Something Really Pro for iPadOS 17

Most iPad Pro users appreciate Apple's effort to give us reasons to get the iPad Pro. For years, other than bigger screens, cameras (which I'll get to), keyboard and mouse support, and, in the past year, Stage Manager, there really is not a whole lot of other reasons why we need to get the iPad Pro.

Please note that this is not a complaint article. We have no idea how much resources Apple is pouring into making the iPadOS experience that much better year after year both on the hardware and software side. I do agree with many of this year's review of the iPad Pro and iPadOS that if you already have the iPad Pro with the M1 chip inside, you are not missing anything with the 2022 iPad Pro upgrade with the M2 chip. And it is not likely going to make a big difference when Apple eventually release the iPad Pro with the M3 chip as well.

So, what makes the "pro" in the iPad Pro then if we are not seeing a significant user experience? For me, it  has come down to Stage Manager.

As I use my iPad, the Pro portion of the iPadOS experience is the ability to duplicate some of the ability to create contents that I am currently doing on MacOS. I'm still learning to code on my 2016 MacBook with Xcode and other tools that I currently cannot do on the iPad. From what I know, coding on Playgrounds is not the same experience as coding on Xcode.

We know that Apple is going to continue to update iPadOS until the end of time. Not all are going to be here until the end of time. So, I would  like to see Apple really make the Pro part of the iPad Pro happen sooner rather than later.

• Apple has not brought over many desktop apps to the iPads. If anything, Apple give iPhone and iPad users what I call "lite" versions - one of the first one is GarageBand. People have want to have Logic Pro on the iPad for as long as I can remember. I am not a Logic Pro user and I only use GarageBand sparingly. And even still, GarageBand band files (I don't know if it's all GarageBand files) are not compatible between the MacOS and iOS/iPadOS. At the version least, if I create a file using GarageBand on the Mac, it should be able to run seamlessly on the iPad as well.
• Playgrounds. I think this is one of the best app Apple has ever created. I am able to learn programming on an iPad away with my Mac. It's one of the reasons why I have not find a need to get a new Mac because given my skill set at this time, I don't need a new Mac to code. However, tons of developers want a much more robust coding tool on the iPad. I think Apple should give it to them. 
• Windows and desktop - Just let people have more freedom to move files, folders, and apps around. Stage Manager is cool first step but it needs to be opened up more. I envision features that will need to be turned on in Settings to let Stage Manager have a more open environment when Apple comes to the realization that its users are creative and they will be able to more wonderful things if you let them. 
• At the very least, Files should be integrated into Stage Manger or allow users to access files and apps directly within Stage Manager.
• Search feature should be readily accessible in Stage Manger. Not everyone will have a keyboard to type in command-space to get the search prompt.

The iPad Pro has the M2 chip inside. So far, there is nothing in the App Store that really comes close to making it sweat. Benchmarks do not count. And you know what? That's okay. the iPad is to an Mac after all and the MacBook Air is not the MacBook Pro. You want to make your machine work - pick the MacBook Pro or Mac Studio.

What most of us want is being able to do more with our iPad Pro. And that is something definitely Apple should be able to accommodate.

iPad - Make It More MacOS-Like Or Just Let It Run MacOS

Would you like Apple to be on the current trajectory of making iPadOS more like MacOS through efforts like Stage Manager or simply let the iPad Pro run macOS? I am sure deep someone at Apple in the R&D department has an iPad Pro running MacOS and is loving it and lament that it is not allowed to escape the confines of the laboratory. 

Okay, this is just me guessing really hard but I do not think it is out of the realm of possibility given that Apple has a history of doing this kind of thing. Even while Apple was selling Macs running on PowerPC, they had a parallel track of OS development on Intel's X86 chips that went on to do very well. And then of course, while Apple was selling Intel-based Macs, Apple was preparing to move the Macs over to chips developed in house.

And so far, Apple has decided to make iPadOS more, well, iOS-like rather an allow the M1 and M2 iPads run MacOS. All the while, Apple is trying to increase a segment of users who want to only use their iPad Pro as their main computer additional productivity options like Stage Manager. So far, Stage Manager has had a tepid reception at best. It's better we really hold judgement until the third or even fourth iteration before we decide of Apple has finally succeeded or failed in this attempt to give the iPads with M-series chips more parity in terms of productivity with the Macs. 

Failing that, Apple could conceivably open up MacOS to the iPad Pro. It would be similar to using a MacBook Air - with limited battery life of course. 

You might argue that perhaps Apple would never do that because it would cannibalize MacBook Air sales. It might but I doubt it. The iPad Pro is a very different machine than the MacBook Air when they are running their respective OS. Plus, the MacBook Air has distinct advantages over the iPads. At this point, the only thing good that the iPad Pro would have running MacOS is that, well, it can run iPadOS and MacOS. And even so, as an iPad user, I do not see myself having the need to run MacOS unless there are apps that I need to use that are not available for iPadOS. 

What will likely happen is that we will see Apple bring more features like Swift development over to iPadOS and eventually allow developers to code and release apps for the iOS and iPadOS more seamless than it already is available through Playgrounds. We will see select features that professional users needs become available on iPadOS, thereby, negating much of the needs for users to run MacOS on an iPad.

The question for those of us who would like to see more MacOS features or Mac apps ported over to iPadOS is what those features/apps are and when it happens.

Santa, I want an I Pad Mini With M3

Dear Santa,

How’s your vacation been? Christmas 2022 was another resounding success. Credit to you and your elves. I know you treat them well and they’re just great wonderful magical creatures paid with union wages, great healthy care, education, and everything.  I don’t blame you for the inventory and inflation issues due to COVID. That’s all on us mortals.

Now, I want to discuss something with you and you will realize that I’m actually doing this for millions of other Apple fans out there. 

I would really appreciate it if you could send a couple of your top elven designers to Apple in Cupertino and design the next iPad mini. 

There was chatter about a year ago that Apple is working on an iPad mini Pro. If this is not true, whoever started this false rumors deserves to be on your naughty list for the rest of time. But if this is true, an iPad mini Pro with Apple’s upcoming M3 chip is exactly what millions of Apple fans and I want. I’ve started 2023 on a very nice track so o thought I send you my iPad min wishlist. 

You gifted me an iPad mini 5 and I’ve been using it since. As you know, I skipped the iPad mini 6 and my current mini works great. I am learning to draw, code, and generally doing more work on the mini which means I would need something more powerful in the coming years. 

On top of this, being able to plug the mini into a monitor to gain professional features currently available pro-level iPads would mean I have a desktop computer as well. The reason for a pro version of the  mini is because Apple likes to differentiate between consumer and professional levels. For example, the iPad Air with M1 does not have Thunderbolt support that the pro iPads have.

It would be great if the mini has Pro features. And to come with these Pro features, I would like to see the upcoming Apple chip, the M3 built on TSMC’s 3nm processor technology. I know Apple likes to use an iPhone chips in iPads but if I think the M-series I’m an iPad mini Pro would be the perfect mobile device for a wide spectrum of mobile users.

I think often people dismiss the smallest iPad as a tablet for consuming contents rather than a real device for content creation or other types of work. I have seem people use them for work - coding, drawing, or office work. It’s awesome to see that people using the mini for such a wide range of productivity-related activities on this small form factor. 

At the top, I had mentioned you sending a couple of your engineers to Apple to help them with the design of this iPad mini Pro. I think there is a bias at Apple regarding small form factors (your elfish engineers will probably be the smallest there at Apple!). Since Tim Cook took over, the iPhone has only gotten bigger and bigger. And when they tried to make iPhones with smaller bodies like the mini, they tried it for two years and discontinued them leaving the iPhone SE as the lone small form factor iPhone. 

Apple is allowing a great opportunity to pass if the next iPad mini is just a simple upgrade with whatever happens to be "last year's chip" and be done with it for the next two years. 

So, what do you say? I've been really good so far this year.

The Tepid Reception for iPhone Plus Should Be A Warning To Apple that 15” MacBook Air May Not Sell Well

 There are a lot of chatter this week about the upcoming 15” MacBook Air that will be added to the 13.3” version currently on the market. Perhaps I’m not seeing it but I am not alone judging by the number of blog posts today about it, a few think that Apple should have gone the other way - a 11” or 12” MacBook Air would be the better route to go. 

The question we have to ask is why is Apple making a 15” MacBook Air? And why is it called a MacBook Air? To be exact, the bigger MacBook Air will have 15.5” which is a mere half in from the 16” MacBook Pro. Apple probably believe that people who want a bigger screen but are not willing to pay for the professional specs will opt for a lower end laptop with a similarly sized screen.

Not a bad line of thinking. Except this is the Mac market, not the Windows PC market. I use a 15” Windows laptop for work. I think it came from Costco and cost about $700. The 13.6” MacBook Air starts at $1199. How much would a 15.5” version cost? Let’s use the Pro as a reference. The 14” MacBook Pro starts at $1999 and the 16” version starts $2499, a $500 difference.

Let’s say Apple decides to start the 15.5” MacBook Air at $1499 (but I think it’ll probably start at $1599), that is a $300 difference. At that price, maybe I start looking at the 14” MacBook Pro because by spending a few hundred more, I do get a smaller screen but I will get more memory and a much more powerful laptop.

So, I am not sure where the 15.5” MacBook Air fit and who it is really for. I hope this is not another misfire by Apple.

Another you ask? That’s right. 

Take the iPhone 14 Plus with the 6.7” screen that starts at $899. It is not selling as well as Apple is hoping. We will not know until Apple brings out the numbers if they ever do at all or when Apple cancels the Plus in a year or two entirely because of low demand. 

I opt out of this year’s iPhone upgrade but if I had wanted to upgrade or I’m happen to be a new iPhone user, I would give the iPhone Pro Max a really hard look. Starting at $1099, I would get a high-end iPhone with new camera, longer battery life, and new features such as a new chip, higher quality case, and the Dynamic Island. All that for $300 more. 

Though only Apple knows why the iPhone Plus was offered, I feel the 15.5” MacBook Air is being put on the market for the same reason. There are Apple friendly bloggers who suggest that Apple is offering the Plus for people who are not willing to pay for the Pro Max. They will likely suggest that the 15.5” MacBook Air is being offered to those who want a bigger screen without paying for the 16” MacBook Pro. 

Well, if the Plus is any indication, I think the bigger Air will have its fans but it will be a limited segment of the Mac market. Instead of going bigger, Apple should consider going smaller. And that includes bringing back the iPhone mini.

Watching Video Will Come To The Apple Watch (Not Just The Ultra)

We will not be like Dick Tracy and do video calls on the Apple Watch any time soon if ever and I’m fine with to given privacy issues - I don’t want or need a camera on my watch. But I would like to be able it watch old Dick Tracy cartoons and the one movie starring Warren Beatty on my Apple Watch. It’s going to happen. And I think it will happen soon. 

Why? Have you seen the screen size of Apple Watch these days? As a proud owner of 44 mm (1.73”) Series 6, the screen is plenty big for my aging eyes  once in a while, some video will play on my watch  it’s small but watchable  in a pinch if you happen to be waiting in line and have a minutes to kill. 

Short form videos would be an excellent example of why we should be allowed to watch videos on the watch.

Folks are are fortunate enough to have the Apple Watch Ultra on their wrists have unanimously noted how big and bright the screen in at 49 mm (1.93”) and a few have even suggested that they would love to watch videos on their Ultra.

There are already ways to watch video on the Apple Watch but it would be great if Apple brings more support to WatchOS. So far, I've only found on one app that lets me watch video. Here is a sample with a Youtube video playing on my watch.

Here are some interesting notes from watching the video on the Apple Watch:

• It works. It's not too small for general viewing. If there are words or anything that needs to be read, you can forget about it. For that it's too small. 
• I recall watching video on my iPod. It was not too small then. The screen on the watch is smaller but not by much.
• It is for a short duration. Some Youtube videos. Short form videos. In fact, I suggest that I am not sure if I will be able to get through a whole sitcom. However, you never know. If you're at the DMV and all you have is your Apple Watch, maybe an episode of The Big Bang Theory might help pass the time.
• Battery will be an issue. No need to really get into this. I did not watch the Youtube video long enough to see the impact on the battery life. I think it could get ugly. 
• So will be storage. Apple has not increase the storage of the watch for a while now. The original Apple Watch through the third generation has 8 GB. I recall having to delete a lot of stuff in order to update the OS. Interestingly, the Series 4 was the only one with 16 GB while Series 5 and on has 32 GB. Yeah, that could do for a movie or two but not much more if you have podcasts, music, and apps installed. If Apple eventually go 64 GB, sure why not but that's a lot of apps that currently felt limited. I think it would help to have more map, photos, or other information stored on the watch. With 64 GB, I would want to be able to store and watch videos. Even if I am not watching, if I can listen to the audio, that is fine with me.
• The video was pretty crisp. Not like watch TV on those old portable TV from the 90s. I had expected that but I was very impressed with the quality despite it being small. 
• Apple will need to provide a more robust framework for video viewing on the watch. A couple of things will have to happen for this to go forward with official support - the chip in the watch has to be faster and more efficient. I feel the current chip in the Apple Watch will strain to show videos while doing other tasks in the background. 

Only Apple knows if it will bring video watch to the Apple Watch. And if Apple has that on the roadmap, only Apple know when it will make it happen. Meanwhile, there are a lot of folks who are interested in this feature, even now with the current tech in the Apple Watch. 

I have a lot of videos on my Apple TV and iTunes account. I would love to be able to download them and have them readily available to watch or just to listen to the audio in the background. More and more, I am leaving my iPhone at home because my watch is more than enough to allow me to stay in touch with messages, emails, and calls. 

Would be nice to have a few of my videos along with me if I happen to be bored somewhere and having a video to watch would sure help pass the time.

Apple Should "Courageously" Turn the iPhone Into A Full Fledge Computer With Stage Manager

 I want Apple to give me Stage Manager on the iPhone when I connect it to a TV/monitor via Airplay or cable. I know that Apple probably will never go this route because I would love it if Apple makes the iPhone the everything device for us mobile users - including individuals and companies as well.

To do this it'll take something former Apple VP Phill Schiller said, "courage". When he famously said the word "courage" in front of a crowd for the iPhone 7 unveiling when Apple "courageously" removed the headphone jack. 

Now, it is time for Apple to be courageous again - the low hanging branches of mobile features for Apple is slowly harder and harder to come by. We can expect better camera year after year but other than that, what revolutionary features can we expect. In the past, I have written about health features that Apple can add to the iPhone, turning it into a medical tricorder if both doctors Leonard McCoy and Beverly Crush would approve of. That's another post that I will eventually visit again. 

One feature that Apple can bring to the iPhone that will provide a greater impetus for users to upgrade their iPhone in a regular basis is to bring Stage Manager to a sufficiently powerful enough iPhone.

In the age of "quiet quitting" and "lying flat" in China, maybe you think that users would not want to take their iPhone back home to plug into a monitor or TV to start working again. I'm not talking about those folks. In fact, I'm a fan of quiet quitting. As an employee, I'll do my best in the time that I have at work. But paying me for forty hours of work and trying to get my to work sixty to eighty hours a week just is not right. As am employer (which I am not), I would not expect people who work for me to put in more time than what I pay them. It just is not fair. But this too is another blog post entirely.

I'm talking about people like me who use their iPhones for social connection and recreation but someone who create contents on it as well. Imagine an iPhone with M3 chip that allows me to not only crush my opponents in RPG games or watching videos on Apple TV but also lets me connect to a monitor that turns the iPhone into a computer that lets me use desktop class apps with Stage Manager implementation. I add a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and I'm off to the races - writing, drawing, or churning out videos for Youtube. 

Of course, you're thinking why would Apple do this - wouldn't this cannibalize iPads and perhaps even Mac sales? Perhaps. But if the Stage Manager enabled iPhone is only available for the iPhone Pro Max, it would tip iPhone sales towards the high end - generating more revenues and profits. Most content creators and professionals would still opt for the Mac. There is no question about that. 

Some iPad sales might be cannibalized by an iPhone Pro Max but iPad users who want the bigger screens on the go, including myself, would still get an iPad. As the years go by and Stage Manager improves, the line between iPad Pro and the Mac will blur even further - cannibalization between the two classes of Apple products is inevitable. With a Stage Manger enabled iPhone, Apple is simply adding another premium product to the mix.

I know this is probably too soon for it to happen because Stage Manager is so early in its development and there are a lot of new features, bugs, quirks, and input from users in the coming upgrades for Apple to add, fix, and think about in general. Even once Apple get to a point where it is satisfied with Stage Manager implementation, it should naturally come to the high end iPhones.

Breaking down the iPhone to its most essential element - it is a computer. Steve Jobs said computers are like the bicycle for the mind. Think of Stage Manager on the iPhone as the next natural step in the evolution of that bike - a motorized bike that takes mobile computing and creative endeavors to the next level.

Is There A Future For the iPhone Mini?

If you like the original iPhone SE with its 4" screen or even iPhone 12 and 13 mini, you would probably be interested in the iPhone 14 mini. Alas, it is not to be with this year's iPhone upgrade cycle. Apparently, Apple does not think the mini has sold enough in numbers to qualify for an update. However, I do not think that the mini will be going away any time soon.

The addressable market for users who like smaller iPhones or phones in general is quite big. That is not the issue here. The really issue is that the mini is not selling in sufficient enough quantity for Apple to invest in making the mini a part of its annual iPhone refresh. 

While we lament the loss of the iPhone 14 mini, we can expect Apple to continue to sell the iPhone 13 mini for least another year. Apple knows that there is a market for the mini and the company will want to recoup as much of the investment as possible. 

More likely, Apple will see the iPhone 13 mini another year as a hold over until there it refresh the iPhone SE. Let me explain. The latest 2nd generation iPhone SE was launched on March 18, 2022. If Apple sticks to a 2 year cycle for the iPhone SE, the next fresh is approximately 19-20 months from now. Apple can continue to sell the iPhone 13 mini during this period until the next SE refresh. 

The iPhone SE and the 13 mini both have the same chips - Apple-designed A15 Bionic system on a chip. So, both of these phones will be on the market at the same time. The SE and mini costs $429 with memory option of 64 to 256 GB and $699 with memory options of 128 to 512 GB, respectively. Take away the 64 GB option of the SE, the price difference between these two smallest iPhone is $220 for the 128 GB configuration and $270 for the 256 GB option. I'm not sure why the gap widened by $50 for the 256 BG options but the difference accounts for the higher costs of components and cameras for the mini. The screen and camera alone is well worth the upgrade. 

If Apple does choose to make the mini take the place of the current SE form factor, we have to see just how low Apple is willing to lower the price of the mini as the SE - $429 with 64 GB? I can see a lot of Apple and tech elitists/bloggers have an issue about that. I'm going to guess that Apple will start with $499 (perhaps $529) at 128 GB. That would be a difference of $200 from the current configuration. 

How probably is this? Right now, the 13 mini is $699 and the 12 mini, which is still being sold by Apple is $599. When the iPhone 14 launches in a few weeks, the 13 mini will likely fall to $599 and the 12 mini will be taken off the market. There is an outside chance the 12 mini might still be sold so Apple can test the market or clear its inventory of them. The 12 mini would drop to $549 from its current $649. That's $70 more than the iPhone SE with 128 GB. 

I'm pretty confidence about this analysis. Apple has been rather predictable in the Tim Cook era and this makes a whole lot of sense. The current and evolutionary status of the  iPhone SE form factor is a throwback to the original iPhone. Apple is not shy about moving on. 

The chances of the mini form factor taking the place of the SE is very likely. Furthermore, who is to say that Apple won't put the home button or TouchID on the power button like they are doing on the iPad? It would be a welcoming option for users who rather unlock their iPhones with their fingers rather than their faces. I foresee a time when Apple adds the TouchID option to all iOS and iPadOS devices down the road.

What say you? iPhone SE in its current form forever or let the mini take over in a couple of years?