With the iPhone 11 Pro, what does it even mean for a phone to be "pro"?

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Apple has announced three new iPhones for 2019 and, for the first time in more than a decade, has changed its name: the XR model is now the "main" iPhone, and the most premium OLED duo is now the iPhone 11 Pro. , the first Apple phones to get the suffix.

Apple is not the first maker of phones to slap a nickname "pro" on a phone – OnePlus, Huawei, Xiaomi and others have all done the same – nor the iPhone 11 Pro n & # 39 is the first product of the company to have the title "pro", with its many MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, Mac Pro and even an iMac Pro.

These two facts raise two different questions: what does it mean for a phone to be "pro"? And what does it mean specifically when Apple applies the nickname to a product?

Looking at our sample of recent "pro" flagship products, there are some common upgrades between them. First: an additional camera. The OnePlus 7 Pro offers three rear cameras compared to two conventional cameras. The Huawei P30 Pro has four rear sensors instead of the three P30 sensors; and the iPhone 11 Pro adds a third camera to the back, while the standard 11 has two.

Second, "business" phones also tend to have more RAM, even if the base processor remains the same. The OnePlus Pro model has 12GB compared to the 7GB 6GB / 8GB options; Huawei offers 8 GB on the Pro 30 against 6 GB on the P30; and unconfirmed rumors put the Apple Pro phone at 6GB RAM, compared to 4GB in stock.

Finally, there is the screen. In the three recently tested flagship products, "pro" phones offer more high-end displays (whether they have faster refresh rates and excised screens, larger curved-edge panels, or OLED panels). better quality) than the serial versions.

However, none of these factors can really improve the "professional" version of the phone for professional use by photographers. This is because there is really no case of "professional" use for a phone. Even if these cameras are powerful, they will not replace DSLRs or dedicated video cameras from the outset, it is the preferred choice of professional users. And, although RAM and upgraded screens are great upgrades, the phones are still too small and impractical to actually handle the work of replacing laptops, as no doubt an iPad or another Tablet.

These mythical business users – whether creative, professional or otherwise – will likely use a professional smartphone in the same way as everyone else: to make calls, send text messages, scroll through social media, send e-mails -mails and play casual games. . A "professional" phone can perform some of these tasks faster or better, because of more RAM, more powerful processors, better displays, or longer battery life, but no more "professional" than the ordinary version.

Semantically, the title "pro" is less a device for professionals than the application of the mystique of the modern creative professional, implying that the new version is better than the standard version.

This is particularly true for new iPhones where the differences in the iPhone 11 Pro range are almost entirely related to the type of display (OLED vs. LCD), materials (stainless versus aluminum) and improved camera (the biggest improvement the stock standard 11).

Adding the "pro" focus specifically to camera enhancements means that the users who benefit the most from "pro" phone upgrades are actually the ones who are the least likely to use it for a professional job: ordinary people taking free pictures of friends and family members or amateur photographers. and content creators who do not need the extra power of a dedicated camera.

That's basically the same thing about other "professional" Apple products, where the naming is basically a shortcut for "better". A MacBook Pro has better chips and better graphics than a standard MacBook (or did it when Apple was selling them again), and an iPad Pro. has a wider screen and better quality (with Apple's ProMotion feature) and supports the new Apple pencil. But "pro" devices are the default choice for many. Students buy a MacBook Pro and only use it for word processing and Netflix observation. In addition, the iPad Pro is used for both entertainment and advanced artwork.

The same goes for the iPhone Pro: it's not really a device specifically designed for professionals. It's a nicer and better version of the cheaper hardware for customers who want to buy more for an improved device.

There are exceptions, of course. Some of Apple's "professional" devices, such as the recently announced iMac Pro or Mac Pro, are really aimed at high-level professionals and may overload the needs of the average consumer.

But for the most part, for both Apple and the rest of the world, the "pro" label does not mean that the material is supposed to be specialized "professionally". In short, the term "better" is used in marketing, in the same way that "more" has apparently become the choice term of the streaming service, or "lite" indicates a less feature-rich version of an application or application. a device.

At the end of the day, whether you're a video editor, photographer, CAD designer, illustrator, coder or just a human being, even the best smartphone remains his: a slightly smarter phone.

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