Consumer Tech Apple’s Shock MacBook Pro Decision Ewan Spence Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Storyteller exploring digital worlds, mobile, music and podcasting Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 8, 2022, 02:31pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Apple’s product launches are key moments in the consumer electronics world.
They allow Tim Cook and his team to set the scene for the stories they are about to tell with their products. But what happens when the story is over? In the case of the upcoming MacBook Pro , Apple looks set to shock those expecting a big launch event; by cancelling the moment that could herald the final steps of the Apple Silicon origin story, highlighting the powerful Mac Pro joining the part, and revel in the MacBook Pro stretching ahead of its rivals once more. Why would Apple consider cancelling the launch, relegating the details to a press release? It’s a move that makes a certain amount of sense.
After all, the move to ARM is over, Apple is focusing on a more connected cloud and the market is fixated on the iPhone. Apple CEO Tim Cook waves as he enters the Steve Jobs Theater during the 2022 Apple Worldwide . .
. [+] Developers Conference (WWDC), on June 6, 2022 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. (Photo by Chris Tuite / AFP) (Photo by CHRIS TUITE/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images First of all, why was Mac given more prominence by Tim Cook’s Apple than previous models over the last two years? Apple Silicon.
Apple was taking Intel and its less-than-metronomic release schedule of Intel Core chips out of the Mac portfolio and replacing it with Apple-designed silicon. That brought everything in-house and allowed Apple to tightly integrate the macOS software into the Mac platform’s hardware. That alone offers a huge performance impact – Intel needs to keep its design portable between manufacturers and various operating system variants; Apple has a one-to-one relationship between the chips and the OS.
MORE FOR YOU They Inherited Billions Upon Billions: Meet America’s Richest Heirs Deepika Padukone: The Louis Vuitton & Cartier Ambassador Shares Philosophy Behind Her Brand Associations The Best Refrigerators To Keep Your Food Fresh And Chill ARM’s advantages over Intel – notably running at a cooler temperature, better power consumption, and offering more power than the equivalent Intel chips – meant that even the entry-level first-generation M1 MacBook Air could outclass 2020’s competition. Those were reasons to shout about the move to Apple Silicon. That’s why there was a bold promise of moving the whole platform exclusively to Apple Silicon machines by the end of 2022.
And in a few weeks time, Apple can say that this mission is accomplished. It feels like Apple has already said this. .
. at WWDC when it announced the second-generation Apple Silicon M2 chipsets. While the M2 Pro and M2 Ultra for the MacBook Pro are expected with the new MacBook launch, when the team has stood up and had the M2 party in the summer, there’s no need to run it again.
The job is done, everyone knows the new paradigm, and it’s time to move on to the next thing. And the next thing is not all about the Mac. What’s next is Apple Continuity .
This allows you to share your Apple hardware’s features with each other – your iPad acts as a second screen to your iMac, your iPhone becomes the webcam for your MacBook, work on documents that move seamlessly between devices, using your iPhone or iPad as a graphics tablet, your Apple Watch acting as the unlock key for the rest of your devices. . .
Continuity isn’t about a single device; it’s about a single cloud that doesn’t matter which device you use. Yes, the more devices you have, the more flexibility you have, but there’s no must-have to make it all work, just a feeling of ‘choose Apple. ‘ If there were to be a central device in the messaging, it would be the iPhone.
It’s far more iconic than any other Apple product, sells many more units, and is far more consumer-facing. The MacBook Pro, especially the 14-inch and 16-inch models, are great consumer machines. Still, they lean heavily into media creation and developer roles… the sort of roles that support the rest of the Apple product line.
Does a consumer event feel like the right place for this hardware story or would the annual Worldwide Developer Conference be better? And if it is the latter, there’s no need to make a big song and dance in the run-up to Christmas that puts a singular focus on the Mac platform. That can be done more efficiently earlier in the year by talking to the one audience that doesn’t need to see all the shiny edges and boxy lines of the new design. .
. namely the developers. HONG KONG, CHINA – 2021/11/29: The new Macbook Pro laptops with computer chips M1 Pro and M1 Max at .
. . [+] an Apple store in Hong Kong.
(Photo by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Apple’s transition from Intel to ARM is complete. The potential around Apple Silicon has been established. Now it’s time for the Mac platform in general and the MacBook Pro hardware specifically to step back and return to a supporting role.
Now read the latest Mac, iPhone, and Apple Music headlines in this week’s roundup of Apple news. . .
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From: forbes
URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2022/10/08/apple-macbook-pro-launch-event-why-cancelled/