So are we thinking announcement at WWDC or in the fall at the iPhone event?
It's anyones guess at this point. The last 12 months have certainly proved that Apple does not have any obligation to stick to any yearly pattern. However, the iPhone events are usually reserved for the iPhone and other smaller category devices (maybe AirPods 3). My bets are still on WWDC for the following reasons:
1. We got leaked schematics for the 14" which shows the design has at the very least progressed to the point of being ready to produce (or it could already be in mass production). The fact that the iMac schematics leaked along with it gives it some credibility.
2. We had reports of the M2 (probably the M1-X) going into mass production and being ready to ship by July. Last year, we got a similar report in September for the A14X (which ended up being the M1), which released in November. This roughly 3 month gap between mass production and product launch seems to match up.
3. WWDC is a pro user oriented event. It gets a littler more nerdy than the consumer focused iPhone events. This event is for Apple developers and it makes perfect sense to announce their developer focused hardware at this event.
4. The new iMac has dual fans and an overall thermal design that is overkill for the M1... but would make perfect sense for the M1-X.
5. We have reports of the next generation M2 (along with the new MacBook Air) being prepared to start production later in the year with shipments coming in the late fall / winter. It doesn’t make any sense to release an M1-X at the same event as the M2. I think the cadence will be new M chip generation in the fall along with the lower end models and the beefy pro chip in the summer.
edit: I should also add the fact that currently the new iPad Pro has more CPU power than the current 16"... just let that set in... I'm sure Apple isn't okay with that.
My thinking is we will see the new 14", 16" and iMac Pro at WWDC with shipment dates starting in early July. All of them will use the M1-X with the 16" and iMac Pro getting a graphics bump with either a dedicated Apple made GPU or just more GPU cores (maybe raytracing abilities). Expect to see companies like Autodesk, Maxon, Adobe and Unreal showing off the new graphics performance and CPU power. Then at the November event, we will see the new MacBook Air, Mac mini and base model 14" pro with the M2 chip and perhaps a "one more thing" for the new Mac Pro with dual M2 and beefy graphics with a launch of early 2022.
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