The Verge will be there live to bring you all the news . But in the meantime, here’s what to expect from today's big Apple event.

That something big is very likely making its debut at Apple’s event next Tuesday, which kicks off at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. The company has spent the past week erecting a large, white building right outside the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, just down the road from its headquarters. While new models of the iPhone are a shoo-in, all eyes are on the company to finally take the wraps off its wearable — the one that’s been rumored to be in the works since 2012, and that could shake up a market where rivals like Google and Samsung already have a head start.

There’s a lot riding on Apple’s massive iPhone 6 and iWatch event. Since the first iPad in 2010, the big question on everyone’s mind has been “what comes next?” Apple updates its lineup on a fairly predictable schedule, but products that push the company into entirely new categories have been few and far between. That hasn’t hurt Apple financially by any stretch; in fact, it continues to make more on each device it sells than just about anyone. Still, a constant stream of promises from Apple’s top execs have drawn out the idea that something big is just around the corner.

NFC and mobile payments Apple’s been interested in Near Field Communications (NFC) for years, but has aways stayed away because it’s been such a finicky and poorly-supported technology. That’s about to change though. The new iPhones and Apple’s upcoming watch will feature the wireless technology, according to multiple reports. Why include NFC? It allows data transfers between devices without using a cellular network, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone have offered this for years, and it’s been used for things like automatically adjusting settings or launching apps when a device is tapped to another NFC sensor. It also lets you pair your device to another quickly, so NFC tags have shown up on gadgets like cameras and printers. Apple probably already has your credit card information Apple’s rumored to be eyeing it as a way to let people pay for things using their phone like a credit card. People already do that with Apple’s App Store, in iTunes, iBooks, and from within apps, but the company’s expected to open that up in other places like actual retail stores, where you could tap to pay. Apple has more than 800 million iTunes accounts set up and attached to payment information, giving it plenty of weight to throw around, and it's reportedly already made agreements with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express leading up to tomorrow's event. Apple’s said to have built NFC into several prototypes over the years, including the iPhone 5. Funnily enough, Apple executive Phil Schiller dismissed the technology in a 2012 interview with All Things D, saying "Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today." Apparently that's changed.

iOS 8 Developers have had their hands on iOS 8 since Apple’s developers conference in June, but it’s still a work in progress. Expect that to change tomorrow, with a finished version that developers will get the same day, with the public getting it next week. Apple’s done that for the last three years, and expect the same thing to happen this time around. For developers this week, for everyone next week iOS 8 isn’t a dramatic visual change like iOS 7, as much as a huge pile of new features that open up the platform and tie it deeper to Apple’s OS X desktop software. Among the new features is something called Continuity that lets people hand off their tasks from an iPhone or iPad to a Mac. Apple’s also added a new predictive keyboard called QuickType, and actually opened up iOS to third-party keyboards, something Google’s Android has offered for years. Other new features include voice and group messaging, a file browser for iCloud, unlimited photo and video storage in iCloud (if you pay for storage), along with a new app called Health that tracks health statistics and is expected to be an integral part of Apple’s wearable.

iWatch preview Just about everyone’s got a smartwatch out by now, but not Apple. That’s all but guaranteed to change tomorrow. The big expectation is a wearable device that runs iOS, come with the App Store, and that can measure biometric information to feed into Apple’s HealthKit service and Health app. Yet one of the most closely guarded details is what exactly it will look like. Is it a watch, or something like a fitness band? A pair of reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times last week said the device will feature a flexible OLED display and come in multiple sizes. On the hardware side, it’s said to have things like wireless charging, and the aforementioned NFC chip for making payments and possibly other uses. The first murmurings that Apple was working on this bubbled up out of China near the end of 2012, with the expectation that Apple would have a product ready to go sometime later that year. That didn’t happen, but just about every one of Apple’s competitors has readied smartwatches since then. Google’s even introduced an entire wearables platform, with the first big wave of products out the door and onto the wrists of customers. As for when Apple’s watch is coming out, and how much will it cost, there might be a wait involved. Citing sources, Recode says that Apple plans to ship it sometimes next year, and for less than $400. Some of the other big questions that Apple needs to answer are how existing iOS applications will work with it, as well as how it’s going to be better than the growing list of devices that are already out there. Read more: What to expect from the iWatch

iPods Contrary to popular belief, the iPod is not dead. At least not entirely. While iPod sales have declined since 2008, people are still buying them. Just last quarter, Apple sold 2.9 million iPods, and historically, more than half of those have been the iPod touch. But one big reason we’re due for an update is time. The last time Apple overhauled the iPod touch was alongside the iPhone 5 in 2012. That design extended the screen to 4 inches and added a small loop for a camera strap. But a lot’s changed since 2012, especially on the inside of Apple’s iOS devices. The A5 chip that’s currently on the touch is getting long in the tooth, especially when compared last year’s A7, and the A8 that's likely to be in the iPhone 6. Graphics-intensive games like the recently-released Bioshock are proof of that, since the latest iPod touch can't even run it. One wrinkle in this is that Apple quietly launched an updated version of its entry-level iPod touch near the end of June that added a 5-megapixel iSight camera to the back of the device. It also trimmed the prices on the two higher-end models. Up in the air is what happens with Apple’s other iPods. Apple revamped the iPod nano in 2012 with a narrow metal design that added Bluetooth, yet it also added a strange not-quite-the-iOS-you’re-used-to interface that’s nothing like where Apple went with last year’s iOS 7. There’s the very real question about how this product will exist alongside a wearable that might do many of the same things. As for the iPod shuffle and iPod classic, Apple seems to have taken them as far as they’ll go. Each serves its purpose, either as a very cheap clip on MP3 player, or a portable hard drive for your entire music collection. You have to wonder how long the Classic has though, especially since Apple now owns two streaming music services.

OS X Yosemite Apple’s released a new version of OS X each and every year since 2011, and it’s already said to expect it in the fall. Just don’t expect its latest — Yosemite — out at this event. One thing that could change that is a fairly strong connection between iOS 8 and OS X with a feature called Continuity that lets you pick up on what you’re doing with your iPhone or iPad back on your computer, and vice versa. It’s not such a tough sell to make people wait a few more weeks to get their hands on that, though.

New Macs Apple already got its Mac lineup in pretty good shape ahead of the back to school shopping season, but there are several Macs due for an upgrade. That two big ones are the Mac mini and iMac. The Mac mini in particular hasn’t been touched by Apple in close to two years. Just don’t expect new ones to be shown off tomorrow.

New iPads There’s never been an event where we’ve gotten a new iPhone and the iPad at the same time, and that's even less likely to happen if Apple’s introducing its first entirely new product in years. Although recent rumors suggest a new iPad Air is a possibility, don't hold your breath. Or, if you can do it for a month, that might be a better plan.

Apple TV upgrade The hope that Apple was on the verge of completely changing television as we know it with a TV set or dramatically updated set top box remains just that — a hope. Instead, we’ve had hardware that’s remained about the same since the move to a puck shape in 2010. An update in 2012 added a faster processor, 1080p video playback, and more memory. And Apple's updated the existing Apple TV with a steady trickle of updates to add more channels and features. As for ambitions of something bigger, Apple has reportedly run into issues wooing content providers to sign on with something that might replace your cable box, so maybe don’t expect to see such a product tomorrow, or even by the end of the year.