What to expect from Apple this October and beyond
The Apple product machine continues to whirr, with a host of new products, including Macs, iPads, and iPhone SE, expected to appear this fall.
Some of these new products will represent powerful improvements compared to older hardware, as the intention is to ensure Apple Intelligence runs well on all the company’s devices. That means a big jump in processor power and might also mean a bump in memory — both of which should raise the performance bar, even for those entry-level products you intend to deploy across your business.
In brief, the list of upcoming product upgrades is expected to include:
- MacBook Pros with an M4 chip.
- iMacs with M4 chips.
- A Mac mini upgrade.
- The iPhone SE, with Face ID and Apple Intelligence.
- A new iPad.
- A new iPad mini.
The thinking is these devices will almost certainly appear at about the time as Apple rolls out Apple Intelligence features that have been announced but aren’t yet available — particularly (for business users), the introduction of a more context-savvy Siri in 2025. That alone is likely to tempt consumers to upgrade to iPhone SE, and should also make that device a more viable tool for some roles in the mobile enterprise.
The iPhone SE is expected to ship with an A18 processor (also used in the current iPhone 16 range) and will look more like an iPhone 14, lack a Home button, and have but one rear camera. (It’s not expected to make an appearance until Spring.)
Other upgrades to Apple’s Mac range will arrive sooner, potentially this month. These are expected to include M4/M4 Pro processors and at least 16GB of RAM in the MacBook Pro; a new M4-based iMac; and a redesigned M4-powered Mac mini with five USB-C ports. The other significant take away in the move to M4 chips is that it will place Macs far ahead of competitors when it comes to computational performance per watt, which is a very important consideration when thinking about AI.
A quick run-down of current Mac speculation:
- MacBook Pro: 14- and 16-in. models, M4/M4 Pro/M4 Max chip, 16+GB RAM, 10-core CPU and GPU, three Thunderbolt 4 ports.
- Mac mini: Smaller than the current model, M4 or M4 Pro chip, no USB-A ports, five USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and perhaps an internal power supply.
- iMac: No major design changes in the 24-in. all-in-one, and M4 processors.
Those Mac upgrades could be accompanied by new iterations of the iPad and iPad mini, both equipped with A18 processors capable of handling Apple Intelligence. For many enterprise users, the iPad mini upgrade may seem attractive.
Current iPad expectation:
- iPad mini: Big feature upgrades include Apple Pencil support and updated front and rear cameras, A18 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3.
- iPad (11th generation): A18 chip, new color options.
Apple watchers envision Apple Pencil support and a landscape front camera, which makes the iPad mini a good fit for deployment in stock control, field operations, industry, warehousing, and in-store ordering. Larger than an iPhone while remaining eminently portable, iPad mini could become a highly utilitarian device for many users. It seems likely to use an A18 chip and both new iPads will support Apple Intelligence.
Not all of the devices Apple is expected to introduce will be available immediately. The new iPad, for example, might ship a little later.
Intelligent Apple
What’s interesting here is that Apple has been criticized for emblazoning much of its in-store iPhone 16 advertising with Apple Intelligence, despite those features not yet being available. That’s a fair criticism to some extent, but what it misses is that Apple Intelligence itself should be seen as its own new product family. New features will be added over time, not just those that Apple has already introduced.
Within that context, it seems wise to anticipate an ever-expanding array of features will be made available, even as developers begin to deploy Apple Intelligence APIs within their own software, further expanding what is available to consumer and enterprise users.
The company’s move to ensure that all its platforms (allegedly in the future also including HomePod, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro) support Apple Intelligence speak to the strategic importance Apple now attaches to building the world’s most private and secure ecosystem for person-centered AI.
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