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Sina Technology News Beijing time on the morning of June 27th, according to reports, Apple’s software release at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) set a busy tone for the fall of 2022 and the first half of 2023, and Apple is expected to be here. Multiple product lines are updated over time.
WWDC earlier this month was full of news, including a revamp of the iPhone’s lock screen, the release of two new Macs with M2 chips, and tweaks to the multitasking interface for the iPad.
But what’s more interesting is how these changes will set the tone for Apple’s future devices. Judging from the current news, the company is about to start the most ambitious new product release cycle ever, from the fall of 2022 to the first half of 2023.
The new products will include 4 iPhone 14s, 3 Apple Watches and multiple Macs with M2 and M3 chips, the first Apple Mixed Reality headset, low-end and high-end iPads, new AirPods Pro headphones, new HomePod speakers and upgraded Apple TV.
The products announced at WWDC will give us a glimpse into what Apple’s products will look like in the future — including how new software and hardware will combine.
The first is the iPhone. The main new feature of this product is a revamped lock screen interface. Apple has been working on this interface for several years now, and it’s just in time for the feature, as the new lock screen can work with the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display.
Like the Apple Watch, the iPhone 14 Pro will be able to provide data on weather, calendar, stocks, events, and more in a low-brightness and low-frame-rate off-screen display. In addition, you can prevent sensitive information from being displayed on the lock screen and avoid being seen by others – again similar to the Apple Watch.
Other new iPhone 14 Pro new features include a vastly upgraded front-facing camera, a new rear-facing camera system with a 48-megapixel camera sensor, a faster A16 chip, and a FaceID pill-hole and camera-punch design.
The development codes of the iPhone 14 Pro models are D73 and D74, which will be the protagonists of this year’s iPhone story. The development codes of the non-Pro iPhone 14 models are D27 and D28 respectively, and their attention will be less. The lower-end iPhone will still use the A15 processor like the iPhone 13, but the 5.4-inch mini will be replaced by a 6.7-inch model.
All new iPhones this year will continue to use the Lightning port for charging, but industry insiders expect a switch to USB-C in 2023. Speaking of USB-C, it’s said that lower-end iPads with the A14 chip and 5G technology released this fall will use the interface.
When it comes to iPad, you can’t help but mention Stage Manager. Regardless, this is Apple’s solution for pro users who crave better multitasking capabilities. However, some people in the industry did not like this feature after testing, and did not think it could solve related problems.
But it may indeed herald the direction of the iPad Pro in the future. Industry insiders expect Apple to launch new 11-inch and 12.9-inch models with the M2 chip later this year, with Stage Manager features. Their development code names are J617 and J620. As a result, Apple will have five iPads that support this interface, up from three currently (the current two, the M1 iPad Pro and iPad Air).
In the next year or two, Apple is also expected to release an iPad with a larger screen — expected to be between 14 and 15 inches. Stage Manager will work better on such a large screen device.
The new M2 chip is already in the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro announced at WWDC and will be optimized for macOS Ventura. This will also become the core of future new products. These products are likely to roll out at a faster pace than Macs with M1 chips.
According to the current news, here are the other products expected to launch in addition to the existing two devices:
An M2 Mac mini
An M2 Pro Mac mini
14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max, respectively
Mac Pro with M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme
In addition to the Mac and iPad Pro, the M2 chip could potentially be installed on another device, Apple’s mixed reality headset. According to people familiar with the matter, the device will be equipped with an M2 chip and 16GB of RAM. This year’s WWDC had a lot of news about the realityOS headset operating system and its capabilities.
Apple is also working on the M3, the next generation of the M2, and the company is also preparing a 13-inch MacBook Air (codenamed J513), a 15-inch MacBook Air (codenamed J515) and a new iMac (codenamed J433) as early as next year ) and even use this chip in a 12-inch notebook.
Another major product announced at WWDC this year is watchOS 9. The update apparently revealed potential features for this fall’s Apple Watch Series 8. It was previously reported that Apple will launch three new products this year: a new low-end SE model, a standard version of the Series 8, and a rugged version for extreme sports.
For those eager for a faster chip in this year’s Apple Watch, the S8 will have the same specs as the S7, as well as the S6, according to people familiar with the matter. But next year’s models will feature new processors.
The SE will stick to the screen size of the existing model, not the larger screen of the Series 7. But it’s possible that this product will use the same S8 chip as the Series 8, while the current version of the SE, launching in 2020, uses the S5 chip.
The software update won’t support the Apple Watch Series 3, so the model will likely be discontinued this fall. The current SE will likely be worth the Series 3 price point, while the new SE will be the new mid-range option.
One of the biggest improvements to watchOS is the enhanced motion tracking feature. Includes multi-sport workouts that automatically switch between swimming, cycling, and running, elevation tracking, training zones, and new running metrics. These features are all related to the extreme sports version.
The much-discussed low-power mode of watchOS 9 is expected to be an exclusive feature of the new Apple watch.
While Apple didn’t show much software related to the Apple TV and HomePod at WWDC, the products are still getting some nice upgrades, though the new HomePod probably won’t launch until next year.
The new Apple TV, codenamed J255, is said to be equipped with an A14 chip and larger memory. Compared to the 2021 version of Apple TV’s A12 chip, this product can support additional gaming features on the new tvOS 16.
The HomePod, code-named B620, will be powered by the same S9 chip as the new Apple Watch, and will be closer to the original HomePod in size and sound quality than the new HomePod mini. The new HomePod will upgrade the display at the top, and there are even rumors that it will support multi-touch.
The new AirPods Pro headphones are expected to feature a new chip and will support better sound quality.