I just camped for the new lineup of Apple products, as I have every year since 2007, and I am pretty impressed.
As many have said, this year was an incremental update. The iPhones look nearly identical. And so do the AirPods Pro 2.
The exception was the Apple Watch Ultra, which is a rather new form factor. Beefier. With some extra features. But utlimately it’s still 90% the same as the Series 8.
I would argue this is a good thing. It means they think they’re getting close to the ultimate forms of these products. And I agree. With a few exceptions that I can’t wait to see filled in.
1. USB-C
Or Thunderbold, but with a USB-C connector.
Yeah, I know, everyone gets this one. It’s just time to unify everything behind a single connector. Nuff said already.
2. A Round Apple Watch
I was a watch guy before I was an Apple guy, and I am bummed about wasted real estate with the round watch faces that sit inside the Apple Watch’s rectangular form factor.
I would love something that looks more like a Submariner, but with the Apple buttons on it. I’d pay thousands for it. Probably. I don’t know why it’s taken this long, but I hope it comes soon.
3. High-Resolution Audio on AirPods
The new Airpods Pro 2 have improved drivers and algorithms that measurably improve their sound, but as a mid-level audiophile (shudder) I am still waiting for the final piece of lossless and high-quality audio. It’ll require a new protocol, but that shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle. f
It’s a small point, and things already sound great, but if you’re into audio it’s pretty annoying to know the source is lossless/high-quality, and the drivers are excellent, but that the protocol is stripping quality from your audio.
4. TouchID Under the Glass
FaceID keeps getting better, but I’d love if it was eventually paired with TouchID that activates when you put your thumb on the screen.
It might not be better or faster when you’re looking at the screen, but there are enough times when you blink, or look away, or at a bad angle, and you don’t land a FaceID authentication. So it’d be brilliant to have both.
5. Unification of The Naming
Finally, just a naming gripe which I don’t really fault them for but can’t wait for them to fix.
- Apple Silicon has Normal, Max, and Ultra
- iPhones have Normal, Plus, Pro, and Max
Plus there are the iCloud tiers, which might be too hard to bring in. But can we try to standardize a bit?
I do see the problem. iCloud and other services they’re following the Disney+ naming convention. And with iPhones you have to have a ladder in both the regular line and the Pro line, and the steps on those ladders have to be distinct to avoid confusion.
Maybe the answer is unifying the line and just having more steps. So it’s just:
- iPhone
- iPhone Plus (larger base model)
- iPhone Pro
- iPhone Pro Plus
I think the challenge is differentiating size vs. performance. Those two things need different laddering terminology.
Perhaps Plus can be the size difference, while Pro, Max, Ultra are the performance tiers.
And with Apple Silicon, it just becomes:
Not sure they should have that many tiers though.
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Anyway, these are the things I think they should sort out to arrive at the peak of this line of products for the next five years or so.
- USB-C
- A Round Apple Watch
- High-res Audio
- Touch-ID Under the Glass
- Unified Naming
Let me know if you have any other ideas.