Top stories: rumors about Apple cars, Windows on a Mac M1, AirPods Max compared

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

The calendar will soon change in 2021, and Apple has many more, as we saw in last week’s rumors about a lot of Apple Car rumors, next year’s iPhone 13 range and a new Apple TV. . For important information about these stories and more from last week, read below!

Apple car production scheduled for 2024 with “Next Level” battery technology

Apple’s long-awaited plans for electric vehicles made headlines again this week. Shortly after a controversial report on the supply chain in Taiwan, which claimed that the so-called “Apple car” will debut next year, Reuters reported that Apple is targeting 2024 for vehicle production.

The report claimed that Apple’s self-driving vehicle will have a unique “single-cell” battery design that “frees up space inside the battery by removing bags and modules containing battery materials,” which could lead to greater battery life.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the news on Twitter, claiming that a “single-cell” battery is “electrochemically impossible”. Musk also claimed that “in the darkest days” of Model 3 production, he contacted Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla for a fraction of its current value, but it appears that Cook refused the meeting.

Meanwhile, in a post on LinkedIn, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said that “we look forward to new competitors who will definitely accelerate change again in our industry and bring new skills.”

IPhone 13 programming can support Wi-Fi 6E, iPhone SE unlikely higher in early 2021

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

First, analysts said the iPhone 13 could 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 – expanded in the bandwidth. at 6 GHz. The extra spectrum will provide much more airspace beyond existing Wi-Fi at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, resulting in increased bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.

As for the iPhone SE, analysts believe that Apple does not intend to refresh the device in the near future. While they had heard about a larger iPhone SE, which is rumored to have a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch screen, the device was not mentioned in any of their discussions with Apple suppliers. In April, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the larger iPhone SE was postponed until the second half of 2021.

Finally, analysts said that an iPad with an OLED screen is unlikely to be launched until 2022. Apple is still expected 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 preview version of its virtualization software with support for Apple Silicon. Along with an Arm-based preview version of Windows available through the Windows Insider program, the Microsoft operating system may be running and running on M1 Macs.

In a recent YouTube video, I installed Parallels on my new 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip and tested Windows, but it didn’t work. Of course, there are some expected issues with the beta software that is still under development.

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

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

It’s been a little over a week since the launch of AirPods Max, marking Apple’s entry into the market for high-end headphones.

Priced at $ 549, AirPods Max are hundreds of dollars more expensive than many highly rated noise canceling headphones from other brands, which can make a difficult purchase decision.

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

AirPods Max still faces long delivery estimates on Apple.com, although delivery times have improved somewhat by mid-February for the Space Gray and Silver colors and 8-10 weeks for the Pink, Green and Sky Blue options, compared with 12-14 weeks for all colors recently.

Apple’s A14 chip outperforms new Snapdragon 888 chip coming to future Android phones

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

While the Snapdragon 888 offers significant performance improvements over the previous-generation Snapdragon chip, this means that future Android smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 rumor, will be slower than the already launched iPhone models.

Apple’s mobile processors have led the industry in performance for years, and the company recently extended that expertise to the Mac with its new M1 chip, which also delivers industry-top performance per watt.

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

BloombergThis week, Mark Gurman briefly reiterated that Apple plans to launch a new Apple TV with a stronger focus on gaming, an updated remote control and a new processor at some point next year.

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

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

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

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