10 Products Apple Will Never Make (But We Still Wish It Would)
As one of the most valuable companies in the world, it's to be expected that Apple has released a metric ton of products over the years, from Macs to iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads, and more. However, for as many things as Apple does, there are plenty of things that it will probably never make. The company's leanings toward simplicity date back to Steve Jobs' return and his implementation of the four-square approach to its product lineup. This approach saw Apple cut down from selling well over 10 separate models of computers at one time, to merely four models aimed at different niches, and it has defined the rest of Apple's product lineup ever since.
This urge to keep things simple has led to a fairly conservative approach to new products. Some ideas, Apple could certainly make, but likely still won't, and others are simply too far outside of Apple's wheelhouse to reasonably see it as a potential future product. Apple makes lots of products you can get elsewhere, but its uniquely Apple style and polish is what sets them apart. So let's have a little fun, and imagine what that characteristic "Apple experience" would be like on something new.
An e-ink e-reader
In a lineup of iPads with high-resolution displays and vibrant colors, the idea of an e-ink e-reader from Apple might seem like a step-down. But imagine the convenience of a device that packs the ludicrous battery life of an e-ink display and the features and connectivity Apple is renowned for.
Picture it: A sleek and lightweight device adorned with Apple's signature design aesthetic, featuring an e-ink display to rival Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite. Although the Kindle may be the overall better platform for reading, with a few tweaks Apple's Books app could easily rival Amazon's e-book titan status. Moreover, the app would, hypothetically, translate well to an e-ink display.
An Apple e-ink e-reader could integrate seamlessly with the Apple Books ecosystem, offering access to a vast library of titles and audiobooks with the tap of a finger. Imagine the convenience of syncing your progress across all your Apple devices, seamlessly transitioning from your Mac to your iPhone to your e-reader without missing a beat.
Such a device could also slot easily into the iPad lineup as the absolute budget option, especially if you only want an e-reader, rather than a full tablet. Although there were rumors a couple of years ago that Apple was experimenting with e-ink technology for future foldable devices, more recent rumors suggest the company still hasn't settled on a perfect solution for its folding tech.
Wrap around AirPods
For those who lead active lifestyles or simply find themselves constantly on the move, the struggle to keep wireless earbuds securely in place can be all too real — especially if no tips seem to properly fit your ear. One of the easiest solutions to this issue has simply been wraparound earbuds. Wouldn't it be nice to have a set of those that fits seamlessly in with the rest of the Apple ecosystem?
Imagine a pair of AirPods that gently curve around your ears, ensuring a secure fit during even the most intense workouts, and bringing all of the little bonuses that make AirPods worthwhile. With the greater surface area that would be available on wrap-around AirPods, Apple could probably expand upon the control features seen in the AirPods Pro series. Another great carryover from the AirPods Pro series would be the active noise cancellation and transparency modes.
However, a wraparound pair of AirPods is pretty unlikely. Setting aside the complication that they would present to the already existing AirPod lineup, Apple kind of already makes wrap-around wireless earbuds. Though the Powerbeats Pros carry the Beats brand, they are an Apple product and offer many of the signature AirPod features, such as the remarkably simple pairing process for iPhone users. With the product already existing for the most part outside of the simple AirPod lineup, it's unlikely Apple would make this product a reality.
A fitness bike
In recent years, the popularity of connected fitness equipment has surged, with companies like Peloton taking the world of home fitness by storm. In 2020, Apple introduced Apple Fitness+, which brought Apple-produced home workout videos to the service's subscribers. It only makes sense to take the next step and release some new hardware. Enter the Apple Fitness Bike.
Imagine it: A sleek and sophisticated exercise machine designed as a platform for Apple Fitness+ workouts. It could be a great way to instantly sync your workout data with your iPhone and Apple Watch. While certainly outside of Apple's typical wheelhouse, a fitness bike isn't insanely out of left field.
What would truly set the Apple Fitness Bike apart lies in the things that Apple is already fantastic at — software and ecosystem integration with services like the Health app are obvious first steps, but Apple's fantastic displays would also fit right in on a premium bike. It could also go swimmingly with the original home of Apple Fitness, the Apple Watch. With automatic workout detection and real-time performance metrics displayed on your wrist, it could allow for a potentially incredible workout experience.
Of course, an Apple Fitness Bike will probably never happen. The likeliest case scenario for an Apple Fitness Bike would be Apple acquiring Peloton, which recently ditched support for Apple GymKit. Although rumors have persisted that such a thing could happen, it isn't likely.
An Apple TV
Smart TVs have become more and more popular with the assistance of devices like Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV Stick, and of course, Apple TV. Going further, many of the OS's powering these devices now come built-in to many TVs. However, there is one notable exception: Apple's tvOS. It's no surprise you can't access a piece of Apple software without Apple hardware, but what if Apple were to cut out the middle man and just make a literal Apple TV?
Apple already builds impressive displays, and it's not too difficult to imagine the kinds of features it would pack into a TV. Of course, the biggest feature would be tvOS itself, and access to the Apple ecosystem, including Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple Fitness+. There could also be integration with future iterations of the Apple HomePod, making the speakers act as a potential upgrade on the TV's built-in speakers.
With support for HomeKit and Siri integration, the Apple TV could also act as your ultimate smart home hub. For users who are almost completely plugged into the Apple ecosystem, an Apple TV would be the ultimate centerpiece of their ecosystem.
The idea of Apple making a TV has been floating around for quite a while, but the actual development of one on Apple's end eventually led to the Apple TV that we know today. While it is unlikely to ever pop back up, it would be very interesting to see the idea come to fruition.
A mouse with more than one button
While Apple was the first company to popularize the use of a computer mouse, it has never quite stuck the landing on making a truly great one. The Magic Mouse was the first offering from Apple to introduce a practical way to right-click, but it never worked quite as intuitively as we'd like. However, there's perhaps a very simple solution: The company could make a mouse with two buttons.
Yes, since the first mouse Apple shipped out with the Macintosh back in 1984, every Apple mouse has had one button. Of course, there are technicalities such as the side buttons seen on the Mighty Mouse, but nothing quite like the standard left-click and right-click buttons seen on just about every other mouse in existence.
The Magic Mouse gets around this with a bit of Apple's Multitouch magic packed into its surface, but it is also widely seen as an ergonomic nightmare — with an impractical charging implementation to boot. A redesigned Magic Mouse with two distinct buttons and better ergonomics and charging could be something truly special. Unfortunately, this isn't likely to happen due to the persistence of the Magic Mouse, which has been around since 2013, and the persistence of Apple's one-button mouse design, which has been with the company since 1984.
An Apple Pencil for the iPhone
Since its introduction alongside the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil has been hailed as a game-changer for digital artists, designers, and note-takers. However, for all its sleek versatility, you can't actually use it with the iPhone. Granted, the Apple Pencil is a little large to use with a mobile phone, but why not scale it down?
Bundling a stylus with a smartphone isn't unheard of. Before the iPhone popularized using your fingers to navigate, the stylus was the main way to navigate a smartphone. And they haven't entirely gone away — the Samsung Galaxy Note series, and now the Galaxy S Ultra series, comes with the Galaxy S Pen. The first Samsung Galaxy Note came equipped with one in 2011 for its massive 5.3-inch display. Of course, the smallest iPhone 15 comes equipped with a significantly larger 6.1-inch display.
It's not unimaginable for the iPhone 15 Plus or 15 Pro Max to come with a stylus to enhance the user experience with their larger screens. A scaled-down Apple Pencil would also be able to incorporate some of the best features of the full-sized product such as its impressive pressure sensitivity and convenient magnetic charging and attachment.
At the end of the day, an iPhone-friendly Apple Pencil is unlikely to happen. Apparently, one almost came out in 2022, but it seems the aversion to a stylus is almost fundamental to the iPhone's DNA. After all, when talking about styluses during the reveal of the original iPhone, Steve Jobs simply said, "Yuck."
A mechanical keyboard
Before anything else, yes, Apple has made a mechanical keyboard before. The Apple Extended Keyboard was, technically, mechanical. But it also hasn't been in production for decades. Apple's current Magic Keyboard is far better than the mushy mess that was the Apple USB Keyboard seen alongside the iMac G3 and beyond. But wouldn't it be nice to have a great keyboard, rather than just a not-bad keyboard?
There's no reason Apple couldn't engineer a fantastic-looking, minimalist mechanical keyboard. The appeal goes beyond just being mechanical: Imagine the features of an Apple-made mechanical keyboard. The Apple Magic Keyboard has Apple's fantastic fingerprint scanner built-in for quick login, but if Apple were to make a more premium, mechanical offering, it wouldn't be too much further of a step for it to have some macOS-specific extras.
Better yet, for those who want the touch bar of the MacBook Pro back, Apple could integrate it into a standalone mechanical keyboard offering. The possibilities for what Apple could do with a more premium keyboard are exciting, but ultimately not possible in the practical sense. It's highly unlikely Apple will be breaking away from the current keyboard style anytime soon. Even more unlikely is the touchbar making its way to desktops, given its exit from the MacBook Pro with the launch of the MacBook Pro M3 near the end of 2023.
A videogame console
Apple has long been trying to plant a finger in the gaming pie. Did you know Halo was revealed by Steve Jobs? The game was initially envisioned as a title for the Mac before financial troubles saw Bungie get juggled over to releasing the game exclusively for Xbox (and Mac OSX).
Today, Apple's presence in the gaming sphere is mostly limited to Apple Arcade, despite recent steps to bring titles like Assassin's Creed Mirage and Resident Evil Village to the iPhone 15 Pro. Given that Apple has its own game subscription service in Apple Arcade, and the hardware to run titles such as Baldur's Gate III, is it that farfetched to imagine a gaming console?
An Apple Gaming console could be as simple as a suped-up Apple TV with the hardware to store and run more advanced games. It wouldn't even be a crazy idea for Apple to launch an exclusively digital console — Microsoft and Sony already have disc-less offerings, with the Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 Digital respectively. Apple Arcade is currently $6.99 monthly, but the company could add tiers for just iPhone and iPad games, and then extend into a pricier tier for games made for more powerful Macs and a potential Apple home console, like Xbox's GamePass.
Unfortunately, the prospect of an Apple console seems pretty unlikely. Developers with games on Apple Arcade have recently spoken about a "smell of death" surrounding the service, as Apple seems more focused on other forms of media.
A standalone camera
Smartphones have made photography more accessible than ever before. With advanced camera technology packed into pocket-sized devices, users can snap high-quality photos and videos with the tap of a finger. But what if you wanted a step up from the iPhone and venture into using an actual standalone camera? Wouldn't it be nice to almost instantly back up your photos to iCloud?
A standalone camera from Apple probably wouldn't just offer iCloud backup as its only major feature, but it would be nice. An Apple camera could build off of the already great work that goes into the cameras in the iPhone, and take it to the next level. From Smart HDR to Night mode, the Apple standalone camera could pack many of the handy, though sometimes pesky, features of the iPhone's camera into a more refined package.
But what would the software of an Apple camera look like, and how would it compare to what's already on the market? Apple could probably make one of the most user-friendly steps between your phone's camera and a high-end camera, which might feel a little more esoteric to the average user.
Apple is unlikely to venture into the world of standalone cameras — at least, not again. The company did briefly sell a digital camera known as the Apple QuickTake in the 90s. Moreover, Apple already sells a genuinely great, user-friendly camera. It's just attached to the iPhone.
An Apple car
The Apple Car is dead, long live the Apple Car. Since 2014, rumors have swirled of Apple taking a bold new step, and that step was Project Titan, or as it became more colloquially known: the Apple Car. This is one of the most interesting "what ifs?" in Apple's history. The tech colossus that revolutionized home computing, MP3 players, and mobile phones was going to make an automobile.
Naturally, there were many expectations and rumors about the Apple Car. There were even recently alleged design leaks of what Apple's electric car could have looked like. However, the news cycle around the Apple car seemed to paint a tumultuous picture of the product's lifecycle. For starters, the car was supposedly intended to be fully autonomous at one point. By 2022, it was being reported that was no longer the case.
Numerous reports surfaced indicating the project was being scaled back time and time again, eventually resulting in the news last February that the project had been shelved. Part of the Apple Car team was said to be laid off, while the remainder would be shifted to working in the company's artificial intelligence division.
While it would have been very interesting to live in a world with an Apple Car, it seems that such a thing will never happen. For the time being, probably the closest thing to an Apple Car anyone is going to get is using Apple CarPlay, if it works in your car.