Apple is reportedly sending select journalists invitations to a product launch event that will be held on October 28. The company has yet to make an official announcement of the event, though.
Still, what’s on the agenda already leaked out. The highlight will be the first touchscreen MacBook, but two M6-powered Macs are also expected, as is an OLED iPad mini.
Apple’s busy Fall carries on with October Mac event
Apple already made a flurry of product announcements in recent weeks, unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max alongside its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo. The company also introduced HomeView, its long-awaited smart home display.
It started the rush off by launching its M6 processor in a revamped Mac mini, alongside a new Mac Studio powered by M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips.
But Apple isn’t done. Leaks and rumors about even more new Macs coming this fall have circulated for months, and their big day is apparently coming soon.
“Apple is now inviting some media to an all-day product launch experience on Oct. 28 in Los Angeles,” Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said Thursday on X.
Touchscreen MacBook Pro could steal the show
Concept image: Cult of Mac/Apple/ChatGPT
The biggest attraction at the event is likely to be a redesigned MacBook Pro with a touchscreen and an OLED display. Beyond Apple finally adding touch support to macOS, the move to OLED should deliver improved contrast and deeper blacks compared with the current MacBook Pro’s mini-LED display. The new notebook is expected to come in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes.
It could feature a lighter design and a Dynamic Island-style display cutout similar to the one used on recent iPhones.
The new premium MacBook Pro is expected to use M5 Pro or M5 Max chips rather than the M6 processors anticipated for other Mac updates.
iMac and MacBook Pro updated with M6 chip
Image: Apple/TSMC/Cult of Mac
Apple’s M6 chip debuted in the recently launched Mac mini, bringing improved CPU performance, enhanced energy efficiency and more powerful on-device AI capabilities. The processor is also expected to go into a new iMac and a base model version of the MacBook Pro at Apple’s October 28 product-launch event.
Don’t look for redesigns of either model. These are apparently “chip-and-ship” updates.
- See also: 2026 iMac rumors: What to expect from Apple’s next all-in-one
- See also: M6 MacBook Pro rumor roundup: Faster chip, familiar design
iPad mini could get an OLED upgrade
Concept: Cult of Mac
The Mac updates might not be the only hardware news at the October 28 event. Apple is also expected to introduce a new iPad mini with an OLED display, apparently bringing the gorgeous screen tech to its smallest tablet for the first time.
Other rumored changes include moving the front-facing camera to the landscape edge for more natural video calls and redesigning the speaker system.
Apple may skip a traditional keynote on Oct. 28
As noted, Apple has not publicly announced an October 28 product launch event nor confirmed the products expected to appear at the Los Angeles gathering. But don’t assume there’ll be a big glitzy presentation for all the world to watch.
Instead, the company may unveil its new devices through online videos and press releases, with journalists and influencers invited to the in-person event getting time to try them out.
That approach would follow Apple’s recent use of smaller product experiences rather than relying on large, livestreamed presentations. It’s exactly how HomeView was announced earlier this week, for example.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
