That is a very big ask for just the 2nd generation when the first one is less than a year old.
Thunderbolt 5 likely won’t come to FL16 until the release of Arrow Lake and that is if FW decides to make an Intel FL16. We don’t know how long this will take, hopefully not as long as it took to get AMD on the FL13.
LPCAMM is still pretty new in the space (there is only one other laptop that I know of with LPCAMM2), so Framework would be taking quite a gamble at choosing to use it for the second gen FL16. They will also be making the DDR5 5600Mhz modules that they made instantly obsolete so I’d assume they’d at least want to keep it for maybe 1 - 2 more generations like with DDR4. The price of LPCAMM2 is also quite a lot more than the price of SODIMM modules with the same capacity ($329 to $173 for 64GB). It’s uncertain if CPU manufacturers will want to keep it for that long though (with all the switching to soldered or on package RAM). If Framework does want to use LPCAMM2, they will likely have to either buy LPCAMM2 modules off the shelf or communicate with Micron or Samsung. It would be a nice addition, but it’s up to Framework how they plan on handling the transition (sudden or gradual).
2 m.2 2280 slots is likely not coming because unless they physically shrink the profile of the mainboard, there is nowhere they can get enough space for another 2280 slot. They also have to make sure that all the screw holes align with the current gen to retain backwards compatibility.
Assuming they had already implemented the energy density optimizations from when they swapped the 55Wh battery to a 60 Wh battery in the FL13, it will likely have to take even more advancements in battery science before a 99.9 Wh battery. The chances of this happening I feel are more likely than the getting 2 2280 m.2 slots.
Atmos speakers is probably the most easy to implement of these features, and Framework has improved the speakers on the FW13 after a few years, so it is quite possible they will update them.
A microphone array would be nice, but the current implementation of microphones has all of them on the microphone + webcam module, so Framework would likely have to do some amount redesign in order to add another microphone somewhere else. They also just released their second generation microphone + webcam module, so if a new FL16 comes, it will likely use that.
If Framework were to add a 240Hz OLED panel, they would likely have to source it from a predesigned panel like what they did with the Core Ultra 1 Series FL13. The costs to create such a panel from scratch would be very high and Framework is likely not willing to invest that much just yet.
Battery life might be able to surpass 14hrs with all of the efficiency improvements from both AMD and Intel, but it is hard to tell. If they are going with high performance / high power chips, then battery life probably won’t change much. The 240hz OLED would also drain a lot more power compared to the current IPS panel.
It would be nice if they could come up with a better more durable coating, but that would require some amount of tooling changes, so Framework may or may not add this. If a lot of users are experiencing these issues, it is likely they will try adding a more durable coating.
While these features are all nice, it is quite a huge ask for the second generation FL16. Framework might implement some of these features, but it is likely that the majority of them will have to at least take some generations before they are implemented.
They’ll get to us eventually though.
