[imagesource:apple]

Apple’s upcoming event promises to be thrilling and strikingly different.

The special event has been announced to take place on October 30, and the company has sent out invites already.

But unlike press invites for WWDC or the September iPhone event, this one’s an invite to “watch a special Apple Event online. Tune in at apple.com”. In other words, it’s open to everyone, not just the press.

The events have come with pre-recorded press releases before, but this time, there is a time to pitch up and watch live. The other interesting thing to note is that the event is at an unprecedented time, Forbes notes.

Apple has chosen an evening timing, 5 p.m. Pacific, which is 8 p.m. Eastern. In the U.K., by the way, this means midnight, as British Summer Time will have ended, and Greenwich Mean Time will be back in force.

That’s an ungodly hour for us in South Africa – 2AM – but do what you can.

The event is usually held at 10AM local, wherever the event is being held, so there must be something significant about it being held at night this time.

To further add to the Halloween theme of it all – the event is held before or on Halloween (in the UK and SA it’ll actually be held on Halloween, thanks to that time difference) – the tagline is also a little spooky:

Image: Apple

This seems to tease the speed of a new device.

Which device? Probably the new Apple Mac, which has already been revealed as the topic of the keynote – another rarity. On the Apple events page, the Apple logo confirming the event shows the Apple logo that animates into a cute version of the Apple Mac Finder window. It’s a cooler version of this:

Get ready for a thrilling evening. Tune in for a special nighttime #AppleEvent on October 30 at 5 p.m. PT.

— Apple (@Apple) October 24, 2023

Many are surprised by this as they thought that no further devices would be announced this year, or at most, nothing groundbreaking. In fact, respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had previously said there would not be more Apple stuff in 2023, but has now made a U-turn:

I believe M3 series MacBook Pro will be Oct 30th media event’s focus. I previously predicted a launch this year is unlikely due to limited 4Q23 shipments (less than 400-500k units in total). If new MBPs launch in Nov-Dec, tight supply will last into 1Q24 unless demand weakens. pic.twitter.com/R6tVIYyQop

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 24, 2023

So it could be about M3 processor chips, and if so, Apple will say that M3 will indeed be scary fast.

If Kuo is right, I’d anticipate the new MacBook Pro to be in the shops around Friday, November 10.

Well, you can tune into the event to hear it for yourself. And don’t forget, if that speedy new Mac is something that is promised, Digicape, South Africa’s largest independent Apple retailer, is the first port of call for us Saffas wanting to get our hands on the latest tech.

[source:forbes]