MacRumors

We're just two weeks away from the rumored launch date of the 4-inch "iPhone SE," but due to mixed rumors and a lack of part leaks, we still don't know exactly what the device will look like. Rumors suggest an iPhone 5s-style body with an iPhone 6-style curved glass front panel, two concepts that are difficult to merge.

Design drawings and early case leaks out of China haven't been helpful thus far, also offering up conflicting information on the final design, but renderings from an established, well-known case manufacturer may help shed some light on what we can expect.

Spigen is an accessory company that often has some of the first cases available for new iOS devices, and the iPhone SE is no exception. The company is working on cases for the 4-inch iPhone, and case renderings obtained by MacRumors suggest Spigen expects a design that's nearly indistinguishable from the iPhone 5s.

The device continues to have the same general shape as the iPhone 5s, with round volume buttons, a power button located at the top of the device, and a pill-shaped flash. Design drawings have suggested the iPhone SE could perhaps have a camera that protrudes slightly, something that can't be determined from the Spigen renderings.

Spigen's cases wrap around the front of the screen, making it unclear how the display of the iPhone SE differs from the display of the iPhone 5s. The edges of the iPhone SE are also not visible, so any slight differences in curvature would be difficult to determine from the rendering.

MacRumors has heard from multiple well-known case manufacturers that the iPhone SE will be the same size as the iPhone 5s, several of whom have been confident in that assessment, but how that ultimately meshes with rumors of an iPhone 6-style display remains to be seen.

Early cases are often accurate and serve as a solid indicator of what an upcoming iOS device might look like, but on occasion, case makers get design details wrong. As mentioned above, we have seen iPhone SE cases with distinctly different styles, so there is some disagreement on design between accessory makers.

Spigen's position as a well-known case manufacturer with a lot to lose may mean the company has put more resources into sussing out the look of the iPhone SE, but given all of the conflicting information, the design of the device may remain in question until it debuts on March 21.

Earlier this week, we shared a blue-light reduction app called FlexBright, which worked similarly to Apple's own Night Shift mode. Apple initially approved the app, which was able to adjust the screen temperature for the entire iPhone, but after it garnered attention following our post, Apple pulled it from the App Store.

FlexBright developer Sam Al-Jamal told MacRumors he had worked with Apple through several app rejections to get FlexBright into the App Store and that no private APIs were in use, something that was seemingly confirmed by the app's approval, but further review from Apple led to FlexBright's removal. Al-Jamal has shared Apple's explanation with MacRumors following an "exhausting discussion" with the Cupertino company. "The bottomline is [Apple] won't allow apps to change screen colors," he said.

Al-Jamal was given two technical reasons behind FlexBright's removal from the App Store. First, the app was using custom-created classes based on non-public APIs.

I recreated three classes based on non-public APIs. Even though these are custom classes that I created, but essentially they're using the same methods as in their non-public APIs.

Second, the app was using silent audio to keep FlexBright running in the background, a frowned-upon tactic that can result in battery drain. Late last year, the Facebook app for iOS was using excessive battery life, something caused in part by a silent audio component.

FlexBright masked the silent audio with a music player to "justify the background music activity," something that Apple approved twice even though the music playing function doesn't appear to work.

We labeled it as a new feature to "rest/close your eyes for few minutes and listen to some music". Now Apple says this is not the intended purpose of the app and they won't allow this approach.

Apple asked Al-Jamal to remove the blue light filter to get FlexBright back on the App Store, but he declined so that users who have already purchased the app can keep the feature. "For all intended purposes, FlexBright is dead," he said. He does plan to go on to make a new app that will detect eye fatigue based on screen brightness and time spent on an iOS device.

The developer behind FlexBright was using some questionable features to get the app to function, but its ability to slip past the App Store review process even through multiple rejections again puts a spotlight on Apple's inconsistencies and failures when it comes to reviewing apps. MacStories recently shared an in-depth look at the App Store review process, highlighting the problems and frustrations developers face, which rightly points out that the current review process is "harming the quality of apps on the App Store."

Following the launch of a few ads focused around the advantages of Windows 10 PCs over Macs, this week Microsoft continued its campaign with new commercials showcasing the Microsoft Surface Book. The ads feature wildlife photographer Tim Flach describing the pros of the Surface Book, pointing out a few things that he "just can't do" on a Mac.

The first video showcases Flach's "initial impressions of the Surface Book," with the photographer commenting on the detail provided by the two-in-one laptop/tablet device. Flach also detaches the top half of the Surface Book to directly edit and manipulate his photographs. He ends the video stating, "I can't do that on my Mac."

The second ad delves deeper into the powers of the Surface Pen and its 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, with Flach comparing the experience he had with Microsoft's device to his time as a painter. Despite the touch-screen similarities the Surface Book shares with the iPad Pro, Microsoft keeps the comparison specifically to Apple's Mac line in each video.

As pointed out by a reader of The Loop, the score for Microsoft's new ads skews close to a Retina MacBook Pro commercial from 2012. Both videos use variants of "Song" by Kidstreet, with Apple's ad playing the "String Version" of the tune and Microsoft's playing the "Reimagined" version.

A third video posted to the company's YouTube channel echoes much of the sentiment of the first two. Microsoft sells the Surface Book starting at $1,499 and goes up all the way to $3,199 thanks to a boosted 1TB flash storage and Intel Core i7 processor. The company first introduced the Surface Book at an event last October, referring to the versatile computing device as "the fastest laptop ever made, anywhere, on any planet."

While the iPhone 7 is not expected to launch until September, French leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer has shared photos one of the first cases prepared for Apple's next-generation flagship smartphone.

The case has a larger cutout for either a traditional camera and LED flash setup, or possibly dual cameras. There are also two openings for stereo speakers in lieu of a 3.5mm headphone jack on current iPhones.

The aftermarket case's form factor closely resembles an iPhone 6s overall, with cutouts for a possible all-in-one Lightning connector, pill-shaped volume buttons, and side-facing power button in their traditional places.

Early case leaks have historically been fairly accurate indicators of new iPhone designs, though there have been a few notable exceptions. The first cases for Apple's purported iPhone SE also surfaced last week ahead of its expected March 21st launch.

Multiple rumors have also claimed the iPhone 7 will feature a dual-lens camera system. The hardware could be based on technology Apple acquired from LinX Imaging, which could lead to brighter and clearer DSLR-quality photos and several other major advantages for the iPhone 7 cameras.

Meanwhile, Barclays analysts believe the iPhone 7 will have dual speakers supplied by Cirrus Logic, an Austin-based provider of analog and digital signal processing components for consumer electronics. Stereo speakers could be louder and route audio signals through two channels to simulate direction perception.

Update: A previous version of this article said the case has a cutout for dual cameras, but the opening may only be large enough for a traditional single camera and LED flash setup. Some rumors claim the dual camera setup may be exclusive to the iPhone 7 Plus, which reportedly may be called the iPhone Pro.

A DigiTimes rumor shared this morning pointed towards the possibility of a future 5.8-inch display in an iPhone, a significant size increase over the existing 5.5-inch display of the iPhone 6s Plus.

Rumor sites have expressed some skepticism over the idea of a 5.8-inch iPhone, but when looking at Apple's rumored work on flexible OLED displays and patents the company has filed, there is at least one plausible explanation for a 5.8-inch display -- it wraps around the sides of the device.

DisplayMate's Ray Soneira speculates that Apple could be planning to implement "folded edge side screens" on a future iOS device using a flexible OLED display. Such a display would fully eliminate side bezels on the iPhone and would also perhaps implement special buttons or gestures that could be used to control functions on the iPhone using the sides of the device.

Samsung offers phones that have a distinctly curved display with a side bar and its most recent device in that vein is the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The S7 Edge curves downward at one side, providing users with a toolbar of apps. Soneira believes Apple's implementation wouldn't mimic Samsung's, perhaps using square sides as outlined in a 2011 patent.

The patent outlines an edge display that's an extension of the main front display, offering virtual buttons, virtual switches, or informational displays that supplement the main display. It consists of a touch-sensitive layer underneath a flexible display layer and in the patent, virtual side buttons have purposes like adjusting volume, or snapping a photo.

In a second patent, Apple has outlined multiple possible shapes for an iPhone that would have a wraparound display, ranging from squared off to cylindrical, suggesting there are many possible directions Apple could go in should it decide to implement wraparound features like these.

Multiple rumors have suggested Apple is working on flexible OLED displays for future devices, with the goal of debuting the first OLED iPhones in 2017 or 2018. In addition to enabling features like dramatic curves, flexible OLED display panels have other benefits, as outlined by Soneira in a recent display shootout covering the Galaxy S7. OLED displays are thinner, lighter, offer better viewing angles, and have the potential to be used with a much smaller bezel.

OLED displays also offer better color accuracy, image contrast, and screen uniformity, and Soneira believes in the near future, OLED products will be foldable and flexible for applications described in Apple's patents.

Because of their very flexible power management capabilities, OLEDs are not only more power efficient than LCDs for most image content, but they now deliver much higher peak Brightness than LCDs because of this. However, for mostly all white screen content LCDs are likely to remain brighter and more power efficient for a while. OLED displays can also be manufactured on flexible substrates, which allows the screens to be curved and rounded like on Samsung's Galaxy Edge and Galaxy Round displays. Right now the curved flexible OLED displays are protected under rigid glass, but in the near future OLED products will be foldable and flexible.

Apple's patents are not typically a useful way to predict the features we'll see in future products, but they do offer a look at the technologies and ideas Apple is exploring. Combined with the rumors that Apple has an intense interest in developing a flexible OLED display for future iOS devices, we can speculate that Apple is at least considering wraparound displays as a future iPhone feature, and today's 5.8-inch iPhone rumor is perhaps one more clue hinting at Apple's OLED plans.

According to Ray Soneira, side screens would be an ideal way for Apple to continue to iterate on future iPhones. "If Apple wants to be leading display innovation with a new OLED iPhone the side screens would really be the best way to do so," he said.

Update: When applied to the height of an existing 5.5-inch iPhone, a 5.8-inch display like the one Apple is rumored to be working on would leave an extra 7.25mm of display on each side that could be used to wrap around the edges of the device. This would extend the display across the front and sides of the iPhone, perhaps enabling side-based gestures and buttons.

We don't know what shape an iPhone with side bars could take, but the rumored 5.8-inch size of the display is about right to add side panels to current-generation iPhones.

Other World Computing today announced a new product that will allow newer Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air owners to upgrade the storage in their notebooks for the first time.

Aura SSD upgrade kits are available in 480GB and 1TB capacities and will work with the Late-2013 Retina MacBook Pro and newer and the Mid-2013 MacBook Air and newer. At up to 1TB of storage, a Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air can gain up to 8x the capacity of the standard 128GB hard drive that comes with lower-end models. 1TB also exceeds the maximum factory drive available in the MacBook Air, which is limited to 512GB.

According to OWC, its Aura PCIe-based flash storage is designed using high-quality components that are fully compatible with Mac notebooks.

Tier-1 Flash - Aura SSDs use only top-rated flash for amazing performance and dependability.
Superior Error Correction - Three-level error correction with low-density parity checks provides significantly improved reliability, and RAID-like protection for your data.
Cell-Level Data Refresh - Aura's powerful embedded processor monitors and re-writes data blocks as needed to maintain correct charge at the cell level, improving the integrity of your data and extending the life of your drive.
Global Wear-Leveling - A global wear-leveling algorithm helps evenly distribute data across your SSD cells, extending the life of your drive by preventing any section of flash from getting worn out prematurely.

Upgrade kits include all of the tools that are necessary to replace the solid state drive in a Mac notebook, and it also includes an OWC Envoy Pro drive enclosure to house the existing factory drive in the Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, so it can be used as an external SSD.

OWC's 480GB Aura SSD Kit (with enclosure) is available for $399, with a standalone drive priced at $347.99. The 1TB Kit is priced at $649, with the 1TB standalone drive available for $597. Both drives are available from the OWC website and will begin shipping out at the end of March.

Apple is rumored to be further expanding the iPhone's screen size beyond the current 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, moving to 5.8 inches in a future device that could launch "in 2018 or even earlier in 2017." The news comes from a pre-publication report by DigiTimes that has been obtained by The Motley Fool, and it states that the 5.8-inch iPhone will include an OLED display, in line with previous rumors of Apple adopting the technology around that time.

According to the report, Samsung is to be the main source for the OLED panels, with LG and Japan Display "joining in later." Recently, Samsung was reported to be on the verge of investing over $7 billion into supplying OLED displays for future iPhones, following rumors last year that 2018 would mark Apple's official shift from LCD to OLED displays in its popular smartphone line. More recent reports suggest that OLED timeline could be moved up to 2017.

Based on DigiTimes' estimates, the production of OLED displays could see significant output within the first year, though still only a fraction of the over 200 million iPhones Apple sold over the past year.

Per the note, DIGITIMES' supply chain sources believe that 50 million of these AMOLED-equipped iPhones will make it out to customers in the first year of availability.

The company's upcoming March media event is rumored to showcase the launch of a new 4-inch "iPhone SE," but as of yet there have been few rumors suggesting the company has looked into expanding the already-large screen of the iPhone 6s Plus. With the rumored launch dates of 2017 or 2018, if it becomes a reality, the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone could arrive as either an "iPhone 7s" or more likely an "iPhone 8" generation.

Recent rumors surrounding this year's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have indicated the device will adopt a thinner body, flush rear camera, and stereo speakers, while also doing away with the traditional 3.5-mm headphone jack. A dual-lens rear camera has also been rumored for at least some models of the larger iPhone 7 Plus, with one report claiming those models could be launched under a separate "iPhone Pro" name.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a series of 40 new patents, including one that describes various implementations and benefits of a Liquidmetal home button on iPhones and iPads.

Liquidmetal alloys, otherwise known as "bulk solidifying amorphous alloys" in the patent filing (via Patently Apple), have a number of unique properties, including high strength, corrosion resistance, light weight, and malleability.

Apple has annually renewed its exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal since 2010, but how it plans to use the alloys remains unclear. Early speculation centered around Apple using Liquidmetal for the iPhone SIM Tool, while other Liquidmetal home button patents have surfaced as early as 2014. Meanwhile, Steve Zadesky, named on this and other Liquidmetal patents, recently announced he was leaving Apple.

Today's patent explains how Liquidmetal's high elasticity makes it an ideal material for a pressure-sensitive home button that would deform slightly when pressed, but return to its normal shape when you remove your finger or thumb. Liquidmetal would always retain this elasticity, while other materials like titanium or stainless steel could become irreversibly deformed and adversely affect the home button.

A second embodiment of the patent details a home button with a switch comprising a small actuator positioned adjacent to Liquidmetal material, whereby pressing the actuator deforms the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy. The efficient design could be easier for Apple to manufacture compared to conventional pressure-sensitive home buttons that use dome switches placed on a substrate with or without an actuation nub.

It does not appear that Apple's upcoming products, including the rumored iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, will adopt Liquidmetal, given the absence of any recent rumors surrounding the alloys, but Apple's continuous renewal of the material implies it remains interested. It is common for Apple to patent inventions that are not publicly released until years later, if ever.

United States Patent No. 9,279,733 describes Apple's invention in more detail.

Apple has updated its vintage and obsolete products list with three new products: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010), and Xserve (Early 2009).

The older notebooks and server rack hardware are now classified as vintage in the United States and Turkey, and obsolete in the rest of the world, according to Apple.

Macs and other products on the vintage and obsolete list are generally no longer eligible for hardware service, but OS X El Capitan still supports many older Macs back to Mid 2007. Apple defines vintage products as those that have not been manufactured for more than five but less than seven years.

The new additions come less than three months after Apple obsoleted select early 2008 to late 2009 Macs, including the iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009), iMac (27-inch, Late 2009), MacBook Air (Mid 2009), Mac Pro (Early 2009), MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008), and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008).

The MacBook Pro models obsoleted today were originally announced on April 13, 2010. Read how to identify your MacBook Pro model.

Following an announcement in January, ExxonMobil today officially launched Apple Pay support within its Speedpass+ iOS app, letting customers pay for gas or car washes directly from their iPhone (via CNET). Although most of ExxonMobil's stations come equipped with an RFID station for mobile payments, the company decided to focus on software within the app to further streamline the transaction process.

"Anything that involves the pump from a hardware point of view takes years to deploy and is extremely expensive," Bryant Russell, Americas program manager for mobile payment and loyalty at ExxonMobil, said during a demo of the app at the San Mateo gas station.

The rollout today will be seen at more than 6,000 ExxonMobil gas stations in 46 states, with a goal to expand to 2,000 by the summer and all 10,000 locations across the United States by the end of 2016.

The Speedpass+ app will use GPS to check the exact location a user is at, ask which pump they are using, and confirm the purchase with Touch ID. Locations with spotty GPS will be guided through a QR code-scanning step or manual search process within the app.

Once payment in the app is finished, users have "about 45 seconds" to start pumping gas, or Speedpass+ will time out and require users to start over from the beginning. Similar to Apple's own Wallet app, Speedpass+ will track the purchase history of every transaction at ExxonMobil locations.

Last year, Chevron launched a pilot program for Apple Pay -- using NFC terminals -- in a focused location within the Bay Area. ExxonMobil's widespread introduction of Apple Pay today is the first big rollout for the mobile payment service by a gas company to date, despite its software-focused rollout. Next, the company plans to begin introducing Apple Pay into its convenience stores along with linking its Plenti loyalty program to the service.

The Speedpass+ app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]