We start a new year and as usual we place our bets on what we can expect from the most important company in the world. After closing a 2017 with lights and shadows (each one distributes them), Apple faces a 2018 in which it will have to continue demonstrating to the markets and the incredulous that it continues to deserve the first place within the most important companies in the world, and above all, the most influential.
Products that were announced but are yet to be launched on the market, new iPads, new iPhones, the long-awaited renewal of the range of Mac computers with the Mac Pro at the forefront ... the list of pending tasks is very extensive, and we want to summarize what we will surely see and what we could see in this year that begins today.
What we will see without any doubt: HomePod and AirPower
Apple still has several appointments pending with its users, with two perfectly defined names: HomePod and AirPower. A speaker in which the sound quality will prevail over its "intelligence" and an induction charging base that will allow the simultaneous recharge of an iPhone, an Apple Watch and AirPods. Announced in 2017, their arrival in 2018 is certain.
Celebrating HomePod will be first and foremost a speaker, and when we say this what we really mean is that Apple has not wanted to make a device in the style of Amazon Echo or Google Home. Apple wants a device with outstanding sound quality that it is able to determine the conditions of the room in which it is located and its location within that room to adjust the sound to those circumstances and offer us the highest possible quality. For this, it has 7 tweeters, each with its own driver, and a 4-inch woofer facing upwards, in addition to six speakers that will capture our voice without problems.
Obviously this speaker will also have Siri, and with the Apple assistant we can give vocal instructions to start playing music or send text messages, for example, but it will not have as advanced functions as the competition's speakers, which has not liked by many. It will be available in black and white, and its launch was scheduled for 2017, but Apple at the last minute delayed it until the beginning of 2018 no exact date. Its price will be $ 349 without knowing the price in other countries outside the United States.
Apple's AirPower base will be the first product of its kind from the company, which until now had only released lightning bases for the iPhone. This wireless charging base will be compatible with the Qi standard, just like the latest releases from the company, which seems to have finally decided to adopt this industry standard. It will be compatible with the wireless fast charging of the iPhone and as the image shows it will be able to recharge three devices simultaneously. Only the latest iPbone (8 and 8 Plus plus X), Apple Watch Series 3 and AirPods with the new compatible box (not yet available) can be recharged from this base. We do not know the exact date (early 2018) or the price, although rumors speak of the not inconsiderable amount of $ 199 in the United States.
New iPad Pro without frames
Once we finish with the products that we know will arrive yes or yes, we start with the rumors about new releases, and within these rumors the iPad Pro are great protagonists. After the launch of the iPhone X with a screen that occupies almost the entire front of the device, there are few doubts that the iPad Pro will be the next to incorporate this new design. Apple's facial recognition system (Face ID) will not be lacking in these new iPads, and a new redesigned Apple Pencil is even rumored. and maybe with new functions. It is obvious that they will incorporate the new A11 Bionic processors (probably A11X as Apple usually does with its tablets).
What is not known for sure is what Apple will do with the size of screens, since the rumors are contradictory. Some say Apple will stick with the 10,5-inch size, making the iPad smaller thanks to this new frameless design. Others say that this redesign will also reach the 12,9-inch. What seems clear is that the company will continue to bet on LCD technology for these screens, since the change to OLED would be a great challenge at the manufacturing level and a surcharge that Apple does not want to apply to its tablets. The filing date? The bets speak of after the summer.
A cheaper 2018 iPad
Apple surprised us last year by launching the iPad 2017, the cheapest tablet that the company had launched up to that point, in a clear effort to convince people to renew their tablet or to opt for it instead of other more affordable options on the market. This iPad 2017 incorporated the A9 processor which gave it great power, but had its negative part on the screen, which was a throwback to previous models, as well as in its design, also thicker. Perhaps some of these problems could be solved with the next generation that Apple could announce this spring.
The 2018 iPad could even break the price record of its predecessor, starting at $ 259, although this is a rumor that has not been heard much and that seems difficult to see come true. Perhaps it is the latest effort by Apple to relaunch a market that has been declining for many quarters and the only alternative to compete with the huge number of cheap tablets with which the competition floods the store shelves.
Three new iPhones, two new screen sizes
Apple launched its long-awaited iPhone X this year, taking advantage of the XNUMXth anniversary since the first iPhone was introduced. After months of speculating about whether the fingerprint sensor would be integrated into the screen behind, Apple chose to definitely break with Touch ID and launch a new facial recognition system, Face ID. A smaller iPhone but with a larger screen, a new L battery and a new design that returned to steel and glass after years using aluminum as the main element of its most famous product. This iPhone X will be the one that marks the path that the company's smartphone will take in the coming years, and speculation about which iPhone models we will see this year is already flooding the network.
It is speculated that Apple may launch three new iPhone models, with two new screen sizes. The iPhone XI with the same size as the current model (5,8 inches), an iPhone XI Plus with 6,5 inches and a pixel density that could reach up to 500 dpi and OLED type; and another model that would be cheaper with a size of 6,1 inches and LCD screen. All would have a similar design, without frames, and would be compatible with wireless charging, in addition to incorporating Face ID. More powerful processors, battery improvements and faster LTE chips are some of the improvements that would include these new models that would not arrive until the end of the year.
A new Apple Watch for 2018
The Apple watch is always the protagonist of the rumors surrounding the company, and there has been speculation about a design change for a few years now. The Apple Watch remains unchanged in design since its introduction in 2015, and 2018 may be the year in which it already undergoes a substantial change. The microLED screen could enable it by being more energy efficient and thinner, and its size makes it perfect to be Apple's test bed and bring that technology later to the iPhone. Recall that this is precisely what has happened with the OLED screen, which launched the Apple Watch in 2015 and which has reached the iPhone in 2017.
When we talk about Apple Watch, we talk a lot about its relationship with health, and about the incorporation of new sensors related to it. The new Apple Watch could incorporate sensors to perform electrocardiograms and thus be able to go beyond the mere heart rate that it currently monitors. Pulse oximetry to know the concentration of oxygen in the blood and sensors to measure blood glucose have also been speculated but it seems more complicated that they arrive in the near future, especially the seconds. This new Apple Watch, which would come in two models (WiFi and LTE), would not be presented until September, along with the new iPhone.
Mac computers renewal
Computers have been one of Apple's pending tasks for a long time. Some of its models have designs that have not been modified for years, such as iMac, and others are somewhere in between that is unknown where they will go, such as the MacBook Air. What Apple does with its computers is a complete unknown, and it is usually something where rumors are not usually right.
The new iMac Pro has just been released although it was introduced to us in June 2017, and will probably be updated this year. The 21,5 and 27-inch iMac will be updated, even if only with internal improvements, as has happened annually for a long time. Can you choose between the classic gray or the space gray of the Pro? It seems unlikely, as it also seems unlikely that they will have a major redesign during this year.
The MacBook will be perhaps the first model to be updated this year. With two generations behind it, 2018 you will see the incorporation of some internal improvements, but it is not expected that there will be a major change on the outside either. The same can be said for the MacBook Pro, whose update is more than likely to be limited to the interior. What about the Mac Mini and MacBook Air? They are two of the computers that many say are doomed to disappear, but we do not know anything about the real plans that Apple has with them.
And the Mac Pro? Apple confirmed last year that it was working on a new Mac Pro but that would not be launched in 2017, in addition to a new screen. We do not know if Apple will launch it this year, but if so it would be normal for it to happen as with the iMac Pro, appearing at WWDC 2018 and launching at the end of the year. Possibilities for post-sale expansion and a completely renewed design compared to the current model are certain, but we know little else about this new computer.
New AirPods
Apple headphones continue to cause a sensation and are one of the most successful products among users, with very positive reviews. After more than a year on the market, it seems that the time has come for an update that goes beyond the new charging with inductive charging that Appel presented in September 2017 and that has not yet reached the market. These new AirPods could incorporate improvements in the most controversial aspects, such as the lack of touch controls for volume, in addition to improvements in Bluetooth, such as the incorporation of 5.0 technology that the new iPhone already brings, or new colors.