Daily Apple News: New iPod touch launching soon, prototype iPhone development board, Upcoming AirPower launch, and more

It’s a new day and we know what that means, another daily dose of Apple news! Here’s a look at some of the major developments taking place in the Apple world!

To begin with, there’s a look at some of the most exclusive pictures which Apple has kept hidden for over ten years. Thanks to The Verge, a development board for the first ever iPhone has been uncovered. It seems like Apple took all precautions possible to keep its device under wraps.

The board consists of circuitry which houses almost all the components of the original iPhone. This includes the CPU, memory, storage, camera home button, SIM card, antennas for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Some of the non-iPhone parts on the circuit board include two Mini-USB connectors.

The report claims that some of the boards were supplied without screens. This indicates that the engineers developing the device had no clue what the final product would look like. The company no longer uses such big circuit boards and has shifted to smaller ones ever since the iPhone 4.

The sheer size and numerous connections on the board disclose the amount of effort which Apple took to keep its original iPhone a secret. This is also a testimony to how technology has rapidly progressed over the years.

Moving on, Apple seems to be showering new hardware launches before its March 25 event. Just a few days back, the company launched its iPad 5 Mini and the 10.5-inch iPad Air. Rumor has it that that the company may be launching a new iPod touch based on the seventh-generation architecture.

Speculation has it that Apple will be launching a new iPod touch with an upgraded chipset. In all fairness, the iPod touch is in dire need of an upgrade considering the last one was launched in 2015.

There’s a good chance that the product might be officially launched later today. The company is attempting to launch all of its new hardware devices before March 25 so it can focus strictly on its software and video streaming service.

This isn’t exactly surprising as Apple had suffered huge losses in the Chinese market owing to poor sales of its 2018 iPhones. The company is now trying to focus its efforts on TV streaming and other services in order to increase revenue through these sources.

In other news, Apple appears to be getting nervously desperate as it is still courting major publishers to be a part of its overhauled Apple News. It’s new and revamped Apple news is said to take center stage at its Match 25 event.

In meetings with new publishers, Apple is touting its Apple Music success story in order to gain new and hopeful publishers. This is definitely a strategic move as the company has had a lot of success with its Apple Music Service.

However, Apple continues to face criticism for equating entertainment with news. Big name publishers like that of The New York Times and The Washington Post are still yet to shake hands and lend their articles to Apple’s News service.

To show just how serious it is about News, the company has decided to back three media literacy programs in the U.S and Europe. This is being done with the aim of bringing an end to fake and fabricated news.

Walt Mossberg, a now retired journalist, has shown his support for Apple in this regard by taking to Twitter to share the good news! The entire press release for this can be read on 9to5Mac.

The introduction of iOS 11 brought with it the ability for developers to release updates for apps. Apple has now brought this very same feature to the Mac App Store, meaning that developers can update apps and release the updates in phases over a period of seven days.

The App Store Connect website goes into details of how it can be done in phases over a period of time. This is certainly a good thing for Mac OS users as their software will receive faster and consistent updates.

Apple’s iOS 12.2 Beta 6 may not have brought new features but it certainly did drop a major hint. Thanks to 9to5Mac who spotted changes in the code, we know that its AirPower could be launching very soon.

While there are numerous changes in the code for wireless charging in the latest update, the most significant one is the addition of the code responsible for identifying two devices charging on the same pad. This clearly points to the fact that Apple is gearing up its iPhones for its upcoming AirPower.

The charging mat will be able to charge three devices at a single time, including an iPhone, Apple Watch and even AirPods. Unfortunately, not much is known about the AirPower as Apple has remained very secretive regarding this from the very beginning.

Given the fact that it’s raining new Apple devices, there’s a possibility that we may see the AirPower launch sooner than expected.

Last but far from being the least, Apple has dropped the prices of its MacBook Air and Mac Mini SSD upgrades. The price drop is quite significant with an upgrade to 2TB of storage on the MacBook Pro’s being a massive $200 cheaper.

Check out the Apple Online Store to get detailed pricing on all upgradeable storage options and pricing on the MacBook Air and Mac Mini.

That’s all for today folks! Swing by tomorrow for another installment of Apple daily news!

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