Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.

In each of the past four years, Apple has announced a Black Unity campaign in the second half of January, and this has typically included a new Apple Watch band, Apple Watch face, and iPhone wallpaper featuring the colors of the Pan-African flag. We recently discovered that the upcoming tvOS 18.3 update for the Apple TV has a new UNITY25 reference hidden within its code, which suggests that the Black Unity campaign may continue in 2025. If so, it is likely that Apple will make an announcement about it next week.

Apple Watch Black Unity Band 2024
It is unclear if there will be any other product announcements next week beyond a new Black Unity band. Apple is expected to announce updated MacBook Air models with the M4 chip in early 2025, and Powerbeats Pro 2 are also coming soon, but Gurman did not mention anything beyond a potential Black Unity band in his social media post today.

Apple is expected to release iOS 18.3, macOS 15.3, and other software updates next week, following more than a month of beta testing.

Cross your fingers that the merchandise updates means that Apple will have a busy week ahead, but keep your expectations tempered.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
ios 26 1 slide to stop

iOS 26.1 Brings Back 2007 Feature in New Way

Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important. Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped. The new ...
M5 MacBook Pro

Waiting for New Macs? Apple Just Shared Bad News

Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year. Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
apple tv hd

Apple Launched Its Big New Vision for TV 10 Years Ago Today

Thursday October 30, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device. The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...

Top Rated Comments

JPack Avatar
10 months ago
Title had me going. Thought it was something legit.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
delsoul Avatar
10 months ago
I’m shocked Apple
Doesn’t celebrate lunar new years products in the US considering how many celebrate it. If you’re not going to celebrate everyone, don’t celebrate any months or events at all.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rradcircless Avatar
10 months ago

I’m shocked Apple
Doesn’t celebrate lunar new years products in the US considering how many celebrate it. If you’re not going to celebrate everyone, don’t celebrate any months or events at all.
They sell Chinese new year AirTags and AirPods every year ? check your facts
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
10 months ago

Title had me going. Thought it was something legit.
I was hoping for some Tim Cook action figures.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
10 months ago

but keep your expectations tempered.
Good one!
My expectations are non-existent ;)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smulji Avatar
10 months ago

Mmmh… maybe technically not, but I don’t remember any launch in the January timeframe in the past.
January 17, 2023 is when Apple launched M2 series MBP & Mac mini

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/new-macbook-pro-laptops-and-mac-mini-add-apples-m2-chips/
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)