MacRumors : Mac News and Rumors

iPhone 6 Plus Display Judged 'Best Smartphone LCD Ever Tested', iPhone 6 Also Solid Posted: 22 Sep 2014 08:45 AM PDT DisplayMate, which routinely performs thorough testing of display quality on a variety of electronics, has released its iPhone 6 Display Technology Shoot-Out, taking a look at the performance of Apple's latest handsets using new "Retina HD" technology. While DisplayMate's Ray Soneira has not shied away from criticizing Apple's displays on some recent devices, he found the iPhone 6 Plus to have the "best performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever tested" while the iPhone 6 also scored well in testing. While the "best ever" designation includes the caveat of applying to LED displays and DisplayMate continues to rate the OLED display from the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as the best overall smartphone display, the gains seen in the iPhone 6 and particularly the iPhone 6 Plus are impressive. Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the iPhone 6 Plus is the Best performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever tested. It delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance. The iPhone 6 Plus is only the second Smartphone display (LCD or OLED) to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except for Brightness variation with Viewing Angle, which is the case for all LCDs) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The iPhone 6 Plus has raised the bar for top LCD display performance up by a notch. In particular, the iPhone 6 Plus display sets new records among LCD displays for peak brightness, low reflectance, and several measures of contrast and accuracy. DisplayMate finds the iPhone 6 display to have many of the same strong areas of performance as in the iPhone 6 Plus, but the lower resolution and pixel density hold the smaller model back somewhat. Most rescaled images look noticeably better on the iPhone 6 Plus with 2.1 Mega Pixels compared to just 1.0 Mega Pixels on the iPhone 6. In addition, even at the native display resolution, fine text and graphics look better on the iPhone 6 Plus if you look carefully and closely at the screen (because you may want to or need to). The display on the iPhone 6 is none-the-less still a Very Good display, and most buyers will be happy with its performance, but it's somewhat disappointing that Apple went for satisfactory as opposed to the best. DisplayMate's report includes a variety of charts and tables comparing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to the iPhone 5/5s that are worth a look, as well as some discussion of how LCDs such as those found in the latest iPhones compares with OLEDs favored by Samsung. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download • iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Out-Of-Warranty Repairs Cost Up to $299/$329 • Buyer's Guide: List of Cases for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus • Apple Utilizing Own Content Delivery Network to Help Deliver iOS 8 Update • Health Record Providers Cerner and Athenahealth Developing HealthKit Apps • Apple Engineers in 'War Room' Tracking Down iOS 8 Issues on Social Media • Apple Watch Likely Uses BCM4334 Broadcom Wi-Fi Chip • Apple Receives One Out of Two Licenses Needed to Begin iPhone 6 Sales in China

Apple's Ultra-Slim 12-Inch Notebook Rumored to Gain USB Type C and Fanless Internals Posted: 22 Sep 2014 08:06 AM PDT Following a previous report claiming Apple's much-rumored 12" ultra-slim notebook is planned to arrive in silver, gold, and space gray color options, Jack March has issued a follow-up report sharing additional details on the machine. According to March's report, which MacRumors believes to be based on legitimate information, the new notebook has a much thinner design the appears to sacrifice many of the usual ports seen on Apple's current notebooks and may adopt the new reversible USB Type C connector that has seen its specifications recently finalized. A source familiar with Apple's plans describes the 12 inch Macbook Air as having a noticeably thinner design, the source wouldn't give dimensions however noted that the thinner design may sacrifice the standard USB port and Apple will move to the reversible USB Type C with this product, It is assumed Apple will include an adapter in the box for backwards compatibility. Interestingly, the report raises some questions about charging on the notebook, indicating that the usual MagSafe port has been removed in favor of a new, unspecified charging method. In line with previous rumors, the machine is reportedly fanless, suggesting it will adopt an ultra low-power processor such as the Broadwell-Y Core M processors recently announced by Intel. The body of the new notebook is also said to be narrower than the current MacBook Air, with narrower display bezels and a keyboard stretching right to the edges of the machine. Finally, the speakers are said to be located above the keyboard with visible grilles, unlike the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro that have their speakers located underneath the keyboard. Apple's 12-inch notebook has been rumored for some time, with the launch perhaps being pushed back due to multiple delays for Intel's Broadwell chips. March's previous report indicated Apple appears to be currently looking toward a mid-2015 launch. (Image: Chassis of current MacBook Air) Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download • iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Out-Of-Warranty Repairs Cost Up to $299/$329 • Buyer's Guide: List of Cases for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus • Apple Utilizing Own Content Delivery Network to Help Deliver iOS 8 Update • Health Record Providers Cerner and Athenahealth Developing HealthKit Apps • Apple Engineers in 'War Room' Tracking Down iOS 8 Issues on Social Media • Apple Watch Likely Uses BCM4334 Broadcom Wi-Fi Chip • Apple Receives One Out of Two Licenses Needed to Begin iPhone 6 Sales in China

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Top Most Benchmarks and Battery Tests, While 6 Plus Lags in Graphics Posted: 22 Sep 2014 07:01 AM PDT AnandTech spent the weekend benchmarking the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, comparing the duo to the iPhone 5s and competing Android handsets. The test results show that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models are at the top of the charts in CPU benchmarks and battery life, while the iPhone 6 Plus lags in graphics performance due to the larger screen. In in GPU benchmarks, we generally see a pretty solid lead over the competition for the iPhone 6/A8. It's seems quite clear that there is a significant impact to GPU performance in the iPhone 6 Plus due to the 2208x1242 resolution that all content is rendered at. It seems that this is necessary though, as the rendering system for iOS cannot easily adapt to arbitrary resolutions and display sizes. AnandTech also examined battery life, noting that "Apple has managed to do something quite incredible with battery life. " Even with a smaller 1810 mAh battery, the iPhone 6 manages to beat out the iPhone 5s and most other Android phones on the market. Not surprisingly with its 2910 mAH battery, the iPhone 6 Plus grabs second place behind the Huawei Ascend Mate 2. Apple introduced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during its recent September press event and launched the phones on September 19. The two handsets include Apple's new A8 processor, M8 motion co-processor, 8-megapixel iSight camera, faster 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi and NFC. Demand for the two phones was high with Apple selling 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units in the first weekend of sales. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download • iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Out-Of-Warranty Repairs Cost Up to $299/$329 • Buyer's Guide: List of Cases for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus • Apple Utilizing Own Content Delivery Network to Help Deliver iOS 8 Update • Health Record Providers Cerner and Athenahealth Developing HealthKit Apps • Apple Engineers in 'War Room' Tracking Down iOS 8 Issues on Social Media • Apple Watch Likely Uses BCM4334 Broadcom Wi-Fi Chip • Apple Receives One Out of Two Licenses Needed to Begin iPhone 6 Sales in China

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Sales Top Ten Million in Launch Weekend Posted: 22 Sep 2014 05:34 AM PDT Apple today announced that opening weekend sales of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus topped ten million units, breaking the previous record of nine million units set by the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c last year. "Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We would like to thank all of our customers for making this our best launch ever, shattering all previous sell-through records by a large margin. As with previous years, the company also claims that demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has been very high, as more orders will be fulfilled over the coming weeks. Apple announced last Monday that it processed four million first-day pre-orders on September 12. Currently, shipping estimates for new iPhone 6 orders remains at 7-10 business days, while the iPhone 6 Plus is still showing a shipping delay of 3-4 weeks. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will also be available in 20 more countries including Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and more on September 26. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Instapaper Updated for iOS 8 With Enhanced Saving Features, Now Free to Download • iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Out-Of-Warranty Repairs Cost Up to $299/$329 • Buyer's Guide: List of Cases for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus • Apple Utilizing Own Content Delivery Network to Help Deliver iOS 8 Update • Health Record Providers Cerner and Athenahealth Developing HealthKit Apps • Apple Engineers in 'War Room' Tracking Down iOS 8 Issues on Social Media • Apple Watch Likely Uses BCM4334 Broadcom Wi-Fi Chip • Apple Receives One Out of Two Licenses Needed to Begin iPhone 6 Sales in China