Rumors from Apple’s next big iPhone event, which might include an iPhone 11 Pro, new Apple Watch ceramic and titanium models, an update to the cheaper iPhone XR, and more.
That’s what Apple is working on next, at least according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The more affordable MacBook would use the same A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro series, and pack a 13-inch display and colorful finishes like silver, blue, pink, and yellow.
Apparently Apple is aiming to sell 5-7 million of them too, making up more than a fifth of its overall laptop sales.
That is, if the actual phone looks anything like these photos from leaker Majin Bu. What do you think?
Mark Gurman’s Bloomberg newsletter brings one more pre-WWDC 25 rumor, saying the most exciting part of the conference will be the rumored design overhaul for iPhone, Mac, and other platforms that he says is called Liquid Glass (remember Microsoft’s Aero Glass, and Apple’s iOS 7 shift away from skeuomorphism?).
Adding “transparency and shine effects in all of Apple’s tool bars, in-app interfaces and controls,” he says it sets the stage for next year’s “Glasswing” iPhone design with curved glass sides, slim bezels, and no cutout section in the display.
The keynote for Apple’s next developer conference is only a week away, and the homepage for the event has just been updated with a short tagline, “sleek peek,” while exec Greg Joswiak tweeted out this new animation. We’re guessing this refers to the visionOS-like design refresh supposedly coming for Apple’s operating systems, and not to the “gap year” for AI features rumored over the weekend.
Whatever it is, we’ll be at Apple Park on June 9th to report the details.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter follows up on his earlier news that Apple’s operating systems will switch to Madden-style numbering by saying the new Mac update will be Lake Tahoe-themed.
With just one more week to go before WWDC 25, he’s also suggesting this will be a “gap year” for Apple’s AI ambitions, with projects like LLM Siri, a true ChatGPT competitor, and an Apple Intelligence-enhanced version of its Shortcuts app still in development but possibly not ready for a preview.
The Information reports that three years ago, Musk offered Apple an 18-month exclusive connection via SpaceX in return for $5 billion up front, and $1 billion per year after that to support satellite-connected iPhone features. If Apple didn’t take it within 72 hours, he threatened to announce a competing feature.
Apple went forward with Globalstar (the report also mentions a canceled “Project Eagle” effort with Boeing that would’ve delivered full-blown internet service), and before the iPhone 14 launched, Starlink announced a deal with T-Mobile. Later that year, Musk and Cook met at Apple HQ to discuss Twitter’s App Store presence, “among other things.”
[theinformation.com]
This year’s rumored redesign for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS is also coming to watchOS and tvOS, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. In an April subscriber edition of Power On, he wrote that watchOS would only get elements of the redesign “here and there.”
It’s expected the updates will take cues from the look of the glassy, translucent visionOS, which, Gurman writes, is also getting tweaks where they “make sense for a headset.”
Just weeks after Apple replaced AI chief John Giannandrea as the head of Siri, Bloomberg reports that the company now plans on placing its robotics team under the leadership of John Ternus, the senior vice president of hardware engineering.
The change will allow Giannandrea’s AI team to “focus on underlying artificial intelligence technology,” Bloomberg reports.
The company is working on two follow-ups to the Vision Pro, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. The goal for one is a cheaper Vision Pro. The other would tether to Macs for use as a wired display or for “high-end enterprise applications.”
That’s different from its canceled transparent-lens AR glasses that would have worked the same way, Gurman writes.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter notes Apple’s push for an AI agent-powered “Project Mulberry” upgrade for its Health app next year, and that its its long-running attempt noninvasive glucose monitoring via Apple Watch sensors is still “many years away.” (Here’s more on why that’s been so difficult).
But if you’re into hardware, he reports new M5 iPad Pros are already in testing in addition to work on 2027-targeted M6 editions with Apple’s in-house modems, and while the regularly scheduled MacBook Pro M5 refresh is “a lock” for this year, a design overhaul may not come until its M6 update in 2026.
Apple has been expected to switch to a plastic case for its entry level smartwatch, but that plan is reportedly “in serious jeopardy,” according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Gurman writes:
The design team doesn’t like the look, and the operations team is finding it difficult to make the casing materially cheaper than the current aluminum chassis.
One, codenamed J427, is the rumored second-generation Studio Display due “either at the end of this year or early next year,” writes Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in the subscriber version of today’s Power On newsletter. He has written of that one before.
He says another code name, J527, has popped up — Gurman speculates it’s either an alternative to J427 Apple could launch instead, or something with different specs, like a new Pro Display XDR.
Apple supposedly set its rumored HomePod with screen for launch in March before delaying it to Q3 2025. Now supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will come after WWDC (and the expected reveal of iOS 19) so that the new smart home device’s interface “aligns with new OS updates.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman posted that a launch of the Mac Studio with an M4 Max chip and, oddly, an M3 Ultra “appears to be imminent.” Gurman speculates that this will help Apple differentiate the Studio from a future M4 Ultra-powered Mac Pro. Both have been rumored for later this year, with the Pro coming in as late as the fall.
Apple’s retail stock of last year’s iPad Air is drying up, a sign that Apple could announce new versions of the tablet soon, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes in today’s Power On newsletter. That’s a rare turnaround for the iPad Air, which Apple tends to take longer to replace.
Gurman adds that the M4 MacBook Air’s launch is “imminent,” with Apple making “a Mac-related announcement as early as this coming week.”
Apple has introduced code referencing “Google” as a third-party model choice for Apple Intelligence to leverage, according to a backend change spotted by Aaron Perris, who often shares info gleaned from Apple firmware code, following the release of the first iOS 18.4 beta last week.
Apple executive Craig Federighi specifically named Gemini when he suggested last year that Apple Intelligence could leverage more third-party AI models than just ChatGPT, as 9to5Mac notes.
The company plans to use these combined chips by “2028 at the earliest,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. The move could cut costs and make its devices more energy-efficient, he notes. I imagine it would help save space in the cramped confines of something like the rumored iPhone Air, too.
Apple’s first in-house modem chip, dubbed the C1, debuts in the iPhone 16E in just a few days.
[bloomberg.com]
