Apple may be lining up an unusually crowded 2027: a second-generation foldable iPhone, a 20th-anniversary iPhone with a near bezel-free curved display, and AirPods with built-in cameras. If Mark Gurman’s Bloomberg report is right, that mix would give Apple a fresh hardware story just as a new chief executive is set to take charge on September 1 of this year.
That matters because Apple has spent years teasing ”next big things” more slowly than rivals like Meta Platforms, which already has lightweight smart glasses in the market. A burst of launches would help Apple show it can still do more than iterate on the same iPhone in slightly different colors.
AirPods with cameras and cloud prompts
The most unusual product in the pipeline is AirPods with cameras. The idea is not photography for its own sake: the cameras would read the surrounding environment, feed that data into AI systems, and help Siri respond more intelligently.
Apple had apparently wanted to ship them this year, but delays in building its own AI model pushed the launch to next year. The earbuds are also said to include flashing light indicators when they send information to cloud infrastructure, and they could double as a navigation aid with spoken turn-by-turn directions.
The anniversary iPhone gets a new shape
The company is also preparing a special iPhone for its 20-year milestone. It is expected to arrive in the fall next year with a nearly borderless display and curved edges, and it will come in two versions identified as V73 and V74.
Those models are set to replace iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which are due to debut this year. The anniversary devices, like the second-generation foldable, are expected to use the 2-nm A21 chip from the Naxos family.
- Anniversary iPhone models: V73 and V74
- Chip: 2-nm A21 (Naxos)
- Design: almost bezel-free display with curved edges
Apple’s foldable plans are already moving to round two
Apple’s foldable iPhone is not just coming back; it is apparently coming back for a second generation. That suggests the first model is expected to exist long enough to justify a successor, which is a small but telling sign of confidence in a category Apple has treated cautiously while Samsung and others have spent years ironing out the rough edges.
The standard iPhone 18 is also described as a next-year device, with the A20 chip, while this year’s lineup is said to use the more advanced A20 Pro from the Borneo family. Apple is still building further down the road, too: a follow-up to iPhone 18 is already in development, with an A21 chip codenamed Nimos, and A22 Pro parts for 2028 could use a 1.4-nm process from either TSMC or Intel.
Smart glasses, a camera pendant and iOS 28
The phone and earbuds are only part of the package. Apple is still hoping to ship its first smart glasses, under the codename N50, by the end of next year, aiming squarely at Meta’s lighter wearables. It is also exploring a camera-equipped pendant that would hang around the neck like jewelry, which sounds either futuristic or slightly exhausting, depending on your tolerance for gadgets on your body.
On the software side, iOS 28 is due in the fall next year, and it will power the compatible hardware that follows in 2027. In other words, Apple seems to be building a whole synchronized act: new chips, new wearables, new iPhones, and a new operating system to stitch the lot together.
The open question is whether Apple can deliver all of that without slipping on timing. Its recent pattern has been to move carefully and sell polish as a feature; next year may be the first real test of whether that patience can scale into a full product wave.