Posts Tagged → rumors

The Rumored Gray iPhone Pro

In the last week, we’ve had a lot of rumors that a gray iPhone Pro is in the works. If true, it will replace gold in the new titanium iPhone 15 Pro lineup.

My guess is that making a gold-colored titanium phone isn’t easy, so Apple decided to lean into the titanium gray.

Whatever the reason, I am down with it. I’m unsure if it is because I’m sick of the standard white and black iPhones or because my hair is also increasingly trending titanium gray. Regardless, I like the new look.

Source: 9to5Mac

The Rumor Mill Winds Up Again

Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter is starting to hint at upcoming Apple products. Notable among them:

A Big iMac

An Apple silicon 30+ inch iMac may be in the works. My guess would be the love child between a souped-up Mac mini and a larger Studio Display. Now that I’ve separated my Mac from my display, this one is not for me, but if my email inbox is any indication, there are many people looking for something like this.

A Second-Generation Apple Watch

I would expect the Apple Watch Ultra to get yearly updates. I don’t see how they can keep selling them as the top-tier Apple Watch if they don’t. My wish for this product would be a smaller-sized version. I know plenty of folks with smaller wrists that would like an Apple Watch Ultra.

P.S. I love my Apple Watch Ultra.

The 15-inch MacBook Air Chip

As the rumors continue to swirl around the looming 15-inch MacBook Air, some leakers are now reporting it will ship with the M2 Apple silicon rather than the earlier-rumored M3. That earlier rumor never made much sense to me unless Apple was willing to use the M3 in all new hardware from now on. Wouldn’t it be confusing if the Mac Pro was based on M2 while the less expensive, less powerful MacBook Air was already on M3?
Regardless, I’ve heard from many readers and listeners that are waiting for this computer to release. I suspect many people will want a bigger screen laptop that isn’t at MacBook Pro specs (and price).

The Rumored iPad Pro 2024 Revamp

Mark Gurman is reporting that our next major iPad revamp will be next year with a design overhaul to the iPad Pro, possibly with a glass back, instead of the current aluminum design.

I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m always interested in new designs, but I dig the current design. And an extra 11” (or 13”!) piece of glass would be heavy and much more prone to breaking than the current aluminum back.

There have also been rumors of bigger iPads up to 16 inches. I’d like to see that. The iPad needs a Hannah Montana to Wrecking Ball sort of transformation, and a bigger one would help that along. Personally, a larger iPad on my desk acting as a Sidecar screen/Universal Control device/status board would be cool.

And while the hardware team continues to march forward, we still have all these questions about the iPad software stack. It could be so much more.

About Those Touch-screen Macs

Today we heard from Mark Bloomberg that Apple is indeed working on a touch-screen Mac for release sometime in the future. (The article estimates 2025.) I agree with most of the Internet that it’s a good idea.

Every time I use my iPad for an extended length of time and sit down in front of my MacBook, I inevitably reach out and tap the screen. It feels so natural.

Steve Jobs didn’t like the idea of touch-screen Macs, but that was long ago.

I expect another reason Apple hasn’t gone there is because the mac OS is not designed for meaty human fingers. If Apple were to make a touch-screen Mac, they would need to make affordances for fingers, which are much less precise than a mouse pointer.

If the Bloomberg prediction is accurate, and Apple does release touch-screen Macs at some point, I will be curious to see what accommodations Apple makes to macOS for fingers.

Related, I continue to wish Apple would be more willing to experiment with form factors. Lots of people are doing interesting things with computers these days and while many of them are terrible, some are interesting and could be useful if Apple put its design expertise into them. I still daydream about an iMac that would tilt down like the Microsoft Surface Studio into something that becomes a giant, drafting-table-sized touch-screen and Apple-Pencil-friendly iPad.

M2 Macs

Mark Gurman recently reported there are four M2 Macs in the works.

  • an M2 Mac mini.
  • an M2 Pro Mac mini.
  • M2 Pro and M2 Max 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
  • the M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme Mac Pro.

These are all rumors, but to play along, if this is true, that would mean the M2 generation is not going to be used to update the entire line. Missing from the list was the iMac and the Mac Studio. I could see a world where Apple decides to skip generations on some of its hardware and lets the iMac and Mac Studio wait for the M3.

I don’t know all the intricacies of production and global supply chains, and maybe they wouldn’t have a choice. Nevertheless, I hope Gurman is wrong. Now that Apple is in control of the chips and the hardware, I would prefer Apple to upgrade all their hardware with each generation.

The Flat Apple Watch Rumors Return

Rumors are coming back about a flat-sided Apple Watch getting released this year. John Prosser made some renders, below. Who knows if this thing will actually ship. People were convinced it was going to release last year and it didn’t.

If this is truly the next design for the Apple Watch, I’m going to need some convincing. Just looking at the images, I like the existing, rounded design better. Maybe flatter equals thinner and lighter, and that would be good. However, my immediate reaction is that it looks boring.

M2 Mac Rumors

Mark Gurman is back with more rumors concerning the M2 generation Macs. There is a lot in his article ranging from MacBook Air to Mac Pro. If I were a betting man, I’d say that we’ll see the M2 MacBook Air and M2 Mac mini first, sometime this year, but probably not at WWDC.

The only two weird points in the Mac lineup at this time are 1) the continued existence of the 13–inch MacBook Pro, and 2) The lack of a desktop MX “Pro” configuration.

The 13-inch MacBook “Pro”

I don’t understand why this computer exists. Now that there are proper Apple silicon MacBook Pros, this souped up MacBook Air really doesn’t have a place in the line. I think Apple would be much better off dropping this Mac and releasing an additional larger-screened MacBook Air. Gurman’s article makes no mention of a bigger MacBook Air but confirms there will be another version of the 13–inch MacBook Pro. Weird.

The Desktop MX Pro

The M1 Pro chip only exists in the MacBook Pros. If you want a desktop Mac, you can only get an M1 mini or an M1 Max (or Ultra) Mac Studio. Historically, there was a second tier Mac mini that had a bit more power. That seems like the natural spot for the M2 Pro chip to live on the desktop. Gurman thinks that will eventually happen. I hope he’s right.