Apple is making plans to put in place an innovative new iPhone update system for its Apple retail stores that will allow retail staff to wirelessly update iPhones while they’re still sealed inside their boxes, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Gurman’s comments came in his most recent “Power On” newsletter. Gurman discussed how Apple plans to remedy the issue of iPhones being sold in Apple retail stores with old software. This year, for example, the iPhone 15 lineup shipped with iOS 17. However, iOS 17.0.1 was already available upon its launch and the devices required an update to iOS 17.0.2 to fix an issue that prevented the transfer of data directly from another iPhone during the setup process.
Apple wants to have the new iPhones updated to the most recent version of iOS out of the box, removing the onus from the customers’ shoulders, who have needed to update their iPhones straight out of the box. This is especially important in the case of high-profile bugs. Apple will apparently implement a new system in retail stores to address this before the end of 2024.
The update system features a “proprietary pad-like device” that retail store staff can place a sealed iPhone box on top of. The system then turns on the iPhone, updates its software to the latest version, and powers the device off, never opening the device’s packaging.