There are only two weeks left until November, but Apple is far from done with October. Several new products are rumored to be coming, including new iPads and Macs, as well as the launch of iPadOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura with the highly anticipated Stage Manager feature.
So, when will these new products arrive? We all know Apple doesn’t like to reveal secrets until the big day, but there’s plenty of clues this time around. And right now, each of them points to a flurry of releases the week of October 24.
We haven’t received an event invite yet: As for new products, Apple could hold an event or issue press releases. If there is an event, it will most likely be held on Monday, October 24, with invites going out early this week. The event would likely be an in-person/virtual hybrid like the iPhone 14 event.
However, there are strong rumors that Apple will not hold an event at all and will instead quietly launch new products on its website via a press release. Traditionally, Apple launched new products this way on Tuesday (AirPods Max) or Wednesday (iPhone SE 2), so we could get new hardware on October 18 or 19 and/or October 25 or 26.
iPads may arrive this week: Over the weekend, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that new iPads will arrive “within days.” That would be the M2 iPad Pro and redesigned iPad, which will likely be released on Apple.com on Tuesday or Wednesday. But they probably won’t ship until after iPadOS 16.1 lands on October 24.
The release candidates have not yet arrived: Before iOS/iPadOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura can make their way to billions of iPhones, iPads and Macs, Apple must complete the development of the betas. That usually happens a few days before the full release, for example the iOS 16 release candidate arrived on September 7 and was released to the public on September 12.
Assuming both release candidates arrive this week, both iOS/iPadOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura will likely land on Monday, October 24 or Tuesday, October 25. Mark Gurman’s Report that iOS 16.1 is “on track to be released the week of October 24, barring any new bugs or issues.” He doesn’t mention Ventura, but the two OS updates will likely arrive on the same day, as Stage Manager is a marquee of both.
There are too many products to release at once: Rumor has it that a lot of new hardware is coming: updates for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iPad and Mac mini. While it’s normal for so many new products to launch at an event, it would be unusual for Apple to release four new products at once without any fuss. So even if the iPads launch this week, there will be plenty of Mac news next week.
Two Apple execs are scheduled to speak on October 25: And there’s something else to suggest that the last week of October will be a monster week for Apple. Apple senior vice presidents Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak are scheduled to speak at The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live conference on Tuesday, Oct. 25 during a session titled “Products, Privacy, and Power at Apple.” Apple is unlikely to unveil products during the half-hour session, but the timing suggests they have a lot to discuss.
