Three devices for the living room, a date from Bloomberg and sealed boxes in Apple Stores: this week, October sorted itself out. The only open question is whether Apple will build a stage for it. On top of that came a billion-dollar verdict over the Taptic Engine, a crackling speaker and a production line that isn't running smoothly yet for the iPhone Duo.
The week from September 28 to October 4 began with the first updates for iOS 27 and ended with an almost complete picture of the next ten days. Most of the threads come together at the smart home hub with a display, for which the overall picture of the HomePad has sharpened considerably within a few days. Beyond that, the week was about money on very different scales, from a patent verdict worth billions to 19 euros for a new display layer.
🔥 Story of the week: October 13 takes shape
On Wednesday, Bloomberg named the date: HomePad, HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K are set to launch on October 13. According to the report, the hub is smaller than previously stated, at around 6 inches instead of 7. In July, a window from October to early 2027 was still being discussed for it.
A hint from Apple's own material had already appeared on Monday. The support document on Lossless Audio in Apple Music lists the third-generation Apple TV 4K "or later" as a requirement for Hi-Res Lossless – which points to a new model. The Apple TV 4K currently on sale is still the third generation from 2022.
On Thursday, the account pdfu followed up with two leaks about the hub. The first shows the setup of a photo view that matches the StandBy view of the iPhone Duo and requires iCloud Photos. The second names four possible colors: Silver, Space Gray, Starlight and Rose Pink, with the preview image of the photo view matching the device color.
Stage or press release
The format of the announcement is still open. One argument for a keynote is that a new type of device like the hub needs more explanation than a model update for the HomePod mini – this argument drives the debate about an event on October 13. The Octobers from 2020 to 2025 don't point in either direction: three events, three rounds of press releases.
The boxes that arrived in Apple Stores this week point the other way. They carry an embargo until October 8, which is Thursday of next week. If the material is released five days before the reported date, that fits better with an announcement via press release in the week starting October 5 and with October 13 as the sales launch.
I expect exactly this sequence: press releases by Thursday, sales launch the following Tuesday. An online presentation on October 13 remains possible, but the boxes make it less likely.
💡 Rumor of the week: The iPhone Duo reaches just over 60 percent in final assembly
According to the Chinese business portal Jiemian, the yield in the final assembly of the iPhone Duo is only just over 60 percent. Production is said to reach maturity by Apple's standards only in six to twelve months. According to the report, there are bottlenecks in panels from Samsung Display and in hinge components, and the supply chain is waiting for a possible relaxation of the quality requirements.
The information comes from a single, unnamed source in the Foxconn supply chain. A Weibo post by the leaker Fixed Focus Digital points in the same direction but provides neither a document nor a supplier reference. The report puts the reserved volume at 6 to 8 million units and the sales target at more than 5 million.
According to Bloomberg, the market research firm Counterpoint expects around 6 million Duo units sold by the end of the year. That is a sales forecast, not a production volume – the two figures stand side by side, not against each other. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are part of the first wave, with pre-orders on October 16. I expect delivery times to climb quickly on that day.
📊 Number of the week: 5.7 billion dollars
That is how much Apple is supposed to pay Taction Technology. On September 25, a US jury ruled that the Taptic Engine infringes two of the company's patents, but found no willful infringement. Apple is appealing. The sum is roughly nine times the Masimo verdict of 634 million dollars.
An SEC filing on Monday showed who stands to benefit in the end: if the award is paid unchanged, litigation funder Burford Capital would be entitled to 1.4 billion dollars, just under a quarter of the total. Burford itself notes that large patent verdicts rarely survive unchanged.
👎 Flop of the week: The iPhone 18 Pro crackles
Owners of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are reporting crackling, popping or clicking from the speaker, mostly from the earpiece. For some it happens constantly, for others when opening apps, browsing, receiving notifications, bringing up the keyboard or during cellular calls. A few report that their replacement device makes the same noise.
Based on the reports so far, there is no consistent pattern that would reliably trigger the fault, and the cause is unclear. Just under two weeks after the sales launch, this is already the next problem for the new Pro lineup after the Face ID restarts.
📰 What else mattered
The first updates for iOS 27 are here. iOS 27.0.1 and macOS 27.0.1 fix, among other things, the Face ID restarts on the iPhone 18 Pro and a touchscreen bug. More important for older devices is iOS 26.7.1: it closes a vulnerability in CoreGraphics that, according to Apple, may have been exploited in targeted attacks on iOS versions before iOS 27. The fix is also included in iPadOS 26.7.1, macOS Tahoe 26.7.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.8.1.
Ternus is restructuring the company. According to Bloomberg, Apple has dismissed a number of program managers in hardware engineering over the past two weeks; those who don't find a new role internally will lose their jobs later in the year. Ternus wants to make Apple faster and leaner, with fewer management layers and product launches spread across the whole year instead of fixed spring and fall windows. Shortly before, he had given US teams the Thanksgiving week off.
Apple often has a seat at the table in Brussels. According to an analysis by the Financial Times, Apple has had 257 lobbying meetings in Brussels since the European elections in June 2024, compared with 302 for Google and 239 for Amazon. At around 9 million euros a year, Apple spends more on this than TotalEnergies, Volkswagen and Airbus combined.
GrayKey is said to bypass the restart protection. According to 404 Media, a training video from forensics provider Magnet Forensics shows a feature designed to keep an iPhone in the state after first unlock – even though iOS automatically restarts unused devices after a while and thereby fully locks them again. Jiska Classen from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam suspects manipulation of the system clock.
On the iPhone Duo, the display layer is a replacement part. Apple executive Kate Bergeron confirmed that the top layer over the inner display can be peeled off and replaced. Apple's German cost calculator lists 19 euros for this with AppleCare, and 99 euros for the inner display. What else the hinge of the iPhone Duo can do is shown by the hackathon app Duo-Man, which turns the foldable iPhone into a Walkman: unfold, insert cassette, fold shut.
In China, the iPhone 18 Pro is out in front. According to Counterpoint, the Pro lineup sold 12 percent better in its launch week in China than its predecessors, and Apple reached a 33 percent weekly share and first place. Over the same period, the overall market was 17 percent below the previous year.
🔭 What's coming next week
The decisive day will be Thursday, October 8, when the embargo on the boxes ends. If press releases for HomePad, HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K appear by then, October 13 will be the sales launch. If an invitation arrives instead, a presentation is due on October 13.
On Apple TV, "Small Prophets" premieres on October 7, and "Ted Lasso" and "Last Seen" end on the same day. "Matchbox The Movie" follows on October 9, and all dates are in the Apple TV lineup for October. The second beta of iOS 27.2 was released on September 21 – I expect beta 3 next week.
💬 My Take
Ternus wants to spread products across the year instead of squeezing them into two big dates. A hub with a display, introduced via press release on a Tuesday in October, would be exactly that. I think that's consistent, but for the launch of a new device category I would have expected a stage. If there isn't one, it shows how Apple sees the hub: as an addition to the home, not as a new platform.
For German-speaking countries, the question hinges on something else anyway. German is not among the languages Apple has announced for Siri AI so far. For devices you mainly talk to, that weighs more heavily than color, display size or the format of the announcement.
📚 From Our Archive
Since iOS 27, the iPhone has its own risk detection for identity misuse, which can be turned on in Settings.
The Taptic Engine was in court this week; in everyday use, it usually only gets noticed when it acts up for no reason: causes and fixes when your iPhone vibrates for no reason.
A week with many hints and little confirmed thus ends ahead of one in which October should finally come into focus. Would you put a smart home hub with a display in your living room as long as Siri AI doesn't speak German – or is that exactly your reason to wait? Tell us in the comments where you draw the line.
Until next Sunday, Apfelpatient wishes you a relaxing read and a good start to the week.
