A surprise! Apple is holding another event this year. Several supply chain issues reportedly derailed plans to announce more devices at the iPhone 15 event last month. While in past years the company has opted to make a final round of announcements through press releases, this time it’s hosting a stand-alone event — tonight at 10 p.m. 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET.
The company sent out invitations to Scary Fast on October 24, leading to speculation that such an October event by Apple could trigger the long-awaited unveiling of the new desktop. Warning, however, unlike the last few days, there is no personal material. So this is substantial news, but perhaps not enough to compel people around the world to travel.
The event is unusual to begin with. Instead of 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday, the kickoff time will be 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET Monday evening – All Saints Day, if you will. As always, the quickest and easiest way to get involved (besides tagging TechCrunch, of course) is to pay a visit apple-eventsite. As usual, Apple will also make streaming available via YouTube. If those kinds of things are important to you, it’s one that takes a backseat to the other.
What to expect this time: Besides the obvious Halloween reference, the phrase “scary fast” is likely a reference to the new chips. Meanwhile, the silver Apple logo on the invitation and the AR effect that turns it into a Finder tool are both strong indicators that these are new Macs.
So the most logical headlines right now are a new 24-inch iMac and an updated MacBook Pro, each with M3 and M3 Pro chips. Apple is also said to be working on a 32-inch iMac/iMac Pro now, though reports say it won’t launch until early next year. But it looks like Apple is ready to celebrate the belated launch of macOS Sonoma with new hardware.
Of course, the iPad might get some love this time around. The Pro seems to be the most likely at the moment, but really the whole range is up for grabs this time around. This will be a great opportunity to update various devices with USB-C ports just before the holidays. It’s been almost three (very long) years since the AirPods Max launched.
Well, every member of the line can follow in the footsteps of last month’s AirPods Pro 2 update. I still hope there will be a standalone USB-C enclosure at some point. Regardless, it’s safe to assume the event is about more than just Macs. Among other things, the Vision Pro just got some stage time at an iPhone event. With a release early next year, it’s a good time to talk about demos and reveal more content.
See you – and the team – this evening.
