In summary:
- Macworld reports that Apple is hosting a “Special Apple Experience” on March 4, 2026, in New York, London, and Shanghai, potentially without live streaming.
- Expected product launches include the iPhone 17e, refreshed iPads with M4/A19 chips, MacBook Pro M5 configurations, and a new HomePad smart home hub.
- The timing coincides with Mobile World Congress, suggesting Apple aims to compete with major tech announcements during this period. Detailed instructions are provided below.
Expectations are high that Apple is planning a number of new product releases in the spring 2026 time frame, including the iPhone 17e, new iPads and new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, but will the company hold a spring event, and if it does, when will Apple’s spring event take place?
With Apple sending out invites to select journalists for March 4, it certainly looks like something will be launching soon, but it’s less clear if this will be at a live-streamed event since the invitations are to an ‘experience’ rather than an event.
In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook has Tweeted that there is a big week ahead, indicating that the first announcement will happen on Monday, March 2.
In this article, we explain what you need to know about Apple’s spring event, including the expected timing, how to watch it, and what Apple might launch.
Is Apple holding a spring event in 2026?
Apple
- Apple is hosting ‘Special Experiences’ on March 4 in London, New York and Shanghai.
- The 4 March experiences may not translate to a live-streamed Apple Event, but a number of new products are thought to be coming in the spring timeframe and we could see these launch in conjunction.
Apple has issued invites to a ‘Special Apple Experience’ in at three locations (U.S., U.K. and China) on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
While Apple often unveils new products at a live-streamed event, in recent years it has been doing so less frequently, for example, in spring 2025 we saw a series of event-free Apple launches: the iPhone 16e debuted on February 19, followed by updated iPad and iPad Air models announced via press release on March 4. A day later, Apple introduced the M4 MacBook Air and Mac Studio in a separate announcement.
Based on Cook’s tweet above, it looks like the product releases will start on Monday, March 2.
This is what was predicted in a Bloomberg report that suggested Apple intends to spread the hardware announcements across several days between March 2 and 4, rather than release all the news on March 4.
Even if Apple chooses to keep these ‘experiences’ behind doors – rather than holding a live-streamed event – it appears that there will be hands-on sessions, which suggests that there will be new products.
For more detail on Apple’s calendar of events, read When is the next Apple event?
When is the Spring Apple event 2026?
- Wednesday, March 4, 2026: “Apple Special Experience” confirmed.
Apple has invited some members of the press to a “Special Apple Experience” on March 4. These events are talking place at the same time in New York, London and Shanghai.
The timing of this March 4 “experience” coincides with Mobile World Congress – running from March 2-5, 2026. Various major phones launched at MWC in 2025, including Samsung’s Galaxy A series (A26, A36, A56) featuring Galaxy AI. Even before Apple announced the ‘experiences’ on March 4, we had suggested that if Apple wants to steal the show with the iPhone 17e launch, it could do it that week.
What time will Apple’s March 4 event start?
The 4 March “experience” will begin simultaneously across all three Apple locations. The start times in each city are:
- New York: 9am
- London: 2pm
- Shanghai: 10pm
What will Apple launch at (or before) the March event 2026?
There are plenty of rumors suggesting that new Apple products are in the pipeline.
iPhone update
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
We the iPhone 17e, an update to the iPhone 16e and a value-oriented alternative to the iPhone 17, to arrive this spring.
Read more here: iPhone 17e: Everything you need to know.
iPad updates
A refreshed iPad Air featuring the M4 chip is expected to launch early in the year.
A new entry-level iPad equipped with the A19 chip is also predicted for the spring lineup.
MacBook updates
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro updates are coming soon.
Foundry
While the entry-level M5 MacBook Pro launched in late 2025, the more powerful MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max configurations are expected to arrive in spring 2026. Read more here: MacBook Pro M5 Pro & Max release date – Where are the Pro MacBooks?
A new MacBook Air powered by the M5 chip is also slated to launch this spring. Read more here: M5 MacBook Air: Everything you need to know before it launches.
There are also rumors that Apple will launch a low cost MacBook.
Tim Cook’s post on X shows an Apple logo on an aluminium background, which looks like the top of a MacBook, so it could be hinting that the MacBook will be first to be updated.
Home and AI
Apple is reportedly developing a smart home hub with a built-in screen, often referred to as the “HomePad“.
The spring of 2026 is expected to be a turning point for Apple’s software ecosystem, specifically regarding its voice assistant, however, AI updates to Siri are said to be delayed (again).
Other new products
We may also see a brand new Studio Display.
How to watch Apple’s spring event
Apple
The best way to watch an Apple event is to get an invite to attend in person. Lucky for us, in the case of the Spring Experience, one of the Macworld team will be in attendance.
Normally, Apple also live stream the presentation so everyone can watch along. Because in spring 2026 it is an Apple Experience, Apple may not stream it live on YouTube/Apple.com like a traditional keynote.
If there is a live stream though, you will find it right at the top of this article where we will embed Apple’s YouTube stream. Apple normally runs the stream live on Apple’s events page and on the Apple.com home page – but it’s not clear if it will do so for the March 4 experience.
Normally, if you’ve got an iPhone, an iPad, an Apple TV, or a Mac–assuming the device has sufficiently up-to-date software, you can watch the stream on the TV app. PC owners can also watch, but will need to visit Apple’s site as mentioned above. After an event is finished, it is also available to rewatch in the Podcasts and TV apps, and on Apple’s website. However, this may not be the case in March 2026
Finally, Apple has for certain events in the past held broadcast events in Apple Stores, so it may be worth contacting your nearest outlet to see if they have anything planned.
More information about watching the event here: How to watch Apple’s event.
When were Apple’s past spring events held
Apple previously held a Spring event on the following dates:
- 2025: no event
- 2024: Tuesday May 7: (“Let Loose“): 11 & 14-inch iPad Pro M4, 11 & 14-inch iPad Air M2, Apple Pencil Pro
- 2023: no event
- 2022, Tuesday March 8: (“Peek Performance,” virtual): New iPhone SE, new iPad Air, Mac Studio and Studio Display, and new iPhone color options
- 2021, Tuesday April 20: (“Spring Loaded,” virtual): New iPad Pro and iMac, Apple TV 4K, AirTags, new iPhone color options and iOS 14.7
- 2020: no event
- 2019, Monday March 25: (“It’s show time“): Apple Card, and the News+, TV+, and Arcade subscription services
- 2018, Tuesday March 27: (“Let’s take a field trip“): New iPad and education announcements
- 2017: no event
- 2016, Monday March 21: (“Let us loop you in“): iPad Pro, iPhone SE, and software updates
- 2015, Monday March 9: (“Spring Forward“): Apple Watch, a new MacBook, and iOS 8.2
- 2014: no event
- 2013: no event
- 2012, Wednesday March 7: (“We have something you really have to see. And touch“): 3rd-gen Apple TV and 3rd-gen iPad
Does Apple always hold a spring event?
In spring 2025, there was a series of event-free Apple launches: the iPhone 16e debuted on February 19, followed by updated iPad and iPad Air models announced via press release on March 4. A day later, Apple introduced the M4 MacBook Air and Mac Studio in a separate announcement.
Traditionally Apple execs take to the stage to unveil new products. Apple has held six spring events over the past decade, with notable gaps in 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2025; Apple may well have held an event in 2020 if it wasn’t for the pandemic).
Apple doesn’t always hold a spring event, but when it does, it usually takes place in March or April – with the exception of 2024, when Apple surprised us all by issuing invites to an event on May 7.
Will Apple once again roll out its spring products without an event, or will it return to a keynote-style presentation to maximise attention on new announcements? As we asked previously, is the era of the Apple event over? We hope not.
Apple’s spring event is one of the three or four big events in Apple’s yearly cycle of announcements. There’s the big iPhone/Mac software announcements at WWDC in the summer, the iPhone launch in September, sometimes we see Apple make Mac and iPad announcements in October or November, and (some years) we get some hardware reveals at a spring event in March or April. At these events Apple executives hit the stage–whether real or virtual–and boast about some recent successes, before revealing what new products are about to launch.
In recent years Apple has moved away from holding events to launch new products. It’s continued to hold a keynote to kick off WWDC in June and an event to celebrate the launch of a new iPhone in September, but the spring and late fall events have become less certain, but for not for any lack of product announcements.
What has Apple launched in past spring events?
What happens at an Apple event?
What time do Apple’s events usually start
Apple’s events generally start at 10 am in local (California, PT) time, but in May 2024 the event started at 7am PT.
Here’s what that time translated to in various locations around the world:
- U.K.: 3 pm (BST)
- Central Europe: 4 pm (CEST)
- U.S.: 7 am (PT), 8 am (MT), 9 am (CT), 10 am (ET)
- Canada: 7 am (PT), 8 am (MT), 9 am (CT), 10 am (ET)
- India: 7.30 pm (IST)
- Singapore and China: 11 pm
- Japan: next day at 2 am (JST)
- Australia: 11 pm (AWST), 11.30 pm (ACST), midnight (AEST)
- New Zealand: next day at 2 am (NZST)
If Apple holds the event at the usual time of 10am PT the timing will be as follows (allow for daylight saving time changes, which happen at different times around the world).
- U.S.: at 10 am (PST/PDT), 11 am (MST/MDT), noon (CST/CDT), 1 pm (EST/EDT)
- Canada: as above, and 2 pm (AST/ADT)
- U.K.: at 6 pm (GMT/BST)
- Europe: at 7pm (CET/CEST), 8 pm (EET/EEST)
- India: at 10.30 pm (IST)
- Australia: Next day at 1 am (AWST/AWDT), 2.30 am (ACST/ACDT), 3 am (AEST/AEDT)
- New Zealand: Next day at 5 am (NZST/NZDT)
Apple events generally last between one and two hours.
Author: Karen Haslam, Managing Editor, Macworld
Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld more than two decades ago. Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Having edited the U.K. print and online editions of Macworld for many years, more recently her focus has been on SEO and evergreen content as well as product recommendations and buying advice.