Last minute WWDC2020 leak reveals bad news

Last minute WWDC2020 leak reveals bad news

For those expecting to see the MacBook ARM or the rumored AirPods Studio at WWDC 2020, we have bad news: Apple may not reveal hardware at this week's developer conference.

This is according to Twitter tech leakers Jon Prosser and Max Weinbach, who have information that no hardware will be unveiled at WWDC; Prosser said he hopes he is wrong, and Weinbach said that though Weinbach stated that such information should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Weinbach noted that the information came from an Apple insider who does not work on the WWDC-related team. This means he could be wrong about the hardware not being revealed at the developer conference.

Prosser was less open about his sources. He insisted, however, that he might be wrong, although he would be surprised if some hardware was unveiled.

However, the information that the technology leaker claims to have is consistent with a new report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicts that Mac machines with ARM-based chips will not launch until Q3 2020 at the earliest. Kuo predicts that the redesigned iMac 2020 will be the first product to feature the new in-house designed ARM chip, followed by the 13-inch MacBook Pro at the end of the year or early 2021.

This makes sense because Apple needs to give developers time to rework their software and applications to run on ARM's RISC architecture rather than the x86 architecture used in the Intel chips currently in the Mac lineup. This makes sense from the standpoint of At best, Apple will release a development kit so that software makers can start building applications for the ARM-based MacBook Pro and iMac.

We also expected Apple to take the covers off its AirPods Studio, the first high-end over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation. Earlier rumors also suggested that Apple's AirTags tracker could make an appearance at the event.

However, it looks like there will be no hardware announcements after all. That means WWDC will focus entirely on software and what Apple will do with highly anticipated releases like iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7.

We will see, for example, how Apple plans to bring more augmented reality features to the iPad Pro 2020, or how watchOS could be enhanced to match the Apple Watch 6.

What Apple has in store will become clear in a few hours when WWDC 2020 opens at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time/1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; be sure to check out our guide on how to watch WWDC 2020. Also, stay tuned to Tom's Guide for live coverage of the big event.

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