Top news: Apple car rumors, Windows on a Mac M1, AirPods Max compared

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

The calendar will soon arrive in 2021, and Apple has a lot more to do, as we saw in rumors last week about the much-talked about Apple Car, next year’s iPhone 13 lineup and a new Apple TV. For highlights of these stories and more from last week, read below!

Apple car production scheduled for 2024 with ‘next level’ battery technology

Rumors of Apple’s electric vehicle plans made headlines this week. Shortly after a questionable Taiwan supply chain report claiming that the so-called “Apple Car” will be launched next year, Reuters reported that Apple has a target of 2024 for the production of the vehicle.

The report states that Apple’s autonomous vehicle will feature a unique “monocell” battery design that “frees up space within the battery, eliminating bags and modules that hold battery materials”, potentially resulting in greater range per charge.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the news on Twitter, claiming that a “monocell” battery is “electrochemically impossible”. Musk also stated that “during the darkest days” of Model 3 production, he approached Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla at a fraction of its current value, but Cook apparently refused to meeting.

Meanwhile, in a LinkedIn post, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said, “We are looking forward to new competitors that are sure to accelerate change in our industry again and bring in new skills.”

The iPhone 13 line may be compatible with Wi-Fi 6E, the larger iPhone SE, unlikely in early 2021

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

First, analysts said the iPhone 13 models can support the new Wi-Fi 6E standard, which offers the same features and capabilities as Wi-Fi 6 – higher performance, lower latency and faster data rates – extended to the band 6 GHz. The additional spectrum will provide much more air space than the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, resulting in greater bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.

As for the iPhone SE, analysts believe that Apple has no plans to update the device in the near future. Although they heard of a larger iPhone SE, rumored to feature a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch screen, the device was not mentioned in any of their discussions with Apple vendors. In April, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the iPhone SE was delayed until the second half of 2021.

Finally, analysts said an iPad with an OLED screen is unlikely to be released before 2022. Apple is yet to launch at least one iPad Pro model with Mini-LED backlight next year.

Video: Testing Windows on a Mac M1 with Parallels 16

Last week, Parallels released a preliminary version of its virtualization software with support for Apple Silicon. Paired with a sample version of Windows based on Arm available through the Windows Insider program, it is possible to get the Microsoft operating system up and 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 didn’t work exactly well. Of course, there are some problems that can be expected with beta software that is still in development.

It is not yet clear whether Microsoft will provide customers with a licensed version of Windows based on Arm.

Comparison: AirPods Max vs. Sony / Bose / Sennheiser options

It has been a little over a week since the launch of the AirPods Max, marking Apple’s entry into the next generation headphones market.

Costing $ 549, the AirPods Max are hundreds of dollars more expensive than many other high-grade noise-canceling headphones from other brands, which can be a difficult purchase decision.

In a recent YouTube video, we compared ‌AirPods Max‌ to Sony’s WH-1000XM4s, Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 and Sennheiser Momentum Wireless to see if they are worth the premium price. In a separate video, we covered five reasons why you might want to consider purchasing the AirPods Max, despite its high price.

AirPods Max still faces long shipping estimates on Apple.com, although delivery times have improved a little until mid-February for Space Gray and Silver and 8-10 weeks for Pink, Green and Sky Blue in compared to 12-14 weeks for all colors recently.

Apple’s A14 chip beats new Snapdragon 888 chip that will arrive in future Android phones

This week, Qualcomm shared benchmark results for its new Snapdragon 888 chip that will be used in the main Android smartphones that will be launched in 2021, and not only is it unable to keep pace with Apple’s A14 chip in the iPhone 12 models, but it is even slower than the latest generation A13 chip used in the iPhone 11 line.

Although the Snapdragon 888 offers significant performance improvements over the previous generation Snapdragon chip, this means that future Android smartphones, such as Samsung’s supposed Galaxy S21, will be slower than the iPhone models ever released.

Apple’s mobile processors have been leading the industry in performance for years, and the company recently extended that experience to the Mac with its new M1 chip, which also offers industry-leading performance per watt.

New Apple TV focused on games, updated remote control and faster chip expected next year

BloombergMark Gurman briefly reiterated this week that Apple plans to launch a new Apple TV with a stronger focus on games, an updated remote control and a new processor sometime next year.

Gurman previously indicated that Apple is working on a new remote control with features like Find My, which would make it easier to find when lost. As part of the gaming focus, there have also been rumors that Apple may launch a dedicated game controller for Apple TV.

Earlier this year, an anonymous leak known as “Fudge” on Twitter indicated that Apple created a prototype of new Apple TV models with variants of the A12 and A14 chips for faster performance; if true, it is unclear whether Apple will eventually settle for a chip or launch two different models. The new Apple TV may also have options for storage capacity of 64 GB and 128 GB larger.

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

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