iPhone 7 and Beyond Rumors, iTunes 12.4 Leak, Lightning Headphones, Apple Music News - MacRumors

New iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Drawings: Dual Camera and Smart Connector Exclusive to 5.5-Inch Model iPhone 7 rumors are starting to kick into high gear, with this week seeing some new design drawings reportedly sourced directly from Apple's casing partner Catcher Technology and showing the overall looks of both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. In line with previous rumors, the phones appear very similar to the iPhone 6/6s family, with the notable exception of a dual-lens camera and a rumored Smart Connector on the larger 5.5-inch model. The Smart Connector in particular has been a source of dispute among rumors with Japanese site Mac Otakara backpedaling on its previous claims of the feature's inclusion to say Apple has decided not to offer the Smart Connector on its upcoming phones. But with the latest drawings showing the feature perhaps as an exclusive for the larger phone, that may explain some of the confusion. Relatively reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also backtracked on his earlier claims a bit, stating Apple will include the dual-lens camera on all 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus devices, along with 3 GB of RAM to help handle the complicated image processing. Previously, he had suggested Apple might offer the iPhone 7 Plus in both single-lens and dual-lens variants. Several other design drawing and dummy unit leaks have also surfaced in recent days, while Apple's supply chain appears to be anticipating fairly weak demand for the upcoming iPhone 7, citing a "lack of innovation."   Read Full Article Popular Stories May 12, 2016 iTunes 12.4 Update to Feature Minor Redesign With New Sidebar, Improved Navigation Apple's been working on an update for iTunes to help address usability complaints, and this week we got a look at the upcoming iTunes 12.4 that appears to be ready for release at any time. The new version will have several minor visual tweaks, including a persistent sidebar for managing content, a new dropdown media type selector, and a few other changes. A more significant redesign could come as part of OS X 10.12 later this year.   Read Full Article Lightning Headphones: Are They Better or Just an Inconvenience? With Apple rumored to be getting rid of the traditional 3.5 mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 later this year, we took a look at what that means for those who want to continue using wired headphones over the Lightning connector. We tested three sets of Lightning headphones priced from $45 to $800 and found that all offered better sound quality than headphones connected to 3.5 mm jacks, but some users may find that doesn't outweigh some of the disadvantages like not being able to charge and use wired headphones at the same time and needing headphones that work only with iOS devices.   Read Full Article Debate Rages Over Whether Apple Music Automatically Deletes Users' Owned Music Collections The internet erupted last week with a debate over whether Apple Music has been deleting users' owned music on their computers, following a blog post highlighting how an Apple support representative said this was the intended behavior of the service. It certainly isn't supposed to be an intended feature, so it appears some combination of support misinformation, confusing dialog boxes for users on Apple Music, and perhaps even some bugs are contributing to issues some users are experiencing. In other Apple Music news, Apple last week rolled out half-price student memberships, bringing the monthly cost of the service down to $4.99 in the United States for eligible users. And Apple moved quickly to debunk a report claiming the company is looking to cease offering purchased iTunes Store music downloads in as soon as two years, calling the claim "not true."   Read Full Article 2017 iPhone May Feature Edge-to-Edge Display With Embedded Touch ID Sensor, Front-Facing Camera Prominent Apple blogger John Gruber doesn't weigh in with rumor tidbits as often as he used to, but on this week's episode of his podcast The Talk Show, he shared some "scuttlebutt" he's been hearing about the iPhone to be introduced in 2017. Gruber says he's heard the display will take up the entire front of the device, with all of the other current features like Touch ID, FaceTime camera, and speaker somehow being embedded within the display. Rumors have been pointing to a major upgrade for the iPhone in 2017, including a shift to OLED display technology, a new glass casing, and perhaps wireless charging.   Read Full Article Siri Creators Offer First Demo of 'Viv', the Self-Coding Voice Assistant While Siri is a helpful assistant for many people, others have criticized its functionality as a stripped-down version of the technology Apple originally acquired. Siri's creators have long since moved on from Apple, and this week they showed off "Viv," their next-generation voice assistant that uses "dynamic program generation" to remain context-aware while engaging in increasingly complex conversations. The open-ended nature of Viv allows it to "self code" responses as it learns and engages in conversation, rather than hard coding in all necessary responses to queries.   Read Full Article

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