Apple is gearing up for an unusually big product launch

Apple is usually a company you can set a watch to, launching its new iPhone range in September every year, but 2020 is a little different – as you might expect. Due to rumoured manufacturing issues and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Apple took the extraordinary move of confirming the delayed launch in its Q3 2020 earnings call in early August. Rather than September, Apple’s new iPhone range is set to be released in mid-October this year, but according to a new report, it might not be alone. 

It’s not an alien concept for Apple to announce another product alongside the iPhone – it tends to launch iPhones and Apple Watches at the same time – but if the  recent Bloomberg report is true, there could be plenty more on show at Apple’s upcoming launch event.  

The report claims that the iPhone 12 range will be joined by a new iPad Air, a new HomePod, a faster Apple TV, the rumoured over-ear headphones Jon Prosser teased back in May and, of course, new models of Apple Watch. Despite the ongoing pandemic, Apple is confident that the iPhone range will do well, ordering a reported 80 million 5G-enabled iPhone 12 handsets ahead of launch.  

The report backs up the widely accepted rumour that Apple is working on an additional iPhone this year, bringing the iPhone 12 range to a total of four devices, with two Pro devices and two more affordable handsets set to go on sale. The standard iPhone 12 range is said to be released first, with the Pro models following on a little later – again, backing up countless other reports that claim the same thing. We round up the  latest iPhone 12 rumours separately if you want to learn more.  

Alongside the iPhone 12 range, Apple is rumoured to be releasing a smaller, budget friendly HomePod. The compact HomePod is said to feature fewer speakers than the high-end HomePod available right now, but it’ll boast a handful of upgraded features compared to the original that may tempt consumers.  

That’ll be joined by a new pair of over-ear headphones, possibly called AirPods Studio, as Apple continues to phase out the Beats branding. It’ll feature AirPod-esque features like auto-pause/play tech, hands-free Siri and even the ability to automatically change L and R channels depending on how you’re wearing the headphones – if rumours are to be believed, anyway. We round up the  latest AirPods Studio news separately if you want to find out more about the high-end cans.   

The Bloomberg report also claims that we’ll see not one but two new models of Apple Watch, likely the  Apple Watch Series 6 and new budget-focused  Apple Watch SE to replace the ageing Series 3, and we’ll see a  new iPad Air with an edge-to-edge display and Face ID technology too.  

The new Apple TV, while not hugely exciting for many, should bring the needed performance gains to truly take advantage of the great high-quality games available on Apple Arcade as, even on the Apple TV 4K, it struggles to run games like Oceanhorn 2 – and that’s a bit of a shame.  

If all that is true, Apple’s next event could be one of the biggest and most exciting in a very, very long time.