It’s temping to look for hints about what Apple is going to announce during its April 20 event somehow hidden in the invite sent out Tuesday. But that’s surely an utter waste of time.
Here’s why.
Reading the Apple event tea leaves
Looking for hints buried in the logos or names of Apple events is a common practice. Like the fact that the people in the WWDC 2020 logo are all wearing glasses has been taken to mean that Apple’s augmented reality glasses will be unveiled at that event.
And it’s already started with the April event invite. As just one example, Sasha Segan from PCMag looked at the swirly lines making up the Apple logo and remarked via Twitter, “It says ‘Apple Pencil’ to me.”
It says "Apple Pencil" to me. pic.twitter.com/nOtpDk5ASD
— Sascha Segan (@saschasegan) April 13, 2021
There have been rumors that a third-generation iPad stylus is on the way. But the same sort of swirly line was used in the September 2020 event logo.
Surely there are people scratching their head that the event is named “Spring Loaded.” The Dock springs up when the bottom of an iPad screen is touched… is that a hint?
The fact that there’s an AR easter egg doesn’t mean anything — these also appeared for previous Apple events.
And, of course, there were jokes that the event is scheduled for 4/20.
OS X Weed finally coming at the Apple Event on 4/20…
Ha… so funny pic.twitter.com/vE73SxN3oP
— Joe Rossignol (@rsgnl) April 13, 2021
Apple hates leaks
Now step back and consider that this sort of speculation is based on the idea that Apple deliberately drops hints about future products well before the release. That is simply not the way Apple does things. Quite the opposite.
This is the same company that warned employees in 2018 of harsh punishment for leaking secrets. An employee was fired for showing a pre-release iPad to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak without permission. Apple developers are required to sign agreements to not tell their spouses what they’re working on. It’s a very, very secretive organization.
So it’s ludicrous to suggest that this company would then drop a broad hint to the entire world that it’s going to release a new iPad next week. CEO Tim Cook would have to fire himself.
Some people suggest these hints get dropped to get publicity. That’s a trick used by companies desperate for attention, not Apple.
Don’t overthink the Apple April event invite
Nevertheless, over the years people scrutinized all the previous Apple event invites looking for hints. They looked at them upside down and backward. And they got exactly nothing.
Designer Parker Ortolani threw cold water on all such speculation. He pointing out via Twitter that “every major Apple product event invite over the past two years has not meant anything more than the default wallpaper of the flagship device being announced.”
I want to caution everyone that every major Apple product event invite over the past two years has not meant anything more than the default wallpaper of the flagship device being announced… pic.twitter.com/9jyiOni4qJ
— Parker Ortolani (@ParkerOrtolani) April 13, 2021
I’m not criticizing anyone for speculating about what an Apple event invite secretly means. I’m guilty of it myself. Plus, I’m eagerly awaiting the 2021 iPad Pro that’s been rumored. But, realistically, all that we learned in Tuesday’s invite is that Apple will hold an online event on April 20 at 10 a.m. PT.
