For over a decade, Apple has persistently introduced all-new {hardware} product traces, from the iPad in 2010 to the Imaginative and prescient Professional in 2023. However for the primary time in 14 years, Apple did not announce any main new {hardware} merchandise in 2024, focusing solely on updates and refinements to its present product traces.
Whereas Apple unveiled a lot of vital {hardware} refreshes in 2024, such because the redesigned iPad Professional and Mac mini, these had been all evolutions of present classes, not solely new product traces. The one solely new announcement of observe, Apple Intelligence, was software-based and doesn’t qualify as new {hardware}. This makes 2024 the primary 12 months since 2009 through which Apple didn’t launch a totally new {hardware} product. Here is a glance again on the main new merchandise introduced annually from 2010 to 2023:
- 2023: Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional
- 2022: Mac Studio, Studio Show, and Apple Watch Extremely
- 2021: AirTag
- 2020: Apple Silicon, MagSafe for iPhone ecosystem, HomePod mini, and AirPods Max
- 2019: AirPods Professional, Professional Show XDR, and Apple Card
- 2018: iPhone XS Max
- 2017: iMac Professional, HomePod, and iPhone X
- 2016: iPhone SE and AirPods
- 2015: iPad Professional, Apple Pencil, and Apple TV HD
- 2014: Apple Watch
- 2013: iPhone 5C and iPad Air
- 2012: iPad mini
- 2011: Thunderbolt Show
- 2010: iPad
2024 stands out for its lack of a brand new class, focusing as a substitute on enhancing present gadgets and introducing new software program options.
It is price noting that a lot of Apple’s product traces have reached a excessive degree of maturity. As a substitute of making solely new classes, Apple is seemingly doubling down on perfecting its present lineup, as demonstrated by the introduction of OLED show know-how to the iPad Professional, the extra refined design of the Apple Watch Sequence 10, or the M4 household of Apple silicon chips.
Whereas Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional was introduced in 2023, it didn’t launch till February 2024, and constitutes a significant new “spatial computing” product line for the corporate. It demanded an entire new OS, accent ecosystem, retail retailer house, and extra. In consequence, is probably going that Imaginative and prescient Professional dominated Apple’s focus in 2023 and 2024.
Equally, Apple’s pivot towards AI within the type of Apple Intelligence was introduced in June 2024. Apple Intelligence seeks to reshape how customers work together with their gadgets, introducing unprecedented ranges of customized automation and era on Apple gadgets. Since Apple Intelligence exists solely as software program for present product traces, Apple centered on increasing Apple Intelligence help in 2024, exemplified by the introduction of the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and seventh-generation iPad mini, in addition to bumping all the Mac lineup as much as 16GB of reminiscence as commonplace.
Apple’s long-rumored, however ill-fated, electrical car venture, can also have diverted substantial assets earlier than its reported cancellation. This effort, mixed with the monumental improvement calls for of Apple Intelligence and the Imaginative and prescient Professional, possible consumed a good portion of Apple’s latest R&D capability.
Furthermore, Apple’s 2024 product lineup remains to be possible feeling the lingering results of the worldwide slowdown throughout COVID-19, as most Apple merchandise function on a improvement cycle of two to 4 years. These overlapping components might clarify why 2024 lacked the introduction of a completely new {hardware} product line.
Compounding this, the worldwide tech market has seen slowing development in shopper {hardware}, with many consumers opting to increase the lifecycle of their gadgets. It could subsequently make sense that Apple has prioritized incremental upgrades such because the Apple Pencil Professional and fourth-generation AirPods, over launching new product classes that require vital shopper adoption and funding.
2025 is rumored to see the introduction of a sensible residence “Command Heart” resembling a HomePod with a 7-inch show, which might represent an all-new product line amid Apple’s anticipated refocus on the sensible residence. Past this, no completely new {hardware} product traces are anticipated this 12 months.
