Apple is gearing up for a veritable product launch galore in the next few weeks, which could see the debut of the iPhone 17e, the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro, and the iOS 26.4 update cycle - bringing with it the revamped Siri, replete with enhanced AI capabilities.
Apple iPhone 17e launch is "imminent"
According to Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter, the launch of the iPhone 17e appears "imminent." This aligns with our recent reporting on the topic, where we noted that, as per the rumors circulating within Apple's case and accessory manufacturing circles, the Cupertino giant might launch the iPhone 17e via a press release on Thursday, February 19.
As far as its detailed specs are concerned, the iPhone 17e is expected to retain a 6.1-inch LTPS (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) OLED screen with a disappointing 60Hz refresh rate.
Also, Apple's upcoming budget offering is finally jettisoning the aged notch for the Dynamic Island, unifying the design language across the entire iPhone lineup.
Critically, the upcoming budget iPhone will be powered by the A19 chip, which is around 5-10 percent faster than the A18 chip in the iPhone 16e.
Moreover, the iPhone 17e is expected to feature the C1-series modem, sans the N1 chip. The budget offering from Apple is also expected to sport "magnetic wireless charging," a 12MP selfie camera, a Face ID module, and a 48MP rear camera.
Finally, Apple is expected to price the iPhone 17e at the same $599 price as the iPhone 16e, but could further sweeten the deal by upgrading the base storage to 256GB.
M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro could launch in the first week of March
Elsewhere, Mark Gurman notes that the launch of the new MacBook Pro models - likely leveraging the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips - is tied to the ongoing macOS 26.3 update cycle that "runs through March." As such, the prolific tipster believes a product launch could materialize "as early as the week of March 2."
Adding weight to this prognosis is the fact that the inventories for the M4-series MacBook Pro are currently running chronically low. Do note that Apple typically coordinates the inventory levels of its devices with third-party retailers, especially before a major product launch. As such, given the chronically low inventories at the moment, it stands to reason that Apple will push out the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro devices quite soon.
iOS 26.4 beta that brings the revamped Siri could launch in the last week of February
Finally, Gurman notes that the first beta version of iOS 26.4 could launch in the week of February 23. So, why is this update such a big deal? Well, Apple is largely expected to debut a revamped version of Siri running on a bespoke Google Gemini model, one that would power the much-delayed in-app actions, personal context awareness, and on-screen awareness functionalities, enabling a wide variety of agentic actions across apps based on the personal data and on-screen content.
Do note that Apple is planning to deploy a gigantic 1.2-trillion-parameter custom Gemini AI model on its cloud servers to power Siri's new AI features under the overarching banner of Apple Intelligence - where relatively simple AI tasks are performed by using on-device models and the computational resources of the device itself, while the more complex tasks are offloaded to Apple's private cloud servers using encrypted and stateless data for subsequent inference.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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