Apple is approaching its product launches differently these days, going beyond its one spectacular event in September for the latest iPhone release. That strategy shift is evident this week, as the company announced major products like the iPhone 17e, new iPad Air and new MacBooks, even before its "special Apple experience," scheduled for 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, March 4.
Apple's invites often contain clues about what might be revealed at the event. Last September's Awe-Dropping event invite teased the new vapor chamber cooling system for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models and a new pumpkin color.
The invitation for Wednesday's event features a three-dimensional shape composed of thinly sliced yellow, green and blue glass. One popular theory says the image is a nod toward the retro rainbow Apple logo from previous Mac branding, meaning new colorful MacBooks could be a part of the show.
While many events are hardware reveals, this week's "Apple Experience" will reportedly provide a chance for the media to get hands-on time with the new Apple products. Apple is likely saving some of its biggest product announcements for its annual September event. It doesn't seem like the most radical rumored new product in the MacBook lineup will make its debut during this week's event.
Here's everything we've seen so far and what else we are expecting from Apple's event on Wednesday.
It's spring refresh season, which means the MacBook Pro gets a performance upgrade in the form of M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Lori Grunin/CNET
MacBook chipset refreshes (and maybe something entirely different)
We're expecting a whole host of new MacBook computers throughout 2026, and today marked the debut of the new MacBook M5 Pro, MacBook M5 Max and MacBook Air.
The bread and butter of this spring product update is the MacBook Pros. The 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro was already available, and the higher-powered MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips made their debut on Tuesday, March 3.
The MacBook Air also received an M5 chip upgrade, and it will be hitting store shelves at the same time as the M5 Pro and M5 Max. All of the new MacBooks will be available for preorder on March 4 and land in stores on March 11.
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