With the exception of last year, when most plans were thrown out the window due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apple has usually kept the tradition of launching new products in March. These spring launches have often been about products in the categories of iPads, “budget” iPhones, AirPods, or Macs.
Apple has still not announced any imminent product releases. Apple Insider is one of the sites that specialize in covering rumors about the company’s products and launches, and they think Apple may launch an updated Apple TV, as well as iMacs, and AirPods. They also expect two new items to be presented at the next launch: The brand new product AirTag, as well as updated iPads.
New Apple TV
More powerful and more efficient chips mean that games will play far better, the current Apple TV 4K was released in September 2017, the processor is definitely outdated. Apple’s upcoming Apple TV will allegedly include a U1 chip, according to leaker Jon Prosser, The U1 chip will support Ultra Wideband for improved spatial awareness, it will be more accurate than tracking through Bluetooth and WiFi.
Prosser says the Apple TV will work as an Ultra-Wideband base station, which can track your location as you walk at home carrying other devices with U1 chips. Benefiting from the location information, you can use the Apple TV to control the media, brightness, volume, door locks, and more. It is also said that if your Apple devices are taken away or moved out of a certain range, the Apple TV would make alerts.
iMac powered by Apple M1 chip
We were shocked by Apple when they said last year that they broke up with Intel, which has delivered processors for Macs for the last 10 plus years. Apple has decided to use its own processors instead in all their devices.
Last year we are astonished by both the speed and the efficiency of Apple’s own M1 chip. Many have been waiting for Apple to bring the M1 chip to their desktop iMacs. The website reports that Apple will have a new design for the machines alongside internal upgrades. They claim the new design will be reminiscent of what we find on the company’s iPad Pro and Pro Display XDR screen. Thinner and more angular are the keywords here.
New AirPods
Apple Insider reports that Apple may have several new earphones on the way. The “AirPods 3” will be one of its works that are rumored to have a design similar to AirPods Pro. With replaceable silicone tips and new internals, it will also remain the 5 hours battery, while the “stem” where the battery is embedded will be minimized. AirPods are among Apple’s most successful products, if we disregard the AirPods Max headphones that were launched at the end of 2020, it’s been a whole year since Apple updated its popular headsets.
AirTag
AirTag is rumored to be Apple’s competitor to products such as Tile and SmartTag. It has been rumored ever since 2019. The name first appeared in Apple’s own iOS code for iPhone. Then AirTag was also mentioned in a video on YouTube, but that video was quickly taken offline.
These small pieces with a long battery life that you can attach to what you do not want to lose can be useful to the forgetful or the absent-minded. If they were to go missing you can track them with Bluetooth or have them make sound directly from your phone.
Thanks to Apple’s newer U1 chip, which is specifically designed to make communication between iPhone and other devices faster and more precise, AirTag is said to be able to communicate securely and anonymously via other Apple devices around it. And AirTag should be able to show its location even if you are hundreds of miles away in reality, while its strong competitor Samsung SmartTag only provides 130 yards of the finding range.
New iPads
Apple hasn’t updated the iPad Mini series since two years ago. I am personally really looking forward to the new generation of iPad mini. If Apple is interested in preserving the series for the future, they have to update it soon as the design, in particular, is getting sort of outdated.
Ming-Chi Kuo, the respected Apple analyst, announced back in May last year that an improved 9-inch version was on its way for an early 2021 launch, and the current model with a 7.9-inch screen will be replaced with a larger 8.4-inch screen. Let’s hope that the new model should have more in common with the design of the rest of the iPad family, with thinner bezels and larger Screen-to-body ratio, but it seems Touch ID will still be chosen over Face ID.
