Rajesh Pandey - page 14

Imagine a Siri capable of opening your preferred email client on your iPhone and sending an important email seamlessly. Picture an Apple-branded smart home hub, elegantly wall-mounted in your kitchen, equipped with Apple Intelligence for instant access to smart home controls and a conversational voice assistant. Envision an iPhone just 6mm thin, standing out for its ultra-sleek, stylish design.

All of this could turn into a reality in 2025, with Apple already working on these devices and services for launch next year.

In a rare move, Apple is offering discounts of up to RMB 500 ($68.5) on iPhones in China. The promo runs from January 4 through 7 and only applies to selected payment methods.

Apple rarely provides direct discounts on its products, especially on newer models. However, it seems to be making an exception in China.

 2025 should be an Ultra year for the Apple Watch. In an unusual move, Apple only launched the Apple Watch Series 10 this year. It kept the Ultra 2 around, only releasing a new black titanium colorway. If you’re curious about the latest Apple Watch rumors, there’s plenty of speculation about what’s coming next.

But next year won’t be all about Apple’s most expensive smartwatch. For more budget-conscious customers, the third-gen Apple Watch SE should arrive in 2025.

The Apple AirTag is arguably among the company’s most useful product releases in recent years. Once you set up an AirTag, it gives you powerful options for locating it (and whatever you attach it to). Put one of Apple’s tracking tags on an item like a keychain or luggage, and you can easily track its location from your iPhone, Mac, or iPad. If you’re wondering, do AirTags make noise, the answer is yes, but only in specific circumstances.

Since AirTag’s launch, numerous reports have detailed how the tracking tag helped owners find lost items. If you recently acquired an AirTag, here’s how you can set it up the right way and use it properly.

Apple could adopt a variable aperture system for the iPhone 18 Pro’s main camera that would enable the device to adjust the aperture size and light intake depending on surroundings.

DLSRs typically use a variable aperture lens system. Samsung and some Chinese Android manufacturers have also used the technology on their phones, albeit on a limited scale.

Apple’s next AirPods Pro refresh could feature heart rate monitoring. But they are in “early development” and might not launch soon.

Engineers inside Apple are also working on several health-focused features for future models of the earbuds.

Apple is reportedly working on a smart doorbell with Face ID-like facial recognition.

The device, still in its early development stages, seems unlikely to reach the market before late 2025 at the earliest. This timeline presumes Apple encounters no significant obstacles during development.

Apple might not drop support for any of its older iPhones with iOS 19. The next big iOS update reportedly will support the same devices as iOS 18.

However, iPadOS 19 supposedly will not be compatible with the seventh-gen iPad.

ChatGPT’s Mac app is getting a big usability boost. It will now work directly with coding and note-taking apps, including Apple Notes, Notion, and others.

Previously, the ChatGPT Mac app could only see, read, and improve code in XCode, Terminal, and selected other apps.

Hoping to boost sales, Apple could launch its first folding iPhone as soon as 2026, according to The Wall Street Journal. The foldable phone reportedly will follow a super-thin model — which previous rumors called the “iPhone 17 Air” or the “iPhone 17 Slim” — as Apple shakes up its stagnant smartphone lineup.

“It looks like Apple is looking towards hardware innovation to drive user upgrades,” BayStreet Research analyst Cliff Maldonado told the Journal. “The iPhone 16 will be the last of the boring aesthetic phones.”

The iPhone 17 Air price could come in lower than previously rumored. A new report sheds additional light on Apple’s slimmer-than-usual iPhone, which is expected to launch in September 2025.

The device apparently will help Apple revive growth, impressing potential customers with its sleek design.

Apple is planning to revamp the Magic Mouse with hand gestures, voice commands and more. And it may even move the controversial bottom charging port. The current design is over 15 years old, introduced back in 2009.

Since then, the Magic Mouse received minor upgrades, including the switch to an oddly-located Lightning port and, eventually, USB-C.

After ramping up iPhone manufacturing in India in recent years, Apple will begin producing AirPods next year.

Apple’s supplier, Foxconn, will start assembling the wireless earbuds at a new factory near Hyderabad, Telangana, in Q1 2025. Trial production is already underway at the facility. Stay updated with the latest applenews on Apple’s expanding manufacturing footprint.

Apple will reportedly stop selling the iPhone SE (3rd gen) and iPhone 14 in the EU by the end of this year. It will do this to comply with the EU’s directive, which mandates all smartphones to use USB-C for charging.

Apple only switched to USB-C on its smartphone lineup with the iPhone 15’s launch in 2023.

WhatsApp is rolling out some much-needed video and voice calling improvements to improve the experience. These include new video effects, improved video call quality, and more.

Thanks to WhatsApp’s popularity, it is used to make over 2 billion calls daily. So, these improvements should benefit a wide section of users.

Apple will switch to its in-house “Proxima” WI-Fi and Bluetooth chip on its devices starting next year. The chip will debut on the Apple TV and HomePod mini next year.

By 2026, Apple will bring its in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module to the iPad and Mac.

With iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, Apple turned iCloud Keychain into a full-blown password manager with a dedicated Passwords app. While it’s a useful addition, I am not ready to give up on 1Password and switch to the Apple Passwords app yet.

The latter suffers from several limitations that prevent it from becoming a versatile password manager.

Apple is gradually rolling out many of the big iOS 18 features showcased at WWDC24. iOS 18.1 marked the debut of Apple Intelligence, and with iOS 18.2, the company brought more AI features. This slow rollout is supposedly leading to many internal delays in iOS 19 features.

Expect to wait until 2026 for some new iOS 19 additions.

A report suggests Apple shelved plans to build the M4 Extreme Apple silicon chip. The company gave up on the SoC to divert resources to build an AI server chip.

The report points to Apple working with Broadcom to develop this AI chip.

Apple continues its slow Tap to Pay expansion, launching it in the United Arab Emirates. This enables merchants in the region to accept contactless payments through their iPhones.

Apple launched Tap to Pay in 2022 in the US, slowly expanding its availability to more regions since then.

Apple is expanding its retail presence in Saudi Arabia. In the summer of 2025, the company will launch its online Apple Store in the country, followed in 2026 with its first physical stores there.

iOS 18.2 will make searching on Apple Music and Apple TV much easier with natural language support. This means you can use natural language to describe and search for TV shows or music you are looking for.

The revamped Photos app gained support for similar search capabilities with the iOS 18.1 update.

Apple continued its impressive run in its next big growth market, India, shipping more than 9 million iPhones from January to September 2024. This represents 35% year-over-year growth for iPhone shipments in the country.

The company also increased its lead over Samsung, the previous leader in India’s smartphone market.

Apple is making accessing login credentials saved in iCloud Keychain in Firefox easier with a new iCloud Passwords add-on.

The extension will help autofill your saved login details and automatically save new passwords to iCloud Keychain.

The next big iPad Pro refresh will arrive in the second half of 2025 at the earliest, according to a new report. The upgraded M5 iPad Pro reportedly will be the first product to use the next-gen Apple silicon chip.

Apple surprised everyone by launching this year’s iPad Pro refresh with an M4 chip.