Looking back on another week of Cupertino news and headlines this week’s Apple Loop includes the delay and price increase to the iPhone 12, the success of the iPhone SE, the new Intel iMac, the MacBooks taking over the Chromebooks, the MacOS 11 public beta, success of iPad sales, and Phil Schiller has a new job within Apple.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of some of the many conversations that have taken place over the last seven days around Apple (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 12: Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at … [+]
The iPhone that arrives late on platform 12 will cost you more
While Tim Cook and his Team are expected to take to the stage in early September to unveil the new iPhone 12 family, it looks like the retail release of the handsets will not only be later than previous years, staggered. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly:
“How much later can we expect the 5.4-inch and 6.7-inch iPhone 12 models to arrive? DigiTimes’ source says” Flexible board shipments for new iPhones will arrive about 2-4 weeks later then normally this year “which suggests a potential delay of up to a month. I approached the iPhone 12 Max and iPhone 12 Pro to buy on October 2 or 9, so a four-week delay the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Max early November may be busy. “
Read more here on Forbes. Moreover, it also looks like the price will be higher than expected, with $ 50- $ 100 added to prices leaked earlier this year:
“The biggest pain point here is the iPhone 12 Max, the new name for the successor to the iPhone 11 – Apple’s biggest-selling model, which increases by $ 100 at each capacity. Meanwhile, the new, smaller 5.4-inch iPhone 12 arrives now priced above the iPhone 11, while the iPhone Pro models raise $ 50 at their lowest capacity.
The good news is that the prices of the iPhone Pro, although more than expected, have not increased dramatically despite their inclusion of 5G – something that has had a severe impact on many rivals. But upgraders hope the successor to the iPhone 11 “Maintaining its very popular price point will be disappointing. Especially with a 256GB model now only $ 100 less than a 128GB iPhone 12 Pro.”
Full details on the new price here.
The success of the SE
For all the talk about the iPhone 12, the latest Samsung Galaxy handsets, and the big hitters of Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and others, one smartphone in 2020 stands out to me … the iPhone SE. Apple’s return to mid-range sets the benchmark in April and it is still looking for a challenger. I looked at the champion earlier this week, starting with the sales figures:
“While the 1.6 percent increase in sales is dwarfed by sales of the Mac (up 21 percent) and the iPad (up 31 percent), the trend of smartphone sales in this quarter has been down. Canalys reports a 14 percent drop across the board.Canalys also suggested that nearly 1 in 4 of iPhones sold were iPhone SE models:
“… Streaked out the iPhone SE numbers and Apple’s sales could suffer the same fate as other manufacturers, even if some of those SE sales were passed on to the more expensive iPhone 11 family. “
More on the iPhone SE here on Forbes.
Here comes an Intel-Powered iMac upgrade
There’s a new iMac in town. Apple has updated the deskbound machine with Intel’s tenth-generation Processors, tweaks to the monitor glass, and the first 1080p webcam on every Mac machine. It’s also the same design as previous iMacs, so consider this a specs upgrade, just like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that were released earlier this year. Dieter Bohn has the details:
“The 27-inch iMac starts at $ 1,799, can be ordered today and will ship this week. The 21.5-inch iMac, which shipped to SSDs by default, starts at $ 1,099 and will ship next week. Apple also announces the iMac Pro is a small spec-bull, making the 10-core Intel chips the new baseline for $ 4,999 – also shipping next week. (Unfortunately, the iMac Pro will not be updated otherwise.)
More on The Verge.
The MacBook vs Chromebook Fight is coming
The advantages of ARM over Intel are widely considered to be better energy consumption, running at lower temperatures and extended battery life. These are also the main advantages that Google uses to print its Chromebook series. There will be a bit of a kerfuffle in the future. After all, chrome books and laptops are both computers:
“Where Google is seen to have an advantage, it will be in the online suite of apps, including Google Docs and Google Sheets, as well as the PIM functionality of Gmail, Contacts and Calendar. Apple is taking a slightly different approach files for transferring iWork suite, but the end result is the same … Apple has its own fully functional apps that work just as well with local and cloud-based files.
“I’m sure every launch event will put a lot of focus on points that focus directly on the Chromebook; namely the long battery life, security and Apple’s bundled applications, including the aforementioned iWork suite.”
More here on Forbes.
The public preview of MacOS 11 Big Sur
Apple quietly moved MacOS to version 11 during WWDC in June, but otherwise they kept the same pace of rollout seen in previous years. Which means the public beta released this week is fully anticipated, as is the move to an iOS-like paradigm. Brian Heater reports:
“It’s obviously clear why one of Apple’s OS would borrow so liberally from another. The iPhone has been a top dog in business for well over a decade now, and continues to monopolize resources and serves as the province for its most cutting-edge experiences. “Even if the Mac retains its most radical update in recent memory with the transition from Intel to custom ARM processors, the shadow of iOS is big over Big Sur.”
More at TechCrunch.
Detail of a male hand pressing the Netflix app icon on an Apple iPad Pro tablet, taken on March 6, … [+]
Promising iPad sales
The coronavirus pandemic has seen the rise of the tablet, with sales increasing across all companies. Of course, the iPad and iPad Pro have benefited from the change in work patterns, more than other tablets. Michael Potuck reports:
“Apple’s performance in June saw $ 59.7 billion in revenue with $ 11.25 billion in profit. And the strongest area of growth for the quarter was iPad revenue, with the company showing a 31% increase in comparison with the same quarter in 2019.
“… Recent reviews also show that overall global tablet shipments are up 17%, which means Apple has seen 2x market growth.”
More by 9to5Mac.
And finally…
One of the most recognizable faces of Apple product launches is Phil Schiller. This week, he saw him move from his role as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing to ‘Apple Fellow’. Jon Gruber responds to the move:
“Schiller has not just spent a lot of time at Apple – he has held the position above product marketing for, well, as long as I can remember. Product development, advertising, packaging, messaging, comms, keynotes – you name it, if it was publicly targeted “Schiller stood in the middle of it.”
More by Daring Fireball.
Apple Loop brings you seven-day highs every weekend here on Forbes. Do not forget to follow me so that you do not miss coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, as this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.
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