Apple had its second-quarter earnings call today, and while it was mostly good news for stockholders, it wasn’t as good for Mac customers. For the second time in a row, the entire Mac lineup got the cold shoulder from Tim Cook and company when discussing revenue and plans for the future.
It’s worth mentioning these earnings calls are typically just updates for stockholders — the CEO walks everyone through quarterly earnings, profit margins, market share and all that. We usually get a few small glimpses at what’s coming up in the next quarter, when the CEO — in this case Tim Cook — mentions upcoming plans, or answers a particularly pointed question from a well-heeled stockholder.
However, with WWDC just around the corner and rumors that we might see a new MacBook Air, we expected we might hear a little something about Mac revenue, plans for the future, that kind of thing. Instead, there were only a few offhand comments about the Mac.
“The market for us is more than iPhone,” Tim Cook began, in response to a question about Apple’s plans for expanding in China. “Mac gained share there as well. Watch is getting some traction there. Services is doing extremely well. Several catalysts. I’m very pleased with the results that we were able to show during the quarter.”
It’s disappointing for Mac and MacBook users but it’s not much of a surprise. Despite making efforts to connect with its professional audience, with the upcoming Mac Pro and the new iMac Pro, Apple continues to pull away from its computer division. Hardware updates are infrequent, woefully outdated products like the MacBook Air continue to be sold at full-price, despite featuring outdated and under-powered hardware for the price.
Even the MacBook Air’s product page remains unchanged, still featuring language that describes components that have long-since become the standard in essentially every major laptop.
“MacBook Air is powered by fifth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. This ultra-efficient architecture was designed to use less power and still deliver high performance,” the MacBook Air’s product page reads and will continue to read since the rumored MacBook Air refresh got pushed back again.
Nobody expected Tim Cook to get on the Q2 earnings call and announce a slate of new MacBooks, but even a small amount of recognition would’ve gone a long way toward assuaging the fears of Mac users who might be looking at upgrading or switching platforms entirely. Instead, Mac users were neglected again, and it’s starting to seem like that’s not going to change. But hey, Apple sold a lot of AirPods.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.