Apple October launch event may be a big no show — report

It remains to be seen what impact the decision may or may not have on IT purchasing decision makers, but it appears Apple may have walked back on anticipated plans to introduce new Macs and iPads at an event in October.

Will they or won’t they?

Apple has hosted an October special event seven times in the last ten years. It had been expected to do so again in 2022 with that event being the forum for new Apple Silicon Macs and iPad updates. The event may not now take place, according to Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, Apple may instead introduce new products with a press release, the report predicts.

What’s coming?

For the Mac, the report predicts M2 and M2 Pro upgrades for Mac mini and M2 Pro and M2 Max chips inside 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The report also claims Apple is preparing to put iPad Pro on processor steroids with the introduction of its fast and powerful M2 chip, which we already know delivers performance and battery life benefits.

Bloomberg speculates on event no-show

Bloomberg speculates that Apple may not feel the Mac and iPad upgrades are in themselves significant enough for a special event as the products themselves simply iterate on existing designs.

That’s Bloomberg’s argument, though you could easily argue that the introduction of faster iterations of the M2 chip Apple only announced in June should be seen as highly significant news on its own account.

It would also give the company a chance to demonstrate the huge power and performance benefits of these chips and how they build on the benefits it bought to market with Apple Silicon. The report itself concedes something like this, saying Apple “may feel differently” about the need for such an event.

[Also read: The Steve Jobs Archive hopes to put a ding in the universe]

It is also possible that Apple may not yet be prepared to introduce M2 Pro, that it may need a little more time, or that it isn’t yet able to ship all these new Macs in quantity given continued COVID-related impacts on its supply chain. If that is the case then it may simply choose to give these systems a smaller processor bump, which would itself explain the lack of an event, assuming Bloomberg’s speculation is correct.

What difference to business?

While this news may feel unfortunate to Apple enthusiasts, it’s going to be relatively inconsequential to business buyers who will just cruise right along with their IT hardware budget based on what Apple reveals. We know hardware investments are likely to shrink slightly over the next 12-months but 77% of companies still intend increasing their tech budgets in 2023 or at least keeping them the same, according to Bain.

Business understands that despite inflation and recession, technology will continue to play a role in the global economy. Digital transformation means tech is going to be part of how companies in every sector navigate the present and build recovery in future.

Buoyed by employee choice and the growing acceptance of the need to make enterprise technology consumer-simple, business users won’t mind too much if Apple’s new products arrive in a press release or at a special event in a blaze of stage lights and pre-recorded glory.

If they have incoming employees taking the smart decision to adopt Mac, or if they intend upgrading all or some of their existing kit, if they’re going to buy a Mac they will still buy one. Though professionals in high-end graphics and AR/VR design markets may still want to sit back pending the 2023 introduction of the Mac Pro and Apple Reality glasses.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.