A note from the studio
Thank you, as always, for being here. Two Sundays out from WWDC, the dust has settled and the shape of Apple's next two years is coming into focus. Today's Power On is basically a roadmap, so this issue is built around it, what is actually coming, what I would hold my breath for, and what I would not. I have been living in the iOS 27 beta as both a developer and a fan, so I will also tell you what tomorrow likely brings for anyone testing.
From today's Power On, the two year map
In this morning's column, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman listed around 20 products he expects Apple to release across the rest of 2026 and into 2027. Now that the rebuilt, more personal Siri has finally shipped in beta, the devices that were quietly waiting on it can start to land. A few that jumped out at me:
The smart home is finally moving. Gurman expects Apple's all new home hub, a small square display you set on a counter or mount on a wall, with the new Siri, an A18 chip, and FaceTime, could still arrive this year. Alongside it, a refreshed Apple TV and a new HomePod mini, both upgraded to run the smarter Siri, plus a full size HomePod down the line. If you have been waiting to build out a HomeKit setup, this is the wave to watch.
The foldable is real. A foldable iPhone Ultra is on the list, with a 7.7 inch inner screen, a 5.3 inch outer screen, and a Touch ID power button instead of Face ID. iOS 27 is reportedly being tailored for it, with side by side apps and iPad style multitasking. After years of Samsung and Google owning that category, Apple's first fold is genuinely interesting.
The Mac gets a real redesign. A reworked high end laptop, reportedly to be called MacBook Ultra, is expected by late 2026 or early 2027 with an OLED display, a touch screen, a Dynamic Island, and a thinner body. A touch friendly macOS would be a bigger shift than it sounds.
The rest is the familiar drumbeat, iPhone 18 and 18 Pro in September, an iPhone Air 2, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, spec bumped Macs on M5 chips, an OLED iPad mini, AirPods with cameras for Visual Intelligence, and, further out, smart glasses and a curved glass 20th anniversary iPhone.
The part worth sitting with. Gurman framed the whole column around leadership. John Ternus takes over as CEO on September 1, with Tim Cook moving to executive chairman, and the argument was that the incoming chief needs to shake up Apple's design organization. My read, most of this list is iteration, faster chips and new colors. The items that actually move the needle, the fold, the home hub, a touch Mac, are the ones that ask Apple to design something new rather than refine something old. That is the real test of the next era, and it is a fair thing for Gurman to put on the table.
Beta 2 is expected tomorrow
A quick, practical note for anyone on the iOS 27 beta. The first developer beta dropped on June 8, the night of the keynote, and Apple's usual rhythm is a new beta roughly every two weeks, almost always on a Monday. That puts iOS 27 developer beta 2 on track for tomorrow, June 22. It could slip a day or two, Apple does not announce these in advance, but tomorrow is the safe bet.
Beta 2 is the one I have been waiting for. A first beta tells you the direction, the second tells you whether Apple is fixing the rough edges or papering over them. I will be watching whether the new Siri waitlist opens up wider, whether battery and heat settle down, and which bugs from beta 1 actually got swatted. If you are on the developer track, expect it to show up in Settings, General, Software Update sometime tomorrow. The first public beta, the one most people should wait for, is still expected in mid July.
And the standing ask for fellow testers, file your bugs through the Feedback Assistant app, with steps and a screen recording. A real report is the single most useful thing a tester can do, and it is how the rough edges get fixed before the fall.
New this week, a daily blog
One short Sunday email cannot keep up with a week this busy, so I have been posting to the studio blog every day. It is the same voice as this newsletter, just more of it and more often, a few posts a day on the things I actually read about. This past week alone covered the new Siri running on Google and Nvidia under the hood, the Fed holding rates while the dot plot turned hawkish, what the OpenAI IPO means if you index, a soft cheese recall worth checking your fridge for, getting dogs ready for the July 4th fireworks, and why horror keeps winning the box office in 2026.
If this Sunday read is your speed, the daily blog is where the rest of it lives. Tech, investing, Apple, health, movies, and the occasional dog post, all in plain language. You can read it at jcmobileappstudio.com/blog.
From the studio, Renewl is live
The big one. Renewl cleared App Store review this week and is live now. It is a subscription and free trial tracker that never asks for a bank login. You snap a screenshot of a confirmation email, an App Store receipt, or a bank statement, and on device AI reads the merchant, the amount, and the renewal or trial end date, then warns you before the charge hits. Insights show your true monthly and yearly spend, what is charging in the next 30 days, and the overlaps where you are quietly paying twice. You can grab it from the lineup at jcmobileappstudio.com.
VitalCast and FlickDrop are both in TestFlight, the last stop before the App Store. VitalCast turns your Apple Health data into a plain language briefing, with every research backed line traced to a real, named study. FlickDrop tracks the price of movies and shows you want to own across iTunes and Apple TV, and pings you the moment one hits an all time low. If you want to help test either, reply to this email and I will send a TestFlight invite.
Talewright, the offline, AI written choose your own adventure, is still parked on purpose for the fall, lined up with iOS 27 shipping so it lands on the strongest on device AI Apple has. Eight apps are live today, all privacy first, all free to start.
Help spread the word
Hasta la próxima
That was issue 05. By the time the next one lands we will be a couple of betas deeper, and I will have a clearer read on whether iOS 27 is firming up the way the roadmap promises. Until then, if beta 2 shows up tomorrow, install it on a spare device, keep a backup, and file those bug reports. And if you want the day to day in between, the blog is right there.
Thank you again, sincerely, for reading and for sharing. It keeps the lights on and the apps coming.
— JC Mobile App Studio