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Apple Loop: iPhone 6S On Sale September 18th, With Stronger Chassis, Performance Beats Galaxy S6

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Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes the release date of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Apple's changes to stop the iPhone 6S bending, user anger at iOS 8.4.1, iPhone 6S benchmarking numbers beating the Galaxy S6, thoughts on the evolution of Apple TV, Apple Music subscriber predictions, the changes to Apple Store layouts, Apple's Australian bond issue, and the Apple Watch running iOS 4.1.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read our weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).

A Strong iPhone Is Going To Cost You

Following on from the leak of the new iPhone 6S chassis, parts from the supply chain have been tested to destruction on video to find out how strong the new design might be. It's good news for those wanting a robust phone, but your wallet might not agree:

It comes from Unbox Therapy, originators of the iPhone 6 ‘Bendgate’ stories, and founder Lewis Hilsenteger has managed to attain an iPhone 6S chassis from famed Apple leaker Sonny Dickson. What has Hilsenteger learnt? The new iPhones will be very strong and potentially very expensive.

In a two stage test, Hilsenteger has worked with Elemental Controls to identify the material of the new iPhone chassis and with phone skin maker dbrand to scientifically stress test them. I had been speaking extensively with Hilsenteger and Dickson prior to the video’s release and here’s what we learn…

What material does the iPhone 6S chassis use, how strong is it, and what impact will it have on the cost of your new iPhone?

iPhone 6S chassis withstands up to 80lbs of pressure (Image credit Unbox Therapy, via Gordon Kelly)

iPhone 6S Release Date Is Closer Than You Might Have Thought

The release date of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus is earlier than previously thought. While early information pointed to September 25th for the handset to go on sale, recent leaks from networks in Germany, the UK, and Japan point to an earlier date. Forbes' Gordon Kelly investigates:

Following a leaked internal memo from Vodafone last month, prominent Japanese site ITHome and German tech experts Macerkopf have both discovered that the new iPhones 6Ses will launch in their respective countries on September 18th. This ties perfectly with the Vodafone internal memo for the UK, which also carried a September 18th launch date.

Japan, Germany and the UK are all tier one Apple launch countries with iPhones traditionally being made available to them at the same time as the US release.

The nine-day window between launch and retail sale closely matches the timetable used in previous iTunes launches (2014 saw the reveal on Sept 9th, going on sale on Sept 19th). If the same timetable is being used, pre-orders are likely to open on Friday 11th of September, which should help Apple predict local demand.

Anger At Cynical iOS 8.4.1 Update

The latest release of iOS 8.4.1 addressed a number of issues around Apple Music, and while Apple has been quick to try to fix the issues around the streaming subscription service, other long-standing issues remain unresolved to the chagrin of many users.

Frustratingly Apple has also still not fixed the infamous WiFried bug, which has plagued users since the release of iOS 8 in September 2014. Apple has acknowledged the issue since iOS 8.3, but a full fix (switching the troubled DiscoveryD process back to mDNSResponder used in previous iOS generations) will not take place until iOS 9 and the launch of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Similarly Apple has already confirmed the crippled Home Sharing implementation introduced in iOS 8.4 won’t be addressed until iOS 9.

Beyond Apple Music, does iOS 8.4.1 have any redeeming features? Not if you are jail breaking your iPhone, no...

(Next: Apple's benchmarks, dreams of TV, and the mystery of Apple Music's subscriber numbers...)

Apple Beats Samsung In Benchmarking Ahead Of Launch

Ahead of next month's new iPhones, some sites are spotting the iPhone 6S in their log files. GeekBench has snagged some data which arguably has been generated by Apple's new smartphone. The scores put the Apple devices against the Samsung Galaxy S6 family, and Apple is comfortably ahead:

You'd obviously expect the upcoming A9 chip in the iPhone 6S to perform better than the A8 in the iPhone 6, but a new Geekbench 3 benchmark suggests the jump could be as high as 20%-30%.

The benchmark, shared on Weibo and spotted by GforGames, shows the A9 chip achieving a single core score of 2090 and a multi-core score of 3569, up from the averages of 1611 and 2892 for single and multi-core respectively on the iPhone 6.

...Not only do the new processors beat out Apple's old ones by a significant margin though, they also top Samsung's flagship Exynos 7420 (used in the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+) for single-core scores, as that averages just 1486, though it scores an admirable 5048 in multi-core tests.

The benchmarks will be confirmed when the new handsets arrive, but the jump in performance certainly feels about right.

Will This Be The Year Of Apple TV?

Every time an Apple event comes around, thoughts turn to the Apple TV and if this is the time for the set-top box to pick up the oft-hoped for update. If this September is the time for an update, then it needs to be more than the hardware, argues Jeremy Horowitz. The software and the ecosystem needs a huge refresh and a bigger focus on apps and gaming:

Apple needs to fix that, and if it does, everyone can win. The next-generation Apple TV hardware may not have the ability to launch at a much higher price point — at least, for a basic model with limited storage capacity — but if Apple pushes the device as a way to play console-quality games at $10 to $20 prices, it could make up for the low hardware price with substantial software revenues. Even with average app selling prices in the $1 range, Apple’s 30% cut of App Store sales equaled around $4.5 Billion of the $15 Billion spent on games and apps last year. If it could create a premium software tier for Apple TV games, it could sell those games at prices that both consumers and developers would find a lot more attractive than their current console options. At the same time, Apple’s own App Store revenues would jump.

Is Apple (finally) ready to take on Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, in the gaming department?

How Many Users Will Apple Music Retain?

The three-month free trial period of Apple Music gives Cupertino a long time to emotionally engage with the service (such as having a user's playlists and favourite albums 'locked in' to the system), but the first paid renewals are not due to kick in unit late September. How many conversions will the service see is a key question.

MusicWatch ran a survey that suggests over six in ten users have turned off auto-renewal during the trial period. Interestingly, Apple has chosen to respond directly to this statement with its own numbers, stating that only one in five users have stopped engaging with Apple Music. Zac Hall for 9to5Mac:

MusicWatch’s survey results said that some 61 percent of its participants have turned off the auto-renew function on Apple Music, hinting that they would not be paying subscribers after the three-month free trial period. With the message being potentially interpreted that only 39 percent of current Apple Music users planning to become paid users this fall, Apple has responded to the survey by clarifying (somewhat) that a higher 79 percent of users that started the trial are continuing to use it, leaving only 21 percent of Apple’s 11 million subscribers as defectors.

Apple has changed the argument here from 'those who have turned off renewal' to 'those who have stopped using the service actively ' (where actively is using Apple Music at least once a week). It's possible that both numbers are correct. The real takeaway from this is that Apple has chosen to resound to try to maintain the momentum behind the subscription service. That suggests Apple Music is receiving a lot of attention, and Apple is not yet comfortable that the market understands the story it wants to tell.

(Next: Apple Store changes, Australian bonds, and iOS 4 running on the Apple Watch...)

All Those Apple Store Changes

Husain Sumra looks at the changes coming to an Apple Store near you, which should reduce confusion around product displays and demotes the iPod range to the accessory stands at the back of the store:

Now, customers will be able to simply walk up and pull their iPod of choice off of the store shelves. The demotion of the iPod from the main floor to the shelves is likely reflective of the iPod's decreased sales, as the device has become an increasingly minor business for Apple. The Cupertino company has also decreased the iPod's presence on its website, removing the iPod section from the website's top banner.

Additionally, Apple is removing the iPad 2-based Smart Signs intended to educate customers about Apple products. Sources tell 9to5Mac that some customers would get confused using the Smart Signs, expecting them to be fully usable iPad demo units rather than simple ways to learn about a product. Instead, Apple will begin loading product information directly on the iPads, iPhones and Macs starting next week. With less clutter on the product tables, Apple plans to install more devices for customers to test on the sales floor.

Australian Bond Issued By Apple

Apple has issued its first Australian bond, with reports valuing it at AU$1.2 billion ($883 million US). Apple Insider's Mikey Campbell looks at the bond offering, and what Apple could do with the income:

The publication notes price guidance of the fixed and floating rate four-year bonds is pegged at around 3 percent, while the seven-year bonds are being offered at 3.80 percent, or 0.7 percent and 1.15 percent over bank rates, respectively. Apple's Australian bond is managed by Goldman Sachs, Commonwealth Bank and Deutsche Bank.

...Apple is thought to be leveraging international debt to fund its domestic capital return program. The company is slated pass $200 billion back to shareholders by the end of March 2017, but is reluctant to repatriate overseas cash due to high U.S. tax rates. Of its $220 billion cash hoard, more than $190 billion is held by offshore subsidiaries.

And Finally...

Can the Apple Watch run iOS 4.1? An enterprising hacker has posted a video of just that. Michael Rundle reports for Wired on either a smart bit of hacking or a smart bit of PR and marketing with a video of the iOS 4.1 startup sequence.

The hack is pretty limited -- no apps are demonstrated opening in the short video and we have no idea how it was done, or what protections on the Watch needed to be bypassed to get it working. Wired is also unable to confirm this hack is what it appears to be -- it's possible that it's just some kind of simulator or an app designed to look like iOS 4.2.1, for some reason.

Still, as a school holidays project for an extremely talented young hacker, it's pretty impressive. The hack appeared soon after another custom project was revealed to put an original Watch face on the device, so seemingly the hacking community is breaking new ground in hacking the Apple Watch all the time.

Either way, congratulations to Billy Ellis - no matter how he did it he's achieved some form of notoriety.

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

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