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'Entry-Level' 13-inch MacBook, Redesigned iPad Pros With Faster 18W USB-C Charger Coming in September, But no New iPad Mini
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In my application (flying), the aspect ratio of the mini matches that of FAA approach plates, whereas a phone does not. The phone is too narrow and too small to be useful. The iPad was a revolutionary device for aviation... no more paper charts that have to be updated every 28 days... and the mini is the only one the fits well on a yoke.
https://airfactsjournal.com/2013/10/foreflights-ceo-on-ipad-and-aviation/
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Apple used to predict what people wanted and they usually turned out to be right, now they just ignore us, no new mini but more identical laptops at increasing prices.
That's because it is run by bean counters instead of a visionary.
If people wanted the mini then apple would be upgrading it but they aren’t. They demand isn’t good.
Apple has their own vision of the future of computing.
It just isn't what the old guard wants or expects, and I expect this to continue to be a point of tension for a good long time.
My guess is that if it is a $1200 starting price it’ll just be a 13” version of the 12” MacBook, and they will discontinue the air and the $999 price point altogether - as you say keeping the air branding only makes sense if they want to bind it to the low price and switch the meaning from ‘svelte’ to ‘affordable allrounder’
They would like to be. But outside of niche cases, they are wrong. Education needs keyboards and no detachable parts (like dongles).
Chromebooks are killing it in education for a reason. At the moment, as an educator, it looks like Apple has given up. They just don’t care anymore.
I still use a Mac in my office. But we are buying cart after cart full of laptops, and I cannot recommend Apple. Dell/HP or Chromebooks are the correct choice.
We keep one cart of iPads around if someone wants to do something special. It’s been a while since it has seen use.
Not every task needs a keyboard. For example, when I am using socrative to poll my students in class, or google earth to complement a Social Studies lesson, there is minimal typing involved. It really depends on how the teacher plans the lesson. There are times when a conventional laptop form factor is appreciated (such as when students are collaborating on a joint document via google docs), and times when a tablet form factor is even more versatile (like the time when we had students bring the iPads to the zoo to take photos and create a simple presentation via flip grid).
And the ironic thing about dongles is that many schools still use VGA projectors, while laptops have largely dropped the VGA port in favour of a HDMI or mini-HDMI port. So either way, a dongle is still needed.
Chromebooks are "killing it" primarily due to bureaucracy and a general unwillingness of educators to think outside the box.
From what I see, laptops in schools typically end up being used for one purpose - web browsing. Due to admin restrictions and the paperwork involved in getting new software approved and installed, it's usually just easier for teachers to make do with whatever free web apps they can locate online which aren't blocked by their school's firewall, which invariably ends up being google apps.
So chrome books are essentially just cheap laptops, which suits schools just fine, since it's also easier to justify the purchase of a cheaper device compared to a more expensive one, plus it looks and works just like a conventional laptop, which is what teachers tend to be more comfortable with. Because they ultimately are the gatekeepers as to what sort of technology takes off in the classroom and which doesn't.
So Google "won" by capitulating to the realities of the education scene, rather than seeking to challenge them.
My school has 44 iPad Air 2. They have actually been quite popular with some teachers because of their portability and ease of use. For example, I had a math teacher get her students to take photos of their surroundings and annotate on them to show their understanding of parallel and perpendicular lines.
Next year, as part of my school's current affairs programme, I have plans to get my students to record themselves carrying out an interview and edit it in iMovie on their iPads. And if my request to be transferred to the robotics club CCA is approved, I am toying with the idea of using Swift Playgrounds to anchor the coding workshop instead of scratch.
Though this is more the exception than the norm, it does show that iPads have affordances that conventional laptops lack. It ultimately depends on how the end user wishes to implement them.
Apple is well aware of the aviation/maritime segment of mini demand as well as doctors, flight attendants, restaurant servers, point of sale, e-reader, purse/handbag on-the-go etc.
The latest market share figures available from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners show demand averaging about 15% of iPad sales over the last 2 years, with this year higher than last. It’s market share is about 1/2 that of the 9.7” iPad, which sells for $70 less. To me, that’s pretty good demand and bodes well for a mini update.
It would be trivial for Apple to just upgrade the mini 4 by dropping in an A10/A11, which would easily give it another three to four years of shelf life. If it doesn’t happen this fall it could still happen in spring 2019.
But I think Apple has bigger plans for the mini than just a CPU bump. And like the iPad Pro 12.9, the iPad mini could benefit from a same screen size/reduced bezel treatment. Any reduction in the physical size would make the mini even more attractive than it is currently.
Apple has a few options for a mini update. I think Apple Pencil support is a given, camera upgrades, probably 3GB RAM and of course a current CPU, A10 or at this point probably A11. The biggest decision will be the display and the overall positioning wrt features/pricing.
They could go down-market to the cheaper non-laminated display like the 9.7” iPad and cut the price. But it would be strange for it to sell for more than the 9.7”, so pricing would seem to be at $279-ish. But that would definitely increase sales.
Another option would be to keep the amazing laminated screen from the mini 4, keep TouchID, do a bezel shrink and call it a day. Maybe $369 WiFi/$499 LTE or even keep the current $399/529.
The last option is what I’d prefer but is probably the least likely: go upscale and give it the full Pro treatment. Rounded corners, 9mm bezels all around, maybe the newer 10:7 aspect ratio like the 11” iPad Pro that’s about to be released and of course FaceID (portrait). Better cameras, speakers, ProMotion, maybe no smart connector. Priced something like $469 WiFi/$599 LTE or even $499/529. It would be beautiful.
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totally agree with this. and I think that's what apple is trying to do, push mini users to just use a big Apple smartphone instead.
iPads are better than laptops if you want students to:
1. Take photos.
2. Take video.
3. Draw.
So basically art topics, plus the occasional “flashy” project in core disciplines.
Clamshell form factors are better for:
1. Writing.
2. Websites. (Because LMSs may have small elements to manipulate or use Flash).
The above boils down to the following: you need clamshells in education. iPads are a nice bonus. And budgetary realities being what they are, “nice bonus” typically means “we’re not gonna spend money on that.”
1. Take photos.
2. Take video.
3. Draw.
So basically art topics, plus the occasional “flashy” project in core disciplines.
Clamshell form factors are better for:
1. Writing.
2. Websites. (Because LMSs may have small elements to manipulate or use Flash).
The above boils down to the following: you need clamshells in education. iPads are a nice bonus. And budgetary realities being what they are, “nice bonus” typically means “we’re not gonna spend money on that.”
In my application (flying), the aspect ratio of the mini matches that of FAA approach plates, whereas a phone does not. The phone is too narrow and too small to be useful. The iPad was a revolutionary device for aviation... no more paper charts that have to be updated every 28 days... and the mini is the only one the fits well on a yoke.
https://airfactsjournal.com/2013/10/foreflights-ceo-on-ipad-and-aviation/
This all might be true, but Apple isn't going to keep on making the mini 4 just to suit your flying needs. They're only going to keep making it and/or upgrading it if and only if it's profitable for them to do so.
Even the new 6.5 inch X Plus is tiny compared to the mini. Unusable for almost all the current mini use cases.
The mini is nearly twice as large.
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I do not doubt you, but I am puzzled by this situation. For the industrial, freight and military markets there are loads of handhelds and tablets in various classes of certified ruggedization, with vehicle docks, different battery and charging options, and with screen brightness levels well beyond that of consumer devices like the iPad. Has none of these manufacturers bothered to come up with something tailor-made for pilots?
If the 13" entry level MacBook isn't substantially different, I will have no idea why on earth it has been delayed for so long. If it's an air with a retina screen, I will wonder why it has taken so long to be released. They made us wait for the same existing design to be outfitted with just a retina screen?
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You're right about the wireless charging. Samsung just launched a charging base that can charge two devices, of course on separate chargers on the base, and it costs $129.
It’s the processor that’s caused the delay according to rumour, Apple wanted Intel’s 10nm but due to Intel delaying it until 2019 they have decided to go with the 14nm.
They did a huge mistake trying to push iPads instead of laptops, but to be honest, they never could beat the price tag of chrome books, and by their last financial reports that doesn’t matter to them anymore.
Apple is never going to make a $200 Chromebook equivalent. They’ve ceded that market segment in education. It’s either iPad or nothing.
Cuts into that 1 Trillion dollar valuation profits. When your competitors can provide more for less, what does that say about Apple?
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Lack of focus, this is what taken Apple down a rough path in the early to mid 90s.
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Even drug dealers, large corporations know that you get them when their are young.
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It may be profitable if Apple showed it the same love as the iPad Pro or the iPad in general. It is treated as the red-headed step child of the iPad family. It is quite sad actually. The same thing is happening with its Mac hardware lineup, ignor it for month/years do not drop the price for old technology and then when people are not interested in previous generation tech, claim that there is no interest in it due to low sales. Next up sunset the product. Look at the iPod lineup, that is abandoned for a long time, if it is not selling well why is it still for sale.
Seems like product manipulation to me. If the iPad Mini was updated annually similar to other tablet range, there would be more interest and sales. Cannot have it both ways Apple.
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That’s a good point, almost forgot about it. That was recent, maybe with the Note 9 launch? I saw the tech media make a big deal about Samsung beating Apple to market with their multiple device charger, when in reality its just a device with 2 isolated charging spots. Not a pad where devices can be placed in multiple orientations and locations.
the 9.7" is too big to fit on an aircraft yoke. That's why I keep two iPad mini 4s around.
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The primary software for aviation apps is ForeFlight and is only available for iOS. It's what everybody uses. I just went to breakfast this morning with 20 pilots and 9 airplanes at a small field in Northern California. Everyone has iPads... and the software everyone uses does not really support the phone - only the iPad. Garmin has a few but they cost 4 times the price of an iPad.