Apple Impresses Again With New Products

APPLE LAUNCH

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is known for its fast-paced upgrades. The company generally has two events every year where it unveils some new version of one of its flagship products. The most recent event took place yesterday. Let’s take a look at what’s new and how this will affect Apple’s bottom line going forward.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

Touted as “the most advanced smartphone in the world” by chief executive Tim Cook, the new S model phones look exactly like the original 6 model phones on the outside, but here are the differences:

Aerospace-grade aluminum and stronger glass, mainly to prevent the bending that was happening with the previous model.

Force touch, called 3D Touch by Apple, allows you to bring up different menus if you put more pressure and hold on the screen.

Better camera, including a 12-megapixel on the back (a jump from 8 megapixels) and a 5 mega-pixel front-facing camera.

A faster processor, 70% faster, according to Apple, when using it for typical computing tasks, and 90% faster for graphical tasks like gaming.

Verdict: The newest model is a step up, to be sure. However, it doesn’t seem like it’s as big of a step up as was the 5s from the 5. There will certainly be the Apple diehards and early adopters that rush to pick up the newest version, and there will also likely be customers who still carry an older version of the phone and decide that it’s finally time to upgrade, but otherwise I don’t see as much excitement about the 6s and 6s Plus and Apple may be hoping.

iPad Pro

“Today, we have the biggest news in iPad since the iPad,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, unveiling the iPad Pro. “This is the most capable and powerful iPad we have ever created.”

The iPad Pro is Apple’s attempt to boost its sagging sales in that segment:

The new tablet has a 12.9-inch screen, much bigger than the iPad Air 2’s 9.7 inch screen.

Its chip is 1.8 times faster than the iPad Air 2’s processor — that’s 80% faster than the portable PCs currently on the market.

A full-sized keyboard and Apple Pencil, a stylus that flies in the face of what Steve Job wanted.