My Wishlist for Apple’s Fall 2022 Events

If past is prologue Apple should have an event for their fall products in September and probably October as well. There are many rumors out there and here are a few things that I hope that we see this fall.

iPhone 14 Pro: I’m hoping that the iPhone 14 Pro gets an improved camera system that its rumored to get with a larger sensor that appears to be all the rage with other phone manufactures now. I would love to see what Apple could do with their computational photography smarts and using pixel binning to get better low light performance. I would love the telephoto lens to be improved to maybe a 5–10x optical zoom and maybe even more with some computational photography tricks. The Samsung S22 Ultra for years has been delivering a great 5–20x zoom if you ignore the gimmicky 50x and 100x “Space Zoom”. I know the rumors aren’t with us this year, but USB-C would be fantastic this year, but I’m not holding my breath. There are rumors of a notch-less, hole-punched front-facing camera system like the Samsung and Pixel phones, but I don’t honestly see that happening because they just decreased the notch size last year and the notch is pretty iconic to the Apple brand right now. I don’t see Apple getting rid of it until they can completely get rid of the camera punch all at once. I do expect to see an always-on display like the Apple Watch has, namely to show off the widgets, time, and whatnot from the new iOS 16 lock screen. Other than the screen and camera I do expect a new A-Series chipset that’s slightly faster than last year. I would also like reverse wireless charging for AirPods. I think that would be a great feature for people who travel. Also, baseline 256GB of storage would be great for a Pro level phone. Finally, I would love a Product Red iPhone 14 Pro, but Pro anything in Apple’s line-up means that we don’t get fun colors so I’m not holding my breathe for that one.

iPhone 14 Pro Max: I hope the iPhone 14 Pro Max gets all of the above and I would also like Apple Pencils support. I doubt this would happen, but I would love a better reason to have the Pro Max other than its just physically bigger. I would love to use the Phone as a pocket notebook for meeting notes, placing trouble tickets on the go, marketing up documents or signing transactions, etc. An Apple Pencil for the iPhone would make the iPhone 14 Pro Max an appealing device for work.

iPhone 14 and 14 Max: There are rumors that the iPhone Mini is going to go into the history books this year for a larger Max-sized iPhone 14. I could see both of them getting the camera system minus the telephoto lens of the 14 Pro lines as well as the new Apple chipsets. I think the iPhone 13 is already a pretty solid phone. I think a significant camera upgrade and the option to get a bigger model without having to go all the way up to a 14 Pro Max for people is going to make the 14 and 14 Max very appealing phones.

Apple Watch Series 8: I’m hoping that with the Apple Watch Series 8 we do get the rumored body temperature sensor and it could be used to get better readings on workouts like lifting weights, dance workouts, HITT workouts, etc. I have read that it may be able to tell if somebody has a fever, but I’m not sure if Apple is going to want that legal responsibility. I think that the added accuracy will be great for people who want to do something beyond running and walking. There is also a lot of chatter again this year about the Apple Watch Pro. I could see a larger, 50mm watch being their “Pro” model with a larger battery and screen to appeal to hard-core athletes who spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, biking long distances, etc. More buttons on the Apple Watch Pro model would probably be useful for these people, but I really just see the Apple Watch “Pro” simply being a bigger Apple Watch Series 8, maybe with more premium metal body out of the box and some exclusive rugged bands that maybe add some protection. I think Apple is going to want the Pro watch to still appeal to Apple Watch customers and give people something to strive towards and not something so different that it’s alien.

AirPods Pro 2: AirPods Pro 2 were supposed to come out earlier this year. I imagine it’s probably going to be a minor revision at this point, maybe more battery life and a new case with a small speaker in it for Find My and maybe a place to attach a loop for like a keychain or other accessory. It would be great if they could figure out a way to do lossless audio over wireless, but I don’t see that coming to the AirPods Pro given their tiny, tiny batteries…expect that to be an Airpod Max 2 feature that does Lossless over an Airplay 3 protocol that’s more akin to wifi than Bluetooth LE. My current AirPod’s are getting a little long in the tooth so I’m ready to refresh them with some new headphones.

HomePod 2: The original HomePod is one of my favorite AppleTV accessories and is a great sound-bar system for such a small space. I was massively disappointed when Apple disconnected the device without a successor. I do hope that we get a HomePod 2 with a newer Apple Silicon chipset and a lower price, maybe around $199.

AppleTV 6: I think we’re probably due for a new AppleTV this year. They introduced the new Siri remote last year and it was an immediate purchase for me. I think the next get thing is going to be high refresh rate Sports television and it feels like Apple getting into sport streaming with MLB and MLS to be just the beginning of a larger push into sports for Apple. I hope that the HDMI pass through for devices like game consoles and other devices finally leaves beta as well. I think that Apple could make a play for the living room by selling an AppleTV 6 + HomePod Stereo Pair package for $500. I imagine that the updated Apple A-Series processor would also be a great thing for Apple Arcade games. Part of me wishes Apple would buy Backbone or maybe make a MagSafe controller for the iPhone that double as a controller for the AppleTV and iPad.

iPad: Fall is normally when they update the baseline iPads, often referred to the iPad for Education. I expect these devices to get USB-C and flat sides to support Apple Pencil 2 as well as updated processor. There is talk that the home button may remain, but I’m not so sure. I could see them doing that to re-use current parts to keep the cost down. If they did that I’m sure it will look weird, but the target audience probably will not care and will appreciate getting to use the Apple Pencil 2.

iPad Pro: The iPad Pro is overdo for a refresh. Supposedly the 11” iPad Pro is going to get the better screen from the 12.9” iPad Pro. I imagine both iPads will get the M2 processors, which now has new purpose with Stage Manager. An Apple Pencil 3 would be interesting if Apple could add an eraser at the other side of it. The tapping is fiiiine, but as somebody who regularly uses Surface devices its just so much handier and natural to be able to flip the stylus over and erase like a traditional pencil. There has been a rumored Apple Magic Keyboard 2, but I’m not sure what it would add beyond maybe USB-C pass through via an updated smart connectors on the back. Personally I hope if they do update the keyboard they add in function keys with an escape key…at least on the bigger iPad 12.9” Pro. Other 3rd party keyboard manage to do it so I would like to have that if I could, especially since the 12.9” iPad Pro is bigger than the new M2 MacBook Air.

M2 MacBook Pro: I see the 14” and 16” Macbook Pro’s to be getting the M2 bumps and probably the Midnight color that the MacBook Air’s just launched with a couple of months ago. I think this is just going to be a minor, but appreciated bump. The current machines are already really solid. I think I’m going to end up getting one of these machines this fall when they come out. My current MacBook Pro is not going be able to upgrade to Ventura so I guess its time to pull the trigger and get a new machine.