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Apple VP Kaiann Drance Interview Addresses Battery Life, MagSafe, and Power Adapter Concerns

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Apple's Vice President of iPhone Marketing, Kaiann Drance, has provided a new interview to Rich DeMuro on the Rich on Tech Podcast, to discuss the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

Although much of the interview repeated points from Apple's "Hi, Speed" event, there were a number of interesting tidbits regarding the affect of 5G on battery life, MagSafe concerns, and the lack of a power adapter in the box.



5G and Battery Life

DeMuro asked about the implications of 5G connectivity on the iPhone's battery life, to which Drance responded:

We're able to make a bunch of software optimizations throughout the entire system to make battery life even better, and on top of that we added a new feature called "Smart Data mode" that will allow you to manage your 5G usage and battery life a bit better, so you can use 5G speeds when it really matters, and then for places where maybe it doesn't matter as much it will revert to 4G LTE speeds to save your battery life. And then the last part of it that I think is really important is the work we've done with our carrier partners, working with them on their network settings, on their deployment plan, so they're also optimizing their settings together with iPhone to optimize for battery life.
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Glass and Durability

Drance neglected to answer whether a screen protector is still needed with the new Ceramic Sheild front glass on iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. However, she did explain that the new flat-edged design aids drop protection and makes the iPhone more durable. Although the rear glass of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro does not use Ceramic Shield, Drance said that it still uses "the toughest glass available in a smartphone," which achieves "a 2x performance gain" against accidental drops.

MagSafe Concerns

When asked about the new MagSafe system and concerns about whether the magnets could deactivate cards, Drance admitted that some cards could be impacted by Magsafe:

We are taking care to make sure that we're being as protective as possible, and those credit cards, they're made with magnetic stripes that are pretty strong so that shouldn't be a problem next to next to your phone... what you do want to just watch out for is those single-use types of cards like the hotel cards... you might not want to put that right against that, but certainly, we've got great options like the wallet, the wallet is shielded.
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iPhone Launch Day

DeMuro also asked about what customers can expect from the iPhone launch this year, and Drance emphasized the need for contactless delivery and ordering ahead for in-store pickups. She also said that walk-in customers should expect delays:

If you do show up as a walk-in... we may give you an appointment to come back at a later time, but certainly you may expect to wait a little longer because of occupancy in the stores and physical distancing... we may not be able to get everyone in as quickly as possible.
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USB-C Power Cable Included in the Box

Lastly, DeMuro queried why Apple had still chosen to include a USB-C charging cable in iPhone boxes. Although he acknowledged that Apple has stopped including the power adapter with the iPhone for environmental reasons, he asked why Apple was including a USB-C cable when many customers will not have a USB-C power adapter, especially if they are coming from an older iPhone.

Interestingly, Drance suggested that users should continue to use their older Lightning cable if they do not have a USB-C power adapter, or perhaps even use a Mac laptop for charging.

So first of all of the iPhone 12 models, you can still use your old Lightning cables and any of those power adapters that work with that... any of those will still work, in fact we encourage you to still use those as well. Now, if you do need a new one... we did include a USB-C to lightning cable in the box. It's different because it's more modern, it's faster... now that can still be used with any USB-C power adapter, so where can you get one of those?

Well, you might already have one, if you have either another smartphone product or another consumer electronic product. In the past couple of years a lot of those have moved towards those type-C adapters... Now, if you're an Apple user and you happen to have a Mac or an iPad, we've also included those USB-C power adapters in recent years for those products, and the computer ports themselves include USB-C. So those are other options for you.
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The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro is available from today, starting at $799 and $999 respectively.

Article Link: Apple VP Kaiann Drance Interview Addresses Battery Life, MagSafe, and Power Adapter Concerns
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/10/23/kaiann-drance-interview-addresses-concerns/
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I’ve never understood the complaints about including the USB C cable in the box. I’d much rather a new USB C cable than an old USB A cable, everyone has USB A cables.

I swear if they included USB A in the box the same people would be complaining it isn’t USB C.
 
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She’s right. I’ve been saying it all along.

If you have a power adapter and you’re an iPhone user, chances are you already have a usb-a lighting cable.

If you’re coming from Android, chances are you have a usb-c charger

And usb-c has a long life ahead. It makes no sense to include usb-a. USB-C is the right choice
 
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I will have to admit, I cannot stand listening to people such as this lady.
She is paid a LOT of money to promote the products of the company.
I'm not going to say she is deliberately lying about anything, she is just very skilled in focusing, saying and putting a positive spin on every aspect of the product she is being paid to say nice things about.

Basically a used car salesman, saying onto the good points.
When you really want to speak to the mechanic out the back who will tell you everything accurately.

Nice lady I'm sure, but it's almost not worth listening to anything she says.

That said, I know this is the job of these people, so nothing against her whatsoever.
 
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Most of the Android shipped in the past few years uses USB-C for their Charger. That is Nearly 3B devices in the past 3 years.

Those that have an iPhone would already have a lightning cable and a charger.

I still fail to see why people are complaining. It was obvious the USB-C cable included was intended for those making the switch.

Edit: Turns out many Android phone uses USB-C and ships with USB-A to USB-C Charger. Corrected by ian87w.

And if you have to ask what about those previously without a Smartphone.

There are 4.5B Smartphone users, If you exclude the population of 65yr+ and 10yrs-, you are very close to saturation.

If you ask is it really for environment? I would properly say it is a bit of both. The BOM Cost of EarPods and Charger along with shipping cost reduction is actually pretty good considering the limited value they offer inside the package. Apple just shift those cost to somewhere else. In the short term it is helping 5G patents and 5G Modem cost.
 
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and 1989 others said:
Is the iphone 12 the peak? Are we going to see the inevitable 'regression to the mean' in the coming years?

I no longer get excited for new product launches, don't have a burning desire to own the new tech immediately. Maybe I am just getting old and grumpy.
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same here - but I can see a few reasons, a) the leaking business is too big now and we know everything that's going to happen sometimes a year in advance, b) smartphones have picked and anyone using even an iPhone 8+ has a very powerful device that can do anything and c) once they go notchless the changes will become even less noticeable
 
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More USB-C cables - more opportunities to sell chargers as an accessory.
It's almost as if it was designed to nudge people into buying their charger.

"Congratulations on the choice of your new iPhone. You know we're not including the power adapter anymore, for environmental reasons. Of course we're still including a cable. Can be used with any standard USC-C charger. Cause it's the new standard that will be everywhere, eventually. So... do you already have a USB-C power adapter? No..? Would you like me to get one for you from the shelf? It's only $19."

The cable is so thin and lightweight that nobody will get concerned about the environment (plus, it's the same worldwide, so no localisation costs).
 
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and 1989 others said:
Is the iphone 12 the peak? Are we going to see the inevitable 'regression to the mean' in the coming years?

I no longer get excited for new product launches, don't have a burning desire to own the new tech immediately. Maybe I am just getting old and grumpy.
Click to expand...

I see what you’re saying, but definitely not. There are still a bunch of things that Apple can implement to keep iPhone interesting. Also, every year there are millions of people eligible to upgrade and probably thousands who lose their phone / break it and decide to upgrade.

We can still see ProMotion, improved display technology, even more camera/sensor enhancements, no notch, Touch ID in power button, Smart Connector, mini Pencil, more use of LiquidMetal etc.

We’re 13 years into the life of iPhone and even though it’s not *as* exciting, Apple is still doing a damn good job with every release.
 
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"Well, you might already have one, if you have either another smartphone product or another consumer electronic product."
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Damn, this is serious corporate shade. The week between iPhone announcement and release is full of theory-crafted worries from the Statler and Waldorf crowd. I think this will be fine y'all.
 
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Journalists who ask about cables not included are brain dead (not a rare condition in journalism).

The phone is cheaper this year (and much higher spec) so if a customer needs to buy a cable they already have savings from the cost of the phone.
 
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ArPe said:
2 x should be pronounced 2 times. Really don’t like this new speech habit in tech. Hope nobody says things like that in math class.
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That would be confusing. In math “two ex” (2x) is usually understood to mean “two times ex”. Or should I say “two ex ex”? 🤔
 
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