It’s not clear yet what this is for, but Apple is having an invite-only event not at Apple Park, but instead a joint event in New York City, London, and Shanghai on March 4. It might be time for all those M5 MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone 17e rumors to come true.
We’re curious what this is about. Apple doesn’t typically have big product releases in New York City, let alone also in London and Shanghai simultaneously. They want to show something off, that’s for sure.
That said, it may not necessarily be a major announcement. There is no sign of any streaming activity for the event, which reduces the chances of it being a big hardware release.
As usual for an Apple Event announcement of any kind, the name and logo provide minimal clues for what Apple will actually unveil, and it’s not clear what this is for. Whatever it does launch, you can expect the release dates to be within the weeks after the event itself.
Top Mac candidates
While speculation about the launches will now go into overdrive until the event itself, there are a few products that are coming soon.
One obvious category is M5, as Apple updated the iPad Pro, Apple Vision Pro, and 14-inch MacBook Pro to the Apple Silicon chip in October 2025. That leaves a lot of products that should get upgrades, or even receive the next chips in the range, the M5 Pro and M5 Max.
If true, that would make the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max prime candidates for launch.
At the same time, Apple could bring out versions of the MacBook Air with M5. The M4 versions came out in March 2025, which would put an early update at just shy of an annual upgrade cycle.
One product that has become more prominent in recent rumors is the MacBook with an A18 Pro iPhone chip instead of an M-series version. Rumors for the model say it could ship in a multitude of colors and have a price in the ballpark of $699 to $750.
It too has an expected launch sometime in March. It’s entirely plausible to make an appearance early in the month alongside other Macs, but it is probably significant enough to warrant a proper launch event.
iPad possibilities
With its last update in March 2025, the iPad Air lineup could gain a revision, stepping up its chip from the M3 to the M4. The base iPad, last updated the same month, may get a similar upgrade from its A16 chip to the A17.
The iPad mini is also a possible upgrade candidate here. The last update was in October 2024 to the A17 Pro, making it more than a year since its last refresh.
This time around, there are claims of the iPad mini gaining an A20 Pro chip, rather than the A19 Pro, as well as a shift to an OLED display.
A very early iPhone launch
One other potential introduction is the iPhone 17e, which has been rumored to launch in February in what appears to be an annual upgrade cycle. This was deemed to be happening “imminently” in early February, though a March launch could be just as likely to happen.
This time around, it is thought to have a 6.1-inch 60Hz OLED always-on display as well as an upgrade to the Dynamic Island instead of the older notch design.
Doubtful inclusions
One group of products that probably won’t make an appearance are the desktop Mac lines, which have also missed out on upgrades so far. The iMac got M4 in November 2024, with the Mac mini gaining M4 and M4 Pro at the same time.
It is thought that the desktop releases will arrive after the MacBook versions. This means it probably won’t happen during such an early event, but later on in early 2026.
There’s also the questionable matter of the Mac Studio, which was last updated in March 2025 with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra. An update is expected eventually, but probably not with an M4 Ultra.
The same source of release scheduling for the Mac mini also pointed to a later Mac Studio update. It’s a possibility, but is more likely to arrive later on in the first half of the year than near the start of it.
As for the Mac Pro, the situation is looking grim. A formerly coveted premium option, it seems doubtful that a new version will arrive at all in the Mac generation, with the Mac Studio now considered the office workhorse.