Apple Announces Event On September 7: iPhone 7, Apple Watch 2 Expected 115
New iPhones are coming, Apple hinted today. The Cupertino-based giant announced on Monday that it will host an event on September 7. The rumor mill suggests that the company would announce as many as three iPhones -- the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and the iPhone 6 SE. Recent reports suggest that Apple may also announce the second-generation of Apple Watch. No new iPads are expected. The company is widely rumored to refresh its Mac lineup -- though they are likely to be launched at a later point. The biggest talk point around the iPhone 7 has been the headphone jack -- or its lack thereof.
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We already know what's coming...
No, we don't know. There are only rumors. If the rumors come from American media "experts" then they have no more credibility than random babbling. If the rumors come from China, where the new products are already being assembled, then they are likely correct. For this event, the rumors are mostly from the former, and those can be ignored.
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Probably a bunch of mediocre improvements that will get overhyped and oversold as "innovative" and "so amazing" and "incredible" and "revolutionary". I get a new iPhone about every 2 years and not since the release of the iPhone itself - or maybe the retina display - has Apple actually released any feature that could be described by any of the terms they so often use.
A great many people like your products, so iteratively improve them, drop the pretentious marketing, get over yourselves and realise not every
New macs will suck just as bad with ports removed (Score:1, Flamebait)
New macs will suck just as bad with ports removed.
It can be as bad as max 2 usb-c / TB 3.0 ports with no 3.5 jack or power only jack and you want to use the old ports that will be $29.99-$49.99 more. want an power + usb-c / tb3 one that will be $19.99.
Absurd fear (Score:3)
Apple has always included plenty of ports in the pro models, and they will continue to do so...
Yes they are removing ports on the lower end models but it's making the laptop thinner and 99% of the people using them do not need the ports they are taking out enough that it matters they are gone.
There's nothing wrong or odd about having multiple lines of product that serve the needs of different users.
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I'd read some rumors that they may be killing the Mac Pro and doing something like a really beefed up iMac Pro....which would be sweet.
I need that horsepower to do video....
Re: Absurd fear (Score:2)
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TB 3 is only pci-e X4 but an imac pro with an xeon / Broadwell-E cpu can have 1 gpu + dual pci-e x4 ssd's + 3-5 TB 3 buses. With 10 gig-e networking.
But (Score:2)
But having 2 USB-C / TB 3 ports and 2 USB-C non TB is very unapple. Also the thin push may force them to cut usb-A ports.
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I'm waiting for the lawsuit where one of their laptops is so thin it slices up a user's hand.
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RTFM we are not at fault
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"Apple has always included plenty of ports in the pro models, and they will continue to do so..."
As long as you get to define "pro model" and "plenty of ports" then sure. We all know how SuperKendall would define these things.
Of course, the topic was Macs, not just Mac notebooks, and the current "Mac Pro" is the very definition of "not plenty of ports" unless all you want is USB and Thunderbolt. No PCIe slots, no drive bays, limited internal storage, no graphics upgradeability. It's a "pro model", though
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Of course, the topic was Macs, not just Mac notebooks, and the current "Mac Pro" is the very definition of "not plenty of ports" unless all you want is USB and Thunderbolt. No PCIe slots, no drive bays, limited internal storage, no graphics upgradeability. It's a "pro model", though, so I'm sure you say it's "plenty". You have a long history of defining need by what Apple does.
If you want that get a desktop PC. Anyway, don't pretend you know what you want. Apple knows what you want. Now shut up and buy it.
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This kind of condescending attitude is exactly why nobody respects you.
Your inability to detect sarcasm and generally infer language queues from the humans is why you are so at home posting from your mom's basement.
How many ports is a lot to you? 300? (Score:2)
As long as you get to define "pro model" and "plenty of ports" then sure.
I guess it wasn't clear to you but the context is obviously laptops... and it seems pretty obvious a pro-model laptop IS the one with a lot of ports.
Or, duh, is called a "pro". In fact that alone would be definition enough for me, whatever laptop model Apple felt like attaching Pro to will have a lot of useful ports.
Of course, the topic was Macs, not just Mac notebooks,
The main topic was, not what I responded to. But then as we'll de
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With the amount of money that I spend on tech, I want it to be heavier and solid. I want it to dent the floor when I drop it.
Obvious solution: Buy a robust case for your laptop. Just go to Amazon, and there are dozens to choose from.
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Exactly. I really like my stuff unblemished, so I usually get a case along with the laptop/tablet/phone.
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What's with this race for "Thinner" shit? With the amount of money that I spend on tech, I want it to be heavier and solid. I want it to dent the floor when I drop it. This race to make shit more fragile needs to stop.
There is an argument however for making it as thin as possible and letting the consumer decide how much protection they want via a case / cover.
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> What's with this race for "Thinner" shit?
It's an Apple thing. You wouldn't understand.
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Because Apple doesn't sell to normal people, they sell to hipsters. It's the same reason removing the headphone jack doesn't matter to Apple: the hipsters already moved to all-wireless and don't see the big deal.
The type of people who Apple thinks buy their phones are those athletic hipster types who want to strap the thinnest phone they can to their arm as they go out and do their morning 8K run. They long ago ditched the earbuds for some Apple-owned Beats-brand Bluetooth earbuds. They want thin, and they
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Apple has always included plenty of ports in the pro models, and they will continue to do so...
LMAO. No. I have a pro. 2012 and 2015. It does not have 'plenty of ports'. It has just BARELY enough.
Both only have 2 USB ports? I need a hub just to use an external keyboard+mouse+external hard drive on a "pro device".
And no ethernet port on the 2015? idiotic for a pro device.So now i get to pay for a thunderbolt to ethernet dongle. Thanks apple.
At least it has hdmi instead of a useless 'mini-displayport' like the 2012 unit though.
There's nothing wrong or odd about having multiple lines of product that serve the needs of different users.
Agreed. Where is there pro device line? Apple should really make one.
All I s
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Users having to leave bluetooth on means Apple can squeeze more value out of their beacons.
That's got to be another incentive for Apple to remove the 3.5mm port.
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I don't get this; why care about the amount of ports?
The only place where you need any amount of ports, is at a desk right? So I assume you have a desk with a non-bluetooth keyboard, mouse, printer, TimeMachine harddrive, maybe an iPad, monitor, etc. Then the only thing you need is a USB hub. You put the Macbook on the desk, connect power, USB and displayport, and you're done.
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I don't get this; why care about the amount of ports?
The only place where you need any amount of ports, is at a desk right?
Generally speaking... no. I need a video out port in the conference room, and in customer conference rooms, and in hotel conference rooms. And i'd like to be able to just bring my laptop and have it work with the projector there; not have to remember a mini-displayport to something else adapter everywhere i go. (The 2015 at least has HDMI which is more usable.)
I need an ethernet port, and a serial port in the data closets and server rooms where the routers and switches are.
I need usb ports on the go in all
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But how much does this actually happen? Do you need a video out port for that conference room weekly? Monthly?
And perhaps more importantly, how common is your job? Are you a presales-engineer, that you need to be in both the datacenter as well as in customer conference rooms?
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But how much does this actually happen? Do you need a video out port for that conference room weekly? Monthly?
Does it matter? The less often I need one the more likely I won't have it with me when I do. FWIW It happens often enough that if I could buy a macbook pro line with a few more ports I absolutely would.
In any case you seem to be 'moving the goal posts'.
And perhaps more importantly, how common is your job?
Pretty common.
I'd expect anyone doing anything substantially IT related would run into the same needs now and again.
While I personally have done customer facing presentations with my laptop; many of my peers who don't do that much still do presentations inter
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if I could buy a macbook pro line with a few more ports I absolutely would.
That is one thing I have to admit; Apple is lessening the choice. There's the MacBook Pro line, but it's for everyone. There isn't a "real pro" line with more ports.
While I personally have done customer facing presentations with my laptop; many of my peers who don't do that much still do presentations internally to business units, at meetings, etc. Would we all pay $10 more and put up with our laptop being 2mm thicker for a gigabit port, another USB port, and another video port type? Hell yeah. And 9$ of that 10 would still be profit for apple.
I've seen IT-support tie-wrap an adapter to the beamer connector. But yes, if you're regularly off-site, it's annoying as hell. I disagree with there being a lot of people wanting a 2mm thicker laptop, but that's really a personal opinion. The strange thing is, that the first MacBook Air had a clever small port for ethernet connectors and it nev
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Apple has always included plenty of ports in the pro models
Try plugging an Oculus Rift into a 2015 Macbook Pro. 1 USB port for the sensor, 1 for the headset and then nothing leftover for the controller dongle.
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Apple has always included plenty of ports in the pro models
Try plugging an Oculus Rift into a 2015 Macbook Pro.
Try the same with your Chromebook.
I don't have a Chromebook, I have a 2015 Macbook Pro and it does not have "plenty of ports". I need to carry a USB hub around as a result and that's annoying.
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You want to plug an Oculus Rift into an USB port (or even more than one considering there are too few) - now you proved you are an idiot
Actually it seems you just don't know what an Oculus Rift is. It is a VR Headset [oculus.com] and "constellation" tracking system, it connects to your computer by a USB cable and HDMI cable from the Headset to the PC and the "constellation" connects via another USB cable. So that is 2 USB connections required plus then there is the dongle for the wireless controller that requires a 3rd, so on my MBP, which only has 2 USB ports, I need a USB hub so that I can plug in 3 USB devices.
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Why do the idiots at Occulus not use Bluetooth?
I don't know, bandwidth maybe? You only just learned what it is so I doubt you know enough about it to question them but they have a forum and list their contact information so you can go and ask them. Post back when you get a response.
Are you an idiot because you work for those idiots?
If I worked for them I would be able to answer the above, but I don't so I can't.
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Depending on who your carrier is, it makes more sense to upgrade every year than not. For example, if you are on an existing Verizon Share Everything plan, having a phone on a payment plan knocks $25 off the $40 per month line charge, and after half of the phone is paid off - in 1 year - you can trade it in and upgrade with no money out of pocket or just sell the phone outright and pay off the current payment plan then finance a new one (I actually turned a $200 profit doing this last September). As long
Meh (Score:1)
No 3.5mm no sale
Re:Meh (Score:5, Funny)
If Apple builds it, they will come.
Well then I'm going to wear a raincoat on September 7.
Since we skipped Windows 9.... (Score:2)
Apple iPhone7 + Watch 2 = Apple 9.
Since M$ skipped Windows 9, Apple should skip (7+2) too...
Or else the numerology Gods will get angry!
Like when Eve took a bite of an Apple.
Apple watch should jump right to three, Just like windows 3.0 came after 1,0
Now all my superstitious ducks are in a row....
I need to wear my pointy hat now
amen
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Solaris is still version 2 bro!
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Fashion or jewelry? (Score:2)
Renewable jewelry (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is, jewelry usually is durable.
It's nice and shiny and expensive today, and it's supposed to continue being nice and shiny and expensive in the future.
(Unlike fashion where, after a couple of months, the clothes are just good to be thrown away and you certainly wouldn't like to risk be seen with things on you which are "so last season" !)
Whereas, with the current hardware in smartwatch (similar to circa when Apple introduced the world to a smartphone that can only handle charge for a couple of hours and needs to be constantly docked), current smartwatch will be completely worthless in a couple of months.
You still need to wait a couple of years until Apple's smartwatch are at the point where their current phones are (sure there's going to be an even better out eventually, but for most people, their current device works for everything they need most of the time, so why bother changing ?)
- That explain why Apple (and other smartphone manufacturers) has jumped so soon on the smartwatch bandwagon. It's not only to have a piece of the Pebble's cake, it's also that they finally have a new product that they can again force their sheep-customers to rebuy every year.
- That means that Apple can't yet partner with jewelry makers. Their customer want long-term value storage. Something that they can buy now and that will still hold value a couple of years later. Whereas a potential Apple Jewel would cost a lot today, but in a few years down the line it would be just an expensive platic/metal trinket attached to a somewhat valuable bracelet.
(And that's not only my opinion. That is the actual market analysis of a couple of swiss luxury watches makers who have looked into it)
The only way a jewelry smartwatch could be popular now, is if the jewelry make sold the bracelet as the primary product, with the possibility to upgrade the electronic timepiece as model generations come and go.
That might be possible with a manufacturer like pebble where the form-factor seems more or less stable.
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Big corporation shipping for Xmas season (Score:2, Interesting)
When Steve was alive Apple shipped new products when Steve thought they were ready, which was a pretty high quality bar. Today Apple ships whatever compromise they can to make sure they hit the Xmas season, like any other shareholder driven corporations (nobody with Steve's position to oppose them). This is why Apple product quality is now no better or worse than all other major players. I miss the old Apple where products actually worked and someone had the guts to say "This is a crappy user experience, go
Nope (Score:3)
Lots of people thought a new Apple Watch was coming out at the beginning of this year. Nope! Apple will wait until they have a good set of updates for the second model - though the UI overhaul with WatchOS 3 makes the old ones even more useful and speedy...
I'm still not sure they will deliver a new Apple Watch until next year. No need to rush.
As for the phone, they have a relentless machine that's not rushing anything to market, just incrementally improving the phone year by year, with whatever can fit i
Worse Than the Cult of Mac? (Score:2)
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LOL. You couldn't be more wrong. I never was fanatical about Apple or Jobs. The ONLY Apple device I ever used personally is an iPad2. I think Apple products used to be really good products, just not quite to my personal taste. My experience with Apple products comes from supporting iPhones, iMacs, iPads and Apple Watches that my wife and kids have been using, but liking less and less as time goes by. My comment about Steve being dead is simply based on my observation that the declining user experience quali
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The first iPhone really wasn't "ready" compared to phones at the time -- no apps, no gps, no 3G, no video camera, couldn't activate without iTune, etc. The iPhone barely worked at the unveiling according to people who worked at Apple at the time. If you did things in the wrong order it crashed.
Not to mention their three or four attempts at cloud services during his reign or Siri that was
Re: Big corporation shipping for Xmas season (Score:3)
Like the iPhone 4? You're holding it wrong"
iPhone (Score:2)
I miss the old Apple where products actually worked
You mean like the first iPhone, that had a battery that barely held a couple of hours, and certainly not to the end of the day ?
---
At the time they released their crap, I had :
- an old EPOC-running Ericsson stupid phone. With which I could go on vacations *without* taking a charger.
(Similar to all the Nokia that people still have, lost somewhere at the bottom of a drawer. Still in working order. With the battery still at ~30%)
- paired over bluetooth to a PalmOS 5.x running PDA, that could do anything that t
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Why is regularly announcing in September a moral failing while regularly announcing in June was principled?
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Nothing moral or principled about it. September announcement are just often 11'th hour announcements - chances are things had to get cut, or features compromised in order to hit that last minute (for Xmas consumer device season) time slot. No "moral failing" about it, I just liked apple products when they were released by a perfectionist wanting to release an solid product rather than profiteers wanting to cash in. It's a battle of interests - stock holders vs. customers.
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The point is that they were both regularly scheduled patterns, just a different month. There's nothing about a June pattern that means fewer compromises than September.
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
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I can't wait! (Score:4, Funny)
If Apple continues their trend with the Mac mini, the 2016 model will be a single-core CPU clocked at around 800MHz with 512MB of RAM and a 4200RPM, 250GB hard drive connected via IDE.
Cupertino-based (Score:3)
Why does every article about a tech company have to give their address out. Who gives a shit.
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Same reason they put "designed in California" on the box, they want people thinking that it's an "American" product even though much of the technology is European and East Asian, including Chinese, and of course they are made in China.
Also helps focus the jury's mind when deciding patent cases, to remember that Apple is based in the US and Samsung in Korea.
Also helps distract people from the fact that they became an Irish company to avoid US taxes. Hipsters tend to think companies should pay their taxes.
Not the iPhone 7 (Score:2)
If the rumours of Apple moving to a three year cycle for the design of the iPhone are true then I'd be surprised if they brought out the iPhone 7 this year. Especially with next year being the 10th anniversary of the iPhone which will probably bring a big design refresh.
Not that I care because all I want is the smaller screen with all of the features that the larger phones have. Since Apple isn't making that phone I'm staying with my 5s.
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That would actually be great news if they didn't announce a phone refresh.
I'd buy a 6S+ and have a 3.5mm headphone jack for another 3 years.
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I'm not saying that there won't be a refresh just that I think that it won't be called the iPhone 7. It'll go something like 6 -> 6S -> 6X and then next year will be 7. Of course they could go 7 this year and 8 next year.
Get ready! (Score:2)
My prediction is that they're going to come out with a new line that is even less repairable than before, and they'll make sure you need plenty of expensive adapters to use all your old peripherals!
I don't know why people continue to buy these machines. They're often inferior spec-wise unless you go to the top of the line models that are generally overpriced and all you're really getting is OSX which isn't that great.
OSX (Score:3)
They're often inferior spec-wise unless you go to the top of the line models that are generally overpriced
Which by the way is also the case of any non-beige box PC...
(Self-built hardware is the king !)
and all you're really getting is OSX which isn't that great.
Compared to what ?
To Linux ? Yeah sure. (OSX is the "bargain bin" of Unix, but with a nice coat of paint).
To the craptastic clusterfuck called Windows 10 ? Your mileage may vary...
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Really, you should look at experimenting with another access point.
That said, I much prefer plain old copper ethernet. Every Mac supports it via a USB-based Ethernet adapter.
Here is my product prediction (Score:2)
New! From Apple!
You don't know what it is, but you already know you want one!
Announcing "Orb"!
Orb is more than a computer! It is an advanced system!
Orb is a perfect white sphere that floats on a cushion of air from its base. Orb does not consent to touch other technology products. Keyboard and mouse are wireless, video is projected with lasers onto a specially coated ultra thin sheet of sapphire. The same base that protects Orb from touching others provides power to Orb by induction.
Orb is a high core count
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I don't know if I want the latest iPhone or not. Let's see how much it's compatible with my headphones (and being able to plug in either the headphones or the power but not both is a deal-breaker).
*yawn* (Score:2)
Don't call me, I'll call you when I need to replace what I have now, as it works just fine.
Total non-event for me.
When Apple caught a fish "This big" (Score:1)
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Re:Unsustainable pricing on high tech gadgets (Score:5, Insightful)
The BOM for an iPhone 6 is around $242 and that doesn't take into account the costs for developing and maintaining the software, tooling, R&D, packaging and the 101 other things that go into building and launching a phone. All of which need to be amortised over the lifetime of the phone - as developing, testing and then deploying an update to a bunch of 2+ old phones isn't free.
(although many Android manufacturers have found that it can be free if they simply don't bother with pesky updates)
The only way it would be "more like $100" is if you pulled that figure out of your butt.
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It doesn't cost $800 to manufacture an iPhone. More like $100. In the US it would maybe be $150. It is Apples greed that is the blame.
There are always lines around the block on launch day. People cheerfully buy tens of millions of each iPhone. If people are willing to pay that price without a gun to their head, and there are alternatives that they could buy instead but they choose to buy iPhones anyway, how do you justify describing it as greed?
It'll take a lot to get me to upgrade (Score:2)
It's going to take me a lot to upgrade. I've got an iPhone 6 Plus now. It's two years old but man, I've never had such a good phone. The phone battery has never actually run empty, and regularly I come home after a day with still 75% left. The screen is large and bright. All apps launch fast (except Facebook, which I deleted and now use in the browser). I can set the font nice and small, while still readable. The fingerprint-unlock is amazing, and it takes real great pics and optically-stabilized movies of