Apple has announced an event on March 27th that will focus on “creative new ideas for teachers and students,” according to an invitation that just went out.
There’s not a lot to go by in terms of hints from the invitation — just a stylized Apple logo and the phrase “Let’s take a field trip,” which fits in with the education theme. But it’s been rumored that Apple has been working on cheaper MacBooks and iPads, which would make sense given this event’s context. Interestingly, the event won’t be held in Apple’s newly opened Apple Park campus in Cupertino, but at a high school in Chicago. Chicago’s Board of Education recently added computer science as a graduation requirement for all public schools in the city, making it a fitting pairing for an Apple event.
Reports from Digitimes and reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo both claim that Apple is finally planning to release a successor to the MacBook Air, which Apple still sells an outdated model of as an entry-level, $999 laptop. The new computer — rumored to be a 13.3-inch “entry-level” MacBook with a 2560 x 1600 resolution Retina Display — is also said to be priced somewhere in the $799 to $899 range, making it perfect for students.
Apple has also been working to transition the iPad into a classroom tool for educators for the past several years, with recent rumors claiming that the company could release an entry-level 9.7-inch iPad priced around $259, which is even cheaper than the current $329 model. Additionally, if you’re prone to reading into Apple’s invitations, it’s easy to see how the company could be hinting at something related to the iPad or Apple Pencil with this seemingly hand-drawn Apple logo.
