Barclays: All 2019 iPhones May Lack 3D Touch, New AirPods and Lower-Priced HomePod to Launch Next Year

[Mac Fly (film)]

'long press' on my iphone SE does the majority of the things '3d touch' does on the X..

not all, but the majority.

I know. And tbh reorganising the home screen is buggy enough already (try placing an app icon at this beginning or end of an app row without being brought onto to a subsequent home screen—it’s infuriating) without accidental 3D touches further interfering.

3D Touch is a good feature to have, but confuses some users and all of the features it offers can be actioned with a long press, should Apple choose to tweak software with this in mind. A long press in the grand scheme of things makes more sense for a user base this large, as it’s easier to do in practice than apply granular pressure, and far less likely to ever happen accidentally.

 

[Rogifan]

It seems too early for any legitimate supply chain rumors. This “research note” sounds more like guesses than anything else.

These next two weeks will be unbearable with every Wall Street analysts vomiting out “rumors” from the supply chain, most of which never turn out to be right, and every rumor site breathlessly publishing them. No supplier that wants to continue as an Apple supplier is going to leak future product plans to some Wall Street guy.
[doublepost=1535391375][/doublepost]

Seems like 3D touch was one of those features where they "innovated for the sake of being innovative." It didn't really seem to solve any problems and is just one more thing that people need to learn how to use. And can't it just be replicated with a long press?

Long press doesn’t use Taptic Engine. Not the same at all.

 

[Ries]

3D Touch was a bad invention, UI wise you have no indication of what is 3D Touchable and what is not. Therefore most users never use it, they simply don't know it's there. why keep it around for the few power users who managed to learn the spots, when you can have more profit or 0.3mm off the size

 

[Aston441]

'long press' on my iphone SE does the majority of the things '3d touch' does on the X..

not all, but the majority.

Exactly. There's nothing touch does that can't be emulated by long press. I think Apple was hoping that people would come up with novel uses for it. No one did... except I think someone made a weighing/scale app... that was inaccurate?

 

[pipis2010]

HomePod Sales are underwhelming because Siri's abilities are underwhelming. It is Apple's tender spot. They should invest massively in the development of the AI to catch up with Google and Co., or times could get really hard for Apple in the future.

I think part of the issue has to do with Apple’s strict privacy rules. For Google it’s much easier, because there really is NO real privacy...

 

[sracer]

3D Touch was a bad invention, UI wise you have no indication of what is 3D Touchable and what is not. Therefore most users never use it, they simply don't know it's there. why keep it around for the few power users who managed to learn the spots, when you can have more profit or 0.3mm off the size

I agree. The UI of iOS is a platypus of sorts... it didn't age very well. With each iteration things got tacked on, bolted on, and duct-taped on. I'd like Apple to take a step back, look at all the functionality iOS now has (compared to it's initial introduction) and re-arrange things so that they are more cohesive and consistent.
But I know that very few share this sentiment.

 

[apolloa]

In other words they are making it all up and haven’t got a clue. Sounds about right. I doubt very much they’ll drop 3D Touch.

 

[palmerc2]

I use 3D Touch ALL the time.

When I use a phone that doesn’t have it, it feels archaic.

 

[GoodWheaties]

We really believe these snake oil salesmen? Plans aren’t finalized a MONTH before the announcement on a HARDWARE choice? It must be nice to be paid to be a moron.

I think you missed the 2019 part. Not 2018.

 

[Falhófnir]

3D Touch and Haptics quite possibly the single most innovative feature of iPhones in recent times and area that Apple have a significant lead in and it’s being binned for, what, extra profit presumably?

 

[WannaGoMac]

Good riddance to 3D touch. It confuses all the non-techys so I turn it off on all their devices, and for myself I can barely remember when it is available as their is no visual cue that it's available. And when it is there at same time as Long press messes up what I am trying to long press. Really just horrible idea..

Apple keeps gunking up their interface wiht more and more invisible things you have to remember are there...it's really gotten bad. So I am not at all surprised they're removing this thing.

 

[bunnyhero]

i doubt apple will get rid of 3d touch. it was heavily featured in the iOS 12 notifications demo at WWDC.

 

[Falhófnir]

I agree. The UI of iOS is a platypus of sorts... it didn't age very well. With each iteration things got tacked on, bolted on, and duct-taped on. I'd like Apple to take a step back, look at all the functionality iOS now has (compared to it's initial introduction) and re-arrange things so that they are more cohesive and consistent.
But I know that very few share this sentiment.

That’s kind of what they did with the iPhone X edition of iOS 11 - things feel much more streamlined than they did as of iOS 10 on iPhone 7. There’s still very much room for improvement but it’s a step in the right direction making it feel less cluttered.

 

[oneMadRssn]

The 3D Touch trackpad is reason enough to keep it.

I think it makes a ton of sense on a laptop trackpad. But the implementation on the iphone has been lackluster from the very beginning.

 

[smizzle]

I'm gonna be really mad at myself if we have to wait that long for new AirPods. I've passed up so many deals recently, thinking a new version would come out in September.

 

[unobtainium]

Removal of 3D Touch is disappointing, because it had a lot of potential as a new way to interact with devices.

Cheap HomePod rumors are boring. Instead, Apple should have cut the price a bit and added Bluetooth and Spotify support.

 

[Rogifan]

3D Touch was a bad invention, UI wise you have no indication of what is 3D Touchable and what is not. Therefore most users never use it, they simply don't know it's there. why keep it around for the few power users who managed to learn the spots, when you can have more profit or 0.3mm off the size

What indication is there for long press? Should we get rid of that too?

 

[tennisproha]

What, no that would be stupid. I use 3D Touch everyday.

 

[charlituna]

I hope Airpods come much sooner than that.

I won’t be surprised if they come out with the new iPhones. AirPod 2 with tweaks for better connections and the case will be wired and wireless. They will sell the wireless case as an add on for folks that just got Airpods that don’t want to buy a whole new set.
[doublepost=1535394921][/doublepost]

Of course, there's always the caveat.

I wish I had a high paying job like these analysts.

Makes predictions, but the fine print always there to save your ass.

Honestly it feels like they are telling a negative narrative of dropped features, delayed releases etc to drop the stock value a little before Apple announces the opposite and more and folks go Gaga and the stock goes up

 

[44267547]

I'm gonna be really mad at myself if we have to wait that long for new AirPods. I've passed up so many deals recently, thinking a new version would come out in September.

You Shouldn’t pass up on AirPods. Even if Apple does released a new version, the current ones are still fantastic for what they offer in terms of technology and ease-of-use. I don’t see the AirPods being something that is annually updated as an accessory, but I don’t expect the second generation of AirPods to launch this year either.

 

[charlituna]

HomePod Sales are underwhelming because Siri's abilities are underwhelming. It is Apple's tender spot. They should invest massively in the development of the AI to catch up with Google and Co., or times could get really hard for Apple in the future.

I can’t disagree with this. Siri, especially on the HomePod, needs work. But I’m not sure that it’s an issue with the AI as much as the metadata for the items they have and speech recognization. Adding things like controlling your Apple TV doesn’t work when it messes up what you are saying even though you speak slowly and enunciate

Frankly software on many levels is an issue Apple needs to address. Poor metadata in their stores, less than stellar implementation of the whole TV app thing, Mac OS features missing from the iOS versions that would be highly useful etc. I know Apple has been never focus groups for years because too many cooks and all that but they might need to rethink that because folks keep asking for the same thing over and over so maybe they should put those requests before what they in their circle thing is a cool thing
[doublepost=1535395527][/doublepost]

I don’t see the AirPods being something that is annually updated as an accessory, but I don’t expect the second generation of AirPods to launch this year either.

The last Airpods were released in 2016 plus they talked about that new case. So yes this year might be time for an update. Even just a minor tweak for better connections etc

 

[Swazaloo]

Never used that feature myself. As a matter of fact, i always forget that feature is even there.

Try using it next time you text someone, it turns the keyboard into a trackpad + cursor. ****ing awesome.

 

[44267547]

The last Airpods were released in 2016 plus they talked about that new case. So yes this year might be time for an update. Even just a minor tweak for better connections etc

The new battery case just represents for the wireless charging, nothing else. And just to clarify to be a bit more technical, the AirPods almost launched towards 2017, it was the end of December 2016 when they officially launched. (Many customers were waiting to receive their AirPods until late January or later because of the demand.) There really hasn’t been much indication that a second generation will launch this year.

 

[Rogifan]

i doubt apple will get rid of 3d touch. it was heavily featured in the iOS 12 notifications demo at WWDC.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple was working on something to merge 3D Touch and long press.

 

[smizzle]

You Shouldn’t pass up on AirPods. Even if Apple does released a new version, the current ones are still fantastic for what they offer in terms of technology and ease-of-use. I don’t see the AirPods being something that is annually updated as an accessory, but I don’t expect the second generation of AirPods to launch this year either.

I have a pair of the Beats X which use the same W1 chip, so I'm ok to wait until September just to be sure. I have a newborn and mainly want to get AirPods for when I'm up in the middle of the night with them. The Beats are fine for now but once the baby get a little older and start grabbing everything, the AirPods will be a life saver.