Primed for disappointment, Paul Therrott writes:
Apple this morning announced a new 10.5-inch iPad Air, which oddly doesn’t replace the 9.7-inch iPad, and a new iPad Mini. Both products support Apple Pencil, but it’s the old version, not the one that shipped along with the new iPad Pros. Both also feature dated designs with big bezels.
My take: March 25 is Showtime, not hardware time.
Apple press release: All-new iPad Air and iPad mini deliver dramatic power and capability
A new Mini is going to sell quite nicely. And the Pencil is an accessory that adds nicely to iPad’s profitability. And you can buy a bullet-proof iPhone, an iPad Mini, AND a Pencil for considerably less than the new foldable Android smart devices. And you get the benefits of iOS to boot!
Good point, comparing to foldables to tablets.
I chuckle when pundits predict when Apple will launch a foldable iPhone. I may be proven wrong, but, a foldable phone seems like a very expensive and clumsy way to get a tablet sized screen. If you’re an App developer, Samsung and Huawei compete in different countries, which hurts the ROI for customizing Apps for the bigger screen.
Hopefully we’ll see more soft launches – I need new AirPods as the battery has given up the ghost.
Thurrott never met an Apple product he liked (because Apple doesn’t pay him to like them.)
Great move.
1) The price sensitive segment of Apple’s customer base has a slower upgrade cycle. Hence this long overdue upgrade will do well, even if analysts pay no attention.
2) The upgrade removes to low-end A-series chipsets from the product line, setting up eventual EOL of the older models. At the same time, the powerful chips facilitate more App revenue.
3) One more incremental advance of the iOS ecosystem.