Not everyone The wonder of lust. Some of us will form an orderly line in the waiting room at One Apple Park Way on Tuesday morning. At 10 am PST on September 12, Tim Cook & Co. We’ll be back at it, to show off the latest gear before the big holiday.
There are two things we can confidently tell you that will be shown off at Apple’s big event: the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Series 9. There are few things in this world that you can really set your smartwatch up to. There have been many rumours, of course. For one thing, a few members of the AirPods family have been around for quite some time.
Macs are always a possibility, too. I think I also speak for most of us when I say it would be nice to spend more face-to-face time with the Vision Pro headset that stole the show at WWDC this past June.
What follows is a mixture of what we know, what we think we know, and what we speculate firsthand.
iPhone 15
The marquee ad is clear this time. Perhaps what’s most interesting about the iPhone 15 is that Apple got its hand here. It doesn’t seem like anyone in the big glass spaceship was in favor of using USB-C (or Thunderbolt 3 or whatever you want to call it). You can thank the EU regulators for that. Last year, the European Parliament voted to standardize ports across devices.
Now, technically, those regulators have given manufacturers until the end of 2024 to apply the technology across devices, but all signs are that Apple will pull a band-aid for the iPhone 15. Among other things, more regional governing bodies are poised to follow suit. The European Union leads here in advocating for consumer and e-waste causes.
This past September marked the 10th anniversary of Apple forcing the Lightning connector to be a thing. But the thing about Lightning is that it sucks and I hate it. My colleagues hate it. Friends and family hate it. My bunny loves it, but he’ll happily chew on any cable, no matter what’s on either end. The point is, it is bad and has always been bad.
Interesting caveat here It is the report that The higher USB 3.2 data speed will be reserved for the pro models, with the iPhone 15 staying standard at USB 2.0 (still a common specification in Android land).
Meanwhile, wireless charging is said to reach 35W across the board. It looks like the iPhone will be one of the first phones to adopt the Qi2 standard, which combines wireless charging with magnets, something Apple has been doing for a minute. Considering that Apple is one of 344 companies in the Wireless Power Consortium (and all of the Qi2 iPhone accessories announced at IFA), this seems like a safe bet.
Meanwhile, the Dynamic Island technology – which was introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max – should carry over to cheaper models as well.
Another interesting addition is the rumored iPhone 15 Ultra, which will replace the Pro Max and adopt Apple’s latest naming convention. This phone is said to sport a 6.7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, slim bezels and a new “action” button, which replaces the standard long mute button. The new button – which has been adopted from the Apple Watch Ultra – will also decorate the iPhone 15 Pro. It is said to offer a number of different customizable shortcuts for things like the camera, accessibility options, flashlight, and the actual Shortcuts app (if you feel like getting creative).
Apple Watch Series 9
Speaking of the Apple Watch. The rumor mill has been pretty silent here. This may be an indication that this year is a relatively bearish year for wearables. It may also be due to the fact that next year will be the big 1-0, so maybe Apple will do that Wait until next year to pull out all stops. It is also likely that we will have to wait for next year to get a new Apple Watch SE.
However, it appears that the new Apple Watch Ultra will be available next week. The Ultra 2 and Series 9 are likely to get new processors and colors. There has also been talk that Apple is looking at 3D printing for the chassis design, after adopting the process for Vision Pro elements. I think there’s still a big question about scale when it comes to something like the Apple Watch market.
Airpods
It seems like the time is right for some new AirPods. However, 2024 seems to be the most likely timeline for the headphones to get the H2 chip treatment. However, selling a separate USB-C charging case may be available. And hey, speaking of delays, it’s been less than three years since we got the AirPods Max. And while we’re at it, I won’t be mad at the new HomePod mini.
Everything else
A better look at the Vision Pro seems almost certain. Content remains a big question mark, so this could be a year of demos, to see how “spatial computing” headsets reach the market early next year. We got almost nothing in the way of games. Now that the SDK and Unity development platform have been out in the world for a minute, this seems like a distinct possibility.
More details on iOS/macOS/iPadOS/watchOS release dates would make sense. However, Macs seem a long way off this time around, and the M3 is likely to arrive in 2024.
Apple event starts on 10 a.m. PT on September 12. We’ll be there to bring it to you live.