Gurman says new Macs and the OLED iPad mini could go on sale on 6 November, the third of four Apple launch FridaysGurman says new Macs and the OLED iPad mini could go on sale on 6 November, the third of four Apple launch Fridays

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple's next Macs, its OLED iPad mini, or both will likely go on sale on Friday 6 November.

The date is Gurman's inference, not a leaked document. He reports that Apple Stores are planning a major floor reset, the overnight job of clearing and rearranging the display tables for new products, from the evening of 5 November into the next morning. He first gave the date on his Power On podcast on 15 October, according to iClarified and 9to5Mac, and repeated it in his Bloomberg newsletter on 18 October, MacRumors reports. Gurman says it could apply to the Macs, the iPad mini or both.

This is a reported claim from one named journalist with a long record on Apple. MacRumors, 9to5Mac and iClarified all carry it, but they are repeating his report, not confirming it. Apple has announced none of the products.

Which products are expected?

They are the products Gurman has tied to Apple's second October launch: redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with OLED touchscreens and a Dynamic Island, an M6 update to the current 14-inch MacBook Pro, an M6 iMac, and an iPad mini with an OLED screen and the A20 Pro chip, the processor in iPhone Duo. MacRumors puts the announcement on 27 or 28 October. In iClarified's account of the podcast, Apple hosts influencers in Los Angeles from the evening of 27 October and holds a media launch there on 28 October, which matches the two days of Los Angeles creator events Gurman described a week ago. That release date would put the products in stores nine or ten days after they are shown.

What are the four Fridays?

If Gurman is right, Apple will put something new on sale on four Fridays in a row. We read the three dates Apple has set on its own Newsroom posts on 18 October, and they hold, with one detail the four-Friday lists leave out: 30 October is also when iPhone Duo reaches 28 more countries and regions, so that Friday is a second iPhone Duo launch as well as the HomePod mini 2 release.

The 23 October date also means less than it looks for most buyers. It is when the first pre-orders arrive; Apple's US store was quoting 25 January for new iPhone Duo orders by 16 October.

How reliable have Gurman's dates been this autumn?

Our own archive gives a fair test. On 11 October, two days before Apple's home launch, Gurman said the new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2 would both ship on 30 October. The HomePod mini 2 date was right. Apple TV 4K was not: Apple set 13 November, alongside HomeView, which Gurman had placed in mid-November. That is one date exact, one inside the window he gave and one two weeks late, and the miss was late, not early.

Our take

Read against that record, Gurman's date looks solid to APPDOOK as a week, less so as a day. A floor reset is hard to schedule around nothing, so something is very likely going on sale that Friday. What is less certain is whether it is everything: the report leaves open whether the Macs and the iPad mini ship together, and one of them could still arrive later than reported, as Apple TV 4K did.

For anyone shopping now, the timing works in the buyer's favour. Apple's US returns page gives 14 days from the day the product arrives. Adding it up, a MacBook Pro, iMac or iPad mini ordered this weekend and delivered on 20 October could be returned until 3 November, after the reported announcement. Keep the box and the receipt, and you can decide once the new models and prices are public.

The iPad mini needs the most thought. On Apple's US store on 18 October the current model started at $599, and Gurman has reported that the OLED iPad mini will cost considerably more. If size and price are what you want, the current model is the one to beat, and it may not get cheaper. If you want the better screen, wait the three weeks. For MacBook Pro buyers the case for waiting is stronger still: the redesign is the biggest change to the laptop in years, and the current models are the ones it replaces.

Two things would settle it: an announcement from Apple in the last week of October with a release date attached, and pre-orders opening alongside it, as they did for HomeView and HomePod mini 2 on the day Apple announced them.