Good news: There’s a yellow iPhone 14. Bad news: This probably means Apple has abandoned the idea of a spring Apple event in 2023.
We’ve suspected this for a while, actually. Apple originally planned to highlight its long-awaited AR headset at this spring’s event, but the latest round of rumored delays means it’s not likely to happen. (I say “latest,” but that’s not entirely true: Even more reported delays mean the headset might not show up until the fall.) In the absence of a headline, there was always a strong possibility that Apple would pull the event entirely.
However, the launch of a new iPhone color raises the no-event theory from “strong probability” to “near certainty”. The last two spring events saw similar announcements: the Alpine Green iPhone 13 Pro was revealed at the Peek Performance event in March 2022, while the purple iPhone 12 debuted at the Spring Loaded event in April 2021. If Apple still plans to keep it. It happened in the spring of 2023, it will be certainly Wait until it catches the world’s attention to reveal the yellow iPhone 14. The only likely reason it’s launching now is to fool critics into thinking there won’t be an event…and that’s not an event impossible The theory is given Apple’s penchant for discrediting leakers but it’s unlikely.
After all, spring events don’t happen every year. Sure, there was an event last year and the year before, but not in 2020 (although the onset of the Covid pandemic may have upset Apple’s plans for an event that introduced the iPhone SE, 4th-gen iPad Pro, and Magic Keyboard). There were spring events in 2018 and 2019, but not in 2017. We’re used to routines, but that doesn’t mean they’re static. And logistical hassles aside, holding an event when you don’t have anything awful to talk about risks diminishing your audience’s interest the next time you send out invitations.
Mind you, there is a wild card that could make this whole theory moot. It is believed that Apple has something interesting that could arrive as early as April. A “surprise” this spring, if you can use that term for a widely leaked product like this, is the arrival of the 15-inch and early arrival MacBook Air based on the M3 chip, which was expected in late 2023 or early 2024 but could appear in April.
Just as the announcement of the yellow iPhone means there likely won’t be a spring event, perhaps the lack of a spring event means the MacBook Air is yet to come. Or it’s just a bigger model and not as sexy as we’d hope. Or Apple messing with us.
But assuming our calculations are correct, you’ll probably want to start digging into WWDC for the next major fix. See you all in June.
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