Apple October 2021 Unleashed event live: new M1X MacBook Pro, AirPods 3 and Pro 2 expected

One of the most persistent rumors surrounding the new MacBooks suggests that Apple may drop the Touch Bar from the 16-inch model. If you’ve not used it, the Touch Bar is a small, thin, display that runs across the top of the keyboard and shows context-sensitive buttons, depending on what app you’re using.

As you can see from the tweet below, these feature was rather divisive. Some people found it useful, while others felt it was a gimmick that simply made the MacBooks it appeared on more expensive.

I’m kind of torn about it. It did have its uses, but not enough to really justify it being there, so if Apple has killed it off, I wouldn’t particularly miss it, especially if it resulted in a cheaper, thinner and lighter MacBook Pro.

Our Editor in Chief, Gareth Beavis, has high hopes for the Apple event:

“Today’s event could be seismic for Apple – the waves the M1 chipset caused were huge in the computing world and instantly placed Apple in the conversation for best internal hardware, so any upgrades here will increase that momentum. And with the holidays and Black Friday approaching, new AirPods will both give those that are desperate for improved sound something to wish for, as well as further reducing the price of the older tech, giving Apple two bites of the… well, you know.”

While there’s a lot of excitement (especially from me) about the potential new MacBooks being shown off today, there’s also been rumors of new AirPods coming as well. 

Here’s what Olivia Tambini, our Audio Editor, thinks we could see today:

“We get our hopes up for an AirPods 3 launch whenever a new Apple event is announced – and so far, we’ve been disappointed every single time. Something feels different about today’s event, though – supply chain sources have even confirmed that the AirPods 3 will be unveiled today, according to industry analyst Dan Ives. We’re going into today’s event fully expecting to see the new earbuds, and we can’t wait to see how Apple has upgraded the AirPods for 2021. As for the AirPods Pro 2? We don’t think it’s super likely, but never say never…”

Here’s what you’ll be faced with if you try to go to the Apple online store. I’m not sure how much of this is essential maintenance, and how much is just drumming up hype. After all, most companies can add new devices to their stores without having to take the whole thing down.

Still, it does help add to the overall hype of an Apple event…

It looks as though the online Apple Store has been taken down ahead of todays event. If this is your first rodeo, don’t panic! Downtime is normal on the day of an Apple event, typically done by Apple itself rather than it crashing for nefarious reasons.

You can still get onto the site, but you’ll be directed to a holding screen that says: “We’ll be right back. Updates are coming to the Apple Store. Check back soon” if you try clicking on any of the available buying links. 

It’ll come back online likely in sections as products are announced during the event, or after the event has concluded. If you’re desperate to get your hands on some new AirPods 3 or a beefy MacBook Pro 16-inch then warm up your fingers to practice speedily adding to the basket – given the current global chip shortage, there’s no way to know if stock will be plentiful to avoid disappointing potential customers in the run-up to the Holiday season.

Even though there are only a few hours until the event starts, we’re still getting plenty of rumors and leaks. The latest batch suggest the new MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch laptops could come with seriously thin displays which could mean that come with an iPhone-style notch for the webcam.

That would mean these new MacBooks could be coming with quite a radical redesign, which is certainly a good thing. Apple has kepts its MacBook designs pretty similar for several years now, so we’d love a big redesign like the iMac 24-inch got earlier this year.

However, having a notch for the webcam may not be to everyone’s liking. I’m not entirely convinced about this rumor, but a few sources have now mentioned it. At least we won’t have long to wait to find out…

Hello everyone! We’ve got another Apple event to look forward to today. We’ll bring you all the latest news as it happens in the build-up, and during, today’s ‘Unleashed’ event.

If you want to get yourself a little more in the zone, crank the volume up on your speakers for the 12 second teaser video (below) posted by Apple’s SVP for Marketing, Greg Joswiak.

There’s a strong hint that today’s announcement will be speed related, which falls in line with rumors suggesting we’ll see a more powerful version of Apple’s computing chip – currently dubbed M1X – in new MacBook Pros.