Report: Apple to unveil new iPhones and iPads on March 8

Once again, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman published a forward-looking report. This time, Bloomberg sources shared details of Apple’s upcoming spring event.

The report claims that this year Apple will hold the event on March 8, which is a little earlier than usual. The report named four major announcements expected at the event. Unlike some of Gurman’s recent newsletters, he quotes sources familiar with Apple’s plans, giving the report some credibility.

Among other things, this suggests that the classic iPhone home button is still here. The current iPhone SE uses a home button-based design similar to the 2017 iPhone 8. The report does not look at how Apple can deal with the increased battery drain associated with 5G in this design, which has a significantly smaller battery to date. standards.

This is not the only existing rumor that the report claims is confirmed. The next thing the iPad Air will get is an update. As expected, the Air will have a faster processor, but like the iPhone SE, it will also get 5G capabilities. The report didn’t say anything about the design of the new iPad Air, but the tablet went through a major design change recently, so we expect the device to be similar to its predecessor.

Sources also claim that Apple plans to introduce the new Apple Silicon Mac as early as March, although the report does not guarantee the product will appear at the event.

Other reports were circulated that claimed that Apple needed more time to redesign the high-end display-focused iMac. So our best guess for a new Mac at the March event would be a new high-end Mac mini with the M1 Pro or M1 Max chips seen in the latest MacBook Pros. Currently, only the budget Mac mini has Apple-designed silicon, and that device has the M1. High-end Mac mini models still run on Intel, but haven’t been updated for a long time.

Finally, the first half of March will also bring us the release of iOS 15.4, according to the report. iOS 15.3 didn’t introduce any major new features, but from what we’ve seen in recent betas, iOS 15.4 looks set to do more. Specifically, this will allow users to authenticate with Face ID while wearing face masks, and will also introduce the long-awaited universal control feature that was originally planned for the initial release of iOS 15 last year.

As always, Apple’s plans are subject to change. The company usually sets up event dates by emailing invitations to the press and influencers about a week before the event.