Apple finally confirmed its next event for 5 p.m. PT on Monday, October 30, and it’s where we expect the company to introduce new Macs. The event, which carries the tagline “Scary Fast,” will be streamed on Apple’s website and Apple TV, but that’s just about all of the details we know about the event right now.
The teaser on Apple’s website shifts between the Apple logo and the Finder logo, further suggesting Apple will be talking about new Macs. The announcement comes about a week after prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that an upcoming refresh to Apple’s 24-inch iMac had been delayed to 2024.
However, we’ve heard plenty of rumors in the past few months that Apple is getting ready to overhaul its Mac lineup with the introduction of the M3 chip, so there could be several updated devices revealed at the event.
M3 incoming?
Much of the speculation around Apple launching new Macs stems from a report from journalist Mark Gurman in July. Gurman said that Apple was preparing to refresh the 24-inch iMac, 13-inch MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new M3 chip. This would make sense, as Apple usually introduces new chips to its 13-inch MacBooks first before moving onto the larger MacBook Pros.
There has been some back-and-forth about the specific devices Apple will launch, but the M3 has remained consistent throughout reports. The most recent news we heard was early in October, when a “a verified source” from MacRumors said that Apple could launch M3 any time in October.
We’ve heard rumors of the M3 for about half a year now, so there’s a good chance Apple will use this event to introduce the new chip. The actual devices we’ll see remain a mystery, but we have some good rumors to go on.
Hopefully, an iMac refresh
Apple’s 24-inch iMac is a prime candidate for a refresh. Although we’ve seen some reports that Apple pushed the launch back to 2024, we’ve seen just as many that say Apple will release the iMac in October. If Apple is talking Macs at its October event, we suspect the iMac will be in the conversation.
The main reason why is that the 24-inch iMac hasn’t been updated since 2021. It’s currently still using Apple’s M1 chip, which will be practically ancient by the time M3 rolls around. This is the only Mac in Apple’s current lineup that hasn’t seen a release with the M2, so there’s a strong chance we’ll see an update at the October event.
This isn’t blind speculation, either. The latest version of Gurman’s PowerOn newsletter reports that Apple will launch the new iMac before the end of October. In addition, Apple’s current iMac is in short supply on Apple’s website, with units not shipping until mid-November. That suggests a refresh is coming soon.
We’ve heard some rumors that Apple will use the event to update the iMac with the M2 and M2 Pro chips, as well. If we see M3, that seems unlikely, but it’s not out of the question. It seems unlikely that Apple would hold an event just to refresh the iMac with M2 and M2 Pro, so we expect a little more is going on.
MacBook refreshes?
It’s no secret that MacBooks are much more popular than the iMac, and if we see an M3 at Apple’s event, there’s a good chance it’ll be alongside new MacBooks. The current rumor is that Apple is readying a 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, both with the M3.
This is the loosest rumor we have to go on, however. Although we’ve seen reports that Apple will launch these devices soon, several prominent analysts have said Apple is pushing the release of M3 MacBooks back to 2024. There’s still a chance Apple could reveal them at the October event, but it wouldn’t be surprising if we don’t see the devices until next year.
Strange timing
This is the first time Apple has held an evening event, at least in the U.S. It’s strange to see the timing, but it’s not clear if it points to anything in particular. The date of the event is more important, at least according to Gurman.
The reporter says 2023 is the first time in five years that Apple has held its fall earnings report in November. The earnings report is scheduled for November 2. The timing of the event lines up with 2018, when Apple revealed new iPads and Macs on October 30, just days before its earnings report. It seems we have similar timing here, so we expect at least a few big announcements at the event.
