0:00 What's up, guys? My name is Brandon and welcome back to Apple Weekly. In this episode, we're going to be discussing even more new changes in iOS 18.5. We're going to talk about the AI future for Safari, a big change coming to Apple's iPhone launch strategy, new iPhone 17 Air details that make me kind of concerned for the Air, a crazy Air Tag story, and more. And before we get into it, make sure to check out the Apple Den newsletter, and also the Apple Denis Discord server. Both of those are linked down in the description below. Okay, so this week we did see the RC build of iOS 18.5 get released. So that means that we are expecting the final public release of iOS 18.5 to come out next week. Now with the RC build, we did get the release notes as we usually do and those also always give us an insight as to
0:45 some other features that maybe we didn't know were there throughout the whole time on the beta and that's exactly what we saw with the RC build. So, if we go and check out the uh notes here, so you can see that the one thing I I thought was pretty interesting is the fact that you now get a notification when screen time passcodes are used on a child's device. So, if you have children set up on your account, if you're trying to monitor their screen time, if they somehow guess the password or see you putting it in, now you'll get notified when your child actually inputs that screen time passcode to potentially bypass certain app limits. So, that's a nice addition there for screen time. But really, the big change in iOS 18.5 that we didn't really know about beforehand is the fact that the iPhone 13 models now get support for carrier provided satellite features. So, if you recall
1:32 with the iPhone 14 series, Apple linked up with Global Star to put in the satellite technology for emergency SOS and things like that into those phones. But, of course, the iPhone 13 came before that, so it didn't have the hardware needed for satellite connectivity for emergency SOS. But now, thanks to Starlink and other satellite providers, you will have access to, you know, cellular or you will have access to satellite connectivity when you don't have signal. So, here in the US, that's only on T-Mobile for the time being with Starlink. And the cool thing about this satellite connectivity from Starlink is that you don't need any additional hardware. And the reason for that is because the satellites like Starlink satellite connectivity is basically acting like a cell tower. So, that is awesome to have. But the drawback is that you don't have, you know, softwarebaked features that rely on the
2:18 hardware like emergency SOS via satellite and things like that. So even if you do have these satellite features on the iPhone 13, you're not going to be able to access emergency SOS via satellite or via text. You're just going to have satellite connectivity basically when you don't have any regular cell service from like 5G or LTE. But nonetheless, that was a great addition to see here in iOS 18.5. And I'll discuss a little bit more. or I'll go a little bit more in detail with my 18.5 what's new video that's coming out early next week when the software drops. Also, what do you guys think about the new Pride wallpapers that were included with iOS 18.5 RC along with the watch face? I actually think the watch face is really cool. So, I was using this on my Apple Watch Ultra here. And I really think the animation is cool with the Pride watch face here. But what do you think about
3:04 the wallpaper on the iPhone? I think it's pretty cool. It's not my favorite thing ever, but at least we do have a new wallpaper and a nice new animation for always on display and also when you kind of transition from lock screen to home screen. Now, also this week, if you are an Apple card holder like I am, if you use the Apple Card, there's a new promotion where you get six months free of Uber 1. And if you're not familiar with Uber 1, it's basically Uber Eats premium. So, you get $0 delivery fees for Uber Eats orders. You get up to 10% off eligible deliveries and pickups and 6% Uber 1 credits for Uber rides. So, this is a $10 a month subscription normally. So, basically, you're getting $60 worth of value for free just by being an Apple Card holder. So, that's pretty cool. I will have additional details down in the description below if you want to access that, but you should
3:49 have received an email about this. And then also this week, we saw a brand new playlist get added to Apple Music called Viral Chart. So, this is from Shazam, and this is really cool. This is actually I don't know why it took him so long to think of this but essentially viral chart updates every 24 hours so every day based on the amount of people who Shazam a song. So this is really a good way to get a kind of a tap on the market to see what real people are seeing as you know popular hits. So basically this playlist updates every 24 hours based on the amount of times that a person Shazams a song throughout the world. So you're going to see all types of songs from different countries and you can see so number one right now is Shake It to the Max Fly. that is apparently right now the most shazammed song in the past 24 hours. Okay, so now let's talk about the big news this week
4:36 about AI search and Safari because this was a big deal. So this week we saw Apple's SVP of services Eddie Q. He basically said that Apple is actively looking at revamping Safari to focus on AI powered search engines. And this comes after Safari saw its first ever decline in search volume. And Eddie Q basically credited that to people using AI for research instead of Google. He also said the AI search providers like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic will eventually replace standard search engines like Google. And he said that Apple could bring those options to Safari in the future. And of course, after this news, the Google stock tanked because, as you guys are most likely aware, Google does pay Apple about $20 billion a year to be the default search
5:23 engine on Safari, on the iPhone, the iPad, the Mac. Now, I don't see that changing anytime soon. I think that they will continue to stay the default, but this kind of shows that later down the road, they may not be the default for much longer. And honestly, the reality is Google probably doesn't even need to pay Apple to be the default search engine. And if they gave people the option, I think most people would choose Google even if they were not paying Apple. So, it'll be interesting to see what happens in the future. I will say I would really like to see chat GPT or Anthropic or maybe Google AI something built into Safari so that when you go to the address bar and you start typing something in, you know, it it just basically performs like chat GPT or, you know, Anthropic or something like that and gives you more than just a web page full of results. Because me personally,
6:09 I cannot tell you the last time I went to Google to research for a topic or ask a question. I use chat GPT several dozens of times a day instead of Google. And I think that the numbers prove that that is an ongoing trend that's only going to become more popular with time. And really the way I see this working is if you go into your settings and go to apps and then into Safari and go to default search engine right here, this will probably have additional options in the future, most likely with iOS 19 honestly. And down here it may say something like AI options with Anthropic, you know, with Google, with OpenAI and Chat GPT. There's going to be something like that in here where you can change what that default search engine is. But again, I don't think it's going to go away from being Google, at least for the time being. So remember the big news from last week where Epic Games essentially won their big lawsuit
6:54 with Apple. Well, it seems like Apple has already filed an appeal for this. So in the appeal, Apple says that they want to delay two key points. Number one, they want to appeal the ban on charging commissions for purchases made through links to external payment methods. Of course, we knew that one was coming. And then also, they're appealing the ban on setting conditions for the style, placement, or language of those links in iOS apps. And Apple is basically arguing that these rules go far beyond the original 2021 injunction. Now, with that being said, on Friday, just yesterday, we saw that Fortnite tweeted out, "We've submitted Fortnite to Apple for review so we can launch on the App Store in the US." So, that would be a big deal if you are somebody into gaming and into Fortnite. But, I think it's a bigger
7:40 deal just for the overall market effect that this will have in the future moving forward. So, we'll have to wait and see if this actually gets delayed, if Apple wins this appeal, and kind of just what happens from here. But, it's going to be interesting to follow. So, it looks like Epic Games kind of has this in the bag at this point, but of course, it's Apple, you know, the the richest company in the world, so it's hard to say really where we go from here. Also, this week, we saw the Google Gemini application get officially updated with an iPad version, which I found pretty interesting. So, you can see it says Gemini now has a full screen optimized iPad app. It can also now be added as a home screen widget. And of course, there are some other changes there as well. So, interesting to see that we got an update for the iPad. I definitely think that with iOS 19, we are going to get Google Gemini integration like built in to iOS.
8:26 Anyways, let's finish up talking about iOS 18.5 here because I do want to talk about a few things. Uh, so first off, the performance has been excellent for iOS 18.5 RC kind of just as I expected. You can expect the battery life and the performance to see an improvement versus the betas because we don't have as much logging and analytics going on, you know, looking for bugs and things like that. So, the RC build has had consistently better performance and battery life than any of the betas in the past. It's not a major difference. I don't want to make it seem like it's some grand difference. It's really not. It is very stable. It is definitely more stable than 18.4 and 4.1, which is great news, but it's not going to be a huge difference from the previous betas. But, if you have been using them throughout the beta cycle, you will notice that difference. I think battery life is more noticeable than the uh performance. So,
9:13 that is always a good sign. I've seen a lot of comments as well basically saying that their battery drain issues have been solved, especially for older devices that may have had some issues with that. Now, as far as the final public release for iOS 18.5, I would expect that to come on Monday, May 12th. So, of course, Apple does typically release these iOS software updates, the public releases on Monday, but Apple can be unpredictable sometimes. So, we could see it really anytime next week, but my guess would be in the first half of the week and again, most likely on the 12th. And then after we see iOS 18.5 and all the other software roll out, we should see the first beta of iOS 18.6 either that week or the following week. And we are expected to see some type of AI features in there. Most likely just going to be, you know, language roll out maybe in China and things like that. I
9:59 don't expect 18.6 to be a major update by any means, but we might see more than we typically see with a point6 update because of Apple intelligence and potentially again rolling out to other countries. Okay, so now let's move on to some more Apple news. So, let's start with the iPhone 17 Air because it might actually be bringing an old accessory back because of the potential for bad battery life on the Air. I know it's skinny, but we thought it might have decent battery life, but apparently that might not be the case. And the reason I say that is because Wayne Ma from the information said that the iPhone 17 Air will have reduced battery life compared to other models due to that thinner design. He said that the percentage of users who can go a single day without recharging the thin phone will be between 60 and 70%. For other models, that metric is between 80 and 90%. And
10:46 he said to solve this, Apple is developing an optional accessory, a phone case meant for the thin model that also contains a battery pack. So, yes, the iPhone battery case might be making a return because of the slim iPhone 17 Air. Now, to me, I think this is completely stupid. I mean, you're buying a thin iPhone to have a thin iPhone. Why would you put a thick case? I would imagine. Maybe it's not. I could be wrong here, but I'm just imagining a thicker than average case that's also going to be heavier than average on a thin iPhone, you know, just to get better battery life. At that point, why don't you just get, you know, the Pro Max at that point? Or why don't you just get the standard model and just deal with the smaller screen but better battery life? I don't know. I could be off here, but I just don't think that
11:31 this is a great solution for the 17 Air. I mean, why not just drop like a MagSafe charger that you could just plop on the back, you know, and just charge it that way. I don't think that a case is the solution here. But maybe I'm wrong, you know? This is just my opinion. You guys let me know in a comment down below if you think that you would actually buy a 17 Air, the thin device, and then put a thick case on it to make it thicker than the Pro Max. Let me know your thoughts. So, here's an interesting one. So, for the past several years, for many, many years, we've had the same iPhone launched strategy. We get the iPhone 16, a bigger model of the iPhone 16 or thinner this year, and then you get the Pro and the Pro Max. You get all those in September, and then sometimes in the spring, you'd get like a SE model or a new color for the iPhone. That's been the case for a very long time now, but that might be changing come next year.
12:17 And this is because we're now hearing that Apple is planning to split its flagship iPhone lineup between two separate launch windows annually. So Mingchi Quo says that the iPhone 18 Pro models and a brand new foldable iPhone will launch in the second half of next year in 2026 followed by the standard iPhone 18 and an updated iPhone 18e. and he says that this shift is driven by rising competition especially in China because most rivals launched their flagship phones in the first half of the year. So Apple is closing that marketing gap and also splitting these launches avoids crowding the spotlight making sure that the budget models are not overshadowed by the pro models. And then interestingly, if you look at the
13:03 timeline for the second half of 2027, it looks like we're going to see an iPhone foldable 2, which has already been kicked off, an iPhone 19 Pro Max, 19 Pro, and the 19 slim with a larger display versus the 18 slim. And what's interesting to note here is that this is not just Mingchi Quo saying this. We also heard this from a recent report from the information who said that Apple plans to debut the Pro and Pro Max, the Air and a new foldable device in the fall of 2026. So, two reports from two pretty credible sources. It seems like we are finally going to have a shift in the way that Apple rolls out their iPhone products. And for me personally, I think this is a great move on Apple's part. I mean, especially since we're going to have a sixth model thrown in
13:49 the mix with the foldable. It's just going to be way too confusing and way too overwhelming if Apple just launches six products at one time. Like, imagine the Apple store and people that are just average consumers trying to figure out which one to buy. So, I think it makes a lot of sense with this shift. What do you guys think? Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think it's a bad idea? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Now, also this week, we heard from Mark German at Bloomberg that Apple is designing chips for smart glasses that will rival the Meta Ray-B bands. So, he says the chip is in development right now, and Apple is targeting mass production in 2026 or 2027 for a launch in the next 2 years or so. So, this will be amazing news. So, we're going to have a chip dedicated strictly for these smart glasses. Now, keep in mind, these are not going to be augmented glasses. These are not going to be AR glasses
14:35 like we've seen from XRE and people like that. These are going to be more so like the Meta Ray-B bands where we can record video, take photos from them. Maybe there will be something in the lens. I'm not too sure. But we're hearing that's not going to be anything like, you know, AR glasses. That's going to come in the future. But for me personally, I don't need anything except for just a clone of the Meta Ray-B bands, just maybe with Apple and better integrated with Apple's system where you don't need a third party application and it has better battery life. So that to me would be amazing. And if you've used the Meta Ray bands, you probably know how amazing those are. So, if Apple can just basically clone that, like I said, but just have deeper integration with your iPhone, I think that would sell pretty well. And then finally, just as tradition, we have another crazy Air Tag story. So, this time, a woman in Evansville, Indiana was out eating at Texas Roadhouse when she looked outside
15:22 and saw a suspicious woman walking around her car. So, she noted that, but she didn't think much of it. So, she got in her car, left the restaurant, but she quickly received the unknown Air Tag detected alert on her iPhone. So, she put two and two together and called police. But apparently, the police did not take it seriously since she didn't have a person show up at her house or anything like that until the next day when she did. Because that next day, the woman called 911 again and said that a man that she didn't know showed up at her home and removed a black magnetic box containing the Air Tag from her vehicle. Police said that they were able to see security camera footage from the incident which led to a 50-year-old man getting identified as a suspect. But if you remember at the restaurant, the woman recalled seeing a woman walking
16:08 around her car suspiciously, not a man. Well, authorities say that the suspicious woman outside the victim's vehicle at Texas Roadhouse was actually another victim who had a protective order against the man. That's right. So, this other lady was being tracked by this 50-year-old stalker. So, in order to throw him off her trail, she stopped at a Texas roadhouse and stuck that black magnetic box to another random vehicle. So, once the police were able to put that puzzle together, they got a search warrant for the 50-year-old stalker's home where they found a gun, some meth, psychedelic mushrooms, and of course, an Apple Air Tag. And while he was being questioned at the jail, he admitted to everything. So, he was charged with two counts of unlawful surveillance and tracking, stalking, and drug possession. And since he had a prior drugdeing conviction, he was also
16:55 charged with possessing a firearm as a felon. So, of course, he's going to do time in jail all thanks to not the Air Tag, because the Air Tag is how he was able to stock in the first place, but thanks to the unknown Air Tag alert on the Find My application on your iPhone. That's the real MVP here. So, again, as I always tell you guys, just pay attention to your surroundings and pay attention when you get that unknown Air Tag alert on your iPhone. It is very important. It could quite literally be your livelihood. Anyways guys, that's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, give it a thumbs up. Also, leave a comment down below with any of your thoughts and if you're looking forward to iOS 18.5 next week. And of course, we are just very close to iOS 19. We're like a month away from that. And I also I also want to shout out everybody last week who who left really thoughtful and really amazing comments about me. I I made a quick comment. I
17:40 did not expect so many people to see that, but I made a quick comment about my mental health just not being the best recently, and I got a lot of positive comments from you guys, and it actually really helped. So if you message me, some people have even messaged me on social media. I just really appreciate that guys. Thank you. It means more than you know. I read everything like for decades on YouTube here. I've read everything or a decade and change, you know what I mean? But I just want to thank you guys for that. So thank you. My mental health is actually getting better and maybe that's a cause. I don't know. But it has definitely improved since then a little bit. So with iOS 19, hopefully that'll bring everything back up. But anyways, I'm rambling here. Thank you guys for watching. I just feel like this is my platform to ramble on these Apple Weekly episodes. Thank you guys once again and I will see you next
