It’s a new year and a new time for Apple wishlists and rumors, so I’ve put together some of the areas of focus I’d love to see Apple take on in 2020. Most of these are not specific, minor upgrades and features I’d like to see, but rather, major areas of focus where the great Apple ecosystem is still lacking and could uses a kick into high gear.
Without further ado, here’s where I’d like to see Apple go in 2020:
- A readjustment in Apple’s design philosophy surrounding streaming services. Right now, Apple Music, Apple News, and most recently, Apple TV, have UIs that are built around a stream of suggestions. They call this curation, but in reality, it feels more like being bombarded with advertisements. Suggestions are important, but they should be a feature, not the foundation of the UI. Here’s what I mean. These streaming services need to provide better functionality in which the user can build and maintain his own library of content, organize it, rate it, and sift through it. You’d have a tab for curation/suggestions and a tab for your content library.
- A redesigned Music app. Along with what I said above, the Music app could still use a lot of work. That means dramatically improved matching algorithms so that your albums don’t keep getting broken up, unmatched, or replaced by singles and live versions. That means a better use of space. That means more focus on the Library tab so you can actually search through your library with more powerful tools (ie. think of the Photos app with its many great features and tools). That means better organization. And of course, that means the addition of Smart Playlists/filters to sort through your music.
- SiriOS. Many have already covered this, so I won’t go into too much detail, but Siri needs to be more consistent across devices (ie. via a mesh network), it needs to be more reliable, and it needs to get a whole lot more powerful, which I’m confident it will be once it fully integrates the VocalIQ tech from its major acquisition. I’ve seen comments from reputable sources that something big is underway, and that Apple has been working on a ground-up rewrite, like it did with Apple Maps recently. That would explain the huge ramp-up in AI/ML acquisitions over the last few years, the significant increase in Siri hirings, and of course, the hiring of John Giannandrea, who is reporting straight to Tim Cook, signifying a huge focus on AI.
- Apple as a home theater company. Right now, HomePod is a niche music device. It sounds good, but the functionality is severely limited. It still doesn’t even offer native Apple TV support. You have to manually pair it via AirPlay 2 and it’s not exactly ideal. Here’s where I see the future of HomePod. Basically, I’d like to see it transform from a niche Apple Music device into a device that is central to your living room. That means native Apple TV support. That means surround sound. That means APIs to allow 3rd party devices like gaming consoles to output sound to HomePod. And perhaps Apple could add more devices to the family, like a subwoofer (SubPod? HomeWoof?) to give you real surround sound or even Dolby Atmos. This would function as a real home theater and obviate any need for an AV Receiver. AirPlay 2 would basically be your AV Receiver.
- Some clarity on iPad Pro and its UI input methods. I love my iPad Pro and everything it can do. It’s really closing in on becoming capable of replacing primary computers for most people, but it’s not quite there yet. The reason is that the UI input is becoming too complex. For example, when you’re using your iPad with a keyboard case, how do you operate it? Via the touch screen? Via keyboard shortcuts? Via Voice Control? Via Siri? Via the Apple Pencil? The problem with all these great technologies is that they create confusion with the basic functionality. On a laptop, you have a trackpad for movement/selection and a keyboard for typing. It’s all simple and your hands can rest. With iPad, you have to keep reaching up for the screen (which isn’t ergonomic and which is the whole reason why Apple never implemented touch screens on its Macs). So should Apple implement a trackpad? A mouse? Something new? The whole system seems unfocused to me. In my opinion, there should be one primary way to operate the device in tablet mode (ie. the touch screen) and one primary way to operate it in laptop mode. And when you’re using it at home, it should connect to a big Apple monitor (a cheaper version of the Pro Display XDR). In other words, the usage for ‘tablet’ mode, for ‘laptop’ mode, and for ‘home’ mode is still very muddy and unclear. Apple needs to tell this story and provide a more focused vision on the iPad Pro and its use cases.
Some runners up:
- An improved Apple TV remote. First and foremost, it needs to be more ergonomic. The general concept is good, but it’s just not comfortable to hold, and it always gets lost in couch cushions due to its unnecessary thinness. The current remote is still from that 2013–2016 Apple era where under Jony, they went too extreme with aesthetics and lost some focus on functionality. Apple has gotten a lot better over the past couple years (ie. see the new Mac Pro, WatchOS improvements, iOS moving away from the iOS 7 aesthetic, the new keyboards etc…), so now it’s the Siri Remote’s turn to leave that 2013–2016 era. I’d like a new remote that is more comfortable in hand and perhaps has some other improvements with the trackpad and with edge clicking.
- All the standard iPhone stuff. 5G. Smaller notch. Faster processors. Improved cameras. And so on. But the big one is the U1 chip for Ultra-wideband technology and precise positioning.
- All the standard Apple Watch improvements. Thinner. Faster. Better battery. Improved always-on display. More health sensors for various health conditions like the long-rumored non-invasive glucose monitoring, more heart and stroke analysis, and so on.
- And then there are all the major projects like the car (Project Titan) the AR glasses, and so on, but I don’t expect to see anything there for a couple years.
I’m excited to see what Apple has in store for 2020. We’re undoubtedly going to get some stability and reliability improvements this year after a shaky iOS 13 release last year, but it’s also looking like a big year for hardware, software, and services. WWDC 2020 can’t come soon enough!
