What to expect from Apple’s ‘Let’s take a field trip’ event
We’re one week away from Apple’s upcoming ‘Let’s take a field trip’ event scheduled to kick-off at 10:00 a.m. Central Time on Tuesday, March 27 at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago. As usual, Apple hasn’t officially spilled the beans as to whats to come, however, from a low-cost MacBook to AirPower and iOS 11.3, here’s what we expect from Apple’s March event…
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MacBook
During the education themed event Apple will reportedly debut a new, low-cost MacBook targeted towards students. While no solid reports have pinpointed what exactly is planned for the Mac, multiple reports have suggested a new 13-inch Retina MacBook could be unveiled for a release later in the year, as well as a more affordable MacBook Air starting at between $600/$800.
Although reports have suggested a cheeper MacBook Air is on the cards, due to the rising popularity of the MacBook and the lack of updates to the MacBook Air, Apple could take this opportunity to fully discontinue the Air line all together, giving consumers the choice between the MacBook and MacBook Pro.
iPad
Alongside a more affordable MacBook, Apple could take this opportunity to update their low-cost iPad first introduced last March. The current low-cost iPad starts at $329 in the United States, and reports have suggested that Apple could cut the price further to attract more use in schools, colleges and amongst students.
In February regulatory filings uncovered that Apple has two new iPad models ready to launch with model numbers A1893 and A1954, which don’t correspond with any current iPad mini, iPad, or iPad Pro. – It’s unlikely Apple will release an iPad with Face ID at this event, however reports have suggested a Face ID equipped iPad Pro could launch at WWDC in June.
AirPower/Accessories
Despite the fact that the mat still hasn’t received approval from the FCC, AirPower is widely expected to launch in March alongside a spring/summer update to Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch accessories as well as the introduction of Apple’s new wireless charging case for AirPods.
AirPower was first previewed alongside the unveiling of the iPhone X in September. Users will be able to charge up to three devices at once, including their Apple Watch Series 3, compatible Apple Watch charging case, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X on the wireless charging mat, with new products expected to gain wireless charging capabilities in the future. When users have multiple devices charging at the same time AirPower will ‘communicate’ between each device and intelligently decide on how much power each device requires.
iOS 11.3
Following numerous beta releases Apple may publicly rollout iOS 11.3 either on the day of, or shortly after the event to bring “major updates to ARKit, Messages and more”, including new Animoji on iPhone X, the ability to view health records in the Health app and updates to ARKit.
iOS 11.3 was first announced by Apple in January and will bring ClassKit and Classwork for teachers and students. – With Apple’s March event being an education themed event it would make perfect sense for the new software to launch at this time.