New HomePod, 'AirPods 2,' death of 3D Touch all expected in 2019

Posted:
in iPhone edited August 2018
New reports from the Chinese supply chain suggest that Apple will bring a new HomePod to the market in 2019 alongside an AirPods refresh -- and that the 2018 iPhone lineup will be the last to incorporate 3D Touch.




Barclays analysts recently toured China last week, meeting with suppliers to Apple. According to the research note, seen by AppleInsider, a new "AirPods 2" will launch in time for the 2019 holiday sales season. This is contrary to other reports that have suggested that there will be an early calendar year 2019 release of an updated product.

Also at some point, Apple is predicted to release a less expensive HomePod in 2019, intended to appeal to a wider portion of the market. This is also not a new rumor, with earlier iterations of it claiming that it would happen before the end of 2018 because of supposed lackluster sales at the existing $349 price.

More controversially, it is "widely understood" by the supply chain that the iPhone lineup in the fall of 2019 will lack 3D Touch. Barclays notes that the plans are not finalized, so the feature may appear, and it may not. It isn't clear why a future iPhone would lack the feature, given that it works fine on the iPhone X.

All of Barclay's predictions are evidently drawn from the supply chain -- which has not been a good predictor of Apple's product plans. In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook has cautioned about using supply chain as a source of data.

"The supply chain is very complex, and we obviously have multiple sources for things," Cook said originally in 2013, and has repeated since. "Yields might vary, supplier performance might vary."
«134

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 66
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    More controversially, it is "widely understood" by the supply chain that the iPhone lineup in the fall of 2019 will lack 3D Touch. Barclays notes that the plans are not finalized, so the feature may appear, and it may not. It isn't clear why a future iPhone would lack the feature, given that it works fine on the iPhone X.
    Bullshit. Can you guys please stop reporting every thought some sell side analyst vomits out? Apple suppliers aren’t going to leak plans to Wall Street analysts (and that’s assuming they even know what those plans are).
    edited August 2018 claire1vukasikalordjohnwhorfinomar moralesRayz2016olsracerhomie3philboogieuraharawilliamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 66
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    vukasikabackstabbloggerblognetmageolsracerhomie3gordy
  • Reply 3 of 66
    vukasikavukasika Posts: 102member
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    Yeah, you beat me too it.  It's probably one of the most useful and under-utilized features on the phone. I can only imagine it becoming even more useful when the home button goes the way of the dinosaur.
    razorpitbackstabclaire1netmageolsracerhomie3watto_cobraurahara
  • Reply 4 of 66
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    vukasika said:
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    Yeah, you beat me too it.  It's probably one of the most useful and under-utilized features on the phone. I can only imagine it becoming even more useful when the home button goes the way of the dinosaur.
    Agreed. Now that I have it I can’t imagine using my phone without it.
    olswatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 66
    I like 3D Touch, but struggle sometimes not to activate it. If trying to follow a link or copy an image, I repeatedly touch it more and more gently to avoid invoking 3D. I haven't found a way to adjust sensitivity in Settings. When I struggle with an Apple product, I tend to accept blame, knowing there must be a simple solution I'm too obtuse to discover.
    bmwintoxicationwatto_cobrapatchythepirate
  • Reply 6 of 66
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    More controversially, it is "widely understood" by the supply chain that the iPhone lineup in the fall of 2019 will lack 3D Touch. Barclays notes that the plans are not finalized, so the feature may appear, and it may not. It isn't clear why a future iPhone would lack the feature, given that it works fine on the iPhone X.
    Bullshit. Can you guys please stop reporting every thought some sell side analyst vomits out? Apple suppliers aren’t going to leak plans to Wall Street analysts (and that’s assuming they even know what those plans are).
    I don't feel like you read the article.
    muthuk_vanalingamgatorguyking editor the gratefastasleepphilboogieasdasdwatto_cobrawilliamlondonGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 7 of 66
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    These next two weeks are going to be flooded with “rumors”. Every Wall Street firm will be vomiting out all kinds of BS that they claim came from the supply chain. And no doubt as soon as the new phones are announced we’ll get all kinds of “rumors” about the 2019 phones, most of which will turn out to be complete BS.
    philboogiewilliamlondonGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 8 of 66
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    I don't use 3D Touch as much as I thought I'd use but I think they will still use it but rather done in software instead of hardware with improved touchscreen sensitivity enough to detect an attempt to press harder.
  • Reply 9 of 66
    backstabbackstab Posts: 138member
    "AirPod 2" I've been waiting and waiting. (Please, Apple?)

    My dream:
    A new iPhone SE with larger screen realestate, 3D touch, "Reachability", and AirPods2 bundled in-box.
    For this, I will pay you anything you ask, Apple. ANYTHING!!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 66
    IreneWIreneW Posts: 303member
    vukasika said:
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    Yeah, you beat me too it.  It's probably one of the most useful and under-utilized features on the phone..
    You nailed it with "under-utilized", and that is also the reason it is doomed to be removed. 
    For developers the problem is that not all devices have 3D touch, so there must always be an alternative way of accessing a feature. And there is no way to provide a hint to users that 3D touch does something, they must try or guess. This makes for a very confusing UX, far from Apple's guidelines and good practice. 
    edited August 2018 PickUrPoisonpascal007asdasdslprescottGeorgeBMacbaconstang
  • Reply 11 of 66
    foljsfoljs Posts: 390member
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it
    For all those 5 people who use it?

    Apple has removed much more widely used stuff (headphone jack for one) and nothing much happened...
    edited August 2018 canukstormGeorgeBMacbaconstang
  • Reply 12 of 66
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    More controversially, it is "widely understood" by the supply chain that the iPhone lineup in the fall of 2019 will lack 3D Touch. Barclays notes that the plans are not finalized, so the feature may appear, and it may not. It isn't clear why a future iPhone would lack the feature, given that it works fine on the iPhone X.
    Bullshit. Can you guys please stop reporting every thought some sell side analyst vomits out? Apple suppliers aren’t going to leak plans to Wall Street analysts (and that’s assuming they even know what those plans are).
    I don't feel like you read the article.
    Sure I did. Apple may get rid of 3D Touch, they may not. How is that newsworthy. Nothing in this note seems anything more than pure speculation.
    omar moralesuraharawilliamlondon
  • Reply 13 of 66
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    Long-press is a better alternative. 3D is too niche and many people find it confusing. As evidenced by people’s ease with which they can organise app icons on their home screen (before it became buggy), this user action is more easily memorised and performed. Not to mention Apple can easily tweak their OS to have long press work for basically all of those functions, as they have done for cursor mode in iOS 12.
    edited August 2018 slprescottbaconstang
  • Reply 14 of 66
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    More controversially, it is "widely understood" by the supply chain that the iPhone lineup in the fall of 2019 will lack 3D Touch. Barclays notes that the plans are not finalized, so the feature may appear, and it may not. It isn't clear why a future iPhone would lack the feature, given that it works fine on the iPhone X.
    Bullshit. Can you guys please stop reporting every thought some sell side analyst vomits out? Apple suppliers aren’t going to leak plans to Wall Street analysts (and that’s assuming they even know what those plans are).
    Or state clearly whether AI paid for these reports or they were given to AI. The context matters, and writing “seen by AI” uses the passive voice which removes subject detail and is generally to
    be avoided. 
    edited August 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 66
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    backstab said:
    "AirPod 2" I've been waiting and waiting. (Please, Apple?)

    My dream:
    A new iPhone SE with larger screen realestate, 3D touch, "Reachability", and AirPods2 bundled in-box.
    For this, I will pay you anything you ask, Apple. ANYTHING!!
    So you want the SE, but with a larger screen? I don't know about the bundle, but the phone you want already exists..it's called the iPhone 8. :wink: 
    king editor the gratechiaomar moralesurahara
  • Reply 16 of 66
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    The writing was written on the iOS 12 wall with the new way to enter text cursor trackpad mode, which doesn’t require 3D Touch or 2-finger move on the keyboard anymore. In iOS 12, it appears to be long press on the space bar, and thusly, it becomes a homogeneous feature across all iOS devices without unique invocations per device type. I assume if home screen app pop-up menu and peek-and-pop remain as features, long press plus tap will be used. You can then assume that wiggly mode on the home screen can be activated with an even longer press.

    Gurman earlier rumormongered that there would be AirPods with “Hey Siri” this Fall. Perhaps they don’t have to change AirPods hardware this and it will be a firmware update. Still waiting on an in-ear version and tin-can version of Apple branded headphones, which Gurman also said maybe 2019, not this Fall.


  • Reply 17 of 66
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    ireland said:
    claire1 said:
    3D Touch better have a better alternative if Apple dares remove it!
    Long-press is a better alternative. 3D is too niche and many people find it confusing. As evidenced by people’s ease with which they can organise app icons on their home screen (before it became buggy), this user action is more easily memorised and performed. Not to mention Apple can easily tweak their OS to have long press work for basically all of those functions, as they have done for cursor mode in iOS 12.
    Why is long press better?
    omar morales
  • Reply 18 of 66
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    tht said:
    The writing was written on the iOS 12 wall with the new way to enter text cursor trackpad mode, which doesn’t require 3D Touch or 2-finger move on the keyboard anymore. In iOS 12, it appears to be long press on the space bar, and thusly, it becomes a homogeneous feature across all iOS devices without unique invocations per device type. I assume if home screen app pop-up menu and peek-and-pop remain as features, long press plus tap will be used. You can then assume that wiggly mode on the home screen can be activated with an even longer press.

    Gurman earlier rumormongered that there would be AirPods with “Hey Siri” this Fall. Perhaps they don’t have to change AirPods hardware this and it will be a firmware update. Still waiting on an in-ear version and tin-can version of Apple branded headphones, which Gurman also said maybe 2019, not this Fall.


    Well iPads never had 3D Touch but still supported trackpad mode. My guess is Apple is working on something to combine/unify 3D Touch & long press but it will still utilize the Taptic Engine.
    edited August 2018
  • Reply 19 of 66
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    I am skeptical of Apple making anything cheaper to appear to a larger market. Making a cheaper HomePod sounds very un-apple-esque to me. But then, HomePod doesn't really appeal to me, so I can see others feeling differently about it. 
    baconstang
  • Reply 20 of 66
    I turned 3D Touch off. More annoying than useful. There are so many fans here I may try it again. But at this point I will not even blink if it’s gone.
    edited August 2018 claire1firelockirelandirelandbaconstang
Sign In or Register to comment.