Reports in the past few weeks said Apple would unveil new iPads on a certain date. That October 17th came and went, and we did not get the new iPad 11, iPad mini 7, and iPad Air 6. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman now claims that Apple will unveil a new iMac in a few days, either on October 30th or the 31st. Interestingly, new MacBook Pro models might also arrive alongside the iMac, including M3 versions of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Then again, Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo said last month that Apple might not release new M3 Macs this year. Last week, he said Apple won’t refresh the iMac until next year.
Gurman notes in his Power On newsletter that iMac owners have not seen an update in more than 900 days. This was never the plan, apparently. Apple wanted to launch an M2 iMac Pro, and then a 24-inch iMac refresh.
Apple had to scrap the iMac Pro due to cost concerns. Instead, it came up with the Mac Studio and Studio Display combo.
Fast-forward to late October and Apple might have a Mac-centered product launch planned for the last days of the month. Gurman provides proof that might be the case. The iMac is in short supply at Apple stores.
Also, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros might see refreshes. Some MacBook Pro configurations won’t ship until mid-November if ordered now. That might be a sign that an update is coming.
BGR’s José Adorno pointed out the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro stock issues more than a week ago. At the time, you had to wait 2-3 weeks for certain M2 Pro/Max configurations to ship.
What’s puzzling in all of this, if the MacBook Pro refresh will happen, is that Apple would release new versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch models less than a year after the M2 Pro/Max update.
Also, this would mean the M3 Pro/Max MacBooks might come out before the base M3 MacBook Air models. These are still expected next year. Gurman says that Apple has made headway with the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros running on advanced M3 processors.
Finally, Apple has scheduled the earnings report for the September 2023 quarter for November 2nd. As such, it could unveil the new Macs on October 30th or 31st. Apple has done this before in 2018, when it held an iPad and Mac event on the 30th, days before the earnings call.
