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Updated June 8 with details on Siri’s improved AI capabilities.

Looking back at this week’s news and headlines from Apple, including the latest iPhone 16 Pro leaks, iPad Pro privacy hardware, Apple’s delayed AI rollout, no hardware at WWDC, Apple’s hidden hardware, Android beats promise for Apple security and the “I’m A Mac” man is back.

The Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many discussions surrounding Apple over the past seven days. You can also read my weekly roundup of Android news here on Forbes.

The hidden feature of the iPad Pro

Hidden in iPad Pro is a new feature designed for user privacy. Apple devices, like many others in the industry, indicate whether the microphone or camera is active. With little fanfare, Apple has set this to be a hardware-powered feature rather than software, as Guilherme Rambo explains:

“Fun fact about the M4 iPad Pro: it’s the first device to support and use Apple’s new Secure Indicator Light (SIL) mechanism. When you use the microphone or camera, the corresponding indicator point is effectively rendered in hardware (using the display), making it much less likely that a malware or user-space application could access these sensors without the user’s knowledge.

(Mastodon, via Forbes).

iPhone 16 Pro display size leaked

Apple is set to increase the perceived screen size of the iPhone 16 Pro. Recent leaks surrounding the design of the upcoming iOS smartphone suggest that the bezels around the screen are set to be shrunk. This is something Apple has been hoping to achieve for some time:

“[Border Reduction Structure technology] most recently it was rumored because Apple was said to have found this technology to be problematic in terms of mining. This is because… BRS affects construction: “The cables and electrical circuit near the edge of the panel must be bent down to achieve this. This reportedly caused some production challenges during the production ramp.

(Forbes).

Limited implementation of Apple’s AI

The push for AI by Google and its Android partners has led Apple to make the role of AI in iOS more visible than its current applications in Siri, typing and image processing. These changes will be previewed at WWDC next week, but the high specification requirements of the iPhone mean that not every phone will reap the benefits. While iOS 18 is expected to run on devices up to the iPhone XR, you’ll likely need an iPhone 15 Pro at worst to run the AI:

“While it’s not entirely clear which hardware factor is the key AI requirement on Apple’s device, it’s worth noting that the (unsupported) standard iPhone 15 models have 6GB of RAM, while the supported Pro models have 8GB of RAM. Similarly, all Apple Silicon iPads and Macs come with a minimum of 8GB, even when scaled down for narrow use cases, LLMs require a lot of working memory due to the large number of parameters involved, so this may be where Apple collides with the hardware. restrictions on their own devices.”

(MacRumors).

No new hardware at WWDC

This may have happened in previous years, but Apple is not expected to release new hardware at next week’s WWDC. While some product lines need a mid-cycle refresh (most notably the lack of a Mac with the M4), Tim Cook and his team are likely to focus on the future of AI as opposed to the future of retail shelves:

“No hardware is expected to be announced at WWDC, unless Apple unexpectedly previews a new device that will launch later (to be clear: I don’t expect that),” Gurman said in his Power On newsletter today. Notably, Gurman now says a new Apple TV model is “not imminent,” despite previous reports that Apple is aiming to launch a new Apple TV in the first half of 2024. The current Apple TV was unveiled in October 2022.”

(Bloomberg via MacRumors).

Siri’s improved AI

Updated June 8: One of the focal points of AI will be in Apple’s long-standing digital assistant Siri. Apple Insider’s Marko Zivkovic details which Siri features on iOS will get AI support. The main proposition is that Siri will handle more natural language requests as opposed to formal and rigidly defined commands:

“Instead of just having direct commands like ‘Show me pictures of my cat,’ the company’s test prompts mention that the user wants to blog or that they’re feeling lazy/nostalgic in some cases. By doing this, Apple wants to acclimate its AI to the natural language, speech patterns, sentence structures and types of instructions that Siri is likely to receive from end users — some of whom may not be as familiar with new technologies.”

(Apple Insider).

Hidden hardware in your new iPad and Mac

Apple has included support for the IEEE 802.15.4 transmitter function, essentially the radio channels used by the free Matter standard for smart home communications. Apple hasn’t mentioned its support, but the hardware is there, ready to be turned on when the time (and presumably the software) is right:

“Although the company does not list Thread in the specifications of any of these products, FCC reports indicate that many of Apple’s latest devices have had Thread radios tested for compliance. Generally don’t test a radio that isn’t there.’

(On the edge).

iPhone loses to Android in terms of security

Unlike Android manufacturers, who state in advance how many years of software updates and security patches a new phone will receive, Apple is a little more cautious about its support window. Following the introduction of the Security of Products and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act in the UK, manufacturers of internet-connected devices must offer declarations of conformity that include software support windows:

“As iPhones are internet-enabled products, Apple is required to comply with UK PSTI regulation. The company recently published its declaration of conformity for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, revealing that its “defined support period” is “a minimum of five years from the date of first delivery.” “The ‘first ship date’ is listed as September 22, 2023, when the iPhone 15 series goes on sale.”

(Android Authority).

And finally…

Apple’s “I’m A Mac” actor from the classic American campaign was hired by Qualcomm to promote its new Snapdragon X Elite chipset, with a direct line drawn from Apple’s past innovations to current Windows innovations.

“During Qualcomm’s keynote at Computex 2024 today, Long appeared in a short 30-second skit in which he was bombarded by macOS notifications and nagging screens, prompting him to start looking for a Snapdragon PC instead…” Things change,” Long jokes to the camera, after searching for a Windows PC on Arm, after macOS pop-up notifications include warnings about app compatibility, low disk space, battery, and more.

(On the edge).

The Apple Loop brings you seven days of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Be sure to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, and this week’s edition of the Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.