14 DAY TRIAL // Apple rolled out iOS 12.1.2 earlier this week for iPhones as part of an effort to address the patent violation claims in China that led to an injunction for its devices on the local market.
And while details were scarce on how exactly the update resolves the alleged patent infringement, a report from MacRumors reveals that the Chinese version came with two extra release notes.
These include a new animation when force closing apps and an updated share sheet for setting contact and wallpaper images.
The first of them is specifically supposed to address one of the reasons that caused the iPhone to get banned in China, as the court explained that the original system Apple’s devices used was too close to Qualcomm’s own software patent.
New app closing animation
So beginning with this update, force closing an app on an iPhone no longer moves the thumbnail app and off the screen, but rather shrinks it into the center of the screen. The video embedded below provides a closer look at how you can close apps on an iPhone in China following the update.
Whether or not this update would resolve the patent violation still remains to be seen, but Qualcomm claims that Apple is ignoring the ban and keeps selling iPhones in China despite the court order.
In fact, Apple itself explained that it has no intention to stop doing it, pointing out that the alleged violation only happened on older devices running previous versions of iOS. This update was supposed to address this problem on Chinese iPhones, though it seems that all models, both old and new, received it.
For the time being, the ban is, at least theoretically, still in effect, as the court order didn’t make any mention as to what iOS version was violating the patent. Qualcomm was seeking an extension of the ban to cover the new iPhones launching this year as well.
