Apple Rumors

Majin Bu, who had early pictures purported to be of the iPhone 15’s USB-C port and, more recently, apparent images of vertical camera modules for the iPhone 16, posted these mock-ups that may show the next models’ updated design.

Rumors that Apple would switch to a vertical layout for the cameras go back at least a year.

Apple never did realize its dream of a wireless charger that works no matter where you put your device and also unites Qi charging and the Apple Watch’s proprietary standard (though that second bit lives on in the AirPods Pro 2). Apparently, it had overheating issues.

We later got MagSafe for iPhones, an infinitely better idea. But assuming this is real, Apple Demo shows it off charging an Apple Watch Series 4. He says it gets “quite warm.”

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote in Power On today that Vision Pro development slowed its smart home work but now that the headset is out, it’s focused on that again.

The screen would reportedly turn to face users while on a call and could mimic human gestures by nodding or shaking the screen when the person on the other end of the call does so.

A source tells MacRumors that Apple is working on just that, potentially allowing Vision Pro wearers to use the Pencil with drawing apps like Freeform and Pixelmator. Rumors suggest that Apple is planning to take the wraps off of a new Pencil next month, but there’s no word on whether it will come with visionOS support just yet.

This morning, Mark Gurman wrote for Power On subscribers that the iOS 18 home screen would be “more customizable,” but didn’t say how.

Now, MacRumors’ sources say this means Apple is loosening up its restrictive app icon arrangement in a way that sounds closer to the way things work on Android — that is, with blank spaces allowed between apps.

Rumors have said that the company might partner with OpenAI or Google (or Baidu in China) for iOS chatbot functionality while using its own AI for on-device features. Today, Mark Gurman writes in Power On for Bloomberg that Anthropic’s in the mix too. He speculates that Apple could even let any developer build generative AI “deep into the iPhone.”

In the subscriber edition, he also writes that iOS 18 will get a revamped, more customizable home screen.

WSJ reports Apple’s held talks with Baidu to power AI technology for iPhones in China. That’s not surprising, given China’s strict rules for AI bots covering their output, data used for training, and storage of user data.

So instead of ChatGPT or Google Gemini (like Apple reportedly discussed using everywhere else), Samsung similarly partnered with Baidu to bring its AI chatbot Ernie to the Galaxy S24 in China earlier this year.

Apple’s updated tablets should arrive after “a variant of iPadOS 17.4” is finished around the end of this month or “sometime in April,” Mark Gurman writes in the subscriber version of Power On for Bloomberg today.

He also writes that the new USB-C AirPods — the entry-level model and a mid-tier version with noise-canceling — are expected “around September or October.”

Or so says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On Newsletter, advancing Apple’s hearing-related accessibility features like Live Listen and Conversation Boost. Hearing aids cost an average of $2,300 per ear.

It’s supposedly coming with iOS 18 which is shaping up to be a big release with RCS messaging support and generative AI. We’ll know for sure at WWDC this summer.

Mark Gurman collected many of the concepts the company considered for its recently shuttered Project Titan in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today.

It’s a concise summary of Apple’s design thoughts over the ten years it devoted to trying to enter the automotive industry. Gurman writes of one idea:

The Apple car’s circa-2020 design resembled the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle — a futuristic van with rounded edges — but it had dark black windows with an adjustable tint. There was all-glass sunroof, a pure white exterior and whitewall tires with a black center.

Apple didn’t hold a Spring event, after all. But hey, we got dual external display support* on the M3 MacBook Air!

As for the embiggened iPad Air and OLED iPad Pros, Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that they’re launching “around the end of March or in April,” along with iPadOS 17.4.

*If the lid is closed.

New CAD renders at 91mobiles purport to show what Apple’s next budget iPhone will look like.

The next iPhone SE could represent the first major shift in design since 2020. It’s expected to pick up where the iPhone 14 left off — complete with a notch — likely adding USB-C and maybe even an OLED display.

Patently Apple spotted some interesting changes to one of Apple’s wilder patents — a foldable display (possibly an iMac) housed within a single piece of glass.

Part of the update describes a display on the back. What it could be for is a mystery, but I’m going with very fancy sessions of the board game Battleship.

Apple supplier AMS-Osram said a key project was cancelled — aka a MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says on X that means the whole project is cancelled, citing Osram as Apple’s sole MicroLED supplier. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also said on X that nah, AMS-Osram was but one of several suppliers Apple is working with.

Only Apple knows the truth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a MicroLED Ultra is delayed.

This NYT dive into Apple’s doomed project shows leadership changes switched focus between autonomy and EVs (and back again) and explains Cook greenlit the project partly to prevent an “exodus” of engineers to Tesla.

It also describes a Humane-like 2015 concept demo with Jony Ive and Tim Cook pretending to ride in a car while a voice actor read off things Siri might say about restaurants they imagined passing. And that tech could live on — as part of research into “A.I.-powered AirPods with cameras, robot assistants and augmented reality”

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.