What to expect from Apple’s Scary Fast event

Apple’s Scary Fast launch event takes place later today spookily late as Japan wakes up to Halloween morning— so what so we expect? We’ve been keeping tabs on Apple; here’s what we think is coming.

Chinese energy

The biggest evidence so far comes from a Chinese regulatory database for batteries. The news here is that two Apple suppliers recently re-submitted filings for existing Apple products:

• 14-in. MacBook Pro.
• 16-in. MacBook Pro.
• Magic Keyboard for the Mac.
• iPad mini.

The speculation is these battery filings have been updated in preparation for new versions of those products, presumably equipped with new batteries. The filings don’t show an increase in battery capacity, but given Apple is expected to shift to new chips, we may still see battery life increase through the use of more efficient processors.

What Mark Gurman says

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicts the following:

• 24-in. iMac with an M3 chip.
• 14-in. MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Mac chips.
• 16-in. MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Mac chips.
• Apple’s Magic accessories (keyboard, mouse, trackpad) get USB-C ports.
• No new iPads before 2024.

As previously reported, we expect M3 chips to offer up to 12 to 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores and 36GB to 48GB of RAM. In comparison, the M2 Pro offers 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, and 16GB RAM. These processors will continue to place clear blue water between Apple and its competitors.

What Ming-Chi Kuo says

Widely reported Apple watcher, Ming-Chi Kuo also anticipates new Macs equipped with the M3 family of chips (M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max). He has also said Mac sales have declined — though Apple already flagged up a seeming drop in sales because of a previous pandemic-related sales spike. He’s been hot and cold on his event predictions, but does seem to anticipate:

• 14-in. MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Mac chips.
• 16-in. MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Mac chips.
• An M3-equipped iMac.

The analyst also speculates that if Mac sales don’t increase on strength of the M3 introduction, Apple might introduce a new MacBook Pro design in 2025 and suggests the company could also introduce a “more affordable MacBook model.”

Elsewhere on the Apple web

DigiTimes has previously speculated the new MacBook Pros could gain more power-efficient miniLED displays, which should make for better performance and battery life. We’re anticipating Wi-Fi 6E support across all the new Macs, along with Bluetooth 5.3 and an increase in maximum supported RAM.

Why is Apple rushing to M3?

There are some caveats to the speculation.

For example, Apple last updated its 14- and 16-in. MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Mac chips in January, meaning these models aren’t yet one year old. It is, of course, not unusual for the company to update a Mac twice in one year, and the decision to expedite introduction might reflect…

1. The company’s desire to increase Mac sales in a difficult environment, or
2. A move to pull Macs even further ahead of the competition to benefit from the incoming Windows upgrade season, as Windows 10 support is phased out.

If the latter, it is worth noting that on a global basis, StatCounter data shows Windows share of computers has declined from 75% in 2022 to 68% today. During that time, Mac share increased to 20.15%, up from 14.86%.

That leaves plenty of headroom for Mac growth, so Apple management will certainly wish to maintain that direction of travel. These increasingly powerful M3 Mac systems should help achieve that, particularly in light of the many TCO, productivity, engagement, and employee satisfaction stats coming out of major enterprises who have already migrated to the platform.

What’s the one more thing?

At time of writing the one more thing appears to be games. More specifically whispers Apple has reached some kind of link with one or more major Japanese games publishers. Apple introduced a new Game mode for Macs at WWDC. In that mode, the Mac will shift system resources to optimize gaming. Apple also introduced lower latency for third-party games controllers and a new game porting toolkit to make it easier to port Windows games to Macs.

In other words, Apple has put in place a better ecosystem to support games. In addition, Resident Evil Village is expected to make its debut on Macs (via the App Store) soon, and the spooky Mac Finder icon on the event page seems to echo the “vibe” of that game.

While most enterprise professionals might not be terribly interested in gaming on Macs, with the upcoming introduction of Vision Pro (which will also use Mac chips), it should hint at the quality and realism we can look forward to in AR experiences on that platform. For developers and enterprises alike, it suggests Apple AR will enable cutting edge experiences in both B2B and B2C spaces.

When and where

Apple will broadcast its event online October 30 at 5pm – the latest it has ever held a global event, but guaranteed to hit morning coverage across Asia. You’ll be able to watch it via the company’s own Events page, YouTube, and through the Apple TV app. If you visit the events page, you’ll see an animated Apple logo that morphs into a scary version of the Finder icon.

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