Apple event live blog and news hub: M3 chip and new Macs

Apple’s unexpected “Scary fast” special event has arrived. The spooky, Halloween eve event will include the launch of a new iMac, new MacBook Pro models, and more. Plus, will Tim Cook give us his first ever “Good evening!” greeting?

Head below for our full coverage of the Apple event.

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How to watch the Apple event

Today’s Apple event is completely virtual. While Apple is holding watch parties in certain cities, there is no in-person component at Steve Jobs Theater. Instead, everyone can tune in to watch the live stream via the sources below:

• Apple’s website
• On YouTube
• Via the TV app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV

The “Scary fast” Apple event will kick off at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET. It’s expected to be a shorter event, clocking in at under an hour long.

Last-minute ‘Scary fast’ rumors

During this evening’s Apple event, the company is expected to unveil its next-generation Mac hardware. This will include the launch of the M3 chip. The M3 will be based on a new 3nm fabrication process and offer significant performance and efficiency gains, particularly when it comes to graphics performance.

What Macs will be announced alongside the M3 processors? The rumors say Apple is prepped to unveil a new 24-inch iMac as well as updated versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. This will mark the first update to the 24-inch iMac in over two years.

Another possibility? USB-C versions of Mac accessories including the Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse.

There have been last-minute rumors claiming that new iPads could be announced, based on regulatory sources. More reliable sources such as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, however, have said that new iPads won’t be announced until spring 2024.

• What to expect from Apple’s unexpected ‘Scary Fast’ evening event tonight
• Apple sends out gift boxes with AirPods Max and snacks to promote M3 Mac event
• Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ Mac event includes in-person watch parties in select cities
• Apple homepage counts down to this evening’s M3 Mac event

Apple event news hub and live blog

• Now we’re back to Tim, who is wrapping things up for the event and the entire year. “This has been a remarkable year,” he says. “Thank you all for joining us. Have a great night.”

• iMac starts at $1299, available to order today and shipping next week.
• Now we’re moving on to the 24-inch iMac, which is being updated with M3.

• M3 and M3 Pro models available to pre-order today and arriving next week, M3 Max later in November
• The M3 MacBook Pro starts at $1599, the 14-inch M3 Pro starts at $1999, and the 16-inch M3 Pro starts at $2499.
• Apple announces new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro: M3 chip, Space Black
• Now we’re recapping the new features in macOS Sonoma, including Game Mode and high performance screen sharing.

• The new MacBook Pros are available in a brand new Space Black color. It…still kinda just looks like space gray?
• SDR content on the new MacBook Pros now displays at 600 nits, which is 20% higher than before.
• Up to 11x faster than the most powerful Intel-powered Macs. This is cool but when are we going to move on from the Intel comparisons?

• Up to 22 hours of battery life for the new MacBook Pros, unchanged from the M2 machines.
• As expected, there are also new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. The M3 Max configurations also support up to 128GB of unified memory for the first time.
• Many of Apple’s comparisons focus on how the M3 compares to the M1 rather than direct comparisons to the M2 chips.

• The 14-inch MacBook Pro is now available with an M3 chip. Currently, the 14-inch is only available with the M2 Pro and M2 Max.
• What about the new Macs that will use the M3 chips? We’re starting with the 14-inch MacBook Pro.

• M3: 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, M3 Pro: 12-core CPU and 18-core GPU, M3 Max: 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU.

• Apple officially unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max: 3 nanometer, Dynamic Caching GPU, more
• Johny Srouji welcomes us to his chip lab and introduces the new M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips…the first personal computer chips built on a 3nm process.
• Tim confirms that we’re celebrating something we all love: the Mac.
• Tim Cook: “Good evening!”
• Ok that drone intro was absolutely slick.

• Honestly feel like we could do without these hype videos for an event that’s at night…
• We’re kicking things off with an intro video showcasing how different people use their Macs, as if there was any doubt this was gonna be a Mac-focused event.
• I just made myself another cup of coffee, and I’m ready to go.
• I see a lot of people saying that Apple has never hyped an event this much before … but I’m not sure I agree with that. Other than the different time, all of this feels pretty normal to me.
• Apple invited members of the press and influencers to New York City to watch today’s keynote:

• And now the actual Apple Store website is down, 30 minutes before the event is set to begin.
• If you’re wondering why Apple takes the sitemaps offline before an event, it’s because we leaked a whole bunch of stuff via sitemap changes back in 2018 ;)

• The main Apple Store webpages are up, but the sitemaps are offline with a “Be right back” message.
• On Twitter, @aaronp613 reports that Apple has also resubmitted the battery for the M1 MacBook Air to regulatory databases. This could imply some sort of update for that machine as well.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken to Twitter to tease tonight’s Apple event: “We’ve got something special for tonight. No tricks, just treats.”
• We’re around two and a half hours from showtime. What are you most looking forward to seeing? What do you think of this new late-night event timing?

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