Apple has announced another live-streamed media event for October 16 – what can we expect to see?
Well, the iPhone 6 launch went pretty well, how about another one? Even though Apple’s flagship event has come and gone, a secondary event tends to arrive shortly after that deals with the rest of the product line. Here’s a run down of the rumors, and what we’re almost definitely going to see, and what we may, in a perfect world, potentially see.
New iPads!
New iPads are expected to be the star of the show at the event, which will be particularly important for the tablets considering sales have flattened over the last year. We expect the second generation of the iPad Air to now include a gold option, just like the iPhone, and include Touch ID. We’d also hope that Apple will address the significance of the iPad – particularly the mini, now that the iPhone 6 Plus is snapping at its heels in terms of size.
New Macs!
We’re potentially looking at an upgrade to Apple’s line of desk machines, with the 27-inch iMac likely to see an upgrade to Retina display, while a smaller 21.5-inch iMac is rumored to include better graphics chips, while the smaller still Mac mini, which hasn’t seen any upgrades since 2012 will also likely see modest improvements. As for MacBooks, these will likely be left to it after receiving some upgrades earlier in the year.
New OS X!
And with new Macs, surely must come new software. This is almost a certainty as OS X Yosemite has been in beta for so long. Apple’s latest Mac operating system destined for an official release, bringing with it better collaboration with your iPhone and iPad thanks to Continuity and Handoff. It’s also understood that an upgrade to iOS 8 – likely 8.1 – will land shortly afterwards to help connect up those connectivity features, and support the launch of Apple Pay, which is also expected to launch this month.
Wildcards
- A longer, but still perfectly valid prediction would be the announcement of a long-rumored 12.9-inch iPad, dubbed ‘iPad Pro’, though this will more likely arrive in 2015.
- A new iteration of the Apple TV, which has been rumored for awhile, but pretty unlikely at this event
- New iPod models – especially as the iPod Classic has now been discontinued, though again, unlikely.
The event will be held at 10am PDT on Apple’s Cupertino, California campus. It will be live-streamed simultaneously on Apple’s website. Stay tuned on TapSmart, and on our Twitter feed for all the latest news from the event.