Slashdot Mirror
Apple Suffers 'Major iPhone X Leak'
Details of new iPhones and other forthcoming Apple devices have been revealed via an apparent leak. From a report: Two news sites were given access to an as-yet-unreleased version of the iOS operating system. The code refers to an iPhone X in addition to two new iPhone 8 handsets. It also details facial recognition tech that acts both as an ID system and maps users' expressions onto emojis. One tech writer said it was the biggest leak of its kind to hit the firm. [...] "As best I've been able to ascertain, these builds were available to download by anyone, but they were obscured by long, unguessable URLs [web addresses]," wrote John Gruber, a blogger known for his coverage of Apple. "Someone within Apple leaked the list of URLs to 9to5Mac and MacRumors. I'm nearly certain this wasn't a mistake, but rather a deliberate malicious act by a rogue Apple employee." Neither Mr Gruber nor the two Apple-related news sites have disclosed their sources. However, the BBC has independently confirmed that an anonymous source provided the publications with links to iOS 11's golden master (GM) code that downloaded the software from Apple's own computer servers. It's a big blow to Apple, which uses surprise as a key element at its events. The leak could take some wind out of its sails as it looks to wow consumers. In 2012, Tim Cook had said the company was planning to "double down on secrecy." At the quarterly earnings call, he blamed the leaks about the upcoming iPhone models as one of the reasons that slowed down the sales of current generation iPhone models. However, an analysis published over the weekend found that Apple itself has been the source of several of these leaks in the years since. Earlier this year, the company held a meeting to boast about its internal progress to curb leaks. The hour-long recording of the meeting ironically got leaked. Nearly all details, except the final press renders of the new iPhone models, have leaked. In a subsequent post, Gruber wrote: The BBC doesn't say definitively that the leak was sent by an Apple employee, but I can state with nearly 100 percent certainty that it was. I also think there's a good chance Apple is going to figure out who it was. [...] That person should be ashamed of themselves, and should be very worried when their phone next rings. Moments ago, 9to5Mac reported about a new tvOS firmware leak, which appeared "to be out in the wild today" that details the upcoming features of the next generation Apple TV streaming device.
"Leaks" about Apple products are just hyped up press releases.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
You could have surprised me. Every release they "leak" the details the morning of the presentation. This just happened a day early
Tim Cook does virtually none of the presenting—most of what he does is the feel-good stuff, financials and introducing other people, so I'm not sure what you're complaining about. He's taking on the stuff that nobody could make particularly interesting anyway.
I know it's too much to ask people to RTFA, but you can at least read the summary.
This wasn't a features leak -- this was a leak of the entire iOS 11 Golden Master source code. Apparently for all current Apple products at that. Sure, some people have used the leak to divine what new features are in iOS 11 -- but the real damage is that the entire source for iOS 11 GM is now out there in the wild.
That certainly isn't something that happens prior to every presentation.
Yaz
I don't think that second reason is particularly relevant. Apple is still taking away 90% of the industry's profits (or have they dropped to the high 80% range?), and often end up supply constrained at the beginning of the cycle. Apple understands the market really well, and they're selling about as many phones of that price as the market can bear.
Your design comment is probably the strongest—even though the design was a bit different, it wasn't enough. The internals of the 7 are a huge upgrade, but people want it to look different and be noticeably better at everything. Apple and most other high-end phone manufacturers are running into the issue of their phones just legitimately being so powerful it's hard to say that the additional power they're throwing in has *too* much of an affect on day-to-day use. Sure, you and I can talk about geekbench scores and their multi-core design, but if it isn't making the phone visibly better, it's hard for an average consumer to decide to get the new phone if their current one isn't broken—which is effectively your first point. I can bet there are some people that did defer the upgrade for this year's phone, just as the 6 pulled upgrades forward by a year, but it's hard to believe it's the dominating factor.
(I heard recently—on Gruber's show—about a survey that asked people when they upgrade their phones. The most common answer was apparently 'when my old one breaks'.)
... and he apparently has time to post comments here on Slashdot!
#DeleteChrome
That was a clear case of copyright infringement.
#DeleteFacebook
Did slashdot just link to an article posted on slashdot itself as a story?
OMG facts!