Apple’s WWDC 2022 keynote is over, and as usual, we didn’t see all of the products that rumors suggested we would. And we’re not just talking about no-brainers like the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8, both of which are expected to get announced in September.
Instead, these are highly rumored products that we had expected to get a glimpse of at WWDC this year. Fortunately, Apple still has a couple of product-focused events left for the second half of the year, so many of these products will likely come to light before the year’s end.
Apple AR glasses
Yes, Apple’s mixed-reality headset wasn’t at WWDC. It’s a bit of a joke at this point, as numerous supposed leaks start flooding out ahead of any major Apple event. This time around wasn’t any different, with a report claiming that Apple is currently showing off the headset internally.
It seems the headset has been ready for a while, but Apple reportedly chose not to show it at WWDC due to overheating issues. Maybe we’ll see it at the next Apple event. Or maybe the next one. Or …
Mac Pro and M1 Extreme
At Apple’s Peek Performance event, the company outright confirmed that it was working on a new Mac Pro with Apple silicon. We heard rumors about Apple announcing the new Mac Pro as early as March of this year. Before then, Apple reporter Mark Gurman said the company would finish the transition to its own silicon as soon as WWDC. And as Apple has made clear, the Mac Pro is the last product in need of a refresh.
A lot of the speculation about a new Mac Pro came from a rumor about the M1 Extreme processor. Whether it’s called that or something entirely different, we know Apple is working on some kind Apple Silicon solution for the Mac Pro. The M1 Extreme will reportedly connect two M1 Ultra chips together, creating four dies in total. That should give it up to 128 graphics cores, 1TB of memory, and a staggering 40 CPU cores. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait until Apple has more to share.
A new HomePod
We didn’t expect the HomePod 2 at WWDC, but there was still a credible rumor that started circulating before the show. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple plans to launch a new HomePod at the end of 2022 or early 2023.
We could see it at the end of the year, but Apple discontinued the original model over a year ago, so it doesn’t seem high on the list of priorities.
M2 Mac Mini or 27-inch iMac
As usual, there was wild speculation before the show about Apple’s entire catalog of Macs. Given that we had a solid rumor about Apple launching the M2, speculation went crazy with the Mac Mini and Apple’s seemingly forgotten all-in-one, the 27-inch iMac. Apple announced the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2, but Apple may not even update the 27-inch iMac. The company said at its Peek Performance event that the Mac Pro was the last device without Apple silicon, completely ignoring the 27-inch iMac.
The more likely product we’ll see later in the year is the Mac Mini. Coming into WWDC, we saw a report that Apple was testing nine Macs with M2 processors, two of which were Mac Minis. Apple basically leaked the device itself, too, referencing M2 Mac Mini in the Pro Display XDR’s firmware. It’s definitely something to keep an eye out for toward the end of the year.
A packed WWDC
Although we didn’t see everything rumors suggested we would, this year’s WWDC was still packed with new announcements. Apple introduced its new M2 processor, which is coming to the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro next month. We also saw our first look at MacOS Ventura, which comes with a slew of new productivity features.
That’s a microscopic slice of what Apple had to share, too, with announcements for iOS 16, as well as some surprising reveals related to Mac gaming. For the products that weren’t announced, don’t worry; we still have plenty of time left in 2022 for Apple to reveal more.
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