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On Wednesday, February 19, Apple will launch a completely new iPhone SE. However, unlike a fall iPhone launch, which takes place at a special media event and is therefore flagged a week in advance by a clue-filled invite, Tim Cook\u2019s teaser on X<\/a> isn\u2019t for an event. Rather, the new iPhone SE will follow the less glamorous route of an emailed press release sometime Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a similar route Apple chose for last October\u2019s Mac announcements. We expected an event but instead, we got three days of press releases. Press release announcements may let Apple retain the element of surprise (and save money on video production and acting coaches), but they lack a certain something when it comes to excitement. I complained<\/a> recently about the injustice of a product as important as the new SE being treated like a coupon offer at your local burrito spot. Events bring a different kind of hype than a press release, and if anything deserves a bit of hype, it\u2019s this strategically vital entryway into the Cupertino ecosystem.<\/p>\n Event-sized hype, however, may be a commodity we will have to learn to live without. It may be time to recognize that big Apple events are on borrowed time, and that the days of tech product announcements as must-watch appointment TV may be over.<\/p>\n In 2024, admittedly, we got a generous slate of events. But the odd thing was that none of them seemed necessary. The Let Loose event last May ran long on gaffes<\/a> and short on substantive reveals, and I saw nothing to make me revise my pre-event prediction of a meeting that could have been an email<\/a>. WWDC was all software, and the iPhone event was heavy on Apple intelligence and light on hardware breakthroughs. And the one event that mattered most didn\u2019t happen\u2014instead of a Mac event in late fall to announce the redesigned M4 Mac mini, Apple chose instead to hold a week of quieter announcements on three consecutive days in October.<\/p>\n \n