New iPhones. New Macs. Pro Macs! Resigned Pro Macs! New iPads. New Watches. Redesigned Watches. Maybe new AirPods. HomePods! Great thing about Apple is that no matter how dreary dull the summer feels, we’re only ever one good morning away from new products. We’re all just waiting for Tim to put sneaker back on stage and show us what’s next for 2021!
So far, so… AirTags, Rainbow iMacs, 4K60 Apple TV, and M1 iPads Pro. Now hit subscribe, so we can get into all the sizzling hot fall action because… I mean, Apple has released products in the Summer… In 2020 we got the 27-inch iMac spec bump. In 2019 we got a MacBooks Air and 13-inch MacBooks Pro spec bump. And in 2018 we got the 13- and 15-inch MacBooks Pro spec bump.
But Apple silicon just doesn’t bump its specs… or spec its bumps the way. It doesn’t follow the same wacky update schedule — or lack thereof — as Intel, and with major redesigns reportedly attached, I just don’t think we’ll be seeing any M1X MacBooks Pro or iMacs dumped in press releases this month or next.
About the only thing I could see between now and never is an Intel Mac Pro update. Latest generation Xeon and Big Navi for those that just really want to ride x86 off into the sunset. But that’s about it. And the longer it takes, the less likely it becomes.
Now, because 2021 is… the 2020 Jr. of years, timelines could move around faster than Lokis in a Nexus event, and we could once again get iPhones in October and Macs in November, or whatever… whenever… but just to keep things simple, we’ll just pretend the world has stopped ending by then, cool?
So… September. Every year but last year, for almost a decade now, we’ve gotten new iPhones. For almost half a decade, new Apple Watches to go with them. And for the last couple of years, new entry-level iPads as well.
This year, that means iPhone 12s or iPhone 13 or iPhone Mother of Dragons or whatever Apple decides to call their next pocket computer. It’ll supposedly once again be coming in mini, regular, pro, and max sizes. With better cameras, ProMotion displays, A15 chipsets, a few new colors, same old Lightning connector… you all know all the rumors by now! And if not, link in the description.
If AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro 2 are ready, we should see those as well. Because it’s been a minute! Like damn. The regular AirPods with more Pro-style designs, just no pro-style ANC, and the Pros… with more Studio Buds like designs and even better sensors? Leaker magic 8-ball says still unclear!
Apple Watch Series 7 might be getting a new, retro-future chic look to match Apple’s latest, more squared off design language. Probably no blood sugar monitor yet, though. That chips… complicated! Always coming but just never quite arriving. But, casing color and material remixes are always on the table.
The next iPad nothing should be the previous iPad Air, so no new design, but an again slightly bigger display. Even odds on whether or not it stays laminated at that price point though.
Then… October. Typically that’s for new Macs and the higher-end iPads. But we’ve already gotten the new M1 Pros, and would it were not so, Apple doesn’t usually update the Air every year on the year. But… but the iPad mini is rumored to finally be getting its big… small… makeover this year, becoming a sort of iPad Air mini. Same size, less bezel, more screen, and Touch ID in the power button. Yes please!
As for Macs, well, Apple said a two-year transition starting at WWDC 2020, and the first year got us all the new M1 ultra-low power variants, but none of the M1X ultra-high performance ones.
And if you’re still confused about M1 vs. M1X vs. M2, allow me to translate into old-school Intel lingo for you: M1 would be like current generation Canon Lake i5, and M1X would be like Canon Lake i9. Then M2 would be like next generation Tiger Lake i5, and M2X would be like Tiger Lake i9… just with way, way, way better performance efficiency across the line…
So, what we’re still waiting on is those higher-end, redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch M1X MacBooks Pro, along with the also rumored, also higher-end, also redesigned Mac mini Pro and 32-inch iMac Pro. And, of course, the one Mac Pro to rule them all.
The M1X MacBooks Pro, which might just might come with mini-LED XDR displays, and MagSafe, HDMI, and SDXC ports, have been leaking like it’s hot… for what feels like forever at this point, but they really do seem to be next in line. Maybe alongside that more-ported Mac mini Pro. The M1X iMac Pro sounds like it might take a little bit longer, so if not October or November, then maybe 2022… which is also when the Mac Pro is expected to land, capping off the Apple Silicon transition.
There are a few other wild cards out there as well, like iPhone SE Plus or iPhone SE 3, a more affordable Apple HDR display, a new HomePod biggie or TheaterPod Apple TV hybrid, or HomePad iPad hybrid, a higher end Apple TV for gaming, and it’s eventual successor, Apple VR. But those all sound less like 2021 and more like 2022 projects as well
But who knows? If there’s a November episode of the Apple Events show scheduled for this year, maybe Apple will use it less to talk about what’s next, and more to talk about what’s really all new?
Will these events be pre-recorded, or canned, like they’ve been for the last year, or will Apple will start moving back to live-and-in-person events as soon as practically possible? … VAMP