Just weeks after Apple released the latest versions of the iPhone and the new Apple Watch, it will reportedly unveil its new iPad tablets and laptops on Thursday at a press event in Cupertino.
Last month’s iPhone event took over the Flint Center in Apple’s hometown on the same stage where the company’s late founder Steve Jobs unveiled the original Macintosh computer two decades earlier.
Thursday’s event will be far more low-key. No one is expecting current CEO Tim Cook to break out any new additions to the product line. Instead, he will probably just showcase new iterations of the iPad, Macbook and iMac, according to analysts.
KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, for example, wrote in a research note that Apple will release a 27-inch Retina iMac desktop. Other analysts believe Apple will also update its MacBook product line. The product that will likely receive the most attention is the new tablet, the iPad Air 2.
Even though Cook is keeping busy, Apple has had a rock fall so far. Shortly before the iPhone 6 launch, the company's stock fell because investors were nervous about reports that hackers breached iCloud to steal intimate pictures of various celebrities. Apple also had to deal with several massive glitches with its iOS 8 mobile operating system released last month, as well as reports that the enormous iPhone 6 Plus was prone to bending in users’ pockets.
Market figures for tablets show that demand is slowing after several years of explosive growth. Hubert Joly, the CEO of electronics retailer Best Buy, even went so far as to say in a July interview with Re/code that the tablet market was "crashing."
More likely, though, the young marketplace is maturing, finding its space between laptops and smartphones.
Apple’s press event will start at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1700GMT).