Weekly digest - 2019.30 | by Michal Tynior

Marvel's Phase 4

During San Diego Comic Con, Marvel announced their plans for the next couple of years. The entire project is called Phased 4 and for the first time ever, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will be a combination of feature films and TV series. Here is the list of movies and TV shows we are gonna get:

Black Widow (Movie); May 1, 2020,
The Falcon and Winter Soldier (TV show); Fall 2020,
The Eternals (Movie); Nov. 6, 2020,
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Movie); Feb. 12, 2021,
WandaVision (TV show); Spring 2021,
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Movie); May 7, 2021,
Loki (TV show); Spring 2021,
What If...? (Animated show); Summer 2021,
Hawkeye (TV show); Fall 2021
Thor 4: Love and Thunder (Movie); Nov. 5, 2021;

Beside those movies and TV shows we are gonna get new Blade, and sequels: Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, Captain Marvel 2. Also a new movie, from old Fox IP, has been announced - Fantastic Four.

Netflix - The Witcher

Also during Comic Con, Netflix has released first teaser trailer to their upcoming TV series. My first impressions are very positive. It looks like, show runners are trying to recreate the dark and brutal world of the Witcher. Also main screenwriter has confirmed that TV series is solely based on the books, so game fans might be a little bit disappointed, but I like it. CD Project had their vision to Geralt's story, now its time to see a new one.

New iPhones

New rumors about upcoming iPhones surfaced. According to 9to5mac:

Apple is going to release 3 new iPhones, successors to XS, XS Max and XR models,
All models will still use Lightning connection instead of USB-C,
XS and XS Max will have OLED displays and XR will still have Liquid Retina display,
The resolution of the screens in all model will be unchanged,
New iPhones will have new Taptic Engine, known by the codename leap haptics, but it is unclear what changes it will bring,
XS and XS Max will have triple rear camera with ability to take wide-angle photos,
Front facing camera will gain support for slo-mo videos at 120fps.

It looks like, this year, new iPhones will receive only a cosmetic upgrade and there is nothing to wait for ☹️

16-inch MacBook Pro Pricing

According to supply chain sources cited, Apple is going to release new MacBook Air, 13-inch and 16-inch MacBooks Pro. We already heard those rumors, but what's new is the pricing of the 16-inch model. According to those sources, new machine will cost about $3000! Also, it looks like new notebook will not get OLED display. According to some sources it still will be using faulted Butterfly keyboard, where others say it will get a new keyboard.

Hearing those rumors make me wonder why would Apple even bother to create a brand new laptop with only one difference from current lineup - 1-inch bigger display. And yes, I know Apple could put more powerful CPU or GPU inside, but let be honest, current, maxed out 15-inch MacBook Pro is a beast. And without a brand new cooling solution, more powerful hardware is going to overheat. Maybe Apple is going to replace the 15-inch model with 16-inch keeping the form factor (dimensions) from 15-inch model and making the screen bezel-less to fit bigger display. I'm curious what Apple is going to do to justify the pricing and the existence of this model.

Apple acquired Intel's modem devision

This week, Apple announced that it has signed an agreement with Intel regarding purchasing the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business. Apple will take over not only the intellectual property and equipment but also over 2000 employees.The entire transaction is valued at $1 billion.

This is a smart move for Apple. Right now, Apple relies on Qualcomm and the relationship between those two companies recently have not been so good.

Interesting links

Image credits: Marvel Cinematic Universe