With a massive release slate thought to be comprising 25 new products, Apple is planning to flood the zone in 2026. From the low cost MacBook to a new Studio Display, these are the devices that matter.
2026 is going to be a big year for Apple, possibly one of the most consequential for quite a long time. There is no single make or break announcement, though arguably yesterday’s joint statement with Google that it is going to use Gemini to power the woefully underperforming Siri comes close. But Apple looks to be pursuing an ambitious program for 2026, and there are a lot of VIPs — Very Important Products — waiting in the wings. These are currently headed by persistent rumours regarding the company’s new A18 Pro-powered MacBook.
The MacBook Air is currently the cheapest Mac you can buy beyond the Mac mini. Currently it starts with the 13-inch version at $999, but parsing all the information floating around the Web on this, there is a chance that the new machine may undercut this by an inch or two.
The key rumour though is that it will be built around the A18 Pro chip that debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro. While obviously lacking the chops of the latest M-class chips, it is built on Apple's second-generation 3-nanometer process, and features 8GB RAM giving it enough memory to run Apple Intelligence.
While underpowered compared to the existing MacBook lineup, it’s actually no slouch. Geekbench scores rate the A18 Pro up with the M3 Ultra when assessing single-core performance, and score it higher than the M1 in multi-core use. GPU scores are similar to the M1 too.
Where Apple looks likely to shave money is in the display, which will probably be similar to what it has in its entry level iPads at the moment: standard LCD with limited brightness and HDR support. That said, these are still pretty good. You won’t find spectacular refresh rates, but we’re still not convinced that anyone buys an Apple machine for the gaming capabilities anyway. It’s a macOS device for lightweight tasks that measures itself up against the lower end of the Windows market, end of story.
Battery life should be pretty good as there will be plenty of space for a meaty power unit in the casing compared to the phone form factor that it was originally designed for. Pricing? Somewhere between the iPad mini and the iPad Air would make sense, so anywhere between $499 and $799. And expect it in anything from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.
Spring is expected to bring refreshes to the base iPad, which gets an upgrade to the A19 chip, and the iPad Air which now gets M4. Some rumours also point to an OLED iPad mini of some sort.
The phone lineup could see some cadence changes. The typical fall event in September is currently expected to include the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, while the standard 18 model is punted into 2027 to encourage sales of the more premium units. There are also rumours of an iPhone Air 2 joining the mix, though the original looks to have underperformed in the market compared to expectations.
And yes, we have rattled through all that slightly as we want to get to the new stuff.
We saw what looked to be the new creaseless screen that will be used in Apple’s first foldable iPhone at CES last week. The iPhone Fold is definitely coming at some point, and recent leaks include detailed renders and design speculation, suggesting it may be thinner than expected with a ~5.5-inch outer display and ~7.8-inch inner screen, dual cameras, and a book-style form factor.
Likely pricing is as much as $2000. Here’s noted leaker Jon Prosser’s take on the tech for fpt.
All in all, Apple looks set to launch a massive slate of up to 25 new products this year, including everything from new AirTags to video doorbells, so you’ll forgive us for skipping over some of them. Here are three worth keeping tabs on though.
Apple has reportedly cut production of the Vision Pro and reduced marketing for it by more than 95% last year. Two years ago we asked whether it was a unicorn or a turkey. Looks like we now have the answer. Apple will be hoping to take the experience and the tech developed for that though and make something people actually want at a price they can afford. Current speculation is about a lightweight and comparatively light-featured AI-centric unit that is dependent on a paired iPhone and might even eschew having its own display, at least in the first generation. Look for a WWDC 2026 announcement in June with availability in 2027.
Apple has been trying to make a HomePod with a touchscreen display, dubbed by most the Homepad, for several years now. Anyone that has ever tried to control a wayward HomePod via Siri will understand the urgency of this, not to mention one of the facts that keeps delaying it — the poor performance of Siri itself. However, the mood music from out of Cupertino is that Apple feels confident that it has created something worthwhile, which is also rumored to be at the heart of a renewed push into smart home technology. Expect something to be announced in the spring.
Finally! Apple’s new Studio Display is rumored to add 120Hz ProMotion support with HDR, an A19 or A19 Pro chip, Spatial Audio, and very probably a new Center Stage camera. More than that it will also transition from LED to mini-LED. This is a pretty solid rumour now, so we would expect to see something by the middle of the year at the latest. Slightly more fanciful speculation talks about new sizes debuting too, including a 32-inch model.