Gurman: flat-edge Apple Watch could surface eventually; sees new iPad Pro design, AirPods Pro in '22
For those AirPods wearers unhappy that the third-generation version of the "in-earable" didn't show up for an appearance at Apple's California Streaming event last Tuesday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has some potentially good news. In the latest edition of his weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman said that he still expects to see Apple release the wireless Bluetooth earbuds before the end of the year.
Gurman sees AirPods 3 launching later this year, new AirPods Pro next year
The rumor mill called for the new AirPods to be equipped with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), but arguably this is the feature that differentiates the AirPods from the AirPods Pro so we will have to wait and see what features Apple plans on including with the device. Overall, he says that in 2022, Apple fans will see the launch of three new Apple Watches with one of them being the previously rumored rugged model of the timepiece.
Render of the 2022 iPhone desi
no notch, flush mounted camera module
He also notes that 2022 will bring a "major iPhone upgrade," a new version of the AirPods Pro, and an updated iPad Pro. And Gurman also suggests that we will see a preview of Apple's Mixed Reality (AR/VR) headset next year.
While writing about the new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models in comparison to last year's models, Gurman mentioned the smaller notch and the 120Hz ProMotion display. He said that the biggest surprises this year for iPhone users was the lack of a price hike and a release date only one week after pre-orders started. But I think that Gurman might have forgotten about the larger capacity batteries which would be one of the reasons that yours truly would decide to upgrade-if indeed I decide to trade in my iPhone 11 Pro Max (heck, the Google Pixel 6 Pro is still an option)
Sure, there are power banks and battery cases, and other accessories that one can carry that cost a lot less than a brand new iPhone 13 Pro Max. But sometimes carrying all of that extra stuff is just a pain in the butt. This writer's best power bank is a 30,000mAh model (got two of them) but they are bulky and heavy and the smaller banks are helpful when out.
Several Twitter tipsters (you know who you are) and Gurman himself were expecting a major redesign for the Apple Watch Series 7 that just didn't materialize. Theories about what happened are numerous and it really doesn't matter. Some say that Apple might have set them up although it doesn't seem likely that such a huge company like Apple would actually plan something like that no matter how much Tim Cook hates leaks.
Whatever the reason, the flat-edge timepiece didn't surface last week. Now it is possible that Apple was planning all along to use the design for next year's watch and that sounds logical. Apple never mentioned the new S7 chip running its latest timepiece, but as Gurman notes in his email, the CPU on the S7 "appears to be" the same as the CPU on the S6. This could be due to the same brain drain that resulted in limited improvements on the A15 Bionic chipset.
Gurman also called the redesign of the new iPad mini "significant" but did call it an iPad Air mini due to the similarities in design. That includes the Touch ID integration with the power button. And you can count him as one of the many who are looking forward to a foldable iPhone. He says that those with a laptop and an iPhone 12 Pro Max or iPhone 13 Pro Max with its 6.7-inch display, don't need the new iPad mini. But he writes that he would love to see the day when his iPhone unfolds to become an 8-inch iPad.
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