According to available information, Apple is not expected to introduce new hardware products before the end of 2024. However, there are rumors that Apple has plans to announce new products in the first half of next year; Including a brand new smart home hub, iPhone SE 4, AirTag 2, updated iPad Air, iPad 11 and new MacBook Air models. In the following, we review the rumors related to these products according to McRumors.
Home smart hub
Applescoop
Apple’s new smart home hub will probably be introduced in March (March 1403 and April 1404). It is expected that this hub will have a 6-inch screen connected to a desktop base and can be installed on the wall. It was previously said that Apple wants to produce a camera for smart homes by 2026, which probably refers to this home hub.
It is said that Apple’s home hub is equipped with the new homeOS operating system with customizable widgets and supports Apple’s Siri voice assistant and artificial intelligence. Proximity sensors can detect a person’s distance and automatically adjust the size of widgets on the screen.
Apple’s Smart Home Display allows users to manage HomeKit accessories and can act as a security system by displaying camera images. Additionally, users can make FaceTime video calls through the device’s camera. Apple’s Smart Home Hub will compete with products like Google’s Nest Hub and Amazon’s Echo Show.
According to several reports, Apple plans to introduce the iPhone SE 4 in March 2025 (March 1403 and April 1404). This device is expected to have a similar design to the iPhone 14 and offer features such as a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, an A18 chip, a USB-C port, a single 48-megapixel camera, and 8GB of RAM to support Apple’s intelligence.
The iPhone SE 4 will probably come with Apple’s own 5G modem. The screen of this phone is produced by LG Innotech, which has a maximum brightness of 800 nits, a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and a Ceramic Shield protective layer. The budget Apple phone is equipped with a 3,279 mAh battery with 20W wired charging.
Apple announced the iPhone SE 3 through an online event in March 2022. The device has a similar design to the iPhone 8 and includes older features such as the Touch ID button and the Lightning port. In the US, the iPhone 3 SE currently starts at $429, but the new model may see a slight price increase.
According to the report Mark German From Bloomberg, Apple plans to introduce a new Airtag in the first half of 2025, four years after the current Airtag was introduced. One of the key features of AirTag 2 is the ultra-wideband chip with more accurate location tracking capabilities.
According to Garman, the security of the new AirTag will likely be improved and the internal speaker will be harder to remove to prevent potential tampering. AirTag 2 is also expected to provide tracking capabilities from greater distances.
Ming-Chi KuoApple’s supply chain analyst has previously claimed that the new AirTag will have some sort of integration with Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
iPad Air with magic keyboard
Minor updates to the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models are expected in spring 2025. The current iPad Air M2 models were introduced in May this year.
It is not clear whether Apple will use the M3 or M4 chip in its best budget tablet, but given that it is more inclined to TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process, it is more likely to use the M4 chip, which was also used in the iPad Pro 2024. .
Both iPad Air models are expected to be equipped with an updated Magic Keyboard that includes some of the features of the latest iPad Pro Magic Keyboard. So, potential iPad Air 2025 features will include a slimmer and lighter design with an aluminum wrist rest, a larger glass trackpad, and function keys with shortcuts like screen brightness and volume control.
The base model of Apple’s tablet is expected to be updated in spring 2025. The device will probably support Apple’s artificial intelligence, which suggests that the iPad 11 will have a newer processor than the iPad 10, making it more likely that the A18 chip will be used. No major design changes are rumored for this device.
Apple introduced the iPad 10 in October 2022. It is said that the 11th generation of Apple iPad will be released at the same time as the iPhone SE 4 and the new generation of iPad Air. Apple has already reduced the price of its 10th generation iPad from $449 to $349.
New MacBook Air models
Zoomit
The 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air will most likely be the next MacBook models equipped with the M4 chip, which will be released in the spring of 2025. It is not expected that the Cupertinos have considered another major change for their budget laptops.
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The current MacBook Air 2024 models were introduced in March 1402. In the MacBook Air M3 review, we saw that this laptop is no different from the previous generation in terms of appearance, display and ports. All MacBook Air models now have at least 16GB of RAM, which is an upgrade from the 8GB of RAM in the MacBook Air M2.
