Apple products are loved all over the world. People love their products to the point where others regard it as a ‘cult’. They sell a ton of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macbooks, Macs and iMacs each year which integrate well under the Apple ecosystem.
Although Apple has been wildly successful the past decade, it is weird that they haven’t released some specific products that we see their peers launch. They have the money, the ecosystem and a willing market for them so it has always baffled me why they haven’t released them. These products could be in development, but so far, Apple has not announced them.
Apple Television Set
Apple has the Apple TV decoder and recently, they started pushing their Apple TV+ service. The company is also really good with product design, display quality and sound. It would be fair to assume that they would announce their own branded line of television sets.
But for some reason, they have never hinted at the idea that they would release an Apple branded line of television sets. In my opinion, this looks like a no-brainer.
If Apple made a television set, it would have the following specifications.
- An extremely colour accurate display that we expect from Apple. Apple has great displays on their Macs, iPhones and iPads. I would expect the top end variant would have a similar screen like the one on their Pro Display XDR (which is a $5000 display).
- Great audio. Apple is one of the few companies that take audio quality seriously. Their Macbooks have better sound quality from their speakers than most laptops. iPhone stereo speakers are really good. I wouldn’t expect nothing else from their TV.
- Aluminium build. Apple loves using aluminium.
- FaceID to login to your TV
- inbuilt Apple TV to stream Apple TV+ content or from other content sources.
- Powered by an “A” series chip that will take care of processor needs, the T series chip that will handle HEVC decoding and security of the TV, W series chip for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functionality and the new U series chip for spatial awareness and for enhancing AirDrop.
- Support for AirDrop and AirPlay so that you can cast with your iOS/Mac device.
It is surprising that Apple has never launched a TV before and I believe they have an opportunity to have a winner here
Apple branded dedicated camera
Apple is doing amazing things with computational photography with their iPhones. This has become a trend in the mobile space and we also see the likes of Google leading this space.
The company spent quite some time detailing how their computational photography system works on their new iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. It is all thanks to their A13 chip which combines the powerful processors, image signal processor and neural engine to take photos that push the boundaries of the limitations we have in smartphone photography.
Currently in the consumer camera space, we have dedicated cameras that have rely on their huge sensors to take great photos. Over time, they have added ‘smart’ features like Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity as well as mobile apps to connect to the cameras.
There are reasons why I believe an Apple dedicated camera would be cool.
- Apple will find a way to have computational photography extended to this camera. This will make the experience of taking great photos with such a camera easier in JPEG mode only.
- Apple’s camera would probably feature fast internal storage only, no need for buying SD cards. Apple’s internal storage is pretty fast (faster than most SD cards) so if you have plenty of internal storage, there will be no need to buy SD cards.
- The camera would run an OS similar to iOS that will connect you to iCloud so that you can seamlessly save and access them easily. This would disrupt the industry for good.
- Apple has their own ProRes standard which the camera can shoot the videos in. This is a standard that is familiar to professionals during the editing process so it will be invaluable to them.
- I would expect Apple to have a minimalist aesthetic for such a camera. Apple hates moving parts. Everything will be controlled from software, save for the camera shutter button (possibly). This will make professionals uneasy but amateurs would find it familiar.
Apple branded noise cancellation headphones
Before you comment, yes Apple bought Beats and subsequently have a whole line of headphones and they also have their polarizing yet popular AirPods.
However, what if they made their own Apple branded noise cancellation headphones that would compete with the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Bose? I think Apple would pull it off.
The “premium” noise cancellation headphone market is one where Apple can flourish. If Apple would attempt to do such a thing, it would have a design similar to the Microsoft Surface headphones since Apple loves aluminium so much. It would have Apple’s special processors for easy pairing to iOS and Mac devices. They will also have to come up with a way to beat the industry kings (Bose and Sony) when it comes to noise cancellation, eventually of course.
Currently, Apple has the Beats Studio 3 as their premium noise cancellation headphone and it retails for $350. Apple can easily put a higher price on these Apple branded noise cancellation headphones and people will buy them since they will pair easily with their iOS and Mac devices.
Gaming console
We have seen many gaming consoles come and go in our lives. Atari, Sega or Dreamcast have since left the market and now we are essentially left to choose between a Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo consoles like the Switch.
However, I believe that Apple has the opportunity and clout to disrupt this rather difficult market.
The gaming console market is all about the ecosystem. The manufacturer releases a console, millions of people buy it and they partner with developers to create exclusive titles for them.
Apple could come up with a strikingly good-looking console that will compete with the PlayStation, Xbox and the Switch and then rope in customers with Apple Arcade. Apple Arcade can be expanded to include console quality games and can be a potential rival to the Xbox and PlayStation ecosystems.
The interesting thing is that Apple did make a gaming console back in 1996. It was called the Bandai Pippin and it was not successful. Apple was struggling at the time, but 2019 is different and the company is quite successful. They have he clout and resources to pull this off but it is yet to be seen whether they’ll dip their toes into the gaming console market again.
