Apple’s online store is now down, as the company is busy “making updates” and there is “developing news” in the pipeline, a pretty sure sign that given WWDC 2022 takes place later today, there’ll be at least one new piece of hardware revealed – perhaps a shiny new MacBook Air or Mac Pro 2022.
If there’s new hardware inbound, it’s standard practice for Apple to take down the store in order to rejig things and put the new models in place (and indeed remove anything which has been dropped from its lineup).
If you're looking for patterns, Apple has only taken down the Apple Store during WWDC when there is new hardware.
The Apple Store didn’t go down during WWDC 18, WWDC 19, WWDC 20, or WWDC 21 - all the years we got no hardware. #WWDC22, the store is down. We’re getting hardware.June 6, 2022
As the entire store is now inaccessible, of course, what we don’t know is which new product(s) Apple might have waiting in the wings to be revealed later today when the conference kicks off.
Historically, WWDC has been less about launching hardware (though they famously teased the trashcan Mac Pro in 2013), and firmly focused on the software side of the equation – which will doubtless still be the case today, but the store going down is the strongest hint yet that we’ll see at least something in the way of a new Mac being revealed.
If you want to watch Apple’s keynote livestream later on, by the way, we’ve got a full guide on how to do so – the proceedings kick off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm UK time.
Analysis: Mac attack of the Pro variety seems most likely?
We’ve heard plenty of possibilities about what could be shown off in terms of fresh hardware at WWDC 2022, and that includes a potential new MacBook Air, which has been one of the stronger rumors – and it’s long-awaited now – or even an M2-powered Mac mini. As mentioned, there could be more than one device.
Perhaps the most likely candidate to pop up later today, though, is an all-new Mac Pro. After all, this is a developer conference, so a Pro model of some kind seems more likely to be unveiled than devices from consumer lines, perhaps – plus Apple’s VP for hardware engineering, John Ternus, has previously teased that a reveal could be close at hand for a revamped Mac Pro (that was back in March).
This is all just speculation, of course, but it seems like we will see something new on the Mac front later on – exciting stuff…
