Amazing iPhone 15 Ultra details, unusual MacBook Pro plans, powerful iPhone 14 Pro new issues

Looking back at 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, hiding the MacBook Pro update, Apple removing VK apps from App Store, Microsoft removes Swiftkey, and Tim Cook still teases AR and VR plans.

The Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions happening around Apple over the past seven days (and you can read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes).

Amazing iPhone 15 leaks

If you thought it was interesting that Apple generates a difference in specifications between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro, then the introduction of a third “even higher” level in the presumptively named iPhone 15 Ultra will be something you will be intense. About:

“It will come with 256GB of storage, USB-C (potentially with Thunderbolt 4 speeds) and a display that integrates two front-facing cameras … only the iPhone 15 Ultra will have dual front-facing cameras, and while rivals have experimented with dual front-facing against cameras of late (especially the Pixel 3/3XL), the feature has disappeared in recent years. Which is often a cue for Apple to reinvent something and show how things should have been done all along.”

(Majin Bjorn via Forbes).

More iPhone 14 problems

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

“I just got my iPhone 14 Pro and ever since I noticed it reboots while charging (MagSafe/cable),” wrote the first poster. “It won’t restart at all while off the charger. Anyone else having similar issues?”

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

(Edit via Forbes).

iPhone 14 Pro camera review

That said, the iPhone 14 Pro is a serious piece of kit (which gets a lot more scrutiny and dissection than most flagships). As always, one of the key features used by manufacturers to show the evolution and development of a phone is through the camera. Jason Snell looks at just that as part of his extensive review:

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

(SixColors).

The MacBook update you may never see

October will see the launch of 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops running the M2 architecture (the presumptively named M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets), as well as the debate over the first Mac Pro running Apple Silicon. But will these key products get the reward of a full launch or just a quiet press release along with a few hands-on with select journalists? Mark Gurman speculates:

“None of these new products is a major departure for Apple. They will get some improved specs and a chip that was already announced at a formal event in June at WWDC 2022. It makes me think: Does Apple really have enough here to make is it worth putting together yet another highly polished launch event?

“It seems unlikely. Apple may eventually end up feeling differently, but I think it’s more likely that the company (as of now) will release its remaining 2022 products via press releases, website updates and briefings with select members of the press – rather than via a big iPhone-style keynote.”

(Turn on via 9to5Mac).

Russian social networking apps removed from Apple Store

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

“Russia’s communications regulator on Wednesday demanded an explanation from Apple after applications run by Russian state-controlled technology company VK were removed from the US firm’s App Store… Apple said it follows laws in the jurisdictions where the company operates. Apple said the apps in question were distributed by developers majority-owned or majority-controlled by one or more parties sanctioned by the UK Government.”

(Reuters).

Swiftkey’s Not So Swift Exit

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

“I asked for the official reason why Microsoft had 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 policy of protecting the walled garden as anything else. Microsoft Phone The Link team knows very well that if Apple does not provide access to certain interfaces, there is no easy or good way to create a product that needs integration to work.

(ZDNet).

And finally…

Tim Cook is evangelizing AR and VR again, talking about a topic that has been in technical discussion circles for decades, suggesting that this is a unique problem that only Apple can solve and unlock for the rest of the world. The bar keeps getting higher for the mythical Apple headset that has been expected “next year” for many, many years:

“I’m really excited about augmented reality. Because I think we’ve had a good conversation here today, but if we could augment it with something from the virtual world, that would be even better without a doubt. So I think if we you, and this will definitely happen not too long from now, if you look back at some point, you know, zoom out into the future and look back, you’ll wonder how you lived your life without augmented reality. Just like today we wonder how people like me grew up without the internet. So I think it can be so profound, and it’s not going to be profound overnight…”

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

The Apple Loop brings you seven days of highlights every weekend here at 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 here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.