New iPhones are almost definite and possibly the first ARM-based Mac, Only a month after Apple last tempted your buying digits, the company’s back to further worry your bank account.
Here we are again, less than one month after Apple's September 15 event. Next Tuesday, October 13, Apple representatives will take to the streaming stage to announce new products in an event the company has monikered "Hi, Speed." But what can we expect from the event?.
The magic happens at 10am PDT on 13 October 2020. On the day, you can watch here:
Let's get into what to expect from them—and what else we might see at the event.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro
The rumour mill claims we’ll get four new iPhones: a 5.4in iPhone 12 ‘mini’ and its 6.1in sibling, a 6.1in iPhone 12 Pro, and the biggest iPhone ever in the 6.7in iPhone 12 Pro Max. Flat edges, better cameras, 5G, OLED and LiDAR should all get a look in.
While it's usually folly to try to get too predictive about what Apple means with its cryptic event names, "Hi, Speed" is likely to refer to one or both of the following two things: the A14 chip and 5G connectivity. Both are expected in Apple's new iPhones.
Stuff says: Overchoice is a concern, and four new iPhones in addition to whatever existing ones remain in the line-up seems a lot. But all those features sound fab, and if Apple gets the balance between them and pricing right, all that choice is going to look very smart indeed.
The A14 was already introduced to the public when Apple announced the new iPad Air last month. The A14 includes a six-core CPU with two high-performance cores and four efficiency cores, as well as a custom GPU and a 16-core neural engine for machine-learning tasks.
While it doesn't look like the A14 is dramatically faster than the A13 found in last year's flagship iPhones, it will continue Apple's lead in performance over most competing devices. As for 5G, Apple's competitors have already started jumping on that bandwagon of late, and Apple is expected to go all-in, offering 5G in all of its new iPhones this season.
AIRPODS WITH SPACIAL AUDIO: WE’RE ALL EARS
The rumour mill claims Apple’s set to reveal premium over-the-ear cans. These will have interchangeable parts, active noise cancelling, sensors that figure out when the cans are removed, and Siri integration to fire up Phil Collins’s greatest hits with minimum effort. A smaller HomePod has also been talked about in hushed tones.
Stuff says: Our editor liked AirPods Pro so much they never leave her ears and she now spends every waking hour bopping to top tunes. True story. (Probably.) Or: yes, of course we’d like to see cans as good as AirPods. HomePod has a tougher battle, given how aggressively Amazon’s taken the smart speaker market, and so it’ll be interesting to see Apple’s counterpunch.
The All New Apple Silicon
This June, Apple announced that it would begin (very gradually) moving away from Intel's CPUs in new Macs in favor of its own custom-designed, ARM-derived silicon similar to that found in the iPad Pro. It also said that the first of the Macs running on those chips (which are dubbed "Apple Silicon") will arrive by the end of 2020.
That makes the Apple Silicon Mac the only already confirmed product we might see on October 13. However, there's no guarantee it will be at this event. The company could opt to announce it in November or December instead.
The rumour mill claims Apple’s already got a 14in MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon ready and waiting. This will have a snazzy new design and set the direction for the future of Apple’s traditional computers.
Stuff says: Apple Silicon Macs are a must. Intel’s not kept pace, and the Mac’s suffered. But. This is such a big deal that it would surely warrant its own event, rather than sharing space with the iPhone. On that basis, an Apple Silicon Mac seems premature.
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