iPhones and MacBooks: We get them every year, but that could soon change

Everyone is currently waiting for Apple’s new M4 computer line. New MacBooks, Mac Minis and more are expected – based on Apple’s previous annual launch plan.

Apple has been quite predictable when releasing new products. Software announcements will occur at WWDC in June, followed by new hardware. For example, new iPhone announcements have long been planned for Apple’s September event, followed by the launch of new MacBooks later in the fall.

However, Apple’s reliable annual release schedule appears to be coming to an end. Accordingly BloombergAccording to Apple insider Mark Gurman, Apple has “slowly” moved away from this annual release strategy.

Apple is changing its annual product release cycle

For many years, Apple users have expected new Apple hardware releases to come out on a fairly consistent schedule.

According to Gurman, this happened for several reasons. It gave employees a deadline to work towards. It helped investors know what to expect. And it gave Apple’s marketing team the time they needed after the summer to fully leverage its press and marketing offensive.

However, as Gurman explains, this has become more difficult as Apple expands far beyond smartphones and computers. Some products, such as certain AirPods or Apple Watch models, do not require an annual hardware update.

Additionally, certain Apple teams have been pushed together to work within these planned launch dates. Gurman shares that Apple’s audio team needs to work on every device, from Macs and iPhones to the Apple Watch and AirPods.

Software updates have also made things more difficult, with Apple now dealing with a range of operating systems, from iOS to Apple Vision Pro’s visionOS. Every time new hardware is announced, work needs to be done to ensure that everything is also compatible with the software.

Unfortunately, the time frame for bringing hardware and software to market is not always correct. For example, Apple has heavily promoted the fact that its new iPhone 16 is designed specifically for Apple’s AI, Apple Intelligence. However, Apple Intelligence hasn’t even launched yet, even though the iPhone 16 launched last month and has been in customers’ hands for weeks.

Gurman expects the annual iPhone update and announcement event to continue in September. However, Apple’s experiment of abandoning annual announcements for certain products has already begun. In recent years, there have been more and more random Apple releases of new Macs in January and June. Apple launched new iPads in May, which is not a regular launch period for Apple.

But fear not, Apple fans. Gurman says Apple’s decision to change strategy will likely lead to “more frequent releases and less disruptive delays.” When a product is ready for use, Apple plans its launch accordingly rather than trying to work within Apple’s predetermined event schedule.