Apple CEO John Ternus replaces Tim Cook leading a design focused era with a massive iPhone 18 Ultra and foldable product roadmap
A significant shift at Apple is also happening as the company transitions to new leadership. New CEO John Ternus will officially lead technology Apple in the fall product launch cycle replacing Tim Cook. As relayed by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman in his weekly Power On newsletter, this change will be a pivot point away from the operations and supply chain centric approach of the last administration and closer to the company's native focus on industrial design.
As under the previous administration, the corporate power of Apple's legendary industrial design team had waned causing some employees to jump ship and leaving some to feel the company was losing its flair for visual unity. Rumors also suggest that Ternus has devoted considerable time working one on one with the designers. According to internal meetings with employees, the first Ternus assured that the look and feel of the products would continue to be one of the central tenets of the company, a sign that he was bringing the design team back to the place it was during the Apple's glory days an internal trend setting vehicle.
The first batch of hardware building on Ternus' lead will bring some strategic shifts to the mainline. The fall cycle will be, as usual, a high end one, with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. In parallel to the IS's traditional lineup, Apple is now set to release its 1st foldable smartphone, expectably under the iPhone Ultra branding.
These models will be powered by a new A20 Pro system on a chip, fabricated using TSMC's 2nm process. Changes to the hardware include an adjustable aperture on the camera and a smaller form factor for the Dynamic Island.
Moving further down the product stream; Apple will also have the iPhone Air 2. This ultra thin will come equipped with double camera this time. Its release will be spread alongside the standard iPhone 18 and 18e all come equipped with the standard A20 silicon chip.
Fast forward to the following year which is the 20th so called anniversary 20 years of the first smartphone launch; the company for sure will be working on a revolutionary look. As opposed to the standard rectangular edge; this 20 th anniversary device is said to have a borderless liquid glass display. To mark this momentous debut milestone; the company for sure will be forgoing the 19st for the iPhone 20 Pro or they might just go with iPhone XX.
Other category planned for the fall launch are smart watches. The Apple Watch Series 12 will sport an upgraded faster S11 chip as well as a Touch ID scanner. The new Apple Watch Ultra 4 is also likely to be introduced with a new look, providing a new visual guide for the bin battery line. These hardware upgrades are the 1st significant physical changes in the wearable category in multiple seasons.
Tablet hardware will be similarly upgraded for artificial intelligence work. The conventional budget range iPad 12 will be upgraded to an A18 or A19 processor for proprietary intelligence use cases. The smaller iPad Mini 8 is also expected to be upgraded to an OLED screen, a water proof case, and a more robust A19 Pro or A20 Pro silicon.
Both the desktop and portable computer segments are now gearing up for the transition to the M5 and M6 silicon generation. In the product pipeline is a Mac Studio workstation using M5 Max and M6 Ultra chips, an updated Mac mini using the M5 and M5 Pro, along with a refreshed iMac. Arguably the most exciting update to the computer lineup will be a full refresh of the MacBook Pro.
This forthcoming portable will feature a much slimmed down enclosure, an OLED display, and a Dynamic Island integrated into its design. A 1st for a laptop system There is even more excitement swirling around the possibility of the premium model instilling the MacBook Ultra title.
In additional to hardware and software, Apple will also deloy wearable AI accessories and home automation equipment. The initial version of the former will consist of new AirPods with embedded camera sensors, which will send images and video feed to on device neural networks. Over the next several years, Apple will release smart Apple Glasses and wearable pendants. For the latter, the new Apple TV, new HomePod, and a tabletop robot that helps automate the home will also be introduced, though the robot will not likely reach consumers for another 2 years.
