iPhone 4: <i>No Italics!</i>
This sounds crazy, but seems to be true:
+[UIFont italicSystemFontOfSize:] simply returns a
regular non-italic font on iPhone 4 hardware.
The release notes state:
iPhone 4 uses a different system font than earlier devices. References to the Helvetica font in nib files will be decoded as the system font on these newer devices.
The “different system font” appears to be Helvetica Neue, for which there is no italic version included.
Since you’ll always want to use the system font for your user interface, what this means is: no italics for your UI.
This absolutely must be intentional and not a bug. Changing the system font on a new iPhone model for which a primary new feature is better font rendering, is a huge deal.
I’m not complaining about it, I think it’s a fine decision, but also extremely interesting, don’t you think?
