2024 is shaping up to be a busy year for Apple with a large number of important new releases due across the company's product lines, but there are some noticeable absences from its rumored plans.
Using information from various analysts and reliable sources, here's everything we're no longer expecting Apple to release this year.
iPhone SE 4
While Apple was previously rumored to be planning the launch of the fourth-generation iPhone SE for 2024, the company is now widely expected to release the device in 2025.
The current iPhone SE launched in March 2022, meaning that it will be at least 33 months old by the time its successor arrives. The next-generation iPhone SE is expected to feature a design based on the iPhone 14, an OLED display, a larger battery, an Action Button, USB-C port, Face ID, and potentially Apple's first custom 5G cellular modem.
AirTag 2
Production of the second-generation AirTag tracker was apparently due to kick off in the fourth quarter of 2024, but the latest forecast from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that the accessory will not reach mass production and be released until 2025.
According to Kuo, the second-generation AirTag will be part of a new spatial computing ecosystem that Apple is building, with the Vision Pro serving as the core to integrate other devices. A new AirTag would likely incorporate Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip that debuted in the iPhone 15 models, allowing for even more precise tracking at longer distances.
MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra
The first Apple device to offer a microLED display will apparently be an upcoming Apple Watch Ultra model released in late 2025 or 2026. In fact, Apple may not update the Apple Watch Ultra in 2024 and hold off for the significant display upgrade the following year.
Apple's plan to bring a microLED display to the Apple Watch Ultra is very widely corroborated, starting with a report from display analyst Ross Young in January 2023. The microLED display is expected to be 2.12-inches in size, a 10% increase over the display of the current Apple Watch Ultra.
The advanced display technology offers improved brightness, color reproduction, dynamic range, viewing angles, and efficiency, making images look more like they are "painted" atop the display glass. The project is part of Apple's plan to reduce its reliance on Samsung as a supplier while yielding benefits from engineering its own displays in-house, just like its chip technology.
While initial reports distinctively placed the launch of the microLED Apple Watch Ultra in 2024, the latest reports point to late 2025 or potentially even 2026.
iMac Pro
Apple is still rumored to be working on a high-end "iMac Pro" model with a 32-inch mini-LED display and a larger selection of ports.
Despite the discontinuation of the iMac Pro and any iMac models larger than 24-inches in 2021, Apple is still said to have plans to launch a substantially bigger and more powerful iMac model.
While Bloomberg's Mark Gurman floated the possibility of the machine launching in late 2024, 2025 may be a more likely time frame. Ming-Chi Kuo has similarly said that the new iMac Pro will launch in 2025, so the 24-inch iMac may well continue to be the only Apple all-in-one desktop available this year.
Foldable iPhone and iPad
Apple has been known to be working on foldable display technology for many years, filing multiple patents related to the technology, but a foldable iPhone or iPad still seems to be quite some time away.
Rumors in September 2020 indicated that Samsung was providing foldable display samples to Apple for a future foldable iPhone, but there had been no strong indication that Apple was planning to use Samsung's technology until recently.
In 2021, Bloomberg claimed that Apple had started "early work" on an iPhone with a foldable display, but that it had not committed to releasing a foldable device at that time. Development in 2021 had not expanded beyond a display, and Apple did not have full foldable iPhone prototypes.
Ming-Chi Kuo initially said that Apple would introduce a foldable iPhone in 2024, but in 2022, he revised his prediction and said that Apple is unlikely to unveil a foldable iPhone until 2025 or later. Display analyst Ross Young has also suggested 2025 is the earliest that we might see a foldable iPhone.
Apple is expected to bring a foldable iPad to market before a foldable iPhone, but for the time being, the company is said to be focused on expanding OLED displays throughout the iPad and Mac lineups and considering the potential of offering a foldable iPad even further in the future.
