We ’ve made it through 2022 ! The last couple of month might have been a petty tedious , especially on the Mac front , but it was still a big year for Apple . And now we can turn our eye to the horizon , to the unexplored country that is … 2023 .
Withthe biggest movement of 2022 in our rearview mirror , it ’s time to pontificate on whatApple might have in store for the year ahead . What will we be looking back at , a year hence , as the caller ’s handsome moves in 2023 ?
Here then are my option for the areas that most merit your care over the next 12 months .
Get real
At this dot , I ’ve predicted enough time that Apple ought to make a practical reality game where Lucy hold a football game as I try urgently to kick it . But likeBullwinkle attempting to pull a rabbit out of his hat – if I may mix my animated cartoon metaphors – this clock time for sure .
Meta is go to have new competition from Apple in 2023 . Mark Zuckerberg , take in out .
Meta
Smoke aroundApple ’s assorted realness headsethas only been inspissate over the preceding couple of years , though no doubt challenges like COVID and the ensuing supply string woes have push back whatever announcement window the company was initially targeting . But as we pull into 2023 , the swarm have clear a second and it seems like this virtual reality might lastly become a material reality .
This would note one of the freehanded raw category that Apple ’s entered in several years and , like many of those previous markets , it ’s one that has pile of existing players ( Sony , HTC , and , of course of action , Meta ) but is still only in its infancy . That ’s often the form of berth where Apple excels , bringing limpidity of imagination and its expertness in return what consumers want ( even if they do n’t know it yet ) .
All of that is , of course , normalize by the reports that the ship’s company ’s initial offering will likely be expensive and perhaps direct more at developers in advance of a later , more streamlined intersection . But if nothing else , 2023 should be the year that we see the precis of Apple ’s plan for this family , which could also finish up being the last heavy product of Tim Cook ’s land tenure as CEO .
Keep ’em interoperated
At the root of 2021 , I outlinedthree battlesthat Apple would be face in the class forrader , and the last of those – orchard apple tree versus governments around the world – is still just ramping up almost two years later . While the company has remained mostly inured from serious challenges in the U.S. , regulator elsewhere around the world have take a harder look at Apple and found it require . Chief among them is the European Union .
It ’s likely that the iPhone joins the iPad in throw from Lightning to USB - C.
Michael Simon / IDG
The region ’s Digital Markets Act , which hail into effect in 2024 , has the potential to upend Apple ’s go-cart , potentially requiring the company to let competition offer their wares on iOS and iPadOS ( and presumably tvOS ) outside of the App Store . Recent reports suggest that Apple is currently plan for such an eventuality , which could come in an declaration alongside iOS 17 ’s debut .
But that ’s not the only commotion that the company will see as a result of this regulation . It might also affect everything from internet browser engines on iOS to message protocols to individual APIs . The EU ’s law about charging ports also rent essence in 2024 and it ’s wide expected that the next iPhone will replace the proprietary Lightning port with USB - C ahead of that requirement .
From a macro view , though , it will be fascinating to see how Apple , a ship’s company that prizes control to an almost fanatical degree , deals with decisions being use up out of its manpower . I expect this to be one of the big challenge the company has ever had to confront from a strategical standpoint and it means 2023 is influence up to be one of the most interesting years to watch in Apple ’s recent history .
The transition lens
Even as Applemissed its self - constitute deadlineto transition the entire Mac product contrast to Apple silicon within two years , rumors have sprung up that the company is scaling back architectural plan for itsupcoming Mac Pro , the last major model to make the jump .
Besides a new Mac Pro , 2023 could be another magnanimous twelvemonth for the Mac lineup .
Foundry
The Mac has been going somewhat strong in the wake of that transition and I do n’t look that to change in 2023 . But Apple ’s go to be make some choice in the year forwards about where it spends its time and energy developing its information processing system , whichwillbe interesting to see . Dialing back the Mac Pro , as rumour would have it , from a ludicrously brawny machine to just a tremendously powerful machine will no doubt disappoint some , but it ’s a right indication of the fact that Apple knows where its securities industry is . The Mac Pro is already a ecological niche mathematical product that accounts for a flyspeck percentage of Macs and the high - death configurations are only a pocket-size percentage ofthosesales .
betray production that appeal to more consumers is a lot like plume banks : that ’s where the money is . This is why it ’s also little surprisal that the company ’s said to be plan a larger version of the MacBook Air , its most democratic model . The future of the Mac Studio and the iMac will also help oneself clarify the companionship ’s selling philosophical system , assuming they are indeed updated in the year ahead . In any event , with the excitement of Apple ’s previous Saratoga chip transition coming to a finis , it ’s time to see what business as usual look like for the Mac as its fortieth day of remembrance looms .
Everything else
Those are only the highlights of what I ’m looking for in 2023 : there ’s a full twelvemonth of Apple events , unexampled ware , and upgrades to get . What will the iPhone 15 bring ? Does the Apple Watch Ultra design start trickle down to the rest of the product furrow ? Hey , what about thatclassical music appApple said was fare in 2022 ? And does anybody knowwhat ’s go on with the iPadthese years ?
This past yr has been throng with its fair share of surprises , and there ’s no reason to mean 2023 will be any different . So drink down in your AirPods , fervour up the Apple television , and stuff forth on the a la mode Apple TV+ content as we show in the new year .
