[Chinney]

I know the focus is going to be on the iPhones and iPads, but what would prevent Apple saying, "BTW, Skylake across, the board...shipping immediately? A nice little addition to the event.

A guy can hope.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Chinney what would prevent Apple saying, "BTW, Skylake across, the board...shipping immediately?

Intel.

[Chinney]

But Skylake is available......????

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by addison You use an iPhone 6 as your personal device? Are you going to go back to this smaller phone? That's been rather uncommon in my travels. Can't wait to see the pricing on this new phone though.

likely not, but as a 2nd "business" phone I would.

I'm not sure, the iPhone 6 is a bit big for my tastes... I like the screen real estate, but in reality, it's been a less usable device for me that has resulted in me developing very strange dexterity. :-)

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 You know what? That wouldn't bother me at all if the other stuff in the article (A9, etc.) was legit. I had an iPhone 5 for three-plus years and absolutely loved it, so that's fine if it's a 6s "in guts only'. If that was my option come Monday, then a silver 4" iPhone SE(?) is what I'd be glad to upgrade to (and rid myself of this banana-colored 5c). I just don't see how it can be higher-powered/spec'd than the previous-generation iPhone 6 and still sell $100 below them. Is Apple putting that much importance/allure on screen size? Do customers have that much of a hard-on for larger phones? Because even if I wasn't as big on the 4" model as I am, if it came down to an A8-based 4.7" model for $549 or an A9-based 4" model for $449 (and in the old 5s case), I'd still go for the 4" in a heartbeat. Not even a contest. Simply in terms of better performance with these ever-demanding iOS and third-party apps. I really couldn't care less about .7" more screen (and the 5.5" Plus was never a factor, or in the running, from day one). Just not sure how they present it in a way that people go for, unless they tweak the grid/lineup in some ways we've not predicted or imagined. For the normal, life-having schmo who doesn't follow all this idiocy, they're not going to know what phone to buy after Monday (unless some things get tweaked/streamlined a bit). Also, technical question: if this new 4" model came with the A9, does that automatically mean it'll have 2GB RAM? Is 2GB of RAM a stock component of that particular processor? Or is it the sort of thing Apple could offer in a 1GB variant (and why would they)?

This whole situation is a bit strange to me. It seems to me that Apple is on the brink of just making the annual iPhone available in 3 different sizes.... 4, 4.7, and 5.5.

This seems like a stopgap measure to me.... not as most pundits are expecting (that this gets upgraded every 18-24 months), but instead that the iPhone "SE" only survives until September.... at that time the one released tomorrow becomes Apple's free phone, and the iPhone 7 is released with 4", 4.7" and 5.5" models at $99, $199, and $299 phones under old subsidy plan pricing. In the future, the 4" model of the previous year becomes the "free" phone.

I'm probably way off base but it makes no sense to me to have a 4" iPhone match the iPhone 6S spec for spec, if the ultimate intent is not to eventually offer a true 4" version of the latest and greatest iPhone.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Chinney But Skylake is available......????

Not for the Mac Pro yet.

[709]

So the SE is basically a full-on 6s, just without 3D Touch. Not bad at all.

[addison]

$399. Wasn't expecting that. Makes sense though. You can get really good phones now in that price range.

[psmith2.0]

Yay...exactly what I was hoping for! Thrilled to make this my next iPhone.

[Quagmire]

$399 for the SE? Good Price.

$599/$749/$899 for iPad Pro? WTF pricing. I get it it goes from 32 GB to 128 GB in terms of storage, but $150 is hard to swallow. Especially since I would be going for the cellular model which adds more money to it..... Not that I would upgrade yet.... Still happy with my iPad Air.

[Capella]

Welp, that SE will be mine. In silver. I cannot get over the $399 price!

[addison]

It goes up to 256GB. The bigger Pro in that size is over a grand!

[turtle]

They are billing them as computer replacements. They also aren't really going into the added cost of the keyboard case and pencil though.

I would like one, just not jumping on it yet. My iPad 3 is still going, though not very strong anymore.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Quagmire $399 for the SE? Good Price. $599/$749/$899 for iPad Pro? WTF pricing. I get it it goes from 32 GB to 128 GB in terms of storage, but $150 is hard to swallow. Especially since I would be going for the cellular model which adds more money to it..... Not that I would upgrade yet.... Still happy with my iPad Air.

WTF pricing?

I mean... you seriously have to take a look a Apple's lineup and pricing. The WTF pricing in my opinion isn't that the iPad is too expensive... it's that it's an amazing value at $599 over the $399 iPhone SE.

Think about everything the iPad Pro has over the iPhone SE? just screen alone. Very very easy to justify $200 more.


The Margins on the iPhone SE must be pretty slim though, at least by Apple's standards

The Apple pencil should come with the iPad Pros though. And they need to figure out an Apple Pencil storage solution.

[psmith2.0]

So explain to me this "free with a two-year contract" (which I have zero problem with, having been with AT&T since June 2004 and have always paid the $199 price.

If I simply re-up for another two years with AT&T (again, zero problem doing so...I'm not going anywhere), the phone is free? Completely?



What am I missing/overlooking? These phone prices always confuse me more than they should; despite Robo's helpful explanation a few months ago, I just never fully wrap my head around all the inner workings and details.

I'm currently off contract, paying right at $51/month for my data. Does that change if I get this "free" iPhone SE?

I guess I'm just wondering where the catch is...nothing is "free". Does that $399 get folded into my bill, divided by 24 months, I assume? That's about $16. That gets added to my $51 bill, right?

[Luca]

Not a horrible price; glad to see Apple finally embracing the no-contract model that's been catching on the past couple years. $299 would have made more sense but this is Apple after all. 16 GB isn't enough though. I know they have to make the higher end model more desirable by gimping the low end but it's kind of embarrassing to be selling a phone with 16 GB of storage today. It's like when they were shipping early OS X Macs with 128 MB of RAM.

I do find it ironic that they talk about how terrible the current state of technology disposal is, and then a few minutes later they bring up that there are tons of PCs in use that are over 5 years old. Either you want to cut down on technology waste or you don't. I think it should be celebrated that so many people are continuing to use their old PCs.

Also the whole "Android phones don't get OS updates" thing is good IMO. I wish Apple would stop pushing out updates to their old devices because all it does is make them slow. I want to take my original iPad Mini back to iOS 6 or 7 but they won't let me roll back. Meanwhile they're "supporting" me by continuing to update my software, but all the updates do is make the thing completely unusable. Obviously they want my money but why would I ever buy another Apple product when they are intent on sabotaging my experience every few years?

[Luca]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 So explain to me this "free with a two-year contract" (which I have zero problem with, having been with AT&T since June 2004 and have always paid the $199 price. If I simply re-up for another two years with AT&T (again, zero problem doing so...I'm not going anywhere), the phone is free? Completely? What am I missing/overlooking? These phone prices always confuse me more than they should; despite Robo's helpful explanation a few months ago, I just never fully wrap my head around all the inner workings and details. I'm currently off contract, paying right at $51/month for my data. Does that change if I get this "free" iPhone SE? I guess I'm just wondering where the catch is...nothing is "free". Does that $399 get folded into my bill, divided by 24 months, I assume? That's about $16. That gets added to my $51 bill, right?

You'll have to ask AT&T if doing that will increase your monthly cost. I don't think it will but I haven't kept up on contract phone plans lately. I think the catch is you have to sign a 2-year contract and pay an early termination fee if you want to change providers.

Not being locked into a contract is much nicer when you're using a cheaper cell service. $51 a month isn't bad for AT&T though. Does that cover everything? How much data? Normally I think a contract phone plan from one of the big four carriers is around $70-$80 a month per phone. In my case I jumped over to prepaid and now I'm paying more like $20 a month but with less data and I have to buy phones full price. It doesn't matter to me because I use wifi 90% of the time and I get used phones for $150 or so, and my lower monthly cost saves a ton of money vs. traditional plans. But it doesn't make sense for everybody.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Luca Not a horrible price; glad to see Apple finally embracing the no-contract model that's been catching on the past couple years. $299 would have made more sense but this is Apple after all. 16 GB isn't enough though. I know they have to make the higher end model more desirable by gimping the low end but it's kind of embarrassing to be selling a phone with 16 GB of storage today. It's like when they were shipping early OS X Macs with 128 MB of RAM. I do find it ironic that they talk about how terrible the current state of technology disposal is, and then a few minutes later they bring up that there are tons of PCs in use that are over 5 years old. Either you want to cut down on technology waste or you don't. I think it should be celebrated that so many people are continuing to use their old PCs. Also the whole "Android phones don't get OS updates" thing is good IMO. I wish Apple would stop pushing out updates to their old devices because all it does is make them slow. I want to take my original iPad Mini back to iOS 6 or 7 but they won't let me roll back. Meanwhile they're "supporting" me by continuing to update my software, but all the updates do is make the thing completely unusable. Obviously they want my money but why would I ever buy another Apple product when they are intent on sabotaging my experience every few years?

16GB seems pretty common on the Android side. I am completely against Apple continuing to sell 16GB iOS devices as I think they are practically dead on arrival but that capacity is probably the most common on the Android side if I had to take a guess.

As for the iOS updates.... that's a weird take on it. And definitely not one that matches my experience. Yea, my iPhone 4S is "slower" now... but I'm trying to do more advanced tasks with it than it was designed to handle at the time. At least Apple supports that. It's better than being stuck in the feature set and feature support of 5 years ago.

[Chinney]

No laptop updates. *Sigh.*

[addison]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses 16GB seems pretty common on the Android side. I am completely against Apple continuing to sell 16GB iOS devices as I think they are practically dead on arrival but that capacity is probably the most common on the Android side if I had to take a guess.

Maybe but most of those devices have Micro SD expansion.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by addison Maybe but most of those devices have Micro SD expansion.

i don't know if it's most but even if it is.... i honestly don't know a single Android owner who uses a Micro SD card for extra storage.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Chinney No laptop updates. *Sigh.*

Worse than that, Cook is pitching iPads as laptop replacements.

And he said that this was the last Town Hall product intro. So either the next Mac updates are press release only, or they're coming at WWDC in June.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Worse than that, Cook is pitching iPads as laptop replacements. And he said that this was the last Town Hall product intro. So either the next Mac updates are press release only, or they're coming at WWDC in June.

Press Release or WWDC minor announcement. Not much exciting about MBP processor upgrades.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses WTF pricing? I mean... you seriously have to take a look a Apple's lineup and pricing. The WTF pricing in my opinion isn't that the iPad is too expensive... it's that it's an amazing value at $599 over the $399 iPhone SE. Think about everything the iPad Pro has over the iPhone SE? just screen alone. Very very easy to justify $200 more. The Margins on the iPhone SE must be pretty slim though, at least by Apple's standards The Apple pencil should come with the iPad Pros though. And they need to figure out an Apple Pencil storage solution.

I have no issues with the $599 starting price. I don't like the $150 just to step up to the next storage option( plus the $130 for cellular connectivity). I don't know why Apple would tack another $50 to the next storage option. NAND is getting cheaper.....

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Quagmire I have no issues with the $599 starting price. I don't like the $150 just to step up to the next storage option( plus the $130 for cellular connectivity). I don't know why Apple would tack another $50 to the next storage option. NAND is getting cheaper.....

I think to balance out the lower margins at the entry models.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses I think to balance out the lower margins at the entry models.

Well yeah that is the obvious reason Apple would do it is to increase margins.... But the iPad already got a $100 price hike. The extra $50 is ridiculous.....

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Luca You'll have to ask AT&T if doing that will increase your monthly cost. I don't think it will but I haven't kept up on contract phone plans lately. I think the catch is you have to sign a 2-year contract and pay an early termination fee if you want to change providers.

That's all I've been doing since 2007 anyway, so no issue/problem there at all. I've been happy with AT&T all these years, and I'm not the type to go through the hassle of changing carriers every time I see I can save .38 or get an extra chunk of data I'll never use anyway or whatever.

Originally Posted by Luca Not being locked into a contract is much nicer when you're using a cheaper cell service. $51 a month isn't bad for AT&T though. Does that cover everything? How much data?

It's pretty modest (300MB data, unlimited talk and text). Before anyone freaks out at that "lowly" data allotment, do bear in mind that I'm surrounded by Wifi everywhere - and I mean everywhere - I go or spend time these days. About the only place I'm not around wifi is in my car, while driving...but I'm not messing around with my phone then anyway, so it's a complete non-issue.

I'm not on social media (and all that goes with it) so that certainly keeps my data use down (uploading those selfies and meal/craft beer snapshots or video clips via cellular adds up). I'm also not so hard-up for constant entertainment/distraction that I sit and watch YouTube or do other data-gulping activities while on cellular/LTE.

So due to all the above, 300MB has always been more than enough (a "high" month for me is 50MB of cellular data usage).

I'm totally happy, and served by, my current plan/setup.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Brave Ulysses Press Release or WWDC minor announcement. Not much exciting about MBP processor upgrades.

But these aren't supposed to just be processor upgrades. TB3 is supposed to be a game-changer with respect to graphics, and a larger version of the 12" MacBook is a new product in its own right.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Quagmire Well yeah that is the obvious reason Apple would do it is to increase margins.... But the iPad already got a $100 price hike. The extra $50 is ridiculous.....

Well.... it's a bigger storage increase than the usual "double the amount" that Apple does.

So, by Apple's standards, it's actually pretty fair and actually less than they would typically charge

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Frank777 But these aren't supposed to just be processor upgrades. TB3 is supposed to be a game-changer with respect to graphics, and a larger version of the 12" MacBook is a new product in its own right.

TB3 is hardly a game changer in any way for Apple. it might be for some particular users, but it isn't a game changer at the scale that Apple is working at these days.

and a larger 12"? it probably gets a mention at WWDC, and then they quickly move on. Again, not a huge deal without any major advancement in software and/or features.