What Apple’s taglines were really saying

Apple never says on its invitations what it will announce. Instead, it writes a short line and lets people work out what it means. Some lines are obvious only after the event; others are hidden in plain sight. Here is what some of the most memorable taglines in the archive were really saying, grouped by the kind of hint they gave.

Lines that named the product without naming it

The simplest trick is wordplay on the product itself.

• Hint: It's not a Mac (2001) told reporters to expect something other than a computer. It was iPod.
• There's something in the air (2008) was a pun on MacBook Air, which Steve Jobs pulled out of an envelope.
• Back to the Mac (2010) promised a Mac event after years of iPhone and iPad, and delivered the new MacBook Air and a preview of Lion.
• Let's talk iPhone (2011) sounded like an ordinary phrase until Apple introduced Siri, an assistant you talk to.
• Hi, Speed (2020) pointed to the first 5G iPhones.
• Scary fast (2023), on the evening before Halloween, introduced the M3 chips.
• It's Glowtime (2024) matched the glowing edge of the new Siri on iPhone 16.

Developers have their own version. WWDC taglines often play on Swift, Apple's programming language: Swiftly approaching in 2022 and Coming in swiftly in 2024. The 2024 line has aged with some irony. The Apple Intelligence features it introduced arrived in stages over the following months, and the more personal Siri took until WWDC26.

Lines that hinted at a feature

Some taglines pointed to a single feature rather than a product.

• Let loose (2024) was paired with Tim Cook's post Pencil us in for May 7! The event introduced Apple Pencil Pro along with the new iPad Pro.
• Far out (2022) hinted at space, and the event introduced Emergency SOS via satellite on iPhone 14.
• Code new worlds (2023) came before Apple Vision Pro, the first new Apple platform since Apple Watch.
• Awe dropping (2025) played on "jaw dropping" for iPhone Air, the thinnest iPhone Apple had made.

Lines about the date and the place

Other taglines were about the event itself.

• Spring forward (2015) arrived the day after clocks moved to daylight saving time in the US.
• Let us loop you in (2016) referred to Infinite Loop, the address of Apple's old campus, where the event was held.
• See you on the 7th (2016) gave the date, September 7, and the product number, iPhone 7.
• Let's meet at our place (2017) invited the press to the new Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park for the first time.
• Let's take a field trip (2018) took Apple to a public high school in Chicago for an education event.
• Join us for an education announcement in the Big Apple (2012) moved the event to the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
• California streaming (2021) played on a 1960s song title and on the fact that the event was streamed, not staged.

Lines that joked about secrecy

Apple's secrecy is famous, and a few invitations made fun of it.

• Wish we could say more (2014) came after months of leaked iPhone 6 parts, and Apple did hold something back: Apple Watch.
• We've got a little more to show you (2012) hid the product in plain sight. "A little" was the new iPad mini.
• We still have a lot to cover (2013) was accurate: new iPads, Macs and free software, a month after the iPhone event.
• It's been way too long (2014) was sent only five weeks after the previous event.

Lines that made a claim

A few invitations were less about hints than about confidence.

• Come see what 2011 will be the year of answered rivals who had promised that 2011 would be "the year of the tablet." It turned out to be the year of iPad 2.
• By innovation only (2019) was widely read as a reply to critics who said Apple had stopped innovating. Phil Schiller had answered the same critics more bluntly at WWDC13.
• One more thing (2020) borrowed Steve Jobs's famous phrase for the first Mac with Apple silicon. Apple had used the same words on an invitation in 2005.

A pattern in the words

Across the archive, the most common words in Apple's taglines are invitations in themselves: let, come, see, you. The lines rarely describe a product. They describe a relationship, an offer to come along and find out. That is probably the point. A product name tells you what to expect; a good tagline makes you want to watch.

For the full history of how the invitations changed over 25 years, read A history of Apple's invitations.