Wow. What a year it’s been for Apple. The 12in MacBook, the iPad Pro, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Beats 1 and, of course, the Apple Watch, have given us plenty to talk about over the last twelve months – and these releases do more than just hint at what might be coming up in 2016.

Apple predictions for 2016: New Apple Watch
Apple hasn’t exactly bet the farm on its Watch. It was launched with appropriate fanfare, but the company’s played it slow and sure since then. In store display areas are discreet, and overshadowed by its longer-established lines. Perhaps it realises that a fair few of us are waiting for the first revision.
Expect that to come in 2016 – around April, when the original model will be 12 months old. If anything appears between now and then it’s likely to be another big-brand collaboration, like the one it rolled out with Hermes back in September. Jumping in bed with a sports brand like Nike – with whom Apple has worked before – would be a logical fit, and give Watch Sport more weight in the fitness arena.

The first revision will almost certainly be an extensive upgrade to bring it in line with its most ambitious competitors, so we’re expecting an Apple Watch 2, rather than an iPhone-style ‘S’ variant. We’re also expecting it to be an entirely stand-alone device, along the lines of Samsung’s Gear S2, which connects directly to the cellular network, bypassing the Galaxy Phone entirely.

This might seem illogical if you considered the Apple Watch to be a stealth marketing tool for increased iPhone sales, but it wouldn’t be the first time Apple has broken an explicit link between two core products to boost the sales of the newcomer. Think back to its original strategy with the iPod, which was to use it as a Trojan for the Mac (it required a FireWire-enabled computer running iTunes which, at that time, wasn’t available on Windows). Only when it produced a PC version did the iPod really fly, and change the company’s fortunes forever.

Why do we believe it’s going to do that here? Aside from the need to compete with Samsung it’s because watchOS 2, which rolled out on 21 September, made it possible for the first time to run third-party applications directly, without using the phone as a data conduit. Building in full-blown phone-free comms is the next logical step.

This will require some additional components – in particular a SIM card and associated circuitry – but advances made in the last 12 months suggest that shouldn’t be a problem. The S1 processor in the current Apple Watch is built using the same 28 nanometer process as the chip in the iPhone 5S, which was current while Apple was closing Watch’s development cycle. Since then, we’ve seen both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s hit the shelves, and they use a considerably finer process, with their A9 processors built using a 14 nanometer process. Assuming Apple develops a new chip – likely called the S2 – for its second-generation Watch, it’s reasonable to assume that it will employ the same 14nanometer process and, rather than slimming the wearable, use the reclaimed space to bolster its built-in features.

Other notable omissions from Apple Watch that could be addressed in the first revision are native GPS, additional health sensors and a higher capacity battery, not necessarily to deliver a longer work time, but to deal with the additional load of the bolstered range of sensors and comms.

Apple predictions for 2016: iPhone 7
We’ve already had an ‘S’ model since the last full update, so expect 2016’s iPhone 7 to be a more extensive revamp. Pundits are forecasting the death of the home button, which we don’t think many would mourn. Adopting soft buttons, as are common on Android devices, makes sense, and it would allow Apple to increase the screen size without bulking up the physical body. Conversely, it may reclaim the lost space to produce a smaller device with the same 16:9 aspect screen as it employed in the iPhone 5, 5S and 5C to tempt an upgrade out of anyone who was put off by the iPhone 6 and 6S’s wider, taller bodies.

It would still need to accommodate a fingerprint reader, which is key to Apple Pay, but there’s no reason why this couldn’t be moved to the side of the case or sited by the earpiece, on the opposite side to the front-mounted camera.

Building the iPhone 7 around an AMOLED screen – as used in the Apple Watch – would make sense on several fronts, as it’s less power hungry than the LCD technology Apple currently uses, can display more colours and is more responsive, but it seems unlikely that Apple will roll it into the iPhone any time soon. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, believes the company will persevere with LCD for several years, and with Apple suppliers building new LCD factories in China to satisfy future demand, it looks like he could well be right.

Apple predictions for 2016: Apple TV

Apple’s television product – once famously dubbed a hobby by Steve Jobs – has just undergone its most ambitious revamp in years. For UK users, the big news of 2016 is likely to be the appearance of BBC iPlayer on the platform. The Corporation has already confirmed its plans to extend its existing browser-based service to the Apple box, where it will join Sky, which has been on the service for some time.

When should you expect it? Sooner rather than later, unless licensing negotiations with rights-holders hold things up. Bournemouth-based developers Matt Cheetham and Phillip Caudell have already proved how easy it should be by developing their own take on the app, called Auntie Player, the code for which they’ve released on Github.

Sadly, though, that could be it as far as the UK’s free-to-air broadcasters are concerned, unless any other unofficial ports appear online. The BBC reported in October that ITV had no plans to appear on Apple TV (just as it initially didn’t appear on either Sky or Freeview), while the intentions of Channels 4 and 5 were ‘unknown’.

Apple predictions for 2016: Mac processor updates

Despite Apple’s adventures into processor design it’s unlikely we’ll see its own chips rolled out in its desktop and laptop machines unless it can make them fully compatible with the current Intel line-up. Wonderful though it would be to run iOS apps alongside OS X software, Apple would need to give developers several years’ notice to update their applications to run on any new architecture, so expect to still be buying Intel-driven machines throughout the next 12 months, as the new Skylake processor line takes over from existing chips from spring.

Apple predictions for 2016: 2016 Mac Pro

The Mac Pro is due a refresh, as it’s now over two years since the current barrel design first appeared. We don’t anticipate any external remodelling, but references within the El Capitan code suggest a new machine could be in the works, which would enable Apple to benefit from the last two years of processor advances, perhaps integrating Skylake here, too, so that its complete line-up is running on the same core hardware from end to end.

Apple predictions for 2016: MacBook Air update

Rumours suggest that new 13in and 15in MacBook Air models are in the pipeline, with the 11in MacBook Air being discontinued.

The launch is expected around WWDC in June 2016.

These new MacBook Air models are said to be thinner and lighter, with internal spec enhancements including new batteries, cooling modules, and chassis, as well as USB Type-C – especially now that Intel has integrated Thunderbolt 3 into USB-C.

The next-generation MacBook Air is also likely to feature Intel Skylake processors, and may feature a Retina display.

Apple predictions for 2016: 12 MacBook update

Apple launched its incredibly thin and light 12in MacBook back in March, so with just a few months to go until the MacBook’s first birthday, we’re expecting a refresh to the line-up in 2016.

Rumours are thin on the ground right now, but speculation suggests that the 2016 MacBook will be released either at a special event in March or in June at WWDC 2016. It’ll probably still have an Intel 14nm Core M Chip but it could have a lower price tag.

Apple predictions for 2016: Force Touch Keyboard

A Force Touch keyboard could be in the works, too – as a supplement to the Magic Trackpad 2 – if a recent patent filing is anything to go by. The switchless design would allow Apple to produce even thinner MacBooks, and also to take into account the force with which a key is pressed, which will be a boon for anyone making music on their Mac. In the opposite direction it should allow for haptic feedback, which could possibly be used to signify to vision-impaired users that they’re correctly striking a particular key.

Apple predictions for 2016: OS X

Expect to see a new edition of OS X (version 10.12) shipping in autumn (after a summer preview at WWDC). We know it’s going to happen not only because Apple has switched to annual OS refreshed, but because its already showing up in server logs – suggesting that it’s up and running on Apple’s campus machines while the coders apply their finishing touches. It’s currently identifying itself as ‘Fuji’ but we wouldn’t be surprised to see this switched out for another Yellowstone hillock before shipping. Interestingly, as well as being a volcano, thus fitting with the Yosemite / El Capitan theme, Fuji is also the name of a cultivated Apple.

 

Apple predictions for 2016: Apple Pay, Apple Music,

Alongside these headline developments, there will be a whole series of speedbumps along the way as Apple extends and refines its offering. Apple Pay will be accepted in a wider range of headline stores, and the Apple Music – which is now available on Android – will inevitably expand.

More importantly, Apple Music may prove to be the one thing that keeps the iPod on the shelves next year. If you’d asked us what we thought of its chances at the close of 2014, we’d have said ‘slim’, but 2015 saw Apple deliver the first proper update to the iPod touch in three years, and it’s now providing another entry ramp for the firm’s £9.99 a month music subscription service. That alone means it makes sense to give it at least 12 months to prove itself. The same can’t necessarily be said of the nano and shuffle, which are each available in just one configuration and, without streaming abilities, offer no ongoing revenue source.

But don’t expect…

The Apple Car, which is almost certainly going to happen, just not in 2016. Apple is said to have 1000 developers working on the so-called Project Titan, and to have set up various different front companies, including Faraday Futures and Sixty Eight Research. We’d love to see it on the roads in 2017, but industry chatter suggests 2020 is a more likely date. If they’re right, it might not be worth holding back on an interim upgrade to your existing run-around next year. And if you were hoping for anactual television set from Apple it’s time to give up on that idea too.