Apple Rumors

Apple could release a new keyboard accessory for “an entry-level iPad or the new iPad Airs” by mid-2025, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter.

The keyboard won’t have glitzier iPad Pro Magic Keyboard features like a metal palm rest, but could come with a function row, he writes.

Apple Stores’ stock of FineWoven products — phone cases and watch bands alike — is running low, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. As he points out, that’s normal before a big Apple event and doesn’t strictly mean that the no-good, very bad case material is disappearing.

As a refresher, here’s The Verge’s Allison Johnson talking about FineWoven last year.

Apple has rolled out a new version of iOS 17.6.1 that fixes a bug that had prevented users from enabling its Advanced Data Protection feature, as spotted by MacRumors.

watchOS 10.6.1 is also out with a fix for a bug that kept users from accessing Apple Fitness Plus through the watch, the outlet separately writes.

Apple is still planning to refresh the entry-level and mid-tier AirPods models this fall, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote today in the subscriber-only version of Power On, reaffirming his earlier reporting.

What he didn’t mention is a 2024 AirPods Max refresh he’d also mentioned before. It’s been nearly four years since they were released — one hopes they’re still on Apple’s roadmap.

Last we heard, Apple doesn’t plan to make a 27-inch iMac equipped with its custom silicon chips. But a larger version of its slender all-in-one is still “something Apple is exploring,” wrote Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today.

He adds that it’s not clear whether that will happen in time for the M4 chip generation or later, though.

“The bulk of Apple’s designers” are reporting directly to Molly Anderson now, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter. A quick US Patent Office search shows Anderson on Apple patents granted as far back as 2016.

Apple COO Jeff Williams has overseen the team since Jony Ive successor Evans Hankey left, close to two years ago.

Following yesterday’s more colorful iPhone 16 leak, we now have the Pro “dummies” showing up in three titanium colors. It’s also rumored to come in a “rose titanium” hue, as 9to5Mac points out.

In what’s become an annual tradition, we now have the non-working iPhone 16 “dummy units” — created for case and accessory makers — from perennial leaker Sonny Dickson. In addition to showing the new colors, we can also see the camera bump aligned vertically in what should be the final size and shape of the device Apple announces this fall.

Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg that “Apple Intelligence” features will be available for developers to beta test this week.

However, he also says the first ones won’t be released publicly until weeks after Apple’s big September updates for iPhone / iPad / Mac, etc. Rollouts for others from its WWDC showcase, like upgraded Siri, could stretch into 2025.

Apple is bumping up the energy density of the battery in its next iPhones, letting them last longer between charges, claims supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo notes that more density means more heat, so Apple is encasing them in stainless steel, which he says will also mean they’re easier to replace — something the EU now requires.

Recently, Apple unceremoniously dropped Apple Pay Later, which already felt like an odd, risky choice for the brand, not even a year after launching the small loans program.

Why? Regulation, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman:

In May, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced increased scrutiny of “buy now, pay later” services, saying providers would need to follow the same regulations as credit card companies ... The increased regulation wasn’t something Apple wanted to deal with, I’m told ...

In its quest to build a cheaper headset, Apple has asked manufacturers for technical details needed to develop 2-inch or 2.1-inch displays with a pixel density of 1,700ppi (or about half the Vision Pro’s 3,386ppi), according to an Elec report cited by UploadVR yesterday.

Assuming the same aspect ratio, the outlet pegs the resolution “somewhere around 2600 x 2300,” or just over two-thirds that of the current headset.

The Information reports the reversible adhesive could be tried on one iPhone 16 and potentially every iPhone 17, replacing the stretchy pull tabs seen in every teardown.

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “cool idea,” even if we’ll need to see how it works in practice. Here’s a demo from adhesives giant Tesa, which is also developing approaches using lasers, heat, solvents, and magnets.

The next Apple Watch may have a two-inch display, according to CAD renders posted by 91mobiles, which said they were “sourced from industry insiders.” They supposedly depict either the Apple Watch Series 10 or a rumored special anniversary edition. If true, that means the wearable will feature the largest display ever on an Apple Watch.

Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter looks at “difficult trade-offs” Apple has to make as it prioritizes a cheaper headset (including maybe relying on a tethered iPhone or Mac) and continues work on a second-gen Vision Pro.

He also described details of Apple’s “renewed” efforts on the wear-all-day lightweight AR spectacles dream that Meta and Google are also chasing:

Though a launch date around 2027 has been bandied about, no one I’ve spoken to within Apple believes the glasses will be ready in a few years.

At WWDC, Apple announced a deal with OpenAI to make ChatGPT available for certain tasks on iPhones with iOS 18 and other devices (as long as you aren’t in the EU). Execs also mentioned Google Gemini, but the list doesn’t end there, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to Google and Meta, AI startups Anthropic and Perplexity also have been in discussions with Apple to bring their generative AI to Apple Intelligence, said people familiar with the talks.

Apple is announcing the new feature at WWDC 2024 on Monday, according to MacRumors. It would work with built-in apps like Mail, Notes, or Messages, adding another layer of security to the phone in addition to Apple’s Stolen Device Protection setting that rolled out last year.

The Android 15 beta has something similar in “private space,” a lockable section of the app drawer.

I’ve been intrigued by Rabbit’s so-called “large action model” that trains an AI assistant to use your favorite apps on your behalf. That didn’t quite work out with the Rabbit R1, but now Apple’s taking a crack with Siri according to Mark Gurman’s latest scoop.

The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time [...] using AI to analyze what people are doing on their devices and automatically enable Siri-controlled features. It will be limited to Apple’s own apps at the beginning, with the company planning to support hundreds of different commands.

So, I guess my colleague Allison Johnson was right, the future of AI gadgets is just phones.

We’re expecting a bunch of AI features at WWDC, but phones can only run limited AI functions on-device. How will Apple square the need to process user data off-device with privacy?

According to The Information, the answer might be a “virtual black box.” By using custom M2 chips, it could claim user data remains just as secure as if it were processed on-device. That’s one way to think different.