Last-minute WWDC 2020 leak reveals bad news

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Don’t expect to see any hardware at WWDC 2020 claim tech leakers

WWDC 2020
(Image credit: Apple)

If you were expecting to see a MacBook ARM or the rumored AirPods Studio at WWDC 2020, then we’ve got some bad news: Apple may not reveal any hardware at its developer conference this week. 

That’s according to Twitter tech leakers Jon Prosser and Max Weinbach that claim to have knowledge that no hardware will be shown off at WWDC. Though Prosser says that he hopes he's wrong, and Weinbach said to take such information with a pinch of salt. 

Weinbach noted that this tips come from Apple insiders that don’t work on WWDC related teams. That means there’s a chance he could be wrong about there being no hardware revealed at the developer conference.  

Prosser was less open about his sources. But he did claim that he might be mistaken, though he would be surprised if some hardware was shown off.  

But the information the tech leakers claim to have does track with a new report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo ,who reckons the Mac machines with ARM-based chips won’t get launched until the third quarter of 2020 at the earliest. Kuo predicts a redesigned iMac 2020 will be the first with a new in-house designed ARM chip, followed by the 13-inch MacBook Pro making use of such chips come the end of the year or early 2021. 

This makes sense as Apple would need to give developers time to rework their software and apps to run on ARM’s RISC architecture rather than the x86 architecture used in Intel chips that the Mac lineup currently has. At best, Apple could reveal a development kit so software makers can get started making apps for ARM-based MacBook Pros and iMacs. 

We’d also been expecting Apple to take the covers off the AirPods Studio, its first high-end over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation. Previous rumors also suggested that Apple's AirTags trackers could appear at the event.

However, it looks likely that there’ll be no hardware reveals after all. That means that WWDC will focus wholly on software and what Apple will do with highly anticipated releases such as iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and watchOS 7.

We’d like to see how Apple plans to bring more augmented reality features to the iPad Pro 2020 for example, or how watchOS could be boosted in time for the Apple Watch 6.  

We'll know for sure what Apple has in store when WWDC 2020 kicks off in a few hours at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Be sure to check out our guide on how to watch WWDC 2020, and stay locked to Tom's Guide for live coverage of the big event. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.