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I know that Apple rumours are ten-a-penny these days, but a new wave of speculation has been inspired by the company’s web store being replaced by a teasing message of "We’ve got something special in store for you. And we can’t wait for you to see it. Please check back soon."
Doing a bit of digging around, you can see that the site’s System Status page shows the Apple Online Store to be amid maintenance, scheduled for between 3am and 8.30am EST (7am – 12.30pm GMT). The company normally takes down its online store for a few hours when product updates are set to launch, which has set off speculation as to what will be found when the store pops up again in a few hours.
The most likely shiny new thing to be appear is an updated iPhone SE, specifically of the 128GB variety. The SE is due an upgrade (the original launched last March), but as it’s not Apple’s flagship smartphone it might not warrant the fanfare that usually accompanies the company’s premier products. Asides from the upgraded storage it’s likely we’ll see a minor bump to the device’s specs to bring it closer to the iPhone 7.
The bigger rumours that have been circulating for the past few months are the existence of a new range of iPads, including a 10.5-inch iPad Pro model. It is also predicted that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will see a splash of improved insides, and the introduction of a 9.7-inch iPad Pro to replace the iPad Air 2.
While the iPad rumours have been going around for a while, it is unlikely that the company would have such a high-profile product launch that doesn’t come with a big press event.
What is most likely to happen is that we will see a new low-cost 9.7-inch iPad and the upgraded iPhone SE, with the announcement of an event to launch the 10.5-inch iPad Pro coming in the not-too distant future.
We’ll know for certain when the site opens up for business again at 12.30pm GMT.
