They need to further tighten up their product line, there's still too much overlap.
Yeah, the iPad has been a bit of a mess. But with an incoming 10.5" version, I don't expect it to get much better. If anything, this seems like some housekeeping ahead of adding to the product line. They changed the name of the iPad Air also, so I think they're getting ready to position things a bit different.
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Now we need to figure out whether the 10.5" version will be released around WWDC or this autumn. All the rumors were pointing to earlier, but WWDC isn't usually about hardware any more. And if they do release hardware, it will likely be iMac and maybe an "iMac Pro" since the Mac Pro is clearly dead. If the 10.5" iPad has really tiny bezels and is supposed to be this big redesign, they won't want to upstage their new iPhone redesign if it follows a similar design language. So maybe they'll do the whole late October event thing, or at best during the same event as the iPhone? But that can be a lot to pack into one event.
I think we'll probably see iPhone Edition, 7s and 7s Plus, and Apple Watch Series 3 in early September. Then we'll see iPad Pro 10.5" and 12.9", along with an Apple TV 4K in late October. If the Apple Watch is actually on an 18 month cycle (still unknown since there haven't been enough updates to see a pattern) then maybe they could squeeze the iPad into the iPhone event if there is no 4K Apple TV. Or perhaps the 4K Apple TV could be a silent update that only increases resolution and brings 4K to iTunes Movies. Maybe price the ATV4 at $99 and $149 for 32GB and 64GB and the ATV4K at $199 for 64GB only.
As for other prices, now that the base iPad is priced at $329, I think the 10.5" will handily slot into the $599 9.7" Pro slot with the 12.9" priced the same. The Apple Watch pricing will probably stay the same too. That seems pretty easy. The most tricky pricing is the iPhone.
It's going to be tough to price the iPhone Edition way too high. One thought is that the iPhone 7 sticks around at a lower price point. Another is that the iPhone 7s shares many of the same components as the iPhone 7, with maybe a bumped processor and a new camera—leaving the fancy new features such as wireless charging, iris scanning, Touch Bar, and AR functionality to the Edition model. I think with either of these ideas, Apple has room to drop the price $50-100 on the base new iPhone, with the Edition priced $200-300 above that. This could increase iPhone sales volume while maintaining average price per device. So maybe $549 or $599 for an iPhone 7s, $679 or $719 for an iPhone 7s Plus, and $899 for an iPhone Edition 64GB or $1049 for 256GB. But if they do pricing like this, I just feel like it's going to be difficult to sell very many base iPhones if they look too boring or under-spec'd compared to the Edition. And that's the main reason I think that the base iPhone price would have to drop to compensate for this.
My third thought is that the iPhone 7s and iPhone Edition have nearly identical internals. This keeps the iPhone 7s starting at the same price they do now, with the Edition pushing higher in price. The Edition would only add Touch Bar and a new fancy casing with a larger edge display and dual-cameras like the Plus. In this scenario I expect the Edition to start around $999. What's nice about this scenario is that the 7s gets the speed, the wireless charging/iris scanning/etc found in the new Edition model, which makes it enticing for users, while the Edition gets the new look, display and Touch Bar that comes with it. But would Apple put iris scanning into the base model if it retains the home button? So it's going to be a tricky balancing act. I'm glad that I don't work on pricing at Apple because it's a tight line to walk between selling an appealing mass-market device and a premium device that isn't too expensive but offers just enough to get a decent chunk of people to buy one without irritating the base model buyers. Whew!