Apple 2018 event: Time to ‘gather round’ for a major upgrade?

Apple (AAPL) has sent the invitation for the annual fall event that will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California on September 12 at 1 pm ET. The invitation has a tagline of “Gather round” along with a thick golden circle. The market has been speculating numerous expectations with regard to the event. The breakdown speculation of the event is as follows:

Few of the Apple fans are expecting the tech giant to launch a broad range of products. The products that will be launched include three iPhone models, iPad model, AirPods, six watch models, updated MacBooks, iMac Pro, Mac Mini, Apple TV, HomePod, and a new wireless charger. It is expected that the broad set of products launch has been termed as the golden circle.

Meanwhile, market experts believe that the golden circle represents the phone’s home button and the upcoming smartphone could have an upgrade or come without a button. The home button could be skipped across all of its iPhones, iPads, and AirPod or iPod devices.

Related: Apple might launch SIX watch models next month

Media reports have already been speculating that there could be three iPhone models launched at the event. These include an update to the existing 5.8-inch iPhone X, a 6.5-inch bigger screen iPhone X Plus, and a cheaper 6.1-inch LCD phone. Apart from coming in various colors such as red, orange, blue, gray, and white, speculations are rife that there could be another variant with a gold finish or completely golden one.

All models are likely to come with a 7-nanometer A12 chipset, 2.6 or 2.8 GHz octa-core CPU processor and Apple Custom GPU. The high-end variants could have dual 20-megapixel rear-facing cameras and a 12-megapixel front-facing one with LED flash coming in both sides. The phones could have better and bigger battery along with much quicker charging capacity.

Related: Apple to launch three new iPhone X designs

The phones could be priced between $600 and $1,000 for the low and high-end variants. The rumor mills have churned out with names like iPhone XS, iPhone X Plus, and the iPhone 9 or iPhone XC for the cheaper variant. Also, Apple will continue its older models after the launch of new devices at a price much lower than the present price.

All fans are expecting a better weapon to be launched by Apple that could give stiff competition to Samsung and Xiaomi. The company’s stock has turned based on the media expectations as shares have touched an all-time high of $228.26 on Thursday with a market cap of $1.087 trillion.