With the Apple event scheduled to happen early tomorrow morning, 9to5Mac’s final prediction comes in the form of pricing and capacity for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. According to their sources, the smaller iPad Pro (and regular-sized iPad) will start at a higher price point than the current iPad Air 2, at the same time coming in both 32GB and 128GB storage capacities, with no word on whether there will be anything in between.
A rumour roundup of the event from MacRumors covers all the products expected to be revealed tomorrow. The iPhone SE and regular-sized iPad refresh are given, but there’s a good chance we’ll see iOS and OS X updates too, along with a new selection of Apple Watch bands.
It seems a little strange that Apple would announce a new iPhone model in the middle of the annual upgrade cycle, so AppleInsider explains it as a mid-cycle sales boost, even if it isn’t the lower-cost iPhone like many are hoping it will be. While the iPhone SE won’t be using whatever hardware the current iPhone has, the iPhone SE will still appeal to those who don’t want a larger iPhone.
The Mac Observer thinks Apple will also announce something to do with portable Macs, pointing out the MacBook lineup as a range that could see an upgrade to Intel’s latest Skylake processors. And given that the MacBook Pro Skylake upgrade won’t happen until later in the year, an Apple event may be the right time to do it — otherwise it’ll just be a silent update on the online store.
In addition to portable Macs, there are a few other product lines that could do with an update as well. First and foremost on that list is the Thunderbolt display — even if Apple has been notoriously bad at updating its displays, there’s still a few good reasons for a Thunderbolt refresh, most of which end with the letters USB-C.
Over at iMore, Jason Snell writes about the art of the Apple event and why Apple events feel so much more than just PR for the company. One of the hallmarks of Apple will always be their product announcements, and it’s mostly thanks to Steve Jobs.
Over in rumour land, it’s possible Apple is wanting to squeeze a larger capacity battery into the next iPhone. A ceramic body could also be on the cards.
Apple has hired George Stathakopoulos to lead corporate security at the company, with the former Microsoft and Amazon exec tasked with protecting customer data as well as confidential company information.
Macworld says indie iOS developers would be better off moving back to the Mac. Their reasoning goes that there’s better chance of getting noticed on the Mac, even if the Mac App Store presents challenges of its own.
Useful and frequently relevant complications are what make up the best Apple Watch apps, so where are all the complications? The problem appears to be that designing a great complication is hard to do, whether you’re limited by Apple’s power-saving limitations, or by how little space you get to display information.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/03/monday-morning-news210316/