An iOS 26 development build, exhumed from the proto iPhone and thus let loose in the wild, has produced an enormous network of unseen hardware projects from Apple. Reviewing the filesystem indicators and feature flags scattering the underlying code, not only have rumored devices that are known by now to be in the immediate pipeline at Apple been discovered, but others that never see the light of day and might not, beyond the mere minimum viable product experiments.
1. M5 and M6 Mac Roadmap
This is a further leak about spillage, indicating changeover from M5 chips towards M6 chips in Apple’s Mac lineup. To start 2026, the lineup includes M5 MacBook Air (J813, J815) laptops sporting 13in and 15in displays, and subsequently in 2026, M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook (J714, J716) Pros sporting improved CPU and GPU core counts and faster SSD controllers. Mid-cycle updates in 2026 bring upgrades to the Mac mini (J873g, J873s) and Mac Studio (J775c, J775d) laptops sporting M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips sporting twice the graphical processing power of their M5 Max predecessors. Completing 2026 is the launch of new M6 Pro and M6 Max MacBook (K114, K116) Pro laptops sporting OLED displays and support for 2nm process technology from TSMC.
2. Budget MacBook with A-Series Silicon
Hints at a budget MacBook Air that would come with an A18 Pro chip, which is the second generation of the Apple chip and is powered by 3nm technology and 8GB of RAM and Apple Intelligence. This might help launch an all-new starting price for the MacBook Air and let it carry some elements from the colorful series of iMacs.
3. iPad Pipeline & Display Movement
Two variants for the iPad 12 series (J581, J582), and four variants for the M4 series for the iPad Air (J707, J708, J737, and J738) are being referred to, probably aiming at the early year of 2026. The M4 Air is expected to have superior GPU technology compared with the M3 line. OLED display could become an attribute in the subsequent iPad mini model perhaps in the year 2026 or 2027. Some references arrived for the A19 Pro variant of the iPad mini with an 8.7 touchscreen display.
4. iPhone Evolution and the Foldable Entry
The identifiers disclose the iPhone 17e (V159) to be a lineup of spring 2026 Apple entry-level iPhones possibly sporting a Dynamic Island display notch design.The iPhone 18 Pro (V63) and Pro Max (V64) models are projected to be launched in September 2026, comes with the Apple in-house C1 modem, Face ID under-the-display, and 12 GB of RAM to support AI-related app functionality. The prospective foldable iPhone (V68) arrives pre-equipped with the description of “book size” along with an inner 7.8-inch display; therefore, it is the first flexible OLED display of Apple’s iPhones.
5. Wearables: Apple Watch & Vision Devices
There are also rumors of the Apple Watch Ultra 4 (N240) and the Apple Watch Series 12 (N237 and N238) being under development and the possibility of the addition of a fingerprint reader or other “biometric functionality.” The vision product lines include the “second-generation Vision Pro” (N109), with the M5 chip and “32GB RAM and a 120Hz refresh rate,” and the “reduced-feature vision Air” (N100), intended for “2027.” Among the “abandoned” projects include the “mac-enabled AR glasses” (N107) and the “AR glasses” (N421); this shows the diversification of the tech giant regarding “mixed reality.”
6. AI Smart Glasses and AR Strategy
Apple’s AI-assisted smart glasses (N401, also referred to as N50) are meant to be worn alongside an iPhone, where the interactions can be done through voice and hand movements, without using a screen. These are considered rivals of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, with a screen variant that is reportedly set to be launched in 2028. Allocation of in-house resources towards abandoning Vision Air projects shows that these smart glasses are being developed quickly.
7. Home Hub and Security Devices
There are also two variants of Home Hub: J490 base and J491 mounted, each with the A18 chip, ultra-wide 1080p camera, FaceID, and multi-user profile switch. There is also an unconfirmed accessory device named J229 which could be a Home Security Camera with voice detection and image, to be unveiled with Home Hub in the spring of 2026.
8. Accessory Update Highlights: AirTag 2 & Studio Display
AirTag 2 (B589) is stated to feature improved Bluetooth range, battery handling with lower power, and crowd-sourced location. Two successors for Studio Display (J427, J527) are in development, with one expected to feature the mini-LED display and hence support improved HDR and color with its A19 Pro chip.
9. Software Feature Flags in iOS 26
In addition to hardware, there are flags for Siri IntelligenceFlow integration, semantic search, scheduled for Spring 2026. Health+ services, Live Captioning improvements, Freeform Folders, and Follow-up Prompts in Journal are also scheduled for the same time. Wallet improvements, Photos – Shared Collections, and CallKit push-to-talk are set to arrive later in 2026. Though not a release schedule per se, the leaked version of iOS 26 is a rare insight into Apple’s engineering efforts regarding their hardware and software development through the year 2027, including items that have been left behind.
