Earlier this week, Apple despatched out media invitations for Scary quick, considered one of its extra uncommon product premiere occasions — an unprecedented night unveiling of recent merchandise which are extensively anticipated to function Apple’s first M3-powered Macs.
In contrast to nearly each different Apple occasion in historical past, Scary quick will kick off not in the course of the standard daytime hours — morning on the West Coast, early afternoon on the East — however somewhat at 5 p.m. Pacific Time, or 8 p.m. Japanese Time.
Presumably, Apple is utilizing this later hour to go together with the Halloween motif of the occasion, but it surely’s odd timing, regardless of the way you have a look at it. That is a wholly digital occasion, so there gained’t be any in-person attendance, which additionally means there’s no apparent purpose for Apple to carry it after darkish. Then once more, who is aware of? Perhaps Apple has some associated trick up its sleeve somewhat than simply treats. Not less than it’s not holding it on October thirty first.
The most important query surrounding this occasion ever since information of it leaked is exactly what’s coming. Whereas the occasion will indisputably be Mac-focused — an Easter egg within the brand says as a lot — the rumor mill has been extensively divided for months on whether or not we’d even see new Macs this yr, a lot much less which of them may very well be coming first.
As phrase of Apple prepping a late October occasion started to floor, some issues began to come back into focus. Firstly, this occasion will certainly be in regards to the new M3 chips (no shock there), and secondly, the more than likely candidates for updates grew to become the 24-inch iMac and a minimum of some MacBooks Professional.
The 24-inch iMac is an apparent alternative. Apple hasn’t up to date its desktop Mac in effectively over a yr. It skipped the M2 era totally (as a number of people predicted final yr), which ought to put it first in line to get the M3 therapy.
That breaks from custom for Apple — if two releases may be known as a “custom” — by placing a desktop Mac entrance and heart. The M1 and M2 chips each made their debuts within the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Professional, with the unique Apple silicon additionally ushering in a brand new entry-level Mac mini.
Nonetheless, if the most recent info obtained by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is correct, Apple will make one other new transfer by unveiling its complete M3 silicon lineup — the M3, M3 Professional, and M3 Max — in a single fell swoop.
Some (together with us) theorized that Apple would possibly deliver the whole MacBook Professional lineup as much as the M3 stage, with the 13-inch MacBook Professional introducing the bottom M3, accompanied by 14-inch and 16-inch fashions with the M3 Professional and M3 Max chips. Nonetheless, Gurman means that gained’t be occurring. As a substitute, the iMac — and solely the iMac — will present the baseline M3, with the one MacBook updates being the premium MacBooks Professional to usher in the M3 Professional/Max chips.
In different phrases, if Gurman is true, right here’s what we’ll see on Monday night:
- “An up to date iMac for the primary time in additional than 900 days” within the type of the 24-inch iMac with an M3 chip. Unsurprisingly, Gurman says to not anticipate any design adjustments apart from perhaps some new colours and a revamped stand.
- “Excessive-end MacBook Professionals codenamed J514 and J516.” These would be the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Professional fashions, and once more, they’re stated to “look practically equivalent to present fashions” that have been launched in January, however inside will “most likely” embrace speedier new M3 Professional and M3 Max chips.
- A brand new lineup of USB-C Mac equipment, such because the Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse, and Magic Keyboard.
That final one is a bit of stories, but it surely’s additionally not shocking. Lightning ports have been at all times an oddball alternative for Mac equipment, and now that Lightning is successfully useless, it might be bizarre for Apple to not use this chance to vary these over for USB-C.
This additionally explains the colourful USB-C cables we noticed in August. Many leakers mistook these for iPhone cables, however they have been far more much like the braided Lightning-to-USB-C cables that got here with the 24-inch iMac in 2021, matched to the iMac’s colours. The leaked images we’ve seen additionally match these colours much more intently than the iPhone 15 palette.
The specs of the brand new M3 chips stay a little bit of a thriller, with Gurman solely conscious of a number of configurations that Apple has examined. The M3 will probably have the identical variety of CPU cores because the M2 — 4 high-performance and 4 effectivity — albeit with quicker clock speeds. Nonetheless, Apple has examined configurations with as much as 10 GPU cores.
As for the M3 Professional and M3 Max, we may see something from 12–14 CPU cores and 18-20 GPU cores. Apple has reportedly examined each configurations, however Gurman has no information on which of them they’ll in the end be going with in these new Macs.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]