When to Expect Apple's Next Event: 16-Inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro Refresh, and More?

With last month's iPhone 11 and Apple Watch Series 5 event in the rearview mirror, and several more products in the rumor mill, it is fun to look ahead and speculate about if and when Apple might host an October event this year.


Apple has several rumored products in its pipeline, including a 16-inch MacBook Pro with a scissor keyboard and an all-new design, refreshed iPad Pro models that will possibly sport triple-lens rear camera systems, a refreshed Apple TV, and just maybe the so-called Apple Tags items trackers if they are ready.

Apple has also yet to reveal a release date for its redesigned Mac Pro, having only teased that it is "coming this fall."

To be clear, there is no guarantee that Apple will host another event this month, but there is certainly a chance given that Apple has done so in five of the past seven years. All of those October events focused on the Mac, iPad, or both, and all took place within the second half of the month.

Last year, for example, Apple hosted an event on Tuesday, October 30 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and it wouldn't be a stretch of imagination to think that an October event this year could take place around the same time.


Apple analyst Neil Cybart shared an interesting observation on Twitter today, noting that Apple has reported its quarterly earnings results on a Tuesday for five out of the past six quarters. For the quarter just ended, however, Apple will report its earnings on Wednesday, October 30.

Apple is going to report FY4Q19 earnings on October 30th. That's a Wednesday.

Since early 2018, the only other time that Apple earnings didn't fall on a Tuesday, Apple held a product event earlier in the week.

Could be nothing OR could indicate something occurring on Oct 28th.

— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) October 1, 2019

On the same day of Apple's earnings reports, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri join analysts on a conference call to discuss the results.

The above might seem insignificant, but the last time Apple's earnings did not fall on a Tuesday was nearly a year ago, when it shared results on Thursday, November 1. This is likely because on the Tuesday prior, Apple was busy hosting its Brooklyn event, unveiling new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models.

Naturally, this leads to the idea that Apple could be planning to host an event in the final week of October.

Cybart speculates that Monday, October 28 could be the date of the event, presumably given the two-day gap between Apple's event and earnings call last October, but Apple typically holds events on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Tuesday, October 29 is probably a better guess for a potential Apple event this month.

If so, the final week of October could include Apple's event on Tuesday, Apple's earnings on Wednesday, and Apple TV+ launching on Friday.

Of course, Apple could surprise us with invites to an event on a different day of this month and render all of this moot. This is merely speculation for the sake of discussion, and nothing is official until it is official.