iOS 12 foreshadows five future trends for iPhone and iPad worth paying attention to

Apple's iOS 12 operating system has now been launched for public testing. If you are interested in it or are willing to take certain risks, or if you have a spare iOS device, you can experience the iOS 12 operating system a few months in advance as long as it is within the update support range. I believe that users who have previously experienced the iOS 12 developer beta version or have just upgraded to the public beta version in the past few days have already experienced the new functions and features mentioned by Apple at the press conference.

In fact, every time Apple releases a new system update, we can learn something about the future direction of iOS devices or other Apple hardware. This does not require digging deep into the system code, nor is it leaked by Apple engineers. Instead, we can speculate from changes in features or some settings. For example, the following 5 predictions are based on iOS 12.

More devices have built-in TrueDepth camera modules

One of the most important new features of iOS 12 is Memoji, which allows users to create a new animated expression according to their personality and mood. With the new tool Memoji Maker, users can select and adjust countless customization options to create their own Memoji, which can then be used in Messages app or FaceTime calls.

It should be noted that this is currently an exclusive feature of iPhone X, but since Apple has set Memoji as one of the core features of iOS 12, it means that Apple will expand the range of devices that Memoji is applicable to. Therefore, there will inevitably be more iOS devices equipped with the original depth camera module, including the rumored three new iPhones and new iPad Pro in 2018, so that these devices can use the Memoji animated expression customization function.

Of course, in addition to iOS devices, the TrueDepth camera module may even appear on the Mac platform in the future. Face ID is a biometric authentication technology that Apple believes is more secure than Touch ID, so in addition to Memoji, in theory Apple will also expand Face ID to all devices. If nothing unexpected happens, all new devices released by Apple next year will be equipped with the TrueDepth camera module by default.

iPad's bezels could get narrower and smaller

In the past, iPad and iPhone always had many similarities in design language or visuals, but the appearance of iPhone X changed this. This iPhone, which Apple built for its 10th anniversary, has no HOME button and a super narrow frame. It’s just that the “bangs” made many people complain. At this stage, Apple had to do this in order to fit in the TrueDepth camera module. Now iOS 12 tells us that the new iPad may also continue the design language of iPhone X.

iOS 12 has made some interface adjustments specifically for iPad. First, the time and date on the status bar have been moved to the upper left corner of the screen, while the upper right corner shows the current Wi-Fi/LTE connection, Bluetooth status, and battery level. In addition, the Control Center is now opened by swiping down from the upper right corner of the screen instead of swiping up from the bottom. Not only are these two points similar to the iPhone X, but the iPad also incorporates the same gestures, such as swiping up from the bottom of the Dock to return to the home screen.

Based on this information, Apple is likely paving the way for a redesigned iPad Pro with a notch screen. Therefore, the new generation of iPad Pro that Apple is preparing is very likely to adopt a notch screen design to fit the TrueDepth camera module and remove the HOME button.

Apple may be developing AR devices (glasses?)

iOS 12 has a new built-in AR augmented reality app similar to a rangefinder: Measure. Just use the iPhone and iPad to point the camera at objects in the real world, especially rectangular planes, and draw lines on the plane design to measure the length, width and height data. This app is built based on ARKit 2, but it is still not natural enough to use on iPhone and iPad. If it can be equipped with a pair of AR glasses, the experience will be very different. Therefore, Apple may be designing AR glasses or similar AR devices.

As far as the current mobile AR augmented reality experience is concerned, Apple not only does the best and smoothest, but the ecological advantages of related AR are already obvious. AR enhancement is the core update of iOS 12. Apple has added continuous multi-user experience, 3D object recognition, face tracking, scene reflection and other features. For this purpose, the USDZ file format has also been derived, allowing various apps to quickly view AR augmented reality scenes.

In other words, since Apple has stated that it wants to create a more immersive AR experience, with no boundaries between the virtual and real worlds, but rather a real feeling, and permeate into all aspects of work, study, and play, I believe that iPhone and iPad supporting AR is just the beginning, and AR peripherals or all-in-one devices may already be in the works.

iOS's Dark Mode Has Great Hopes

The long-rumored "Dark mode" has finally appeared in macOS Mojave, officially named "Dark Mode". Currently, users who are testing the new macOS system can choose the original bright appearance or the newly launched dark mode, which is a new appearance that allows you to focus more on your work. In this appearance, the toolbar and menu will be hidden in the dark background, and the subtle colors and important content in the work project will be more prominent, making it easy for you to stay focused.

Apple said at WWDC that the dark mode of macOS Mojave is applicable to all built-in Mac apps (Mail, Messages, Maps, Calendar, Photos, etc.), and is also compatible with third-party apps. Developers can use the provided API to add dark mode to their own apps. The key is that Apple also said that macOS will be able to run iOS apps in the future. In addition to the already implemented Stocks app, the Home app and Voice Memos app have also landed on the new version of macOS, and more iOS apps will appear on Mac in the future.

This means that since iOS apps will be adapted to macOS and become universal apps in the future, they will naturally support dark mode. So will such apps on the iOS platform also have dark mode? Should iOS also add the function of turning dark mode on and off? All this makes people feel that Apple is testing the addition of dark mode to iOS, and I believe that iOS will also support dark mode at an appropriate time in the future.

iOS devices may last longer than before

"The xx update fixes the iPhone's overly smooth bug" is a mockery that users used to make about Apple's unintentional elimination of old devices. However, this time, Apple directly made the overall optimization and improvement of the system an important and top priority for iOS 12, and put it on the table. Apple claims that under iOS 12, devices will be faster, more sensitive, and have smoother animations. Various daily operations, such as opening the camera app and typing text on the keyboard, are faster than before. In addition, the performance improvement will be more significant when processing multiple tasks on the device at the same time.

At present, many users who have installed the iOS 12 public beta or developer beta in advance have probably experienced the performance improvements claimed by Apple, especially those using older devices, because the model tested by Apple is the iPhone 6s Plus, and the comparison is between iOS 11.4 and iOS 12 preview. Apple expects that the official version will have more obvious improvements, and believes that this is a long-term core task, and if one version is not good enough, another one will be released.

Therefore, Apple's iOS 12 update has improved the performance of old devices again, and the range of compatible models has not been reduced, indicating that the life of old models may become longer in the future. At least the old models that are three years old with the new flagship will not be retired. So even if users change to new phones, old devices will still be the best choice for backup phones, or they can be passed on to friends and relatives. However, making old devices last longer is also very beneficial for Apple to occupy emerging markets through old devices.