What to expect from Apple’s upcoming Mac and iPad announcements

Another round of Apple devices is about to arrive. After launching the iPhone 16 lineup, the new Apple Watch, and AirPods 4 in September, it looks like Apple is gearing up to unveil updated Macs and iPads sometime this month.

We’re expecting another round of chip updates, at least a redesign and maybe an October surprise or two (the good one). Official announcements could come to us via a traditional event or a series of early-morning press releases — Apple has taken both approaches in the past, and no one knows for sure right now. Regardless of how it happens, here’s what we think we’ll see updates to and what might not make the cut.

Apple Intelligence will launch “this fall” on compatible iPhones, iPads and Macs, with the first features arriving in October. That means we should get an announcement soon.

First, we’re expecting Apple’s writing tools for rewriting, correcting, and summarizing, plus a redesigned Siri, new Photos app features like Clean Up (similar to Google’s Magic Eraser), and live transcripts of phone calls and voice notes. According to Apple, other features such as ChatGPT search integrations, Genmoji custom emoji, Image Playground generative art, and visual intelligence image search are expected to be “available at the end of the year and in the following months.”

We first saw these features demonstrated at WWDC 2024, but until now, you’ve had to install one of Apple’s public or developer betas to experience them. For iPhones, the features are coming to the 15 Pro / Pro Max line and the entire iPhone 16 line. On iPads and Macs, Apple Intelligence will launch on models with processors of the M1 generation or newer.

Last year’s October event focused heavily on the MacBook Pro line. The 14- and 16-inch models saw chip bumps, and Apple introduced a new 14-inch model that finally did away with the Touch Bar. It’s likely we’ll see updates to all three with a jump to the M4 generation, but so far, there hasn’t been much buzz about major design changes. But a chip upgrade is always welcome, especially if you’re a bargain hunter looking to hit up some high-end hardware clearance sales.

We’re expecting a major redesign of Apple’s smallest desktop computer, which will likely make it even smaller. As well as including new M4 and M4 Pro chips, the new Mac Mini is rumored to ditch its USB-A ports and be as small as an Apple TV streaming box. It would be the first major redesign to come to the Mini in about 14 years (more than The Virgin even existed).

The current Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro chips has been with us since the early days of 2023, so a new model seems timely. Some of us here are Mac Mini, in part because it offers a great value proposition for its performance, at least if you already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I’m excited to see what an updated Mini might look like and how much an M4 Pro model beats the current M2 Pro, but the fact that it has fewer ports gives me pause. It also seems unlikely that a smaller Mini would have the one thing I really wanted in mine: a fast built-in SD card slot like the Mac Studio.

The iMac has been on autopilot since the machine got its colorful glow in 2021. If the October event brings changes to Apple’s all-in-one computer, it’s likely we’ll only see a glimpse of last year’s M3 model to a fresh M4 version.

Most notable may be updated versions of Apple’s Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard that use USB-C instead of Lightning. They’re among the last Apple devices still using the Lightning port, and feel very out of place now that the iPhone has changed (and as the EU’s deadline to switch to USB-C looms approach).

I’m still hoping for a bigger iMac upgrade at some point. Someone wake me up when we finally get the rumored 32-inch iMac or a resurrection of the iMac Pro.

If Apple has any updated tablets in store, the model most in need of some changes is the iPad Mini. The current 8.3-inch iPad Mini came out in 2021, with the A15 Bionic processor we first saw with the iPhone 13 generation. Maybe it’s time for pilots everywhere to rejoice when the Smaller iPad moving to an M-series chip? Rumors suggest an update is on the way – the question is whether the Mini will step up to the big leagues with the M4 or be relegated to the still-suffering M2 like the latest iPad Air. Either way, anything is better than what happened with the mini iPhones.

There are also rumors that Apple could update the entry-level 10.9-inch iPad to a new 11th-generation model, but it’s unclear whether that update is on the cards this month or early this year. next year The current 10th-gen model launched at $449, but Apple corrected itself by lowering its starting price to $349 earlier this year. An 11th-gen model is likely to look very similar, though it could be an opportunity for Apple to clean up and update its cluttered accessory situation.

The M4 processor debuted five months ago in the latest iPad Pros, and as mentioned above, Apple is expected to announce that its latest chips will finally make the jump to most Macs in the coming weeks.

But will we see any M4 Max or M4 Ultra chips debut in Mac Studio and Mac Pro updates? These pro-oriented machines are still found in the M2 Max and M2 Ultra, so they should be updated. But rumors of new models have been pretty non-existent so far. Also, get new tokens through the whole The line of Macs at once can be too long: Apple has a history of spacing out.