4/21
I wasn't expecting Apple's Spring Loaded event to be as dense as it was. These pre-WWDC Spring events tend to be pedestrian but this one earned its name. You can find plenty of thorough summaries of the event on ye old interwebs so I won't do that here. Instead, I've jotted down my reactions to the event's Big Three: AirTag, iMac, and iPad Pro.
The least surprising announcement—AirTag has been rumored for well over a year now. The small, Bluetooth and U1 equipped accessories can be tracked via Apple's Find My network and come in two SKUs: one for $29 or four for $99. I wasn't expecting them to be as reasonably priced as they are, but Apple's key chain holders—accessories for accessories, hah!—start at $29. So customers get to ask themselves "do I buy two AirTags or buy one and a key chain holder?"
Given the tight integration with Apple's ecosystem, they seem like the kind of add-on many iPhone users will buy or own at some point. Naturally, Apple has thought through the privacy implications of selling easily track-able doodads and can leverage their favorable public stance to ease consumers' concerns. If you own Apple products I don't see a reason not to get an AirTag if you've wanted a digital solution to losing physical objects.
Apple did a nice job with the new 24" iMac, overall. My initial reaction was, of course, "oh no, it still has a chin." There's no denying how inelegant it looks, especially when other Apple devices have been pushing their bezels closer to their edges. I suppose some innovations must be saved for future revisions.
Gripes aside, I love that it comes in different colors and that color matched input devices (and cables!) are available to go with them. It's playful in a way the iMac hasn't been in some time. Holding off on a fun factor move like this feels like further celebration that the iMac has shed its Intel baggage.
And shed baggage the iMac has. Hot damn, is that thing thin! At 11.5mm thick, it's thinner than two iPhone 12s stacked on top of one another. That's just silly. On top of that, it's less than 10lbs with the stand.
They put an M1 chip in an iPad—a most ridiculous flex. What is the iPad even competing with at this point? It was already far more powerful than any other tablet you could purchase. Hell, it was more powerful than many laptops. Now it's sporting the same chip as the Mac Mini, MacBook Air, 13" MacBook and MacBook Pro, and new iMac. It's a tablet with a processor they're putting in regular computers running a regular computer operating system.
But why?
The iPad is a performance beast; it is known. The product's primary weakness hasn't been hardware. It's the software that needs to catch up. Putting an M1 chip in the iPad Pro calls more even more attention to that. The optimistic side of me hopes this is a sign of what's to come at WWDC. Maybe the iPad Pro needs such a powerful chip to run new, demanding software that will be revealed soon. Maybe. I hope. Please, Apple?
The other additions are also quite nice. I'm particularly fond of the ultra wide angle front facing camera with pan and zoom support. It's a smart feature that folks will benefit from and not have to think about while using. The Liquid Retina XDR screen on the 12.9" Pro sounds like it's taking an already excellent screen to the next level. I'm curious how long it'll take for that to trickle down to the 11" iPad. I'm still not a fan of Apple further stratifying devices within already stratified categories, though. Is the 12.9" iPad Pro a Pro's Pro device? Same deal with the iPhone 12 Pro Max's better-than-the-12-Pro's camera system.
Overall the event signaled another solid step forward for Apple's devices, though not without caveats. The refreshed iMac marks the final entry level M-series Mac. From here on we're likely to see a more beefed up M-series chip for the higher end MacBook Pros and whatever replaces the current 27" iMac and Mac Pro.
The iPad Pro continues to compete with itself, making year over year upgrades seem less meaningful even though objectively they are. It's still my favorite piece of modern technology but I want so much more from it. A hardware bump isn't what it needs anymore.
For everyone else, AirTag is an affordable and easy to use accessory that will keep a lot of people from losing important items or maybe even recover stolen ones. With deep integration into Apple's ecosystem it's going to claim default mindshare for anyone looking to purchase that type of product.
A solid event with WWDC on the horizon. Software leaks will probably start to trickle in during May—earlier if we're lucky. Hopefully Apple gives customer's even more reason to buy all these shiny new things when June rolls around.