Apple Plans Two October Events: HomeKit Refresh Oct. 13, Touchscreen MacBook Rumored for Oct. 27

Apple has scheduled a hardware event for Oct. 13 centered on smart-home products, but people familiar with the company’s plans say a second launch is taking shape for late October that could bring the first touchscreen MacBook alongside updated iPads and Macs.

The Oct. 13 gathering, already confirmed by Apple, carries home-themed branding that aligns with long-standing reports of a HomeKit overhaul. The centerpiece is expected to be a stationary, iPad-like display that blends HomePod audio with a touch interface for controlling lights, locks, cameras and thermostats. Also likely: a refreshed full-size HomePod, a new HomePod mini, and the first devices from a partnership with LG that will add smart locks, cameras and thermostats to the HomeKit ecosystem later this year.

While that event targets the smart-home market, a separate presentation around Oct. 27 is being prepared for core computing hardware, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The headline device would be a MacBook with a built-in touchscreen — a category Apple has resisted for years while Microsoft’s Surface line and Chrome OS devices embraced it. Evidence accelerated this year when developers found full touchscreen support baked into a preview build of macOS 15, codenamed Sequoia, well beyond the limited Apple Pencil and gesture hooks present in earlier versions.

The touchscreen MacBook could debut a new “Ultra” tier above the Pro line, though similar rumors preceded the iPhone 15 Pro Max before Apple settled on different branding. The company is not expected to ship a 2-in-1 convertible; instead, the device would retain a traditional clamshell form factor while adding direct manipulation to macOS, a shift that mirrors the iPad’s gradual adoption of Mac-like windowing and external-display support.

Also slated for the late-October event: an iPad mini moving to an OLED panel, kicking off a broader iPad refresh that will bring OLED to the iPad Air and Pro models early next year alongside a redesigned entry-level iPad aimed at education and family budgets. On the Mac side, the iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro are tipped to receive M4-series silicon updates, completing the transition of Apple’s mainstream lineup to the latest chip generation.

Apple has not commented on the second event. The Oct. 13 presentation will stream from Apple Park at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.