Apple Readies New iPads and M3 MacBook Air To Combat Sales Slump (bloomberg.com) 73
Apple, seeking to reverse a decline in Mac and iPad sales, is preparing several new models and upgrades for early next year, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation. From a report: The effort includes updating the iPad Air, iPad Pro and MacBook Air, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the products haven't been announced. The new iPad Air will come in two sizes for the first time, and the Pro model will get OLED screens -- short for organic light-emitting diode. The MacBook Air, meanwhile, will feature the speedier M3 processor.
The Mac and iPad account for 15% of Apple's revenue combined, and they've been particularly hard hit by a decline in consumer tech spending. The iPad slump has been compounded by a lack of new models. In fact, 2023 will be the first calendar year in the product's history when no new versions were released. There have been Mac releases in the past year, but that market faces a broader pullback for computers following a boom in pandemic spending.
The Mac and iPad account for 15% of Apple's revenue combined, and they've been particularly hard hit by a decline in consumer tech spending. The iPad slump has been compounded by a lack of new models. In fact, 2023 will be the first calendar year in the product's history when no new versions were released. There have been Mac releases in the past year, but that market faces a broader pullback for computers following a boom in pandemic spending.
We've reached hardware maturity. (Score:3, Insightful)
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Yep - we've been there for quite some time, and "progress" has largely been driven by code bloat across a wide range of software. The only "driver" of new consumer/end user devices has been GPUs, in the past 10 years (since the ubiquitous adoption of SSDs, at least.)
I just pulled an old workstation out of the closet for it's 2nd (er, 4th) life. It was manufactured in 2009 - an AMD Phenom 2 with 16GB of RAM. I didn't spend more than $1,000 on it when it was new and it served me for years as a primary desktop
By this logic, no one would buy tools anymore (Score:5, Interesting)
Quite simply, if it weren't for batteries, there wouldn't be a lot of reason to replace anything these days. They need to figure out a way to generate recurring revenue on old hardware.
If we used this logic Home Depot and Lowes would sell a lot less tools. However, they seem to sell a lot of drills, drivers, and saws, despite the fact everyone who knows how to use one has one already. Similar logic applies to mice and keyboards. Yes, innovation spurs faster sales and we're spoiled by 20+ years of crazily rapid innovation in the computer and tech sector.
However, I welcome maturity. For starters, it forces companies like Apple to be more creative than simply improving the display, camera sensor, or processor and calling it a day. The Apple Continuinty and sidecar features are great examples...where you can use your mac keyboard and mouse on the iPad or use the iPad as an external monitor. Since Apple can't compete too well with Android on hardware alone (not saying their hardware isn't great...it's just most of wouldn't find the processor or display on a Samsung to be a noticeable downgrade), they have to innovate by adding features or finding ways to make their devices more useful.
Maturity should be welcomed. Apple can focus on supply chain and efficiency issues and customers can save a bit of money. If Apple wants more revenue, they can provide more services, like Apple One, and customers will happily pay. I am optimistic about the industry's near-term future...once they work out the supply chain issue of diversifying from China. The short attention dimwits on Wall Street may not enjoy this, but most industries thrive with far less innovation.
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This is where Apple has left other PC makers in the dust. For a lot of things, it isn't just about a 20% CPU bump here, but new workflows and ecosystems which help with daily stuff. For example, being able to use an iPad as a second monitor without having to find third party software and hope drivers work, is a good thing.
Of course, Apple should see about some revision of their iCloud services, which have been lagging, but even then, something like iMessage or just something simple as collaborating in rea
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This is where Apple has left other PC makers in the dust. For a lot of things, it isn't just about a 20% CPU bump here, but new workflows and ecosystems which help with daily stuff. For example, being able to use an iPad as a second monitor without having to find third party software and hope drivers work, is a good thing.
I use my iPad Pro as a Sidecar... But really, you're far better off just purchasing a portable monitor. Vastly cheaper, better display quality, and you can get them bigger 2.
I have a 15.6" and my iPad Pro that I lug around. I've wanted to replace the iPad Pro with a second portable monitor, but sadly I haven't been able to find the same model as my other one for a long time.
To me, Sidecar was just finally a way to give my iPad Pro any actual use since I started doing all my tablet funs on an OLED Android
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Agreed, just as a monitor, you are better off with a lot of other solutions. However, when on a trip or just needing something small without the weight of a full laptop, they work well.
Wish Apple would make their 12" Macbook Air again. That was an awesome laptop for rushing to meetings and using for work stuff where all you were running were office apps and a browser for work.
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I just don't really like my iPad as a monitor as all. My 15.6" portable OLED is just a much better device in that capacity.
You are right, that if you plan on bringing the iPad for actual... well, using of the iPad, then its dual-utility is nice. But for me, I haven't used mine as anything but a Sidecar in years, now, and I just don't see that changing until Apple is willing to sell me an OLED iPad.
I can't do the mini LED for watching movies. It's gre
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Did you get one with a battery? Mine will go 6 or so hours without power. I love the damn thing. Wish I could find another of the same brand.
Re: By this logic, no one would buy tools anymore (Score:2)
Idk.. I only bought new tools because the batteries on the old ones died and weren't worth replacing. Pricey, yes, but not holding back just because they don't need to bother making quality tools since people are overly happy to have the status of a yellow drill
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Yes but sometimes batteries are more expensive than the tool, especially if there is a sale. I have never seen batteries on sale. Then there is they don't make the type of battery for your tool anymore.
Hell about a year ago I had to get a charger for a drill, it was about 20-30 dollars less than just going out and buy a new drill, it was quite old I had to get it specially ordered, still bought the charger it it was a close call.
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Sometimes, there is a convenience factor. For example (don't laugh... it is good enough for a homeowner, and if I were using stuff to earn my actual living, I'd be buying higher end items), Ryobi or Hart tools. You have one set of batteries, one set of chargers, and a ton of stuff that works with it. This is a nice upgrade from the previous stuff I had where the tool maker isn't even making batteries for their line of stuff anymore, so at best you can get rebuilds from eBay or go at rebuilding the batter
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Quite simply, if it weren't for batteries, there wouldn't be a lot of reason to replace anything these days. They need to figure out a way to generate recurring revenue on old hardware.
If we used this logic Home Depot and Lowes would sell a lot less tools. However, they seem to sell a lot of drills, drivers, and saws, despite the fact everyone who knows how to use one has one already. Similar logic applies to mice and keyboards. Yes, innovation spurs faster sales and we're spoiled by 20+ years of crazily rapid innovation in the computer and tech sector.
The thing is, it does apply to tools. Which is why a lot of products, especially cheap ones have planned obsolescence. Designed not to be durable or long lived.
As any trades worth his salt will tell you, you buy good tools and you only ever buy them once. Hence expensive drills tend to have replicable batteries, not just to have a spare but because they know the tool will outlive the battery by a country mile.
I've still got a Gigabyte laser gaming mouse I've had since 2007, still going strong and used
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I'm not exactly eager to upgrade, considering that they are charging $1,400 for a 15" Macbook Air with only 8 GB of memory. Worse yet, if you want to "upgrade" that to the reasonable 16 GB of memory that it should come pre-installed with, they want an extra $180 for that.
It's like Apple has completely lost touch with reality, and has no idea what their competition is charging for comparible laptops.
Re: We've reached hardware maturity. (Score:2)
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Considering that they're in a "sales slump" right now, perhaps Apple isn't as good choosing prices as you give them credit for.
Tim Cook's reality distortion field doesn't seem to be working on me, because I wouldn't pay more than $1,200 for that laptop with the 16 GB memory upgrade.
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I'm not exactly eager to upgrade, considering that they are charging $1,400 for a 15" Macbook Air with only 8 GB of memory.
Where do you live? At least in the US, the 8GB 15" MacBook Air starts at $1299 [apple.com], not $1400. That said, the upgrade you mentioned is also $20 more expensive.
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Apple already makes money on old hardware, it’s called the App Store
Lack of originality (Score:1)
Re:Lack of originality (Score:5, Insightful)
Buying a new device is the only way to reset the planned obsolescence clock so you can keep getting OS and security updates.
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This was the main reason why I went to an iPad Air... but it had a few nice features that made it worth keeping around. Everything from easily being used as a second screen, to being good enough to be a personal "laptop" when on a business trip, where all I had to carry was the company laptop and my iPad. Plus, an iPad has a smaller attack surface than a laptop, so if it was stolen, I just put it on the "erase" list, and put a theft claim in.
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I am now at the stage where I only replace stuff when it breaks or when there is a "Must have" thing, so I upgraded the iWatch 3 to an iWatch 8 for the fall detection for the mother-in-law.
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My original iPad is so fucking unusable it's basically e-waste.
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Is it fast compared to newer ones, no
But it still does exactly what I bought it for, reading books, sudoku, listening to music, and so on while I am travelling. Its small, light and works for me.
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My iPad 4 is as well.
These are old as all fucking hell, so I'm not upset by this at all, I was just musing that your first iPad must have been a lot more recent than mine.
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Now they're at the point where just navigating around the OS gives fucking flashbacks to the days I was trying to run Windows 95 on a 486 with bad RAM.
They are truly terrible. I wouldn't read books on them unless every single other table I had were destroyed in a Carrington-level event, and my paper books caught fire.
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I still use it to surf the web. A lot of the unnecessarily fancy "modern" websites won't display properly, but I just skip over those.
Ipads don't die (Score:2)
Only when they're just good as a weather-station or photo-stand they get replaced.
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You clearly don't have children who can destroy iPads even when in an Otterbox.
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I was at a children's science musem (a big one) the other day, and one of the rooms was set up for the kids to be walked through some rudimentary chemistry experiments. There were tablets with a step-by-step instructions, a checklist, some videos of the steps, etc.
I don't know exactky what they were, but the tablets were iPads with the old iPod dock connector. That means at youngest they were probably 13 years old (lightning connectors introduced in 2012).
Those tablets have been used by tens of thousands of
Hey Apple.. if you're reading this.. (Score:3)
Hey apple. if you're reading this..
The only way I'm upgrading my 2021 ipad pro is when you make a 15 or 16 inch screen. Make it as big as a standard piano book.
Otherwise.. not worth it. What I have works just fine. Make it big or don't bother.
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I myself would only buy a mac if the GPU isn't just an overpriced afterthought, it isn't worth it in the performance/$ range they offer. Linux with steam is just good enough and I ain't touching windows from a mile away giver my wife's experience with the current windows 11 shitshow
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If this is where we post our wishlists...
Hey Apple - make a Surface competitor, i.e. an iPad with a real OS.
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This, in a nutshell. An iPad with the ability to run macOS would run rings around a Surface.
Of course, if we are doing wishlists, might as well give mine:
* iCloud needs a makeover.
* Apple's iPhone authentication and password resets need changed. A bad guy getting your PIN and device can change your account password, enable 2FA, lock all your devices, and charge you a ransom. What would be nice is some mechanism that can be turned on for 2FA resets that is not the device, PIN or password. Perhaps a Yub
Touch ID? (Score:2)
Still waiting for Apple to bring back Touch ID. I have negative interest in Face ID and it has kept me from getting the Pro. Keeps me on the cheaper iPhone as well.
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You're going to be waiting for quite a while...
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The only drawback I have found on Face Id is unlocking the phone in the car while driving. As I am not supposed to do it, adding complexity to this task is just making sure I won't, so the drawback is pretty moot.
Can you describe why the negative interest ?
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The only drawback I have found on Face Id is unlocking the phone in the car while driving. As I am not supposed to do it, adding complexity to this task is just making sure I won't, so the drawback is pretty moot.
Can you describe why the negative interest ?
My experience is that it only works about 20% of the time (and even less often if I'm wearing a mask or reading glasses or both). It's the one thing about my current iPhone that makes me desperately miss my 6s or the Pixel 6 Pro from work. Face ID just isn't good enough. It isn't even close to being good enough.
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Face ID is beyond good enough for every single person I know who has an iPhone, myself included.
I can't remember the last time I fought with Face ID.
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Face ID is beyond good enough for every single person I know who has an iPhone, myself included.
I'm guessing the beard is part of the issue, along with hair randomly covering parts of my face, etc. Or maybe it just took a really crappy set of initial shots and I need to re-add me or something.
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FaceID works for me with a beard, without a beard, with any of three different sets of glasses, one of which is a pair of sunglasses, and with my glasses off.
(Granted ny beard only gets an inch or so long before I take it off again, but still).
I think you need to let it recapture your face.
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I'm not an Apple user, but I could see why.
I frequently unlock my phone at an angle where I'd be out of reach. For example right now my phone is on my desk, and if I want to unlock it, I just touch the power button fingerprint reader with my thumb without picking it up. I can read it fine at this angle, but my face is definitely not in frame. It's not *horrible* to have to pick it up, but it is significantly more than just touching it.
Face ID wouldn't save me anything, because to get the phone aligned wi
Re: Touch ID? (Score:2)
So you'll keep giving them money for other things? So do other people. I wouldn't hold your breath. They'll extract exactly as much as they want from everyone who needs a fondleslab
I have to wonder (Score:2, Flamebait)
I suspect at least some of the drop in Mac sales is due to the move to Apple Silicon. In my experience it's not that uncommon for people to run Windows VMs for various reasons - which the M1 etc can't do, practically speaking.
Re:I have to wonder (Score:4, Informative)
I'm running Windows 11 on a M1 Mac Mini under VMWare Fusion without issue. It isn't perfect, but it can be done. Of course, it would be nice if Windows 11 could install via a BootCamp-like process, but it is doable.
Of course, if you need x86/amd64 code, all bets are off with this.
Re: I have to wonder (Score:2)
You paid apple premium for hardware just to run a slower version of windows?? But why? (Actually curious, that sounds like the worst of both worlds)
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It is still a nice development environment. For example, for testing, it is easy to use VMWare as a Vagrant provider. I'm not caring about the actual executable code, so spinning up a Linux or Windows VM works well enough. Especially when taking a laptop on the road, I can work on not just code with a simple terminal, but also set up a virtual host environment for client/server stuff. You can do similar on Linux and Windows, but Macs are a nice environment for DevOps work, so being able to spin up a Win
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One possible reason: https://arstechnica.com/securi... [arstechnica.com]
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Its x86 emulation is downright abysmal, and Arm binaries for Windows are nearly non-existent.
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It works well enough. There are some Windows only apps that I run on occasion on a laptop, and it may not be great, but it does the job.
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I've got the Win11 VM on my M1 Max MBP, and x86_64 binaries inside of it push ~40% what a native Arm binary does.
If Rosetta2 were that bad, we'd call it terrible too.
MS really needs to step up their emulation game.
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I use Parallels on an M2 MacBook Air to run a 3D-intensive x86-64 software package under Windows 11, and it is plenty speedy. The x86-64 emulation layer in Win11 is actually quite good. It's not as fast as Rosetta 2, but still quite usable. I did try using UTM for a while, and it was noticeably slower. Sharing folders between guest and host OSes was also terrible in UTM compared to Parallels.
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The x86-64 emulation layer in Win11 is actually quite good.
It's actually flat-out fucking terrible.
Do a benchmark, you'll see.
I get about 40% the performance I get native.
Now that doesn't mean it isn't perfectly serviceable for many tasks.
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If you believe 40% of native is that bad, have you considered writing your own x86-64 emulation layer for ARM64 to see how it compares? QEMU's massive army of 1500+ developers [github.com] doesn't seem to have done any better than the x86-64 emulation layer included with Win11 for ARM.
At least for my workload, which is admittedly more graphics intensive than CPU, it feels as fast, if not faster, than virtualizing the same x86-64 application using Parallels on a very nicely-configured 2019 Intel MacBook Pro. I haven't ru
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If you believe 40% of native is that bad, have you considered writing your own x86-64 emulation layer for ARM64 to see how it compares? QEMU's massive army of 1500+ developers [github.com] doesn't seem to have done any better than the x86-64 emulation layer included with Win11 for ARM.
I have not, because I completely lack the skillset to do such a thing. I've written some amazing shit in my life, but JIT is something I haven't had the bravery to dive into.
However, it doesn't change the fact that it's objectively bad.
Further, measuring the difficulty of a project by a number of uncharacterized monkeys working on it is fucking asinine.
I assure you Rosetta2 didn't have 1500 people working on it (and neither did the tcg emulator in qemu)
At least for my workload, which is admittedly more graphics intensive than CPU, it feels as fast, if not faster, than virtualizing the same x86-64 application using Parallels on a very nicely-configured 2019 Intel MacBook Pro.
It's not. It's not even fucking close.
But by all me
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It's not. It's not even fucking close.
That's not for you to unilaterally decide. I get objectively higher frame rates using x86-64 emulation on the M2 than virtualization on the 2019 MBP. So while Win11 for ARM's x86-64 emulation layer may suck at benchmarks, it's still a significant improvement for my use case at least. Other than benchmarks, what bad experiences have you had with it that led to your scathing assessment?
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That's not for you to unilaterally decide.
I didn't decide it. Reality did.
It's a fact.
I get objectively higher frame rates using x86-64 emulation on the M2 than virtualization on the 2019 MBP.
Of course you do.
Because "frame rates" are generally GPU bound, and the M2's GPU is the equivalent of about 28 Intel iGPUs.
That has literally nothing to do with the x86_64 emulation technology in play.
So while Win11 for ARM's x86-64 emulation layer may suck at benchmarks, it's still a significant improvement for my use case at least.
Your vastly superior GPU is the improvement, something that is only marginally impacted by emulation (since all you're really doing is a virgl hypercall to the native OS)
Other than benchmarks, what bad experiences have you had with it that led to your scathing assessment?
Any CPU load.
For example, load an excel spreadsheet. It's that easy.
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Recently I've upgraded from a 2020 Intel MacBook Pro to an M3 similar system. I waited this long because I need a couple of Windows based applications and only recently have I become convinced (thanks to my coworkers) that an ARM based product wouldn't mess with my workflows.
Part time I'm running Windows 11 under VMware Fusion and I'm happy with both the CPU and GPU speeds. Actually, the increase in speed of the M3 is impressive with MacOS or Windows. Yes, the price of the system is high (not that I'm the
Keep prices the same (Score:2)
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We upgrade when it won't work anymore...... (Score:2)
or you could listen to customers (Score:3)
Or you could listen to your customers.
There's demand for a 27" desktop computer at a price point comparable to previous 27" iMac models. Not the 2-3 times that a Studio + Display costs.
There's demand for non-braindead versions of the MacBook Pro. I was holding off getting one, and the lineup they presented recently was underwhelming to say the least.
Please, Apple, remember what put you back into competition: Not supply chain optimization, but making stuff that people actually want. Tim Cook's work is essential to have the company profitable, but Steve Job's vision and understanding of customers is very much missing.
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Well said. We run a bunch of 27" iMacs, they're getting up there in age at this point (though mostly still running fine, given their needs). I would have upgraded us to M1/M2/M3 but the iMacs are just so convenient. Most of our people don't need studios. Still holding out hope, but it doesn't seem like it will be anytime soon, if ever.
That "more than home user but not professional video editor" market is a big hole in the Apple lineup.
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This
Two 27" iMacs have been my last desktop machines. Both lasted me 6 years and are still perfectly fine. Yes, I still run the 12 years old one despite it's clearly old now. Still perfectly good as a desktop for someone who uses mostly web, mail and a few office apps.
If there were an M3 27" iMac (or 30" or something in between), I'd buy one within the week.
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I'm on an 27" iMac right now :) 18,3 which I guess is ~2017. Still running great.
I ran an OLD Intel MacPro for years, including past supported OS versions.
Apple Silicon kills use of existing x86-64 VMs (Score:1)
Ignorance of actual product development cycles (Score:2)
Development of new models for that alleged release date would have had to start long before the supposed sales slump, therefore the supposed sales slump cannot be driving the development of new models for the alleged release date. They're just making new things.
(That's before addressing the supposed sales slump which is actually just a reversion to the mean after a couple of above-trend years. It's the same error as the supposed global temperature pause which was just an artifact of deliberately choosing a