NYC362

I find it hard to believe that Apple will not introduce an M3 Max and M3 Ultra Mac Studio and Mac Pro in the first quarter of 2024.  If they wait until June and WWDC, the M3 Max will already be a seven month old processor and the M4 would be just five to six months away.

If they wait to late 2024, then the next Mac Studio and Mac Pro will almost certainly be in the M4 processor family.   

I think the calendar for the start of the year will look more like this:
Mid-January:  M3 Max and Ultra in the Studio and Pro  (Surprising everyone.). Also, USB-C keyboards, mice, and trackpad.   Updated displays would be nice too.

Late February:  VisionPro  (look for a Super Bowl commercial on February 11...it's been 40 years since the original Macintosh was announced that way...great way to celebrate that milestone.)

Early to mid: March:  New iPad line up, and M3 MacBook Airs

The iPad line up is a bit of a mess.  Here's what is should be

iPad at 10.9" with an A Series Processor 

iPad Air 10.9" with an M1 Processor
iPad Air 12.9" with an M1

iPad Pro 11" with M3
iPad Pro 12.9 with M3

iPad mini 8.3" (8.5" with thinner bezels) with an M1. (Basically, a Air Mini) 

That gives people enough of a difference between models and two larger size models to pick from.   The idea of a 14.1" iPad is just dumb. 

I am absolutely thrilled to see this model retired.   First, most customers absolutely hated the Touch Bar... including me and I actually took the time to program it for a couple of applications.  

When the M2 Air came out, all that was done to the 13" Pro was get the new processor- the M2 Air has a better, brighter screen, better webcam, speakers, MagSafe charging.   The only thing the 13" Pro had was that TouchBar and a fan that never really came on with the M series processors.

The new 14" M3 Pro will serve those who need the better display (Mini-LED, ProMotion), the HDMI port and better speakers/microphones than the 13" Air.  

There seems to be a pretty solid consensus on the wanted outcome around here...lol.   (I agree.)

As a retired teacher, I'm all for unions.  However, once a union is in place, they are the bargaining representative for the employees. 

So, if Apple introduces new benefits for its employees, in any unionized store, that has to go through the union first.  There isn't anything nefarious here.  The Towson store union needs to negotiate with Apple for those benefits.  My guess is they will get the same benefits as the non-union stores, but there will always be a delay and another hill to climb to get them.  In addition, Apple might ask the union to bear some of the cost of new benefits.  That will be realized in higher union dues for the employees.