Between midnight and 5.30am Pacific time in the US (7am – 12.30pm GMT), Apple’s online store has been taken offline for a ‘scheduled maintenance break’, sparking rumors that a new product update is imminent once the store is back online. If this is the case, as it has been in the past, it will be Apple’s first hardware update of 2017.
Traditionally, Apple invite the media to Special Events to announce any new product but as of yet, no event has been confirmed for today and we doubt that something that major would be able to be kept under wraps. After all, any new update from Apple has been long-awaited. It’s likely that any changes to the online store today will be minor and therefore an appropriate medium to share an announcement.
Rumors last week suggested that Apple are planning to release new products this week, including the updated 9.7 inch and 12.9 inch iPad Pro models, a 128GB iPhone SE, a red color iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and new bands for the Apple Watch. No official announcement has yet been made on any of these, nor has there been any confirmation on the release of brand new iPads including the 10.5 inch Pro model said to have thin bezel display.
The new iPad models are unlikely to be debuted via the online store. This high-profile launch will more than likely come in a public event at some time in the near future (or so we hope). Until then, there is little fanfare gained from the closure of the site for a few hours meaning we shouldn’t expect too much when it eventually does come back online. In the past, six hour site maintenance periods have preceded many of Apple’s Special Events and for a company so hellbent on tradition when it comes to releasing new products, we can only assume that this is exactly what’s happening right now.
A strong rumor continues to circulate that Apple will hold a conference in April to coincide with the grand opening of the Apple Park campus.