Apple's 2013 Product Roadmap Predictions: Multiple iPhones, Retina iPad Mini, All-Retina MacBook Pros

[whoknows87]

5S slight camera upgrade very minor... and a fingerprint sensor?... talk about a big big disappointment, while other competitors are working on something BIG/New Apple is just doing the same darn thing, minor spec bumps
doing the same thing over and over = insanity , they simply wont survive for long.. Apple you have work to do !

[ufwa]

Originally Posted by arn

Kuo's been on point more than not. and not with just obvious stuff

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/08/...splay-at-wwdc/
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/23/...h-macbook-pro/

arn

I'm not saying he's not spot on.

I'm saying he does not issue anything original. It is culled together rumors from various other sources. Toss out far fetched stuff.

9to5mac wrote about a retina macbook nearly a month before.

http://9to5mac.com/2012/05/14/apple-...-fast-usb-3-3/

[Morshu9001]

Doodman App£€ is just forcing me to upgrade my Apple TV by releasing a new one. What a ripoff!!!!!1111one

[arn]

Originally Posted by ufwa

I'm not saying he's not spot on.

I'm saying he does not issue anything original. It is culled together rumors from various other sources. Toss out far fetched stuff.

9to5mac wrote about a retina macbook nearly a month before.

http://9to5mac.com/2012/05/14/apple-...-fast-usb-3-3/

The fact that a Retina MBP was coming was the "obvious" part, but keeping the existing non-Retina MBP line was the unusual detail people didn't believe at the time. Kuo was the first to say, and people said it was stupid:

Read that thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1381818

arn

[Freyqq]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

- MacBook Pro: In line with his predictions from last year, Kuo believes that Apple will do away with the non-Retina MacBook Pro line in 2013, moving to an all-Retina lineup at cheaper price points than the current Retina models. Kuo also believes that Apple will tweak the design of these thinner Retina MacBook Pros, despite having just introduced the current form factor last year.

I'm thinking that they'll keep the older models for another year until they release a 15" air at a price-point between the current 13" air and the 15" nonretina pro. Until that time, there wouldn't be a 15" mac laptop for under $2k...a bad business decision.

Also, among the non-techie crowd, many people are still opting for the 13" pro simply because they feel that they are getting more for their money. They don't know the difference between an ssd and a hd, so when they see a bigger number of GB, they assume it is better. Same with the CPU. They see a smaller number of ghz and assume that pro is much faster. They also don't want to give up a dvd drive yet.

I think the 15" pro retina will come out in Q2, as that is when intel is suppose to be releasing haswell. I agree that there will be a slight case redesign, as is common after a first gen new case design in years past. This will likely include a removable battery (but not officially user replaceable) and various small tweaks that they discovered over a year of repairs of the older model. Also, wireless AC seems likely, as haswell is suppose to support it natively.

[apple-win]

Originally Posted by rydewnd2

Who's making a better all in one "desktop" than the iMac?

It depends on what customer needs.

If customer wants blu-ray drive, TV tuner, Windows 8 touch screen, then iMac is not the best AIO desktop. If customer wants a quiet PC, iMac is the best AIO desktop.

I like iMac because it is quiet.

[AppleCiderYuk]

whats the point of having a Ipad mini isnt it going to be like a larger Ipod

[Peace]

So. Tim says a new Mac Pro for 2013 and this guy doesn't mention it.

It's either because there won't be a new Mac Pro or the new one is so covered up in secrecy he doesn't know.

[bungiefan89]

Originally Posted by Mr. Retrofire

iPod touch is overpriced. People can buy cheaper smartphones with Wolfson Audio ICs.

But... then you're buying a SMARTPHONE, a device that demands you pay $30-$50 every single month for who-knows-how-long and returns on that investment with questionable reception and stiff penalties on bandwidth monthly bandwidth usage.

The whole reason the iPod Touch was invented was so that people like me could enjoy the magic of the iPhone without the ball-and-chain that comes with a phone contract and all the fees and payments and restrictions such a service entails.

Please, DON'T confuse an iPod Touch for a "smart"phone.

[dv8r]

Originally Posted by PlayRadioPlay

If they don't upgrade the Mac Pro in 2013, I will be buying a desktop PC.

I love Apple, but this is really getting insane.

AMD or nVidia doesn't seem to be in a hurry adding Thunderbolt to their graphics cards, until that happens, I doubt we'll see any update to the Mac Pro.

[Karma*Police]

Originally Posted by irDigital0l

If this is true 2013 is going to be even worse than 2012...

I don't know... I thought 2012 was one of the most impressive years in the company's history for hardware refreshes. I think some people's expectations are getting completely out of whack. It's almost as if they expect Apple to pull an iPhone (like the 2007 launch) out of a hat every year.

[bungiefan89]

Originally Posted by AppleCiderYuk

whats the point of having a Ipad mini isnt it going to be like a larger Ipod

I thought the exact same thing when I interacted with the first iPad.

[sseaton1971]

Originally Posted by arn

The fact that a Retina MBP was coming was the "obvious" part, but keeping the existing non-Retina MBP line was the unusual detail people didn't believe at the time. Kuo was the first to say, and people said it was stupid:

Read that thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1381818

arn

I disagree that it is an "unusual detail". Apple seems to be keeping an older model of certain devices around when a new one is released: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Apple has done this in the education market as well with the eMac, iMac, and the white unibody/polycarbonate MacBook. It wasn't all that surprising to me when Apple decided to keep the classic MacBook Pro on the market when the expensive retina MacBook Pro was introduced.

[Masterkona]

Originally Posted by Karma*Police

I don't know... I thought 2012 was one of the most impressive years in the company's history for hardware refreshes. I think some people's expectations are getting completely out of whack. It's almost as if they expect Apple to pull an iPhone out of a hat every year.

Once they have 500-800million iPhones in the wild, all they will need to do is make a slight incremental upgrade every year, and they will still sell 200-300million. Once the iPhone is effectively perfected and they are earning over 150 billion annually, I see no reason they would need to introduce a new massive re-design or a massive upgrade. The smartphone market won't mature until 2015. By that point they will be able to sit back, enjoy the ride, and enjoy making more money then they would ever know what to do with.

Is it possible that the iPhone will save the American and global economy by forcing apple to spend billions on new Research and development, which would create hundreds of thousands of jobs? Is it possible that huge sales will spur retail growth prompting the emergence of new sales modes and more retail hiring? Is it possible that Apple will end up invests in new projects that will create new things that we can't even begin to imagine?

[Peace]

I have an iPad 4 and thought about getting a mini but it didn't have the retina display.

Glad I'm waiting.

[arn]

Originally Posted by sseaton1971

I disagree that it is an "unusual detail".

And you are wrong.

We aren't discussing whether or not you personally thought it made sense or not. We are arguing whether or not it was an obvious prediction at the time. Read the thread, and we have the answer: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1381818. The answer is that a lot of people thought it was not the way apple would go.

arn

[APlotdevice]

Apple just raised the iPod touch's minimum capacity to 16GB. I seriously doubt it'll go back down to 8GB.

Originally Posted by Mr. Retrofire

iPod touch is overpriced. People can buy cheaper smartphones with Wolfson Audio ICs.

To my knowledge the only way to buy a phone with comparable specs for less than an iPod touch is to sign a two year contract. For which a basic data plan alone could end up costing more than the iPod touch.

[kalsta]

A whole lot of negativity here, as usual. Well, I'll be the first to say I really like this prediction for the cheaper iPhone 5. That's a big price drop if you're okay with a plastic enclosure—and sales of competing phones would suggest most people are okay with plastic. One of my kids is saving for their first smart phone, and this iPhone would be perfect.

[olowott]

This year is the year

its either a gonna move up or its gonna break it down real bad

its all in your hands u ppl running it

[Jaro65]

I hope something magical happens in 2013 and we will also have an iPhone with larger screen. But I doubt it. You take the market, Samsung.

[kalsta]

Originally Posted by Jaro65

I hope something magical happens in 2013 and we will also have an iPhone with larger screen. But I doubt it. You take the market, Samsung.

Something magical will happen eventually—this fad with plate-sized phones will be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

[canucksfan88]

the one thing i cannot see them doing is a larger screen for the new iPhone. It took them how many generations to finally increase the size to what it is now.

however there are still developers and applications that have not even updated to the new resolution, and those that did took a significant amount of time. there would be a LOT of fragmentation.

there would be:
iPhone 3G/3GS/4/4S resolution
iPhone 5 resolution
iPad resolution


and the new iphone 5S resolution

that is quite a bit...

[kalsta]

Off topic, but I suspect there's a kindly MR member who likes to give every comment on the page a positive vote, which I've noticed before. A little nod to the Phantom Upvoter, whoever you are.

[APlotdevice]

Originally Posted by kalsta

Something magical will happen eventually—this fad with plate-sized phones will be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.

Honestly I don't think big screens are a fad. Especially since people have increasingly been using their phones in place of a conventional computer. That's not to say there won't always be a market for smaller devices.

[chadley_chad]

My 4 year old niece can predict better than this guy! (as could my dog!)