Well guys, here goes nothing.
[MUSIC]
Apple just announced two new products.
Well three if you count the fact that there's two iPad pros 11 and 12.9 inch, and a new MacBook Air now we'll get to these products and my impressions of these products in a second.
But first off, I wanted to talk about the fact that Apple released these new products via its website, via a press release, and obviously, did not have a big event.
I suspect that this was supposed to be that March event that we'd been hearing about for the past few weeks, and that given the circumstances, Apple was forced to change its plans.
As I have as well, I'm not in the studio today, and you're gonna forgive me if I mess up or I have to look at my notes once in a while but you know this, this whole thing has changed everything now.
So including apple.
This is not the first time that Apple has announced products via press release.
So it may have well been that they had this plan all along.
But as I said, I suspect that this was supposed to be a March event.
Why, because they had a splashy promo video about the iPad Pro.
Normally, when they launch stuff online, it's usually secondary products or updates and they don't come along with the splashy promo video.
Now, if this was the March event, it means That they might have left a few things behind.
We were expecting that new iPhone SE sequel, the iPhone SE 2 or iPhone 9, there were tons of rumors, including some code from iOS 14 last week from 9to5Mac suggesting that we were gonna get that soon.
And, there's the obvious reason why it didn't happen because they weren't allowed to do an event and maybe they wanted to save it for an event.
But the more likely explanation is that they probably weren't gonna have that iPhone SE2 or iPhone 9 Time to launch in store.
Because of the corona virus obviously it has caused a lot of Apple's manufacturers to shut down operations in China.
And there's been rumors of production delays for particularly for the iPhone, so.
This might have been one of the reasons why we didn't see that product this time around.
Also, we didn't see those air pod pros those over the ear air pod pros we were expecting or those air tags, those tile competitors that track your stuff.
That doesn't mean that we're not gonna see it down the line.
It just means that we might have to wait And see if we get them in the March event or if we get it in a subsequent press release.
This announcement just proved that Apple is not afraid to launch things just with a press release online.
They've also had to close down all their physical stores outside of China and move WWDC to an online-only event.
I think I'd rather have them lunch.
New products to give give us some distractions to talk about, then not not launch them at all or wait to September event, which at this point is still in limbo.
We don't know what's going to happen with that September launch event.
But let's let Apple figure that out.
And let's talk about the two new products.
Okay, we got two new iPad pros.
That are basically upgrades to the 2018 lineup.
So 11 inch screen and 12.9 inch screen.
And they've had two years worth of upgrades now.
So some of the notable upgrades include obviously a faster process in this case.
It's called the A12Z By, dammit.
A12, A12Z Bionic chip, I got it right that time.
And in 8-core GPU, so a much more powerful iPad.
And it now has some of the updates we saw on the iPhone 11, mainly that ultra wide angle lens.
So it has two lenses now on the iPad, the wide angle and ultra wide angle lens.
It now has a lighter sensor Which is going to take augmented reality features to the next level on the iPad Pro.
Obviously, I don't have one yet, but cnet's getting one and we're gonna get our first impressions from Scott Stein.
In the meantime, what other features let's see Phil Schiller said he has a great battery now great.
We don't know if great means better than last the 2018 models or worse, we just know it's great.
And Right.
The other big thing is that it now has trackpad support.
So you'll be able to do gestures, anything that you can do on the trackpad on the MacBooks.
You can now do on the iPad.
It doesn't do it alone.
Obviously it needs a new trackpad sorry it needs a new keyboard with a trackpad.
In order to do this.
They also launched a new magic keyboard as they call it with a backlit keyboard and a trackpad that supports gesture control.
And cursor and everything you would expect in a laptop.
That update is coming to older iPad as well, you can check out online which if your iPad is getting this update.
iPad OS 13.4 which will be available on March 24th.
What does this mean for you?
The iPad is now becoming a viable replacement for a laptop.
We've seen this journey of the iPad becoming a laptop, but it fell short, at least until now.
So I'm actually curious to see what Scott has to say about this new iPad.
Does he give it a pass?
Is he finally able to put aside his MacBook.
The bad thing is that it's gonna cost more than a laptop if you really want the whole configuration.
Now the iPads themselves have not changed the price, 799 for the 11-inch iPad Pro, and then 999 for the 12.9-inch model.
But if you wanna add that magic keyboard and really make it a MacBook or a laptop, then you have to add $300 for the 11 inch one or $350 for the 12.9 inch one.
So you're looking at over $1,000 on a tablet.
What do you prefer a tablet, MacBook I choose a MacBook especially now that the MacBook Air Has gotten a much-needed refresh.
And Apple finally ditched that butterfly switch keyboard, which is one of the reasons why I was still holding on to this old thing.
Hey, it still worked.
And I think now, this might be the one that will force me to upgrade.
Except for the fact that I don't want to pay $999 right at this moment.
And the fact that It still has two ports, just like the old version, two USB C ports.
So let's get into the specs of this new MacBook.
It's a much more powerful machine than the 2018 models so it has doubled the performance according to Apple, featuring attempt generation Intel Isley processor y series.
Up to 12 gigahertz Quad Core i7 and it has way more storage than the old machine.
You can do 256 which is the lower tier or you can configure it with up to two terabytes of storage.
So obviously that's going to cost you more but the best part is it's still $999 the 2018 model upped its price to $1,099.
But this one is Even though you're getting a better machine, it cost the $999 that we were used to pay for the original MacBook Air.
Thank you, Apple.
Yey!.
And lastly, Apple announced new cases for the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro.
New colors and silicon and this leather folder, you're seeing here.
And also, new watch bands for the Apple watch, you have new Nike sports bands.
And for those of you willing to spend upwards of $400 on a Apple watch band, there's newer may options for you as well.
We're still on the lookout for that iPhone SE sequel.
We're still on the lookout for the over the ears AirPods pro and the air tags we don't know when that's coming.
The next Apple events that we know of is going to be WWDC in the first week of June.
And we will give you more details about that once we have them because Apple hasn't even divulged much about that.
In the meantime, stay sane out there.
In here in there, wherever you are.
Stay safe, sane and healthy.
Please we will continue to publish content here at CNET I will try to continue doing your Apple rumor roundups and your Apple news updates.
So come back, come back to YouTube.
And we're all in this together.
So I'll see you next time.
