Apple is still planning to introduce a new mixed-reality headset sometime in 2023. Gurman claims that there are still “many problems to sort out” with the headset’s operating system (now known as “xrOS”), which is typical of any new hardware and software from any company.
There aren’t many new information regarding the headset in the most recent rumour, save from its constantly changing release window—previous estimates claimed the headset might be disclosed as early as this month, but that has since changed to “spring 2023 announcement, fall 2023 launch.” What is becoming clearer, though, is how much of this year’s company resources will be diverted to the headgear launch.
The iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and AirPod lineups, all of which saw big changes in 2022, will be the main sufferers, according to Gurman. However, the source implies that this year’s revisions will primarily be small “spec bump” updates. The release of new iPad Pros is not expected to occur until 2024. iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, three of Apple’s well-known operating systems, will all see “fewer big changes than originally anticipated.”
Similar choices were taken by the firm before to the 2007 release of the first iPhone, delaying a previously planned macOS release because it was necessary to “borrow” resources to develop the phone. The debut of the mixed-reality headset coincides with Apple purportedly putting a hiring block in place after reportedly doing so in October. Apple is now a much larger corporation with significantly more resources, but it also has more product lines to manage.
That doesn’t mean we can’t anticipate any hardware that isn’t a headset. According to the source, Apple will relaunch a larger HomePod with a S8 CPU taken from the most recent Apple Watches, all for less money than the HomePod’s predecessor. All iPhone 15 versions will have the Dynamic Island feature, USB-C, faster CPUs, and other design improvements.
Several upgrades to the Mac series will also be made when Apple completes the switch from Intel CPUs to Apple Silicon chips. The largest release would be a 15-inch MacBook Air, which would be welcomed by those who need a larger screen but do not require or desire the enhanced performance of the 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, it appears like Apple has abandoned plans to update the 12-inch MacBook, and the 24-inch iMac won’t receive an update until the M3 processor is available, which is expected to be in “late 2023 or early 2024 at the earliest.” After the 27-inch Intel model mysteriously vanished from Apple’s shop back in March, a larger-screened iMac or iMac Pro upgrade is still missing.
A new Mac Pro is also on the way, though Apple’s plans for that model appear to have been toned back as the model is no longer shipping with its special M2 variation and is instead using the same Ultra-series processor as the Mac Studio. Gurman claims that the next Mac Pro will have the same appearance as the present model, which was introduced in 2019. It will have two SSD slots for storage, as well as additional slots for GPUs and other peripherals, although it does not appear to accept RAM upgrades. Even the tightly integrated “trash can” architecture from 2013 included RAM sticks that could be updated and replaced, so this shouldn’t come as a great surprise given that Apple Silicon chips rely on integrated RAM for their speed and power efficiency.
