Apple rumored to launch a new Mac in October – or maybe more than one

Say hello to the new iMac 24-inch? And more besides?

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It appearsApplehas a new Mac waiting in the wings to unleash on the world later this month, according to some fresh chatter on the grapevine.

This comes fromMacRumorswhich tapped a source for info relating to Mac trade-ins and how this could indicate the emergence of a new device later in October.

The story is that this is a trusted source who flagged up imminent changes to Apple’s trade-in scheme, namely that the company will start accepting new models for trading in later this month.

The dots are connected here because Apple applied similar changes to trade-ins back in June, with various new Macs being accepted for trade-ins which happened alongside the launch of new models from Apple (including the super-sized‌MacBook Air 15-inch).

So, the expectation is that these fresh tweaks to trade-ins herald the arrival of something new on the Mac front.

There were a bunch of new machines involved with trade-in eligibility back in June, mind, and this time round Apple’s plans are apparently more modest, indicating that the October launches will be on a smaller scale – indeed, perhaps only one device.

Analysis: What Mac, or Macs, might be inbound, then?

As ever with rumors, we should be pretty cautious around just accepting them at face value, although MacRumors is a generally reliable news outlet for all things Apple-related, and makes it clear this is a trusted source as noted.

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Still, even if the buzz on the grapevine is correct, and Apple is planning this, there’s no telling if it will follow through. (Although in this case, the timeframe of later this month is pretty tight, so any cancelation and change of plans would certainly be very last-minute).

MacRumors reckons the new Mac (or Macs) might arrive as soon as mid-October, so given that, accompanying trade-in adjustments really are imminent if they are happening, no doubt.

If we’re looking at one new Apple computer, what’s the most likely candidate to hit the shelves? That’s a difficult call to make, but whatever the machine that’ll be aiming for a spot on our list of thebest Macs, it’s likely to be powered by an M3 chip.

Ever-present Apple leaker Mark Gurman has previously said that Apple could launch a‌MacBook Air‌ 13-inch, a MacBook Pro of the same size, or a new iMac 24-inch, in October – or maybe even all three?

As noted, though, the launch plans for this month are likely to be more modest, as the source who spoke to MacRumors pointed out, and a single piece of hardware seems the most likely bet.From what we’ve heard elsewhere, there may not be a new MacBook for 2023, so by a process of elimination, theiMac 24-inchcould be the most probable product launch from Apple in October.

AnM3-powered Mac mini is also in the cards, by the way, but that isn’t due anytime soon, and the word is that it won’t emerge until next year.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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