Core products’ update
APPLE KICKS OFF ITS YEAR WITH SOME LOW-KEY PRODUCT LAUNCHES INCLUDING A NEW IPAD... AND IT’S CHEAPER
APPLE might well be gearing up for a big 2017 – there are some exciting rumours circulating about what shape the next iPhone due in September might take – but it kicked things off in rather subdued fashion.
The first new products of the year from the Cupertino tech giant were revealed via a flurry of simple press releases earlier this week.
And the headline grabber was a new iPad.
Replacing the iPad Air 2 in the line-up is a new model with a 9.7in screen, which is called, simply, iPad – no embellishment required.
The new device is a fairly modest upgrade on the Air 2 – and in fact in some ways it’s not as good as its predecessor (it’s thicker, and has an unlaminated screen).
You can forgive that, I’m sure, when you hear that the iPad costs less than the Air 2, with the cheapest wifi only model coming in at just £339 for a 32GB model, rising to £559 for the top-of-the-line wifi and cellular model with 128GB of storage.
Interestingly, Apple also discontinued the iPad Mini 2, which means the new 9.7in iPad’s base model is now the cheapest Apple tablet you can buy.
There was no word of a new Mini, though – or new iPad Pros, which are rumoured to be in the works.
Apple did release a new iPhone this week, too – well, a new colour of iPhone, actually.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are now available in an incredible red finish, as part of Apple’s commitment to the Product Red charity – some of the profits from selling the phone will go to help fund HIV/AIDS programmes.
The Product Red iPhones cost the same as the regular iPhone 7s, but do not come in the smaller 32GB storage option – so the red 7 starts at £699 for 128GB, and goes up to £799 for 256GB. The same sizes are available for £819 and £919 if you want a 7 Plus.
The third new product Apple revealed this week was a new app – a video capture and editing app called Clips.
It’s aimed squarely at those wishing to capture and share video on the go, and attempts to make that easy and direct to all the social networks, and even uses some clever face recognition to suggest people you might like to share your videos via iMessage with.
Aside from the obvious and essential filters, Clips also allows you to add text to your videos as you capture… by speaking – that’s right, it transcribes your speech as you talk and adds captions and descriptions to your videos as you record. Pretty clever.
Unfortunately, Clips is not available yet – Apple says it will be out in the App Store for free form the start of next month. So, not too long to wait.
Finally, Apple also revealed an update to its Swift Playground app for iPad – it’ll now be available in many more languages to help the next generation of programmers around the globe learn their trade in a fun and interactive way.
It wasn’t a bad start, but it felt a little bit like Apple might just be getting the bits and pieces announcements out of the way early, so it can focus on the big stories that will be coming our way for the rest of the year.