Apple's Mac and iPad Pro enjoy a little quality time

Enough about the iPhone. It's time for Apple's Macs and iPads to get excited.

Apple, which started in 1976 as Apple Computer, has not done much recently with regard to its laptops and tablets. In 2016, he redesigned his MacBooks for the first time in four years, adding a new Touch Bar and a butterfly-shaped keyboard, features that have caused numerous complaints and even lawsuits. Apple's notebooks have not seen a lot of changes since, and the company has delayed major product updates like its Mac Pro.

Then there are the Apple iPad Pro tablets. Apple has added new screen sizes, but it has not really added major new features or changed the design since the first iPad Pro on the market late 2015.

The attention paid to the iPhone testifies to the importance of the range of smart phones: it still accounts for about two-thirds of the company's revenue. Most of the time, Apple devotes most of its time to upgrading its iPhone, introducing the end-to-end screen and facial identity in the iPhone X and incorporating this year the facial recognition system to the whole range. With new features, iPads and Macs feel stuck in the past and even behind the competing products of Windows PC manufacturers.

But iPads and Macs remain an essential part of the world of Apple products that connect a customer to its ecosystem. If you have an iPhone and a Mac, you are less likely to change your phone or computer for another provider.

On Tuesday, Apple will hold an event in New York at 7:00 am Pacific Time / 10:00 am Eastern Time. This event is the second this year to take place outside of California, a rare departure from the usual places in the Bay Area. This is also the second time that Apple is hosting an event in New York. The first, in 2012 at the Guggenheim Museum, was to launch its digital textbook software for iPad.

The company has chosen the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York, to present its new iPads and Macs. The site hosts theater, dance, music and other programs throughout the year. During its field visit to outside the Apple Bay area, in March, Apple introduced a new, inexpensive iPad as well as tools for Lane teachers and students. Tech College Prep High School in Chicago.

As in March, Apple makes a statement with its choice of location. The spring event, in a high school, was essentially to get teachers and students to buy less expensive iPads for educational purposes. The Tuesday event, in a performing arts center, will likely aim to give creators and other people a reason to spend at least $ 650 for a tablet, as well as a supplement for an Apple Pencil pen and keyboard. For many, the long-awaited update of a MacBook Air is perhaps the most exciting news of the event.

"In recent years, we have found that Windows vendors have come up with the most enjoyable hardware," said Bob O Donnell, analyst at Technalysis Research. "These are the kinds of things that once thought we could only do Apple, but now Apple seems to be catching up with some of those PC vendors."

Apple declined to comment before the event.

New iPad

When Apple introduced the first iPad in 2010, Steve Jobs, then CEO, called it "magical device". Very quickly, she was at the height of hyperbole, basically inventing the tablet market. Competitors such as Microsoft and Samsung have reacted quickly to try to replicate Apple's success.

However, after peaking in 2012 with 58.3 million iPads sold, there have been 13 consecutive quarters of declines before a slowdown in mid-2017. During the 2017 fiscal year, Apple only sold 19.2 million iPads.

It's been a few difficult years. Consumers are taking longer on their tablet and are opting for the purchase of iPhone and Mac on the big screen. Apple's launch of its Pro line in 2015, which includes a Pencil stylus and an optional keyboard case, has helped the lineup, but iPads are far from the size of the iPhone market.

In the third quarter ended June 30, iPad sales rose 1.1% to 11.6 million units, but revenues declined 4.6% to $ 4.7 billion . This is probably due to the fact that more people have bought Apple's new cheap iPad, instead of opting for the older and more expensive iPad Pro.

About one in three tablets sold worldwide during this period came from Apple, according to Gartner. In the United States, more than half of the tablets shipped in the June quarter were iPads.

In comparison, Apple sold 41.3 million iPhones in the quarter, while revenues jumped 20 percent to $ 29.9 billion. About 12 percent of phones sold worldwide came from Apple, Gartner said, but Huawei surpassed that number and became the world's second largest supplier.

There are currently four iPad models: the old iPad Mini 2017, the iPad Pro 2017 4, 10.5 and 12.9 inches, and the new affordable Apple iPad 2018, launched by the company in March. But much of Apple's iPad range is feeling its age. The iPad Mini 4 was released in September 2015 and was updated in March 2017. It costs more than Apple's latest "sixth-generation" full size iPad.

What we are likely to see is "the biggest redesign of the iPad Pro" since its launch on the market in 2015, according to Bloomberg News.

Rumor has it that the new iPad Pro are getting bigger screens that occupy almost the entire front of the device and lose the main Touch ID fingerprint detection button in favor of Face ID. Tablets can also have USB-C connectivity as well as updated Apple Pencil pens. Apple plans to release two iPad Pro formats, 11 inches and 12.9 inches, according to Bloomberg.

One thing they will not find in the iPhone X, XS and XS Max is an OLED display, said Bloomberg. Such technology is more expensive than traditional LEDs, but it produces darker blacks and sharper images.

Apple will likely use Tuesday's event as an opportunity to seduce creators. It has long been trying to position the iPad as a productivity device, but it's hard to sell. Creative people, such as writers and artists, are a group that could actually find other work-related uses for an iPad, according to analysts.

"The world is somehow settled into what a tablet does," said O Donnell. "The idea that the iPad will become the main piece of productivity, I think it's over, except for a certain group of people."

Mac revamp

Another key target for creative types is Apple's Mac series. Its most ardent users are increasingly frustrated by the lack of updates, the lack of USB ports and the "butterfly" keyboard on the latest Apple computers.

Tuesday could mark great breakthroughs for people looking for cheaper Macs.

Apple should finally update its popular MacBook Air. At $ 999, the computer has proven to be popular with schools, businesses and virtually anyone who does not want to shell out a lot of money for a laptop.

But the MacBook Air does not require any updates for years, while MacBook Pro laptops incorporate more advanced displays and technologies, such as the Touch Bar multitouch screen built into the top row of the MacBook Pro's keyboard. .

The 13-inch MacBook Air finally received new chips at the WWDC 2017, but Apple resisted the inclusion of a high-resolution Retina Display in the device, despite customer and customer demands. proofreaders. He stopped the 11-inch version of the MacBook Air in 2016.

Apple should finally update the computer with a high resolution screen – but it is also likely that the name "Air" disappears. And it is likely that prices will remain similar to those of the current MacBook Air.

"Apple needs something at the entry level, especially for students and other students," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "The goal of Apple is to allow as many users as possible to benefit from its services, but you do not necessarily do it by creating only high-end systems."

Do not hold your breath for big changes on the Mac Pro High Power, which has not had a big upgrade since 2013. Apple announced in April 2017 that it was working on a big refresh of the Computer, but a year later he said the device would not be available on the market until 2019.

The Mac Mini could be updated on Tuesday. The lowest computer in Apple has not been updated since 2014. The $ 499 computer is recessed in a 7.7 inch square frame, and users need to add their own screen, keyboard and mouse to use the Mac Mini. The company can also introduce new iMac computers.

None of the changes expected on Tuesday should dramatically revitalize iPad and Mac sales. But they could do a lot to make Apple's major customers happy.

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