We already know a lot about Apple’s upcoming iPhone and MacBook Pro refreshes, but a new report today from Bloomberg details a bit more about what the company has up its sleeve for the rest of the year. The report claims that in addition to the new iPhone and MacBook Pro lineups, Apple is planning to refresh the iMac and MacBook Air and will also introduce a new 5K display, as we’ve reported in the past, in partnership with LG. On the software side of things, Apple is reportedly working on a variety of new features for the iPad Pro.
For the iPad Pro, Apple is said to be planning new features for the Apple Pencil. For instance, the company has tested giving users the ability to annotate content in applications across iOS, including Mail, Messages, Safari, and more. Currently, the Apple Pencil only supports full functionality in select applications.
While Apple isn’t expected to refresh the hardware of the iPad lineup until next year – and introduce a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro – the hardware update will reportedly include a faster display technology that allows for smoother zooming, panning, and scrolling.
While Apple may include the new iPad Pro software features with iOS 10 this fall, it’s more likely that they will come as part of an iOS 10 upgrade during the first half of 2017.
As we’ve reported in the past, Apple is planning a new 5K external display with a built-in GPU following the discontinuation of the Thunderbolt Display. Today’s report adds that Apple is partnering with LG for the 5K standalone display, much like it has done of the iMac 5K displays.
Finally, Apple is said to be planning refreshes for the MacBook Air and iMac lineups later this year, in addition to the new MacBook Pros. The new MacBook Air models are said to feature USB-C support, while the iMac changes will be internal with options for new GPUs from AMD. Regarding the MacBook Pro refresh, today’s report offers a bit more insight into how the OLED touch pad will work.
For instance, when users are viewing their desktop, they will be presented with a screen that shows touch buttons of the standard function row, including controls for brightness and media playback. Other apps, however, will have specific touch buttons on the OLED display. In Safari, for example, controls for things like quickly performing a page search will be present. Throughout the entire operating system, though, volume controls will be displayed on the OLED touch bar, as will an option to display the traditional function keys.
The Mac refreshes are expected in October, according to today’s report. So for now, it looks like we’ll see new iPhones next week, with new Macs coming in October, an iPad hardware update next year, and an Apple Watch 2 sometime this year.
