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After months of rumors and leaked parts photos, Apple’s new iPads finally made their official debut — but once again Apple didn’t bring many surprises to its latest launch event.
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Yes, we got a new trimmed-down 9.7-inch iPad (the iPad Air) along with the much-anticipated iPad Mini with a Retina Display and some Mac upgrades. But that left plenty of other product refreshes and announcements in a “to be determined” state.
What follows is a comprehensive list of products Apple did not unveil today. To be clear, few if any of these products were expected. And since we’re not anticipating another big Apple event this year, you’ll have to wait for most, if not all, of these Apple wish list products until 2014, if they are released at all.
- New iPods: In 2012, Apple upgraded the iPod Touch and completely redesigned the iPod Nano, with the old Shuffle staying in the lineup. It would have been nice to see the iPod Touch get an upgrade before the holidays (better camera, faster processor), but it looks like Apple will be sticking with the existing iPod lineup for the next several months.
- Touch ID in new iPads: A lot of people were expecting Apple to bring the fingerprint sensor found in the iPhone 5S to the new iPads. But we’ll likely have to wait till next October for that feature to be added.
- Next-gen Apple TV box: Rumors keep churning that Apple will unveil a new Apple TV box that will include a gaming component, bringing iOS games to your TV, complete with controller support. But it hasn’t materialized yet.
- Apple gaming peripherals: There was some hope that even if Apple didn’t release a new Apple TV, it would roll out Bluetooth gaming controllers and possibly other accessories for its souped-up new iPads. Those didn’t materialize at the event.
- Radical keyboard accessory: A former Apple employee claimed that Apple has been working on an iPad cover with an integrated keyboard that’s similar to the Touch Cover keyboard cover for the Microsoft Surface.
- The “iWatch”: Samsung, Qualcomm, and Sony have all launched smartwatch products along with a laundry list of smaller Kickstarter competitors like Pebble. Apple has dropped hints that it’s interested in pursuing a watch product, and with the announcement of the new M7 “motion coprocessor” the potential is there, but we don’t expect to see anything before 2014.
- The Apple HDTV: This is the ultimate Apple ghost — the much-anticipated Apple TV set. It’s unclear if Apple will ever even make it, or just stick to its set-top box, which has steadily been racking up sales. Time will tell, but don’t expect this product until 2014, if at all.
- A big-screen iPhone: Apple’s still having trouble fulfilling all those gold iPhone 5S orders, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t waiting for an iPhone with a larger screen. We knew it wasn’t coming this year, but hey, we had to throw it on the list anyway.
- Upgraded Mac Minis: After the MacBook Air got updated in June with the latest Intel Haswell chip, granting it exceedingly long battery life, we were waiting for the MacBook Pros (both the standard and Retina versions) to get updated, and they did. However, Apple didn’t mention anything about a Mac Mini upgrade, so we’re still waiting for that.
James Martin/CNET
See CNET’s complete coverage of all of today’s Apple iPad and Mac news.
