Apple Has ‘One More Thing’ to Unveil on November 10th

With November barely upon us, Apple has wasted no time in announcing its next major product release event, which will be held earlier than many had anticipated, taking place next Tuesday, November 10th, at 10:00 a.m. PT.

Apple has tagged this event ‘One More Thing’ to borrow from the famous Steve Jobs line, first used to introduce the Apple AirPort back in 1999, and while it was used for many years by Jobs himself, the phrase went into retirement in 2017 after Tim Cook rather appropriately used it to debut the revolutionary iPhone X.

However, considering that Apple is actually hosting no less than three Apple events within a two-month timespan, combined with the likelihood that this one will herald the debut of Apple’s first-ever Apple Silicon MacBooks, it seems like there’s no more appropriate time than now to reintroduce the famous Jobs catchphrase.

After all, in the same way that the iPhone X defined a whole new generation of iPhones, the new Apple Silicon Macs are the beginning of an entirely new and exciting era of MacBooks, and Steve Jobs also famously used the “One More Thing” segue at Macworld 2006 to introduce Apple’s first Intel-based MacBooks, so the title for the event is no doubt an homage to the fact that Apple is on its next major turn around the infinite loop.

Apple’s One More Things event joins the Time Flies event that was held back in September to unveil the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, new iPad Air, 8th-gen iPad, and Apple One and Apple Fitness+ services, as well as of course the Hi, Speed event from October that unveiled Apple’s flagship 5G-capable iPhone 12 lineup along with the HomePod mini (which actually came at the beginning of the presentation, so as not to be mistaken for a “one more thing”).

What’s Coming

This event will almost certainly include Apple’s first ARM-based Apple Silicon MacBooks, which are expected to use a variation on the A14 chip that Apple has added to its iPhone 12 lineup and its new iPad Air — quite likely the same A14X that will be included in the next-generation iPad Pro.

In fact, this has led to some speculation that Apple could use this event to unveil a new iPad Pro as well, and while that’s certainly not outside of the realm of possibility, most reports suggest that it doesn’t have the new lineup entirely ready yet due to delays in getting the new mini-LED display technology in place; while there’s been a possibility that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro could make a debut by the end of the year, it’s unlikely Apple would release them separately, and besides, we suspect Apple will want to keep the spotlights on the Apple Silicon in the new MacBooks and not dilute it by sharing the stage with a new iPad Pro, since Apple Silicon in iPads is old news.

As for which Macs will be getting the Apple Silicon treatment first, every report we’ve seen points to the 13-inch MacBooks, likely including both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro families. The first Apple Silicon 16-inch MacBook, on the other hand, won’t be ready until sometime next year, likely due to higher-end GPU requirements, and in fact there’s a good chance that one more Intel-based MacBook is still coming, although our guess is that it will be slipped out via press release rather than debuted at the event, since it’s unlikely Apple wants to dilute what it’s accomplished with Apple Silicon by inviting an Intel chip to the party.

While reports on the 13-inch MacBook family are fairly solid — and make a lot of sense considering that these are the easiest Macs to transition, and Apple’s most popular models. There’s also been a report that Apple could resurrect the 12-inch MacBook to give it an A14X chip as well.

It’s unclear whether this might just be a smaller version of the MacBook Air or an entirely different product in its own right, although the 12-inch MacBook was one of Apple’s most ironic products ever when you consider that the original MacBook Air was given the “Air” name because it was ultra-thin and ultra-light; in fact, pulling the original MacBook Air out of a manila envelope to demonstrate that fact was one of Steve Jobs’ more famous announcements.

Since then, however, the “Air” designation has clearly moved into the mid-range of Apple products. This was hinted at with the original 12-inch MacBook in 2015, although that product always remained in a slightly odd place in Apple’s MacBook lineup, but it became much more obvious last year when Apple reintroduced the iPad Air brand as the mid-range iPad model.

So a similar MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro family isn’t entirely out of the question, and if Apple can pack an A14X into an iPad Pro, it came most certainly make it sing in an ultra-slim 12-inch MacBook.

What Else Could Be Coming

While there’s no doubt at all that this event will be dominated by Mac-related announcements, there have also been rumours that Apple could use this opportunity to announce some of the other products we’ve been hearing about — most notably either AirTags or AirPods Studio.

Until recently, there was strong evidence to suggest that both of these products could have debuted this month — and in fact we were expecting them to have shown by now up at one of the previous events — recent reports have revealed that Apple has run into some snags with the AirPods Studio which will delay their availability, although it doesn’t necessarily rule out Apple announcing them.

Meanwhile, Apple’s AirTags seem to be much more on track, and although some rumours said they weren’t coming until next year, they’re reportedly already in production, and Apple is supposedly just waiting for the right time to unveil them.

While products like these might seem odd at a Mac event, it wouldn’t be unprecedented, and in fact, one could argue that the HomePod mini was out of place at Apple’s iPhone 12 launch last month, or even that announcing the Apple Watch and the new iPads together made for an odd combination. While each of Apple’s events clearly have a driving theme this year, it’s also clear the company will still use them to announce other products if they’re ready.