We now have confirmation that Apple is hosting another product launch on October 28, and with it should come the official reveal of the touchscreen MacBook Ultra and the iPad mini 8. The question is, when will those products actually go on sale? The MacBook might hit the Apple Store as soon as November 6.
That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, during the latest episode of the Power On podcast. According to Gurman, Apple Stores are scheduled for a "big floor reset" overnight between November 5 and November 6. Gurman believes this is being done to prepare Apple's retail locations for the unannounced MacBooks.
The release date makes total sense, given what we know about how Apple tends to release new products. November 6 is just nine days after the October 28 event — and a Friday. Apple loves to release new products on a Friday, and that usually happens the week following a big launch event. Pre-orders will likely open following the event, or on Friday October 30.
It's likely that this big retail switch will also be to aid the release of the iPad mini 8 and M6 upgrades for the iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro. They are all expected to appear at the October 28 event, and will presumably go on sale shortly afterwards.
Not an M6 chip in sight
Gurman also reiterated claims that the touchscreen MacBook may not come with an M6 chip. He claims that Apple is "pretty much done" with the M6, which only debuted last month, and will not be developing any M6 Pro, M6 Max or M6 Ultra chips.
This reiterates past rumors that Apple would launch the touchscreen MacBook with M5 Pro, M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips.
That should offer significantly better performance power than the standard M6 chip, which wouldn't be fitting for a premium device that may, or may not, bear the "Ultra" name. Further chip upgrades won't be happening until the release of the M7 series, which Gurman expects to happen "at the end of next year."
As for why Apple is skipping the high-end M6 chips, rumors suggest it's because it wants Apple Silicon to pivot more towards AI and better graphics performance Presumably, by scrapping the M6 variants, Apple can pour extra effort and resources into developing the M7 chips sooner than it otherwise would have.
This means those of you that want to prioritize performance and on-device AI processing may want to hold off on picking up the touchscreen MacBook until the launch of the M7. Though whether they will come to the MacBook Ultra this time next year, or much later than that, isn't clear right now — so a delay is a risk you may have to take.
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