Apple Prepares to Unveil New Products

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Jialin He

After Apple announced the date of the Worldwide Developers Conference, the glasses in the promotional photos sparked speculation that a long-rumored Augmented Reality headset might be in the works, and Bloomberg’s report added to the speculation, making the event all the more anticipated. A few new Apple products are likely to be unveiled in April before WWDC.

Most likely to be unveiled in April are the two iPad Pros, which will have a lot of internal upgrades — while not changing much on the outside. The most notable change will be the much-rumored Mini-LED screen, which will not only be thinner in material, but also have a lot of advantages in terms of peak brightness and color display for better visual effects. Several sources, including Bloomberg and analyst Mark Kuo, say it is now certain that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will have a Mini-LED screen, while the 11-inch version will not.

In terms of chips, 9to5Mac has found a “13G” chip in the beta version of iOS 14.5, which is believed to be the A14X chip used in the new iPad Pro. And 9to5Mac also reports that the chip is based on the “T8103” M1 chip. Bloomberg also noted that the A14X’s performance will be comparable to that of the M1 chip.

AirTags is Apple’s upcoming Bluetooth-tracking device that will automatically pair with your iOS device. Once the pairing is complete, users can see the location of each AirTags on their mobile phone and locate the designated devices.

Apple may also use AR technology to blend real-world and Bluetooth locations when finding objects, making it more intuitive for users to find objects. The iPhone’s U1 chip, which already allows devices to pair with each other and transmit data by pointing in a certain direction, will also be linked with AirTags. If the user’s AirTags is lost, the ‘lost mode’ can be turned on. In this mode, other iPhone users approaching the item will be prompted to request the user’s contact information so they can return the lost item. MacRumors says that AirTags will be powered by CR2032 button batteries, each of which will last up to a year on average. AirTags is expected to sell for between $25-35.

There will be a significant change in the design of the AirPods. Both the headphones and the charging case will look more like the current AirPods Pro, but it’s not clear if they will be fitted with silicone earplugs. The information of both designs can be found on Apple’s website. Despite looking more like the AirPods Pro, the AirPods still won’t support active noise canceling, but it may add ear pressure balancing to the AirPods Pro to reduce discomfort when worn in isolation for long periods of time.