Apple wants to prevent software breakdowns in new iPhones: A new special device will soon enable company employees to update iPhones to the latest software version before they are sold in the store, without having to open the package and remove the devices.
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Apple has developed a “proprietary pad-like device” onto which the iPhone packages can be easily placed, reports Mark Gurman in a Bloomberg newsletter. The system is able to wirelessly wake up the switched off iPhone, switch it on, update the operating system and then shut down the smartphone again. The new device is expected to be used in the manufacturer’s first stores before the end of the year.
Security details are still pending
There are no further specific details about how the pad works. Accordingly, it remains unclear exactly how this works – and what protective measures Apple has provided against misuse and manipulation of iPhones with the new update tool. It also remains unclear how long this remote update will take and when employees should carry out this in the future.
Apple has apparently already developed a special wireless dock intended only for use by employees to maintain the Apple Watch. It operates in the 60.5 GHz band, as documents submitted to the US telecommunications regulator FCC around the launch of the Apple Watch Series 7 showed. Apple now also allows end customers to restore their Watch using an iPhone if they have certain problems.
Software glitch when the iPhone 15 went on sale
The recent launch of the iPhone 15 showed how important it can be to update the iPhone software before it goes on sale: the devices were delivered from the factory with iOS 17.0. A bug could prevent the data from being transferred from the old iPhone to the new iPhone; the iPhone 15 could then get stuck when booting. Apple had already delivered a bug fix with iOS 17.0.1 just in time for the start of sales and the setup assistant also asked whether the update should be updated straight away – but in some cases this failed or was skipped by the user.
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