What's Coming From Apple in 2015: Apple Watch, iPad Pro, iPhone 6s, 12-Inch MacBook and More

[robbyx]

No matter what happens, it will be hailed as a success by some as they will sell millions, the question is, will it be just a fad or will it become a genuine product? We will see, as Apple products go, I've seen much bigger hype for past products, Apple watch seems to be Luke warm, purely based on people being uncertain about wearables. Wearables for me are like 3d TVs, all the rage for a while, than no one cares as they are too much hassle.

Exactly. They will no doubt sell millions. But once that enthusiastic fanboy wave has crested, will there be continued interest in the product? I've been an Apple/NeXT customer for 30+ years and I can't see myself buying an Apple Watch. I haven't worn a watch in over a decade. Nothing I've seen so far about the Apple Watch has remotely piqued my interest, much less made me think I might start wearing a watch again.

I think Apple is wasting its time on wearables. I want to see them focus on home automation (HomeKit is a great start) and gaming. AppleTV needs to become a full-fledged gaming console with rentals, an App Store, etc. There are far more potential Apple TV buyers out there than Apple Watch buyers. And Apple TV buyers will buy multiple Apple TVs for the home. And Apple TV buyers will buy new Apple TVs every year or two to get the new features, so long as the product remains affordable. And Apple TV doesn't require an iPhone to work.

Overall I'm very happy with Apple and Tim Cook's leadership, but I do not understand the Apple Watch. I think it will sell really well in the first quarter or two and then sales will free-fall. As a long-time fan, customer, and shareholder, I hope I'm wrong.

 

[BvizioN]

Apple: We MUST make thinner.
Us: No, you MUST increase battery life!

Us? Not me. Battery life on iPhone 6 is satisfactory for me. And I am not particularity big fan of carrying brick in my pockets, so well done Apple.

 

[iMcLovin]

Don't you take your watch off when you go to bed ? Just charge it then. You already do it for your phone.

I don't no. And the experience would have to be pretty great for me to start doing that. Nothing that I've seen so far seem to be all that great tbh. It feels like an overhyped piece of hardware which Apple desperately want you to want.

 

[RobertMartens]

An accurate assessment.

When (and not if) the AppleWatch fails ..it will either be the wake up call or the break up for Apple as it is now. They HAVE to realise that shoving out resized iPhones is NOT innovation any more. Their only "new"product will be the doomed AppleWatch that was a solution to something nobody had a problem with.

But. Sometimes historically speaking ... Even the mighty need a reality check to realise finally ... that even they are fallible. Let Apple take the hit in 2015. Scrap the concept. Admit they have to take stock and let's be the market leaders again.

You better be prepared to eat crow

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I don't no. And the experience would have to be pretty great for me to start doing that. Nothing that I've seen so far seem to be all that great tbh. It feels like an overhyped piece of hardware which Apple desperately want you to want.

Apple hardly talked about it at all. It has a buzz but that is not Apple it's the internet

 

[doelcm82]

No matter what happens, it will be hailed as a success by some as they will sell millions, the question is, will it be just a fad or will it become a genuine product? We will see, as Apple products go, I've seen much bigger hype for past products, Apple watch seems to be Luke warm, purely based on people being uncertain about wearables. Wearables for me are like 3d TVs, all the rage for a while, than no one cares as they are too much hassle.

I think wearables are more like PDAs and MP3 players. They were hot for a time, but who buys one these days? They're totally dead.

Except...that the technology, features, and functionality they had have been rolled into a newer package: The smart phone. Now we have a device that we can hold in the palm of our hand, and it's as convenient and useful as we're ever going to get. There is no more innovation to be had, there. Some things will be called innovative by some, but others will sneer and say it's just an iterative change, or an adaptation of existing technology. It won't be true innovation, such as when the first smart phones combined MP3 players, PDAs and phones into a single completely new and never before seen combination.

Wearables will have their day in the sun, but future generations will have the sensors implanted into their bodies, and the displays transmitted directly to their optic nerves. They'll look at "wearables" in museum displays (sitting next to "smart" phones), and wonder how their parents and grandparents ever managed with such primitive technology.

 

[farewelwilliams]

A utopia where software and technology doesn't have bugs will never exist, so stop dreaming of one.

i did dream of one, and that was iOS 5

 

[CFreymarc]

My Apple Crystal Ball for the year.

1) The Apple Watch will be much later than anticipated. The screw up with the sapphire face, they are scrambling for a replacement. We will not see the watch 'til after May.

2) The Mac Mini gets a very low profile but significant upgrade. The Plan-A Mac Mini (quad-core, SSD, multiple monitors) will release after the Mac Pro market hits saturation.

3) The Apple campus is pushed out a year due to supplier and labor issues. The inspectors making sure a listening device is not implanted in the foundation by a third party during construction is constant.

4) At least one turnover in the "big six" of Apple Senior Vice Presidents.

5) Apple stores continue to grow with an announcement of one FINALLY getting into Denmark.

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A utopia where software and technology doesn't have bugs will never exist, so stop dreaming of one.

One of my first professional managers actually said to me, "I need this software completed on time, no bugs and on budget."

I responded with, "You want it delivered by Santa Clause and demoed by the Easter Bunny while we are at it?" To most of the table laughing.

I was let go four month later with a touch of nepotism encouragement my departure.

 

[Cardsnk]

How about software optimization / Bug squashing and stability in both IOS/OSX?

 

[Moshu]

Rumors talk about MacBook Air retina 12" and iPad pro 12"... Got it?

How about a MacBook air with detachable screen acting as tablet?
This makes more sense to me than a standalone iPad pro 12" and would explain the leaked parts.

Happy 2015 everyone!

 

[Menneisyys2]

I have a feeling the iPad Pro is going to be a laughable flop. I get the "bigger is better" motto, I love my 6 Plus, but a 12" tablet is so big I rather just bring a MacBook Air. The beauty of the iPad Air is how easily portable it is and easy to carry and hold. But slugging around a 12" tablet? LOL

if and only if gets a radio pen and windowed multitasking, but still remains far cheaper than the SP3, it'll sell well even with the geeks.

 

[Macist]

iPad Pro is only going to be a hit if they can finally make the iPad a better laptop alternative. Some productivity tasks are still just too fiddly compared to a laptop giving that frustrating close but no cigar feeling.

Some Apps I use, especially Beatmaker 2 and Procreate and some interactive books, would be cool in a bigger canvas but it will need more that that to make up for the extra heft. And given that you can crack the screen of an Air by breathing on it, there'd better be some high tech tough ass glass in that thing.

No clicky trackpad on the MacBook Air 12"? Ewww. Sounds horrible - especially if the machine is bogging down and you have no idea if you've 'clicked' or not.

iWatch. Who the hell cares? I don't care about becoming a health freak hypochondriac. And it looks just as cheesy and geeky as every other smart watch.

Same as for the last 15+ years - headless iMac please. Or just make a Mac Pro Lite with high-end desktop-level parts. Or a bigger Mini. Or whatever. I still HATE iMacs.

 

[iMcLovin]

Apple hardly talked about it at all. It has a buzz but that is not Apple it's the internet

Well, I think a lot that has been talked about the watch is apples own way of leaking stuff. Also, Cook and Jony Ive has multiple times talked about the watch as if it is the greatest apple product ever made. So, even though it hasn't been any TV commercials or billboards yet, apples marketing machine has worked pretty hard to make people want this thing even though we dont know why yet.

 

[currentinterest]

The Apple Watch will be one of the most successful products Apple has ever launched. It will be the first of a series of wearables that provide that killer feature, convenience. The apps will be really good to begin with and then, shortly thereafter, become fabulous. As I have written elsewhere, everyone I know wants an Apple Watch, and I am buying 5 for the family. I believe we will see some surprises in 2015, but not an iPhone 7. The current, beautiful, form factor will be retained for another year.

 

[diipii]

Nothing to write home about in '15, except the epic sales fail of the watch. Watch this space!

Spot on...and give slimy Ive the boot: he's seriously lost the plot.

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The Apple Watch will be one of the most successful products Apple has ever launched. It will be the first of a series of wearables that provide that killer feature, convenience. The apps will be really good to begin with and then, shortly thereafter, become fabulous. As I have written elsewhere, everyone I know wants an Apple Watch, and I am buying 5 for the family. I believe we will see some surprises in 2015, but not an iPhone 7. The current, beautiful, form factor will be retained for another year.

Hilarious.

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Hey Apple 2015 should bring us:
Forget thin, think cool (as in ability to keep)
New Mac Mini with 4 cores all i7.
Mac Pro people can afford.
iMac that can remain cool no matter what you throw at it.
Kick Ive up the arse
Kick him again
And again.
RAM at normal prices.
Remember you make computers.
Forget you are a giant, sleazy money making scam.
Remind yourself to remember the iWatch. You are going to need a few laughs.
One more kick for luck.

 

[Essaux]

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus brought new screen sizes and a radical redesign.

Radical redesign? Good lord, hyperbole much.

Sometimes the way Apple products get described on here is really embarrassing.

And I'm saying this owning only Apple products, still shake my head when coming across aforementioned exaggerations.

 

[peterdevries]

Probably the most intelligent post in this thread.

Thanks! One of the main issues of this forum currently is that there is a vast majority of people here that do not use the forum to discuss, but as a place to dump a single opinion and then disappear again without any intention to ever respond or explain.

There are also quite a few people here with insight and experience (and some that have even worked at Apple) that they would like to share, but many of the people I mentioned above are scared by any post that has upwards of 5 words.

So, you could say something really smart, but inevitably your post will be followed by an "Apple is doomed" or "Apple is not innovating" post.

edit: case in point: post #314 diipii

 

[malexandria]

Innovation, Sminovation. Just Fix What's Broken

The fanboys keep asking us naysayers for examples of "Innovation," I say, just fix what's broken and stop taking away features! For example -

1. iTunes is severly broken now, for some reason they decided to remove EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS in the TV Section and no breaking iTunes in a million apps isn't the answer it's asking for disaster.

2. Fix AppleTV's HD Streaming. I'm on Xfinity and had to upgrade to blast to get any kind of performance out of AppleTV. Even at 80 or 100 Down, I still get an error message that says "Content will be available for viewing in 4 HOURS" at an alarming rate. I purchase an HD Digital copy and 60% of the time I can't even VIEW it when I want to. Clearly the AppleTV service wasn't built for HD Streaming. Meanwhile I've rarely had an issue streaming Vudu, Netflix (On AppleTV), HBO Go, etc.

Airplay doesn't work much at all.

3. For god sake fix the damn WiFi Issue. Every Apple Product I've owned in the last three years has had serious WiFi Issues out of the box, until a "mysterious" update miraculously fixes it 8 months later. My iPhone 6 and iPad Air was actually fine, but now since the latest iOS Update it has been broken and drops the connection when it wakes up from sleep, then I have to REBOOT my device to get it to restart. Completely unacceptable. As it is, I really want to sell both because they are essentially "useless" now.

4. On the Hardware side, is it too much to ask that if I'm spending $2k on a freaking laptop that the damn thing has a 1TB Harddrive (I don't give a crap about SSD if the storage can barely hold my 100GB iTunes Music Library), and 16 GB of Ram? And for the love of god don't waste our time with the standard "Why do you have/need a 100GB iTunes Library, or you shouldn't have that stored on your hard drive anyway nonsense." Believe me I've seen that arrogant response from Apple fans and at the store when I asked if there's a 1TB option on Apple hardware. It's MY computer, I don't want some arrogant company or ***** telling me how I should be using it.

Don't even get me started on the fact that it's not upgradeable and my 2012 MBP doesn't have HDMI and the 2 USB ports are so close together that I can only really use 1 most of the time and a hub only gets you so far. The newer MBPs are tempting simply because I really need a proper HDMI port (not the MiniDV to HDMI dongle) these days and the two USB Ports.

5. I guess they just removed the Quad Core option from the Macmini just to be dicks. There's no other logical reason for that decision.

6. Stop changing UIs, iMovie pretty much sucks now.

 

[patseguin]

The Apple Watch will be one of the most successful products Apple has ever launched. It will be the first of a series of wearables that provide that killer feature, convenience. The apps will be really good to begin with and then, shortly thereafter, become fabulous. As I have written elsewhere, everyone I know wants an Apple Watch, and I am buying 5 for the family. I believe we will see some surprises in 2015, but not an iPhone 7. The current, beautiful, form factor will be retained for another year.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. I would like for you to be right though. I like the idea of the watch. I just wish it had the really thin and narrow design as one of the mock ups that came out before it was announced. I don't know though, maybe once we see it we will all want one.

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Thanks! One of the main issues of this forum currently is that there is a vast majority of people here that do not use the forum to discuss, but as a place to dump a single opinion and then disappear again without any intention to ever respond or explain.

There are also quite a few people here with insight and experience (and some that have even worked at Apple) that they would like to share, but many of the people I mentioned above are scared by any post that has upwards of 5 words.

So, you could say something really smart, but inevitably your post will be followed by an "Apple is doomed" or "Apple is not innovating" post.

edit: case in point: post #314 diipii

Yeah and I think it's totally correct that innovation has just kind of come to a halt perhaps because of technical limitations. I think the only real innovations for the immediate future are improvements to existing products. I think they need to develop an all new Apple TV with a killer touch screen remote and Siri in order to compete with Fire TV. I think they really hit it out of the park with the iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 designs and can't envision really huge improvements other than faster processors and better cameras. I guess maybe the next thing for those products would be going as thin as possible and maybe even bendable. I particularly thought the iPhone depicted in the show Black Mirror would be an eventual innovation, which is an ultra thin device which is like a piece of glass with no physical buttons.

 

[H2SO4]

The iPad Air 2 is every bit as innovative as the iPhone 6. iPad Air 2 is by far the best iPad yet. When I went to the Apple store and held it and used it I was very impressed by the how they could make such a leap over an already great design.

You’re joking of course. They made it thinner and……………?

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?

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Actually that is automatically assumed. But hey; at least the New Year alarm bug was fixed after multiple years. No reports today about it.

After multiple years though. Jesus how embarrassing!

A days battery life on a phone is not good. make it longer by thinking out the size/weight/efficiency of the device to realistic levels and that’s what I’d call innovating. I want to be able to forget to charge my phone or to have some good use and not be afraid that I’ll be useless till I find a USB lead.

 

[Aluminum213]

if and only if gets a radio pen and windowed multitasking, but still remains far cheaper than the SP3, it'll sell well even with the geeks.

He highly doubt the pen part

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You’re joking of course. They made it thinner and……………?

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?

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After multiple years though. Jesus how embarrassing!

A days battery life on a phone is not good. make it longer by thinking out the size/weight/efficiency of the device to realistic levels and that’s what I’d call innovating. I want to be able to forget to charge my phone or to have some good use and not be afraid that I’ll be useless till I find a USB lead.

Iphone 6+ is bigger then 5S and more powerful, nothing else. Obviously camera update and other expected yearly improvements. It's the same type of update as the iPad Air 2 but the iPad now has 2GB RAM which make a bigger difference

 

[cdmoore74]

Exactly. They will no doubt sell millions. But once that enthusiastic fanboy wave has crested, will there be continued interest in the product? I've been an Apple/NeXT customer for 30+ years and I can't see myself buying an Apple Watch. I haven't worn a watch in over a decade. Nothing I've seen so far about the Apple Watch has remotely piqued my interest, much less made me think I might start wearing a watch again.

I think Apple is wasting its time on wearables. I want to see them focus on home automation (HomeKit is a great start) and gaming. AppleTV needs to become a full-fledged gaming console with rentals, an App Store, etc. There are far more potential Apple TV buyers out there than Apple Watch buyers. And Apple TV buyers will buy multiple Apple TVs for the home. And Apple TV buyers will buy new Apple TVs every year or two to get the new features, so long as the product remains affordable. And Apple TV doesn't require an iPhone to work.

Overall I'm very happy with Apple and Tim Cook's leadership, but I do not understand the Apple Watch. I think it will sell really well in the first quarter or two and then sales will free-fall. As a long-time fan, customer, and shareholder, I hope I'm wrong.

I have a LG G watch paired to my Note 4 and I love my watch. It may not be the best Android Wear device but I got it really cheap during Black Friday. Because I keep my phone on silent I miss lots of notifications. But with the watch I can easily see all my notifications and I've increased my phones battery life by a good amount because I don't turn on the display as much like I use to.
And that brings me to my point. At $229 (initial price) I would have never bought the watch in the first place. But at $79 with a $50 Google play credit it was a must buy. Worst case I could have sold the watch for $79 and kept the $50 play credit if I didn't like it. Apples starting price of $350 is plain ridiculous and that price is for the small version. It's more than half the cost of a new phone. And while I like the looks of the watch and proprietary bands the operating system looks like crap. Zooming in and out with that crown is the worst idea I've seen in a modern operating system. I'm not sure if the experience is even worth $200. The materials look top notch but the execution is flawed.
I'm sure fans will line up initially but I still see the pebble watch being the better buy for iFans. Pebble will just drop the price again to counter Apple if needed or come out with a newer model.

 

[animatedude]

i'll have:

-Macbook Air
-iPad mini (hopefully it's as thin as the new iPad Air and comes with 2 GB Ram)
-Apple Watch sport (maybe!)
-iPhone mini (i hope!)

that being said i really hope Apple surprise us with new unpredictable products and how about new accessories like docks for iPhones?

 

[thekeyring]

You’re joking of course. They made it thinner and……………?

Might you mind answering what constitutes ‘such a leap’?.

Thinner & lighter while at the same time becoming more powerful/faster and not losing out on battery life. Also, it has a much better camera, Touch ID and Apple Pay for in-app purchases.

...and it was already the best tablet on the market in terms of user experience.

People underrate the innovation and thought that goes into making something smaller/thinner.

 

[tevion5]

The whole point of any business is to generate revenue. Why are companies villifyed for trying to earn money? I own a business and I don't do it for charity. I offer a superior product and that makes me money.

Im not villifying anyone. I was just pointing out that while people keep going nuts over innovations, Apple's sales and revenue has never been better.

Don't worry, I believe strongly in a healthy level of capitalism.

 

[peterdevries]

Iphone 6+ is bigger then 5S and more powerful, nothing else. Obviously camera update and other expected yearly improvements. It's the same type of update as the iPad Air 2 but the iPad now has 2GB RAM which make a bigger difference

What is the kind of improvement that you were expecting for the iPhone?