“I’m positive about the foldable iPad in 2024 and expect this new model will boost shipments and improve the product mix,” Kuo wrote on Twitter.

Kuo’s prediction aligns with a report from analyst firm CCS Insight, which wrote in October that Apple would launch a foldable iPad before it launches a foldable iPhone.

Several other manufacturers, including Lenovo and Samsung, make laptops or phones with full-size foldable displays. Apple has so far shied away from taking advantage of OLED technology in the same way. Rival Samsung has released multiple foldable phones, but Apple has maintained the rectangular shape of the iPhone since its launch.

“Right now it doesn’t make sense for Apple to make a foldable iPhone. We think they will shun that trend and probably dip a toe in the water with a foldable iPad,” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC in a 2022 interview.

In 2021, Kuo had predicted the release of a foldable iPhone in 2024, the same year he now predicts a foldable iPad to launch instead.

Kuo said he expects a foldable iPad to feature a carbon fiber kickstand sourced from Chinese manufacturer Anjie Technology.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kuo is one of the most prolific and respected Apple analysts. The analyst has predicted multiple details on the iPhone SE 3, the 2021 MacBook Pro, and numerous iPad releases that have been substantiated at launch. Most recently, Kuo predicted a delayed launch for Apple’s highly anticipated mixed reality headset.

The way Apple’s products seamlessly connect to one another has helped it become the world’s second-largest smartphone maker and the top seller of smartwatches and wireless earbuds. The launch of Media Notifications is Google’s latest attempt to show that products don’t have to be made by the same company to work together. Google has been moving towards this goal for years by introducing features like Phone Hub, Nearby Share and Fast Pair. Additions like these have become all the more important now that Android and iOS have staked a larger presence in our cars, our ears and on our wrists.

“This is an ongoing investment,” Erik Kay, Google’s vice president of engineering for Android, said to CNET exclusively ahead of CES. “We get to the point where pretty much any feature that shows up on the phone or shows up on a watch is going to inherently be a multi-device feature over time.”

Spotify and YouTube Music will be among the first apps to be compatible with Media Notifications. Google is also working with Spotify to make it possible to manage playback between Spotify Connect devices in Android 13’s new media player — another move to improve consistency across Android devices.

Google has not yet said when either of these updates will launch, nor has it said which products Media Notifications will be compatible with. But since the goal is to make moving between devices easier, Google says users likely won’t have to do any legwork in the settings menu to enable Media Notifications. Prompts should just appear automatically as you move closer to a compatible device.

“That all happens naturally through little nudges and prompts in the user interface,” Kay said when describing how Media Notifications will work.

Media Notifications won’t require ultra wideband, a connectivity protocol that’s made its way into new premium smartphones over the past three to four years, because it relies on signals from various sources like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. But it will likely work more accurately if you’re using a UWB-enabled device, according to Kay. Since UWB can provide precise proximity calculations, its presence in phones improves tasks like sharing files and content between devices and digital car key functionality. It’s also the same technology Apple uses to point you in the right direction of a lost AirTag.

“UWB is something we’re pretty excited about,” said Kay. “But it is one of these things that’s going to take a long time for it to really get ubiquitous in the market.”

Google’s announcements come after Apple has been gradually adding new connectivity features to its ecosystem of iPhones, iPads, AirPods, Apple Watches and Macs. Apple brought the ability to swap FaceTime calls between your iPhone, iPad and Mac in its most recent operating system updates, for example. The ability to transfer audio from your iPhone to the HomePod Mini based on proximity was also a standout feature when Apple introduced its miniature speaker in 2021.

But unlike Apple, Google isn’t using features like Media Notifications to push its first party hardware. Instead, Google wants to make swapping between Android devices feel consistent and easy whether you’re using products from Google, Samsung, JBL or any of its other partners.

It’s a goal that Google must balance alongside promoting its own Pixel devices, which only account for a sliver of the global smartphone market. You may be wondering why Google doesn’t just keep features like Media Notifications exclusive to its Pixel phones, Pixel earbuds and Nest smart home devices to make its devices stand out within the Android landscape. If Google wants to emulate Apple’s ecosystem approach, that would certainly be one way to do so.

The answer is simple: Improvements like these are only useful if they’re available everywhere.

“Every feature you build is a network effect feature, so it depends on there being a wide variety of devices to support the feature,” Kay said. “So if you build something [and] try to make it exclusive to one device, or one partner, or even our first party things, it’s not going to be as successful because there’s not as many devices for it to work with.”

As smartwatches and wireless earbuds have grown more popular, phone makers like Apple and Samsung have increasingly focused on these ancillary products as complementary selling points for their smartphones. Global shipments of smartwatches grew 13% year-over-year in 2022, according to Counterpoint Research, while Canalys reports that true wireless earbuds were the only personal audio category to show growth in the third quarter of 2022. Google is the latest smartphone maker to jump on that bandwagon and launched its first smartwatch, the Pixel Watch, in October, Google plans to introduce a new Pixel tablet next year.

Making watches, earbuds and smart home devices work together more seamlessly isn’t just about convenience. Some experts believe that accessories like these will play a big role in the smartphone’s future as annual phone upgrades feel incremental.

“The next quest for the smartphone is to figure out what it will connect to next,” Runar Bjørhovde, an analyst with market research firm Canalys, said in a previous interview for a separate story. “Because the smartphone has not necessarily reached its potential yet, but as a standalone device I think the smartphone is getting closer and closer to the edge.”

Young has previously mentioned new OLED ‌iPad Pro‌ models planned for 2024, but this is the first time that we’ve heard about updated 11.1 and 13-inch display sizes. With larger 11.1 and 13-inch screen sizes planned for the OLED ‌iPad Pro‌ models, we could see slimmed down bezels rather than an overall change in the size of the device.

At the current time, Apple sells a 12.9-inch mini-LED ‌iPad Pro‌ and an 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ with a traditional LCD display, as mini-LED has continued to be reserved for the higher-end ‌iPad Pro‌ model. With the 2024 update, Apple could return to feature parity between the two ‌iPad Pro‌ models.

Apple refreshed the 11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models in October 2022, adding the M2 chip, so it would not be a surprise not to see another update until 2024. It is not yet clear if there is an intermediate update coming ahead of the transition to OLED, but Apple does not have plans to release a mini-LED 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, and will instead move directly to OLED for the smaller tablet.

Other sources like The Elec and DigiTimes have confirmed that Apple is developing OLED panels for larger devices like iPads and MacBook models, and the technology is expected to be ready in 2024.

Young previously said that Apple would introduce a 14.1-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ in 2023, but he walked that back today and said that such a device is no longer in the works. That said, larger iPads are still a future possibility, as The Information believes Apple is designing a 16-inch iPad and Bloomberg has confirmed Apple’s interest in bigger iPads.

Apple today introduced three advanced security features focused on protecting against threats to user data in the cloud, representing the next step in its ongoing effort to provide users with even stronger ways to protect their data. With iMessage Contact Key Verification, users can verify they are communicating only with whom they intend. With Security Keys for Apple ID, users have the choice to require a physical security key to sign in to their Apple ID account. And with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which uses end-to-end encryption to provide Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, users have the choice to further protect important iCloud data, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.
As threats to user data become increasingly sophisticated and complex, these new features join a suite of other protections that make Apple products the most secure on the market: from the security built directly into our custom chips with best-in-class device encryption and data protections, to features like Lockdown Mode, which offers an extreme, optional level of security for users such as journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats. Apple is committed to strengthening both device and cloud security, and to adding new protections over time.

“At Apple, we are unwavering in our commitment to provide our users with the best data security in the world. We constantly identify and mitigate emerging threats to their personal data on device and in the cloud,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Our security teams work tirelessly to keep users’ data safe, and with iMessage Contact Key Verification, Security Keys, and Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, users will have three powerful new tools to further protect their most sensitive data and communications.”

iMessage Contact Key Verification

Apple pioneered the use of end-to-end encryption in consumer communication services with the launch of iMessage, so that messages could only be read by the sender and recipients. FaceTime has also used encryption since launch to keep conversations private and secure. Now with iMessage Contact Key Verification, users who face extraordinary digital threats — such as journalists, human rights activists, and members of government — can choose to further verify that they are messaging only with the people they intend. The vast majority of users will never be targeted by highly sophisticated cyberattacks, but the feature provides an important additional layer of security for those who might be. Conversations between users who have enabled iMessage Contact Key Verification receive automatic alerts if an exceptionally advanced adversary, such as a state-sponsored attacker, were ever to succeed breaching cloud servers and inserting their own device to eavesdrop on these encrypted communications. And for even higher security, iMessage Contact Key Verification users can compare a Contact Verification Code in person, on FaceTime, or through another secure call.

Security Keys

Advanced Data Protection for iCloud

For years, Apple has offered industry-leading data security on its devices with Data Protection, the sophisticated file encryption system built into iPhone, iPad, and Mac. “Apple makes the most secure mobile devices on the market. And now, we are building on that powerful foundation,” said Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture. “Advanced Data Protection is Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, giving users the choice to protect the vast majority of their most sensitive iCloud data with end-to-end encryption so that it can only be decrypted on their trusted devices.” For users who opt in, Advanced Data Protection keeps most iCloud data protected even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.

iCloud already protects 14 sensitive data categories using end-to-end encryption by default, including passwords in iCloud Keychain and Health data. For users who enable Advanced Data Protection, the total number of data categories protected using end-to-end encryption rises to 23, including iCloud Backup, Notes, and Photos. The only major iCloud data categories that are not covered are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar because of the need to interoperate with the global email, contacts, and calendar systems.

Enhanced security for users’ data in the cloud is more urgently needed than ever before, as demonstrated in a new summary of data breach research, “The Rising Threat to Consumer Data in the Cloud,” published today. Experts say the total number of data breaches more than tripled between 2013 and 2021, exposing 1.1 billion personal records across the globe in 2021 alone. Increasingly, companies across the technology industry are addressing this growing threat by implementing end-to-end encryption in their offerings.