Apple’s March 21 launch event: five things to expect

Apple’s highly anticipated spring 2016 launch event is just around the corner on March 21 and the rumor mills are churning about what we might see.

The tech giant provided no details with its announcement of the event, in keeping with its usual effort to build anticipation for new products ahead of the launch.

The event announcement last week only said: "Let us loop you in."

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Apple's headquarters is located on a road called Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California.

The company's twice-yearly product events are highly anticipated and the speculation that precedes them is rampant.

Recent rumors on the market centered around the idea of smaller devices and more streamlined designs. But expects also predict there could also be a couple of other updates to look out for.

Here are five things to expect at the upcoming launch event.

iPhone SE

A new ‘special edition’ Apple iPhone is expected to be released with a much smaller 4-inch screen and which is rumored to look like a iPhone 5 but with some design features from the iPhone 6.

The iPhone SE is expected to have the same processor and chips from the iPhone 6S and will come in 16GB and 64GB storage sizes.

Smaller iPad Pro

Apple is expected to reveal a new smaller 9.7-inch screen iPad Pro at the event next week.

As part of the iPad Pro line, the new tablet would have stylus support, four speakers, a faster processor, 128GB of storage and additional RAM.

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Apple Watch

There have been plenty of rumors about the second release of the Apple Watch, including predictions about wifi capabilities, a front facing camera and waterproofing.

But many experts now predict that Apple won’t many any announcement, or unveil, a new Apple Watch at its event next week.

Instead the tech giant is likely to update the Apple Watch, which was only launched a year ago, with new straps.

Encryption and security updates

The backdrop to this year's event is a high-stakes legal dispute with the FBI and the Obama administration, which has chafed at Apple's use of encryption that make its customers' data unreadable to others.

Federal authorities want Apple's help in over-riding security features on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters, so the FBI can attempt to examine the phone.

Apple CEO Tim Cook contends the government's demand would make other iPhones vulnerable.

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Both sides will make their case to a federal magistrate in Riverside on March 22.

While Apple executives say the company is continually working on increased security measures, they haven't said whether they will announce any new encryption or other safeguards at this month's event.

MacBook Air

Another product rumored to be in the pipeline is an update to the MacBook Air, with the 11in model disappearing from the lineup and a new 15in model being added.

Expects also believe that Apple considered announcing new 12-inch MacBooks at the event, but the imminent release of either model seems unlikely at the stage.