Apple's next special event, titled "Spring Loaded," will take place Tuesday, April 20 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PDT. The event, which eagle-eyed Apple fans spotted had been revealed by Siri ahead of Apple's official announcement, is the Cupertino company's first special event of the year.
As with all Apple events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spring Loaded will be a virtual event held online only with no visitors on hand to watch live in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park.
Since Apple had already announced that June's WWDC event would be virtual-only, it's no surprise to hear that Apple would stick to the online format for its April event.
What Apple Might Announce at "Spring Loaded"
As is customary, Apple hasn't revealed what it will be unveiling at the event. (Announcing that ahead of time would be extremely counterproductive from a marketing perspective.)
Possibly expected at the event is a new iPad Pro featuring upgraded display for the larger size model, and Apple's item-tracking accessories, the AirTags. It is also feasible that there will be a new Apple Pencil, iPad mini, new AirPods, upgraded Apple TV, and, conceivably, even the eagerly anticipated Apple Silicon M-series chip iMac redesign.
While it's highly unlikely that all of these will make an appearance at the event, these are all devices or Apple gadgets currently expected on the Cupertino roadmap. (Hey, with the word "Loaded" in the event title, it does hint that this could be a crammed Apple event!)
The only other possible clue was a short video shared on Twitter by Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at Apple. It shows graphical elements overlaid on top of video of the Apple Park exterior. While maybe a stretch, this could hint at Apple's augmented reality (AR) ambitions---although reports of Apple AR glasses are, by all accounts, still a fair distance off.
Apple hosting an April event is a rare occurrence. You'd have to go back through the history books to 2010 to find another April event. At the previous April event, Apple showed off iOS 4 and a new software developer kit for iPhone and iPod touch users.
Not Long to Find Out
Ultimately, there's not too much longer to wait to find out what Apple has planned for Spring Loaded. As ever, the event will be available to watch on Apple's website, via YouTube, and on Apple TV.
Plus, of course, there will be plenty of post-show analysis here on this very website to help spell out the significance of whatever it is that Apple chooses to announce.