Is Apple Store down (January 17) ahead of rumored launch of new MacBook Pro? How to check server status and more

Apple Business-to-Business (B2B) Online Storefront is reportedly experiencing some downtime ahead of today's rumored new MacBook Pro announcement. Heading over to Apple's e-commerce website, users will be greeted with a down page stating that changes are being made and that it'll be functional shortly.

The online storefront downtime is quite intriguing as a brand new product announcement from the tech giant is rumored to be dropped today. While the details are currently scarce, it's expected to be a new 14-inch and a 16-inch MacBook Pro successor, featuring the M2 Max and M2 Ultra. With just a few hours to go, it'll be interesting to see what fans can expect from Apple in 2023.

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Apple's e-commerce store is reportedly down, prior to rumors of a new product announcement

Apple's online B2B e-commerce outlet is where businesses place orders for large quantities of the brand's products. Today, right before the rumored announcement of the latest MacBooks, the website is reportedly down.

It should be noted that the consumer storefront (https://www.apple.com/store) is fully operational, so you can head over there to order a new iPhone. This is different from the above-mentioned B2B e-commerce outlet (https://ecommerce2.apple.com).

With any new product launches, it's expected to be available for purchase on the storefronts right away. Aside from supplying consumers, the company is also expected to make it available on the B2B e-commerce website for third-party storefronts to place their orders.

As such, considering the ongoing rumors of the new MacBooks, the website being down doesn't come as a surprise, but rather a confirmation of the rumors.

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How to check Apple server status for all services?

Apple offers a plethora of services, from the App Store and iCloud to Maps and HomeKit services. All of these arrive with their own series of challenges when it comes to servers. The company is known for providing simplistic solutions for every problem, and unsurprisingly, they have provided an easy way to check on the server status of all of these services.

To check the server status of any of the company's services, head over to (https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/). Here, you'll find the current server status of all services, including the different storefronts, iCloud, and Maps. As the services are known to work together in collaboration, forming the all-too familiar "Apple Ecosystem," multiple services might be down at once. However, considering the brand's efficiency, the servers won't stay down for long.

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What to expect from the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook?

Since its inception back in 1976 with the Apple 1, the Steve Jobs-Wozniak founded company laid the foundation for modern-day home computing. Considered to be one of the two leading personal computer systems today, MacBooks have become synonymous with the modern professional and personal computing.

With Apple's shift to in-house silicon for the Mac in 2020, it brought about a massive revolution within the series. M1's amazing performance was further expanded on with the higher tier M1 Max and M1 Ultra SOCs, currently being offered on high-end Mac devices.

Introduced last year at WWDC, the M2 is the next-generation evolution of the chip, offering even more performance at an unbelievably lower TDP cost. Since then, fans have been holding their breath for the next-generation M2 Max and M2 Ultra.

It's currently unclear what to expect from these new devices in terms of power, but one thing is for certain; they're going to be one of the fastest laptops in the lineup yet.