The next iPhone is coming, and the ‘Gather Round’ event is just around the corner, at Apple Park’s Steve Jobs Theater like last year. While it’s obvious that the Cupertino giant is going to announce the new generation iPhone at the event, there have been other devices on the announcement table in past events, and if the leaks and rumors are anything to go by, we can expect a bunch of new hardware from the company this time around as well. Here’s everything we expect Apple to announce at its iPhone event:
The 2018 iPhones
Obviously, the 2018 lineup of iPhones is on the table; it is the iPhone launch event after all. However, this time, Apple is expected to launch not one, not two, but three iPhone models (and probably even add some additional colors to the mix).
There’ll be an upgraded iPhone X (presumably the iPhone XS) which will feature a 5.8-inch OLED display, the same glass sandwich design with a stainless steel frame, and upgraded internals. More powerful processor, improved cameras, yada yada… the usual.
There are also reports that the company will launch a bigger iPhone X-like phone (presumably the iPhone XS Max) this time with a massive 6.5-inch OLED display (that’s bigger than the Note 9, by the way), a similar glass sandwich design with a stainless steel frame, and keep similar internals to the iPhone XS.
Then, the company is also expected to launch a cheaper iPhone X like phone, the iPhone XC, if reports are to be believed, which will come with a 6.1-inch LCD display, a glass sandwich design with an aluminium frame, possibly with cameras that are not as good as the other two more premium iPhones, and in a host of colors (we’ve seen four already).
A New Apple Watch
Reports and rumors also suggest that the company might announce an updated Apple Watch. While we don’t expect Apple to add options other than the current GPS and GPS + cellular options available with the Series 3, the next upgrade to the Apple Watch is expected to bring thinner bezels along with a bigger battery (or just better battery life in general) along with improvements across the board when it comes to fitness tracking. We have a leak for the new watch as well, and it looks beautiful.
New iPad Pro
Another hardware upgrade we’re expecting to see at the Apple event is the introduction of the new iPad Pro. The iPad lineup was recently revisited by Apple when it launched the 6th-gen iPad with Apple Pencil support; the time is now ripe to make some radical changes to the iPad Pro as well.
Rumors suggest the new iPad Pro will come with thinner bezels all around, and a Face ID functionality — which implies the death of the home button on the iPad Pro as well. Another leak suggests Apple might add a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner to the iPad Pro, but that sounds very improbable.
New MacBook Air (and More Macs?)
We’ve done this dance before. The MacBook Air was rumored to be announced last year as well and nothing came of it. However, seeing as the MacBook Air is a highly popular product, I don’t believe Apple is ready to discontinue it yet and so we might well see a refresh of the MacBook Air.
While we don’t expect to see changes in the design of the laptop, we do expect it to come with Retina displays instead of the 1440×900 panel the older MacBook Airs have sported.
There are also rumors that a new iMac and iMac Pro may be announced but we’re not really sure about that. The iMac Pro just got here this year, and announcing an upgrade to a pro desktop this soon doesn’t sound like Apple’s style (just ask the Mac Pro).
AirPower and new AirPods Case
Apple’s wireless charging mat was shown off with the iPhone X last year, and is yet to see the light of the day. We’re expecting (and honestly hoping, by now) that Apple is finally ready to put the AirPower wireless charging mat on sale.
If that happens, by the way, Apple will also probably announce a new AirPods charging case because the AirPower is supposed to wirelessly charge the AirPods, the Apple Watch, and the iPhone at the same time. To be honest, a new version of AirPods might well be on the table as well.
iOS 12 and macOS Mojave
iOS 12 and macOS Mojave were announced at WWDC in June this year, and since then Apple has been steadily rolling out developer and public betas for the software to users. A Gold Master candidate is still awaited, but the company should give us a final release date for both operating systems.
iOS 12 brings in a bunch of new features and improvements to Siri to make the experience useful and more enjoyable, while macOS Mojave brings a ton of improvements and UI changes including a brand new system wide dark mode.
Apple Event: More than Just iPhones
The September 12 Apple ‘Gather Round’ event might be known as the iPhone event, but Apple has been launching hardware alongside the iPhones as well. This year, we’re certainly expecting the Cupertino giant to announce a whole host of new hardware products (the three new iPhones not withstanding) for us to be excited about.
