Apple’s March 4 Event Rumored To Put New Macs In Play

Apple will stage its first product event of 2026 on March 4 at 9AM ET, hosting parallel gatherings in New York, London and Shanghai under the “Apple Experience” banner. The focus is hardware, with new Macs expected to lead the announcements.

The headline prospect is a cheaper MacBook, positioned beneath the MacBook Air. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple has been developing a model powered by the A18 Pro chip — an iPhone-class processor — rather than an M-series chip. The trade-off could extend to memory: industry chatter points to 8GB of RAM, even as Apple has shifted most of its Mac line to 16GB as standard.

Pricing is tipped between $699 and $799. If that holds, it would mark Apple’s lowest entry point into modern Mac laptops in years and widen its reach among students and cost-conscious buyers.

At the other end of the range, refreshed MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are widely expected too. Apple has already introduced a base M5 configuration, but the higher-tier variants typically arrive later with more CPU and GPU cores. Reports suggest tweaks to the chip design aimed at better thermals and improved manufacturing yields, potentially allowing the Max version to scale further.

Current M4 Max configurations are facing shipping delays, a pattern that often precedes a refresh cycle.

Tablets are also in line for updates. A 12th-generation base iPad is rumored to move from the A16 to the A18 chip, aligning it more closely with Apple’s on-device AI push. The iPad Air could shift from M3 to M4 — a jump that would narrow the performance gap with the Pro models.

Also Read: Samsung Reveals AI Camera Overhaul Ahead Of S26 Launch

On the iPhone side, Apple is expected to refresh its entry model with the iPhone 17e, roughly a year after the 16e debuted. Reports point to an A19 chip and possible MagSafe support, while keeping the $599 price.

Other hardware, including a new Studio Display or Mac Studio, remains possible, though less certain. A broader Siri overhaul is unlikely to surface here, with software updates typically reserved for Apple’s developer conference later in the year.

The March 4 event looks set to reset Apple’s core devices in one sweep — from entry laptops to high-end silicon — as competition tightens and AI features edge closer to the center of its pitch.