More iPhone 11 leaks and why Apple could ditch Face ID

New iPhone 11 leaks continue to support the square camera bump rumors and why Apple may move away from a Face ID enabled iPhone in China. In this week’s Apple Core round-up, we’re breaking down the latest rumors about the next iPhones and taking a look at the media fallout after Apple announced Jony Ive’s departure.

The iPhone 11 design is coming into focus

Whether you’re a fan of the square camera bump or not, this is shaping up to be the final design for the 2019 iPhone lineup. Alleged CAD renders of the iPhone XS, XR and XS Max sequels appeared on tech leaks site Slashleaks this week. The new images show pretty the same iPhone 11 design we’ve been hearing about for nearly six months now, since long time leaker Steven Hemmerstoffer (@Onleaks on twitter) published the first images of the three-lens camera square back in January.

All three phones have the same square, but in the case of the XR sequel the Slashleaks renders show it housing only two lenses. They also show a traditional lightning port on the bottom, suggesting Apple won’t make the leap to USB-C on the iPhone this year as earlier rumors had suggested.

And even though we’re still about two months away from the next iPhone launch, case makers are already starting to bet on these designs. Filip Koroy, who goes by EverythingApplePro on YouTube, published a video showing the new iPhone 11 cases that are already being manufactured in China. He shows what they look like on the 3D mockups he has of the three designs (iPhone 11, 11R and 11 Max) and then puts them on the current line-up to show how much larger the camera module is compared to the 2018 line-up.

According to the rumors, the 2019 iPhone 11 models will be a bit thicker than their predecessors, allowing the camera module to lie almost flush with the back of the phone despite its larger footprint. Looks aside, the iPhone’s camera is rumored to see big improvements in 2019. Those will include a new super-wide-angle option, more powerful zoom, better night shots capabilities and new software features with iOS 13.

Apple may replace Face ID for Touch ID in China

The other big iPhone news this week has to do with Apple’s plans to reinvigorate sales in China by offering a cheaper iPhone alternative. Apple may replace its current Face ID technology for a cheaper in-screen fingerprint scanner that would allow the company to lower production costs and reduce its iPhone prices in this market, according to a report in Chinese newspaper Global Times, cited in MacRumors. The US’s trade war with China and competition from other Chinese manufacturers offering phones at much lower prices have contributed to declining sales for Apple.

Apple will likely stick with Face ID as its main form of biometric identification, but the company may choose to include both and in-screen Touch ID and Face ID in the global versions of the 2019 iPhones.

New reports about Jony Ive’s departure from Apple 

Last week Apple announced its chief designer, Jony Ive will leave the company after nearly 30 years. According to Apple, Ive is leaving to start his own design firm next year and will take on Apple as one of his main clients. But this wasn’t enough to stop media reports about the alleged terms of his departure from surfacing shortly after the news went public.

This week a report published in the Wall Street Journal says the design guru had been distancing himself from Apple for years because of conflicting opinions about the direction the company was headed after Jobs. It says that the news didn’t come as much of a shock to many of his employees.

“Yet his departure from the company cements the triumph of operations over design at Apple, a fundamental shift from a business driven by hardware wizardry to one focused on maintaining profit margins and leveraging Apple’s past hardware success to sell software and services.” the report stated.

Tim Cook was apparently not in agreement with the Journal’s portrayal of the situation, calling the article “absurd” after it went live. In an email to NBC News, published on twitter by reporter Dylan Byers, the Apple CEO said, “A lot of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions, just don’t match with reality. At a base level, it shows a lack of understanding about how the design team works and how Apple works. It distorts relationships, decisions and events to the point that we just don’t recognize the company it claims to describe.”

Ive hasn’t responded directly to the report, but is quoted in Apple’s original announcement praising the team and the company. The WSJ is standing behind its reporting despite the backlash.

Source : https://www.cnet.com