Apple 'Unleashed' event set for October 18 — 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro incoming

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Apple's October 18 event may reveal the new MacBook Pros

Apple October 18 event announcement image with stylized warp speed Apple logo
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's second event of the fall is confirmed for October 18 and we expect it to serve as the launch for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1X processors. 

Following the success of the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 processors last year, the all-new MacBook Pro models have been even more eagerly anticipated. These units are expected to come with an even more powerful processor and the first major redesign of the MacBook Pro in years.

The virtual event will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern) on October 18 with the live stream available on Apple.com as well as YouTube. You can watch along live with us or follow our coverage for the latest updates as they happen.

Apple fans typically try to derive meaning from the artwork for the invites. This time, the warp speed image isn't too subtle — expect these new MacBook Pros to be fast.

While the new M1X processor that rumors indicate will feature 12 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores is big news (up from 8 CPU and 8 GPU cores on the current M1 models), the redesign may actually overshadow the performance enhancements. 

If the leaks are accurate, Apple is walking back a number of design changes made to the MacBook Pro back in 2016 with the return of standard function keys, MagSafe charging and a whole host of ports that were swapped for USB-C. One schematic leak showed three USB Type-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port and an SD card reader. While many have adjusted to using a dongle or USB-C hub to replace the missing ports, it's hard to argue with the convenience of having these features built-in.

The Apple rumor mill had a lot of hits on the iPhone 13, but a considerable number of misses on the Apple Watch Series 7, so there's no telling how accurate the numerous MacBook Pro rumors have been. We'll find out in less than a week!  

Sean Riley
Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.