Apple is riding pretty high as 2025 comes to a close. The new iPhone 17 lineup has been a huge hit so far — with the exception of the iPhone Air — as CEO Tim Cook has described iPhone demand as “off the chart.” Apple is so confident that it’s forecasting its best December quarter ever, too.
There’s plenty of other reasons to be optimistic, including the continued strength of Apple silicon with the M5 chip, the superb new AirPods Pro 3 and a recent all-time record for services revenue.
But there’s also signs of trouble at Apple, including a raft of recent high-profile departures and retirements. John Giannandrea, Apple’s former head of Apple Intelligence, stepped down in December following a much-publicized delay to the new Siri — not to mention Apple losing ground to OpenAI and Google Gemini.
Meta recently scooped up Alan Dye, Apple’s former head of user interface design, as Mark Zuckerberg looks to extend his company’s lead in smart glasses at a time when Apple is still struggling to sell the pricey Vision Pro. Google is about to unleash its Android XR glasses as well.
"I don't think 2026 is a make-or-break year for Apple, but I do think it’s going to be a more challenging year than 2025,” said Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at Creative Strategies. “There's going to be challenges if they don't deliver on the AI promise.”
So what’s in store for Apple in 2026? Based on the rumored product pipeline and my conversations with analysts and Apple watchers, this is a pivotal moment for one of the world’s biggest brands. Here’s what to expect.
The iPhone Fold: Best-selling foldable ever?
Apple is famous for being late to enter new categories, including smartphones. But a 2026 arrival for an Apple foldable device is really, really late.
As Samsung preps the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Apple is reportedly gearing up to launch its very first foldable phone in the iPhone Fold. Nevertheless, the analyst firm IDC says Apple will grab more than 20% market share in the coming year and more than a third of the revenue.
“I would not be surprised at all if the iPhone Fold instantly became the best selling folding phone of all time,” said Jason Snell, editor of the Apple-centric website Six Colors and former editorial director of Macworld. His reasoning? Simple. “Because it’s an iPhone.”
While many shoppers have likely been intrigued by the best foldable phones up until now, iPhone fans have mostly sat on the sidelines because they’re not willing to switch operating systems or move out of the Apple ecosystem.
At the same time, the iPhone Fold is said to have some advantages over the competition, including a truly crease-free display and large library of apps that are optimized for a tablet-size screen. There are millions of iPad apps that will simply just work on day one, as the iPhone Fold will ostensibly be an iPad mini in your pocket.
The iPhone Fold is tipped to feature a 5.5-inch screen on the outside and a 7.8-inch panel on the inside along with a pretty big 5,400 mAh battery. And it should be quite thin, as analysts are likening the phone to two iPhone Airs attached by a hinge.
“I would not be surprised at all if the iPhone Fold instantly became the best selling folding phone of all time."
— Jason Snell, Editor, Six Colors
And the price? The rumor is a gulp-inducing $2,400, which would be $400 more than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. But don’t underestimate the appetite of high-end iPhone shoppers looking to stand out from the crowd.
“Ever since the iPhone X came out for $1,000, Apple has been engaged in this ongoing experiment to find what's the upper limit that people are willing to pay for an iPhone,” Snell said. “And looking at their product line and looking at their iPhone revenue, I would say they haven't found it.”
A super cheap MacBook
From the time Apple retired the 12-inch MacBook in 2019, industry watchers have been waiting for Apple to sell a super affordable MacBook to take on lower-cost Windows 11 laptops and premium Chromebooks. And we could finally get it in 2026.
Rumor has it that Apple is working on a cheap MacBook that could cost as little as $599 or $699, with the machine powered by an A series chip. Apple technically already has a laptop in this price range with the MacBook M1 still selling at Walmart for $599, but this would be a brand new design.
The target audience would be buyers who mostly want to surf the web, check email and watch videos.
The system will reportedly feature a 13-inch display, an A18 Pro chip (the same one featured in the iPhone 16 Pro models), and very long battery life. And at a time PC makers are facing a RAM shortage, Apple could have a built-in advantage versus the competition.
“I think we're going to get some very inexpensive MacBooks this year, because Apple is able to press its silicon advantage and there's sort of a curve ball being thrown by the wild swings in prices for memory,” said Avi Greengart, founder and lead analyst for Techsponential. “Apple has such volume, and because they build the memory into their package, rather than added on separately, Apple may end up with a double pricing advantage.”
Meet the HomePod Touch (or HomePad)
No one is really clear on the name of this product yet, but Apple is expected to launch a new smart home device that could be dubbed the HomePod Touch or HomePad. And it could arrive in the spring to coincide with the launch of the revamped Siri.
The device will reportedly feature a 7-inch touch screen and run Apple’s brand-new homeOS software. It would have pre-installed apps like Safari, Apple Music, Notes, Calendar, Photos and Reminder. And widgets will reportedly be a central feature. Think a beefed-up version of the iPhone’s StandBy Mode.
“There’s no other brand that is more trusted by consumers than Apple."
— Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at Creative Strategies
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that the HomePod Touch could cost around $350 and come in two versions, one with a speaker base and another that could attach to walls.
Apple would directly compete against the likes of Amazon and its line of Echo Show products and the Google Nest Hub Max. But how would Apple stand out? For one, the company’s reputation for security and privacy.
“There’s no other brand that is more trusted by consumers than Apple,” Milanesi said.
Then there’s the perception that today’s smart home displays in the home just aren’t that smart. You may have an Alexa or Gemini-powered device in your abode, but how often do you use it and is it enjoyable? I happen to have the latest Echo Show 21 with Alexa+ inside, and I tend not to use it for anything other than turning on Christmas lights and asking about the weather.
“I feel like nobody's really cracked it,” Snell said. “Alexa and the Google Assistant stuff in the home are not that great. So Apple has opportunities there.”
But much of this will boil down to how smart the new Siri is and whether people will want to talk to it.
Crashing the smart glasses party
While the Apple Vision Pro is technically impressive, there’s no question that Apple’s $3,500 spatial computer has been a commercial flop. The headset is just too heavy and expensive for the masses, and there’s not enough killer apps to make regular use worthwhile. The new Vision Pro M5 merely added a faster chip and comfier strap.
Meanwhile, Meta has a sizable lead with its smart glasses push. The company has already sold more than 2 million units, as sales tripled (300% growth) in the first half of 2025. Meta shows no signs of slowing down, launching a new Ray-Ban Meta gen 2 with a sharper camera, longer battery life and improved multimodal Meta AI.
“Clearly they missed the boat, right?” Snell asked. “Apple decided they were going to build Vision Products top-down instead of bottom-up. I think they probably poo-pooed the idea of doing AirPods as glasses. It's a shame, right? Because they have all the pieces to build that product, and they just didn't build it. So I imagine that in 2026 we'll see that product.”
Apple is rumored to be launching AI glasses toward the end of 2026, though that release could slip to 2027. The glasses will reportedly be AI-centric (so heavily dependent on the new Siri) and offer built-in speakers and cameras, but not a display — at least at first.
“What these products do is heavily voice, camera and AI centric, and it would not be impossible for Apple to launch a pair of glasses that just do those things,” Greengart said. “They would basically be AirPods plus a camera that you wear on your face. There's no reason they couldn't do that.”
The problem for Apple is that Meta and Google are already racing ahead with smart glasses that have built-in displays. While pricey, the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display shows enormous potential for the category with the way they can display helpful info in your field of view, whether it’s turn-by-turn directions, a viewfinder for photos or a recipe you want to follow along with. The wrist-worn neural band also makes it fairly easy to navigate the interface, though that’s yet another device you need to charge.
And Google is going to launch Android XR glasses with partners like Samsung and Warby Parker in 2026. I’ve already demoed them and came away very impressed with the Gemini integration. You can do everything from ask what you can make from ingredients in front of you to altering photos with generative AI before you even take them.
“The use cases are there, even without the world’s best AI,” Greengart said. “But if you layer on serious AI capabilities that then tie into your Android phone, that’s pretty powerful. So Apple is going to need to match that in order to have a competitive product.”
The new Siri — or bust
If you’re sensing a theme, you’re right. In order for some of these critical new products to succeed — especially the HomePod with display and smart glasses — Apple has to nail the launch of the new Siri.
Apple actually promised a much smarter Siri way back in 2024 with the launch of the iPhone 16 lineup. And while Apple delivered on some improvements, like a more conversational assistant, the biggest upgrades never materialized. These include on-screen awareness for content, better personal context understanding (“when is my Mom’s flight landing?”) and performing in-app actions via voice.
The fully new and improved Siri is now expected to launch in spring of 2026, and there’s a lot riding on it, even if AI isn’t a primary driver for selling devices yet.
“Apple has to deliver,” Milanesi said. She’s more worried about Gemini than ChatGPT as a direct competitor to Apple because the former has gotten “really good” and ties in with core applications that iPhone owners use regularly, like Google Maps and Gmail.
“The lock-in of the Apple ecosystem is real. But if AI becomes a part of your life in a way that you start wanting to use things from Google or OpenAI or Anthropic or someone else, and Apple doesn't have that same level of copilot, that may be a problem.”
— Avi Greengart, lead analyst, Techsponential
There are also reports that Apple may partner with Gemini to accelerate its own AI, but nothing has been announced.
Techsponential’s Greengart doesn’t see Google as an immediate threat, but it could become a bigger one if Apple somehow misses with the new Siri.
“The Android ecosystem has an opportunity to whittle away at the iOS base slowly at first, if Apple is not able to respond,” Greegnart said. “The lock-in of the Apple ecosystem is real. But if AI becomes a part of your life in a way that you start wanting to use things from Google or OpenAI or Anthropic or someone else, and Apple doesn't have that same level of copilot, that may be a problem for Apple.”
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