Event “Unleashed”
Apple is daring the revolution – by taking a big step back
Apple CEO Tim Cook left most of the presentations to his team
© Apple / PR
At its event under the motto “Unleashed”, Apple presented its new, highly potent top-class notebooks. But the real revolution was different.
“Courage” – this is how Apple’s PR boss at the time, Phil Schiller, justified one of the group’s most controversial steps. He justified the decision, which was enormously unpopular at the time, to delete the jack plug on the iPhone, that is the courage with which one develops things further. And with its notebooks, too, Apple had repeatedly dared to take controversial steps in recent years by removing ports and even countless buttons. At today’s keynote, Apple showed courage again – by going in the other direction.
Because just as it takes courage to climb down from the diving platform in a swimming pool, Apple’s announcement today was also an admission in one form: It couldn’t go on like this. Five years after revolutionizing the operation of the notebook with the additional touchbar control bar and wanting to fully rely on the modern USB-C standard by deleting popular connections, Apple has taken all its courage. And brings his new MacBook Pro up to date in this regard. Just as customers have wanted for years.
Old and new
If you had seen today’s keynote immediately after 2016, you would probably rub your eyes in amazement. Apple manager Shruti Haldea enthusiastically showed that the new notebooks have HDMI, an SD card reader and the Magsafe connection – exactly three of the interfaces that Apple had thrown out at the time. The touch bar, on the other hand, has disappeared again and has been replaced by larger function keys.
The fact that Apple is highlighting these four returning features – namely Magsafe, the HDMI connection, the SD card reader and the now larger function keys – surprised even die-hard fans. When the first leaks leaked that HDMI and the card slot were being brought back, that was dismissed as wishful thinking by many. Because just a few years ago such a backward row would hardly have been conceivable. Apple, that was the company that cut off old braids. And don’t take it out of the box again.
Strong combination of old and new
That does not mean that the new notebooks are technically not ultra-modern. On the contrary. With the new MiniLED technology, the displays are among the most modern on the market, the new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors are so far ahead of the competition that their ears are likely to flounder. Even if only a part of Apple’s full-bodied promise could also be proven in practice. Experience with the M1 suggests that Apple can keep its great promises. You can find more technical details about the notebooks here.
The return to the old connections must perhaps also be seen as a compromise offer to professional customers. With the changeover to the M processors developed by Apple itself, you also lose an important option: You can no longer install full-fledged Windows on the machines. Although the emulation can now be used very well in so-called virtual machines, native use of Windows programs is no longer necessary. So if you buy one of the new Macs, you have to make a commitment. And perhaps one less compromise has to be made with the new connections.
It certainly helps that Apple has cleverly implemented the old sockets. Instead of four Thunderbolt sockets, there are now only three – while HDMI, SD slot and Magsafe three of the most common usage scenarios for the connections are also offered. Most users should therefore gain connections. In addition, the most practical use of the Thunderbolt port, which is compatible with the USB-C socket, remains. You can still use it to charge or control supported devices and even monitors. The users simply have a lot more choice than before.
More choice
Interestingly, this additional choice also runs through the other new presentations of the evening. With the Homepod, Apple is now offering three completely new shades of blue, yellow and orange that customers can choose from. The music service Apple Music is now available for the first time in a very affordable form: The service called Apple Music Voice costs only half at 4.99 euros per month. The compromise: It can only be controlled via Siri.
There is now also more choice with the Airpods. The newly introduced third generation skilfully manages the balancing act between the Airpod Pro and the previous version. It inherits the shorter bridge from the Pro models, including the touch control and the spatial sound called Spatial Audio. In terms of costs, however, it is significantly closer to the entry-level Airpods. There is even more choice because the affordable second-generation models remain on offer at a slightly lower price.
This freedom of choice coincides with a new direction that Apple has slowly but surely taken in recent years. While there used to be a maximum of one or two devices per category, the group has continued to position itself. This is best seen on the iPhone: If you include the iPhone SE, the group offers five current iPhones, with different sizes, features and correspondingly differentiated prices. And of course in a wide range of colors. In addition, there are the numerous older models, which – also unlike in the past – are increasingly being offered as cheaper alternatives.
Apple has also become more open when it comes to software. In the past, the iPhone or iPad could hardly be adapted, but in recent years users have been able to adapt the system to their personal taste, use widgets and even adapt some standard apps. After Apple seemed to want to tell its users how to do things for a long time, the company has learned in recent years to give customers more choices. And meanwhile apparently found pleasure in it myself.