We’re just a few days away from Apple’s September event, where we’re expecting to see the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch 9 fully revealed.
But Macs and iPad updates won’t be there. For those, we’re likely looking at a web announcement in October with limited fanfare, rather than a full event according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The reveal came not in the reporter’s usual Power On newsletter, but during an appearance on the MacRumors podcast, where he also shared Apple’s plans to update their accessories to USB-C.
“There is a new iPad Air — minor spec bump — in development, which I think is coming soonish,” Gurman said (29:40 in the video).
A minor specs bump isn’t unexpected. Gurman previously wrote that the transformational iPad Pro update next year will be the next big thing for Apple’s tablets and that we shouldn’t expect “anything other than minor updates” before then.
But it’s interesting that Gurman specifically highlighted the iPad Air, which was only refreshed last year with M1 chips. Many believed that if Apple was set to imminently showcase any new tablet, it would be the iPad mini 7, given the company’s smallest slate hasn’t seen an update since 2021.
While Gurman conceded that an iPad reveal as part of the iPhone 15 launch wasn’t an “out of this world idea” given the company’s recent history, he restated his belief that the iPad Air could instead arrive with new Macs a month later.
“There will be another launch in October,” he explained. But he’s “not sure it’s an event,” as he isn’t convinced the company will have enough to “drag people down to Cupertino.”
Instead, he suspects it will be like the M2 Pro launch back in January, where a 20-minute video dropped on the day without warning.
Gurman has written previously that the Macs in line for a refresh are likely to be the 24-inch iMac, and the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Air and Pros. Both are set to get the brand new M3 chip, though on Friday the analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple might not release MacBooks with M3 until next year, so we will have to see.
