UPDATE: Here's what Apple unveiled today:
- Apple Gives the iPad Air an M1 Makeover
- 5G Apple iPhone SE With A15 Bionic Arrives on March 18
- Here's Why Apple's iPhone SE Doesn't Have the Fastest 5G
- Apple Mac Studio Is a Pricey Desktop PC for Power Users
Original Story:It's a new year, and the people are hungry for more Apple gadgets. Fear not, Cupertino will not disappoint in that arena. The company is holding a virtual event on March 8. The tagline: Peek performance.
Apple's "special event" kicks off at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET from Apple Park. It will once again be an online-only affair, viewable on Apple.com, via the Apple TV app, and on YouTube (embedded below).
What should we expect? Rumors point to a refreshed iPhone and iPad, as well as upgraded MacBooks. Most reports about Apple's 2022 plans trace back to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a reliable Apple watcher with a good track record of predicting what Apple has up its sleeve.
iPad Air
Last year was all about the new iPad mini and refreshed iPad Pro, so the iPad Air—which was last updated in late 2020—is ripe for an overhaul. That includes the addition of the A15 chip found in the mini and the Pro, Gurman suggests.
He doesn't expect a new iPad Pro in March, but as he notes in his Power On newsletter, Russian regulatory filings tips nine new iPads, which "would be far too many for a new iPad Air, [so] either there’s more than just the Air on tap, or Apple filed its launches for this fall fairly early."
iPhone SE 2022
The March event won't see the launch of the iPhone 14; we'll have to wait until September for that. This month's event will focus on an update to Apple's budget smartphone, the iPhone SE. The 2020 version earned a PCMag Editors' Choice, thanks to a blazing-fast processor, a high-quality body, and solid connectivity for $399. Gurman says in his newsletter that "it’s a shoo-in that you’ll see a new iPhone SE" on March 8.
We have a full iPhone SE rumor roundup, but the main changes we expect to see is the addition of 5G support, a bump up to the A15 processor, and camera improvements. It'll likely retain its smaller form factor and Touch ID button.
5G Support Updates
The 5G version of the new iPad Air and iPhone SE could both offer major steps forward for Apple users on AT&T and the future Dish Mobile—or they might not.
While the new iPad and the iPhone SE will almost certainly support T-Mobile's mid-band 5G and Verizon's new C-band, AT&T is waiting to deploy fast 5G based on even newer 3.45GHz airwaves, and the carrier has said that the Samsung Galaxy S22 is the first phone family to support that. The iPhone SE could therefore become the first iPhone to support the new AT&T system.
Dish Mobile intends to launch in more than 125 cities and towns by June, and it's likely to focus on lower-cost phones. So an iPhone SE that properly supports Dish's network would be a big boon for the new carrier, and for people interested in switching over to it. The first two phones with Dish's special frequencies just revealed themselves last week, so it's not impossible that the iPhone SE could also have Dish support.
If that's the case, the 5G iPad Air and 5G iPhone SE would have better AT&T and Dish coverage and speeds than even the iPad Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max. Apple might hold the new capabilities back for the iPhone 14 cycle just to make sure that doesn't happen.
MacBooks
MacRumors says Apple will introduce a new M2 Apple silicon processor, which will debut in an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro. Of note: the much-maligned Touch Bar will remain, according to MacRumors, though Gurman says it'll be removed just like it was on last year's larger MBPs.
There are also rumored design changes for the slim MacBook Air, including expanded color options like we saw on the iMac.
For more, we have a full MacBook rumor roundup, too.