It’s only a few hours since we welcomed the year 2024 and well, We are already curious about what Apple has in store for this yearwhich, on the other hand, isn’t too surprising considering that rumors about Apple’s plans usually take months, and in many cases years, from the moment they appear to the moment they become reality (when it happens). of course yes, because sometimes the wind blows them away).

Although Cupertino tries to surprise us every year with its launch, It is impossible to maintain a high rate in this regard continuously over time.so occasionally we find surprising announcements-launches that leave us open-mouthed, as it happened at that time with the iPhone or as in the past (for a few hours) 2023 with the Apple Vision Pro, while in Others, the majority, we find ourselves “only” (which is no small thing, mind you) with resuming use of their devices, products and services.

When we ask ourselves what Apple will do in 2024, there are a few obvious answers: will introduce and launch iPhone 16, iOS 18, a new version of macOS, a new generation of smartwatches with a long-awaited series, will be more committed to the environment than ever. We will also see a refresh of some PC, maybe headphones… in short, everything that we see year after year in the company’s effort to stay ahead.

However, there are three movements that are out of the ordinary and therefore they are much more interesting. Which of course also makes his success or failure more resounding. For two of them I’d say Apple has it figured out, but there’s a third that’s more prone to lag and/or deliver results that don’t meet expectations due to its complexity. So I’ll rank the three from lowest to highest risk, although it’s there in all cases for different reasons.

Apple Vision Pro

It was undoubtedly Apple’s most important announcement last year. The virtual, mixed and augmented reality viewer in Cupertino is much more than just a viewer, or what we are used to associate with this definition. It’s not for nothing that the company calls it a “spatial computer” because, thanks to its computing capacity, it is able to perform many of the tasks that we do with a computer every day, but with the added benefit of augmented reality.

In 2023, he was the protagonist of its announcement, but it will not finally go on sale until 2024, probably in February. However, it will do so in a very limited way, only in selected Apple stores in the United States, where specific areas will be set up to offer the shopping experience that Cupertino has designed for its space computer. AND I have no doubt that the interest these spaces will generate will be formidable.

Challenges: However, Apple faces two important challenges when launching the Vision Pro. The first, of course, is that the device lives up to the expectations it has raised. Granted, we already know of people who have tried it and been impressed, but that will still be confirmed or disproved when it starts getting to early adopters. And the second is of course its price, which starts at $3,499, which is a very high amount that may be justified (at least in part), but we have yet to see if it is not a deterrent for its potential buyers.

A qualitative leap in gaming

A very interesting point in the presentation of the iPhone 15, more precisely the Pro and Pro Max models, happened between the moment when they told us the news about the SoC and the moment when they discussed the new cameras. I mean, of course, when the explanation of the new functions of the integrated system led us to the fact that its capabilities in the graphics part have been significantly improved (compared to its predecessors), to the extent that they allow ray tracing to be used in games.

This evolutionary leap could not stop there and told us that it was already possible, so this was followed by the announcement that games like Death Stranding, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake, among others, will arrive in the iOS App Store in the coming months. And of course, they would only be compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro, as they are the only ones with the right components to ensure a gaming experience that lives up to expectations. And this new support for more demanding games should have as a big milestone, the launch of Death Stranding in 2023 not only on iOS, but also on ipadOS and macOS.

Challenges: Those who have reviewed it say that Apple has done a great job of expanding the reach of its devices and operating systems in the gaming world. However, we are talking about fiendishly complex technologies, terribly demanding software and therefore also potential problems. Few days ago we had news that the versions of Death Stranding have been delayed until 2024. Nothing can be argued against justified delays, but until the launch it leaves us in doubt whether the gaming experience from the PC ecosystem will finally be brought to Cupertino. I hope so.

Evolution in artificial intelligence / Siri

I joined a few days ago he the status quo Apple’s current situation regarding artificial intelligenceand nothing has changed since then. 2023, which saw little or nothing shiny in relation to trendy technology, will be followed by 2024, which points in the opposite direction, as its first LLM, internally called Apple GPT, would already be polished enough to start integrating. to the company’s software and services.

Its scope should be relatively widefrom helping users create and edit documents with Pages, Numbers and Keynote to creating personalized playlists based on prompts users in Apple Music, the list of possibilities is enormous, and in Cupertino they have not stopped thinking about other potential uses of this own LLM. Now, the most relevant revolution in this sense should come to iOS 18 and with it Siri.

Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, was the forerunner of this type of user interaction system. It was an interesting revolution at the time, but lack of evolution over the years it completely squandered the image of innovation it represented at the time. We bid farewell to 2023 as we saw Microsoft try to expand Copilot’s presence on Android and iOS devices, and Google is gearing up for a very interesting 2024 in that regard with the Gemini Mini. Apple needs to respond quickly and well if it doesn’t want to see third-party assistants gain traction on iOS.

Challenges: During 2023, we saw a lot of progress in AI, yes, but also models (some signed by big tech companies) that made mistakes that are hard to excuse, and we also knew about problems like AI hallucinations (end of the year, by the way for Cambridge Dictionary). Can Apple avoid all potential problems with creating a new Siri based on his LLM? I understand that they will put all their effort into it, but this is undoubtedly very difficult. We’ll have to wait until they arrive to confirm whether they’ve succeeded or not.