Apple could swiftly follow its smart home event with new iPads and MacBooks

With October already upon us, many of the year’s big Android launches already feel like they’re in the rear-view mirror, and we’re increasingly looking forward to 2027 for our next hot hardware fix. But things look very different over on the iPhone side of the fence, and October is quickly shaping up to be a huge one for Apple. We only just got finished hearing about the company’s “Welcome Home” event scheduled for next week, where we expect to meet its big new smart home lineup, and now we’re already learning about what’s next.

Apple whisperer Mark Gurman shares over on Bloomberg that Apple plans to follow that smart home event up with another this month, scheduled for October 27. With the new iPhone launch already out of the way, and smart home about to be taken care of, this event would instead focus on new Mac and iPad hardware.

We haven’t thought a lot about Apple tablets since the latest iPad Air debuted this past March, but now we could be just about to meet a couple new ones. The event will supposedly introduce both a 14-inch iPad powered by Apple’s new M6 chip (as found in this year’s Mac Mini), as well as an iPad Mini equipped with an OLED display.

According to Gurman, the new iPad Mini could also introduce some speaker upgrades and a repositioned front-facing camera optimized for videoconferencing. We haven’t heard much in specific about what to expect from the larger iPad except the presence of that powerful new silicon.

In addition to the tablets, Gurman says to look for new MacBook Pro hardware, also running that same M6 chip, and finally embracing touchscreen input.

Much like the way Apple split its iPhone 18 launches between the Pro announcements last month and the base model expected next year, there could also be additional Mac and iPad launches planned for early 2027.

With all this flashy new hardware, Apple probably doesn’t have to worry about serious competition from Android — did it ever — but we’re sure we’ll still be hearing lots of comparisons between the touch-friendly MacBooks and touchscreen Googlebooks. And while an iPad refresh sounds very nice, Android tablets have been getting very attractive lately, like the surprisingly strong showing we just saw from Amazon. We can’t wait to see just what Apple has in store for us!