“Unleashed” Apple Event Set for 18 October 2021
Apple’s next event will take place on 18 October 2021 at 10 AM PDT. The announcement says Apple will be broadcasting from Apple Park, implying a live event, in contrast with the last few pre-recorded events. As always, you’ll be able to stream the event from Apple’s website or the Apple TV app. You can also add the event to your calendar.
With Apple having just updated the iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, and Apple Watch, the next likely target is the Mac. Rumors have swirled for a while about new MacBook Pro models with an M1X processor, no Touch Bar, and more ports. We may also see updates to the M1-based MacBook Air and Mac mini, which haven’t been updated in a year. It’s also possible that Apple will introduce a larger and more powerful iMac model to complement the entry-level 24-inch iMac (see “Apple Releases New M1-Based 24-inch iMac in Spring Colors,” 20 April 2021). And of course, we’ll continue to hope that Apple will bring out an affordable display to complement the Mac mini and extend the desktop for iMac users.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro, which hasn’t seen an update for two years, is unavailable at many Apple stores. That’s a good indication that new MacBook Pro models are coming.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro (which if you’ve lost track still uses Intel and hasn’t been updated in *2* years) is showing unavailable for pick up at many Apple stores plus shipment delays. pic.twitter.com/vPpTLxXIUz
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 11, 2021
We don’t yet anticipate an update to the M1-powered iPad Pro, as it was updated seven months ago (see “New iPad Pros Boast M1 Chips and Liquid Retina XDR Display,” 20 April 2021). But Apple could surprise us.
You can learn about everything Apple announces with us by joining us in the #events channel of our SlackBITS group. We’ve been chatting with our readers during the events for a few years now, and it’s always a good time. To join the group, go to slackbits.herokuapp.com, enter your email address, and agree to the code of conduct. You’ll receive an invitation in email right away.
OSIRIX will do a presentation during the event, so they have announced… I’ll be watching with more than fleeting interest
I wonder if they will finally unleash macOS Monterey. The beta testing has been going on far too long. It’s the longest OS testing I can remember.
Well, Big Sur was released on November 12 last year.
OsiriX, the medical imaging software? That could be something relatively boring like raving about how great the new processor is at handling big files or how great the new displays are for looking at subtle details. Or how easy it was to update from x86 to Apple Silicon code. More exciting would be some kind of VR/AR/XR demo.
An extended family member is a radiologist that uses OSIREX on Macs in his practice, and he likes that it has an app works great in iPads and even iPhones. Augmented and virtual reality are already features that are important in diagnosis, surgical planning and surgery.
If Apple does debut a headset, it could add a new dimension to diagnosis and surgical techniques, esp. robotic surgery:
https://www.hpbonline.org/article/S1365-182X(18)33891-7/fulltext
And it could be used in the education of doctors, nurses, physician assistants, etc. And Apple has been quite aggressive in targeting the medical field, as well as health and fitness, over the past few years.
More evidence of Apple’s segue into health and sciences:
This is the first time I’ve been hearing about this particular rumor, so it probably won’t be Unleashed on Monday.
Apple controls both hardware and software, it’s giving them an advantage in health and healthcare services. It ain’t just about games.
we can hope they’ll actually release an o/s that isn’t so buggy that it’s almost micro$lopian …
I don’t care what it is, there’s no way I’d ever install a version x.0.0 release of any OS from any vendor on a production system.
Always wait for one or two updates. Or at minimum, wait for reviews from the early adopters.
(FWIW, I only upgraded my main Mac from Catalina to Big Sur about a month ago).
employed the same strategy. even after all that waiting, still found big sur to be quite buggy. so the wish expressed above remains …
Is it that I just haven’t noticed before or is the first Apple Event where they have a lot of paid commercial ads? I am seeing ads all over the place for this event and I don’t remember that happening before. Apple must have paid a small fortune for these advertisements, does that mean this event is going to be a really big deal?
I haven’t seen any commercials for Apple’s unleashed, but I have seen a ton of excellent PR pickups. I checked Ad Age, Adweek, Digiday and The Drum, and no mention of any Apple media buys for the event. Traditionally, Apple will often schedule and air commercials and print ads for the new products immediately or soon after the event.
But I did find some very interesting information about timing for Unleashed…about two weeks ago Google announced its annual Pixel event is scheduled for October 19:
Apple probably has some good industrial intelligence. The scheduling sounds too good to be accidental. It’s more like stealing someone’s thunder.
It’s been years since I’ve eagerly anticipated an announcement. My high end MBP 2019 has a number of issues:
Didn’t want to buy a first gen M1 MB. plus do want the bells and whistles of a MBP. But I must say I was quite tempted to go for it, given the positive reports of first M1 MB.
Still under Apple Care. When I get a new one, Apple will have a lot of work to do on it. Then I’ll give it away to a team member.
I can’t say I’ve had a lot of luck with macbooks overall the last 8 years. I hope their new model doesn’t have any glitches.
Anyone else think Dr Who for the wait screen?*
-three more colors of Homepod Mini… but no brown/tan/beige color?
-3rd generation of Airpod
-New MacbookPro, M1Pro Chip
-New M1 Max Processor
-New Macbook Pros 14" and 16" WOOHOO MAGSAFE BACK!
-HDMI Builtin, no touchbar (that was short lived)
-SD card slot!
-1080p camera - about time.
*hyperspace…punch it Chewy.
Initial reaction to the Unleashed event? WOAH… Imagine what will happen in 2022 and beyond when the nanoscale goes to 3nm or below. It is little wonder why Intel is so upset.
Anyone else notice those test rigs in the R&D Lab? The prototyping system boards with the honking CPU coolers on every table?
And the return of Mag safe. It saved the life of my MacBook a few times.
Better screens and more screen real estate in both models. As predicted here, the bezels have been drastically reduced. An upgraded the camera for teleconferencing.
NO TOUCHBAR!
Although there will be fans, they will very rarely need to turn themselves on. Almost every time I use it, my ancient MBP sounds like the runway at a major global airport.
More ports.
More battery life and faster charging.
I’ll be checking them out later this week when the new editions hit the stores, and I’ll definitely decide on which one.
That is too funny – I read this as “fans of the Touch Bar,” not fans as in cooling devices.
I loved the concept of the Touch Bar, but the way Apple implemented it was awkward from a usability perspective (flat surface you can’t see without looking down at the keyboard), endless horizontal scrolling for something like a list of Emoji was idiotic, and the APIs for devs to add support for it were extremely convoluted (not easy). It’s no wonder few apps bothered and now it’s dead.
The Slackbits chat wondered what the price differential of the Max would be…
It’s 1K to jump from 16Gb Pro to 32Gb Max. And another 500 for the 64Gb Max.
Hmmm.