On Tuesday, Apple sent out invitations to a special press event next month. Titled “Let Loose,” the event will take place on May 7 and begin at 7 a.m. PT. It appears to be an online-only event, with recipients encouraged to log on to apple.com rather than attend in person.
This is a major surprise. The company frequently hosts events in the spring, March or April, and always hosts an event (WWDC) in June. But there was no Apple event in May this century. The timing is also odd, as Apple usually holds its events at 10 a.m., three hours later than this event.
The most likely explanation is that Apple was planning to hold a spring event this year (this is quite common; they’ve been held in 2021 and 2022) and simply couldn’t get the products ready in time. It was widely reported that the new iPads were supposed to be released in March/April but experienced production delays.
Sure enough, the promotional artwork accompanying the invitation clearly shows a hand holding an Apple Pencil, an accessory for the iPad and (currently) no other Apple product. You can bet we’re about to get new iPads and probably a 3rd generation (or 4th depending on who’s counting) Apple Pencil with a squeeze gesture to go with it.
The fact that Apple would bother to organize a press event, however, remains slightly surprising. The company launched new MacBooks in March, but these were announced via press release. Most experts expected Apple to do the same with the new iPads for 2024, as the next generation of iPads isn’t that exciting. But that they deserve an event – and that Apple doesn’t want to hold them back another month and announce them at WWDC – suggests one of two things. That iPads have major new features and/or design changes that deserve a lot of stage time. Or that Apple has something else up its sleeve and can’t wait any longer.
Either way, it looks like a fun event. Keep up to date with the latest news and rumors with our guides to the new iPad, new iPad Air, new iPad Pro, and new iPad mini.
