Apple Television, iPad Mini, MacBook Air Speculation for 2013

It's always interesting to see these predictions, even if they are just a guess. Here's my take on them:

- March 2013: iPad Mini with Retina display, update the little Apple TV box, allowing to do accept apps from developers, and some sort of iTunes radio product.

Click to expand...

The iPad Mini with a retina display won't come so soon. Not only 5 months after the release of the original model. It will be upgraded together with the regular-sized iPad, and I don't know if it will get a retina display in 2013. Perhaps a new form factor would be needed to accomodate a retina display, and that might come in 2014 only.

I have no clue on the rest.

- June 2013: WWDC brings us previews of iOS 7, and OSX, as well as MacBook Airs with Retina displays. Look for Jony Ive's influence over iOS to start showing up here.

Click to expand...

iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 seem likely to me in June. Johy Ive's influence? Perhaps, but subtle.

As for new Macs, they will come when Haswell is out. That may be as early as March, but, according to the leaked roadmaps I've seen, I would not count on ULV processors for the MacBook Air before Q3 2013.

I think it is very likely that a redesigned MacBook Air with a retina display will be released sometime in 2013, though.

- September 2013: iPhone 5S, a "modest upgrade" from the iPhone 5. The iPad Mini gets a specs bump, and we get a new iPad, which is totally redesigned to look more like the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.

Click to expand...

I guess the iPhone 5S in September 2013, with a spec bump, is quite obvious at this point. Unless, of course, fierce competition forces Apple to change the iPhone earlier.

- November 2013: An Apple TV comes out. It should cost $1,500-$2,000 and come in sizes from 42-inches to 55-inches

Click to expand...

This is the wild card for me. Year after year, I hear rumors about the Apple TV, which never comes. Will it come by the end of 2013?

Well, I guess Apple, the way it pushes retina displays on its devices, would release a "retina" TV, which would mean UHDTV (3840x2160). Those screens are already on the market, but they are very expensive, and I guess Apple would neither want to release an inferior product with 1080p standard resolution nor could deliver it at a reasonable price point so early.

GrandPhrase said:

I think they needed/need Haswell to lessen the blow on battery life. Although many beg to differ, I believe there will be rMBAs in 2013.

Click to expand...

Hell, even if it wasn't retina they should have updated the screen to something better than what it is today. There are Windows ultrabooks with 1080p screens, don't tell me Apple needs Haswell to get a decent screen on the mba.

pgiguere1 said:

My predictions:

-Retina MBAs in ~Q3 2014 with Broadwell.
They can't release it so soon as current IPS panels require too much backlight power and battery life would suffer in a form factor like the Air's. Also, Apple likes their margins high and hiking up the price of their entry-level laptop would be a bad move.

Click to expand...

I guess retina displays will come to the MacBook Air sooner than that.

People always say that a retina display would be an issue due to the high power requirements. Well, I've seen several discussions on whether the MacBook Pro could handle a retina display, and people were skeptical to believe it, until Apple released the laptop with the high-resolution panel.

The fact is that high resolution displays do consume power, but Apple may redesign the MacBook Air to accomodate more battery in roughly the same space. The iPad is thinner than the MacBook Air and it has a retina display. And the Google Nexus 10 has a 2560x1600 screen, weighs half a MacBook Air and has a claimed battery life of 9 hours.

In 2013, Intel will release Haswell, and the most important feature of this processor will be its power-efficiency. Plus, screens are becoming increasingly less power-hungry. Even if Apple doesn't use Sharp's IGZO technology, it could squeeze a retina display in the MacBook Air.

As much as Apple likes to keep margins high, these high resolution displays are becoming cheaper and they won't be a reason to justify high prices in 2013. There is already a tablet which sells for US$ 399 with a resolution similar to the US$ 1,699 13" MacBook Pro. Some smartphones are being announced with a 1920x1080 screen. And Samsung has already showcased a 13" Series 9 with a 2560x1440 resolution - and these laptops are thinner and lighter than the current MacBook Air.

I hope Apple doesn't get to the point where the screen resolution of the MacBook Air becomes pathetic.

I could see the iPad Mini and the redesigned iPad being swapped... New iPad in march, iPad mini retina towards christmas... keeping regular iPad mini at a lower cost maybe... like with iPad 2

MacBook Air Retina makes sense. iPhone 5S will probably be in September, but it would be nice to see it revealed at WWDC 2013.

I wonder who they will partner with for the Apple Television... I would prefer LG or Panasonic... Not Sharp or Samsung

DrumApple said:

Hell, even if it wasn't retina they should have updated the screen to something better than what it is today. There are Windows ultrabooks with 1080p screens, don't tell me Apple needs Haswell to get a decent screen on the mba.

Click to expand...

No, they don't. But Apple probably wants to take a huge leap here, as it has done with the MacBook Pros. It will wait until it can put a retina display on the MacBook Air and won't just adopt FullHD resolution like Windows laptops have done.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412293,00.asp
Samsung has sued LG Display over a number of patents relating to its OLED technology.

Click to expand...

So, not only apple is fond of patent lawsuits
LG could answer Samsung's lawsuits by working with Apple in order to produce an Apple TV with an OLED panel

jdegid said:

I predict that I finally get my 27" iMac delivered to my house February 2013 after being told they were available in December 2012.

Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, they said the 27" iMac will be available for ordering in December. I don't recall anyone stating it would be shipping in December.

xgman said:

The poor old lowly Mac Pro. Not even a mention, huh?

Click to expand...

My guess is a new one in the spring or the product is killed off.

pgiguere1 said:

My predictions:

-No Apple TV hardware upgrade anytime soon.
Apple are still producing loads of 32nm A5 chips and the Apple TV is still a great way to get rid of A5 chips with a disabled core (a core that didn't pass QA while the other one is fine). No new major software feature either. There would be no huge benefit for the end user to upgrade to A6. I think a new Apple TV is in the work, but Apple must first negotiate with content providers and secure loads of new content before they introduce a new Apple TV with new hardware, new OS, way more content and functionality and possibly a focus on apps/gaming. Until then the Apple TV will remain a "hobby" with limited capabilities.

Click to expand...

There are no 32nm A5 chips with a disabled core that didnt pass QA used in the Apple TV. Both Cores work on the parts, one is disabled in the firmware. This was proven when the Apple TV 3 came out and this rumor originally started with the article here on MacRumors. The same part that is in the AppleTV 3 is in the iPad 2 and the iPad Mini, only difference is the AppleTV 3 doesn't start the second core.

skaertus said:

I guess retina displays will come to the MacBook Air sooner than that.

People always say that a retina display would be an issue due to the high power requirements. Well, I've seen several discussions on whether the MacBook Pro could handle a retina display, and people were skeptical to believe it, until Apple released the laptop with the high-resolution panel.

The fact is that high resolution displays do consume power, but Apple may redesign the MacBook Air to accomodate more battery in roughly the same space. The iPad is thinner than the MacBook Air and it has a retina display. And the Google Nexus 10 has a 2560x1600 screen, weighs half a MacBook Air and has a claimed battery life of 9 hours.

In 2013, Intel will release Haswell, and the most important feature of this processor will be its power-efficiency. Plus, screens are becoming increasingly less power-hungry. Even if Apple doesn't use Sharp's IGZO technology, it could squeeze a retina display in the MacBook Air.

As much as Apple likes to keep margins high, these high resolution displays are becoming cheaper and they won't be a reason to justify high prices in 2013. There is already a tablet which sells for US$ 399 with a resolution similar to the US$ 1,699 13" MacBook Pro. Some smartphones are being announced with a 1920x1080 screen. And Samsung has already showcased a 13" Series 9 with a 2560x1440 resolution - and these laptops are thinner and lighter than the current MacBook Air.

I hope Apple doesn't get to the point where the screen resolution of the MacBook Air becomes pathetic.

Click to expand...

The MBP got its optical drive and 2.5" hard drive removed to provide space for the new battery. Take a look at how huge those were.

How would you make more space in the MBA? It's already filled with batteries. The only improvement I could think of is using a 10W Haswell CPU which would result in better battery life and smaller cooling system, but then that would mean a MBA with lower performance than it could have with a 17W CPU, possibly even worse than what we currently have in the 2012 MBAs.

Your comparison with the iPad/Nexus 10/smartphones are a bit irrelevant as those use ARM SoCs with TDPs that are a fraction of most x86 CPUs. They are nowhere near as powerful as a MBA. You could get similar performance and battery life with an Intel Atom chip but I doubt people would like the idea of OS X running on a chip so slow.

What Samsung showcased was a prototype which isn't available to buy yet and they has not even announced that it will be sold any time soon. It's more of a proof of concept, an experiment. It probably currently stays at the prototype stage because it has a crappy battery life and there's nothing we can currently do about it with 17W ULV CPUs and that kind of form factor.

Even if it was technically doable as soon as next year, don't you think it would make little sense for Apple to have just released a 13" rMBP? How would it make sense in the MacBook lineup if MBAs were to have Retina displays so soon? IMO, if Apple planned to sell Retina MBAs in 2013, they would have never made the 13" rMBP.

My set up

RetepNamenots said:

$1,500 would be ridiculously expensive, relative to sets on the market even today.

That would be around £1130 including tax, and when you can get a nice 42" set for half that price I can't imagine what the Apple TV could do that would convince me to spend so much more.

Click to expand...

I have a Mac Mini running iTunes with sharing turned on, this has a 9TB RAID array hooked onto it and I am slowly ripping all of my DVDs onto it ( I have hundreds of DVD movies and TV series).
We have multiple Apple TVs that we can now stream what we want to watch onto our cheap 32/42 inch TVs in the house, or on the computers, laptops, iPad.

I buy my DVDs when they are on sale, I never pay full price, or I buy 2nd hand which is how I can afford all the DVDs I have.

This is a great setup, multiple people can watch different streams simultaneously from anywhere in the house, and its (relatively) cheap.

rruben said:

Sounds plausible.

Click to expand...

Except for the fact that no Apple TV set will be launched, at least not in the next five years.

These "analysts" need to stop reading rumors and start doing their own primary research - the "TV" is gonna be a greatly-revamped Apple TV with apps, more subscription options, cable content and an all-in-one remote. Nothing else.

Galatian said:

jeez...seems today everybody can make money on making wild guesses without actually analyzing anything:

1. A mini sized retina screen would have an even higher DPI count then the retina display on the 10" iPad - wouldn't this make it "superior"? How could Apple even justify selling it cheaper then?

Just my 2 cents

Click to expand...

They won't...as in they won't sell it (much) cheaper. Most people seem to think that an iPad Mini will replace the iPad Mini that is out now. It will replace it just like the iPad 4 replaced the iPad 2 right?

Tigger11 said:

There are no 32nm A5 chips with a disabled core that didnt pass QA used in the Apple TV. Both Cores work on the parts, one is disabled in the firmware. This was proven when the Apple TV 3 came out and this rumor originally started with the article here on MacRumors. The same part that is in the AppleTV 3 is in the iPad 2 and the iPad Mini, only difference is the AppleTV 3 doesn't start the second core.

Click to expand...

Source?

I don't think the disabled cores are all defective, but it would make no sense to just throw away chips with a single defective core when one of your products use only one core anyway. I would have though it's a mix of half-defective chips and good ones with a core disabled to reduce power consumption.

pgiguere1 said:

My predictions:

-Retina MBAs in ~Q3 2014 with Broadwell.
They can't release it so soon as current IPS panels require too much backlight power and battery life would suffer in a form factor like the Air's. Also, Apple likes their margins high and hiking up the price of their entry-level laptop would be a bad move.

-No Apple TV hardware upgrade anytime soon.
Apple are still producing loads of 32nm A5 chips and the Apple TV is still a great way to get rid of A5 chips with a disabled core (a core that didn't pass QA while the other one is fine). No new major software feature either. There would be no huge benefit for the end user to upgrade to A6. I think a new Apple TV is in the work, but Apple must first negotiate with content providers and secure loads of new content before they introduce a new Apple TV with new hardware, new OS, way more content and functionality and possibly a focus on apps/gaming. Until then the Apple TV will remain a "hobby" with limited capabilities.

-Software announcements in Q1 2013
OS X 10.9. New iWork suite. New iTunes / iCloud features.

-Mac Pro upgrade in ~Q2 2013 with Ivy-Bridge-E 22nn Xeons
Up to 24 cores, Thunderbolt and USB 3 support.

-Updated Thunderbolt Display in ~Q2 2013 alongside new Mac Pro
Thinner design. Laminated display like in the new iMacs. Still the same panel. USB 3 and MagSafe 2. Marketed alongside the new Mac Pro in promotional material. Yields of laminated displays will have improved by then.

-Updated Mac notebooks in ~Q3 2013 with Haswell.
cMBPs are discontinued. $50-100 price drop on MBAs. Baseline 13" rMBP now comes with 256GB storage. Still no discrete graphics. Possible 35W quad-core CPU. 15" rMBP gets GT750M or AMD equivalent. Price of flash storage BTO options reduced but not dramatically. 802.11ac Wi-Fi across the line. No redesign.

-Updated AirPort Express/Extreme released with new MacBooks
Same design and price. 802.11ac support.

-New iOS devices in Q3 2013
iPhone 5S with A7 SoC and better camera. iPad 5 with A7X, thinner design, iPad-mini look and colors. iPad mini with A6 SoC, still no Retina. No iPod redesign, possible minor price cut. 802.11ac support on all iOS devices. Impressive iOS 7.

-New iMac / Mac mini in Q4 2013
Spec bump only. Haswell and updated GPUs. No redesign or new major feature. 802.11ac.

-Possible surprise in 2013
Apple may surprise us with a brand new product in 2013 but I don't think it will be an all-in-one Apple TV. Might be a new portable device using the new 10W intel chips.

-Retina iPad mini in 2014
At that point all Apple products will be Retina. Retina graphics is a requirement to submit any app to the App Stores.

Click to expand...

I'll take the 24 core Mac Pro.

bigjnyc said:

Yeah because Apple has never done that with the iPad

I guess you forgot about the iPad 3 to iPad 4 upgrade cause it was suuuuch a long time ago.

Click to expand...

Yes but this analyst suggest that an ipad mini with a retina in march, when we know the displays wont be ready for manufacturing until at least 4 - 5 months after that, (added to the fact in order to have a retina display is would need a spec bump alongside it) and yet he goes on to suggests it would get a spec bump in september ? Why would it need another spec bump ? or is he suggesting they can just put a retina display in a mini without boost specs, if so it further validates that he is talking out of his rectum.

None of his analysis makes any sense.

DrumApple said:

The retina MBA should have been October 2012. June is late in the game, the screen competition has already passed up apple by miles.

Click to expand...

What competition is that? And what does the winner receive?

currentinterest said:

I have from the outset felt that the $329 price point was a placeholder for the retina mini. Apple knew they would sell all that they could produce at this price for the holidays, but a boost will be needed in calendar Q2.

Click to expand...

No, that's not how Apple operates - they don't release products as "placeholder price tags" for future releases of products. Apple actually said at the time of the mini's release that this product has lower than normal profit margins, so this release is no placeholder for a more expensive product (in cost terms) in a few months.

Apple is about profit margins, that is the one thing to which they are always true, whatever else you think about them.

MacRumorUser said:

Yes but this analyst suggest that an ipad mini with a retina in march, when we know the displays wont be ready for manufacturing until at least 4 - 5 months after that, (added to the fact in order to have a retina display is would need a spec bump alongside it) and yet he goes on to suggests it would get a spec bump in september ? Why would it need another spec bump ? or is he suggesting they can just put a retina display in a mini without boost specs, if so it further validates that he is talking out of his rectum.

None of his analysis makes any sense.

Click to expand...

He is obviously talking out of his rectum as most analysts do. The truth is none of us know what Apple has planned and what the manufacturing time line is. things start leaking out as usual close to product launches but nobody knows one way or the other.

The resolution used for the iPhone 5 was the base on a long debate, Apple hasn't considered useful to propose a standard resolution as its concurrency (720P for example).

The main reason was Apple's refusal to modify the OS interface, so what could be the iPad Mini Retina's resolution

pgiguere1 said:

The MBP got its optical drive and 2.5" hard drive removed to provide space for the new battery. Take a look at how huge those were.

How would you make more space in the MBA? It's already filled with batteries. The only improvement I could think of is using a 10W Haswell CPU which would result in better battery life and smaller cooling system, but then that would mean a MBA with lower performance than it could have with a 17W CPU, possibly even worse than what we currently have in the 2012 MBAs.

Click to expand...

The MacBook Pro had its optical drive and HD removed, and got a retina display. But it also got a lot thinner and lighter, so the whole space was not filled with battery.

The current 13-inch MacBook Pro with a retina display weighs 3.57 lbs, which is not a far cry from the 2.96 lbs of the 13-inch MacBook Air. And the Pro has a standard-voltage Intel processor (35W, while the Air consumes just 17W) and a retina display.

Haswell will be more power-efficient, even at the same TDP. Intel is promising wonders with the new architecture. The processor at idle state will consume far less power than Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. Intel is said to have revamped power usage of its processors with Haswell. Details are scarce so far, but the 10W processo aren't the only attempt at lowering power consumption.

Broadwell will be, of course, more power-efficient than Haswell, mainly because it will be built on a 14 nm process. But the great leap in power usage will be the architecture itself (Haswell), and not the shrink (Broadwell).

The gains in power consumption may allow Apple to put a retina display on the MacBook Air.

There are already some ultrabooks on the market which sport a 1920x1080 resolution. With Haswell, Apple could put a retina display on the Air.

Your comparison with the iPad/Nexus 10/smartphones are a bit irrelevant as those use ARM SoCs with TDPs that are a fraction of most x86 CPUs. They are nowhere near as powerful as a MBA. You could get similar performance and battery life with an Intel Atom chip but I doubt people would like the idea of OS X running on a chip so slow.

Click to expand...

It's not irrelevant. ARM chips consume far less battery than Intel chips, that's true. But the fact that the Macs use Intel chips don't make their screens consume more power than the screen on ARM-powered devices. I'm talking about the additional power the high resolution screen demands on these systems.

The 2560x1600 screen on the Nexus 10 is likely to consume the same battery as the 2560x1600 screen on the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a screen resolution of 1280x800 and weighs just a little less than the Nexus 10 with its 2560x1600 screen, although the announced battery life of both ablets is comparable. Therefore, Samsung/Google managed to tweak the tablet to include a high-resolution screen with minimum sacrifice of size or battery life.

In a similar fashion, Apple managed to put a retina display on the new iPad and keeping it almost as thin as the iPad 2.

And, if a device as small as a smartphone can have a screen with a 1920x1080 resolution, then the battery for such screen doesn't seem to take so much space, right?

What Samsung showcased was a prototype which isn't available to buy yet and they has not even announced that it will be sold any time soon. It's more of a proof of concept, an experiment. It probably currently stays at the prototype stage because it has a crappy battery life and there's nothing we can currently do about it with 17W ULV CPUs and that kind of form factor.

Click to expand...

It was a prototype, but it was still a working prototype. It probably had poor battery life, but it will certainly increase with Haswell.

Intel itself is expecting ultrabooks to have retina-like resolutions by 2013. You should have read this one some months ago: https://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/12/intel-looking-toward-retina-display-pcs-by-2013/

The higher frequency of upgrades/spec bumps iDevices might be required to keep with the competitors. Yes, I know: Apple don't do that.
But maybe they start it now.

Now with double pressure from Android and Win8 is might be the right move. In the niche before Apple was not required; now as No 1 in market they need to be more aggressive to keep the position.


Oh, a retina mini in March and an iPhone 5S would perfect fit my "wants". Still no sign of the Mac Pro.

All I want for Christmas is my rumors of a new Mac Pro.

Check out the reviews of the new Acer Aspire which apparently has 1080p display. Battery life is horrendous. Like 3 hours. No way will the Air's get retina until battery tech improves.

BMNB1tch said:

hmm
Thin iMacs
Thin Retina MiniPads
Thin iPad 4
iTunes 11

speedbump for the
MBAir
MBPro
MBPro Retina

still no Mac Pro
still no Logic
still no Final Cut

zZzzZZzzZZz you can see why their stock is in the toilet

Click to expand...

Right, because the market hates companies that sell 10s (100s) of millions of each unit as opposed to a few thousand. What is Apple thinking?