What to Expect at WWDC 2020: New iMac, Custom Arm-Based Chip Unveiling, iOS 14, macOS 10.16, and More

[xxray]

Unless you take a screenshot and zoom in you're not going to notice 4K on a mobile device. The human eye won't notice the difference when the pixel density is higher than 326ppi (on a mobile device). On desktop with a large display 4K it's worth it, but on these devices it's not worth the 30% battery hit.

I had a Galaxy S9+ before I had my iPhone XS Max and I could tell the difference. Will most people notice? No, but I do. I also have jailbroken my iPad Pro 10.5 and gotten a 4K workaround for YouTube and the difference is very noticeable to me. The difference is most noticeable on my MacBook Pro due to the larger screen.

There shouldn’t be a 30% battery hit just to watch a video, especially with how powerful recent Apple devices are. Apple and Google need to get their codec problems sorted out.

 

[Smearbrick]

I really hope the ARM Mac rumor proves to be false. I'm going to miss being able to run all kinds of x86 VMs on my Mac and it's going to suck to need a second computer for that.

I think this is the hype machine at its finest. Just rumor and conjecture printed as pure fact. I wouldn’t worry too much.

 

[AngerDanger]

What would a non-Front facing iMac look like?

 

[amartinez1660]

I really really wouldn’t mind a more unified ecosystem between iOS and MacOS on the main apps, namely messages, FaceTime, mail, etc...
Calendar, Notes and maybe others are ok but the rest on MacOS it looks and sometimes behaves so different that I just go and get the iPad or the iPhone for some of those as it feels more streamlined.
Maybe that’s where the Catalyst thing will surprise us.

Let's hope Apple is going to focus back on quality.

My latest Apple products, both hardware and software, were a disgrace.

Well, I seem to differ man, there have been some nice hits. The AirPods have been a massive success, the watch has been the only real contender on the premium wearable devices against all odds and predictions, the latest Macs have been heavy contenders too: from the Air (barring the cooling issues in the higher ends), to the latest 2020 13” and 16”, got a friend with a fully spec’ed Mac Pro with dual XDRs and it’s a thing of beauty not to mention rocket power.
I have recently bought a spec’ed out iMac 19 and couldn’t be happier, I will only return it if a new one 27” gets announced just because I’m in the timeframe, if not, I’ll be more than glad to keep it.

Software wise I could relate though, I have been lucky to not need anything that have been stinted by Catalina, however there seems to be serious pain on the devs side, all the apps needing to ask for permissions on install time and stuff.
I do think that we don’t need massive serious yearly updates, enough of that already... everytime I decide to upgrade there’s a new release some months later. I would rather keep making one version fully stable than just rushing forward hitting all sorts of roadblocks.

———————
TO MACRUMORS: I don’t know if you are aware or if you use it like I do on your side, but typing messages on iOS or iPadOS is downright painful on this site. ‘Backspace delete’ sometimes deletes the last letter plus the space leaving the cursor next to the previous word, autocomplete is whack, sometimes it triggers uppercase after another word, etc. Wanted to mention that out if you happen to read this by any luck.

 

[theorist9]

The very first front-facing iMac redesign since October of 2009.

What would a non-Front facing iMac look like?

"Front-facing" obviously applies to "redesign", not to "iMac". The iMac has had two redesigns since 2009, but neither noticeably changed its front-facing appearance. The first made it slimmer, and the second gave it a retina screen (granted, the latter changed its appearance, but only when on).

So, if the rumors are correct, this would indeed be the first redesign to the iMac's front-facing appearance in over a decade.

 

[cmaier]

Exactly. I think the first Mac OS 11 will be the first one that supports ARM only. So probably 4-5 years away IMO.

Pretty sure they are going to drop the 10. - macOS 16 is what’s coming.
[automerge]1592618749[/automerge]

I think this is the hype machine at its finest. Just rumor and conjecture printed as pure fact. I wouldn’t worry too much.

LOL. Bookmarked for later.

 

[jonnysods]

Great post, should be a long and exciting keynote if most of these rumours are true. I’m excited!

 

[DVD9]

I’ll personally be glad if they get rid of that hideous ATV remote. Loved the ATV3 remote and still use one with my 17” MacBook Pro 2011.

18 inch Macbook Pro

 

[JosephAW]

I believe Apple is going to drop the "i" in iPhone in the next iOS version since they dropped the name printed on the back of the devices. Maybe Phone or something better Maybe a renamed iOS name too like PhoneOS.

 

[cmaier]

I believe Apple is going to drop the "i" in iPhone in the next iOS version since they dropped the name printed on the back of the devices. Maybe Phone or something better Maybe a renamed iOS name too like PhoneOS.

The new OS is going back to iPhoneOS

 

[theorist9]

I would love to see a 32" 6k iMac announced at WWDC. But I don't expect it for this reason:

One of Apple's challenges is that most of its products are not made in its US factory, compromising its ability to control leaks. As a consequence, many of the redesigns in the Mac line have leaked so extensively prior to release that we've had, at least in broad strokes, a good idea of what was coming. A case in point would be the 16" MacBook Pro. We didn't know the details, but we expected there would be a 16" MBP.

So my guess is that, if Apple's foreign manufacturers were tooling up to manufacture 32" iMacs, we would have heard enough leaks by now, all pointing in the same direction, that we could reliably expect such a machine. The fact that we haven't suggests to me that a 32" iMac is a ways away.

I'd of course prefer that my guess turns out to be wrong!

 

[naturalstar]

I believe Apple is going to drop the "i" in iPhone in the next iOS version since they dropped the name printed on the back of the devices. Maybe Phone or something better Maybe a renamed iOS name too like PhoneOS.

Prosser tweeted yesterday that it was going back to iPhone OS.

 

[Stuart in Oz]

Could the new iMac be an ARM machine to be added to the current Intel-powered lineup?

The existing 21.5” and 27” iMacs would get internal upgrades (SSD instead of fusion, processor bumps) so as to get one more sales year out of them, also leaving them as a safe and known option that would appeal to most consumer buyers.

The new 23” ARM model with the new physical design would serve as a soft launch for the ARM range and, being a single model, wouldn’t immediately threaten sales on the existing product line. It would, however, put the new architecture physically into the hands of the Mac developer community, so they could really go to work building the Mac/ARM software future. No doubt some early-adopter private buyers would also pick one up but devs would be the real target market for this model.

Further, having such a single ARM model out there would also allow any bugs or deficiencies in the design (physical or logical) to surface and be fixed before the new architecture was rolled out en-masse 10-12 months later.

So, a single ARM iMac now, expanding to a full range (totally replacing the Intel machines) some time early-mid next year.

I’d even hazard that a 12” ARM MacBook might appear later this year to serve the same ‘pathfinder’ function in the laptop lines.

 

[cmaier]

Could the new iMac be an ARM machine to be added to the current Intel-powered lineup?

The existing 21.5” and 27” iMacs would get internal upgrades (SSD instead of fusion, processor bumps) so as to get one more sales year out of them, also leaving them as a safe and known option that would appeal to most consumer buyers.

The new 23” ARM model with the new physical design would serve as a soft launch for the ARM range, being a single model that wouldn’t immediately threaten sales on the existing product line but would put the new architecture physically into the hands of the Mac developer community, so they could really go to work on the future. No doubt some early-adopter private buyers would also pick one up but devs would be the real target market for this model.

Further, having such a single ARM model out there would also allow any bugs or deficiencies in the design (physical or logical) to surface and be fixed before the new architecture was rolled out en-masse 10-12 months later.

So, a single ARM iMac now, expanding to a full range (totally replacing the Intel machines) some time early-mid next year.

I’d even hazard that a 12” ARM MacBook might appear later this year to serve the same ‘pathfinder’ function in the laptop lines.

Apple won’t replace every machine at once, but don’t be expecting any new intel models other than spec bumps to fill gaps until apple’s arm version for each product category is ready.

 

[scupking]

I’m a twist Apple switches to AMD processors!

 

[cmaier]

I’m a twist Apple switches to AMD processors!

AMD doesn’t even make processors that would work in Apple’s entire line-up. And if they did, a year from now when AMD inevitably ****s up, Apple would have to switch back to Intel.

 

[Tech198]

"Along with an optional list view,"

I'm glad its optional, so if i hate it, i can go back to grid.

Could the new iMac be an ARM machine to be added to the current Intel-powered lineup?

I reckon the switch would be all or noting... It would be 'added' initially but i recon like anything Apple bring out "touch Id" in particular, you start at the best, then slowly fade the others out.

 

[damphoose]

It's just a different architecture. Meaning binary (compiled) code is not compatible between x86 and ARM.

It doesn't necessarily mean it'll be faster or slower, the only sure thing is that if ARM Macs still run x86 code it will run slower, through emulation. Apps will have to be recompiled for ARM to run at a decent speed.

And no more Boot Camp or running Windows or Linux virtual machines on Macs. (Maybe Linux ARM VMs.. but I doubt we would have good VM capabilities for some time.)

No more bootcamp is why I just picked up a macbook pro and will be holding on as long as I can. I need windows for work and two laptops is pain. I realize it’s probably not a widely used feature at this point but its really is remarkable if you need it. I wonder if VM companies like Parallels will be out of luck.

 

[ndfan77]

I really hope the ARM Mac rumor proves to be false. I'm going to miss being able to run all kinds of x86 VMs on my Mac and it's going to suck to need a second computer for that.

Ditto and couldn't agree more. Absolutely insane.

Throw an Arm chip in a Macbook Air, switch it to IOS -- and let that satisfy the folks that think a few more minutes of battery life is the key to happiness. But please leave the folks who have heavy dual dependencies on x86 ALONE!

If Apple abandons x86 I'll have to abandon Apple. Running x86 VM's (well) is critical (moreso than running MacOS). If Apple drops support for x86 a 16" Dell XPS will likely be my next workstation.

 

[Tech198]

oh great .. push the MBA users on one side, i see how it is

 

[cmaier]

Ditto and couldn't agree more. Absolutely insane.

Throw an Arm chip in a Macbook Air, switch it to IOS -- and let that satisfy the folks that think a few more minutes of battery life is the key to happiness. But please leave the folks who have heavy dual dependencies on x86 ALONE!

If Apple abandons x86 I'll have to abandon Apple. Running x86 VM's (well) is critical (moreso than running MacOS). If Apple drops support for x86 a 16" Dell XPS will likely be my next workstation.

If you have ”heavy dependencies” on x86 and you are using an Air, you may want to make better life choices.

 

[richinaus]

If you have ”heavy dependencies” on x86 and you are using an Air, you may want to make better life choices.

I use both windows and Mac OS extensively as have a need for windows only apps for some of my professional work. I am also in the camp where I will have to go windows only for all my work if Apple goes all in ARM. it is unfortunate but that is the reality of my work, and there is no getting around it.

 

[nickgovier]

.

 

[snow755]

What time is the keynote?



I am in exactly the same situation. I suspect I would buy one of the last Intel MBPs to future-proof as much as possible, then would be forced to Windows-only.

you can look up the time on the apple website

 

[CarlJ]

In Messages for Mac you can type /me and then something like is excited for WWDC and it shows up as an emote kind of thing. Like this:View attachment 925277

This is the “emote” feature borrowed from a lot of old-school multi-user chat systems. I remember uing it on MUDs and maybe on Jabber.
[automerge]1592636825[/automerge]

you can look up the time on the apple website

You can also work it out from the giant countdown clock on the top of the MacRumors website, which should be the same no matter your time zone.