This is Technology Bytes, episode 183 for September 6th, 2026.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share brief bytes on interesting technology.
Enjoy, and here we go.
Last week, Apple announced that they will be having their next event on September 9th, and so it’s called Surprise and Shine.
So I thought I would just talk a little bit about what I’ve heard or what I think is going to be announced, and then we’ll see next week when I talk about it for real how that all turned out.
So the one thing that we are fairly sure of is that this is an iPhone event.
It always is.
The September event is always an iPhone event.
The question is, what are they going to announce?
They’ve generally announced their entire iPhone lineup: iPhone Pros, iPhone Pro Max, iPhone Air, iPhone SE, whatever it is.
And this year, the rumor is that they’re only going to do the Pro versions and then probably whatever they’re going to call the iPhone Fold.
And so then that means that sometime later in the year, they will probably have a second event that announces the next iPhones, which are the more entry-level models.
Now this year, I don’t—I say this every time, but I don’t think I’m going to get a phone, but I’m never 100% sure on that.
So we’ll see what happens.
The other thing that they will announce is probably the Apple Watches.
Now which Apple Watches, I’m not 100% sure.
There’s lots of rumors about the Ultra 4.
That really is the only watch that I might be interested in.
I recently gave one of my older Apple Watches to my mother-in-law.
She really likes it.
I wasn’t so sure if it was the right thing to do.
I ended up buying an Apple Watch 11.
I’m a two-iPhone person.
Maybe I don’t need it, but that’s just the way I use it.
And so it’ll be interesting to see what the Ultra 4 brings around.
Now I have an Ultra 3.
Not sure I’ll need the Ultra 4.
Well, I never need any of it, but that is the one I will be watching, because if I think I need that one, then my— Apple Watch 11 will go to my daughter because I think she’s rocking a 6, and it’s about had its day.
There are a lot of rumors about Apple getting more into the home market, and many people think they have kind of ignored that part of the market.
And with Siri being not quite what maybe it should be, then with this new AI version, there is opportunity for Apple to do more in that environment.
So there’s rumors about a new Apple TV.
The existing one is fairly old.
It’s been around for, I don’t even know what the number is, but maybe a couple years.
There’s rumors of new HomePods, and then there’s rumor of some kind of home thing, something that might, I don’t know, sit in your kitchen with a display and a speaker.
I’m not 100% sure what that might look like.
There’s rumors of cameras.
There’s rumors of a doorbell.
There’s lots of rumors of things that Apple might do to get into the home market, and that is really where I’m the most interested in this year, I think.
I don’t think I need a new Apple TV, but if it has some smarter brains in it, if it has the ability to do more and is more capable, then that might be of interest.
The Apple TV in my bedroom is getting a little bit long in the tooth, and so I think swapping that out wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I’ve got HomePods everywhere.
I don’t know if I need new ones, but again, it’s a capability thing.
If Apple is really getting into the home, and if there’s time in this event for them to announce these types of products, then that could be very interesting.
It’s something that hasn’t been covered for some time.
Generally, Apple TV, HomePods, either size, and those types of things are just, you know, announcements they make with press releases or something like that.
So it’ll be interesting to see if they throw some home things into this year’s announcement.
If they do, it could be a bit of a surprise.
There’s not much in the rumor mill.
Obviously, new Apple TV, new HomePods, that’s kind of easy to predict because those devices are quite old.
So I’m looking forward to see what Apple announces in this event.
As far as what I’m in line for, I always want everything new.
I don’t need any of it because what I have will last me for a very long time.
But if I’m really interested in any of it and something that would really tempt me to spend some money, it would be what Apple does in the home market because I have a smart home.
I’ve talked about it quite a lot on this podcast.
I enjoy what I have.
I like what I have.
Having Apple more involved in that environment, even though I only do Apple HomeKit products, I think it would just be better.
If it just worked better, if it gave me more stability, if it gave me abilities to automate that were a little bit better, I don’t know, something.
Apple surprised me.
I’m ready to spend some money on home products.
Even when many secrets are known before we get to the event date, I still look forward to sitting down and just watching how Apple presents.
Now, this is the first presentation, big presentation of a product with the new CEO, John Ternus.
John, I think.
Anyway, and so that’s kind of an interesting thing to watch.
A lot of people are saying, well, these products have been in the line, but yeah, they’ve been in the line, but he’s the product guy, so he’s real interested to see how these turn out, I would think, and that’s just my opinion.
But being a product guy, he’s had his hand in these things.
So whatever they announce, iPhones, watches, home products, all of it is going to be things that Ternus has had his hand on in producing and making and making sure they work well and making sure the hardware is good and that it looks good.
And so I think he is Wanting this to be a great event, I’m not sure he needs it to be a great event, but it would be nice to kick off his career as the next Apple CEO with a huge positive in the event that happens on the 9th.
That is all I have for today.
If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, you can send them to technologybytes@marriagfamily.com.
As always, I want to thank you for listening to the Technology Bytes microcast, and I look forward to the next time we are together, taking another bite of technology.
