4 Things Apple’s ‘By Innovation Only’ Media Invites Could Mean
Credit: Apple / 9to5Mac
Apple this morning officially invited members of the press to its annual fall keynote, slated for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Steve Jobs Theater.
The invitations for the event feature a colorful, transparent Apple logo and the tagline “By Innovation Only.” And while that’s not much to go off of, there are certainly some interesting possibilities related to the design. Continue reading to browse 4 Things Apple's 'By Innovation Only' Media Invites Could Mean.
New iPhone Colors
The first and arguably the most obvious foreshadowing in the image are the colors. Put simply, the colors of the Apple logo very closely resemble rumors about this year’s 6.1-inch LCD iPhone case options.
In addition to last year’s iPhone XR colors, Apple is largely expected to debut new green and lavender options for its “iPhone 11R” device. Rumors also suggested that it would drop its Blue and Coral options. But based on the colors of the logo, it looks like the Blue 6.1-inch iPhone may be here to stay.
There's also at least one somewhat sketchy rumor suggesting that Apple would release its OLED handsets in a new dark green color option. While you probably shouldn’t expect colorful iPhone Pro devices this year, new colors for Apple’s OLED models are within the realm of possibility.
Transparency, AR
It’s also worth noting that the Apple logo in the media invite has a transparent and 3D-like quality to it. That could line up with rumors about Apple’s upcoming computational photography and augmented reality features.
The transparent quality could relate to a recent Apple feature introduced in iOS 13.1. That feature, alpha channel support, could allow for real-time editing of images and videos with a transparency layer. Based on Apple’s camera-focused iPhones this year, it seems too likely to be a coincidence.
As far as the 3D quality of the logo, that could obviously relate to Apple’s continuing work in the AR sphere. While we haven’t heard much about any major updates to ARKit, but it’s possible that Apple has something big in store for the platform.
Return of the Rainbow Logo
Another theory in the Apple blogosphere relates to Apple’s classic rainbow logo, which first debuted in 1977 but was phased out in the late 90s. Last month, a tipster suggested that Apple could bring back the rainbow logo this year — possibly on a physical product like a Mac or iPhone.
There have been some other hints that the rainbow logo could make a triumphant return this year. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that the colors in the By Innovation Only logo and the colors in Apple’s classic rainbow logo don’t match up. That could suggest that they aren’t all that related.
Popular YouTube user MKBHD also pointed out that the logo sort of matches the colors of the first iMac (a device from the same era as the rainbow Apple logo). Whether that teases an iMac redesign or not is up for debate.
One More Thing..
Until this point, most of our focus has been centered on the logo itself. But it’s worth taking a look at the tagline — an obvious play on words mixing “innovation” and “by invitation only.”
Apple is going to brand anything it does as innovative, of course. But the very fact that Apple chose to use that tagline in a year that’s more incremental than not suggests that the company could have something else up its sleeve.
It’s not uncommon for Apple to surprise us with a product or service that has managed to remain unleaked.
As far as what that could be, it’s less clear. But if one were to speculate, it could be something related to augmented reality, transparency or 3D. Apple’s “one more thing” this year could be its 3D depth-mapping cameras or, although it’s a long-shot, a tease of its AR glasses (which have been previously rumored for 2020).