With no Apple event invites this week, and Mark Gurman assuring his readers that this year’s remaining product launches will be delivered via press releases, it appears that Apple is done with events for the year. This leaves us looking forward to the first event of 2023, but I don’t believe we’ll have to wait until March.
As rumors have begun to indicate, I believe that Apple will have a rare January event to be headlined by its mixed-reality headset. There have only been three January events in Apple’s modern history, headlined by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the MacBook Air in 2008, and the iPad in 2010. Apple’s move into augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets will be the most important new product category announced during Tim Cook’s tenure, and this introduction calls for a something very special.
However, these "one more thing…" events are always one more thing, following a slew of other announcements. So what else will Apple have to announce in January? Well, we already know that refreshed iPad Pros, MacBook Pros, and the Mac Mini are set to be refreshed at the end of the month. A refreshed Apple TV is coming, too, and all of these updates are so minor that there’s no reason to have an event except to talk about the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The refreshed base model iPad, on the other hand, has been rumored to have a design refresh. But I think Apple needs something even flashier, and there’s one remaining product that Apple themselves have been teasing since March.
The new Mac Pro, with its rumored M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme chips, will not be announced over press release. It will mark the completion of Apple’s Intel transition, come with two previously unseen chip designs, and come in an entirely new form factor. This is something Apple surely wants to celebrate. Additionally, time is running out. When Tim Cook announced that the transition would take "about two years," most folks believed that the transition would be complete by WWDC 2022. The pandemic and chip shortages slowed them down, but they still have a chance to meet their intentionally ambiguous deadline. The first M1 chips weren’t actually released until November 2020, and it will only be the two year anniversary of those machines next month. If the new Mac Pro is unveiled in January, it will only be two years and two months since their transition officially began, and two and a half years since their transition away from Intel was announced. "About" two years indeed, and John Ternus’ teasing of the Mac Pro back in March wouldn’t be obscenely ahead of time.
So, a Mac Pro and Apple’s mixed-reality headset, rumored to be called the Reality Pro. Call the event something like "Power to the Pros," perhaps unveil a new base-model iPad and give some updates on services, and you have an amazing January event that queues up a perfect "one more thing.." moment for Apple’s biggest new product category since the iPhone. I can’t wait.
As rumors have begun to indicate, I believe that Apple will have a rare January event to be headlined by its mixed-reality headset. There have only been three January events in Apple’s modern history, headlined by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the MacBook Air in 2008, and the iPad in 2010. Apple’s move into augmented, virtual, and mixed reality headsets will be the most important new product category announced during Tim Cook’s tenure, and this introduction calls for a something very special.
However, these "one more thing…" events are always one more thing, following a slew of other announcements. So what else will Apple have to announce in January? Well, we already know that refreshed iPad Pros, MacBook Pros, and the Mac Mini are set to be refreshed at the end of the month. A refreshed Apple TV is coming, too, and all of these updates are so minor that there’s no reason to have an event except to talk about the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The refreshed base model iPad, on the other hand, has been rumored to have a design refresh. But I think Apple needs something even flashier, and there’s one remaining product that Apple themselves have been teasing since March.
The new Mac Pro, with its rumored M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme chips, will not be announced over press release. It will mark the completion of Apple’s Intel transition, come with two previously unseen chip designs, and come in an entirely new form factor. This is something Apple surely wants to celebrate. Additionally, time is running out. When Tim Cook announced that the transition would take "about two years," most folks believed that the transition would be complete by WWDC 2022. The pandemic and chip shortages slowed them down, but they still have a chance to meet their intentionally ambiguous deadline. The first M1 chips weren’t actually released until November 2020, and it will only be the two year anniversary of those machines next month. If the new Mac Pro is unveiled in January, it will only be two years and two months since their transition officially began, and two and a half years since their transition away from Intel was announced. "About" two years indeed, and John Ternus’ teasing of the Mac Pro back in March wouldn’t be obscenely ahead of time.
So, a Mac Pro and Apple’s mixed-reality headset, rumored to be called the Reality Pro. Call the event something like "Power to the Pros," perhaps unveil a new base-model iPad and give some updates on services, and you have an amazing January event that queues up a perfect "one more thing.." moment for Apple’s biggest new product category since the iPhone. I can’t wait.
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