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman recently said he does not expect under-screen fingerprint technology in an ‌iPhone‌ this year, suggesting Apple may have decided to push back the technology to 2021. The only other recent mention of fingerprint technology was by an anonymous Twitter account with a fairly accurate track record that said Apple is developing a new iPad Air with under-the-screen Touch ID.

There are currently two types of under-display fingerprint sensors, including optical and ultrasonic. Optical variants rely on light from a smartphone's display to create a 2D image of a fingerprint, while ultrasonic variants make use of high-frequency sound to generate a 3D image of a fingerprint.

Qualcomm already supplies ultrasonic fingerprint sensors for some Samsung smartphones, but future iPhones could potentially use an even more advanced version of the technology that works across the entire display.

Apple is expected to offer four iPhones in three different sizes this year: A 5.4-inch ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌, a 6.7-inch ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌, and two 6.1-inch iPhones. One 6.1-inch model and the 6.7-inch model will be higher-end iPhones, while the other 6.1-inch ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ and the 5.4-inch ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ will be lower-end models and successors to the ‌iPhone 11‌. Apple is expected to launch the new models in the fall.

Related Roundup: iPhone 12

Tag: Economic Daily News

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Germany Now Favors Apple-Google Contact Tracing API Over Home-Grown Solution

Germany said on Sunday it will use Apple and Google's decentralized contact tracing API, reversing course on its original intention to use its own solution to track the spread of coronavirus.

Last week, the German government said it would use its own home-grown technology for smartphone-based tracing of infections, based on a design that would hold personal data on a central server.

According to Reuters, however, Apple refused to support Germany's original solution, which came in for heavy criticism from scientists, not just for its mass surveillance style but because of issues with the system's methodology.

Germany as recently as Friday backed a centralised standard called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), which would have needed Apple in particular to change the settings on its iPhones.

When Apple refused to budge there was no alternative but to change course, said a senior government source.

In their joint statement, Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn said Germany would now adopt a "strongly decentralised" approach.

Apple and Google on Friday disclosed a series of changes to their upcoming COVID-19 contact tracing initiative, with a focus on even stronger privacy protections and accuracy.

Apple and Google are now referring to "contact tracing" as "exposure notification," a secure system that is intended to notify a person of potential exposure, augmenting broader contact tracing efforts that public health authorities are undertaking.

Other countries that have been at odds with Apple and Google's initiative include France and the United Kingdom, both of which intend to use government-designed apps for contact tracing.

France has gone so far as to ask Apple to remove a Bluetooth limitation in iOS so that its app can work on iPhones, but the limitation is an intentional security feature and Apple is unlikely to compromise its software, especially as it is developing its own solution.

Apple and Google are targeting this week for the release of the seed version of iOS and Android operating system updates, which will support these APIs to enable testing by public health authority developers. The software update will support iOS devices released in the last four years, dating back to the iPhone 6s and ‌iPhone‌ 6s Plus.

Apple and Google revealed plans for its exposure notification initiative on April 10. The joint effort will use Bluetooth to alert users when they have potentially come in close contact with someone who later tests positive for COVID-19, on an opt-in basis.

Tags: Germany, COVID-19 Coronavirus

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