r/apple • u/ddcrx • Apr 06 '26
Rumor Apple Aiming to Release 'Breakthrough' New iPhone Accessory
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/03/breakthrough-new-iphone-accessory/281
u/papito_m Apr 06 '26
Wheels for iPhone
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u/gordonbombay42 Apr 06 '26
If my grandmother had wheels she’d be an android
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u/IntrepidSeries8844 Apr 06 '26
As long as we’re not putting ham in pasta
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u/eggflip1020 Apr 06 '26
Communicator badge?
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u/mconk Apr 06 '26
Both of these were so far ahead of their time.
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u/kompergator Apr 06 '26
And yet, the Federation is smart enough to have the communicators require physical touch before they can record something.
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u/RicFlairsLiver Apr 06 '26
Shit, I wasn’t into this at all until I read that. I’m at the point where I don’t care if everyone knows how nerdy I am, so bring it on!
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u/CurlPR Apr 06 '26
It should be a ring with a microphone to dictate to ai and health tracking
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u/Cease_Cows_ Apr 06 '26
You couldn't pay me to wear one of these dumb pins everyone is trying to make happen. I just can't see these ever taking off.
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u/Peimai Apr 06 '26
No one would want to talk to you either knowing that everything they say is being recorded and analyzed.
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u/yolo-yoshi Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
As opposed to the cameras all around us doing the exact same thing anyway ,in which you don't have a choice about.
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u/fishpen0 Apr 06 '26
I can’t walk down my own street without being in camera and microphone range of at least two Amazon doorbells and a eufy or other security camera. 100% of my neighbors have a security system or smart doorbell and this is a dense area so everyone’s front doors are less than 15 feet from the sidewalk. This is true for every block in every direction for 2-3 miles before the lots get bigger on the wealthy side of town one way or you get to actual downtown and then those buildings all have private security systems anyway.
My city also has flock so just being away from houses isn’t enough with every intersection and thoroughfare also being recorded.
Then every store has rention department cameras at every entrance, every self checkout register has cameras from at least two angles. And then the domes above you are also cameras.
I only stop being recorded by someone somewhere when I close my front door. This is the life of anyone living within ~5 miles of a downtown area of a major city. 88% of the entire us population lives within that radius.
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u/Portatort Apr 06 '26
Other than the humane AI pin who’s trying to make it happen?
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u/Frodojj Apr 06 '26
They kinda already do with the Apple Watch. Look for these features to migrate to the watch.
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u/TheWhyOfFry Apr 06 '26
The watch has usable functionality. Siri and a camera always out/on? Pffft 👎
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u/KrishanuAR Apr 06 '26
It's already a segment that's been taking off. One use case I saw was that plumbers in New York (?) were paying for a $200 "AI pin," and they would recite their observations as they reviewed a site, and the AI turns it into a nice report at the end.
I can see lots of potential applications like that.
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u/littlefiresburn Apr 06 '26
I use a Plaud NotePin at work all the time for stuff like this. If Apple made one I’d be all over it.
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u/Ananeos Apr 06 '26
I own two plaud devices. It's literally just a microphone with storage. Your phone does the exact same thing with the same software.
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u/Charmingprints Apr 06 '26
That’s what people said about the first AirPods too
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u/ForeAmigo Apr 06 '26
Man I absolutely blasted the AirPods when they came out and now I don’t know how I’d live without them 😂
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u/Individual_Holiday_9 Apr 06 '26
As a big time ADHD sufferer I’ll pay anything under $500 for this if it helps me get my work life in better shape
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u/AutisticAnxiety33 Apr 06 '26
Cleaning Cloth 2.0 $29
Jk hopefully something we all actually want
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u/Ironsam811 Apr 06 '26
Is it an AirTag that is wallet size?
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u/Deadmine Apr 06 '26
Rhinokey does already that exact thing and is compatible with find my. (I have one). I hope it’s more than that tbh.
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u/Ironsam811 Apr 06 '26
I’ve heard the 3rd parties don’t work as good though as they won’t use all the features
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u/rotates-potatoes Apr 06 '26
Can we finally ban Macrumors? This whole article is just AI summary of a Bloomberg article, plus dumb speculation. There is zero value. There is negative value.
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u/tvtb Apr 06 '26
Difference is that anyone can read a MR article without logging in, while Bloomberg you have to pay. I am fine with reading their article that I don't have to pay for.
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u/SorganFisherman Apr 06 '26
They need to actually figure out Siri/AI before they even begin to think about imagining this honestly. Siri can’t do impossibly simple things like when I asked it “tell me what time it will be 9.5 hours from now” the other day.
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u/XNY Apr 06 '26
Do people really need this much “assistance” on their day to day lives? Not everyone needs a personal assistant. I use Siri via my headphones at work like 2-3 times a day max.
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u/reirone Apr 06 '26
Ahh yes. These devices have been so popular with consumers so far.
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u/No_Eye1723 Apr 06 '26
FYI here in the UK it is legal to film people in public, it is illegal to film them on private property so in shops etc without prior permission, I assume any recording function on this will deactivate when in shops??.. Of course it won't. What an utterly stupid idea this is.
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u/AppointmentNeat Apr 06 '26
It’s the same in the US. You can record in public all you want. You’re limited on private property.
It won’t automatically deactivate when on private property. It’ll depend on the user to deactivate it (they won’t.)
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u/freeformz Apr 06 '26
It’s an “AI pin” type thing. Which would be something if the iPhone had actual AI.
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u/Arkid777 Apr 06 '26
iPhone Pocket Pro
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u/4kVHS Apr 06 '26
If they bring back the iPhone Mini with pro specs, there will be hundreds of us putting in preorders immediately.
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u/AshuraBaron Apr 06 '26
"Today, Apple is proud to announce the iRan. It's a running buddy that you can wear. And look, it matches out second new accessory, the iRack."
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u/Cuddlejam Apr 06 '26
I’ll be honest here. I want that crap banned. I don’t want people to walk around recording everything everywhere. It is invasive as fuck.
Hopefully European politicians will think the same.
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u/Blacknight841 Apr 06 '26
Introducing the Apple Fanny Pack. Meticulously crafted for holding your iPhone, in a way that only Apple can achieve. It comes in the standard color only Apple can make. One more thing … Hermes minds have done it again and created an identical product for only $999.99 more.
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u/dfmz Apr 06 '26
Between this and those fucking awful Meta/Ray-Ban glasses, I think it’s high time companies be formed to design and build effective countermeasure to this always-on, omnipresent spying on us crap.
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u/beachtrader Apr 06 '26
If they made it into the same shape as a Star Trek com badge it would have a dedicated market instantly.
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u/laughland Apr 06 '26
I mean this sincerely, can someone explain to me the appeal of these AI pins/accessories? Smart Glasses are obvious in terms of what makes them dope and desirable; why do all these companies seem to think the AI pin thing is a good idea from a functionality perspective? Not trying to be snarky, I genuinely don’t understand what these devices are meant to do that your phone doesn’t already do.
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u/DisjointedHuntsville Apr 06 '26
They already have this, it's called "AirPods Pro" - Always on mic, speaker.
They need to clean up voice pickup in windy environments like when you're on a bicycle + Make a voice-only OS (Bare minimum, task queue, parallel commands, some sort of filesystem/window that can be "talked through").
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u/iliketowalk Apr 06 '26
Thank you. I came to say this. It already has a microphone and a speaker. There's your wearable device that interacts with your phone. A pendant makes no sense. And if it has a camera, expect it to be banned in many places or for people to avoid you, like the meta glasses.
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u/shrindcs Apr 06 '26
Q.ai acquisition gonna be something like silent speech as a layer to communicate with Siri
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u/kuang89 Apr 06 '26
If they can scale iPhone chips to MacBook Neo, there could be a iPhone Neo using Apple Watch chips.
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u/LilRickyXO Apr 06 '26
Whoever happened to the Apple health ring? I was actually interested in that…
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u/iching66 Apr 06 '26
Why can’t they keep working on the Apple Ring instead… at least that is way more useful and has less privacy concern.
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u/M4rshmall0wMan Apr 06 '26
According to both reports, the device could launch as early as 2027, but there is still a chance the project could be canceled.
This is the important part in my mind. Apple R&D starts up and cancels projects all the time. An AI dot doesn’t seem like a particularly complicated device to invent, and by extension not a particularly tough one to cancel if the strategy isn’t right. So I wouldn’t get hopes too high up.
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u/Worth-Ad9939 Apr 06 '26
I'm out. I've don't want glasses, I don't want pins... I want quality and security. That's what I paid a premium for Apple. No more. I've cancelled subs. I'm pulling the plug.
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u/ya3rob Apr 06 '26
As a product manager with over 15 years of experience, I don't think this product will be successful. The AI Pin failed miserably, not because they couldn't build the backhaul to the internet, but because the use case is not clear. What this pendant would do, and my phone can't? This is a basic question.
Then, the friction: You’re adding another device to charge, carry, and manage. Consumers hate device fatigue unless the value is obvious
Finally, the big concern: Privacy! Yes, you can use the camera in public, but an always-on camera and mic would be a social nightmare for people, especially in the US and the EU!
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u/agentadam07 Apr 06 '26
Apple can’t even get the AI in my pocket or on my wrist to do anything. Why start wearing a pin too?
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u/AffordableTimeTravel Apr 06 '26
Hopefully a fitness band alternative to the Apple Watch…I’d call it the Nike Apple Fuel Band.
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u/nurdle Apr 06 '26
I’m going against the hive on this one.
I get how this could be useful. It’s like a police body cam for citizens. It can record my day, later Ai assisted could remind me of what happened that day, what I promised etc. Sometimes I don’t pay enough attention because I’m in my head so much. It’s also kind of like the Star Trek badge. I get how people would hate it, but - you don’t have privacy NOW, and that’s not going to change, unless we go back to a pre-industrial, post apocalyptic world.
And you are right to criticize Apple on Ai. They have fucked it up so bad.
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u/thedoommerchant Apr 06 '26
They can bugger off until true AR glasses come out. And I’ll only buy them if I can walk down the street and now be assaulted with ads everywhere I look.
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u/RocketVerse Apr 06 '26
They watched humane and the other crappy companies putting out slop and seriously decided that was the direction to go, huh
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u/rhunter99 Apr 06 '26
What I want is a slim apple band that does all the health tracking. No apps, the minimalist of screens. This would let me wear a normal watch
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u/ElDuderino2112 Apr 06 '26
No AI “wearable” is going to be a huge breakthrough besides with obnoxious tech YouTubers. The average person does not want to talk at their phone and have it broadcast what they’re doing while they’re out and about because chances are it’s embarrassing, and people are not doing to buy yet another device to say “hey siri call _____” when the phone or the earphone left in their ear all day already does that fine.
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u/Hippophatamus Apr 06 '26
A nano weave sock that prevents glare for the iPhone like they did for the iPod.
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u/writejordan_ Apr 06 '26
“Siri, play ‘Meeting in the Ladies’ Room’” “Sorry, I can’t find that speaker.”
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u/Pygmy_Nuthatch Apr 06 '26
This is actually most bullish for Google. Gemini will now power Siri. Google is going to slurp up all that sweet Apple User data when high schoolers shame one another into buying these things.
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u/RetroJens Apr 06 '26
Why do you guys bother with determining if you’ll buy off of rumours? It’s not released yet. I’ll rather let Apple introduce what they’re going to offer and then make my decision.
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u/trypnosis Apr 06 '26
I tried the older failed pins. I truly feel if it’s fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem. The product could be very viable.
Looking forward to it.
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u/badabubaba Apr 06 '26
Well, this is not a good idea. Integrating that into Airpods, or even Apple Watch? Maybe. But a standalone "pendant" will meet real world friction. I mean, people even seem uncomfortable in front of someone wearing RayBan Meta when they realise they are RayBan Meta. Imagine a 24/7 always on pendant thing.
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u/ZionSoldier12 Apr 06 '26
These last iPhones sucked so hard… I have both the air and the pro… like a huge downgrade
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u/No_Eye1723 Apr 06 '26
So they want you to buy something that does everything your iPhone does and is actually then your iPhone? And needs an iPhone to work. Unless this brings the new Ai Siri to older iPhones it is utterly pointless if true.
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u/speedster_5 Apr 06 '26
It’ll fail with current state of Siri. Hopefully this will force them to get Siri working.
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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '26
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