Next week, Apple will be holding its ‘There’s More in the Making’ event on October 30th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Howard Gilman Opera House where it is expected to unveil its 2018 iPad Pro lineup alongside a refreshed new MacBook.

With Apple already unveiling its 2018 iPhone lineup in September, the October 30th event from Apple is going to be all about its iPad and MacBook lineup. The MacBook Pro lineup is not going to be refreshed at the event since Apple has already updated it earlier this year with Intel’s Coffee Lake chips and faster internals.

Thanks to leaks and various analysts reports, we already know what to expect from Apple’s ‘There’s More in the Making’ event later this month Below is a quick roundup of what Apple is expected to unveil at the event.

What to Expect from Apple’s ‘There’s More in the Making’ Event

2018 iPad Pro

The highlight of Apple’s October 30th event is going to be its 2018 iPad Pro lineup. Similar to what Apple did with the iPhone X last year and the Apple Watch Series 4 this year, the 2018 iPad Pro lineup is going to get a radical upgrade. Both — the 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch — iPad Pro variants will feature slimmer bezels that will make them more compact in nature. The smaller 10.5-inch iPad Pro will see a slight bump in its display size to around 11-inches as well.

The smaller bezels will also translate into Apple ditching the Home button/Touch ID on its iPad Pro lineup for good. Instead, just like the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, the 2018 iPad Pro lineup will feature Face ID. Apple will upgrade its facial recognition technology to work in landscape mode as well since most consumers use their iPad in landscape orientation.

The TrueDepth camera system at the front means the 2018 iPad Pro will support Animoji and Memoji — features which are only present on the iPhone X and up.

What’s surprising is that multiple reports and rumors point to Apple ditching the Lightning connector on its 2018 iPad Pro lineup and adopting USB-C instead. Even better, thanks to its beefy internals, the iPad Pro would be able to output 4K HDR video to an external monitor over USB-C. This should make the device a portable powerhouse apt for use by professionals for presentation purposes.

Rumors point to both iPad Pro models being 5.9mm slim which would make them thinner than the 6.1mm iPad Air 2. Sadly, Apple will no longer be including a 3.5mm jack on its 2018 iPad Pro lineup. With the switch to USB-C for connectivity, it is unclear as of now if the company will include a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle with the tablet or not.

There are rumors of Apple relocating the Smart Connector as well on its new iPad Pro lineup, with their being another mysterious port on the device whose purpose is unclear as of now.

As for internals, the 2018 iPad Pro lineup will feature a beefed-up version of Apple’s already powerful A12 Bionic chip found inside its 2018 iPhone lineup. Apple is also expected to bundle an 18W USB-C adapter along with a USB-A to USB-C cable with the new iPads for faster charging times. Right now, it bundles a measly 5W power adapter with its iPads which takes at least 4 hours to charge an iPad Pro from 0-100 percent.

MacBook

Apart from its refreshed 2018 iPad Pro lineup, Apple is also expected to unveil a new low-cost MacBook lineup. Rumors claim that this new MacBook lineup will replace the aging MacBook Air lineup. The new MacBooks will come with a higher resolution display but make use of Intel’s older Kaby Lake processors to keep its price down. As per rumors, the new MacBook will be priced from anywhere between $999 to $1,200.

There’s not much else known about this low-cost MacBook but given that these will be Apple’s ‘budget’ offerings, they are not expected to come with a radical new design or sport other features like TouchBar or Touch ID.

Given that there’s still a market for the MacBook Air despite its old internals, the new MacBook lineup should do particularly well this holiday season.

Mac Mini? iMac?

Apple has not refreshed its Mac mini lineup in almost four years now. Its iMac lineup was also last updated almost 1.5 years ago. While Apple has launched the iMac Pro to cater to needs of professionals, there’s no denying the fact that there’s still a market for not only the iMac Pro but also the Mac mini. After all, the Mac mini was extremely popular as an HTPC due to its compact size.

Well, reputed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo does believe that Apple will be refreshing its Mac mini lineup with faster internals this year. The device is not going to get any redesign whatsoever, with the changes limited to faster and more modern internals. Nonetheless, this should also be good enough for most users as the Mac mini in its current iteration is awfully outdated and of no use.

The iMac lineup is also expected to see an internal refresh to Intel’s Coffee Lake processors which pack more grunt along with faster storage and more RAM.

AirPods 2? AirPower?

Apple was widely expected to finally put the AirPower on sale after its September iPhone event. However, post the event, the company removed all references of the wireless charger from its website. Given the engineering difficulties that Apple is reportedly facing with the AirPower, it does seem unlikely that we will see the company unveil AirPower at its October 30th event.

There were rumors of Apple launching the AirPods 2 this year. The refreshed wireless earbuds are rumored to come with better wireless connectivity, splash-resistance, and a wireless charging case. However, given the lack of any concrete leaks confirming their existence, it does seem unlikely that we will see AirPods 2 being unveiled next week.

What are your expectations from Apple’s ‘There’s More in the Making’ next week? Are you still holding out for a possible AirPower release? Or are you more interested in the new low-cost MacBook? Drop a comment and let us know!