Earlier today, Tim Cook officially announced that Apple will launch several exciting new products starting this coming Monday (March 2). That said, three of the products that we’re expecting next are: the iPhone 17e, the 12th-generation iPad (A18), and the new entry-level MacBook. What those three have in common is that they will standardize one feature for each of their respective lineups.
Starting with the iPhone lineup, the only iPhone in today’s lineup that lacks MagSafe for convenient, efficient wireless charging is the iPhone 16e, which has been heavily criticized for its omission despite being introduced over five years ago. However, that will soon change with the launch of the iPhone 17e, which is expected to bring MagSafe for the first time on an entry-level iPhone. This should mean that MagSafe will finally become the standard across the iPhone lineup.
Every iPad in the current lineup supports Apple Intelligence except for the base iPad. That’s because the iPad features the A16 chip, which has 6GB of RAM, and that is below the 8GB minimum requirement for Apple Intelligence. Since the A18 chip comes with 8GB of RAM, this would bring Apple Intelligence to the base iPad for the very first time. Therefore, if the base iPad gets updated with the A18 chip, then it will standardize Apple Intelligence as a feature for every iPad in the lineup.
New entry-level MacBook
Apple currently sells both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, and both feature MagSafe 3 (not to be confused with MagSafe for iPhone) for convenient charging and to prevent accidents from people tripping over the charging cable. Technically, upon the introduction of the M3 MacBook Air in March 2024, Walmart continued to distribute the M1 MacBook Air until it completely sold out recently. That laptop just came with two USB-C ports, so you would have to use one of them to charge the laptop, as there was no MagSafe port. But with the entry-level MacBook Air on the horizon, it would replace the M1 MacBook Air since the A18 Pro that was rumored to be on this MacBook has comparable multi-core performance to that of the M1 MacBook Air. Plus, the A18 Pro should have faster single-core performance since it’s built on a modern 3nm architecture. There’s no word on whether it would have MagSafe, but since this MacBook is rumored to feature a “new design”, rather than one based on the M1 MacBook Air, it’s very likely that we’ll see MagSafe on this MacBook as well. If Apple were to introduce this entry-level MacBook, this would still make MagSafe a standard feature across every MacBook.
Conclusion
These three products will standardize one feature for each category. The iPhone 17e will standardize MagSafe, the iPad (A18) will standardize Apple Intelligence, and the entry-level MacBook will standardize MagSafe 3. Apple will kick off its announcement week starting this coming Monday, likely with a press release and a production introduction video for each of the upcoming products. Stay tuned as we cover everything that Apple will announce!
