iPhone 9 Leak Reveals Apple's Radical Design

We all know which is the most exciting model out of all Apple’s upcoming new iPhones, and it will also be the cheapest. The cost savings, however, were meant to come with one major compromise. But now this phone seems almost too good to be true… 

In a fascinating new report, acclaimed Japanese website Macotakara revealed Apple’s so-called iPhone 9 or ‘budget iPhone X’ will use a radical display technology called ‘Full Active LCD’. This allows the budget model to have even thinner bezels than the second generation iPhone X (details) and new iPhone X Plus (details).

iPhone 9 render beside iPhone X Plus showing slightly bigger bezels which may now be avoidedBEN GESKIN

What enables this is a touch sensor made by Apple partner Japan Pixels, which it calls ‘Japan Pixel Eyes’. 9to5Mac notes a Full Active LCD means manufacturers can have bezels as thin as 0.5mm when the current iPhone X has a 1mm bezel. 9to5Mac also cites the Wall Street Journal which wrote back in September 2017 that Apple was using Japan Display to develop a Full Active LCD.

There’s just one problem.

Macotakara states that mass manufacturing of Full Active LCDs has a very high failure rate and this has impacted iPhone 9 production to the extent it may delay the launch until from September to November. A hold-up which was already leaked earlier this week. For my money though, a Full Active LCD iPhone 9 would be well worth the wait.

Interestingly, Macotakara’s report puts it in a face-off with popular leakers Ben Geskin (who successfully leaked the iPhone X last year) and Ice Universe (who has leaked the last three flagship Samsung Galaxy phones), as both believe the iPhone 9 will launch with larger bezels (1,2).

3D print of Apple’s iPhone 9 (left) illustrates how bad thick lookMAC OTAKARA

For its part, Macotakara has multiple scoops to its name, including that Apple would pull the headphone jack from the iPhone 7. Someone has to be wrong, and given 3D modelling has shown an iPhone 9 with larger bezels looks terrible – we have to hope Macotakara wins out.

Either way, 2019 is clearly the year Apple starts taking risks again (including with its premium models) and that’s great to see. Especially if the widely reported leaks of substantial price cuts turn out to be true...

Your MacBook Pro's Next Big Mistake

By Ewan Spence

Alongside the announcement of the new MacBook Pro machines earlier this month, Apple also announced the availability of a new leather MacBook Sleeve. Available in Midnight Blue, Saddle Brown, and Black, the high-quality design has a fundamental flaw for those using it.

You can’t charge your MacBook Pro while it is in the case. Given the high price ($180 for the 13-inch sleeve, and $200 for the 15-inch version), this is a curious decision.

Check your charge before packing away your MacBook Pro (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The design of the sleeve allows the MacBook Pro to be placed either hinge first or trackpad first. My suspicion is that the solution Apple had in mind was to go in hinge first (so the Apple logos match up through the material), in which case the USB-C ports are covered up by the design.

But the opposite orientation, trackpad first and leaving the hinge exposed. For me this feels the natural orientation and given the demands of a professional laptop and the ABC rule while travelling (always be charging) I would have expected at least one of the USB-C ports to be accessible for charging.

There could be practical reasons why Apple’s design team has blocked the functionality. For example, the team may be worried about the snug fitting leather not allowing sufficient heat to escape during charging – in which case I would expect this to be a prominent ‘do not allow this’ in Apple’s certification.

A quick check on other sleeves available through the Apple website shows that this is not the case. If there is a worry about charging in situ, it has not been made clear to

Which leads me to my second line of reasoning. Apple decided that the fashionable look of the sleeve would override the practical sensibilities demanded of a protective case. Either Apple did not consider the use case of charging in situ, or it made a conscious decision to not include it.

I’m honestly not sure which option I prefer to be the truth. But what is clear is that this can be added to an ever-growing list of issues around the MacBook Pro that highlight a lack of focus and devotion from Cupertino. With thermal issues, poor bug hunting, problematic repair issues, safety nets removed, what has happened to Apple’s legendary focus on the user experience?

Still, why bother about the practicalities when you can have the twenty-first century equivalent of corinthian