Apple's upcoming iPhone 12 models launching later this year are expected to adopt cheaper, less complex battery technology in order to offset a pretty costly upgrade to 5G.
Analysts
Kuo: Worldwide iPhone shipments could drop 30 percent if WeChat ban is upheld
If Apple is forced to remove China's popular WeChat app from the App Store globally, worldwide iPhone shipments could decline by as much as thirty percent.
Kuo: iPhones, iPads and certain Macs to adopt periscope telephoto cameras beginning in 2022
According to a new report from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, future iPhone models coming in 2022 will feature greater optical zoom than the current iPhones' 2x optical zoom by switching to a periscope telephoto lens design, which bends the light 90 degrees rathe than using a series of prisms and mirrors like the current iPhone lenses.
Kuo: Third-generation AirPods should use similar chip-packaging tech as AirPods Pro
Apple should borrow some of the miniaturization techniques for its upcoming third-generation AirPods from the current AirPods Pro noise-cancelling earbuds.
Kuo: First ARM Macs will be 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and overhauled iMac
Apple's first Mac models powered by in-house designed processors based on the same ARM CPU technology that's utilized in the company's mobile chips should be a new iMac all-in-one desktop featuring an all-new form factor and a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro notebook.
Kuo: AirPods 3 sporting AirPods Pro-like design arriving in the first half of 2021
Apple should release a pair of third-generation AirPods with an updated industrial design and possibly bringing some new features sometime in early 2021.
Kuo: iPhone 12 buyers won’t be getting free earphones in the box
Apple may stop bundling free earphones with new iPhones by the time its next iPhone models launch this fall, a major change considering that the company has been shipping its free wired earphones, called the EarPods, ever since the original iPhone launched back in 2007.
Kuo: Apple may have delayed first mini-LED products into 2021
Later this year, Apple was supposed to release products that use tens of thousands of mini-LED backlights instead of LED backlighting, providing local dimming for deeper blacks, richer color and sharper image. However, the coronavirus situation appears to have spoiled those plans and prompted the iPhone maker to push back its mini-LED product roadmap to 2021.
Kuo: Apple would pay 40-60% less for the CPU by switching away from Intel
Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo with TF International Securities thinks one of the more important reasons for Apple to ditch Intel processors in its Mac computers is price.
Kuo: iPhone gaining a bigger sensor & sensor stabilization in 2020, periscope lens in 2022
Apple is allegedly working on interesting photography improvements for future iPhones.
Kuo: updated MacBook Pro and Air models with scissor keyboards arriving by the summer
Following positive market response to the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple's first notebook ditching the problematic four-year-old butterfly keyboard in favor of the tried-and-tested scissor key mechanism, Apple should release new MacBook Pros and Airs with scissor keys by June.
Kuo: expect a radical major Mac notebook chassis redesign in 2021
Following first ARM-based Mac models in late 2020 or early 2021, Apple fans could be in for a real treat next year: the first major redesign of the Mac notebook chassis following the introduction of the unibody aluminum casing industrial design more than a decade ago.