Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is slated for next week, starting on June 4, and it carries a lot of expectation from a hardware perspective. If you remember, only one new gadget came out of the company’s March event — a new cheap iPad with Apple Pencil support — and it was great. But many consumers were hoping for more… A Mac? MacBooks? iPad Pro? Something else? It might be too early for those (rumored) sweat-resistant AirPods, but on the consumer electronics side, there’s still a lot to be excited for. It’s likely that the next-gen operating systems for iPhone, iPad, Macs and Apple Watch will also be announced (iOS 12, macOS 11.14, tvOS and watchOS 5, respectively), along with a released for AirPlay 2, finally. Here’s what we’re hoping for expecting.
New iPad Pros
The general line of thinking is that Apple’s iPad Pro line is ripe for a refresh. Right now there are two different iPad Pro models you can buy, a 10.5-inch or a 12.9-inch model, and while we expect both to be updated with new faster processors, and probably a brighter display, the real improvement is that to further distinguish itself from the new cheaper iPad, which just gained Apple Pencil support, the new iPad Pros could be redesigned to look more similar to an iPhone X. We’re talking no Home button and adding Face ID. Not sure about the notch, though.
New MacBook Pros
Apple will likely refresh its MacBook line with newer processors and brighter screens — that’s probably what most people expected. However, with many popular Windows laptops gaining some sort of facial recognition software, we believe that the next-gen MacBook Pros will have Face ID. And because the current crop of MacBook Pros has had significant keyboard trouble, Apple’s newer computers should also have better, updated keyboards.
New MacBook Air with Retina Display
A MacBook Air with a Retina display has long been on the cards, and hopefully, now is the time that Apple is going to announce that it’s coming to fruition. Of course, there’s also speculation that Apple will never make another MacBook Air again, which hasn’t been updated in a while, but we’re in the camp hoping for a faster, slimmer and all-around better lightweight laptop.
AirPower Charging Mat
Admittedly, we expected Apple to release its wireless charging mat at last March’s event — but it didn’t happen. So if it doesn’t get released this go around — meaning Apple reveals an exact release date — we don’t know when that’s going to happen. Apple originally announced the AirPower charging mat last fall, which will be able to charge any of the newest iPhones and the Apple Watch Series 3 simultaneously.
AirPod Wireless Charging Case
When Apple first announced the AirPower charging mat, it depicted it being able to charge AirPods. Well, AirPods are currently unable to wireless charge, so we’re expecting a new wireless charging case. We’re guessing you’re going to be able to buy AirPods with either a wired (current) or wireless charging case, the latter of which should be a little more expensive.
iPhone SE 2
To date, the smallest and cheapest iPhone that Apple sells is its iPhone SE. It’s several years old and at this point, the company needs to either kill it or innovate. We’re hoping the latter. Let’s be clear that this new gadget — the iPhone SE 2 — is a long shot, but hopefully, the new model will support wireless charging and have an upgraded display and processor. And yes, it’ll most likely come in some new colorways.
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