Apple's 2013 Product Roadmap Predictions: Multiple iPhones, Retina iPad Mini, All-Retina MacBook Pros

[macs4nw]

Article Link: Apple's 2013 Product Roadmap Predictions: Multiple iPhones, Retina iPad Mini, All-Retina MacBook Pros

Kuo is ALWAYS right. This is the only dude in the entire world, no exaggeration, who gets all the predictions right. it's so uncanny that either he works right next to Tim Cook, or is the secret president of Foxconn, or he's a genius. If I could reach him, I'd let him pick all of my stocks. What he has said, will in fact be the Apple roadmap for 2013.....

It's quite a detailed and specific roadmap and surely makes one wonder where he gets his information.

Three things stood out for me:
-- 10 out of 11 launches/refreshes take place in, or very close to, APPLE's 4th quarter(cq3), which seems like a lot, and a long wait until then.
-- No mention of any OSX 9 release, or even a preview.
-- As others have posted, no mention of a new MacPro, which TC himself alluded to in June 2012.

With such a level of detail, if all these predictions end up coming true, he must have insider information.

 

[Peace]

iOS doesn't make them money...a product does that is tangible.

iPad Mini and iPad 5 is coming in March.

I don't recall mentioning IOS.

 

[vpro]

Pay us all..

We should all be paid for our predictions and responses, fantasies and reviews too I 'm so easily tickled pink over Apple. I am a sad girl. ^_^

 

[mrsir2009]

iPhone for the middle class! Yay!

The iPhone already is for the middle class

 

[Krauser]

The iPhone already is for the middle class

I agree. I can't understand all the posts regarding the iPhones "high price."

Compared to what? The 300 dollar android flagships it competes with? If anything, the 200 dollar 16GB iPhone 5 is cheaper than most android phones it competes with on various carriers and the 300 dollar 32GB model is usually the same price as similar android competition. The 64GB model, while pricey at 400 bucks, doesn't really have much competition as most, at least to my knowledge, android phones do not come with 64GB of built in storage.

And lets be real, the true cost of ownership comes with your carrier plan and contract. A 300 dollar phone does cost a lot, but so does paying 70 dollars or more a month for a contract. Yes, the iPhone is a little more expensive unlocked, but the majority of the "middle class", and subsequently the majority of consumers, probably aren't paying for unsubsidized phones on pay-as-you-go smartphone plans.

 

[MRU]

The iPhone already is for the middle class

Really ? I know quite a few riff-raff with iPhones too (hence The Sun having an app)...

 

[spl456]

What about the Mac Pro?

 

[HurryKayne]

Basically there are two theories of modifying Apple's iOS software and hardware release dates: Move them back to late Spring/early Summer, or keep them in mid Fall. Mac news and trends have been the same for years and aside for the retina MBP we can expect the same annual bumps with minimal changes.

iPhone: Kuo expects that Apple will introduce both an iPhone 5S and a revamped iPhone 5 around June or July of this year, with the iPhone 5S appearing very similar to the current iPhone 5 but carrying a number of upgrades including an A7 system-on-a-chip for better performance, a fingerprint sensor, and camera improvements such as an f2.0 aperture and a smart LED flash. He also believes that the lower-cost iPhone will in many ways simply be an iPhone 5 repackaged into a slightly thicker (8.2 mm vs. the current 7.6 mm) plastic enclosure available in six colors.

I think we'll see a 5S sooner than summer, Spring, and then a 6 around the same time as the past few years, Fall. I don't see them changing the 5, but maybe dropping the 4 and 4S and filling the gap with the iPhone mini?

- iPad and iPad mini: Kuo forecasts that Apple will update both lines during the third quarter of the year, with the iPad mini gaining a Retina display as the most notable change. He also predicts that the full-size iPad will become considerably slimmer and lighter and adopt the thinner side bezels seen on the iPad mini.

Reasonable, but I don't think they'll wait until the Fall with tablet competition heating up.

- MacBook Pro: In line with his predictions from last year, Kuo believes that Apple will do away with the non-Retina MacBook Pro line in 2013, moving to an all-Retina lineup at cheaper price points than the current Retina models. Kuo also believes that Apple will tweak the design of these thinner Retina MacBook Pros, despite having just introduced the current form factor last year.

They need the regular MBP line for another year or so ... some people still want all of the I/O and user upgradable internals, not to mention great hardware per price point.

- MacBook Air: Retina displays remain a challenge for the MacBook Air given their relative thickness, and Kuo predicts that they will not be appearing in the 2013 MacBook Air lineup. Kuo believes that a move to Intel's forthcoming Haswell platform will be the main upgrade for the machines, with the update coming perhaps as soon as late in the second quarter.

Agreed with no retina, not much more they can do with the air at this point ...

- Desktops: Kuo notes that the iMac redesign has been well-received, but it appears that he does not see Retina displays coming to the lineup in 2013. He simply predicts a shift to the Haswell platform for the iMac and Mac mini in the fourth quarter of the year. Kuo's report does not address a new Mac Pro, even though Apple CEO Tim Cook has personally shared that a significant update for the line was due in 2013.

Probably not retina because the screens are so large, but again not much more room for innovation here ...

- iPod touch: Apple will reportedly discontinue the fourth-generation iPod touch, which is currently being sold alongside the new fifth-generation models. In order to fill the gap, Kuo believes that Apple will introduce a scaled-back fifth-generation model with 8 GB of storage and no rear camera at $199.

Duh. They should focus on price point though, iPods seem to be on the way out the door ...

- Apple TV: Kuo predicts a minor update to the existing Apple TV product as soon as late this quarter, but he offers no details on what the update would entail. He also notes that Apple's more substantial television effort is unlikely to appear in 2013, with content issues and a lack of experience in the television set industry pushing things back until 2014.

If not 2013, then when? Hopefully the current Apple TV is updated

I agree with you,i hope to see a quad core in the Air and a discrete gpu card in the 13"Retina MbPro,i hope to see something new in the shape of next iphone,please not a 5S..its so boring (4,4s,5..same shape..just shrinked and with new hardware)...give us a brilliant new 6 with A7 and Ios7 redesigned for "humans" by the alien "Ive" and with unlocked Bluetooth!!!! .
I hope to see a new Mini with Retina and a digital Stylus for the Ipads.
I hope to see Mac PRO and mini line united in some way,maybe with the mini with just haswell and the Pro made by several mini stacked togheter plus the option of Gpu,HD module..etc etc.
Then for the Apple Tv i hope they admit to link it some external input such as the NEXT generation consoles and to care about the Input lag.

 

[kalsta]

Thank for noticing. I am just doing my part to encourage budding journalists. Forgive me for my anonymous nature, but there are those who do not believe that everyone deserves an upVote.

Peace out!

Well you got my laugh with that username… and my vote for the most likeable trolling.

Thank you Phantom upVoter! …for making these forums a nicer place to live at.

 

[nick_elt]

5S slight camera upgrade very minor... and a fingerprint sensor?... talk about a big big disappointment, while other competitors are working on something BIG/New Apple is just doing the same darn thing, minor spec bumps
doing the same thing over and over = insanity , they simply wont survive for long.. Apple you have work to do !

Looks like still only 4" iphones. No money from me this year.

 

[borgqueenx]

This is great. Notification led less thick and fingerprint sensor..... Where did the guy pull that information from? Thats right.....

 

[Azathoth]

And a fingerprint sensor, which wouldn't have any use except for being the most expensive way possible to unlock your phone, is kinda, hmm, a fantasy of someone who bought stock of a fingerprint sensor company because it was cheap due to a lack of demand, and is now, after decades of this technology being around while remaining used scarcely at best, thrives to find a use case for those things?

Used it all the time on my 2007 Thinkpad (Win7 had built-in TKIP fingerprint driver support).

Index finger: my normal login
Ring finger: admin/root

Great for dealing with sudo / UAC requests.

As Apple wants to move to an all encompassing payment/ecommerce presence (AppStore + Passbook (or whatever they call it)), then fingerprint recognition as a digital signature will become more important.

 

[MRU]

What about the Mac Pro?

Is clearly not a priority for Apple and hasn't been for a long while. Though a part of me remains a little hopeful for a radical refresh / re-design.

------------

For the most part I agree with these analyst predictions, they seem to be more grounded in realistic production schedules rather than some of the ones we've been hearing of late.

The idea of a March refresh of the iPads was ludicrous given no current leaks regarding production of the new iPads being underway, no new screen technology being ready for the iPad Mini (AU Optronics stating Q3/Q4 production), no new chip being ready (A7 still in development), no leaks weeks in advance from third party vendors (cases) or part companies (components). And of course the simple truth that iPad mini demand still outstrips supply making a March release needless from a 'consumer demand' pov.


Apple TV really does need a kick in the pants, and I can see that being the focus this March with maybe the introduction of a touch controller / remote so that Apps can finally be utilised directly on the device. SmartTV's are already going down this route and providing more apps and functionality than the Apple TV currently offers, and it has fallen behind. Some new TV models are starting to ship with Quad Core Processors / on board storage and multi-function remotes with accelerometers.

A march refresh of a 16GB AppleTV with new controller, A6 processor and a software overhaul finally allowing many of the TV apps we have on our other iOS devices (bbc iPlayer, C4OD etc..) to be installed on the device directly, alongside other more traditional apps will go some way to fill in the missing hole in Q1 release schedule.

Likewise some focus at Apple on Software in Q1/Q2 would be refreshing. New iWork suite fully refreshed rather than the small incremental changes we ave had since 09. Logic Pro radically needs a new version, FCP XI adding those final missing pieces they still haven't incorporated since its reboot, Aperture 4....

They also need time to concentrate on getting iOS 7 right. Any sign of a 'apple map gate' disaster and it won't be good....


So yeah space in Q1/Q2 for some focussed development and delivery of both software and hardware is not a bad thing, and might go some way to bringing Apple back on track, and dare we dream bringing the 'MAC' back into focus rather than playing second fiddle to iOS.

Sitting on $150B they have the resources and breathing space to really come out with a stellar Q3/Q4. I just hope they do.

 

[Galatian]

AMD or nVidia doesn't seem to be in a hurry adding Thunderbolt to their graphics cards, until that happens, I doubt we'll see any update to the Mac Pro.

This is not AMD nor nVidias fault. Intel is pretty anal about how Thunderbolt is supposed to be added and does not allow Thunderbolt to go through add-in graphic cards.

Prices will stay the same. Retina displays are not cheap, and the 2nd wave of Ivy Bridge processors (more efficient than the 1st wave) is also not cheap.


iPod touch is overpriced. People can buy cheaper smartphones with Wolfson Audio ICs.

What second wave? Are you talking about those new 10W parts? I doubt Apple will add them. There could only find their way into the MacBook Air, but why bother? Those 10W parts are even less power then the already slow ULV 17W parts. I guess a few people might be ok with the power, but Haswell will get you the same power savings without having to further sacrifice on computational power.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Let's face it, the Mac Pro is dead. Even the other Macs have been losing both thickness and features. USB 3 is really a substitution for USB 2, and a good one at that. Optical drives are gone, iMac and MBP FW connections are gone, the discrete GPU in the mini is gone. Upgradable RAM and storage are going the way of the Dodo.

It's all about a reduced feature set for the regular folks. Pro users, power users and people who just want a powerful, upgradable computer are going to have to head on over to HPland or Lenovoland to get a real computer. Macs are heading towards being prepackaged, throw away consumer devices.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Macs but for Apple building the kind of computers I like it's pretty much game over.

Ford, GM and Chrysler used to make and sell excellent heavy trucks alongside their light trucks.

Eventually though, due to the fragmentation in the comparatively small HT market, the share of each of these makers was not dominating, and sales numbers from this segment were trivial compared to their light truck businesses (ie pickups).

The HT business never made much money but consumed resources, available investment capital, and management attention, all of which were better channeled and focused on the more significant and profitable parts of the business.

Some pundits predicted the fall of these makers light truck sales due to the loss of credibility of having no big trucker macho halo hanging over the light truck sales, but this never came to pass because, all things considered, these OEMs enjoy great LT sales. (As an aside, there were some HT makers, ie International, that also made light trucks, but their HT cred was not enough to translate into sustainable LT business.)

What was seen from both directions was that the halo cred game from HT to LT really didn't exist as these markets and their customers were quite separate and distinct with no real shared synergies or marketing opportunities.

So in order to focus on making better, and more profit from, their LT businesses, these OEMs closed or sold their HT businesses and never suffered for it.

----------

This is not AMD nor nVidias fault. Intel is pretty anal about how Thunderbolt is supposed to be added and does not allow Thunderbolt to go through add-in graphic cards.

Due to trying to stifle their competitors aspirations to be inside a thunderbolt equipped box? If true, could this be reason for slow uptake of the thunderbolt standard by non apple OEMs?

 

[iMikeT]

Nothing no one else could have predicted. I stopped reading at "analyst".

 

[whoknows87]

What are competitors bringing to the table that's "BIG/New"? Unless you quite literally mean "big" as in "bigger screen"

Actually, a fingerprint sensor and camera upgrades are exactly the kinds of gimmicky little features Samsung adds to each of their new phones, so I guess Apple is just playing the same game. Of course Apple's "gimmicks" will probably better implemented, as usual.

If the 'rumors' hold true with the GS4 3GB Ram, 12 MP Camera, Android Key Lime ( Possibly), Screen size 4.8-5.0, all that alone is enough to outsell the iPhone 5S based on GS3 Sales, again all rumors lets wait and see

 

[Christoffee]

Capacity wise, are we nearing a point where HDDs can be abandoned? I have about 300GB of iTunes media and family photos, and that's only doing to increase. And I'm sure my collection is nothing compared to some people.

Until HDD can be ditched I think the classic MBP will live on.

 

[Marx55]

Also on March 2013:

- Mac Pro with Thunderbolt and USB 3.
- Thunderbolt Display with USB 3. Hopefully with matte option, even if more expensive to avoid headaches and sore eyes.
- Wired USB 3 keyboard.

Whenever possible, there is nothing like a wired connection, including Ethernet and Keyboard/Mouse. It would be great if Apple made a USB 3.0 wired keyboard with two USB 3.0 ports (Hub) to connect USB 3.0 peripherals.

 

[whoknows87]

Looks like still only 4" iphones. No money from me this year.

Hey I don't blame you , I already made the switch just couldn't deal with the ' minor spec bumps' upgraded my 4 to a 5 and figured the screen size isn't a big deal... and iOS 6 is just Ancient that things that you can't do , the simple little things that's what did it for me... You tell me I paid $650 for a Phone and can't send a call directly to voicemail, Block calls, Lock Apps, And this is the Multi tasking u promised me?

Then I said hello the Nexus 4

 

[Mr. Gates]

Hey I don't blame you , I already made the switch just couldn't deal with the ' minor spec bumps' upgraded my 4 to a 5 and figured the screen size isn't a big deal... and iOS 6 is just Ancient that things that you can't do , the simple little things that's what did it for me... You tell me I paid $650 for a Phone and can't send a call directly to voicemail, Block calls, Lock Apps, And this is the Multi tasking u promised me?

Then I said hello the Nexus 4

Exactly !


I wish Apple would listen to it's base. We are getting tired of paying more for less.
Tired of not getting what we really want.

Tired of an OS from 2007 ! ! !

 

[Peace]

Exactly !


I wish Apple would listen to it's base. We are getting tired of paying more for less.
Tired of not getting what we really want.

Tired of an OS from 2007 ! ! !

Scott Forstall is leaving. Relax.

 

[locust76]

I agree. I can't understand all the posts regarding the iPhones "high price."

Compared to what? The 300 dollar android flagships it competes with? If anything, the 200 dollar 16GB iPhone 5 is cheaper

In Germany:

The 16 GB LG Nexus 4, the current Android flagship, costs 350€ unlocked and without a contract. Link

The 16 GB Apple iPhone 5, the current iOS flagship, costs 679€ unlocked and without a contract. Link

There is no comparison in price.

 

[a0me]

Not only do they cost just as much as an iMac, they all have sh-t GPUs.(Ironic, since Macs have always seen as not being able to play games)

Even the $2100 XPS One 27 has a GT 640M. My MBP even has a better GPU.

I didn't say that they were all better than the top of the line iMac or that I'd buy any of them. Although I like the easy-to-upgrape approach of the HP Z1.

 

[canyonlight]

Mac Pro?

I have to echo the other comments about no Mac Pro. Boo, Hiss.