Invites dropped to a new Apple event taking place October 28, with Pro and tell widely expected to introduce the first-ever touchscreen Macs.
If the rumor mill surrounding Apple's release schedule this fall is accurate (and with Apple it often is), we’re in for a busy few weeks of it with almost weekly drops coming up. HomeView debuted last week, and now coming up on October 28 is a new launch event, Pro and tell.
Like the HomeView announcement, this will be a PR drop backed up by an in-person hands-on experience for press in Los Angeles. Apple is reportedly laying on business class travel and hotel rooms for this one, so is obviously hoping to make a bit of a splash.
And it has the devices to do it. After the relative distraction of the smart home stuff last week, Bloomberg’s Apple whisperer Mark Gurman says we’re heading back into more familiar Apple territory with new MacBooks. Not just any old MacBooks either, but the first touchscreen Macs. New 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will feature OLED displays and a Dynamic Island in place of the notch.
It’s taken close to four years for us to get here; Gurman first reported touchscreen Mac work in January 2023. But for anyone who has developed annoying longitudinal smears from their finger fruitlessly swiping their laptop screen, it will still be annoying but at least you’ll now know it did something.
Initially these machines were thought to have the latest M6 chip in, but now it seems more likely that they will have existing silicon in the shape of the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips launched in March. M6 may well feature in two other likely releases: an M6-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro, an M6 iMac with no external design change. An OLED iPad mini with a relocated camera and a revamped speaker system might also feature.
Gurman says the launch is geared toward creative professionals working in video production, photo editing, and music production. They will probably need to be working near the tops of their fields too to be able to afford them, as it is reasonable to assume that OLED and touch are expected to push prices up. Guesses are that the iPad mini alone would rise about $200 from $599 to around $799. As for the MacBooks, expect that level of increase and more.
Pre-orders on all devices should open by the end of the month.