It’s official. Apple has sent out invites to a press event at 10 a.m. PT October 23 in the California Theater in San Jose. As usual, only a one line tease that said “We’ve got a little more to show you” was included on the invitation. Thanks to the never-ending deluge of Apple rumors that fly at us every day, we have some ideas of what the world’s most popular tech company might show. Current rumors point toward a new Mac minis, a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, a curvy iMac, and an iPad Mini. From the looks of it, Apple may announce a number of smaller, ‘mini’ products at the event.
iPad Mini
The iPad Mini, or a smaller, 7.85-inch version of the iPad, has been rumored for months now. The rumors just don’t die. Most recently, a picture supposedly showing a list of iPad Minis that will possibly be stocked by German electronics retailer MediaMarkt has been leaked, complete with prices and basic specs. In addition to the usual 16, 32, and 64GB models, an 8GB iPad Mini may appear. Each version will have the choice of a black or white finish, and either Wi-Fi only or “cellular” and Wi-Fi.
The most basic 8GB Wi-Fi iPad Mini could be priced at 250 euros, and the top 64GB Wi-Fi with 3G or 4G at 650 euros. A quick currency conversion gives us $322 and $840 respectively, the latter of which will probably have seen wallets everywhere twitch nervously.
Just like all the other iPad Mini rumors, there’s no way to know if this is really a screenshot from MediaMarkt’s computer system, and equally we can’t take those prices as final either, as Apple’s U.S. pricing is often lower than it’s European equivalent.
iBooks 3 and education
We don’t have many details, but today Bloomberg reported that Apple will further emphasize education (and likely textbooks) when it introduces the smaller iPad. We don’t know what new features are shown, but a new version of iBooks is expected. Apple has deep roots in education and with the smaller iPad’s smaller price, it likely hopes to reach more classrooms.
New Mac Mini’s coming
Big fan of Apple’s tiny little Mac? You’re in luck. A new rumor from 9t05Mac points to new versions of the Mac mini rearing their adorable little heads at Apple’s rumored October 23rd event. Supposedly, the new Macs will come in two configurations, with varying memory and processor options as well as a third model for those who want to run OS X Server. Rumor has it that they’ll start shipping immediately after the announcement. Apple hasn’t updated the Mac mini in more than a year.
We assume that the new mini will get some form of visual refresh, but it’s hard to imagine Apple making it a whole lot smaller than it already is. Maybe a Mac micro?
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
9to5Mac has also heard from a “consistently reliable source” that Apple will introduced a Retina display-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro during the iPad Mini’s launch event later this month. It will apparently be thinner and lighter, and offer different combinations of processors and storage options too.
Macrumors.com has found a few potential features for the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro on a Chinese website, which claims the smaller computer will still have two Thunderbolt ports, a USB port, a headphone socket, an HDMI-out and an SD card reader; just like its bigger brother. There’s also talk of an interesting battery design — although it’s not elaborated upon — and the report is accompanied by a couple of pictures that, frankly, could show absolutely anything.
Before we move on, it’s best to clarify that we’re talking about a product that doesn’t exist being launched at an event that hasn’t been announced for another non-existent product. That said, it’s logical for Apple to produce a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, but at the moment we don’t know when that will happen.
A curvy iMac
The curvy iMac rumors seems to originate from the same Chinese website, where it’s said that the new model will have a curved shell that’s something like “a water droplet,” which sounds more like Samsung’s design philosophy than Apple’s. Naturally, it too is going to arrive at the small “intimate” event set for October 23.
Update 10/22/2012 by Jeffrey VC: I’ve added the new education/iBooks rumor to the list.
Update 10/16/2012 by Jeffrey VC: Rumors of a Mac mini announcement have surfaced and have been added to the list.
Update 2 10/16/2012 by Jeffrey VC: Apple has officially sent out invites to this event. I added the invite and changed some text to correspond.
Article originally published by Andy Boxall on 10/15/2012.
On Apple’s website they are advertising the “new mac mini” with a version with OS X server for 599$
$599 sounds a little spendy. Any idea what the specs are?
Apple will claim that they actually came up with the idea of a smaller tablet FIRST, but it’s just been delayed. And will sue Samsung, Asus and whoever else making 7″ tablets for somehow stealing their “innovation” lol
I don’t think Apple will do that. I am willing to bet that Samsung is chomping at the bit to do what you just said though!
I know, I was being sarcastic ;) I just cracks me up how iPhone/iPad fanboys are always saying how Apple is such an innovating company and everybody copies them… when really, in the end… it’s all about people “re-doing” something better… (yes, that includes Apple).
I will agree with you there. I think they are losing ground though as everything Apple is coming out with (lately) has already been done by Samsung or other hardware makers.
Im definitely interested to see if they do anything new with iBooks, I think the platform has a lot of potential but hasn’t really taken off yet.
Super excited if that 13in MBP Retina rumor is true. The iMac sounds interesting, too.
A little disappointed at the $300 price point rumors on the iPad minis, if it happens, I was hoping a bottom of the line one would come in around $250
I agree. A $250 price would be great.
I actually saw a couple reports saying that base model would be $249, let’s hope that’s the case!
I would be pleasantly surprised if it was that price, but Apple will know it can get $299. Then it’s $399 for the iPad 2 and $499 for the iPad 3, and $199 for the iPod Touch.
I think it will be $299 myself. Or $249 for a stripped down version and $299 for the one with the carrier access (Verizon LTE etc)
Would be awesome, but the iPod Touch is at $299-399, I wonder if Apple doesn’t want to have two similar products at the same price? After all, the iPad (without cellular) is just a large iPod Touch.
There are plenty of apps etc that are on the iPad that are not developed for the iPod touch. You also cannot get a wireless carrier support on the iPod touch. I don’t see a product overlap personally.