Tcm0

Just a wild guess: maybe the remote can read the battery voltage?

Hmm. They probably stay at their current 9V-based system because motors driven with 9V seem to work good for the purpose. That means that they will stay with 6 batteries for the train base. That leaves 4 batteries for the remote. Seems like the new remote is confirmed. The last "upgrade" for the IR based remote was from 3 AAA batteries to 2 AAA batteries in the EV3 remote. It more or less confirms that we will get a new remote system (which consumes about double the enegry of IR).

But you would see the holes of the technic holes of the receiver in the trains since both of them are 6 wide. I can't see any on the photos.

I think that there is no market for a payed remote control app :D Serveral free ones would pop up in no time. You have to keep in mind that the trains still have expensive tracks and that the price shouldn't be much higher.

I don't think that it's related to Mindstorms. PF and Mindstorms are different teams and mindstorms sets last longer (the NXT lasted 7 years, that would make a new mindstorms come 2020). The NXT had it's best selling year at the end of the lifespan. Lego won't give us an app AND a remote. But I don't see them doing a Bluetooth BLE remote either as that's not the way bluetooth is used normally and it would be pretty expensive compared to IR. So either an app or a non-bluetooth remote. I don't think that they will use this one. Not enough power (it runs either on 3V3 or 5V), too expensive (because the battery is included) and too wide for 6 wide trains. Maybe some kind of variation that is battery powered and slimmer.

Regarding the new power functions: it seems that either the logo on the box is only a placeholder that doesn't show anything we will see or it's some new type of receiver based on bluetooth BLE and the WeDo 2.0 plugs that should be used with a phone. It would make sense because lego stated that they want to replace all future PF with the 2.0 system (http://www.technicbricks.com/2016/01/wedo-20-future-of-pf.html) and it makes sense to renew the trains first because they stay the longest on the shelves (and thus the older parts would have to still be produced during the next years). The sound capabilities mentioned can be simple sound files that you can play with a remote app from the phone (the first RC lego trains had sound included into the remote, too).

They don't want clone manufacturers from china to sell the sets before Lego released them. I think that Lego sees them more and more as a serious threat.

FETs are transistors, too.

But it's much more expensive.

I think that the train won't derail if it's all 3 waggons together.

Has someone else realised that there are no stickers on the trains? I'm pretty sure that there will be a sticker on the passenger train to better blend the colors.

Or to put them on track and connect the track and the wheels with a lego piece.

You can probably put a capacitor between the two power lanes if you are worried by PWM. That should smooth the signal.

They stole the modular switch idea from 4dbrix.

There was already a project like that: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/49a40d31-be73-49c8-8bb9-60bdbffaa74d