By John Moltz
September 29, 2023 3:00 PM PT
This Week in Apple: The foreSEeable future
A new iPhone SE will probably arrive some day, unlike some other potential Apple products I could mention (cough, car and low-cost Vision Pro). Meanwhile Jony Ive is keeping busy hastening the robot apocalypse.
SE what I did there?
If you don’t have the bank for an iPhone 15, let alone an iPhone 15 Pro, don’t fret. A new iPhone SE is on the horizon. Wayyy over there between the land and the sky.
The new SE, which isn’t expected until 2025, will reportedly have the same form factor as the iPhone 14, but will feature an action button and, of course, USB-C connectivity. It would be the first SE with Face ID rather than Touch ID and is reportedly being used to test Apple’s own 5G modem.
Speaking of more consumer-friendly smartphones, Samsung recently leaked details of its new Galaxy S23 FE which, despite what you may think, is not the one with a high-density floppy drive. In this case, the “FE” stands for “Fan Edition”.
No, not because it has a fan in it.
I don’t think.
Lest you think “At least ‘FE’ stands for something. ‘SE’ doesn’t stand for anything!”, not so. Phil Schiller has previously indicated that “SE” stands for “Special Edition”. So there you go. As the codename for Apple’s end-run-around-Qualcomm modem is “Sinope”, let’s just hope “SE” doesn’t stand for “Sinope Explosions”.
Not seeing it
You may one day be able to get a fourth-generation iPhone SE, but it’s looking less likely that two other rumored Apple products will make it to market any time in the near future.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, “The development of the Apple Car seems to have lost all visibility at the moment.” I’m not an automotive expert but I think losing visibility is definitely not something you want in a car. Kuo says that Apple will have to “adopt an acquisition strategy” if it hopes to ship anything in the foreseeable future. Possibly a good time to make an offer to a narcissist distracted by money-losing vanity projects?
The car’s not the only Apple product Kuo has bad news about. He further believes Apple may have canceled plans to ship a low-cost Vision Pro, which previous rumors suggested could have launched in 2025.
Christmas 2025 is officially ruined.
If you’re feeling disappointed by this news, look at it this way: it’s probably saving you something like $103,000.
Jony AIve
C’mon. You had to have seen that coming.
“Jony Ive reportedly discussing new AI hardware project with OpenAI CEO”
Software inside hardware? I guess it could work.
As reported by The Information, Ive has been in talks with Altman about building a new AI device. It’s unclear at this point what the purpose of this device will be or what it will look like…
Picture a black rectangle, with a glowing red circle set in it. What could go wrong? As long as you don’t get between it and a power outlet, you should be fine.
…but sources familiar with the conversations say that they want to create a “new hardware for the age of AI.”
Ive is, of course, legendary for his beautiful designs. But the latter part of his tenure at Apple—marked by iOS 7, butterfly keyboards and a “NO MORE PORTS OF ANY KIND” mentality—would indicate he was somewhat less focused on usability. That could be a perfect match for a device that has a mind of its own.
I’ve always said that if you’re going to make a humanity-killing artificial intelligence then it should at least come in a pretty box.
[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]