Mark Your Calendars, Friends: Apple just sent out invitations for a launch event on April 20 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. EST, just like Siri suggested it would be earlier this morning. And as usual, Apple couldn’t help it: The invitation tagline refers to the event as “Spring Loaded,” which can be a subtle reference to the many products the company is expected to unveil. next week. Now is the time for Apple to at the very least reveal a set of new iPad Pros, and lingering rumors claim that the new Apple Silicon Macs, AirPods, and perhaps even those long-awaited AirTags trackers may soon claim their share of the lights. the ramp.
Apple’s latest launch follows another high-profile event announcement – the company confirmed earlier this month that its global developer conference, which runs from June 7 to 11, would be fully virtual for the second year in a row. And beyond that, today’s news ends months of speculation about when Apple’s next big event is. For a while, prognosticators had set March 16 as the most likely date, when that first prediction didn’t come true, attention shifted to March 23 and finally April 6. Now that we know when the event happens, we can focus more closely on what Apple plans to announce.
Arguably the biggest changes a business has in store are for your office. Even though Apple has pushed back new iMacs with 10th gen Intel processors last summer, all signs point to a neat redesign for 2021 inspired by the expensive Pro Display XDR monitor paired with more powerful versions of the Apple Silicon chipsets that we first saw in Macbook Airs and Pros in 2020.
Speaking of spec bumps, that’s mostly what we expect from the 2021 iPad Pro. Current rumors suggest that Apple hasn’t changed the physical design of its more high-end tablets. Instead, the company reportedly focused on including an upgraded A14X chipset and a new mini-LED display with increased brightness, deeper blacks, and improved contrast ratios. . And as part of an effort to make its professional-grade tablets more “pro”, Apple may have also equipped them with 5G radios (to match last year’s popular iPhone 12 series) and a Thunderbolt USB-C port for better accessory compatibility and data transfer speeds.
Meanwhile, the iPad mini – a tablet that has basically looked the same since 2012 – finally seems to be getting a facelift with a bigger screen. (The preponderance of rumors and analyst reports that the display is somewhere in the 8-inch range, although there is no consensus on an exact size.) It’s also possible that Apple announces an updated version of its no-frills 10.2-inch iPad, but the fact that he updated this model less than a year ago means that we are still skeptical before this event.
We may be missing more here – like, say, a new iPhone SE – but the evidence for them appearing so early in the year doesn’t seem so convincing. Having said that, who doesn’t love a surprise announcement? Fortunately, we won’t have much more time to wait before Apple fully shows its hand – take this as a reminder to stay tuned for our live event coverage.
