
Apple suffers 'major iPhone X leak' - dberhane
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41220517
======
zyb09
A bit sensational to call a reference to an unknown product that's likely
going to be unveiled in 2 days, as well as some minor feature like Animojis, a
major leak. This is what suffering a major leak looks like:
[http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-
iphone](http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone)

~~~
MBCook
I disagree. We now know what FaceID is called, how it works, exactly what the
device looks like and how the status bar works, that there are new AirPods
coming, the name of the new thing, the name of the updates to the old thing,
and a software feature that no one could've ever gotten out of hardware chain
leaks.

This is without a doubt the biggest leak since the iPhone 4 you pointed too.
If it wasn't for the HomePod firmware leak a month ago this would've been even
more devastating.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
"Devastating" is an awfully strong word for what's happened. Really curious
people know a few features a little earlier than they would have otherwise.
It's hard to prove that this will even have any negative effects; it generates
buzz and excitement around a launch.

For a personal anecdote, I honestly didn't know there was a new iPhone coming
out soon. Now I do, and I'm curious. Plus, my sister-in-law mentioned this
morning that she wants a new phone, this might help her decide. I don't
understand why this is such a terrible thing.

~~~
MBCook
Negative affects? No, not really. But Apple managed to have a TON of secrecy
this year where no one was really sure what was going on. We didn't even have
much in the way of hardware leaks this year.

Then they had the HomePod leak, now this. A lot of the surprises that we're
going to be in their presentation are now known by the enthusiast set.

It's really a stolen thunder/pride thing.

I'm a little surprised you didn't know a new iPhone was coming as they
announce them the same time every year.

------
Animats
Who cares? It was once a big deal what the 1956 Chevy would look like. Now,
nobody cares. It was a big deal when the original iPod and iPhone came out,
but version N+1? It's going to be another black rectangle.

~~~
Animats
For a sense of history, here's the General Motors introduction ceremony for
the 1953 models.[1] This was a Big Deal in its day. National TV coverage.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCutLTuIqOo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCutLTuIqOo)

------
IBM
The new SoC sounds like it's going to be amazing [1]. I don't think Qualcomm
or Samsung are going to be able to compete for years.

[1]
[https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/90692329088688537...](https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/906923290886885379)

~~~
superflyguy
Eh? Android, led by Samsung, is way way ahead of Apple. Most non technical
people don't even know what a CPU is and aren't about to spend $1000 on a new
phone.

That's not to say this chip doesn't sound impressive. But it's not going to
change market shares.

~~~
MBCook
When it comes to performance Apple has been leading for a couple of years. The
only android phones that have been able to be at the top of the line iPhone do
it because they had twice as many cores. In any single core benchmark Apple
seems to wipe the floor with competitors.

And there's a battery price to be paid by winning that way.

So if Apple doubles the number of power course they have where does that leave
Android phones for competing on the ultra high-end?

(Before anyone says "Android phones are fast enough"/"It doesn't matter" I
totally agree. To the normal user this isn't a real problem, it's just fun
tech geekery)

~~~
MengerSponge
Anyone who says "Android phones are fast enough"/"It doesn't matter" is
absolutely fooling themselves, and may as well be saying "640k is enough for
anybody". Mock them accordingly.

~~~
MBCook
Honestly I've never used an android phone for more than five minutes because
I've never owned one.

But that's my impression from people I've talked to who use flagship devices.
It wouldn't surprise me if the hundred dollar ones feel slow, but that's to be
expected.

I mean I love my iPhone getting faster every time I buy a new one but
generally my old one feels fine. It's not like I'm suffering from a slow
phone.

------
mansilladev
IMO, the damage from this is negligible given that it's only a couple of days
before the release.

\- Competitors can't respond in any material way that will take away from the
announcement.

\- Journalists (and thus consumers) get more time to grok the feature
enhancements.

\- Developers (the general 3P devs who don't have strategic partner early
access) will have time to dream up how they'll extend the new features.

That being said, if this happened 3 or 6 months before the release, there
would likely be more measurable damage.

------
SREinSF
\- This goes way beyond the supply chain leaks that power Ming-Chi Kuo's
analyst reports. Perhaps an Apple QA engineer or contractor? Disgruntled SWE?
In any case leaker is in a world of hurt if Apple identifies him/her

\- Wonder if 9 to 5 Mac and MacRumors get limited access from Apple now that
they published these leaks. I'd say yes.

\- "As best I've been able to ascertain, these builds were available to
download by anyone, but they were obscured by long, unguessable URLs [web
addresses]," wrote John Gruber, a blogger known for his coverage of Apple.

~~~
wwice
Sounds like an inside job.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
It would be ironic if some third-party connected to Apple tested iOS 11 and
used Internet Explorer to download the release which causes the visited URL to
be indexed by Bing. Maybe the download URL pops up in Bing if you find the
right keywords.

~~~
khazhoux
These search engines... I do not think you understand how they work :-)

Bing doesn't index and then serve URLs you visit in your browser, even IE.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
I can’t find the recent news article but this story[1] is the same in essence:
Bing starts indexing web pages it impossibly can know about unless some
Microsoft software sends visited URLs to Bing. In the news I remembered it
caused some sensitive leaks because company secrets, only obscured by
unguessable URLs, were suddenly listed on Bing.

[1] [https://answers.microsoft.com/en-
us/bing/forum/bing_websearc...](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-
us/bing/forum/bing_websearch-bing_unex_search/bing-bot-is-accessing-non-
spiderable-urls-on-our/6645f41c-c270-4c6d-9b4d-06928294a176?auth=1)

------
theWatcher37
FaceID sounds like a security nightmare. I still can't believe they opted to
totally remove the fingerprint sensor.

~~~
cdmckay
Are you sure they're removing TouchID? I think FaceID is just another option
for logging in.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
iPhone 8 keeps the home button and thus TouchID. iPhone X loses the home
button and with it TouchID. As its replacement they use a 3D camera for facial
recognition.

~~~
dogma1138
Didn't the leaks "confirmed" that IPhone 8 is going to be called Iphone X?

The 7S and S Plus keep the current design.

~~~
MBCook
The GP is right. Apple has decided to call the updates to the current phones
the 8 and 8+ instead of going with the 7S monikers.

The new phone that's even better is the X as you said.

------
exabrial
Now that the iPhone has NFC, OLED, and is water resistant, literally the only
thing only thing holding me back from finally switching is the lack of a
damned head phone jack. Apple has managed to close the gap with competitors in
hardware, and even as an Android user I can acknowledge iOS is a bit more
polished on the software side.

But seriously: head phone jack. It is indispensable.

~~~
MBCook
As someone who has lived without one for the last year: it's not. Just leaving
adapter on the end of your headphones works fine, switching to Bluetooth works
even better (for non-interactive content).

Removing the jack was one thing but definitely gave me pause about my upgrade
to a seven but it turned out to be a complete non-issue.

~~~
pgwhalen
Where do you put the adapter when you're listening through some other 3.5mm
source though? That's what I'm most worried about, as someone who will be
buying his first headphone jack free iPhone.

~~~
MBCook
Basically the only time I used headphones in my normal life is at work. The
only time I stop using them with my phone was when I would plug them into my
desktop for some reason. That was usually temporary so I just left the adapter
next to my phone and it wasn't an issue.

These days are use AirPods and just switch them between computers so I don't
have to worry about the adapter anymore.

But the adapters are only $10 so it's not that hard to have a spare or two.

------
Negative1
Not sure how I feel about the premium model's name. Is it pronounced as in the
letter 'X' or ten/10? I'm guessing ten, as in the 10th anniversary edition
iPhone (which will certainly confuse things in 2-4 years).

~~~
MBCook
I would hope 10 based on what they did with macOS, but you're right we're
probably going to end up having that fight again.

I think this sort of makes sense for this year but I would assume that they'll
end up re-naming things after this. You're right that having the bottom phone
call 10 would certainly make things confusing.

With the iPads recently, and Macs since Jobs returned they've been using the
same names without numbers. It wouldn't surprise me too much if we went to
iPhone, iPhone+, and something else. To specify we just refer to them by the
year they were released.

------
bsenftner
Well, this tells us Apple has plans for facial expression mapping to emoji.
Sounds a lot like the technology from their FaceShift acquisition.

~~~
MBCook
As soon as I heard this it seemed like a _major_ phone seller. It will only be
on the top of the line phone but wow does it sound fun/appealing.

~~~
eponeponepon
It sounds pretty darn creepy to me. And it's sure to lead to social disasters
- how can you boil down all the nuance and uniquenss of an individual human's
facial expression to a smiley? It's bound to make the wrong face at least
sometimes.

~~~
grzm
Is this different from using an emoji to approximate an emotion? Or
abbreviations like lol? Or language in general? Or any communication? People
will get used to it and it'll become popular if people find it useful. I
personally don't use emoji much and likely wouldn't use this much either. But
I can imagine others might.

~~~
eponeponepon

      Is this different from using an 
      emoji to approximate an emotion?
    

Yes, very. Say I crack a joke :) You see the smiley, and it's the same
(alright, roughly the same ;o) ) as the smiley someone else would use to
express the same approximate emotion.

If, on the other hand, _my_ smile looks like 8-D but someone else's looks like
:=) and that other guy's looks like %} - the consistency vanishes. And that's
before you start factoring in people with, say, Bell's Palsy.

~~~
grzm
I understand what you're saying. All communication has the possibility of
miscommunication: and it's not just on the sender. Ever been misunderstood in
face-to-face conversation? Over text? Over the phone? Over email? On an
Internet forum?

If it's not useful, people won't use it. If there's a miscommunication, we
have ways to resolve those. I can't imagine this is something people will be
forced to use, just as people aren't forced to use emoji, or markup images.

------
clamprecht
The article references a leaked hour-long recording from a meeting at Apple.
Where is this available online?

~~~
packetslave
Why do you think it would be?

~~~
clamprecht
Because it was leaked

------
raverbashing
Well, Apple "officially leaks" some info to the press before major events,
though this seems to be something unofficial

Still, the impact is much smaller than implied by the article

------
mcintyre1994
> "As best I've been able to ascertain, these builds were available to
> download by anyone, but they were obscured by long, unguessable URLs [web
> addresses]," wrote John Gruber, a blogger known for his coverage of Apple.

Does anybody have any idea why they'd do this, assuming they don't want it to
be leakable? Why not make it accessible only on their network/VPN, and/or have
it behind the company SSO?

------
DonHopkins
"It revealed that Apple had hired ex-workers from the US National Security
Agency (NSA), FBI and Secret Service to help catch tattletales."

Edward Snowden? ;)

------
valine
The high quality image of the upcoming cellular connected Apple Watch is
probably the biggest news to come out of this leak. The features of the
‘iPhone X’ have been pretty well known, but details on the new Apple Watch
have been scarce. Having high quality marketing images of an unreleased Apple
product is really unprecedented.

~~~
MBCook
When it comes to the X we learned the name, what FaceID is called, the Animoji
stuff, and how the status bar works.

------
dogma1138
How will Apple Pay work without Touch ID? The double tap on the home button to
initiate and confirm contactless transactions is priceless.

Going back to pin or having to look at the phone to use Apple Pay is going to
be annoying especially for public transport.

~~~
MBCook
They may have just changed what you double tap to one of the other buttons.

Or maybe they've improved the battery life enough that it can always be
sensing for a payment terminal so you don't have to double tap to initiate the
process, just something to confirm.

------
MBCook
Someone is going to get in a TON of trouble if found.

We still don't know two things: the iPhone X price and if it launches at the
same time or later than the iPhone 8 and 8s.

Bonus: Verizon just confirmed the existence of the LTE Apple Watch due to
their own leak.

------
futurix
I guess now we will find out just how important element of surprise is for
Apple marketing.

And prediction: in the future they will separate all new hardware features to
.1 release (iOS 12.1, etc).

~~~
noncoml
> I guess now we will find out just how important element of surprise is for
> Apple marketing.

I don’t think we will. iPhone X doesn’t really sound like a bargain.

I was hyped up to upgrade my 7 plus, but then I saw that the price stars at
$1000, that they remove the TouchID, and that the rumors say they didn’t
include it because the run out of time, so there is a good chance if will be
there in the next version.

Add to this the usual 1st gen problems Apple is always facing, and waiting for
iPhone Xs is sno brainer.

~~~
MBCook
We still don't know the price but you're right that's where rumors are
pointing. The idea (from analysis, we'll see on Tuesday) is this is the high-
end fancy phone for people who want to pay extra. If you want to bigger screen
without the phone being much bigger, if you want to better looking screen, if
you want more battery life (maybe, OLED uses less than LCD) then this may be
the phone for you.

They obviously have to be careful because they don't want to promote it in
such a way that it makes the other two phones look terrible and not worth
buying.

How they market all of this is going to be fascinating to see.

------
ronnier
discoveries so far include:

* a reference to iPhone X, which acts as fresh evidence that Apple intends to unveil a high-end model alongside more modest updates to its handset line

* images of a new Apple Watch and AirPod headphones

* a set-up process for Face ID - an alternative to the Touch ID system fingerprint system - that says it can be used to unlock handsets and make online purchases from Apple, among other uses

* the introduction of Animoji - animated emoji characters that mirror a user's captured facial expressions

------
bitmapbrother
This whole doubling down on security thing isn't working. What Apple needs to
do is triple down and place a chastity belt on security.

------
agumonkey
I usually skip spoilers. Even though I'm not as fan as in the "jobs/one more
thing" era, I still like the surprise.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
All these stories and comments need spoiler tags. I was curios enough to read
them but now regret it. I want to be surprised at the event, not nod with my
head and think “Hm, that’s it?”.

------
icpmacdo
Disappointed no one is talking about the 4+2 cpu, we maybe able to get 2 day
battery life out of the device.

~~~
MBCook
The OLED screen could also mean a noticeable boost.

As Steve Trouten-Smith has been digging into things on Twitter he has said it
doesn't look like a big.LITTLE style configuration.

[https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/90696042504829747...](https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/906960425048297472)

and

[https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/90699098650456883...](https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/906990986504568833)

------
rubyfan
Aren’t the iOS betas being distributed fairly frequently to public beta
testers? Why’s this a big deal?

~~~
MBCook
Yes, but normal iOS betas have everything related to unannounced products
stripped out first. So you can't actually find anything about the new iPhone.
The best you can do is look at the APIs that they already told you about in
WWDC and try to intuit where they might be going.

This wasn't supposed to get out to people until after the products have been
announced and thus no more secrecy was needed.

------
tsaoutourpants
It is incredible how seriously Apple takes itself.

