What a great time to be an Apple fan. Two events in the span of two months! Seems every other year Apple holds a second event in October, after the major iPhone September event and this year all the speculation was correct and Apple will be holding an event on October 30th in Brooklyn, NYC.
What will we see? Let’s delve into all the rumours and speculation.
New iPad Pro
The invitations to the event focused on creativity, so likely, the main event will be new iPad Pro models. These iPad Pros will have edge to edge displays and no home button. It is also expected to have Face ID but it is unclear if it will be housed in a notch like the iPhone Xs. This will be a welcomed design change to the iPad as it hasn’t gone through a major redesign since the iPad Air.
I think we will most definitely see a new iPad Pro will no home button and a greatly reduced bezel, but it won’t be as edge to edge as the iPhone Xs. There will be a 20 to 30 point bezel around the entire iPad so that a Face ID array can fit. Sure, it’s not edge to edge, but it will still look great and will allow for larger displays without increasing the overall footprint.
These iPad Pros will likely have A12x processors, better camera, better battery and the standard refresh updates. It is also believed to use a USB-C port replacing the lightning port and the removal of the headphone jack.
We will probably see the Apple Pencil 2 with AirPod-like pairing and better battery life. It’s also rumoured that the Pencil will be redesigned to make it easier to attach the Pencil to the iPad with magnets.
New MacBooks…Finally
The other, long awaited, major announcement will be the new MacBook. New MacBook Pro models were introduced in the summer and everyone has been waiting to see what Apple is going to do with the MacBook and MacBook Air lines. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t rehash everything, but we will likely see a low cost MacBook Air update or replacement, and a new evolution of the MacBook.
The interesting thing for me is to see what Apple decides to name these new products. In my opinion, I think it’s time for Apple to simplify their entry level MacBooks. Drop the Air, drop the price of the MacBook and have a clear delineation between entry level and Pro notebooks.
New iMacs and Mac minis
We may also see new desktop computers introduced. The iMac might see a refresh but so far no rumours of a major redesign has been mentioned. Also, the Mac mini could see an update, but again no details have surfaced as to what they will look like.
iMacs will for the most part look the same but will see spec bumps. The Mac mini could be a bit of a surprise and we might get a smaller little desktop box.
Audio and accessories
While this might be a distinct section the presentation, we might get mention of AirPower and a solid release date and price. Many believe that the AirPower mat is dead, but signs point otherwise and Apple might finally get it to market.
A bit of a wild card might be new AirPods. Rumours have been swirling that new AirPods are in development with the ability to use “Hey, Siri” as well as better pairing and battery life. While there might be an AirPod 2 in the pipeline, we might not see these until next year.
There’s also another rumour swirling that Apple is developing an Apple branded, high-end noise-cancelling headphones. I am certain Apple won’t be announcing them for sale this year, they might give an early preview like they did with HomePod a couple years ago. It is also unsure if these rumoured headphones are actually happening. These headphones are said to be higher end than Apple owned Beat’s over-ear headphones, so while it won’t be directly competing with the Studio 3’s, Apple would be double dipping into the headphone market.
I, for one, hope these headphones come to market because I’d love to have a set of noise-cancelling headphones that have the convenience of AirPods, Apple’s design, and Siri. Not to mention that, I’m sure Apple will pay very close attention to sound quality. Again, I don’t think we’ll see these until next year, but we might get a sneak peak.
October 30th
This is of course all speculation and we’ll soon find out who’s right and who’s wrong. You can tune into the event at 7am PST on apple.com and on your Apple TV.
