Time to play pundit! Here’s what I’m thinking/hoping is coming.
First, though, a brief bit of relevant context. if you head on over to the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide, right about now, you’ll see an awful lot of red dots, like this:
Yikes! I don’t remember a time in the last few years that Apple has had so many products that are, or are at least perceived to be, nearing the end of their life cycle. So what’s going down September 10th? Here’s my forecast:
Locks
• The new iPhone 5S and 5C appear to be pretty much guaranteed at this point, and the rumor mill has the street date for delivery of these new phones as September 20th. As I’m on the every-other-year plan and this is my off year, I’m not directly concerned about this—but I know a lot of people are. I will be very interested to see what the price points are for the 5S and 5C, though.
• iOS 7. Maybe not a for sure deal right on the 10th, but they will at least announce a firm date, and I’d be really surprised if that date was not either the 20th or a bit before then.
Likely
• A firm date for the new Mac Pro, maybe even immediate availability on the 10th. This thing looks amazing—probably carrying an amazing price tag, too—but I’ll bite the bullet and do it, since work owes me a new machine anyway. I think this is highly likely because I don’t see Apple dumping money into those very cool movie theater ads without a payoff soon.
• iTunes Radio. This has been in the rumor mill for quite a while, and my guess is we’ll finally get it, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the actual launch date was held off until the iOS7 launch—though that won’t be long, anyway. This will come with a rev to iTunes to support it, but probably a small rev.
I’m Hoping For…
• There have been some recent rumors that a new iPad (that’d be the iPad 5 if you’re scoring at home, or even if you’re alone) will also be announced. I’m skeptical, as I think this seems more likely to hit closer to Christmas, but if Apple does it, I’ll order one the same day. (I have a 3, which I love, but I’d love it to be thinner and with the Lightning connector. Again, I’m on the every-other-one cycle here.)
• A new Apple TV with 3rd-party developer support. That is, apps on the Apple TV. I don’t see this as very likely (great analysis over at Stratechery), but I’d love to get it. Again, this is something I’d order immediately if it were to come to pass.
Not So Much
• I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see a refresh on the MacBook Pro line, as that’s been a while, but waiting until later in the fall wouldn’t come as a huge surprise as well. I have a non-Retina MBPro that feels perfectly snappy now, so this one doesn’t feel urgent.
• The non-Touch version of the iPod line hasn’t been refreshed in a while, either, but again, I don’t see this happening quite yet. This would go well with a later fall iPad event in preparation for the Christmas season.
• iMacs. The last rev of the iMac line was pretty significant, and I’m thinking Apple will let that one run a bit longer. The usual cycle is about a year on that, and the last hit was November, and I certainly don’t see it coming sooner than that. Furthermore, if I were to bet, I’d bet on it being later—after the new year.
• Mac mini. Apple has been letting the update cycle on these go longer than most of their other product lines. I’d guess late Spring or early Summer for this.
• Max OS X Mavericks. Again, I think not yet. This will be an iOS event.