Apple announced the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro, alongside of Apple TV on Wednesday, as the company’s invitation said. However, it was nothing short of disappointing and boring to me, though I’m aware that some people may find the announcement to have been good, and sales will probably prove me wrong in the long run.
Where to start? First, the iPad Pro. I was actually surprised Apple placed the iPad Pro at the front of its announcement, but this makes sense on Apple’s part: you place the most expensive gadget at the front with first priority, then the others that will likely not net as much money. The iPad Pro will cost $800 for the base, 32GB model ($950 and over $1000 for the 64GB and 128GB models), so it’s no surprise that Apple would rank this item first. Except, there’s one problem: the iPad Pro didn’t have any software of Apple’s to distinguish it from the 10-inch iPad Air or the 8-inch iPad Mini (unless you count some sort of split-screen mode as the one distinguishing factor).
Then, the company spent 40 minutes on Apple TV, teaching consumers how to use the new TV remote to play games and shop. I think we’ve also seen Nintendo Wii in action and certainly didn’t need to have 40 minutes devoted to this. If the iPad Pro was the most expensive gadget of the announcement, why wasn’t it given more attention than it was? Apple didn’t convince me to spend on the iPad Pro, and my interest in Apple TV is flat, just. flat.
There was very little said on the new iPad Air and iPad Mini, as Apple saw no need to discuss these two tablets since they pretty much match the specs of last year’s tablets but with this year’s prices.
Finally, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus were the gadgets I was hoping would become the talk of the announcement; after all, Apple makes the majority of its sales from its smartphones, which means that it goes against wise business practices to leave these devices along the wayside. Sure, Apple added a new rose gold color option, just as we said it would, and the company bumped up its front and back cameras and added 4K video capture, but what else? If you discount 3D Touch and Live Photos, which really enhance the typical touch experience very little (except to help you view something in detail and cut down a step or two in the process), there wasn’t anything to really surprise us. I don’t see a compelling case made for the iPhones, since they’re just mere iterations on what Apple did in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last year.
At the end of the day, Apple had very little to say about iOS 9, except to announce that it would go live on September 16th — which is early for Apple’s iOS release, considering that it would roll out seven days after the announcement. There’s been little said about iOS 9 or how it will improve the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, so users have little to go on as to whether or not this is a good year to purchase Apple’s latest smartphones.
In short, I hate to be so honest about it all, but I wasn’t impressed. I was interested in seeing Apple make an iPad Pro that stood out from the crowd, and to see what the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus would bring to the table, but all I got was more of the same “patching up a few things here and there” kind of approach. That may have worked for Apple in the past, but it’s getting boring.
It’s brought me to this final point: the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Pro, and the other iPads mentioned at the announcement were nothing but a “yawn.” And it’s turned me off from even considering Apple TV.
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