10 Apple launches we can't wait to see in 2023: from iPhone 15 to VR headset - iMore

2022 was a coagulated twelvemonth for Apple — the iPhone 14 Pro impressed with its Dynamic Island, the AirPods Pro 2 raised the barroom for in-ear sound cancelling headphones, the M2 MacBook Air was a slick and svelte makeover for the line, and iOS and macOS updates breathed caller beingness into older devices.

But determination were immoderate gaps successful the line-up, immoderate MIA features, and immoderate missed opportunities, too.

Where’s the big-screen M2 MacBook Pros? Where’s the long-awaited Apple silicon Mac Pro? How astir Apple’s classical euphony app? And what astir the near-mythical Apple AR/VR headset, rumored for truthful many, galore years now?

Yes, 2022 was coagulated — but 2023 could beryllium an all-time great twelvemonth for the Cupertino company, if it’s capable to travel done with immoderate astonishing merchandise refreshes, marque caller hardware and an reply to each those galore rumors swirling astir its upcoming releases. Here’s the 10 Apple launches we’re astir excited astir (potentially!) seeing successful 2023.

1 — Apple AR/VR headset

This is the large one, truthful this is wherever we’re going to start. For years now, Apple has been rumored to beryllium making immoderate benignant of head-mounted, wearable computing device, with 2 decades of patent filings mounting up. 2023 is the twelvemonth we’re expecting it to yet interruption cover, with a mixed augmented reality/virtual world headset coming first, followed by an AR-focussed brace of glasses pursuing astatine a aboriginal date.

Despite galore quality reports and rumors, it’s inactive a task shrouded successful secrecy, but here’s a fewer things we judge to beryllium acceptable successful chromatic for the device. The Apple VR instrumentality volition marque usage of top-end A-Series processors, but with much powerfulness than ever seen successful adjacent a high-end iPhone. Dual Micro OLED displays, with a 3,000ppi sharpness, are thought to beryllium successful place, with dozens of cameras and 3D-sensing modules connected committee to way a user’s situation and motion-based input. A caller operating system, close present codenamed “realityOS” oregon “xrOS”, volition beryllium introduced, focussing connected VR for this instrumentality with immoderate basal augmented world features included. It’s acceptable to beryllium the champion of the champion of VR computing frankincense far, according to those successful the know, and arsenic specified volition person a hefty terms tag — expect northbound of $2,000.

With companies similar Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta betting the location connected high-end hardware similar the Quest Pro and a immense metaverse expansion, Apple won’t privation to miss having a involvement connected what remains fundamentally virgin territory for Silicon Valley. As an all-new merchandise country for the company, it’s the astir breathtaking and intriguing imaginable motorboat connected this list.

2 — 14 and 16-inch M2 MacBook Pro (and possibly a 15-incher, too)

Apple’s caller large-screen M2 MacBook Pro computers probably won’t beryllium thing to constitute location about. That’s due to the fact that each signs constituent to a instrumentality astir identical to the 1 Apple rolled retired successful 2021. That means we tin expect the aforesaid squared design, tons of ports, 120Hz mini-LED displays, and MagSafe charging. It was a large plan so, definite — if it ain't broke, don't hole it, astatine slightest not this soon aft that peculiarly crowd-pleasing redesign's debut.

The large alteration is expected to beryllium the advent of the caller M2 spot to the lineup of 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros, apt successful much almighty M2 Pro and M2 Max chips we saw successful M1 variants successful the older models. If the 2022 M2 MacBook Air is thing to spell by, this could marque for immoderate reasonably bully show gains of astir 20% implicit the M1 version, which is of people amplified erstwhile you see M2 Pro and Max volition harvester aggregate chips utilizing Apple’s peculiar unified architecture. One diagnostic we’d emotion to spot connected MacBook is the Dynamic Island. The MacBook Pro already has a notch, truthful wherefore not accommodate it to go the aforesaid floating land that transformed the iPhone 14 Pro successful 2022? 

Perhaps a much breathtaking MacBook imaginable for 2023 is an all-new 15-inch MacBook Air. Like the Pro, this astir apt won’t beryllium a large upgrade successful presumption of plan and features, with the caller size apt to beryllium the headline. It whitethorn besides athletics 1 of the much almighty M2 spot variants, powered by a overmuch larger artillery enabled by the bigger signifier factor. 

3 — Homepod 2

Users of the archetypal HomePod person travel to emotion their big, cloth covered cylinder of affluent sound. It’s not hard to spot wherefore erstwhile you usage 1 either: they dependable astir 3 times arsenic large arsenic they are, and look beauteous phenomenal too. The enactment is good overdue an update now, however. The past travel retired four years agone in 2018, and we’ve lone seen a tiny mentation merchandise since past successful the HomePod mini. 2023, with immoderate luck, should bring america thing a small shinier, and a small newer, with updated features.

More colors is weirdly 1 of the main things to expect from a HomePod 2 update. The HomePod Mini launched successful a scope of colors to gaffe into immoderate location decor. The large HomePod lone came successful achromatic and black, truthful immoderate fresh-and-funky colors would beryllium a amusive update. You tin besides expect much integration with Siri. We deliberation that the HomePod could good go much susceptible of answering questions, similar different astute assistants rivals, too, making the HomePod a amended lucifer against competitors similar Alexa successful the Amazon Echo enactment of speakers. It’s not apt that it’s going to look antithetic to the existent model, though it’s aged capable present that Apple could astonishment us.

With the WiFi streaming aboard the existent HomePod, determination is already tenable enactment for Apple Music Hi-Res Lossless. Bass power could usage immoderate work, however. It’s presently precise overmuch each oregon nothing, wherever you get to take betwixt ‘table shaker’ oregon ‘where’s the bass gone?’. More linear and progressive power would beryllium bully to have, particularly considering however bully the talker sounds otherwise.

4 — An all-new Apple TV / Homepod hybrid

One of the coolest parts of the HomePod household is their quality to nexus up to your Apple TV and supply stellar dependable to each of your streaming content. Building connected this cinematic combo is said to beryllium an all-new Apple TV and HomePod 2-in-1 hybrid. Think a HomePod styled soundbar with an Apple TV built successful for a genuinely each successful 1 solution to some dependable and TV streaming.

What other could this offer? Well, ideate that you could link different HomePods to the hybrid. You could popular a fewer HomePods Mini speakers astir the country for existent situation sound, with the frankly ridiculous magnitude of bass they pump retired negating the request for a subwoofer. It could enactment arsenic the halfway of a surviving room, fixed you could watercourse Apple Music to it arsenic well, portion your TV is off. Who knows, Apple whitethorn determine to participate the TV crippled and connection a TV with Apple TV and HomePod built in. It’s a ace chill idea, and we can’t hold to spot what Apple whitethorn bash with it.

5 — Severance play 2 (and much large fund Apple TV Plus launches)

What were the enigma goats about? We indispensable know! It’s a question that — weird arsenic it sounds — is astir apt stuck successful the minds of anyone who watched Apple TV Plus show and breakout deed Severance successful its archetypal play successful 2022. And, with its instrumentality all-but guaranteed for 2023, the sci-fi comedy-drama whitethorn yet bring the reply for Severance play 2. Will the outies and innies ever beryllium capable to fig retired what the hellhole is going connected astatine tech hellscape Lumon? It’ll beryllium a chaotic ride, either way.

But that’s not each heading to Apple TV Plus for streamers — Steve Spielberg returns to serialised humanities warfare for Masters of the Air, Jason Segel and Harrison Ford squad up for immoderate soul-searching amusive successful Shrinking, and Henry Cavill sports a frankly atrocious haircut other pop-sensation Dua Lipa successful spy-flick-thriller Argyle. That’s conscionable the extremity of the iceberg – it’s going to beryllium a large twelvemonth for Apple TV.

6 — New iOS, macOS, watchOS and iPad OS improvements

It’s ever much hard to foretell what’s coming connected the bundle broadside of things than the hardware line-ups, but 1 happening we cognize for definite — you’re not going to permission 2023 without a raft of caller features coming to your cogwheel via iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14 and watchOS 10.

What tin you expect to see? We’re hoping for a large revision of Messages successful iOS, further Stage Manager improvements successful iPadOS and macOS, and watchOS bundle that brings afloat independency to the wearable with nary request astatine each for an iPhone.

7 — Apple Classical

We truly had expected to spot this 1 successful 2022, but alas, inactive nary motion of Apple’s classical euphony service. Apple acquired classical streaming work Primephonic backmost successful August of 2021, and it seemed a fixed that Apple would either integrate the champion of that app into its ain Apple Music  subscription platform, oregon rotation it retired into a classical-specific Apple-branded app of its own.

From a user-facing perspective, that has not been the case, though you tin beryllium definite Apple is putting Primephonic’s expertise to usage down the scenes. Primephonic had a fewer unsocial selling points that made it utile to musicians and listeners alike. Firstly, it had a pay-per-second royalties model, alternatively than pay-per-play, for its associated artists — important, fixed that classical movements tin beryllium overmuch longer than your mean popular song. And Primephonic besides had a elaborate metadata and hunt strategy tailored to the complexities of classical music, wherever antithetic conductors and orchestras tin regularly recorded the aforesaid pieces by the aforesaid composers galore times over. Here’s hoping Apple tin propulsion it altogether into a work of its ain successful 2023, fixed that its acquisition of Primephonic saw the archetypal app shuttered.

8 — iMac and Mac Pro revisions

We’ve precocious heard that Apple whitethorn person pulled the plug connected its large “M2 Extreme” update for the Mac Pro, but it volition inactive apt get a beauteous hefty caller processor. We’ve besides been told it volition beryllium astir 50% smaller than the existent version. This was expected to driblet successful 2022 successful enactment with Apple’s two-year Apple silicon transition, but the institution missed the deadline. 

We’ve besides heard rumblings of a caller M3 iMac to regenerate the existent M1 model, this got a fabulous redesign with M1 and Apple has a large level to physique upon. 

A new iMac Pro has been strangely absent from Apple’s plans — again with the caller iMac signifier origin and Apple silicon, the clip has ne'er been much close for a much almighty iMac. We’d emotion to spot immoderate dark, Pro colors to opposition the agleam and colorful regular iMac line. 

9 — AirPods Max 2

The AirPods Max person been astir a small while, launching 2 years agone successful 2020. It’s astir present erstwhile we’d expect to spot immoderate benignant of update from Apple and rumours astir a caller mentation successful 2022 were rife. Alas, an update we did not receive, and alternatively we tin lone conjecture and imagination astatine what the caller brace mightiness feature. We tin conjecture with immoderate authority, however, fixed the updates that came to the AirPods Pro 2 towards the extremity of 2022.

The biggest update we are expecting connected the AirPods Max 2 successful 2023 is improved sound canceling. The AirPods Pro 2 featured caller sound canceling algorithms and microphones, and we deliberation the aforesaid updates volition beryllium coming to the AirPods Max 2. Also caller to the AirPods Pro 2 was the caller and vastly improved transparency mode. Now featuring endless adjustability and immoderate precise chill tech that blocks retired the obnoxiously large sound portion feeding you the sound and sounds you need, the caller transparency mode is astir similar witchcraft. Expect to spot it articulation the AirPods Max 2 diagnostic set. Sound prime is apt to person a bump, though it's improbable we tin expect excessively overmuch successful the mode of the wide dependable illustration being retuned. In different words, lukewarm dependable lovers rejoice, and audiophiles look elsewhere. Physically, they’re apt to stay the same, with insignificant cosmetic updates and perchance caller earpads.

Of course, we’d similar immoderate different caller features connected them too. Better enactment for Apple Hi-Res Lossless would beryllium nice. While it’s (as yet) intolerable to provender specified a precocious bitrate awesome implicit Bluetooth, it would beryllium bully to perceive to these tracks implicit a wired transportation astatine slightest — not imaginable with the totally-wireless first-gen AirPods Max. Make them lighter arsenic good delight Apple — they are simply excessively dense astatine the moment. Whatever happens, we deliberation determination should beryllium an announcement of the AirPods Max 2 adjacent year, though erstwhile it’ll be, we cannot say.

10 — iPhone 15 (and caller Watches and iPads, too) 

Apple’s iPhone 15 could beryllium a monolithic upgrade this year, if rumors of USB-C connectivity yet travel to fruition. Apple has publically confirmed it volition comply with caller EU regulations mandating USB-C by the extremity of 2024, but the question remains arsenic to whether that means iPhone 15 volition get USB-C, oregon whether we’ll person to hold for iPhone 16, oregon possibly adjacent 17. 

Other rumors see a imaginable redesign that could instrumentality inspiration from curvier iPhone models of the past. 

We don’t truly cognize what Apple has planned for Apple Watch successful 2023, but some the Apple Watch SE and Series 8 were underwhelming upgrades, and Apple volition request to marque large changes adjacent twelvemonth to person users they request to update. Apple Watch Ultra shined successful 2022, but it seems improbable Apple would update specified a premium merchandise truthful soon aft release. 

Likewise, we haven’t heard astir immoderate large plans for iPad successful 2023. We cognize OLED is coming to iPad successful the future, but that whitethorn not beryllium until 2024. Apple’s iPad Air is owed a bigger upgrade, arsenic is the iPad Pro. Both of these devices lone truly got caller processors successful their past updates, with small successful the mode of caller features oregon outer plan tweaks.