Gurman recently dropped several major exclusives: a touchscreen MacBook Pro potentially arriving as early as October, Apple's smart home hub with "warehouses already stocked worldwide," doubts about the upgrade value of the iPhone 18 Pro, and Apple's shift toward influencer marketing over traditional media coverage.

On the October 2 premiere of the "Power On" podcast, veteran Apple tech journalist Mark Gurman and Bloomberg tech editor Vlad Savov held an in-depth conversation about Apple's upcoming fall product launch event. The episode not only exposed Apple's massive ambitions in the smart home space and details about its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, but also offered sharp commentary on the newly released iPhone 18 series and the strategic challenges facing new CEO John Ternus.

Gurman has been covering Apple continuously for 17 years since 2008, and his scoops have long been regarded by the market as an important reference for Apple product foresight. This podcast premiere carried an extremely high information density, with multiple core product milestones receiving their first systematic disclosure.

The Smart Home "Big Thing": Codename J490 and the All-New Siri AI System

With the mobile device market saturated, the market is intensely focused on Apple's future growth space. Gurman revealed on the program that Apple's internally codenamed "J490" AI smart home hub will be the key to breaking through.

"This is Apple's next 'Big Thing,' and it's only weeks away from launch," Gurman emphasized. He noted that Apple's past attempts in the smart home space, such as the iPod Hi-Fi and early HomePod, were "half-finished products," but J490 will completely change that.

The device is described as "the Amazon Echo Show made by Apple in the Apple universe," featuring an approximately 6-inch square touchscreen. Its biggest selling point lies in an entirely new operating system.

"If Siri AI had an operating system, rather than just being an app or interface on your phone, what would it look like? This is the answer." Gurman quoted the original statement, noting that the system blends characteristics of Watch OS and StandBy mode, and "voice will become the primary interface interaction element."

Regarding commercialization that investors care about, Gurman revealed the product is ready: "In warehouses around the world, these brand-new Siri AI smart home hubs are stacked from floor to ceiling, ready to ship at any moment."

Additionally, Apple is building a massive ecosystem matrix, including a HomePod mini with a larger chip, a new Apple TV, and a new AI security camera codenamed "J450" without video recording, which provides text descriptions only through AI to avoid privacy controversies.

On pricing and profit margins, Gurman pointed out market concerns: "Ideally, this product should cost between $200 and $300. But considering the display, related technology, and speaker base, I would be very surprised if it comes in under $300."

Furthermore, a global memory shortage could further drive up the device's cost, making it an effective "luxury consumption" item.

Touchscreen MacBook Pro Arriving as Early as October, First-Ever OLED Introduction

Beyond smart home, Apple's traditional PC business will also undergo a major transformation. Gurman confirmed that Apple will launch its first touchscreen-supporting MacBook Pro as early as October this year, or possibly delayed to November.

To accommodate the touchscreen, Apple is internally testing with macOS 27.2 Beta, which features a major "touch-friendly" redesign of volume controls, buttons, and Control Center icons.

He noted that Apple has undertaken a large-scale redesign of the macOS interface, codenamed "Golden Gate," to better adapt to touch interactions, involving changes to volume controls, buttons, Control Center, and app icons. "It's similar to the iPhone Duo redesign direction, just to make the system more touch-friendly."

More importantly, there is a leap in hardware configuration. Gurman revealed: "Beyond the touchscreen, it will be the first Mac with two other features: first, Dynamic Island... second, OLED. This is the first time OLED is coming to Mac." In terms of chips, it will use the M5 Pro or M5 Max chip.

He disclosed that Apple is currently testing the model internally with the macOS 27.2 beta, which has recently been made available to developers.

iPhone 18 Series Criticized as Having "No Reason to Upgrade," Apple's Marketing Strategy Shifts to Influencers

Regarding the iPhone business that accounts for the bulk of Apple's revenue, the program offered extremely blunt commentary on the just-launched iPhone 18 Pro series.

"This is a classic 'S' generation product through and through," Gurman admitted after personally testing it. "What you get is a processor that doesn't feel faster in real-world use, some variable aperture camera feature that 99.9% of people don't know how to use... There's absolutely no reason to upgrade."

Due to diminishing marginal returns on hardware innovation, Apple is significantly adjusting its marketing strategy. Gurman sharply pointed out: "They know there's really no reason to upgrade from the 17 Pro to the 18 Pro, so what do you do? You bring in influencers."

He observed that Apple is increasingly tilting resources toward KOLs on Instagram and TikTok rather than traditional media journalists.

"They're making videos talking about how this is the greatest invention since sliced bread... This is not only good for Apple's sales, it's also good for Apple's marketing, but I think it gives consumers Apple-endorsed dishonest opinions, and that's not good for consumers."

This shift in marketing model is essentially a defensive business strategy Apple has adopted during a phase of incremental product innovation to maintain high prices and sales volumes.

The New CEO's Challenge: Finding the "Ten Trillion Dollar" Leverage Beyond iPhone

Alongside product line expansion comes a transfer of power at Apple's top ranks. Regarding new CEO Ternus, the market is closely watching how he will lead Apple past its current market cap ceiling.

When asked what question he would pose if interviewing Ternus, Gurman hit the core:

"Do you think some new, disruptive product is needed to take Apple beyond the iPhone era?... Or will you continue to be phone-centric and build peripherals around it over a 15-to-20-year CEO tenure?"

Additionally, Gurman believes Apple abandoning its car project was a regret, because the autonomous vehicle was originally Apple's "long-term leverage to jump from a $4 trillion, $5 trillion market cap to $10 trillion."

After losing the enormous imaginative space of the car, whether Ternus can redraw a sufficiently convincing growth blueprint for Wall Street through the Siri AI home ecosystem and high-value-added hardware like foldable/touchscreen Macs will be the greatest test of his tenure.