Apple will kick off its 50th anniversary year with what’s expected to be a nearly $140 billion holiday quarter. Also: The company’s retail stores will get new product displays on Nov. 12, and Apple is readying an OLED screen overhaul for the MacBook Air, iPad Air and iPad mini. Lastly, iOS 26.1 and the first beta version of iOS 26.2 are imminent.
Last week in Power On: Apple is working on a vapor chamber to boost the performance of the iPad Pro in 2027.
Apple Inc. is heading into one of its most pivotal years in recent memory.
The company is poised to roll out a more coherent artificial intelligence strategy and enter new categories like smart home devices and foldables — all while bracing for more executive turnover.
It also could be a make-or-break year on the regulatory front — potentially forcing a major rethink of the App Store business model and cutting into the revenue Apple generates from developers. And though a judge recently ruled that Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google don’t need to tear up their current partnership, the shift to AI searches could jeopardize payments to Apple.
Then there’s the still-looming threat of tariffs. So far, the company has navigated President Donald Trump’s 2025 trade policies, taking only a few billion dollars in combined tariff-related hits. Given the massive volume of iPhones and other products made in China, it could have been far worse. But the risk of a heavier impact next year is real.
That said, Apple is likely to start the year on solid footing. The company just announced that it expects holiday-quarter revenue growth of 10% to 12% — roughly twice the level Wall Street was expecting.
That translates to $137 billion to $139 billion in sales. Apple tends to set conservative targets, so we could be looking at the company’s first-ever $140 billion quarter (it typically reports fiscal first-quarter results at the end of January or early February). The company has already all but guaranteed this will be its biggest quarter ever for total revenue and iPhone sales.
April 1 next year will be Apple’s 50th anniversary, and you can bet the company has a lot in store to celebrate the milestone — including some significant new hardware products. I expect the early portion of the year to include the iPhone 17e, an entry-level iPad with the A18 chip and an iPad Air with the M4 processor. There also should be an M5 version of the MacBook Air, as well as MacBook Pros with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and new Mac monitors.
The March-April time frame should mark the kickoff of Apple’s smart home strategy, with the company set to introduce its first smart display in both speaker-base and wall-mounted versions. This release will coincide with Apple’s push to upgrade its AI offerings via the new Siri voice assistant. And it should lay the groundwork for a broader smart home security ecosystem — including cameras — slated for later in the year.
On the software front, we’ll see iOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 and other operating systems unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. They’ll be accompanied by major updates to Apple Intelligence and the broader AI strategy, before the focus pivots to the iPhone and smartwatches in the fall. There’s also a new iPad mini coming next year, but a refresh to the iPad Pro isn’t arriving until 2027.
The headline item will, of course, be Apple’s long-awaited move into the foldable smartphone market. The iPhone 18 Pro models also will dump Qualcomm Inc.’s cellular modems in favor of Apple’s in-house C2 components. Meanwhile, Apple is moving full steam ahead on smart glasses, with suppliers already producing small quantities overseas. So don’t be surprised if that product at least gets a preview before the end of next year as well.
As early as the tail end of the year, we could see the first revamp to the MacBook Pro since 2021. That’s when Apple will roll out new versions with M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, a thinner chassis, and touch screens with iPhone-style OLED technology. In terms of other Macs coming next year, you can expect an M5 upgrade to the Mac mini and Mac Studio.
Even with the rosy sales forecast, the road ahead won’t be easy. Apple is betting heavily on the new Siri, which will lean on Google’s Gemini model and introduce features like AI-powered web search. But there’s no guarantee users will embrace it, that it will work seamlessly or that it can undo years of damage to the Siri brand.
If major leadership changes do occur, that could reshape how Apple plans and carries out its product strategy. Fresh perspectives can be healthy, but internal shake-ups often bring a period of uncertainty.
Apple is also arriving late to the current wave of smart home innovation, and it remains to be seen whether the company can overcome the deep moats Google and Amazon.com Inc. have built around their platforms over the past decade.
The foldable iPhone also will hit the market years after rival models. Whether consumers will adopt it in meaningful numbers — delivering the kind of return Apple expects — remains an open question. The Vision Pro headset is a cautionary tale of a new category that didn’t click.
Regardless of these challenges, Apple enters its 50th year with scale, cash and brand power. The company has the resources to define the next era of AI, smart home tech and foldable devices — but 2026 will be a test of whether Apple can execute at the speed and precision that its reputation demands.
Success could cement another decade of dominance. Missteps could signal that even a $4 trillion company is not invincible.
Apple plans retail store changes for Nov. 12. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has made it fairly clear that Apple doesn’t have many products left to release in 2025. When discussing earnings results last week, he signaled that there wouldn’t be new Macs before 2026. (That aligns with my earlier reporting that the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros are coming early next year.) His remarks accompanying the numbers also focused on already-released devices: “We are excited to be sharing our most extraordinary lineup of products as we head into the holiday season.”
Apple just had a product-launch announcement last month, when it rolled out versions of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, Vision Pro and iPad Pro with M5 chips. And if anything else was coming in 2025, it probably would have been part of that unveiling. Still, Apple retail stores are preparing for an “overnight” — an occasion when workers make changes after the store’s closing. On the evening of Nov. 11, employees will be tasked with refreshing store displays and product placements for the following day. That kind of event often signals that something new is coming, but given the timing, it’s more likely related to setting up stores for the holiday season.
That said, inventory has gotten tighter for Apple TV boxes and HomePod minis, two products slated to be updated with new chips and in-house wireless components. A shrinking stockpile can often signal that new versions are getting close to release. If those refreshed models don’t arrive before year’s end, they still shouldn’t be far off — especially since they’ll help showcase the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features planned for next year.
Apple readies OLED screens for the MacBook Air, iPad Air and iPad mini. Apple has been on quite the journey when it comes to OLED screens. The company first started using the technology with the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015, before adding it to the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro in 2016.
OLED, which shows much darker blacks, brighter whites and an overall far superior picture, came to the iPhone the following year with the X model. It then spread to more devices in 2020 with the iPhone 12 line-up.
There was another expansion in 2024 with the iPad Pro. And now OLED is finally coming to the Mac. As part of a display overhaul, the MacBook Pro will get the technology between the end of 2026 and 2027.
But Apple has even more ambitious plans: I reported this week that it’s aiming to add OLED to the MacBook Air, iPad Air and iPad mini. The iPad mini change will likely come as part of a larger revamp next year, and I expect the MacBook Air transition to occur with that product’s 2028 update.
As for the iPad Air, next year’s model with an M4 chip will stick to LCD. So the OLED switchover is likely to come with either the 2027 or 2028 edition. If Apple ends up launching its 18-inch foldable iPad, expect OLED to come to yet another device sometime in 2029.
Apple set to release iOS 26.1, the first iOS 26.2 beta and other new operating system updates. After a lengthy stretch of developer and public testing, Apple is finally ready to release iOS 26.1. The update includes a toggle to reduce the clear effect in Liquid Glass, an updated Apple TV icon and bug fixes.
Apple plans to roll it out to users this week, and I expect that to happen on Monday — barring any last-minute delays, which have occurred in the past for various reasons.
With iOS 26.1 out the door, Apple will shift to iOS 26.2 development. The first beta version for developers should arrive as soon as Tuesday. I’m not expecting major new features in that initial seed. And as usual, the same update pattern applies to Apple’s other platforms, so look for macOS 26.1 and the first beta version of watchOS 26.2.
Source: BLOOMBERG
