Apple will be able to update iPhones while they're still in the box, report claims

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 175 points – Apple will be able to update iPhones while they're still in the box, report claims
me.mashable.com

Apple will be able to update iPhones while they're still in the box, report claims::No more updating right after you unpack your iPhone.

37

They'll only update in the box. So you have to keep the box for the life of the phone and every so often put it back in so it'll update.

After a decade and a half of “just in case” box saving, I am ready. This is my moment.

But don't worry, if your box is lost or damaged they'll offer a replacement for only $179.99.

Wouldn’t this require the phones in the box to be charged above some percentage? Also if they can turn it on wirelessly I can only assume it’s using BLE and I hope the feature is off once the user sets the phone up.

Maybe an extension of wireless charging? Do iphones not have that yet?

The current box arrangement and phone orientation in the box would seriously inhibit wireless charging.

My iPhone 15 came in the box back up, against the outside of the box. I think you could probably line up a wireless charger with a bit of work to get it to charge.

I don't think that wireless charging is fast enough to counter a phone updating yet, tbh... And constant charging would deteriorate the battery.

What makes you think they care about deterioration of the battery? More future sales if they run some charge cycles before you even unbox it.

Why couldn’t the update start automatically once the wireless phone is sufficiently charged? That would not be hard at all to implement. Simply indicate the update is complete by making the phone beep until it’s removed from the wireless charger. Easy peasy.

I think the more challenging problem is designing a box that positions the phone in a way that it’s easy to charge wirelessly while still providing sufficent protection like packaging is supposed to do. Inductive charging has to be close to work well.

That would maybe solve it if you have 5 phones in your store, but I really don't want to be the person that has to "go charge and update the iphones in storage again" if they store hundreds of phones and each needs to be placed on a charging station for an unknown amount of time "until it beeps" one by one... 😅

The stationproblem you mention however is easily fixed by making it diagonally with a fitting edge the box perfectly fits in, so you can just slide in the box and gravity + edge puts it in the right spot. Add a big sticker for employees that states which direction and done. 😅

You can’t wirelessly charge on a narrow edge, so storing the phone in the packaging at an angle will not work for wireless charging. You need a flat side of the phone to be parallel and flush to the side of the packaging, otherwise the wireless coil will not work.

If they design the process efficiently it shouldn't burn too much battery to update the system image. The phone just needs to power up, connect to store wifi, apply the image and shut down. Doesn't even need to power up the screen.

I'm assuming they just do it to the latest when you buy them, cause if you do it too many times it will eventually have died in the box. 😅 If do, you wait the same amount of time in the store but without the satisfaction of seeing it update, and if they do them regularly it'll have the possibility to be 0% battery and not be able to update in the box anymore (which would also be bad for the battery)... 😅

Also my first thought. But then I realized that since they support wireless charging pads, it is possible that they can also be charged while in the box.

No one wants a new iPhone that comes out of the box at 10% charge. But maybe they can avoid this.

Yes but then you're relying on the employees in the Apple store to actually keep the phones on the charging pads so unless there's one charging pad per phone, they're going to have to rotate them.

I've worked with Apple store employees and let me tell you the name "genius" has never been less appropriate.

So, when I had google fi, the phones I got from them would already arrive signed into my account, I always wondered how it was done.

This makes me think that malware will be able to be in an iPhone even before it is taken out of the box. I wonder if this will become an issue in the future. I suppose time, good research, and effective journalism will let us know.

Neither IOS nor Android have a meaningful malware concern. Both are very locked down sandboxed systems of which the easiest to infect, Android requires the user to deliberately disable safety features in order to install.

As incompetent as Apple is when it comes to the quality of their devices I can't imagine how they'd fuck it up enough to enable any random dumbass to upload malware directly to the devices wirelessly. This kinda stuff has sorta been figured out for more than a decade

Are you aware of Pegasus? 0 interaction required. The hackers just need your phone number and for your phone to receive a text. They can then go and remove the payload text since they have full access to your phone leaving you with zero trace of being infected.

This is obviously not a worry for the average person but to say iOS and Android do not have a meaningful malware concern is just false.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)

This is how Kashoghi was spied on by the Saudis and eventually murdered.

They turned his phone into a spy device.

As long as you aren't a journalist, that's not really a problem.

In most cases...

No more tedious updating after unpacking the new iphone, instead you can now tediously wait already after buying it while we do it for you through the box.

At least make us laugh with the apple trolling. This doesn’t even make sense. The whole point of it is to avoid this.

So they're going to update the entire stock one by one without charging it every update? The only other way is to only do it one time when the phone is bought. Which will take the same amount of time in the store... 🤷‍♂️

"Well, while you are in the store, waiting, anyway, why don't you spend that time looking at our other offers? Maybe you need some accessories to go with that new phone of yours?"

Even if that's the case that would save time since you have to drive back home to unbox the new phone, and in the meantime it could update.

Sooo, if they charge it in the store you're not gonna take it home and unbox it?... The order of doing those doesn't change the time they take... 😅