Apple is planning a huge lineup of products for early 2020, including a brand-new AirPower alternative, according to reliable TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Fans can also look forward to a low-cost iPhone, upgrades to iPad Pro and the MacBook lineup, high-end headphones, and more before the summer, he reported.
Prepare your wallets for one hell of a beating!
During the first half of the year alone, Kuo expects Apple to introduce a slew of new devices. And they won’t all be upgrades to existing products.
A strong start to 2020 for Apple
“We forecast that Apple’s major new hardware products in 1H20 include the 4.7-inch LCD iPhone, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro/Air, smaller wireless charging mat, UWB tag, and a high-end Bluetooth headphone,” Kuo commented in a research report obtained by Cult of Mac.
That 4.7-inch iPhone – a successor to the iPhone SE – is rumored by others to debut this spring, priced at around $399. Recent reports have indicated it will use the same design as iPhone 8, but with a faster A13 Bionic processor and more RAM. This will be one of several new handsets Apple has planned for 2020. But of course, we’ll have to wait until the fall for successors to iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.
Kuo doesn’t expect the new iPad Pro lineup to be drastically different from current models. But it could be the first to feature a triple-lens camera system — like that in iPhone 11 Pro — that can capture 3D data for improving augmented reality experiences.
Apple won’t forget about the Mac, Kuo’s report said. It’s not clear if we’re going to get a new MacBook Air, a new MacBook Pro or both. But we are waiting for Apple to drop a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Magic Keyboard and the same improvements introduced last year with the 16-inch model.
What’s really new?
Perhaps even more exciting than all of the above are the brand-new products Apple has planned. Kuo hinted at a new wireless charging mat that’s likely to be a less ambitious AirPower alternative, perhaps with the ability to charge only one device instead of three. There are no further details on this yet, however, so we don’t know what it might be capable of — or how much it could cost.
Kuo also thinks we’ll finally see Apple’s new tracking tags, believed to be named AirTags, in the first half of this year. Like those from Tile, the tags should help users keep tabs on gadgets and other precious belongings. They likely will use Ultra Wideband technology that could provide much greater accuracy than existing products using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Evidence of Apple’s tags surfaced in a number of iOS 13 releases last year, which makes these claims a little stronger. We expected Apple to unveil them alongside the newest iPhone lineup last fall, but that didn’t happen.
Finally, Kuo said Apple will add new high-end headphones to its lineup. They will be Bluetooth headphones, but we don’t yet know whether they’ll be Beats or AirPods. We do know Apple is planning new Powerbeats headphones, but that lineup isn’t currently considered “high end.”
Elsewhere in the report, Kuo sheds more light on how Apple might be affected by the Wuhan coronavirus. It does little to allay concerns that delays could hit some products as a result of travel restrictions in China. However, Kuo said Apple is working on a “mitigation plan.”
Apple just reported yet another record-breaking quarter, with revenue reaching a staggering $91.8 billion. And we could see much of the same for 2020, which looks to be a massive year for product launches.
