Following an overnight leak by Siri, Apple today officially announced that it will be holding a special "Spring Loaded" event on Tuesday, April 20 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
As with all of Apple's 2020 events, the April 2021 event will be a digital-only gathering with no members of the media invited to attend in person due to the ongoing public health crisis.
Apple's April event will see Apple showing off the first new products of 2021, and there's quite a lot on the horizon. Updated iPad Pro models, a new low-cost iPad, a new iPad mini, refreshed iMacs, and the long-awaited AirTags are all products that Apple could potentially introduce.
Given that we're waiting on so many iPad refreshes, iPads could be the focus of the April event. Apple is rumored to be working on a new high-end 12.9-inch iPad Pro that will feature a mini-LED display and a 5G chip, and there's an 11-inch model coming too. These iPads are expected to feature Thunderbolt connectivity, camera improvements, and a new A14X chip that's as fast as the M1 chip in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
A sketchy rumor said Apple will debut an "iPad mini Pro" with an 8.7-inch full-screen display and no Touch ID Home button. There have also been rumors of an iPad mini with a mini-LED display, but it's not clear just what iPad mini upgrades we'll get, as recent dummy model photos have suggested there could be few obvious differences from the current model. We could also see a new low-cost iPad with a 10.2-inch display and a thinner build that's similar to the now-discontinued iPad Air 3.
As for the AirPods 3, Apple is working on a new version that looks similar to the AirPods Pro with silicone ear tips and shorter stems, but without the high-end Active Noise Cancellation functionality. There were rumors that AirPods 3 would be coming at the spring event, but we're no longer expecting them until the fall.
Apple is designing a revamped iMac with a new design that features thinner bezels that are similar to the bezels on the Pro Display XDR, plus it will have an Apple silicon chip and an Apple-designed GPU, making it a highly-anticipated machine. We don't know when new iMacs are coming, but an April event is a possibility.
We're still waiting on AirTags, which are Apple's Tile-like Bluetooth tracking tags that will be able to be attached to any item, allowing that item to be tracked right in the Find My app alongside Apple devices. Apple just last week expanded its Find My network to include third-party devices such as an upcoming item tracker from Chipolo, so next week's event could finally see the AirTags unveiled as Apple's similar product offering.
There's also a sixth-generation Apple TV in the works with an upgraded processor and a new Apple TV remote with Find My integration, but it's not clear if the Apple TV will be coming at the April event.
Apple plans to stream the event live on its website and in the Apple TV app when it kicks off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 20. For those unable to watch, MacRumors will be providing full event coverage both on MacRumors.com and through the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.
