The iPhone mini looks unlikely to last longer than one more generation, based on a Wednesday report from a reliable Apple tipster.
Looking forward to the 2022 iPhone, TFI International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests Apple will continue its recent pattern of releasing four models. However, these will include higher-end 6.7-inch and 6.1-inch iPhones like the current Pro lineup, and lower-end models in the same sizes.
The 5.4-inch iPhone mini sounds like it’ll be nowhere to be found.
It’s temping to look for hints about what Apple is going to announce during its April 20 event somehow hidden in the invite sent out Tuesday. But that’s surely an utter waste of time.
Here’s why.
Siri may have just revealed the date for Apple’s rumored April event. According the voice assistant, Apple’s next event will take place one week from now on April 20.
This is likely to be the event at which Apple debuts its next-gen iPad Pro, the eagerly anticipated AirTags item trackers and a new iPad mini.
Apple’s ProMotion technology, which delivers buttery-smooth scrolling and motion content on some iPads, may come to the iPhone this year.
According to a report from Digitimes, the next-gen iPhone will adopt LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) backplane technology that could enable 120Hz screen refresh rates. The current iPhones have a refresh rate of just 60Hz.
A 14-inch MacBook Pro reportedly will join Apple’s product lineup, and a concept artist merged all the rumors into a design that might hit store shelves later in 2021.
It includes more ports than any MacBook in years, but even important is what’s missing: the Touch Bar and most of the screen bezels.
There’s a bit more evidence that the iPad mini 6 will feature a dramatic redesign. A mockup of the tablet leaked out, showing an edge-to-edge display and an in-screen fingerprint scanner.
Other sources previously pointed to Apple’s smallest tablet getting a size upgrade in the near future.
Among the improvements expected in the iPhone 13 is a smaller notch. The latest evidence is a 3D-printed mockup of the device that supposedly shows how Apple rearranged the components behind the screen cutout for the upcoming model.
Don’t get your hopes up for an iPhone SE Plus this year. Or next. This is rumored to be the first in the SE series with an edge-to-edge screen, but an analyst focused on the display business said Thursday that the wait will stretch into 2023.
However, a new model using the current design might arrive before then.
There could soon be an alternative to the current, simple Apple TV remote. A schematic showing a rumored new version has leaked out, and it includes a wide array of buttons. It’s therefore likely to please those unhappy with the present version.
Apple supposedly will announce its first virtual reality/augmented reality headset “in the next several months,” according to a very reliable source. It could be as quickly as WWDC 2021.  That’s well before other predictions.
While the iPhone-maker hasn’t committed to any such device, its VR headset has been the subject of many leaks. But no one can agree on when it’ll reach customers. Most recent reports have pointed to some point in 2022, though.
There’s a growing consensus among tipsters that, despite what what said earlier, AirPods 3 will not debut at the Apple April event. It seems the company’s next generation of truly wireless earbuds aren’t going to reach customers until later in 2021.
It seems early, but we’re already deep into rumor season when it comes to this year’s iPhone. This week alone, we heard tantalizing tidbits about a massive storage upgrade, a cool black finish and more.
And that’s just for the iPhone. We’re also knee-deep in rumors about upcoming upgrades for AirPods, iMacs and Apple Watch, as well as as-yet-unconfirmed products like AirTags and Apple’s AR headset.
Get up to speed on the latest Apple rumors in this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. It’s packed with Apple news, reviews and how-tos. Download it to read on iPhone or iPad, or get the stories below in your browser.
A new report claims that Apple’s next-gen AirPods won’t arrive until the third quarter of 2021. This backs up a recent report from renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who recently said that the AirPods 3 are unlikely to launch until Q3 2021.
Prior to this, AirPods 3 had been heavily rumored as being part of Apple’s next product event — originally rumored for March, but then pushed back to April.
Apple could ditch the gray “graphite” option seen in the iPhone 12 Pro for a new matte black color with the iPhone 13, claims Apple tipster Max Weinbach.
In a video posted to the EverythingApplePro YouTube channel Friday, Weinbach shared mockups of the new premium black finish. This would be similar to the black color option available for the regular iPhone 12, but in a high-end matte finish.
It reportedly also will boast a new anti-fingerprint coating to ensure the handset looks its best at all times.
The notch in this autumn’s iPhone 13 will slim down noticeably, according to pictures that supposedly show the front glass panels of the upcoming handset. None of the components will be removed, just rearranged.
Jon Prosser’s eyebrows are officially toast.
Prosser, the serial Apple leaker with a big personality and a seemingly deep field of sources inside Cupertino, pledged to shave his eyebrows if we didn’t get an Apple event on March 23.
Well that day has come. And the Apple event didn’t. So he took a trimmer to his precious eyebrows in the most Prosser way possible — on YouTube, with a solid sense of humor (and a charity to boot).
Apple’s augmented reality/mixed reality headset reportedly will weigh less than 150 grams. That’s about half the weight of current VR headsets, suggesting that Cupertino plans to make its debut AR/MR headset more streamlined than competitors. (What a surprise!)
Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities made this prediction in a new note to clients, seen by Cult of Mac.
The iPhone 13 will boast a maximum storage capacity that’s double that of the iPhone 12, claim Wedbush analysts Strecker Backe and Daniel Ives in a new note to clients, seen by Cult of Mac.
Unlike the iPhone 12, which tops out at 512GB, the iPhone 13 could offer up to 1TB. That’s also 62 times the storage of the original iPhone, which topped out at 16GB.
The iPhone 12 is on course to give Apple its best-ever year for iPhone sales, according to Wedbush analysts Strecker Backe and Daniel Ives. In a new note to clients seen by Cult of Mac, they predict Apple could sell between 240 million and 250 million iPhones this year.
That would “easily eclipse” Apple’s previous record, set in fiscal 2015, in which it sold 231 million iPhones. That year’s super-sized lineup — the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — remain the top-selling models in history. However, it looks like that record could soon fall.
Apple’s upcoming augmented reality head-mounted display will be controlled by eye-tracking technology, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says in a note sent to clients Friday.
Instead of using hand controls, the technology will be able to detect wearers’ eye movements and blinking, then instantly compute the required information so it can be seen on the device’s micro-OLED display.
Apple will introduce its first MacBook Air with mini-LED display panel in 2022, TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims in a new research note to clients published Thursday.
Kuo previously reported that the next-gen displays will be introduced to the high-end MacBook Pro this year. They are also rumored to be part of the next 12.9-inch iPad Pro, debuting in April. Kuo’s latest report, seen by Cult of Mac, suggests that they will also be introduced to Apple’s entry-level laptops, too.
The 2021 iPad Pro will get a considerable performance boost, according to a trusted source. To the point where the tablet is as fast as the M1 Macs released last autumn.
In addition, the USB-C port in the next iPadOS device might support Thunderbolt.
Apple’s next product launch will take place in April, not March, a soon-to-be-eyebrowless Jon Prosser claimed Wednesday. Prodigious leaker Prosser had been so sure of his predicted date of March 23 for Apple’s next event that he wagered the integrity of his own facial hair on it. Now he’s admitting defeat.
“The event is in April,” Prosser tweeted. In a follow-up, he suggested that Apple had not previous hosted an April event, so “I get it if you’re skeptical. But here we are.”
We don’t know anything about iOS 15 yet. And I’m totally OK with that. By comparison, this time last year we already knew plenty about iOS 14. This year, Apple’s somehow managed to keep leaks to virtually zero — despite the fact that many Apple engineers are working from home right now.
Here’s why I’m not shedding any tears over the lack of leaks. And why, frankly, I’d be happy if that same secrecy extended to other Apple products, too.
The iMac Pro was sleek and fast and capable and ultimately … uninspired.
That’s Cult of Mac writer Luke Dormehl’s take on Apple’s recently expired pro all-in-one. He serves up a compelling “Dear John” letter to a weird period in Mac history. And it doubles as a lovingly hopeful look at what the future holds.
If you want to peer even deeper into the Cupertino crystal ball, we’ve got a hot mess of new rumors and leaks this week as we speed toward a probable Apple event on March 23. Catch up with this week’s free issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. Download it to enjoy on iPhone or iPad, or get the stories below in your browser.