Apple Watch Ultra underwater
Apple
Even as developers, financial analysts, and select members of the media get hands-on with Apple’s new Vision Pro headset, the company is slated to release refreshed versions of existing offerings, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Apple is expected to stick to a traditional fall launch for the iPhone 15, but over the next 12 months, the company will also roll out a slate of upgrades across all its major product lines.
A pair of new 24-inch iMacs are slated for launch, Bloomberg reported Sunday. Apple has also begun early work on an even larger 30-inch iMac, which would be the company’s largest all-in-one screen size to date. The iPad Pro and iPad Air are both expected to receive refreshes as well, with the two iPad Pro models at last getting OLED screens.
A new Apple Watch Ultra, as well as two sizes of the next-generation Apple Watch 9, are also expected, according to the report.
The MacBook Pro will ship in 13-, 14- and 16-inch variants, Bloomberg reported, all featuring Apple’s new M3 chipset. However, the M3 will not power Apple’s $3,500 headset, which will instead rely on Apple’s current-generation M2 processor. Apple already shipped a new 15-inch MacBook Air at WWDC, but Bloomberg reports that another refresh is already in the works.
Along with the new products, consumers and investors are watching to see how the company’s Vision Pro will sell. Apple is the latest entrant to the virtual reality space, and while hands-on experiences have been largely positive, some have reported motion sickness or an uncomfortable weight from the headset. Still, specs suggest the Vision Pro is more powerful than nearly all of its competitors, with two high-definition screens and custom processors to reduce latency.
Apple is expected to slacken its tight controls over who is allowed to bring the headset home, Bloomberg reported, expanding the circle from just the most senior engineers and executives. “Select” developers will also be given access to the headset starting next month, according to the report, as the company looks to flesh out the VisionOS ecosystem.
Work on two new and bifurcated product lines, one second-generation high-end model that will be the continuation of the original Vision Pro and the other a lower-end version, has already begun, according to the report.