Top Stories: Apple Car Rumors, Windows on an M1 Mac, AirPods Max in Comparison

The holiday season is in full swing, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for joining us in another year, crammed with Apple news and rumors.

The calendar will soon turn to 2021, and Apple has a lot more on the table, as we saw in rumors last week about the well-known Apple Car, next year’s iPhone 13 series and a new Apple TV. Read below for highlights on these stories and more from the past week!

Apple car production planned for 2024 with ‘Next Level’ battery technology

Apple’s long-rumored plans for electric vehicles made headlines again this week. Shortly after a dubious supply chain report from Taiwan claiming that the so-called “Apple Car” will debut next year, Reuters reported that Apple is aiming for 2024 for the production of the vehicle.

The report claims that Apple’s self-driving vehicle will feature a unique ‘monocell’ battery design that ‘frees up space in the battery by eliminating pockets and modules containing the battery material, potentially resulting in a longer range per charge .

Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the news on Twitter, claiming that a ‘monocell’ battery was ‘electrochemically impossible’. Musk also claims that he issued “during the darkest days” of the production of Model 3, CEO Tim Cook, to discuss the possibility that Apple would acquire Tesla for a fraction of its current value, but Cook called the meeting apparently rejected.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in a LinkedIn post: “We are looking forward to new competitors who will definitely accelerate the change in our industry and provide new skills.”

iPhone 13 setup could support Wi-Fi 6E, bigger iPhone SE unlikely in early 2021

After discussions with several Apple vendors, Barclays analysts this week set some expectations for future iPhones and iPads.

First, analysts said the iPhone 13 models may support the new Wi-Fi 6E standard, which offers the same features and functions of Wi-Fi 6 – higher performance, lower latency and faster data rates – extended to the 6 GHz band . The additional spectrum offers much more air space beyond the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, leading to increased bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.

As for the iPhone SE, analysts believe that Apple does not plan to refresh the device in the foreseeable future. Although they have heard of a larger iPhone SE, which is rumored to feature a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch screen, the device is not mentioned in any of their discussions with Apple vendors. In April, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the larger iPhone SE had been delayed until the second half of 2021.

Finally, analysts said an iPad with an OLED screen is unlikely to launch until 2022. Apple is expected to release at least one more iPad Pro model with Mini-LED backlight next year.

Video: Windows test on an M1 Mac with parallels 16

Last week, Parallels released a preview version of its virtualization software with support for Apple Silicon. Along with a preview version of Windows-based Windows available through the Windows Insider program, it’s possible to get Microsoft’s operating system running on M1 Macs.

In a recent YouTube video, we installed Parallels on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip and tested Windows, but it did not run exactly smoothly. Of course, there are some issues you can expect with beta software still under development.

It remains unclear whether Microsoft will ever make a licensed version of Windows-based Windows available to customers.

Comparison: AirPods Max versus Sony / Bose / Sennheiser Options

It’s been a little over a week since the AirPods Max was introduced, marking Apple’s entry into the higher-end over-the-headphone market.

The AirPods Max, which costs $ 549, is hundreds of dollars more expensive than many other brands’ noise-canceling headphones, which can make a difficult buying decision.

In a recent YouTube video, we compared the ‌AirPods Max‌ with Sony’s WH-1000XM4s, Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless to see if it’s worth the premium price tag. In a separate video, we discuss five reasons why you might want to buy AirPods Max, despite their high price.

AirPods Max still has long shipping estimates on Apple.com, though delivery times have improved slightly through mid-February for the Space Gray and Silver colors and 8-10 weeks for the Pink, Green and Sky Blue options, compared to 12-14 weeks for all the colors recently.

Apple’s A14 chip surpasses new Snapdragon 888 chip available in future Android phones

Qualcomm shared standard results this week for its new Snapdragon 888 chip that will be used in flagship Android smartphones to appear in 2021, and it can not only keep up with Apple’s A14 chip in iPhone 12 models, but it is even slower than the last generation A13 chip used for the iPhone 11 series.

While the Snapdragon 888 delivers significant performance improvements over the previous generation Snapdragon chip, this means that future Android smartphones like Samsung’s rumored Galaxy S21 will be slower than iPhone models already released.

Apple’s mobile processors have been leading the industry in performance for years, and the company recently expanded this expertise to the Mac with its new M1 chip, which also delivers leading-per-watt performance.

New Apple TV with game focus, updated remote control and faster disc is expected next year

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman briefly reiterated this week that Apple plans to release a new Apple TV next year with a stronger gameplay focus, an updated remote control and a new processor.

Gurman had earlier indicated that Apple is working on a new remote with Find My-like features, making it easier to find if misplaced. As part of the game focus, there were also rumors that Apple may introduce a dedicated game controller for the Apple TV.

Earlier this year, an anonymous leak on Twitter, known as ‘Fudge’, indicated that Apple had prototyped new Apple TV models with variants of the A12 and A14 chips for faster performance; if this is true, it is unclear whether Apple will eventually sit on one chip or release two different models. The new Apple TV may also have larger 64 GB and 128 GB memory options.

The current Apple TV 4K model was released more than three years ago, so the chances look good for an update next year.

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