Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise attend the European Premiere of Apple’s “F1 The Movie” at Cineworld, … More
Taking a look back at this week’s news and headlines from across the Apple world, including iPhone 17 Pro design leaks, a secret iPhone surprise, F1 the Movie’s In-App woes, iPhone 17 Air’s lightweight upgrade, specs for the next A Series chipset, new macOS apps from Apple, and the problem with the Finder logo is still there.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the many discussions around Apple in the last seven days. You can also read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes.
iPhone 17 Pro Design Leaks
We’ve got a closer look at one of the more contentious changes to the iPhone 17 design this week, with pictures of the camera bar in action. This replaces the Majin Blu leaked images, showing the new iPhone 17 Pro design, and its redesigned camera bar that stretches to the edges of the handset:
“…the reason it’s interesting is that it shows the new camera panel design in a way that many will find attractive. Previously, I’ve been skeptical about how the predicted wider camera panel will work in practice. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that the panel would not be black on all models, that it would match the color of the iPhone.”
(X via Forbes).
A Secret iPhone 17 Ringtone?
Announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this month was the new user interface for iOS 26. While the liquid glass UI will appear across every iPhone running the updated software, will the iPhone 17 user base have a hidden musical surprise?
“The ringtone is a new version of the Reflection ringtone which has been the default option since the iPhone X launched in 2017. As Perris suggests, it could be an indication that the ringtone will be restricted, to select handsets when it is released. Perris notes that the remix is, “a glassy new ringtone called ‘ReflectionAlt1-EncoreRemix’. It’s not live yet in the beta but it is present in the filesystem. Perhaps an iPhone 17 exclusive,” he asks.”
(Forbes).
F1 The Movie And Apple’s In-App Guidelines
Apple is in full promotional mode for its F1 The Movie release and is taking every opportunity to mention it. Apple users who are seeing pop-up alerts for the film in their notification bar are wondering why they are receiving these promotions, which many feel are prohibited by Apple’s own guidelines.
“Apple customers aren’t thrilled they’re getting an ad from the Apple Wallet app promoting the tech giant’s original film “F1 the Movie.” Across social media, iPhone owners are complaining that their Wallet app sent out a push notification offering a $10 discount at Fandango for anyone buying two or more tickets to the film… However well-received the film may be, iPhone users don’t necessarily want their built-in utilities, like their digital wallet, marketing to them.
(TechCrunch).
iPhone 17 Air Exclusive
The iPhone 16e debuted Apple’s C1 Modem, the first tangible result from Apple’s purchase of Intel’s modem division in a $1 billion deal. The majority of the next iPhone is expected to still use Qualcomm’s modem technology. The fashionably thin iPhone 17 Air is set to run the modem and reap the benefits of the smaller design:
“This new iPhone will launch in the fall as a replacement for the Plus model in Apple’s lineup. It will emphasize form over function, with a radically thin design, single rear camera, and yes, the C1 modem. One likely reason Apple’s bringing C1 to the iPhone 17 Air is for its efficiency improvements. Those will undoubtedly be important for a model that has less physical space for battery.”
(9to5Mac).
A19 Specs
The A18 chipset is expected to debut with the iPhone 17 family, but work has begun on next year’s powerful upgrade. The standard, already set by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite 2, could be surpassed if Apple want it, but there may be a bigger goal in mind:
“…it is believed that Apple’s A19 chip could be as fast as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. The Elite 2 is a yet-to-launch chipset that follows the Snapdragon 8 Elite, used in high-performance Android smartphones… While Apple observers will be happy to hear the performance similarity, the actual result in consumer devices could be lower. The leaker adds that Apple still focuses on PPA (Power, Performance, Area) in its chip designs, and prefers to work with energy efficiency in mind.”
New macOS Apps From Tahoe
Tucked into the upcoming macOS 26 release are two new apps. Journal comes over from iOS to help organise your thoughts and ideas—no doubt with some Continuity for synchronising, and a new Phone app supports calls and messaging again through Continuity. The curious third addition is Apple Games. As Tim Cook and his team try to gain traction against the might of Xbox and PlayStation, as well as the flexibility of the Steam Deck, can Apple finally get gaming right this time?
“The new Games app will arrive simultaneously in macOS Tahoe, iOS 26, and iPadOS 26 as a one-stop hub for all your gaming needs. Features include the ability to discover new games, launch any titles installed on your Mac, and keep up with friends via leaderboards, challenges, and more.”
(9to5Mac).
And Finally…
How much damage is Apple doing to the brand with its changes to the Finder logo. The new push to a unified UI has led to an alteration of one of the longest-standing brand images in computing. Given the pushback from the community, Apple is doing a lot of damage for very little return:
“The Finder logo is the Mac logo. The Macintosh is the platform that held Apple together when, by all rights, the company should have fallen apart. It’s a great logo, period, and the second-most-important logo Apple owns, after the Apple logo itself. Fucking around with it like this, making the right-side in-profile face a stick-on layer rather than a full half of the mark, is akin to Coca-Cola fucking around with the typeface for the word “Cola” in its logo. Like, what are you doing? Why are you screwing with a perfect mark?”
Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on 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.
