Note only the ipad mini 2 price dropped; the ipad mini 4 price did not change. It now costs the same as the ipad air 2.
Shitty event. Increasing the ipad’s price by $100 when sales were already dropping precipitously is an… interesting choice. Also 16GB models suck balls, it’s 2016 and flash is cheap as dirt.
Apple will only up the starting model to 32GB when that is far too low for most people. Otherwise they’re basically lowering the average selling price of the iPhone by $100 for no good reason. It’s annoying, but it still causes people to buy the mid-range model even though they don’t really need 64GB.
Flat-out, they need to find a way to differentiate their product lines that doesn’t render the lowest-end model a poor experience for their users. There are tons of ways to do that; more RAM, better camera, faster CPU, higher resolution screens, etc.
We should have a pool to bet on when Apple will drop the 16GB line. Maybe 2018?
My thoughts exactly. I’ll be wanting an upgrade for my MotoX eventually as well (and on Verizon’s network as well, so Sony Z for me), so hopefully this leads into at least some more “classically” sized Android phones.
I thought they made their billions by not paying taxes?
New iPhones and iPads will almost always warrant an event. It’s their day in the focus of the press, plus the media can get some hands-on time and pick up their review units.
Also, it gave Apple a chance to promote they are customer-oriented by: bringing up the FBI thing, their ecological theories and the health stuff. More importantly, if they didn’t hold the March event this year, the message wouldn’t have been, “Apple decided to do a presser instead,” but, “Apple is hiding from the FBI.”
The March event is generally the smaller event. It used to be where they’d do their roadmaps, but WWDC now replaces it.
I didn’t think the event was the worst ever. For me, that honor is held by the antennagate presser where Jobs clearly wanted to be anywhere but there.
Honestly the most frustrating thing is that they won’t just take that extra step to really exploit their commanding lead in ARM. They should just drop a A9X in everything; Apple TV, pads, phones, ect. The iPad Pro should be an ultra book running iOS with storage and a file system. The Apple TV should have an A9X and 128gb storage and be equal to superior to an XBOX 360 with multiple controller support. They have the tools to really game change things in the Intel/ARM balance of things… They just won’t execute. Because they’re terrified of changing the things that have worked in the past. An ARM based desktop. An ARM desktop dock for your phone. They are tons of cool things they could be doing but aren’t. They’re the closest to actually having an ARM based desktop OS! That’s actually consumer ready. ARM based MacBooks (the ultralights) could have not only better battery life and arguably better performance but would probably be cheaper to boot or have an even larger profit margin. Then they could use their TouchID iOS support with their computers. So many things they could do. They have processors that are equal or better to Intel equivalents doing the Apple equivalent of running minesweeper, it’s such a disappointment.
I should also say this is probably the best time to starting thinking beyond Intel because waiting for process tech to catch up to market demand is going to be a losers’ game from now on. Intel’s move to Skylake is in practice about 3x longer than they predicted. Just going beyond Skylake might take longer.
I’m so torn right now. I have an old iPad model 2 that I am wanting to ditch. Was holding off on buying an iPad Air 2 in the hopes that the 21st announcement would be something more substantial. Now I’m underwhelmed and unsure what to do. I hate the thought of buying an Air 2 now when A9X model with the new 9.7 inch Pro…but on the other hand, I’m sick of Apple’s pricing model. My biggest complaint about my iPad 2 and my iPhone 5 is the storage. To combat that from happening in the future, I would end up buying the 128 gig or 256 gig versions. Going from 32 to 128 is $150, and 32 to 256 gig is $300 (!!). That’s just pure gouging at this point. Apple may have just priced me out of the Apple market.
You think Intel is the only one with this problem?
There seem to be more gains still to be made in ARM architecture than in Intel. Intel is going the other way in consumer products, making them power efficient. All fabs are having problems going small of course, but ARM performance is still increasing generation to generation significantly.
The point is that Apple can control the pace of their ARM development but are stuck waiting on Intel’s schedule. It might be two-five years before the next Intel processor cycle, which means Apple is stuck waiting on a third-party to make the things that make their things go.
My guess is (IMO) that Intel/Apple relatively cozy relationship is scary to threaten. Intel could just take their ball and go home and then…no more MacBooks or IMac. And at least for the high end, this would mean a reduction of performance. Their unwillingness to develop desktop ARM is probably in order to preserve that relationship. But like I said, Intel’s schedule is going to get so slow it’s starting to make the risk worth it.
I think in the next 1-2 years we will see an A9X Macbook. The leading candidate is the new MacBook. That said, since I think since running X86 apps under Windows a draw for these devices, so I don’t see them fully ditching Intel for a while.
That said, I think this year’s WWDC is going to be interesting. I’m curious what iOS 10 will be like on the 12" iPad Pro. There’s so much wasted space with the current home layout that I hope they tighten it up.
Right now, though, my laptop is my iPad Pro with a smart cover. Even an Arm-based Macbook wouldn’t make me switch. I like being able to work, read, and draw all on my mobile device.
Apple does the same thing with Mac’s, too. You can’t upgrade the RAM in the current Mac mini since it’s soldered-on, so if you want 16GB you have to order it that way…for an additional $300. That’s an insane markup for DDR3 RAM. My next Mac might be a Hackintosh.
Maybe release a mid-range priced phone with the latest specs save screen size?
I find that I’m now keeping photos and movies in the cloud, and the whole App thing is tapering off. Three years ago I had 10 games on my iPad, now I have 3 small ones for my daughter. I have a 32Gb phone and after a year, I have 17Gb free. Which is odd since my last-gen phone was also 32Gb and I was often running out of space. Maybe it’s just me though. Spotify, Netflix work better than MP3 collection and DVD rips.
To me the new iPad is a nice, actually pretty great, upgrade. It has the A9X (close to or is a desktop class processor), four speaker audio twice the volume of the iPad Air 2 (yes please), improved calibrated display arguably well ahead of competition (I like the adjustment to ambient white balance even as a non graphics artist professional), pencil support (I’ve actually spoken to a real-world architect who uses the pro and pencil and loves it).
I need to do more research, but it seems like that’s the exact opposite of what you want as an artist. The whole point of having a calibrated monitor is to make sure that colors are consistent across different displays; I’m not sure why you would want the onscreen colors to be different based on the ambient light.
You’re correct, from my amateur photography/photo editing days, a shifting color profile would be unacceptable. I had a little device that calibrated my monitors for it to ensure colors were always the same. Even though I don’t do much photo editing anymore, I really don’t understand why people would want this.
The only thing I can think of is if you’re mocking up a print campaign, and you want to see how it looks in different environments. But for video or apps, yeah, I don’t see the appeal.
No, because they compromised on the one thing that really matters. An iPhone SE with an A8 and 32GB storage would be a far better offering.