Apple Inc. has a way of keeping its plans close to heart – the firm loves dropping surprises during its product announcements. Well, Apple is gearing up for WWDC 2017 starting tomorrow and rumors have it that we can expect some major product announcements during the event.
However, Tim Cook might not have much of an ace rolled up his sleeve any longer after a purported “Foxconninsider” took to Reddit to divulge a ton of information about many of the firm’s near-term plans. Here are 10 things you can expect from Apple going forward.
Here’s what we know about the iPhone 8
We have heard/read/seen series of rumors, hints, and leaks about what Tim Cook is planning in the iPhone 8 (OR iPhone X if you wish). Foxxconinsider says many of those rumors are spot on but quite a number of those rumored iPhone 8 features might only exist in our minds. For one, the iPhone 8 will debut with water resistant shell (we see you Samsung). The iPhone 8 will have wireless charging so you can ditch the chargers at home.
Apple also ditched the USB-C port and the iPhone 8 will use the more traditional lightning port. On the fingerprint scanner, we have word that Touch ID is bonded to a glass substrate on the screen. The Reddit leak indicates that Apple did test out a rear-mounted Touch ID on the iPhone 8 but that Apple is coming to the market with a better Touch ID embedded in the glass.
Have you heard about Apple’s AR Smart Glasses?
Do you remember Google Glass – we all know that it was way ahead of its time and it failed. Apple went stealth mode to work on a “Project Mirrorshades” and Apple’s smart glasses might have better luck than Google Glass. According to the leaks, the iPhone maker designed its smart glasses using Kopin tech on an acetate mounting prescription or polarized lens. The smart glass also has Zeiss smart optics and you’ll get audio via bone conduction.
Last week, I wrote on how Apple designed the iPhone 8 with a special focus on AR/VR features. This new leak supports the idea since the smart glass might need to function as an add-on device to an iPhone. Apple CEO, Tim Cook has already said that AR is “big idea, like the smartphone”; hence, it would be interesting to see what the firm comes up with in the next couple of months.
A word or two on our beloved Macs
The MacBook is still a major revenue driver for Apple but the iPhone maker is already losing market share to Microsoft. Now, Foxcooninsider says the firm is planning to come to the market with a 15-ich MacBook Pro sporting 32GB of RAM. However, I don’t expect that beast of a MacBook Pro to debut this year because 32GB of RAM will require that the firm redesigns its motherboard.
In the meantime, you can expect a 2017 MacBook Pro refresh debuting with a Kaby Lake chip. It also appears that Apple is seriously working on the idea of an e-ink keyboard among other things.
