Apple is preparing to flood the market with five entirely new product categories
In 2026, Apple moves to redefine the boundaries of its ecosystem, unveiling five new product categories that stretch from the front door to the face. This is not merely a product cycle but a philosophical repositioning — a company that built its identity around the smartphone now betting that the next chapter of human-device intimacy will be lived in the home, on the body, and through the eyes. Each launch carries a different wager on where attention, convenience, and identity will converge in the years ahead.
- After years of delays tied to Siri's readiness, Apple's smart home hub finally arrives as a physical anchor for the connected home — a wall-mounted display that could reshape how households interact with their spaces.
- A foldable iPhone, long a ghost on Apple's roadmap, materializes in September as the company's most expensive device ever, entering direct combat with Samsung in a market Apple has watched from the sidelines.
- A $699–$799 budget MacBook powered by iPhone-grade silicon challenges the assumption that Apple and affordability are incompatible, though meaningful trade-offs in RAM and connectivity keep the tension alive.
- AR glasses land as a declaration of future intent rather than a finished product — unveiled in 2026, but not in customers' hands until 2027, signaling Apple's awareness that the post-phone era is approaching without yet being fully legible.
- Taken together, the five launches represent Apple's most aggressive single-year portfolio expansion in memory, each product a pressure point on a different competitor — Google, Samsung, Meta, and the broader smart home industry.
Apple is entering 2026 with five new product categories at once, a rare and deliberate expansion beyond the iPhone that touches the home, the laptop market, the foldable phone space, and the face.
The longest-awaited of these is the smart home hub — a 6-to-7-inch display powered by the A18 chip that can be wall-mounted or paired with a speaker base. It handles FaceTime, smart home controls, and potentially security monitoring, and it represents the physical center of Apple's home strategy after years of false starts tied to Siri's limitations. Accompanying it is a Face ID doorbell that connects wirelessly to a compatible deadbolt, stores encrypted footage through HomeKit Secure Video, and processes biometric data locally via a Secure Enclave chip — privacy-first by design.
For budget-conscious laptop buyers, Apple is preparing a 12.9-inch MacBook at around $699–$799, powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro. It sits below the MacBook Air in price and capability — shipping with 8GB of RAM and standard USB-C rather than Thunderbolt — but its performance is comparable to the M1, making it a credible option for those priced out of Apple's current lineup.
The foldable iPhone, a product that has circled Apple's roadmap for years, finally arrives in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. It opens like a book to a 7.7-inch inner display supplied by Samsung, carries a 5.3-inch outer screen, and replaces Face ID with a Touch ID power button. It will be the most expensive iPhone Apple has ever sold.
Rounding out the year are augmented reality glasses with cameras, speakers, and voice control — designed to compete with Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, though without an in-lens display in this first generation. A ship date of 2027 at the earliest means the glasses are more announcement than arrival, but they mark Apple's clearest signal yet that it is thinking seriously about what comes after the phone.
Apple is preparing to flood the market with five entirely new product categories this year, a portfolio expansion that signals the company's determination to move beyond the iPhone and into the home, the wrist, and the face. The lineup includes a smart home hub, a Face ID doorbell, a budget MacBook, a foldable iPhone, and augmented reality glasses—each one a bet on a different corner of Apple's ecosystem.
The smart home hub has been the longest time coming. Apple first promised this device years ago, then delayed it, waiting for a more personalized version of Siri to be ready. The hub will sport a 6-inch to 7-inch square display powered by an A18 chip, the same processor that handles Apple Intelligence on iPhones. Users will be able to mount it on a wall or attach it to a speaker base, using it to control smart home accessories, make FaceTime calls, and potentially monitor security. It's a device that sits at the center of Apple's home strategy, the physical anchor for everything else.
Alongside the hub comes a Face ID doorbell, a product that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman first reported in late 2024. The doorbell will wirelessly connect to a compatible deadbolt lock, and Apple will almost certainly emphasize the privacy angle—the device would support the company's existing HomeKit Secure Video service, which encrypts footage end-to-end and stores it in iCloud. A Secure Enclave chip would handle the biometric data locally. This doorbell is just one piece of a larger smart home push that also includes an indoor camera, expanding Apple's home product line beyond the Apple TV and HomePod speakers.
For those who want Apple silicon in a laptop but can't afford the MacBook Air, there's a new entry-level machine coming. Apple plans to release a 12.9-inch MacBook powered by the A18 Pro chip—the same processor found in the iPhone 16 Pro. The device will be positioned below the MacBook Air in the lineup and priced around $699 or $799, making it Apple's most affordable laptop in years. It will likely come in silver, blue, pink, and yellow, echoing the design language of the discontinued 12-inch MacBook from 2019. The trade-offs are real: the machine will probably ship with only 8GB of RAM, compared to the 16GB minimum on current MacBook Air models, and it will have standard USB-C ports instead of Thunderbolt, meaning slower data transfer and external display limitations. Still, the A18 Pro's performance is comparable to the M1 chip, so this could be a genuine alternative for budget-conscious users.
The foldable iPhone is the product that has haunted Apple's roadmap for years. It finally arrives in September, launching alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The device will open like a book, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold style, with a 7.7-inch inner display and a 5.3-inch outer screen. Samsung is supplying the inner display, which Apple claims will be virtually crease-free. The phone will have two rear cameras, one front camera, and a Touch ID power button instead of Face ID. It will be the most expensive iPhone Apple has ever made.
Last on the list are augmented reality glasses, a product that may be unveiled this year but won't ship to customers until 2027 at the earliest. These glasses will have speakers, cameras, voice control, and possibly health features. They're designed to compete with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, which already offer an in-lens display. Apple's first generation won't have that feature—the in-lens display is expected to arrive in the second generation. For now, the glasses are a statement of intent, a signal that Apple is thinking beyond the phone and into the future of how people interact with information and the world around them.
Notable Quotes
The A18 Pro chip's performance is similar to the M1 chip, so this new MacBook could effectively be a replacement for the old MacBook Air with the M1 chip.— Supply chain analysis
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why delay the smart home hub for so long? What was Apple waiting for?
Siri. The company wanted a more personalized version of the assistant before putting it at the center of the home. A dumb hub wouldn't have been worth the wait.
The budget MacBook sounds compromised. Eight gigabytes of RAM? No Thunderbolt?
It is compromised. But it's also the first time in seven years Apple has offered a truly affordable laptop with its own chips. For basic work, it's probably fine. For video editing or heavy multitasking, you'd want the Air.
The foldable iPhone is coming in September. Why did it take Apple so long?
Samsung and others proved the market existed. Apple waited until the technology was mature enough to do it their way—and until they could source a crease-free display. They're not first, but they're betting they can do it better.
AR glasses that won't ship until 2027? That seems like vaporware.
It's a preview. Apple is telling investors and developers that this is coming, that they should start thinking about it. The real product is two years away, but the announcement matters now.
Five new products in one year. Is Apple overextending?
Not if you see them as filling gaps in an ecosystem. The home hub, the doorbell, the indoor camera—they're all pieces of the same puzzle. The foldable and the AR glasses are longer bets. The budget MacBook is just filling a price tier that's been empty since 2019.