Dieter Bohn What's next after the iPhone 11? A lot, actually!

You’re probably iPhone-d out, so before we get to some of the stories that try to make sense of Apple’s giant event, let’s start with something smaller. Literally smaller: it’s our Sega Genesis Mini review, which Andrew Webster calls the best tiny console yet.

I think the thing looks great, so I hope it sells to people who weren’t even born when it came out. I’d love to see it appeal to more than just the nostalgia market.

Nostalgia is a funny thing, especially when it comes to gadgets. True story: growing up, my friends and I formed a cabal to trick our parents, with each of us asking for a different game console to ensure we had total coverage. I was the Nintendo kid, not the Sega one. So this thing makes me nostalgic not just for the games, but for sleepovers at my Sega friend’s house, too.

That’s how nostalgia works — it ties one memory to another, making both more resonant. It’s stuff like this that really makes be bristle when people are dismissive of gadgets. You can’t know what will end up being important to another person. Speaking of gaming that some people might not understand, I’m just going to say that Weird Nintendo Is Best Nintendo.

Okay, on to the Apple news, but I promise there’s non-Apple stuff after that. Sorry the newsletter is so late today, but’s good to be back in your inboxes - thanks for having me. :)

- Dieter

+ Apple’s iPhone 11 doesn’t have 5G because 5G isn’t ready for the iPhone

I am still on team “Buying a 5G phone is dumb.” Yes, I understand that people keep phones for three and four and even five years now, but even at five years out, I am not optimistic that a 5G phone is going to be a must-have. And if I am wrong about that, I won’t be wrong that first and second-gen 5G modems will be hilariously bad compared to what will be available that far in the future.

+ This is a very good question: Where’s the Apple Arcade, Music, and TV Plus bundle?

+ With the iPhone 11 Pro, what does it even mean for a phone to be ‘pro’?

My take: I am absolutely done reading into the names of Apple products. What made the 12-inch just MacBook deserve that name? Why was this year’s iPad Air an Air? Phil Schiller basically admitted that the “R” in iPhone XR was there because it sounded like a cool sports car thing. Why is the iPhone 11 Pro a “Pro?” The answer is that the meaning of words is as much about feel as it is denoting specific things. Right now, “Pro” feels good to Apple.

+ Reports Conflict on iPhone 11 Pro Models Having 4GB or 6GB of RAM - MacRumors

I’m of two minds on this, but mostly I fall on the “this is a dumb thing for Apple to keep secret” side of the spectrum. RAM works differently on iOS than it does on Android — Apple is much more efficient at utilizing it. That means that focusing on it as a spec is a little disingenuous, especially compared to Android. I don’t love that Apple doesn’t publicize it, but I can’t get worked up into anger over it because Apple doesn’t have a history of RAM problems in iPhones. It gets a little bit of benefit of the doubt — something Google doesn’t get with the Pixel line after all its camera issues. But at least Apple will say how much storage there is in the new Apple Watch, so that’s something.

+ Microsoft’s Surface event to include new Windows experiences and hardware

It really does look like Microsoft is going big this year. I am looking forward to all the direct shots taken at the MacBook keyboard situation, but I’m also looking forward to these new products. USB-C all the things, Microsoft, or we riot.

+ Amazon announces hardware event on September 25th

I still wake up in cold sweats thinking about how Amazon announced 70 things last year at this event in less than three hours. I can’t even imagine what it has in store this year.

+ Leak reveals how the Pixel 4’s new face unlock setup differs from Face ID

The focus is on Face Unlock, but I’m more interested in the theming we saw here. It seems a lot more elegant than Samsung’s theme options, the vast majority of which feel like they were designed by 11-year-olds who just discovered Tron and Manga and think they should be combined. Anyway, I feel like the only thing that’s left is to pixel-peep sample photos from the Pixel 4 — oh wait.