Welcome to our hebdomadal Apple Breakfast column , which includes all the Apple news you missed last calendar week in a handy bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we opine it belong keen with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea leaf , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during dejeuner or dinner party hours too .
The pointless iPhone
Fun times in the Apple rumorsphere last week , with anexplosive iPhone SE 4 paper . The coming gadget , the site claims , will be based on a strangely modified iPhone 14 design , bring an OLED display and face up ID to the low - end demarcation and , while sticking with a individual camera , it ’ll gain a 48MP tv camera , USB - C port , and the iPhone 15 Pro ’s Action button . That ’s a doozy of a budget phone .
It ’s very probable , of course , that the written report is false , and that Apple ’s plans for the fourth SE model are very different . But then again , it ’s hard to see any conception for the next SE that makes as much good sense as its golden generation from 2020 . That machine was lucky enough to posture in the windowpane when Apple was interchange from the Home button to full - silver screen phones , and when there were masses who drop the sometime plan . That intend the SE could be more than just a budget alternative : it was a link to a still - cherished intention past times .
But that was 2020 . As we see with the3rd - gen modellast year , there simply are n’t enough place release nostalgics impart to support its own iPhone manikin — specially at $ 429 — which leaves the SE line in a limbo of irrelevancy . In the absence seizure of a meaningful retro design ethos – in the absence seizure , in other wrangle , of a meaningful design modification in the main blood line – then it becomes only “ the cheap iPhone . ” And we already get that from the former models that Apple observe on sale for a few years after launch .
There was a prison term when it was clear who the iPhone SE was for : People who wanted new components in an old handset design and were willing to sacrifice some features for an low-cost price . The classic2nd - gen SE from 2020was a collection of via media , but it also call old age of updates and offer thing you could n’t get from the rest period of the range , namely a retro excogitation with a Home button and a low cost tag . But it ’s hard to see how a Frankenstein iPhone XR-14 - 15 - 15 Pro outlined above could be trade for significantly less than the iPhone 13 , which is still available from Apple ’s entrepot for $ 599 .
It ’s the same brain-teaser Apple introduced with the tenth - gen iPad . When Apple unveiled the novel fashion model last fall , it brought some head - scratching determination — headman among them a non - laminated display with Apple Pencil 1 documentation — and a $ 449 cost tag . As if it know the price was too high , Apple kept the 9th - gen model around at the same $ 329 price tag , creating a 2nd “ budget ” level between the iPad and the iPad Air that did n’t seem necessary . ( Why the ninth - gen iPad is n’t the iPad SE we ’ll never experience . )
This rumored new SE seems to be the same kind of twist . It would almost certainly cost $ 499 , if not $ 549 , and still bring plenty of compromise while also updating a very erstwhile design for the modern era . But unless Apple completely stops selling old iPhones , which would create something of an uproar , this Modern SE would be in an odd position of being too expensive and not premium enough . And if Apple keep betray the current SE for $ 429 , thenneithermodel make much sentiency .
Of course , we never actually screw what ’s going on with Apple ’s decision - making process . Who , for example , could have predicted the company would set in motion a “ premium ” range of iPhone instance without apparently testing theirability to stand firm scratches ? But even the most credulous observer would struggle to see the logic of an SE that blends together the retiring five years of iPhone engineering . What ’s the purpose of selling an SE based on the iPhone 14 alongside an actual iPhone 14 ? Who would be ask to purchase it ?
listen you , there is one choice Apple could try out , one discontinued iPhone simulation that a vocal nonage regularly tells us they drop : The iPhone mini . It might not sell many whole , but it would for sure fit nicely in our pockets . And it truly would be special .
metalworks
Why is the iPhoneso successful?It ’s elementary .
Well , here ’s anotherFineWoven messApple ’s develop into . Apple ’s novel iPhone cases arenot a hit .
Alternatively , if you desire tosave the planet , you might have to hold up with acrap iPhone font .
TheiPhone 15 Prois easy to repair — as long as Appleis the one fixing it .
Podcast of the week
We ’ve get our deal on Apple’snew iPhone , and we verbalize about reasons why you should – and shouldn’t – buy one .
you may beguile every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own site .
Reviews corner
Our brushup of the unexampled Apple products are get to land !
The rumor mill
TheiPhone 16might jumpstraight to the A18 chipnext class as Apple dissever its iPhone chips into Mac - comparable grade .
Willnew M3 Macssave us fromApple ’s muted October ?
Software updates, bugs, and problems
Roman Loyola revealseverything you ask to knowabout thenew features in Safari 17 .
The iPhone 15 Pro’soverheating issuesmay have been explain … and a fix is on the way .
Apple has offeredtwo potential fixesfor watchOS 10Weather app complication woes .
macOS Sonomafeatures anunexpected battery fixfor the 13 - in MacBook Air .
And beyond that … macOS Sonoma 14.1 betais already available with afix for Remote Widgets .
iOS 17.0.2 , meanwhile , mess asetup transport bug .
