Here’s what to expect from Apple in 2022
2021 set the bar pretty high for Apple product launches. Here’s what I’m predicting (and hoping) for this year.
Earlier this week, I published a piece looking back on Apple’s 2021. Now it’s time to close that chapter and focus fully on what’s to come from Cupertino in 2022. Let’s break things down by category:
Mac
Due to Apple’s ongoing migration from Intel chips to Apple silicon, a lot of attention has rightly been put on the Mac, both by Apple, and its customers and observers. In 2020 Apple pledged to have its entire lineup of Macs migrated over to Apple Silicon within two years. If they stay on track with that pledge, that means they’ll have that accomplished by the end of this year. What remains still to be migrated? Primarily just the Mac Pro, at least as far as Apple’s existing lineup is concerned.
However, despite the fact that Apple discontinued the iMac Pro last March, I think there’s still a good bet that Apple brings it back this year. At one point rumors suggested it might come with a massive 30-inch display, but lately 27-inches (as was the iMac Pro’s screen size before) seems more likely. The question now is, what will power the iMac Pro? Will Apple release a new M1 variant (think M1 Extreme)? That seems unlikely given that the current top of the line processor (M1 Max) already has a name that implies that it’s the ultimate expression of the product. That said, given Apple’s track record of naming products, you can’t always go by what seems logical. Or could it be that Apple fuses two or even four M1 Max chips together and gives us the M1 Max Duo and the M1 Max Quad? If they employ the latter strategy, my bet is that they’ll reserve the M1 Max Quad for the Mac Pro. In terms of design, I would expect the iMac Pro to follow the design of the new M1 iMac fairly closely, though perhaps with a thicker enclosure to allow for a wider array of ports.
With respect to Mac Pro, I expect a redesign of the enclosure that doesn’t radically depart from what we have now but does shrink the enclosure significantly. The M1 series processors don’t generate nearly as much heat as Intel chips do, and it likely wouldn’t need such a large power supply. There would also be less need for expandability. The M1 Max already has onboard ProRes encoders, so customers wouldn’t need to add an Afterburner card, and the M1 carries it’s GPU cores onboard the main SoC. I do wonder if Apple will stick with all Unified Memory as on the other M1 Macs, or if they’ll offer the option of traditional expandable memory.
There’s also still a place in the lineup for a “Mac mini Pro.” In fact, the highest configuration available for purchase in the Mac mini line is still powered by an Intel chip. I have a hard time seeing any Intel-powered Macs hanging around beyond this year, at least if Apple still intends to maintain its original goals for the transition. Perhaps a Mac mini Pro could be unveiled alongside the iMac Pro.
Timing: We still don’t have a strong sense of what Apple’s timelines are for chip rollouts and upgrades. I think Ideally you have both machines out by the time Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) rolls around this Summer, but it wouldn’t at all surprise me if we get the iMac Pro by then (or possibly as early as April) with the Mac Pro coming closer to the end of this year.
Meanwhile, by this Fall the M1 MacBook Air, and the other members of the first wave of M1 Macs will be two years old. My guess is that by November we get a completely redesigned MacBook Air running on the first of the forthcoming M2 chips. I’m expecting the MacBook Air to get a redesign in line with last year’s new iMacs, so expect lots of fun, friendly colors. I’m pretty excited about this honestly. My wild prediction is that the 13-inch, two-port MacBook Pro goes away, replaced by a 15-inch MacBook Air to help grow the MacBook Air line to better fill the void that currently exists between the MacBook Air and the 14-inch MacBook Pro. And what if I’ve got the timing wrong? What if, instead of a two year period in which Apple rolls it’s M-series chips, it’s actually a rolling 18-month cycle? That would see the M2 MacBook Air released this Spring. That would nicely align with the consumer-focused iMac launch we got last April. But would customers be confused if low-end Macs debut with an M2 chip while higher end M1-based products like the Mac Pro launch later in the year? We may well find out.
iPhone
Are the notch’s days numbered? I don’t think Apple hates the notch the way some people do, and in fact they’ve managed to make it a real part of the iPhone’s identity over the last five years. But rumors are heating up that Apple will replace it with a “hole punch display” where the camera simply appears within an otherwise uniform display from bezel to bezel. Other manufacturers have already been doing this, but the results haven’t always been great. I think this has been an example of Apple waiting until they can do it in a way that doesn’t introduce compromises they find unsatisfactory. We’ve also been hearing rumors for quite a while that Apple will eventually replace the Lightning port with… nothing, and go all inductive charging. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see this rumor come to fruition with the iPhone 14. In terms of overall design, I’m not expecting any major changes. I think Apple likes the slab-sides design that has permeated most of its product categories thus far.
Apple Watch
I’m not sure what to make of the idea that Apple will redesign the Apple Watch with slab-sides. That was a very hot rumor ahead of last year’s Apple Watch Series 7 debut and it didn’t come to fruition. I’m skeptical of how good such a design would look on the Watch, and also how it would feel on the wrist. We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I do expect Apple to continue cramming health sensors into these things just as fast as they can perfect the technology. The heavy rumor for the Apple Watch Series 8 is body temperature sensing. That would be really nice. Imagine not having to get up and dig out a dedicated thermometer when you’re sick, and in fact get alerts when you develop a fever, potentially alerting you that you’re ill before you’re fully aware of it.
iPad
I’m expecting an updated iPad Air with the A15 processor. I’m not expecting any changes to the iPad Pro, unless maybe it gets an M2 processor late in the year. With the entry-level iPad, I’d love it if this was finally the year in which Apple ditches the form factor that dates all the way back to the iPad 2 in 2011 in favor of the slab-sides design that the rest of the line has at this point. But I wonder what they do with display size. The iPad’s 10.2-inch display and the iPad Air’s 10.9-inch display are very close in size. Perhaps the iPad Air becomes the new entry level iPad? We’ll see.
Other Hardware
As much as I always want new Apple TV hardware, I don’t think we get it given that the last revision is not even a year old. I’m still wondering if the HomePod will return in some form, maybe with a lower price point. As good as the HomePod mini is, there’s still a hole in Apple’s line for a higher-end speaker capable of Dolby Atmos. And will Apple have a speaker with a display built in for family video conferencing built around Apple’s Center Stage technology?
Software
In my piece looking back on Apple’s 2021, I pointed out that software was a real weak spot. Apple had clearly taken off a year of normal software development to focus on things specifically geared toward the members of society who are still quarantining themselves. 2021 really felt like a lost year in terms of Apple software development. I expect them to make efforts to get back on track this year. I think all of Apple’s operating systems will get meaningful new features this year. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing just how Apple plans to continue to tell the iPad software story. iPadOS isn’t necessarily my favorite Apple operating system, but it’s certainly the most interesting and the one that affords the most opportunities for doing new things with personal computing.
Services
I didn’t really grade Apple’s services efforts in my 2021 review, but it’s clear that Apple still cares about growing its services offerings. Apple TV+ added a lot of new shows and films last year and gave us second seasons of the shows that debuted originally on the service. Apple also continued to expand Apple Arcade. That was the service I was most concerned Apple might allow to whither on the vine, but they haven’t. I thought it was smart of them to put so much of their focus on bringing new life to older iOS games by rolling them into Arcade. I still think there’s room for Apple to bring more “console-y” games to Apple Arcade, and I still think the way to get there is to build a dedicated controller for Apple Arcade that could be easily used across all of Apple’s platforms, but specifically with Apple TV. I’m drooling at the idea of an M1-powered Apple TV, but I’m just not sure Apple shares my enthusiasm in that direction. Apple News+ sort of is what it is, and I’m not sure there’s much they will or can do with it beyond what it already does, apart from bringing more local content to it. I think Apple Music has a lot of room for improvement. The UI is really good, and Spatial Audio has been a game-changer. Where they still trail Spotify is in algorithmic music recommendations and in the year-end-review area. I hope they address both of those this year. Apple Fitness+ is a service I had planned to invest a lot more time in last year than I actually did. Shocker, American fails in his New Year’s Resolution in the health and fitness department. But Apple has continued to expand the content in Fitness+, and I think the entire concept of wrapping a workout video service around Apple Watch is brilliant. I think they just keep going with it.
One More Thing…
VR. The entire industry is obsessed with VR and “metaverses,” and there have been heavy rumors that Apple will be working on both a VR headset and AR glasses. It feels like the VR headset is more firmly on track for an earlier release. My guess is we get that product in 2022 and the glasses in ’23 or ’24. So far VR has been focused around either gaming or niche experiences. Movies and interactive, immersive 3D videoconferencing are also areas of great potential for the technology. The real questions to me are, what experiences will Apple focus this product on, and how accessible will Apple’s headset be? If it’s a $3000 product, it’s going to be a niche product for the creative and engineering fields. If it’s $1000-$1500, then I think we’re talking about something that could become a large product category.
No matter what, 2022 is going to be an exciting year from Apple, and I can’t wait to go on this journey with you, dear readers. Let’s revisit this column at the end of 2022, and join me each week here at Your Apple Update column for insightful commentary on all things Apple. If you’re not already subscribed, please do so! It’s 100% free, and it’s the best way to stay in the loop.
Regarding eliminating the iPhone lightning port in favor of inductive charging... Charging is not all the lightning port does. How will this affect wired CarPlay users? What about Windows users who still back up to iTunes via USB? Regarding Apple Music, in my opinion their biggest feature lag compared to Spotify is their lack of cross-fading, like iTunes had. If they adopted that feature, I would probably switch over fully.