A bit more than a month after the Wonderlust event, we have a new event invite from Apple that says “Scary Fast.” Events after the iPhone launches typically focus on other product lineups like MacBooks and iPads.
According to a reliable analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will launch new Macs at the October 30th event. Instead of just an M3 chip, the report suggests that Apple will launch an M3 Pro and M3 Max as well.
We’re not sure whether Apple will update the MacBook Air this soon. The smaller 13″ model came out in 2022, and the 15″ model was released just a few months ago. It doesn’t make sense to jump to the M3 chip on the MacBook Air now. We can’t entirely rule out the possibility.
Apple released a few versions of the Intel MacBook Air in March 2020. Eight months later, in November, Apple released the M1 MacBook Air. They could launch a new MacBook Air with an M3 chip as well.
Since the M2 chip wasn’t a significant upgrade from the M1, many people still buy the M1 laptops to this day. That’s one possible reason why Apple is probably launching the M3 early. Apple still sells a 13″ MacBook Pro. It has the M2, and it’s the only remaining option with a TouchBar. Apple didn’t discontinue it, and they silently might update it with the M3 chip.
The key focus is on the 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro models. These two will get the latest hardware. Ming-Chi Kuo earlier predicted that Apple would launch new MacBooks in 2024 and that no new Macs would be announced in 2023, citing shipment reasons.
However, this claim is inaccurate since his current statements cite that Apple is launching new Macs this year at the September event. The supply for the M3 Mac models will allegedly last until Q1 2024. The production volume is low since Apple didn’t ship many units of the M2 laptops. As a result, the M3 units aren’t being mass-produced at very high numbers unless sales demand it post-Q1 2024.
A possible reason for the decline in shipments of M2 laptops is that M2 is a really iterative bump over the M1 laptops and was significantly more expensive. It’s also unlikely that we won’t get anything new since Apple doesn’t hold events for insignificant launches like a tiny chip update to the iPad.
Interestingly, this is Apple’s first online-only event, and it’s in the evening instead of the morning. According to Kuo, Apple might consider a major redesign in 2025 if the M3 Macs do not perform well. They might even consider a budget Mac model to boost sales and get more people into the Mac ecosystem.
Mark Gurman from Bloomberg earlier claimed that Apple wouldn’t launch any new MacBook Pros this year. He also claims that the inventory is dry. However, he has also backtracked on the statement and now claims that Apple has been testing these models for a while and that they’ll launch on the 30th.
Both the leakers now agree that we’ll get new 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros at the very least. The rest is up for debate, and Apple might not refresh the 13″ Pro. According to Gurman, the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro will not get a refresh.
It is difficult to conclusively claim that Apple will launch new iPads at the event, but it’s unlikely. We always see a new iPad every year, but there was a recent product announcement- the Apple Pencil USB-C, but they didn’t announce any iPads.
