Malcolm Owen
Apple's expected spring event may not actually happen, with new iPads and Macs instead thought to be introduced by promotional videos and website updates.
Apple events are usually how the company introduces new products and updates to the public, but it doesn't happen every time. Following speculation about a spring event, it now seems that Apple won't be holding one after all.
Instead of an event, Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday expects that Apple will be announcing the products on its website, combining online videos with marketing campaigns.
As for when the event could occur, Gurman says that with a special version of iOS 17.4 expected at the end of the month with support for new hardware, the launches could occur sometime in March or April.
Among the launches detailed by Gurman are revamped iPad Pro models with OLED displays, a new iPad Air with a 12.9-inch display option, new Apple Pencils, and upgraded Magic Keyboards for the upmarket iPad models.
For Mac, the list of potential launches include new 13-inch MacBook Air and 15-inch MacBook Air variants sporting the M3 chip.
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17 Comments
I suppose that means the upgrades will be iterative and nothing particularly groundbreaking.
At first I was surprised to read this news from Gurman. I would have thought Apple marketing would want an event. But on second thought, not so much. Apple doesn't do events for speed bumps, and that's the story for the MBAs and, in large part, for the iPads, too. So you're left with an event to talk about OLED screens, the XL iPad Air and a couple of new accessories. And it's not as if the existing screens in iPad Pros aren't terrific--they are. I'm sure the OLEDs will better them in ways typical of OLED tech, but this will be iterative improvement, not jaw-dropping advancement. Of course, Apple is a company that based its whole marketing campaign for iPhone's 15 Pro models on a piece of titanium trim, so I never question their ability to make an insignificant feature seem like so much more than it is.
Of course, a “special version” of iOS shouldn’t be relevant here, given that none of the devices in question run iOS.
So this probably means no MagSafe charging for iPads, as that would be a significant redesign which would probably be highly touted at an event.