The Apple rumor mill was in tumult over the last few weeks over whether or not the company would be releasing more hardware this year following the release of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models. Now, we have a definitive answer.
More new hardware is on the way for 2023 as Apple has announced plans to reveal these products next week during a virtual event that it’s calling “Scary Fast.” The event is slated for Monday, October 30 and at a very interesting time: 5 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Eastern, making this the first product event Apple has hosted in primetime.
The event will not be in-person. Instead it will be broadcast on Apple.com, Apple’s YouTube channel, and in the Apple TV app.
Invites sent to the press featured a black background with a ghostly Apple logo morphing into the Finder icon. Check it out.
What will Apple announce during the “Scary Fast” event?
Based on Finder’s inclusion in the above animation, it’s safe to assume we’ll see new Mac hardware next week. But which new Macs?
An update to the iMac lineup has been expected for a while now and most of those who are connected to Apple assume that we’ll see new 24-inch iMacs debut at this event. And there’s already a bit of proof backing up this assertion that has been floating around since before the iPhone event.
In the weeks leading up to that event, a photo of braided, color-matched USB-C cables were leaked on social media. The assumption then was that those cables would be for the new iPhones. But, as Sebastiaan de With points out on Threads, now that we know the new iPhones shipped with white braided cables, it’s very likely that the cables are instead for these new iMacs.
But another potential clue is in the name of the event itself: “Scary Fast”. Though some have predicted that we could see the first Macs with an M3 processor unveiled at this event, as John Gruber points out, it would be odd for 1) that first Mac to be an iMac and 2) a Mac with an M3 processor to release before the upcoming Vision Pro headset, which is powered by an M2.
For those reasons, I lean toward Gruber’s prediction for what we’ll see at the event: we’ll get new, 24″ M2 iMacs alongside “Scary Fast” iMac Pros equipped with an the M2 Pro and/or M2 Max chips currently in the 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros. Gruber also posits that these new iMac Pros might have 27″ screens, another rumor that has been making the rounds as of late.
So, there you have it. Be sure to check out the “Scary Fast” event next Monday evening and stay tuned here to Rocket Yard for coverage and reactions!
