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You know why. Everybody knows why. Geez.

Lightning is a massive inconvenience to consumers, especially to loyal Apple fans who love the ecosystem so much. Lightning is virtually the only thing that prevents modern Apple devices from working seamlessly with each other.

USB-C is the only acceptable port for future iOS devices.

If I knew why, I wouldn't have asked. I have no problem continuing to use Lighting. I know that the switch to USB C is inevitable, but it really doesn't offer me any benefits personally.
 
10.5" iPad Pro should be discontinued. I'm surprised it hasn't been already.

As it stands, it’s a nice interim price between the iPad and iPad Pro. $329 to $799 is a massive jump in price points. But yea, i think it should go also. And to do that, I hope they increase the price of the 10.2” iPad (adding back bells and whistles like Face ID and Liquid Retina display) to fill that price void, while substituting the $329 iPad with a comparable iPad mini 5 at the same price.
 
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By the way, why is Apple increasing the screen size by 0.5”? Surely it must mean the iPad is indeed getting an all screen display with Face ID and Liquid Retina display, right?The iPad 10.5” increased 0.5” to get to 11”.
 
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As it stands, it’s a nice interim price between the iPad and iPad Pro. $329 to $799 is a massive jump in price points. But yea, i think it should go also. And to do that, I hope they increase the price of the 10.2” iPad (adding back bells and whistles like Face ID and Liquid Retina display) to fill that price void, while substituting the $329 iPad with a comparable iPad mini 5 at the same price.
iPad Pro 11" is overpriced.
 
You know why. Everybody knows why. Geez.

Lightning is a massive inconvenience to consumers, especially to loyal Apple fans who love the ecosystem so much. Lightning is virtually the only thing that prevents modern Apple devices from working seamlessly with each other.

USB-C is the only acceptable port for future iOS devices.

Lightning is much better. Smaller. Convenient. Doesn’t fall out like usb-c. Good stuff.
 
If I knew why, I wouldn't have asked. I have no problem continuing to use Lighting. I know that the switch to USB C is inevitable, but it really doesn't offer me any benefits personally.
You must only own old Apple products then.

Let me run a scenario with you:

You buy a brand new iPad, a brand new iPhone, and a brand new MacBook Pro. You take everything home and you're super excited to open it all! You grab your iPhone cable to plug into your new computer, but guess what? You can't even plug your new iPad or iPhone into your shiny new MacBook. Why? Because the MacBook has USB-C, and the iPhone does not.

So now you have to spend even more money -- for no good reason -- to buy two new Lightning to USB-C cables: one for your iPad and one for your iPhone. These two new cables now let you plug your phone into your laptop. Yay! Except... Every time you try plug one of these cables into your device, you realize that you accidentally grabbed the wrong end of the cable so it won't plug in. You didn't notice that you grabbed the wrong end at first because USB-C and Lightning are almost the exact same size. So now you're frustrated with yourself because if these two ports are essentially the exact same size, WHY aren't they just the same?? And now you struggle to understand what possible reason could cause Apple to make devices that have almost the exact same ports as each other, but not actually the same ports. You think and think and think, but can't come up with an actual reason. Because there isn't one.

Except wait, there is a reason! It's just not a good one. And here it is: Apple makes a little bit more money by forcing you to buy extra cables, and to buy special "Made for iPhone" certified Lightning accessories. In essence, Apple is profiting off of your inconvenience. The whole "everything just works" philosophy is dead.

But it's 2019, and people have woken up. We now understand that this is what Apple has been doing, and we're fed up with it. We just want products that work together, like they SHOULD. There's not one single good reason for products to have "almost" the same port as each other, but not actually the same port. It only serves as an inconvenience to customers. There's no GOOD reason to keep Lightning in future products, unless Apple wants to continue to annoy their customers.

Continuing with the scenario: A few months down the road your wife decides to buy a new iPad Pro because it will help her immensely with her illustration business. She loves drawing on iPad Pro with the new Apple Pencil 2! It's so smooth and powerful, and it inspires her creativity. One day she decides to plug it into her MacBook to sync some movies to it, and guess what? Her cable has the same port on both sides! Cool! And both ends of the cable will seamlessly plug into either device. Ahhh, so satisfying! There's no worrying about plugging the wrong end in. Everything just works!

And then you're even more frustrated with Apple because if they can add USB-C to iPad Pro, you know that they can add it to iPad and iPhone too. But they just won't do it for some reason! So you remain annoyed for the foreseeable future, because you live in a world where Apple products are super inconsistent even though they don't have to be!
 
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Hopefully these ones have USB-C too. Lightning needs to die already!

Man, I just hope for a headphone jack, I do not believe that “courage” crap they want to pull, there was no reason to remove the jack from the iPad.
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haha, you have trouble counting to 4?

I am with the original poster here. You have iPhone 7, 8 and XR all in the same category... then a smaller SE... then two (overpriced) XS. Many products for the same functionality.

In the Macs the panorama is worst, you have the MacBook and the Air both clearly competing and difficult to diferentiate in purpose. You have the pro with Touch BandAid and without it.

Right now there is iPad 10.5, 9.7, mini, Pro 11, Pro 12 and some stores still sell the old pro.

Man... the product line is fragmented and unnecessary, it is not a matter of “counting to 4”.
 
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By the way, why is Apple increasing the screen size by 0.5”? Surely it must mean the iPad is indeed getting an all screen display with Face ID and Liquid Retina display, right?The iPad 10.5” increased 0.5” to get to 11”.
I don’t think you’re going to see those iPad Pro features in the entry level iPad. That extra $470 needs to buy something.

I suspect it’s just getting the newer 10:7 aspect ratio like the 11” Pro, and the rather large top and bottom bezels will shrink some. I haven’t done the math yet, but I’m pretty sure they could cut 5mm off the bezels while maintaining the current physical size.
 
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Didn't Ming-Chi Kuo allegedly stop wanting to be an apple analyst. What happened to that?

Well if he wants to quit, I can certainly take over. Here's my report on the upcoming iPhone:

"In a thorough research note outlining Apple's plans for 2019, Apple analyst Madoka describes his outlook for the next iPad lineup. According to Madoka, Apple plans to release new iPhone models, each equipped with an upgraded processor, later this year."
 
Dude, Apple couldn’t make a more confusing product lineup if they tried. Starting to remind me of Samsung or LG.

What's confusing? Why not bother to spend a few minutes to read the specs that differentiate each variant model. Choice is a good thing.

When Apple makes their lineup too simple, like when iPhones used to come in only 2 colors, people bashed them for giving too few choices. When they expanded the choices and model options, people like you bash Apple for making the lineup too "confusing". :rolleyes:
 
You must only own old Apple products then.

Let me run a scenario with you:

You buy a brand new iPad, a brand new iPhone, and a brand new MacBook Pro. You take everything home and you're super excited to open it all! You grab your iPhone cable to plug into your new computer, but guess what? You can't even plug your new iPad or iPhone into your shiny new MacBook. Why? Because the MacBook has USB-C, and the iPhone does not.

So now you have to spend even more money -- for no good reason -- to buy two new Lightning to USB-C cables: one for your iPad and one for your iPhone. These two new cables now let you plug your phone into your laptop. Yay! Except... Every time you try plug one of these cables into your device, you realize that you accidentally grabbed the wrong end of the cable so it won't plug in. You didn't notice that you grabbed the wrong end at first because USB-C and Lightning are almost the exact same size. So now you're frustrated with yourself because if these two ports are essentially the exact same size, WHY aren't they just the same?? And now you struggle to understand what possible reason could cause Apple to make devices that have almost the exact same ports as each other, but not actually the same ports. You think and think and think, but can't come up with an actual reason. Because there isn't one.

Except wait, there is a reason! It's just not a good one. And here it is: Apple makes a little bit more money by forcing you to buy extra cables, and to buy special "Made for iPhone" certified Lightning accessories. In essence, Apple is profiting off of your inconvenience. The whole "everything just works" philosophy is dead.

But it's 2019, and people have woken up. We now understand that this is what Apple has been doing, and we're fed up with it. We just want products that work together, like they SHOULD. There's not one single good reason for products to have "almost" the same port as each other, but not actually the same port. It only serves as an inconvenience to customers. There's no GOOD reason to keep Lightning in future products, unless Apple wants to continue to annoy their customers.

Continuing with the scenario: A few months down the road your wife decides to buy a new iPad Pro because it will help her immensely with her illustration business. She loves drawing on iPad Pro with the new Apple Pencil 2! It's so smooth and powerful, and it inspires her creativity. One day she decides to plug it into her MacBook to sync some movies to it, and guess what? Her cable has the same port on both sides! Cool! And both ends of the cable will seamlessly plug into either device. Ahhh, so satisfying! There's no worrying about plugging the wrong end in. Everything just works!

And then you're even more frustrated with Apple because if they can add USB-C to iPad Pro, you know that they can add it to iPad and iPhone too. But they just won't do it for some reason! So you remain annoyed for the foreseeable future, because you live in a world where Apple products are super inconsistent even though they don't have to be!

Well, "old" as in a 2017 iPhone 8 Plus and a 2018 6th gen iPad. My laptop is a 2018 Surface Laptop 2 (also no USB C).
And consider that the average user owns devices that are more than 2 years old.

USB C is not the be all and end all for most people. Frankly, it will probably be years before not having it feels like any kind of a drawback to me, and I'm sure I'm far from alone.

*Edit to add*
To be clear, I'm not against all future products having USB C. I expect them to. It's inevitable. It just isn't a must-have feature to me. Ports in general seem to be becoming less important as most things do work together wirelessly now.
 
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You must only own old Apple products then.

Let me run a scenario with you:

You buy a brand new iPad, a brand new iPhone, and a brand new MacBook Pro. You take everything home and you're super excited to open it all! You grab your iPhone cable to plug into your new computer, but guess what? You can't even plug your new iPad or iPhone into your shiny new MacBook. Why? Because the MacBook has USB-C, and the iPhone does not.

So now you have to spend even more money -- for no good reason -- to buy two new Lightning to USB-C cables: one for your iPad and one for your iPhone. These two new cables now let you plug your phone into your laptop. Yay! Except... Every time you try plug one of these cables into your device, you realize that you accidentally grabbed the wrong end of the cable so it won't plug in. You didn't notice that you grabbed the wrong end at first because USB-C and Lightning are almost the exact same size. So now you're frustrated with yourself because if these two ports are essentially the exact same size, WHY aren't they just the same?? And now you struggle to understand what possible reason could cause Apple to make devices that have almost the exact same ports as each other, but not actually the same ports. You think and think and think, but can't come up with an actual reason. Because there isn't one.

Except wait, there is a reason! It's just not a good one. And here it is: Apple makes a little bit more money by forcing you to buy extra cables, and to buy special "Made for iPhone" certified Lightning accessories. In essence, Apple is profiting off of your inconvenience. The whole "everything just works" philosophy is dead.

But it's 2019, and people have woken up. We now understand that this is what Apple has been doing, and we're fed up with it. We just want products that work together, like they SHOULD. There's not one single good reason for products to have "almost" the same port as each other, but not actually the same port. It only serves as an inconvenience to customers. There's no GOOD reason to keep Lightning in future products, unless Apple wants to continue to annoy their customers.

Continuing with the scenario: A few months down the road your wife decides to buy a new iPad Pro because it will help her immensely with her illustration business. She loves drawing on iPad Pro with the new Apple Pencil 2! It's so smooth and powerful, and it inspires her creativity. One day she decides to plug it into her MacBook to sync some movies to it, and guess what? Her cable has the same port on both sides! Cool! And both ends of the cable will seamlessly plug into either device. Ahhh, so satisfying! There's no worrying about plugging the wrong end in. Everything just works!

And then you're even more frustrated with Apple because if they can add USB-C to iPad Pro, you know that they can add it to iPad and iPhone too. But they just won't do it for some reason! So you remain annoyed for the foreseeable future, because you live in a world where Apple products are super inconsistent even though they don't have to be!
There are 1.4 billion active Apple devices, and no more than 50 million USB-C Mac/iPad Pro users.

The very small number of people this affects is not sufficient justification for switching to USB-C. I don’t expect Apple to ever switch from Lightning for iPhone.
 
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