What to Expect from Apple’s October 16 Special Event
We’re less than 24 hours away from Apple’s October 16 special event, where the company is expected to announce new iPads, a higher resolution iMac and the availability of OS X Yosemite.
Here’s what we predict Apple will unveil today at its event based on recent rumours and some guesses…
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iPad Air 2: Confirmed by Apple
- A8 chip (rumoured A8X breaks regular upgrade cycle), 2GB of RAM (?), Touch ID
- Improved front and rear cameras (expected)
- 32GB, 64GB and 128GB storage options? 16GB needs to go
- Price increase?
Retina iPad mini 3: Confirmed by Apple
- A8 chip (rumoured A8X doesn’t make sense until 2015), 2GB of RAM (?), Touch ID
- Improved front and rear cameras (expected)
- 32GB, 64GB and 128GB storage options? 16GB needs to go
- Price increase?
Retina 27-inch iMac
- 5K ‘Retina’ display at 5120 x 2880 resolution
- Maybe available in a variety of colours (based on that invite logo)?
- 21.5-inch model to be announced but not made available until 2015. Could we see the same for both models to be delayed to 2015, similar to how the new Mac Pro was launched? Would make great timing to launch iMacs and Apple Watch in the same quarter.
- Back in June Apple launched new entry level 21.5” and 27” iMacs.
OS X Yosemite
- Expect the public release to be made available at the end of the special event, like Mavericks last year. And expect delays and busy servers.
iOS 8.1
- Apple is ripe to release this update as it’s already available for developers; the release could also coincide with recent rumours Apple Pay’s launch is imminent in the USA.
…and here are products you wish would launch but probably won’t
12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’
- Not expecting this to be announced; Bloomberg says “to be introduced next year” according to sources.
Mac mini
- Earlier this year a support document listed “Mac mini (Mid 2014)”; coupled with the fact a refresh hasn’t happened since 2012, an update is pretty much due anytime. Could we see it today? I would hope so but it probably won’t happen.
Apple TV
- Last saw a refresh dating back to 2012, so something new is surely around the corner. Will we see it today? Unknown. But if we don’t see anything new, the current model will have to compete with Google’s new $99 Nexus player.
12-inch Retina MacBook Air
Since Apple is hosting the special event at their Cupertino campus versus a massive venue like the Flint Center, nobody is expecting anything ‘game changing’ like Apple Watch or iPhone 6 to be announced.
Did we miss anything? What do you expect will be announced today?