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.
They look nearly identical, which isn’t fun considering we’ve been waiting nearly eight years for them. Similar to last year’s Beats Studio Pro refresh, Apple is reportedly sneaking in spatial audio, lossless USB-C audio, and other tweaks, according to MacRumors.
Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that Apple has started to work with its suppliers about a possible future version of its smart speaker that has a display.
Gurman thinks 2025 is the earliest possible launch for the product — Apple reportedly hasn’t “made enough headway to consider them imminent.”
Leaker Majin Bu has shared an image of what they claim is the new camera module on the iPhone 16. This design appears to stack the camera sensors vertically, similar to the module on the iPhone 12. The leak lines up with some other recent rumors, too, which also indicate a shift away from the diagonal camera placement we’ve seen on the last few iPhones.
So Mark Gurman wrote in the subscriber version of his Bloomberg Power On newsletter today. Not that we should expect any different. The iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch all get their big updates at about the same time.
Historically, that means a September visionOS 2.0 release. Also historically, Apple will crow about Vision Pro features it just can’t wait for you to experience at this year’s WWDC.
Some members of the Vision Pro team inside Apple think that, like the iPhone and Apple Watch before it, the headset won’t hit its stride until its fourth iteration, according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg.
That makes sense — as impressive as the Vision Pro might be already, it’s still a first-generation product with first-generation problems.
The company logged over 450,000 miles of autonomous driving in California from December 2022 to November 2023, according to reporting from the state’s DMV. As Wired notes, that’s nothing compared to the millions of miles of testing notched by other companies.
But it’s almost four times what Apple did the previous year, showing there’s actual work being done on the long-rumored car project, even as Apple lowers its expectations.
Despite years of rumors and everyone else jumping on the foldable trend, an Apple foldable is nowhere to found. The latest folding iPad rumor from The Elec says 2026 or 2027 for a 7- or 8-inch model, saying it’ll be Apple’s first foldable despite rumors of a foldable iPhone as early as 2025.
MacRumors maintains a running summary that tracks rumors for both the folding iPhone and folding iPad, if you want to dig in.
So says Mark Gurman in the latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. That’s not all — in addition to two iPad Air models (one a 12.9-inch!) and OLED iPad Pro tablets, he writes that 13- and- 15-inch MacBook Air models will be updated with M3 chips at the same time.
That would be the first refresh of each iPad and the 13-inch MacBook Air since 2022.
If you got a Series 9 or Ultra 2 before Apple had to remove the blood oxygen feature from new ones on January 17th, congrats!
But if you break your watch doing parkour and replace it with AppleCare, will you lose the feature? That’s a “definite maybe,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. He wrote today in the subscriber version of Power On that Apple has told AppleCare reps that replacements might not have it.
Part of the online ordering process involves a Face ID-like head scan using your iPhone to size the Vision Pro head strap, but as some complained in a MacRumors thread, multiple scans can produce multiple results.
Not to fear, though. Apple retail employees were told they can swap straps for online customers who get the wrong size, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
91Mobiles published CAD renders of Apple’s rumored larger iPad Air, based on “industry sources.” Apart from size, it looks like the biggest difference will be a changed camera bump on the back.
That probably means Face ID stays exclusive to the iPad Pro for another year, assuming the leak is accurate. Still, a 12.9-inch Air could be a good upgrade if you want a big iPad without the big “Pro” price.
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo closely follows Apple’s production plans and is saying that for the February 2nd launch day, “Apple will produce 60,000 to 80,000 units of Vision Pro,” with around 500k shipping in 2024.
We had our first Vision Pro experiences last year at WWDC, and in just a couple of weeks, everyone can decide if they’re ready to spend $3,499 for an early entry to the world of spatial computing.
In the subscriber edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today, Mark Gurman wrote that he believes the first generation of its Airtags Find My tracking devices was “clearly over-produced” and Apple retail stores and warehouses are stuffed full of them.
Echoing previous reports that new models won’t be mass-produced until late 2024, Gurman says they’ll probably hit the market the following year.
That’s according to Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter in Bloomberg.
Apple doesn’t participate in CES, of course, but Gurman writes that he still expects an announcement about Apple’s fancy AR / VR headset to come “in the next week or so” ahead of a February release.
After reiterating that the 13- and- 15-inch MacBook Airs will each get upgraded to Apple’s M3 chip next year (and that Apple will drop the 2020 M1 Air from its lineup), Mark Gurman wrote this in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg:
The move means there’s only a couple Macs left that don’t have the latest processor generation: the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. But they probably won’t get upgraded until the end of 2024 at the earliest, if not 2025.
That’s not terribly surprising, but Gurman notably didn’t mention the Mac Mini, a machine he’s written previously would get an M3 upgrade next year along with the new MacBook Air models, in today’s newsletter.
Following an in-depth report from the Wall Street Journal in September, this update from Bloomberg may further explain why Apple recently extended its deal for Qualcomm modems.
It says Apple already delayed a plan to have the chips ready next year, and now they might not launch in new iPhones until the end of 2025 or in 2026. Issues mentioned include rewriting software it acquired from Intel (one person quoted anonymously said, “Why we thought we could take a failed project from Intel and somehow succeed is a mystery,” and avoiding infringing on Qualcomm’s patents.
I’m a touch miffed that the new iMacs still use Lightning accessories — that’ll change, but when? Next year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s subscriber edition of Power On.
I suppose if Apple is waiting until the 11th hour to comply with the EU’s common charger rule, desktop input devices are the right ones to do it with. Still, it sure felt like last week would’ve been the right time for it.
An evening event from Apple is an unusual setup, but we’ll be right back here at 8PM ET to find out what the “Scary Fast” event has in store. Until then, The Vergecast crew runs down some of what we’re expecting to see tonight.
The Bloomberg Power On newsletter sees Mark Gurman as sure as he’s been about Apple’s “Scary Fast” event tomorrow. Here’s a summary of the chips expected in the new iMacs and high-end 14- and- 16-inch MacBook Pro models:
• Base M3 chip: 8-core CPU / 10-core GPU, likely with “improved memory configurations.”
• M3 Pro chip: Gurman mentions a 12-core CPU / 18-core GPU configuration, but with a likely upgrade to a 14-core CPU / 20-core GPU.
• M3 Max: 16-core CPU / 40-core GPU, and he mentions a 32-core GPU option. (The M2 Max is currently available in 30-core / 38-core GPU configs.)
After previously saying not to expect the second-gen AirTag until at least the end of 2024, now supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has updated this prediction. His post today states “the mass production schedule for AirTag 2 has been postponed to 2025.”
Whispers have percolated for a while saying there’s a bigger iMac coming. But whatever happened to that rumored mini-LED display?
Well, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revived that particular rumor today with a post predicting a 2025 iMac with mini-LED. Otherwise, he says the next 24-inch iMac refresh is due next year. What, no October iMac?
It’s annoying when you have to update your new smartphone right after you buy it, right?
Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that Apple Stores will start getting a “proprietary pad-like device” this year that, when employees put a box of unopened iPhones on it, will prompt the phones to turn on, update themselves, then turn off.
Neat!
Apple acknowledged over the weekend that the iPhone 15 Pro can run a little hot, but said it’s an iOS 17 software issue and it would be fixed soon.
Today, MacRumors reported that Apple is testing iOS 17.0.3 internally; perhaps, as the outlet speculates, that’s the software update that ends our hot iPhone 15 summer. Perhaps.
In a new report, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple will ship 400,000 to 600,000 of its mixed-reality headsets in 2024, an estimate that’s lower than the expected 1 million shipments.
That prediction tracks with a July report from The Financial Times, which similarly states that Apple is preparing to make less than 400,000 Vision Pro headsets next year.
