The discovery today followed a Sun Chang Xu report in March. Citing sources familiar with plans of Apple, the analyst purported iPhone 6 to feature new sensors for measuring temperature, humidity, and air pressure, placing the device on par with Galaxy S5 by Samsung and others.
Here’s a related except from 9to5Mac:
Developer Ortwin Gentz from FutureTap pointed us to these references, and he tested the framework on an iPhone 5s, the latest-generation of the iPhone. According to Gentz, the framework returned a “No†to indicate that the iPhone 5s does not not support the reporting of altitude changes based on this new framework. With the help of a noted developer, we wrote our own code to test the framework and we received the same not-supported-by-the-iPhone-5s result. This likely indicates that this new altitude tracking functionality is reserved for unreleased Apple devices. Since the feature is packed into iOS 8, it is likely that the feature will be integrated to new products launching in the fall such as the iPhone 6, new iPads, and even the iWatch.
And the Xcode screenshot:
The report further says that the new sensors will be a part of the M8 motion co-processor in iPhone 6, an A8 component. Additionally, the report says Apple is working on a Compass application, which could imply efforts being made to integrate the new tracking feature.
iOS 8 is currently in developer beta mode, but is expected to arrive publicly this fall. The iPhone 6 is going to launch in September in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models, a high-res screen, and more.
