Update: Apple has now announced its October event for Monday, October 18.
Apple is rumored to be hosting an event this month to unveil new MacBook Pro models, a redesigned Mac mini, and third-generation AirPods. While the date of Apple's rumored October event has not yet been confirmed, its timing has started to be narrowed down, giving us a hint at when we could see the event take place.
Apple held an event on Tuesday, September 14 where it announced the iPhone 13 lineup, the Apple Watch Series 7, sixth-generation iPad mini, and ninth-generation iPad. Last year, Apple held three events in the fall, coming in September, October, and November. Its first-ever November event introduced the first three Macs with the M1 chip.
This fall, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has suggested that Apple will hold two events, with the second focused on the Mac. An October Apple event in 2021 would also be in line with previous years, since the company has held an event in October in seven of the past ten years:
- Tuesday, October 4, 2011
- Tuesday, October 23, 2012
- Tuesday, October 22, 2013
- Thursday, October 16, 2014
- Thursday, October 27, 2016
- Tuesday, October 30, 2018
- Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Apple typically holds its events on Tuesdays, with invites being sent out to the media one week earlier. It was initially thought that the timing of the company's annual Back to School promotion may have hinted that the event could take place on Tuesday, October 12, but with no invites sent out yet, an event on October 12 can now be ruled out. This means that there are now only two feasible options for an event this month:
Tuesday, October 5Tuesday, October 12- Tuesday, October 19
- Tuesday, October 26
For an event on October 19 or October 26, we could see invites being sent out on Tuesday, October 12 or Tuesday, October 19, respectively. Google has, however, announced that it is holding its next Pixel event on October 19, and while Apple could choose to go head-to-head with Google's event, Apple seems to prefer dates closer to the end of the month anyway, so October 26 is probably the more likely date at this point. November remains a possibility, of course, but based on past events, it's looking like late October is when we'll see Apple's final products launching in 2021.
We will update this article as soon as we know more about when Apple's October event is set to take place.
For detailed information about what we could feasibly see announced at the October event, see our helpful breakdown.
