Apple's Product Pipeline: What's Coming in 2026
After Apple's spring products, overhauls of various product lines are due in the coming months. An overview.
Two Apple logos on the manufacturer's computers.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch / heise medien)
How will Apple's hardware evolve? Before summer, the next round could begin for Macs at least. By autumn, new iPads and especially new iPhones with novel form factors are planned. And then there would still be a lot of accessories that have long been gathering dust in the company's warehouses.
Mac: Summer to Autumn
Apple has not yet equipped all Macs with the M5 generation. While the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are now finally up to date with all variants, the manufacturer is still offering old hardware for desktops. Good candidates for an update by summer are the Mac mini (then presumably with M5 and M5 Pro) and the Mac Studio (then with M5 Max and possibly M5 Ultra, not yet available).
For the iMac, Apple could switch to the M5 or continue to use the M4 – the all-in-one computer was last updated along with the Mac mini M4 in autumn 2024. There is still hope that Apple will finally bring variants with 27 or even 30 inches back to the market. However, the rumor mill has been silent about this for months. Apple officially buried the Mac Pro, making the early arrival of the new Mac Studio all the more important. It was updated just over a year ago – in the rather confusing combination of M4 Max and M3 Ultra.
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For autumn, observers still believe that Apple could completely redesign its MacBook Pro line for the first time in years. In practice, this means: a slightly thinner form factor, the very first OLED display in a Mac, and, which would be a revolution, a touchscreen, along with corresponding adjustments to macOS. The as yet unknown M6 chip is planned. Whether all of this will actually happen on time will be shown in the coming months.
iPad and iPhones: Foldable Year-End
There are still some iPad models that Apple has not yet updated. In spring, an iPad of the 12th generation – optimized for Apple Intelligence for the first time – and a new iPad mini (8th generation) were expected. A new iPad Pro M6 is probably not expected before autumn.
Also in autumn, presumably as usual in September, the new iPhones are due. Apple apparently plans to split the release: This year, iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max plus iPhone Ultra, Apple's first foldable, and in spring 2027, iPhone 18, 18e, and possibly a second-generation Air. Recently, there have been repeated speculations about a delay of the Ultra, but Apple seems to be sticking to the introduction. However, it is conceivable that delivery will only begin in October or November.
Finally, Apple customers are still waiting for accessories. At the top of the list are a new Apple TV 4K and new HomePods 3 and HomePods mini 2. The devices have not been updated for years and cannot be recommended for purchase in their current variants. The current Apple TV is from 2022, the HomePod 2 from 2023, and the HomePod mini from 2020.
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