Hot Take: Apple's iPhone 13 lineup, new iPads and Watch Series 7
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- Anonymous
- 3p@
- 19 Sep 2021
iPad mini was the star of the show
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- Heisenberg
- 7kj
- 19 Sep 2021
iPad mini 6 is my pick from the Apple event. It was by far the most improved device compared to previous gen considering the mini 5 was launched in 2019 and it will sell well (hoping so) since the only real threat to its commercial success are other apple devices viz., iPad Air4 and iPad 9. Samsung Tab 7 FE/lite needed to be priced around INR38,000 to stand a chance. Now, none.
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- SA Woodlawn
- g30
- 19 Sep 2021
The only reasonable upgrade would be an iPad Mini, the rest are just iterative, especially the vanilla iPhone 13 series. Infact, I would call it a waste of money to upgrade from iPhone 12 to 13 (not Pros).
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- Anonymous
- xZI
- 19 Sep 2021
Standard iPhone 13 is rubbish and pointless this time. The Pro models are awesome, just handicapped by slow charging and Lightning connector. The new iPad Mini is also probably going to be excellent
- N
- Not worth it
- gMJ
- 19 Sep 2021
Absolutely agree ! Cinematic mode in a smartphone is as relevant as console quality graphics on mobile.
- Kangal
- D$j
- 19 Sep 2021
Excellent analysis Prasad !
Apple Watch... what can I say, they're successful. Again, they did the minimum effort here. For men, a watch is the main or only piece of jewellery they have. So to see this non-square, weird rectangle, with curved edges. Yeah, it's not attractive. I've seen the Samsung Watch 4 (Silver 46mm) in-person and on-wrist, and now that is a smartwatch. Not quiet convinced by Google Wear v3, Tizen or even iWatchOS but with the right Watch-Face it really does look like a real watch (eg Rolex, Omega, Tissot, Swatch, Seiko, Citizen, Casio, etc). If Apple went this route, you certainly would lose out most buyers for the older design, essentially making it obsolete, and leave a bad taste in the mouth of previous owners and developers.
Apple iPads... interesting contrast to the foldables.
The biggest problem with Android Tablets is the software. Apple actually doubled-down on their curated App ecosystem for the iPad. And they've gone from strength-to-strength here. It really is a different experience, when compared to their iPhones. Whereas Google made a huge showcase with Android 4.0.3, and did some refinements with 4.1 and 4.2, but they gave up after that. Android Tablets have simply focused on the SDK being flexible to allow Apps to scale up, so that developers don't have to put the extra work. This is half-measure, not a proper fix. In the future, it is possible that iPadOS is replaced with macOS, or at the minimum, supports some of the "desktop" programs. That's how Apple will win/differentiate themselves, by focussing on the software, ecosystem, and a subscription model.
Notch... as you postulate, Apple has reduced the size of it as a selling point. It's still too big, it's still an eyesore, and FaceID should have never replaced TouchID. The pandemic, which is going to span over two years, has shown how wrong that decision was. And now with the NSA/Privacy issues happening with Apple devices, it is not a good option for consumers.
As for the rest of the iPhone, we will have to wait for proper/independent reviews to look at how it measures up. Firstly, the cameras are barely an improvement. We've pretty much plateud in terms of software-processing based on the thermal budgets. What Apple and Google need to do now, is to innovate on the Hardware. It started with Huawei (eg P30), followed shortly after with Oppo (X2pro), OnePlus (8pro), Samsung (S21 Ultra) and now even Xiaomi with the Mi 11 Ultra effectively having the largest sensor (1/1.2") of all time, besting the previous records by the Lumia 1020 and Nokia 808. And just this year, we've seen the Sharp R6 announced, which is a thin 8.5mm phone, with also a slim 9.5mm camera bump... yet it houses a true 1/1.0" sensor. So the hardware innovation has arrived. But Apple will milk this transition as long as they can, to appease the bean counters. On to other things, I think there is a little performance improvement from the A14 to the A15, and most of it is for efficiency. I think the 4G/5G antennas have also gotten more efficient. And the new display technology type should also save some battery savings. So we might be seeing something like a 10-30% cumulative efficiency gain, and this time, that extra power budget will probably be spent on the 120Hz display leading to similar battery life as before.
Overall, Android is in stagnation mode and Apple is following too. There's nothing revolutionary in these products to warrant an upgrade from yesteryears devices, or even two-years back. Even three year old Apple devices are holding up decent. The iPad mini is really the only device that's great from a consumer viewpoint. I'm sure future iPhones will end up hiding the notch completely, possibly going to a 21:9 shape, using a large sensor, and making bigger performance improvements with ARMv9..... but these will come with added costs, and they will be in a slow-rollout. iPads won't get better unless they also become foldable, or they adopt more mature Applications from the likes of macOS. Apple Watch (and AirPods) will continue to be there with or without yearly improvements, helping their profit margins. Apple will need to innovate on a new product eventually, this could be as a Gaming Console or an Electric Vehicle or something based on a subscription/software service (eg Advertisement Platform, Video Hosting, Social Media, Search Engine, etc etc).
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- AnonD-1018330
- J8U
- 19 Sep 2021
Apple is playing safe as i noticed. They don't want to bring new things or tech until it's proven stable or useful.
This year the best thing they did is iPhone 13 pro & 13 pro max display and iPad mini & new iPad
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- Rysenchi
- XQG
- 19 Sep 2021
There’s nothing meaningfully new this year
- 1
- 1am2lost
- uH{
- 19 Sep 2021
Nice hot take! It just feels like they already have much more advanced stuff but they are holding back so they can pace out their stock price gains (or so they think).
- X
- XCIV
- PGS
- 19 Sep 2021
Welcome to 2018, Apple. ❤️
- O
- Ohi
- q{E
- 19 Sep 2021
Apple dominating market as always.