Apple Rumors

A report from ZDNet Korea (via AppleInsider) says Samsung is readying new OLED panels for production in late 2025 and are destined for an all-new 2026 iPad mini.

It’s not the most solid rumor, even after the iPad Pro’s OLED upgrade, but it would be great if Apple updated the iPad mini for the first time since 2021.

Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted that the company plans to release the iPhone 16 Pro in “black, white (or silver), grey (I think it’s natural titanium), rose.”

The non-Pro models, he predicts, will come in the same hues as the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, though he notes the colors could “look different,” despite having the same name.

That’s according to Mark Gurman, who writes in his latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that the company will release the new version of its item tracker “around the middle of next year” with improvements to its chip and location tracking.

With less than a month to go before Apple details its AI plans at WWDC 2024, the company is “finalizing terms” to let ChatGPT use iOS 18 features, according to Bloomberg.

That would be Apple’s first such deal if it closes before the company sets up similar agreements with Google or Anthropic.

Apple — like Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and everyone else this side of Nvidia — is reportedly working on custom server hardware to power AI models as it prepares to introduce a slew of new features.

Over the past decade, Apple has emerged as a leading player designing chips for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and Mac computers. The server project, which is internally code-named Project ACDC—for Apple Chips in Data Center—will bring this talent to bear for the company’s servers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple watcher Mark Gurman followed up saying a similar-sounding project was canceled and it doesn’t make sense anyway: it would be too expensive, lack differentiation, and Apple prefers on-device AI.

Update: Added Gurman’s rebuttal.

Majin Bu, who had early pictures purported to be of the iPhone 15’s USB-C port and, more recently, apparent images of vertical camera modules for the iPhone 16, posted these mock-ups that may show the next models’ updated design.

Rumors that Apple would switch to a vertical layout for the cameras go back at least a year.

Apple never did realize its dream of a wireless charger that works no matter where you put your device and also unites Qi charging and the Apple Watch’s proprietary standard (though that second bit lives on in the AirPods Pro 2). Apparently, it had overheating issues.

We later got MagSafe for iPhones, an infinitely better idea. But assuming this is real, Apple Demo shows it off charging an Apple Watch Series 4. He says it gets “quite warm.”

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote in Power On today that Vision Pro development slowed its smart home work but now that the headset is out, it’s focused on that again.

The screen would reportedly turn to face users while on a call and could mimic human gestures by nodding or shaking the screen when the person on the other end of the call does so.

A source tells MacRumors that Apple is working on just that, potentially allowing Vision Pro wearers to use the Pencil with drawing apps like Freeform and Pixelmator. Rumors suggest that Apple is planning to take the wraps off of a new Pencil next month, but there’s no word on whether it will come with visionOS support just yet.

This morning, Mark Gurman wrote for Power On subscribers that the iOS 18 home screen would be “more customizable,” but didn’t say how.

Now, MacRumors’ sources say this means Apple is loosening up its restrictive app icon arrangement in a way that sounds closer to the way things work on Android — that is, with blank spaces allowed between apps.

Rumors have said that the company might partner with OpenAI or Google (or Baidu in China) for iOS chatbot functionality while using its own AI for on-device features. Today, Mark Gurman writes in Power On for Bloomberg that Anthropic’s in the mix too. He speculates that Apple could even let any developer build generative AI “deep into the iPhone.”

In the subscriber edition, he also writes that iOS 18 will get a revamped, more customizable home screen.

WSJ reports Apple’s held talks with Baidu to power AI technology for iPhones in China. That’s not surprising, given China’s strict rules for AI bots covering their output, data used for training, and storage of user data.

So instead of ChatGPT or Google Gemini (like Apple reportedly discussed using everywhere else), Samsung similarly partnered with Baidu to bring its AI chatbot Ernie to the Galaxy S24 in China earlier this year.

Apple’s updated tablets should arrive after “a variant of iPadOS 17.4” is finished around the end of this month or “sometime in April,” Mark Gurman writes in the subscriber version of Power On for Bloomberg today.

He also writes that the new USB-C AirPods — the entry-level model and a mid-tier version with noise-canceling — are expected “around September or October.”

Or so says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On Newsletter, advancing Apple’s hearing-related accessibility features like Live Listen and Conversation Boost. Hearing aids cost an average of $2,300 per ear.

It’s supposedly coming with iOS 18 which is shaping up to be a big release with RCS messaging support and generative AI. We’ll know for sure at WWDC this summer.

Mark Gurman collected many of the concepts the company considered for its recently shuttered Project Titan in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today.

It’s a concise summary of Apple’s design thoughts over the ten years it devoted to trying to enter the automotive industry. Gurman writes of one idea:

The Apple car’s circa-2020 design resembled the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle — a futuristic van with rounded edges — but it had dark black windows with an adjustable tint. There was all-glass sunroof, a pure white exterior and whitewall tires with a black center.

Apple didn’t hold a Spring event, after all. But hey, we got dual external display support* on the M3 MacBook Air!

As for the embiggened iPad Air and OLED iPad Pros, Mark Gurman writes in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today that they’re launching “around the end of March or in April,” along with iPadOS 17.4.

*If the lid is closed.

New CAD renders at 91mobiles purport to show what Apple’s next budget iPhone will look like.

The next iPhone SE could represent the first major shift in design since 2020. It’s expected to pick up where the iPhone 14 left off — complete with a notch — likely adding USB-C and maybe even an OLED display.

Patently Apple spotted some interesting changes to one of Apple’s wilder patents — a foldable display (possibly an iMac) housed within a single piece of glass.

Part of the update describes a display on the back. What it could be for is a mystery, but I’m going with very fancy sessions of the board game Battleship.

Apple supplier AMS-Osram said a key project was cancelled — aka a MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says on X that means the whole project is cancelled, citing Osram as Apple’s sole MicroLED supplier. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also said on X that nah, AMS-Osram was but one of several suppliers Apple is working with.

Only Apple knows the truth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a MicroLED Ultra is delayed.

This NYT dive into Apple’s doomed project shows leadership changes switched focus between autonomy and EVs (and back again) and explains Cook greenlit the project partly to prevent an “exodus” of engineers to Tesla.

It also describes a Humane-like 2015 concept demo with Jony Ive and Tim Cook pretending to ride in a car while a voice actor read off things Siri might say about restaurants they imagined passing. And that tech could live on — as part of research into “A.I.-powered AirPods with cameras, robot assistants and augmented reality”

They look nearly identical, which isn’t fun considering we’ve been waiting nearly eight years for them. Similar to last year’s Beats Studio Pro refresh, Apple is reportedly sneaking in spatial audio, lossless USB-C audio, and other tweaks, according to MacRumors.