*By Conor White*
Rumors are swirling about what exactly Apple will unveil at its Oct. 30 event in Brooklyn, N.Y., barely a month after the tech giant released its newest ー and most expensive ー generation of iPhones.
While the launch of an updated iPad Pro seems to be a safe bet, PC World staff writer Michael Simon said Apple ($AAPL) enthusiasts should also watch for a lower-cost MacBook.
"The rumors are kind of all over the place," Simon said. "But it does look like Apple is designing something that's low cost."
That could come as some comfort from those still smarting from the price tag of the highest-end iPhone XS Max, which runs nearly $1,500 ー more than the base model MacBook. The company's "cheaper" iPhone XR is available for pre-order beginning Friday and starts at $749.
In an interview Friday on Cheddar, Simon said no one is sure what the company will do next in the realm of laptops and computers.
"Apple's kind of in their experimental phase with the Mac," he said. "It's not quite going away yet, it's not selling nearly as much as the iPhone, so they have room to experiment."
"We're going to see if they can shore up that real low-end market that they've abandoned for a while," Simon added.
The slate of products revealed this month could suggest where Apple is heading. Mac sales in the latest quarter were down 13 percent from the previous year. And while the company has sold a quarter billion iPads since the original release in April 2010, more sophisticated and powerful smartphones have led to a global decline in tablet sales, too. Simon believes, ultimately, the products that shake out will be somewhere in the middle.
"In five to 10 years I think we're going to see some kind of a hybrid machine that isn't a computer, isn't an iPad," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/for-apple-no-sleep-til-brooklyn).
If you have a flexible spending account, here's some short information for you so you don't leave money on the table.
With high healthcare costs, bills can quickly add up. In some cases, it is possible to negotiate your medical bills. Barak Richman, law professor at George Washington University, joined Cheddar News to discuss the easiest way to talk to medical debt companies about what's owed.
Millions of people have selected insurance plans for 2024 but sometimes navigating them can be tricky time consuming and expensive. Paula Pant, host of 'Afford Anything' podcast, joined Cheddar News to break down what's needed to know about their insurance plans.
The European Union is investigating Elon Musk's X over alleged illicit content and disinformation on its platform. Cheddar News breaks it all down and discusses what it could mean for users.
Adobe and Figma called off their $20 million merger, Southwest Airlines gets fined, Nippon Steel is buying U.S. Steel and oil and gas prices surge after a pause in shipments.
With more employees being called back to the office, many workers are suddenly protesting by being in the office for as little time as possible. As the term suggests, coffee-badging means coming in for just enough time to have a cup of coffee, show your face, and swipe your badge.
Japan's Nippon steel is buying U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion.
Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine as part of a settlement over a 2022 holiday season disaster that saw the airline cancel thousands of flights and leave millions of people stranded.
Cheddar News' Need2Know is brought to you by Securitize, which helps unlock broader access to alternative investments in private businesses, funds, and other alternative assets. The private credit boom is here and the Hamilton Lane Senior Credit Opportunities Fund has tripled in assets under management in just six months from November 2022 through April this year. Visit Securitize.io to learn more.
Stocks opened slightly higher after Monday's opening bell after several weeks of gains as the year closes out.
