Apple’s 2021 has been a good year, but not surprisingly. After a dramatic 2020 in which the pandemic erupted around the world, the company was able to make a further overhaul of its iPhone and add a whole new processor architecture.
The pandemic has undoubtedly delayed some developments until 2022, but 2021 will always be the year of Apple’s reaffirmation after the drama of launches suffered in 2020.
The problem with predictions is that there is a difficult balance between what you would like to see happen and what ultimately reveals itself in terms of new product launches and technological development. Let’s see a brief summary.
Macs, more late than expected
After the launch of the Apple Silicon M1 chips and the first Apple devices, I have to admit that I was excited and felt that the company was very likely to go for some radical new designs. Eventually I held back and it turned out to be the right decision.
For years, I dreamed of a redesign of the iMac, and in 2021 we finally got one, but only with the 24in iMac. If we keep the prediction, it will likely be extended to the rest of the computer family with their different screen sizes.
While ideally the new iMac would have been completely redesigned with a touchscreen or even support for the Apple Pencil, to use it as a drawing board, I predicted at the time that Apple would keep. the most conservative line, and they did.
Nonetheless, the iMac M1 comes in a very wide range of colors, something I never thought to mention.
Released in 2022, the 27-inch Intel-based iMac is still with us. It’s a bit disappointing, although I wonder how much of Apple’s Mac-related versions disrupted pandemic issues.
Hopefully the iMac family catches up in the new year 2022, so you can choose an M1 chip setup in every screen size Apple makes available to the end user in the form of a iMac.
On the laptop side, I predicted that Apple would complete its MacBook Pro upgrade with two new models powered by a new M1 chip. I had the correct prediction, even though I was never able to correctly predict how I would.
I figured I would release a more powerful M2 processor in the fall and use it to power the MacBook Pros; Instead, Apple got ahead of my thoughts by introducing a few different chips with more CPU and GPU cores, varying the settings.
After so much Mac drama throughout 2020, I assumed Apple would be a little quieter with macOS updates throughout this year, and I think that’s been pretty much confirmed.
When I installed macOS Monterey on my Mac, I didn’t feel like the user experience was transformative, and that’s good. That said, despite being a staunch fan of shortcuts on iOS, even I couldn’t imagine they would hit Macs, which eventually happened.
I have to admit that I also mentioned that Apple might offer a standalone display that is much more affordable than the current price of the Pro Display XDR. In the end, this did not happen. At least until Apple released the bigger iMac.
iOS and iPhone; Don’t rock the boat
The year 2021 was shaping up to be a fairly stable year for the iPhone and iPad, and this was largely confirmed. Exciting? No! But the truth is, Apple only redesigns the iPhone every few years, and the years in between are … less exciting.
After the redesigns we saw on the iPhone 12 last year, it wasn’t hard to guess that Apple would keep the same line in 2021. The iPhone 13, which I correctly predicted would not would not change its name due to the superstition of the number 13, was in fact, “more or less like the current models, but with new colors.
We also saw some texture variations, and maybe a smaller “notch” for the set of cameras that are part of TrueDepth. “Otherwise, everything has stayed flat with the natural evolution of having more powerful chips in this generation.
(Note to other predictions): Apple’s iPhone designs are created so far in advance that the rumor mill usually correctly reports the details of next year’s iPhone design long before you need them. ‘write your predictions.
For all of us! This little notch introduced in June on the iPhone 13 was something we’ve known about since late 2020, so it’s not working. There were, and still are, rumors that Apple will eventually remove the Lightning port from the iPhone and replace it with nothing.
I didn’t buy it then and I’m not sure if I bought it now. Apple has often gone to great lengths to simplify its hardware, most recently by ditching the wired headphone jack.
But Apple has also seen some of its recent aggressive moves backfired, most notably with the keyboard, touch bar, and port limitations of the MacBooks of the mid-2010s.
And while the MacBook debacle was painful, the Mac isn’t as important to Apple as the iPhone. If Apple makes a bad decision that could prevent people from buying new iPhones, it could be a devastating step for the company.
I’m not saying it’s impossible. Apple could include a MagSafe connector in every iPhone case, although that would certainly reduce its profit margin. You can even design a way to transfer data over a “wired” connection via something similar to the iPad Pro Smart Connector.
But it would be a lot of work to remove that Lightning port, and is it really worth it?
One area where I was completely wrong in the iPhone prediction was that the pandemic would lead Apple to get the iPad Air’s button-based Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 13. This did not happen.
Regarding the iPad, I had predicted a “correct upgrade to the iPad Pro”, compared to the step taken the previous year, with a barely updated processor. For 2021, I expected an upgrade to the “M1-like” chip.
It turned out to be very similar. He also hoped the rumors of a mini-LED enhanced display were correct, and they were, at least on the larger model.
Finally, I wasn’t expecting much from this year’s iOS updates. And, as with the Macs, I think Apple has been careful. I was hoping we would finally see “a redesigned iPad home screen” that would allow for placement widgets anywhere (like with the iPhone), and we get it.
2022 will likely be a more dramatic year for Apple than 2021. There is a processor transition that needs to be completed and maybe new categories of hardware will enter. As for the year we left, that’s pretty much what we expected with the exception of that external display which never came. At least I was finally able to buy my redesigned iMac!
The original article appeared in igamesnews US, IDG publication.
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