Apple’s September event brought us the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 5, launch details for Apple Arcade and Apple TV+, and even the new seventh-generation iPad with a larger 10.2-inch screen. However, there are a number of product launches that Apple has decided to save for a potential October event (or another time) and some that were possibly even scrapped from the September event at the last minute. Read on for a look at everything Apple didn’t announce at Steve Jobs Theater in September but could unveil soon.
Some of the upcoming new products from Apple that weren’t announced are expected or even promised to land sometime this fall. However, that window does officially extend to December 21 and Apple has been known to push its product releases to the last minute.
Other upcoming products like Apple’s item tracker and Stereo AR apps and headset could be announced at any time but there’s no guarantee we’ll see those land this year, even though they could have been scrapped from the September event at the last minute.
Apple Tag
We know quite a bit about Apple’s upcoming Tile-like item tracker after our own Gui Rambo first discovered the product back in April. The Apple Tag will work with the new Find My app in iOS 13 and offer a seamless native experience to track belongings.
In June, Gui found the product “Tag1,1” in the first iOS 13 beta along with the first image of the circular item tracker. Since then, he’s shared even more about how the product will work. The Apple Tag should pack Bluetooth LE, NFC, Ultra Wideband (UWB) tech, and a speaker to easily keep track of items or hunt down lost belongings.
As expected, the iPhone 11 lineup includes a new ‘U1’ chip to enable use of the Ultra Wideband tech but Apple didn’t give it hardly any stage time at the event and has only referenced so far to improve AirDrop. As 9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo noted:
However, what was notably missing from the keynote today was a U1 device: the Apple tracker tile accessory. As the keynote was only an hour and 40 minutes in duration, it seems like Apple may have cut the Apple Tag announcement at the last minute. Apple events are usually timed to hit the two-hour mark. Perhaps the lost 20 minutes will reappear at an Apple event next month, where the Apple Tag will finally be revealed?
Device tracker maker Tile also seemed like it was expecting Apple to unveil its Tag product this week as it sent out a reminder to media about its products and device integrations in an effort to not be forgotten along with the Apple item tracker news.
With the Apple item tracker launch seeming imminent, we could see it announced at an October Apple event but a 2019 launch isn’t guaranteed.
We also still don’t have any details about pricing for Apple’s item tracker but the higher-end Tile Pro with removable battery goes for around $25 or less in a multi-pack.
Stereo AR apps and headset(s)
While references for Apple’s item tracker were all removed with the recent iOS 13 GM and iOS 13.1 beta 3, curious enough Apple left the StarBoard framework of its upcoming Stereo AR apps and headset(s) in the most recent builds.
As Gui first discovered in April and explained more last week, Apple’s work on Stereo AR apps and headset(s) is at a quite advanced state.
Engineers have also been developing support for stereo AR in iOS – as reported by 9to5Mac back in April – but the project may not be the “Apple Glasses” everyone has been talking about. It consists of support for a face-mounted AR experience, which can be compared to Google’s Daydream, and has been in internal testing with support for two Apple devices (codenamed Luck and Franc) and a third-party device, HoloKit.
Stereo AR apps on iPhone work similar to CarPlay, with support for stereo AR declared in the app’s manifest. These apps can run in either “held mode”, which is basically normal AR mode, or “worn mode”, which is when used with one of these external devices. A new system shell – called StarBoard – hosts extensions that support the new AR mode, similar to how WatchKit apps worked in the original Watch.
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With recent reports that the AR headset project was canceled, it’s unclear when (or if) Apple is going to announce something about this, but the company has definitely been working on stereo AR support for gaming and other applications, which is at quite an advanced state as of iOS 13.
Previously, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would start manufacturing its AR headset as soon as Q4 2019 but mentioned that mass production might not take place until Q2 2020. If that comes true, we could have a little longer to wait for Apple to unveil Stereo AR and its headset… unless it decides to share an early preview.
Updated Apple TV
While we haven’t heard many rumblings about refreshed Apple TV hardware, our Zac Hall pointed out several reasons why a new Apple TV with HDMI 2.1 and a newer processor could be arriving this year.
First, the set-top box has been on a two-year upgrade cycle for a while now with the Apple TV HD landing in 2015 and the Apple TV 4K launching in 2017.
Next, we’ve seen a couple of tips recently:
- The Twitter account @never_released which goes by the codename Longhorn expects a new Apple TV 11,1 model with an A12 processor upgrade from the current A10X Fusion chip
- An anonymous tip we received tonight expects a new Apple TV with HDMI 2.1
With those three things plus the improvements that HDMI 2.1 is said to bring to games (and Apple Arcade), a fall 2019 Apple TV hardware update may be likely. Check out more details from Tom’s Guide about what benefits HDMI 2.1 will offer.
An Apple TV hardware announcement could make sense in a simple press release or it could also end up in an October event… just before the launch of Apple TV+.
iPad Pro refresh
While Apple often saves its iPad announcements for October events, we got the seventh-gen iPad with 10.2-inch screen at its iPhone event this year. However, updates to the 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro may be ready to launch next month.
Like Apple TV, we haven’t heard many rumors or reports about what refreshed iPad Pro models could offer this year. But last month, Macotakara reported that the 2019 iPad Pro update could bring the iPhone 11 Pro triple-camera system to the tablet.
That would be quite the jump from the single rear camera on the 2018 iPad Pro models and we haven’t heard any other corroborating reports but it seems like a possibility and would bring support for experiences like Stereo AR apps and more powerful camera and video software features arriving with the iPhone 11 lineup.
16-inch MacBook Pro
Back in February, Ming-Chi Kuo first reported that an all-new 16-inch MacBook Pro would be arriving this year. Since then we’ve heard about a lot of the expected features and specs. Notably, it’s said to be the first MacBook Pro to shift from the troublesome butterfly keyboard design back to a scissor key design.
Other expectations for the 16-inch MacBook Pro include an all-new design with slim bezels which could allow the larger notebook to have the same footprint as the 15-inch MacBook Pro. The display may feature a 3072 x 1920 resolution, which would also be an improvement over the current 15-inch notebook.
As for pricing, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is believed to start at around $3,000 and be available this fall, so an October event launch or at least reveal would make sense.
Read up on all the details we know about the 16-inch MacBook Pro here.
Mac Pro
The all-new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR were first unveiled at WWDC this past June. Apple has only shared that the new products would see a “fall” release but didn’t give any further launch details.
We do know that pricing starts at $5,999 for the Mac Pro and $4,999 for the Pro Display XDR and all the specs for the modular pro machine.
From our previous Mac Pro coverage:
Apple says the new Mac Pro was designed with easy access to its components. There are stainless steel handles for modularity, all internal components mount to the frame with 360-degree components.
- 300 watts of power, runs fully unconstrained
- 2933MHz ECC memory, 12 DIMM slots
- 8 internal PCI slots, four double-wide slots, three single side slots
- Half-length slot populated with two TB3 ports, audio jack, two USB A ports, two 10Gb Ethernet ports
- Up to 1.5 terabytes of RAM
- Intel Xeon processor with up to 28 cores
- Apple designed a PCI connector with a second PCIe connector and power
- Multiple graphics options; can configure with options such as Radeon Pro Vega II
- Two GPUs connected via Infinity Fabric Link, 5X faster than PCI bust
- Apple built a brand new card called Afterburner for video editing, 6 billion pixels per second. 3 streams of 8K, 12 streams of 4K
- Working with partners such as Adobe, Blackmagic, as well as internal teams like Final Cut Pro and Logic
- Brand new version of Logic with focus on performance.
- The most expandable Mac ever, the most powerful Mac ever
The new Mac Pro starts at $5999 for 8-core, 32GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Available this fall.
Even if Apple doesn’t launch the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR at a potential October event, it could share launch details to whet the appetite of pro customers. But if we’re lucky, Apple won’t wait until late December to launch these highly-anticipated, true professional products.
What upcoming Apple product(s) are you most excited for? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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