It was rumored earlier this month that Apple would be holding this year’s iPad event on October 22. Like most Apple rumors these days, it was right on the money.
TechCrunch reports that Apple began sending out press invites today for an event scheduled for October 22. The invite doesn’t make mention of iPad or any other hardware from Apple as it simply states, “We still have a lot to cover.”
Despite the ambiguous invitation, we all have a pretty good idea of what Apple is going to show at its October 22 event. In short, everything it didn’t show at its iPhone event in September. That means we’ll see the new iPad, maybe a new iPad Mini, a new line of MacBook Pros, more information on the Mac Pro and the new Mac OS X Mavericks.
Starting with the new iPad, recent rumors have suggested that Apple won’t be doing anything too drastic with the design this year. The company will simply reduce the size of the side bezels to bring the big iPad’s design in line with the iPad Mini’s. It’s also rumored that the new iPad will sport the new 64-bit processor that was first seen in the iPhone 5S.
As for the iPad Mini, it’s been reported that Apple is pushing for a retina display in the device to match the HD displays found in Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX. Along with the increased resolution, the 7-inch tablet is expected to use a 64-bit processor as well. Another rumor, however, suggests that this iPad Mini will be delayed and Apple will release a minor upgrade this year as it works on improving yields for the retina display iPad.
Beyond the new iPads, we don’t know a lot about Apple’s other plans. We can make some educated guesses though. For instance, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll see some new Haswell-equipped MacBook Pros, and we’re likely to find out a release date for the Mac Pro. We’re also likely to hear when Mac OS X Mavericks will be made available to consumers.
Beyond the above, it’s anybody’s ballgame. Apple could have a surprise for us, but it’s doubtful. Any big product announcement, like the oft-rumored Apple television, would receive its own separate event. On October 22, you should just expect to see updates to all the existing Apple hardware that’s not an iPhone.
[Image: TechCrunch]