Rumour has it that Apple is planning to host a virtual event on March 8, earlier than its usual spring event window, in which it will launch the iPhone SE and iPad Air models, which are both expected to have the A15 chip and 5G support, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in the latest Power On newsletter last weekend.
The Cupertino-based tech giant also plans to introduce a new Mac at this event, said Gurman, adding that it is unclear if the product will debut at the Apple event. It is rumoured that it could be a Mac mini with the M1X or M1 Pro chip.
Apple had launched the low-cost iPhone SE in the spring of 2020, which it sells for about Rs 40,000 in India. The updated model may sport the same design as the previous iPhone, but is likely to sport a faster processor and 5G capabilities, sources said. As there will be no radical change in the design, the classic iPhone Home button is likely to be retained. The Home button-based design of the current iPhone SE is similar to that 2017's iPhone 8, Ars Technica reported.
How Apple will address the increased battery drain associated with 5G, given that the current design has a notably small battery by today's standards, is not mentioned in the Bloomberg report.
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The new iPad is likely to be an updated version of the iPad Air, which was last updated in October 2020. Given that the new design is just a generation old, no changes are expected on that front.
In the December quarter, the iPad was the Apple's only major product lineup to report a dip in sales. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed the results to “significant” supply constraints, CNBC reported. According to Apple executives, chip shortages had particularly slowed iPad sales during the holiday quarter.
According to Gurman, the new Mac that Apple will unveil this spring could be a high-end Mac mini with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. The tech giant has four new Macs powered by M2 chips in its pipeline. The line-up includes refreshed models of the MacBook Air, the 24-inch iMac, the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro and entry-level Mac mini. Gurman believes Apple will launch these Macs later in the year after it releases the final Macs with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.
