As we move into 2024, I’ve been thinking about the future. Obviously, I thought about the past and present first, but those ghosts have left, and now I face a mysterious cloaked figure. He’d perhaps be chilling and scary if he weren’t asking me whether I think now’s a good time to buy AirPods Max or whether he should wait. Along those lines, here’s what I’m hoping to see from Apple in 2024.
First is a development of the vision for Apple’s Vision line. This initial Vision Pro hardware is certainly one possible future of computing, but not a mainstream one at $3,500. What will be fascinating to see is which parts Apple believes it can cut back on to create a more affordable non-pro Apple Vision product that appeals to more people. Probably not the sensors or cameras, unless Apple plans to change the functionality drastically for a non-Pro version. Perhaps the resolutions of the screens inside, which are truly cutting-edge. Almost certainly the EyeSight screen on the outside, since a whole flexible OLED screen isn’t cheap. The materials, the audio tech… but can this add up to enough of a difference? The Meta Quest 3 is under £500 – it’s hard to see how Apple can compete with this in the short term, but I hope we’ll find out.