Basically they announced the rebranding of the iPad Air 3 as the iPad Pro, with A9X chipset and somewhat better screen, Apple Pen support. Lower price on outdated iPad Minis and Airs. Announced smaller IPhones.
I think that Apple probably doesn’t get enough credit as to how good their screens actually are, but even so, this is essentially a non-event, iterative improvements as new products.
Hey, but they also got to brag about THE SPACESHIP. Wooo! In your face, all you people that work in boring square buildings!
They figured out what f.lux was, and integrated it into iOS! That’s revolutionary!
I do think the whole “calibrate the screen to the ambient light in the room” stuff they are doing in addition is neat, but there’s still nothing there to make me go past my ipad air 1. Maybe if I was playing more games on it, I’d care.
Got any screen captures of that anywhere? My google-fu is failing me. They actually showed pictures of the new space ship building?
In the 1950’s, every year’s new model of car was so radically different from the previous year’s that it was a huge event. Now, cars have only tiny, iterative improvements, so nobody cares too much. Maybe it’s time for Apple to put this stuff out in a quiet press release that people read only if they’re in the market for a new phone or tablet at the time.
You’d think they’d get around to upgrading the damn Macbook Airs by now. It’s bad enough they’ve still got Broadwell, but the fact that Apple still uses TN screens in inexcusable.
It’s weird that you have to look to Dell if you want state-of-the-art in ultrabooks.
LOL, or they can continue to get tons of free press every time they announce an upgraded iPad. Do you think they’d give that up just because you think it’s boring?
This brings up a really crucial point, which is I think Apple’s sort of internal writer’s block. As “innovative” as they are they’re actually terrified of innovation at this point, and they seem to almost have a “sanctified” view of their past products. This is probably because everything new they’ve come up with since SJ passed has been a mild to serious bust. New MacBook? Everyone agrees it’s too stripped down. New Keyboards? Everyone thinks they’re inferior, though still usable. 12" iPad? That does almost nothing different? Shrug. Apple TV that can game, only except it can’t? Eh. Apple Watch? The best of a bad market, barely lasts 24 hours, which defeats the purpose of Health Kit (if you can’t sleep with it on what’s the point?). Trash can Mac Pro? Sure it’s cool… But they haven’t updated it in years still. They still keep around the MacBook Pro 1280x800 with cd-rom and like 3rd gen Intel processor because… Why? They’re keeping around the iPad Air and Mini 2 because…why? They still have a Mac Mini but do nothing with it because…? I’m sure the same is going to be true with the MacBook Air; which is too bad because that is their best laptop form factor (IMO) and the most comfortable to work with.
Honestly wth are all these engineers doing? Making up ideas and then getting the ideas canned? They’re doing a great job, though, of reinforcing the Silicon Valley idea of the heroic CEO, if a whole round building’s worth of engineers aren’t worth even a fraction of one Steve Jobs, as far as coming up with new ideas, anyway.
Apple officially has nothing more to offer than any other hardware maker besides the standard incremental updates they all do. This should have been a simple press release. Trying to pass this off as anything significant is Apple really stretching it.
Jobs is probably rolling over in his grave as we speak.
The Verge, obviously, crap their pants in excitement.
The new iPhone SE finally makes a small phone feel powerful
Small is the new black
So, this “small” phone has the size of the older iPhones… does that mean those never felt powerful? And if it’s about the feat of cramming the hardware of a bigger phone into a small phone without compromising a lot - well, Sony’s done that for a while now with their Xperia Z series. Except that the Compact versions got released simultaneously along with the big ones. But hey, Apple, I guess.
Don’t get me wrong; I always liked the 4/5 asthetics AND size better than the 6 series, so the SE is a welcome announcement that also might ‘motivate’ other companies (other than Sony) to deliver some flagship products in the <5" range.
I’ve been saying for a while now that Apple is all about protecting its margins, which is why the base model of their phones still ship with 16GB of storage, when the next step up has 4 times as much storage.
It’s probably why the MBA still rock such shitty specs; if they upgraded them to the standards of a Dell XPS 13, they’d totally cannibalize the MacBook Pro’s sales.
It reminds me of something the New Yorker wrote last year after MS unveiled the Surface Book.
Then Panay produced his biggest surprise: the top half twisted off, becoming a tablet in addition to a laptop screen. It was either a beautiful way to reimagine a laptop—a triumph of both hardware and software engineering—or something likely to confuse the hell out of most people. In the room, the audience was wowed. Gerbasio told me he wanted to buy the thing. Afterward, reviewers were equally enthusiastic. “Wow. Microsoft finally did it,” wrote Engadget. Microsoft, it seems, is becoming a bit more like the old Apple, even as Apple becomes more like the old Microsoft.
You do have to wonder what Steve Jobs would think of this Apple.
Tech reporters fellating Apple are always good for a rueful chuckle, I suppose.
SPACESHIP!
Not sure where you are getting your info, but the failures you cite have been very popular in the Apple community that I know and follow. Sure not everything is going to please everyone, but overall, the products seem to be popular. Sure if you listen to podcasts like ATP, you will hear about how Marco Arment hates all the new Apple products, but I don’t think he speaks for the community.
12" Macbook some people complain because its not what they wanted. It is a light, sleek laptop that has a great screen and does what it needs to do. Its not meant to compete with the Pro. I have one for school/coffee shop runs. Does exactly what I need it to do, and I am really happy with it. Yes it only has one USB port, never an issue for my uses. The consensus of people who actually wanted a laptop like that has been positive. For some reason, people who want to use Xcode think its horrible. It wasn’t designed for that.
iPad Pro reception has been very good. Everyone loves the Pencil. There are some complaints that iOS is still too limited, but again, the vast majority of the comments I have seen have been very positive. Its not for everyone, sure.
Apple TV, again, people seem to like it, but its new and needs more apps…still way too early to call it a failure.
Apple Watch lasts 2 full days of use for me. It is limited, very limited. I like it, again, most people I have seen that have one like it. People who don’t own one hate it.
Yeah, most of the Mac line could use an update. Retina iMacs have been hugely successful though. Sure we will see updates in time. The old Macbook Pro with a DVD drive is still popular with education and business users. Thats why it is still around. Not sure what you want from the Mac Mini, the old version was better because it was upgradable and the new one could be a bit more exciting, but again, it’s there for a certain market. Minis make awesome home servers, which seems to be a very common use.
Everyone who loves to talk about Steve Jobs Apple seems to forget the many, many failure they had.
I have heard people suggest they keep the low base models around so they can up-sell to the more expensive models. You come in the door for the lowest price model, find out that 16gb isn’t good enough and buy the better one (with the much higher margin). Plus as I said in my other post, they keep some models around for education/business.
And I will buy a Dell XPS when it comes with OS X, doesn’t include all the Dell crap, has customer service that goes above and beyond, has a vastly better touchpad (I heard they are getting better to their credit), that can run apps that sync with my phone and iPads, and can run programs like OmniFocus and DevonThink. My point is that for some people, like me, there isn’t much Dell could do the would make me want to buy one. I realize I am minority, especially on a gaming site like this, but a lot of people just prefer Macs. There was an article this week stating that OS X has now surpassed Linux for developers and is on track to out number Windows as the most used platform as well. Unless you are chasing specs as a gamer, most Macs are more than enough for most users.
Hell, even as a gamer I would never buy a Dell. I have in the recent past and regretted it. Never again.
“Not sure where you are getting your info, but the failures you cite have been very popular in the Apple community that I know and follow.”
Apple doesn’t make their billions off the Apple fanboys. They will buy anything and act like its the second coming. You get 10 of millions of devices a quarter by selling to the real masses. The continual decline of ipad sales are proof that you can’t keep everyone buying into moderately better hardware forever. Most will be fine with what they have for several years.
Sure, they make their billions off of the iPhone. They make several more millions off of everything else. Macs and iPads aren’t huge numbers for Apple, but these other product lines bring enough revenue that most companies could only dream about being that successful. Plus those iPhones lead to sales in other lines.
And if you think Apple fanboys will buy anything that Apple makes and love it, you don’t know any fanboys. They are hugely vocal about their dislike of Apple products. I could point you to any number of Apple forums, websites, and podcasts where people complain about Apple products constantly, but as they often say, they complain because their products are still better than the choices and they want the company to do better.
This was the best Apple event in a while for me personally for exactly this reason. I’m not looking to upgrade any of my Apple products any time soon*, but my Moto X is going to be three years old in the fall. It hasn’t been quite the same since Lollipop, and I’d really love to upgrade to a sub-5-inch Android with flagship level specs. More choices than the Z-compact would be just swell.
*(My MBA is two and a half years old and my iPad is pushing four. I’m a bad Apple consumer.)
For starters, that’s because they give OS X 26.2% and then Windows gets split into 7 (22.5) + Windows 10 (20.8) + Windows 8 (8.4) + Various (.5) aka Windows is double OS X in this survey.
On top of that it is a pretty ridiculous article. It’s just citing the stack overflow user survey which has a very tight range of primary users, particularly users who are engaged enough to fill out a survey. There’s nothing wrong with the survey itself, but it’s 65% web and mobile developers and students. That’s not a representative breakdown of developers out there.
Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.