Apple Opens Doors to Its iPhone Audio and Video Testing Chambers
Apple recently invited CNET's Patrick Holland to tour its specialized laboratories in Cupertino where company engineers test and calibrate the iPhone 16's audio and video capabilities.
Holland's visit centered on a long wave anechoic chamber, where walls, ceiling, and floor are covered with foam wedges to eliminate echoes. The facility is used for testing the iPhone 16's four microphones, which despite their small size, are engineered to deliver professional-grade audio quality.
"The iPhone is such a ubiquitous recording device and gets used in so many different environments that we want to make sure that we're able to capture the memory that our users are trying to capture in the truest form," explained Ruchir Dave, senior director of acoustics engineering at Apple.
"The approach we took was to go after both quality as well as utility. And as part of that, we developed a novel microphone component that allows us to deliver some of the best acoustic performance in a phone product," said Dave. "At the same time, [we] developed a feature like Audio Mix that gives users the flexibility to be able to capture different sounds and gives you that creative freedom in the edit to adjust it how you like."
The testing process Apple uses includes a sophisticated array of speakers that play chimes while the iPhone rotates, creating a spherical sound profile. This data forms the foundation for features like spatial audio and Audio Mix, which allows users to adjust recorded audio to simulate different microphone types. In separate soundproof studios, Apple conducts comparative playback tests with multiple testers to ensure consistent audio quality.
The tour's highlight was a theater-sized video verification lab, where Apple engineers calibrate display performance across various lighting conditions. The facility features a massive screen that simulates how videos appear on iPhone displays, whether viewed in dark rooms, offices, or bright sunlight. For all the details, check out the full writeup over at CNET.
Popular Stories
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future.
"I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta.
Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by
Juli CloverThe next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
