When is the next Apple event? | Tech News

Occasionally Apple will drop a product on an unsuspecting public like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. But mostly it follows a recognisable pattern. As a result the grizzled Apple pundits here at Macworld can draw on their experience covering this secretive company to give you a strong – albeit not infallible – guide to when the next Apple event will be held.

In the past the company has made big announcements at events in the spring, during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and at an event in September. Apple has also been known to hold an event in October.

We’ve just enjoyed one of the biggest dates in the Apple calendar: WWDC 2018, a developer conference that ran through the week commencing 4 June 2018. This saw major updates to all four of Apple’s software platforms, but contrary to expectations (focusing on MacBooks and a possible iPhone SE 2) there was no hardware news at all. And for this reason we think there could be a low-key follow-up event later in the summer.

After that we have the long wait to the biggest yearly event of all: the iPhone refresh in September. This is also likely to see final launches of the OS updates previewed in the summer, and could involve HomePod and AirPod updates too.

The company’s yearly calendar has some regular signposts you can use to orient yourself. These are the Apple events we’re expecting over the next 12 months.

Late-summer hardware event 2018

We were disappointed not to get any hardware announcements at WWDC 2018, and think that some or all of the following lines could be updated between now and the autumn refreshes. Note, however, that these could instead be low-key product launches announced via press release, rather than on stage at a major press event.

MacBook Pro

We are hoping that Apple will unveil an update to the MacBook Pro. A Geekbench result has mysteriously appeared for a new MacBook Pro with 6-cores and 32GB RAM so we are very excited about the prospect of a powerful new model.

You can read what we expect from the MacBook Pro 2018 here.

MacBook Air

We are hearing that an update to the MacBook Air is in the pipeline. We’ve been waiting a long time for an update and it almost sounds too good to be true; but apparently, rather than discontinue the MacBook Air, it looks like Apple will launch a new 13in model with a retina display at the same price as the current MacBook Air!

Read more about Apple’s new 13in MacBook Air.

13in MacBook

Alternatively this rumoured new 13in Mac laptop could be an update to the MacBook, which is currently 12in, but could be getting a bigger screen, and a lower price.

Read all the MacBook 2018 news here.

Mac mini

Apple claimed the Mac mini was still important to it. So could it be planning an update to the Mac that’s been untouched since 2013? We hope so!

Read the latest news about Apple’s Mac mini here.

iMac

We also expect that Apple will unveil updates to its range of iMacs, which like the MacBook Pro should get more cores – that’s six, rather than four, core processors.

2018 also marks twenty years since the iMac was introduced, so a good time for an update, we think.

Read our iMac 2018 news here.

iPhone SE2

The iPhone SE is a popular iPhone, being both the smallest and the cheapest handset on offer. Rumours are pointing to a new iPhone SE 2 model launching soon, so an unveiling this summer is possible.

Read the latest news about the iPhone SE2.

HomePod mini

It’s probably wishful thinking, but there are a lot of rumours flying around suggesting that Apple will launch a cheaper, smaller HomePod (maybe it will have Beats rather than Apple branding). Such a move would, presumably, help Apple gain marketshare in the smart speaker space, but it has a long way to go before it has anything like the market share of Amazon.

Read about the Mini HomePod here.

Mac Pro

Apple has said that the new Mac Pro won’t launch before 2019, but we’d love to get a sneak preview. Is it still too early? Whether we see a machine depends on how much progress the company has made in that regard.

Read about the new Mac Pro.

New Apple display

If Apple shows off the new Mac Pro we expect it will also show off the new display that it has revealed it is working on. But, again, it may be something Apple chooses to keep under its hat until 2019.

Read all about Apple’s new display here – it could offer 8K!

Apple September 2018 iPhone launch event

In September 2018 we are likely to see the launch of the next iPhone. The difficulty is predicting what Apple will call the next iPhone (or iPhones).

iPhone 9, Xi, 11, or something else…

We may see an iPhone 9 (and iPhone 9 Plus), or Apple may announcing an iPhone Xi (iPhone 11). And if the iPhone X Plus doesn’t launch in the spring, we may see a Plus model launch in September.

Now may be the time it ditches the numbers and refers to the iPhone simply as iPhone and iPhone Plus.

In fact some rumours suggest that Apple will announce three new phones in 2018 – two high-end models with OLED screens, and one cheaper model with a LCD-TFT display. All three models are said to have all screen displays (although we assume the notch will remain).

Read all the news about the new iPhone for 2018 here.

iOS 12 & macOS 14

The iPhone usually shares its September event with announcements of when the latest version of iOS (in this case iOS 12) and macOS (v.10.14) will become available to the public in their final form, having been announced earlier that year at WWDC 2018.

Apple Watch

September is also a good time for Apple Watch updates, and in September 2017 we saw the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE.

Apple October 2018 event

In the past Apple has sometimes followed up its September press event with another smaller do in October. In the past it has unveiled iPads and updated Macs at that event.

The October event doesn’t happen every year. Apple didn’t hold an event in 2015 or 2017, for example, but on 27 October 2016 it held an event where it released the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

Apple’s spring 2019 event

In 2018 Apple held an education-focused events on 27 March at a school in Chicago. The company made a series of announcements including a new iPad (with support for Apple Pencil), updates to Pages, Numbers and Keynote, and GarageBand. As well as talking at length about what it can do for teachers and students.

In the past Apple has made some significant announcements at spring events. In 2015 Apple held an event called ‘Spring Forward’ on 9 March 2015, where it announced pricing and the launch date for the original Apple Watch and unveiled the first 12in MacBook. And on 21 March 2016, at the ‘Let us loop you in’ event, we got the iPhone SE, the iPad Pro 9.7 and iOS 9.3.

However, spring 2017 was a bit of a disappointment for Apple followers: instead of a full-blown event the company quietly closed down its online store then sent out a press release announcing the launch of the iPad 2017 and the red iPhone 7.

As yet we have no predictions as to what Apple could launch in the spring of 2019 – although we are hearing that the long awaited video streaming service that could take on Netflix may finally launch! Read the latest news about Apple’s plans for TV and Movie content here.

Apple WWDC 2019 event

WWDC stands for Worldwide Developers Conference. This is an overwhelmingly software-focused event, where Apple announces the flagship features in its annual operating system updates for the benefit of its software developer partners who will have to update their software to work with the new OS.

In 2018 Apple held the event from 4-8 June at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Apple used this venue for the first time in 2017 – prior to the 2017 WWDC Apple had hosted the developer conferences at the Moscone Center for a number of years (2003 to 2016).

Tickets to WWDC are allocated via a ballot. Here’s how to get WWDC tickets.

So, what can we expect to see during the WWDC keynote in 2019?

At WWDC 2017 we heard about iOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra, as well as updates to tvOS and watchOS. We also got our first look at the new iMac Pro which was previewed alongside the launch of new iMacs, as well as the updated MacBook Pro and MacBook. In 2018 it was all about iOS 12, macOS Mojave, tvOS 12 and watchOS 5.

It doesn’t take a genius, then, to predict that WWDC 2019 will feature updates to iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS. Whether these will be accompanied by hardware announcements is another matter, but going by 2018’s event it’s possible that Apple is steering away from such mixed events.