Apple isn’t done refreshing its products this year. According to the same source who shared reliable information on product introduction and timing in the past, AppleInsider has learned that the Cupertino firm is about to unleash another wave of new products during the second half of next month.
Apple’s reportedly set internal deadlines for “major new products” of mid-October, with the planned unveiling to reportedly take place during mid-to-late October.
Micah Singleton at The Daily Dot thinks the event is scheduled for Tuesday, October 21. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Singleton says the event will bring the sixth-generation full-size iPad and the third-generation iPad mini, and also announce the release of OS X Yosemite.
The October 21 data was mention by Reuters while Bloomberg also relayed AppleInsider’s findings in a tweet and a subsequent article.
BREAKING: Apple said to plan unveiling of new iPads in mid-October.
— Bloomberg West (@BloombergWest) September 17, 2014
The well-informed Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, however, shot down these reports with his trademark ‘nope’ though he didn’t elaborate further.
Several pundits, but no major outlet, have previously mentioned the possibility of another Apple media event to be held at some point during October. As mentioned before, Apple is also widely expected to release the latest free OS X Yosemite update in October, following today’s release of iOS 8.
With the iPad lineup, the Apple TV media-streaming box and other products up for their annual refresh, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that next month should be about an improved, Touch ID-enabled iPad Air 2 and iPad mini tablets.
As a point of reference, last year the Cupertino firm unveiled the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display at a media event on October 22.
Beyond new iPads, however, possible other product refreshes are anyone’s guess.
The Apple TV has received its last major hardware refresh two and a half years ago. A new model should include anything from a built-in router to TV tuner to speedier chips and a new software enabling an Apple TV App Store for apps and games.
A new MacBook Air model with a high-resolution Retina screen has also been much-rumored about in recent weeks, mostly by sources in Apple’s supply chain.
However, Intel’s already-delayed Broadwell chips are now facing new delays so that machine should not be expected before 2015, both Taiwan’s Economic Daily News and DigiTimes reported recently.
Mockup above via Bloomberg.