Apple’s busy October – Two events – Taking on the home, plus new devices

As if the regular “September Event” where the iPhone is launched wasn’t enough, it seems clear now that Apple has a lot going on this October with a big device launch, plus two events announcing even more new stuff!!

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman – who I’d consider to be more than 80% spot on with most of his leaks and predictions – there’s a lot to come in October.

iPhone Duo Launch

One thing set in stone is that at the end of this week pre-orders open for Apple’s most expensive phone ever, the iPhone Duo. At $3,499 it’s pricey but that won’t stop thousands from queuing up for it when the doors to Apple Stores fly open on October 23.

Pre-orders will secure the device for many, but we anticipate perhaps the biggest queues for a new iPhone in many years. Not just because showing off your shiny new thing is part of the hype, but because for many handing over that amount of cash won’t happen until they’ve touched and held this all-new Apple form-factor.

It’s going to be a very, very busy week.

A Focus on the home – this week

Before those pre-orders open, we believe Apple will announce a range of smart home and home based devices. Likely this Wednesday Australian time, there’s enough rumours to make us confident about what we’re likely to see this week.

It’s been almost four years since the last update to the Apple TV 4K Box hardware. So it’s well overdue. Expect the update to centre around Siri AI and it’s capabilities to perform better searches, load relevant content and be a controller for all the Apple and Smart-Home devices in your house.

Perhaps even more obvious is the need for an update to Apple’s in-home smart speaker the HomePod. While the bigger HomePod got an update three years ago, the HomePod Mini hasn’t been touched in six years. A more modern processor is going to enable faster interactions and with Siri AI a smarter personal assistant. Expect HomePod Mini in Dark Blue, Green, White, Blue and Pink.

To top it all off will be “HomeView”, or HomeHub – who knows what it will be called, but this one’s been rumoured for a while.

Basically, a HomePod smart speaker with a Screen. Expect it in pretty standard Apple colours, Starlight, Pink, Silver and Space Grey.

Apple has languished behind Google and Amazon in the smart home space, this will be their big step back in. HomeKit has long been the most reliable way to connect smart home devices like lights and cameras to a smart home, but over many years there’s been a reluctance from makers of smart home gadgets to incorporate HomeKit – likely due to approvals required from Apple if not licensing of the HomeKit compatibility badges or the cost of certification at the very least.

Recent moves by the industry to form a centralised shared system – called Matter – has made this the one-stop system and that compatibility among so many devices makes now a great time for Apple to re-emphasise their stance in the smart-home.

There are rumours of some LG devices, but I’d suggest they aren’t a collaboration with Apple, more likely just some devices set to be highlighted for their compatibility to Apple’s smart-home ecosystem.

Expect all this news to drop at Midnight on Wednesday here in Australia.

New iPads and a Touch-Screen MacBook?

Well, if all that wasn’t enough there’s another launch on or close to October 27 (US time). At this stage we don’t know much about this – could most likely just be a bunch of products announced via press-release on that date, but regardless there’s some interesting stuff in the rumours.

Firstly, new OLED based iPad Mini. It’s been two years, so it’s due. As well as more power from a more recent processor, iPad Mini will get a stunning OLED screen – sadly, we expect this to bump up the price of this little gem too.

Plus there’ll be new MacBook Pro models and a new iMac all with refreshed processors and Siri AI capabilities.

But all eyes will be on Apple’s first touch-screen MacBook Pro. Likely in two sizes and a refined overall design, these will be the premium and most expensive MacBooks!

Busy much?

For a month that is normally relatively quite for Apple – this is a big, big month.

Stay tuned to EFTM.com for the details as they land.