Apple has at least one more trick – or possibly a gift – up its sleeve this year. On October 30, the night before Halloween, the company will host another event. This one is called “Scary Fast,” which is a strong indicator that Apple will have new, fast hardware to show off. Unusually, Apple holds this event at night. Starts at 8 pm ET.
This year’s iPhones and Apple Watches are already available, but Apple has plenty of other product categories it could focus on here. There is always the possibility that we will receive iPad updates. But if rumors are to be believed, Apple’s focus during the Scary Fast event will be on Macs and a new batch of chipsets to power them.
m3 chip
Apple won’t talk about advances in speed without having new hardware to talk about. That could all start with updated chipsets. It’s been almost 17 months since Apple’s M2 system on a chip (SoC) debuted. Since many manufacturers have an annual cadence for their chipsets, it may be time for Apple to move on to the next generation. (No, putting two M2 Max chips together is not the same.) For what it’s worth, the M2 series debuted 19 months after the M1. So if Apple announces the M3 at the Scary Fast event, the latest SoC would arrive after a similar period of time.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has He suggested that "MacBook Pro M3 series" will be the focus of the event, indicating that the company will have more than one new SoC to reveal. As such, there’s a chance we could see an M3 Pro and maybe even an M3 Max during the Scary Fast showcase.
iMac
A new 24-inch iMac could make its debut at the Scary Fast event. BloombergMark Gurman reported that a new model is expected to arrive this month. He noted that the iMac is in short supply at Apple retail stores, which is another sign that an upgrade is imminent.
The 24-inch iMac needs an update and for a while there have been rumors that an M3 variant was in the works. The most recent model was an M1-powered machine that arrived in April 2021. Making the jump to the M3, assuming the new line of chips is more capable than the M2 series, may make upgrading any new iMac worth it for many users.
MacBook Pro
There’s a good chance Apple will have at least one MacBook Pro refresh to show off at the event. Both Kuo and Gurman have indicated that will be the case.
Gurman noted that the 13-, 14-, and 16-inch MacBook Pros currently have extended shipping times on Apple’s web store. This is usually an indicator that the company is reducing the supply of existing products. Additionally, Gurman reported that Apple has been testing the M3 Max and M3 Pro MacBook Pro models. They could now be ready for prime time.
However, Kuo doesn’t expect Apple to have a huge inventory of new MacBook Pro units to sell this year. He previously did not anticipate that Apple would begin selling M3-powered laptops before the end of the year due to limited supply of between 400,000 and 500,000 units. Unless demand falls, Kuo said supply may remain tight until early 2024.
MacBook sales have declined this year, mainly due to "the limited upgrade of M2 computing power," kuo wrote in X. That could be one reason Apple is willing to start shipping M3 MacBook Pros now, even if supply is limited. Announcing new models just a few days before reporting quarterly earnings could help give investors confidence in the company (recent price increases for Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple News+ could also play a role in that).
However, if the M3-powered models don’t generate an increase in sales, Kuo suggests that a MacBook Pro with a new design is more likely to arrive in 2025. Additionally, Apple may try to bolster the division with a higher budget. Friendly MacBook that has an annual sales target of between 8 and 10 million.
iPadPro
We can’t ignore our hunch that we’ll see at least one iPad at the Apple event. Since the focus is likely to be on M3-powered products, any new iPad will most likely be of the Pro variety with one of those chips inside.
It’s only been a year since the latest iPad Pro debuted. Aside from a few small tweaks, Apple only changed the M2 instead of the M1. The next iPad Pro will likely need more changes to make it more palatable to anyone who purchased the previous two models, which means Apple may need more time to prepare it. If that’s the case, the company might be content with giving the iPad Pro a spec boost for now.
Other iPads could also get a refresh at the event, just in time for the holidays. We won’t have to wait too long to find out either way. We’ll have complete coverage of everything you need to know about the Scary Fast event on Engadget, so while you wait for the Halloween candy to appear, put on your pajamas, grab a cup of cocoa, and join us. on Monday night.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-we-expect-at-apples-scary-fast-event-m3-powered-macbook-pros-and-new-imacs-191549274.html ?src=rss
