Apple event: Everything to expect at next ‘peek performance’ launch live stream

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Apple is set to hold its first event of the year: ‘peek performance’.

The cryptic name is probably a reference to the speed upgrades that are due to a range of products. But it offers little by way of clues about what those products might actually be.

Apple’s spring events can also be harder to predict, given that – unlike the September event and its iPhones – there is nothing regularly scheduled to be launched in March. In recent years, the spring event has brought new iMacs, iPads, different coloured iPhones, and even no products at all, as in a 2019 event that saw it reveal services including Apple TV+.

Helpfully, however, plenty has leaked about the new products, and rumours mean that it is possible to know with some confidence what Apple might be about to announce.

Here’s everything expected for the event, which will be held as a live stream from the Apple Park Campus on Tuesday, at 10am local pacific time.

iPhone SE 3

The iPhone SE has become something of a favourite in recent years. Both previous versions have put newer internal chips inside an older design, and a cheaper price point that has proven popular with people who don’t want to shell out for the latest flagship.

That looks set to happen again this year. The SE 3 is rumoured to include 5G and an updated processor – while keeping the existing design, which looks like an iPhone 8 and includes the physical home button that has otherwise disappeared in recent years.

The new phone is expected to remain at the same price. Apple could keep the older one around for an even more budget option, according to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg.

New Macs

Updated versions of Apple’s computers have become a staple of recent events. That’s largely because Apple has been busily transferring its computers from Intel chips to its own – a move that has mostly happened, with just a few outliers left.

Some of those outliers could finally get their upgrades to Apple’s own chips. Most likely is a Mac Mini that could include the M1 Pro and M1 Max updates that came to the freshened MacBook Pros late last year.

There could also be a big version of the iMac, too. The 27-inch version of the iMac has not yet been updated to Apple Silicon, and is still in the line-up – so it could get its own Pro or Max chip update too.

Apple could also update some of the existing entry-level MacBook Pro and Air to a new version of its chips, perhaps known as the M2 – neither of them have been updated since becoming the first to include Apple Silicon in 2020. That might be saved for later in the year, however.

Updated iPads

There could also be an update to the iPad Air – which would be the 5th generation. If nothing else, that would see it upgraded to the spec of the existing iPad Mini, which is for now much more powerful.

Upgrades would include an updated A15 processor, the addition of 5G, better sound and the Center Stage feature that first rolled out with the recently updated iPad Pro.

Software

Apple has an update to iOS 15 in the works, numbered 15.4. It has been in beta for some time, but is yet to make it into general release.

That update includes a whole variety of features: Face ID without using a mask and new, less gendered voices for Siri have made headlines on their own.

Apple could choose to reveal more about that update at the event, including a (presumably imminent) release date.