Apple's week March 7: Airtime
Apple's top leaker, CEO Tim Cook, gave a very lazy hint about what was coming this week – Air(s). MacBook Air and iPad Air are the only products that fit the tease, as Apple also announced the base iPad and Mac Studio updates.
The week was otherwise pretty devoid of anything interesting. King Charles is going to try his hand as an Apple Music DJ on Monday, and Apple has officially shared that the personalized Siri with app intents has been delayed.
Queue the DOOM™ sayers.
Something in the Air
I don't need to break down every spec and feature in these new products. AppleInsider has already shared every conceivable spec and comparison for them in the past few days.
11-inch iPad 11 (11th generation)
Apple's new base iPad has a naming problem. I think we all understand what someone means when they say "base iPad" or "budget iPad," but there's no way anyone on Earth will call it iPad (A16).
I'm sticking with the 11-inch iPad in text. If I mean Air or Pro, I'll say so.
It seems Apple is at an odd point with the product if you examine it at a surface level. It has Apple Pencil (first-generation) support, no Apple Intelligence, and it isn’t compatible with Magic Keyboards.
All of these oddities are likely the result of the same problem. Apple needs the base iPad to have a low entry price and appeal to education markets.
Maintaining compatibility with the original Apple Pencil reduces cost and waste. The A17 Pro or A18 are likely too expensive to put in the base iPad without upping the price at least a bit.
The Magic Keyboard compatibility issue seems out of place, but it may once again stem from needing to maintain compatibility with other accessories. The 11-inch iPad uses the side-mounted smart connector, so it gets a different-style Folio keyboard.
I think it is a fine product at an excellent price point. Honestly, between the sales for the A16 model and the heavy discounts on the A14 model, this is a great time to buy an iPad.
The lack of Apple Intelligence won't be an issue. Like with MagSafe on iPhone 16e, those that never had it won't miss it.
The Airs
iPad Air is a much more straightforward device. Apple moved it to the M3 chipset for a modest spec bump.
Ever since that "iPad Air will get M4 in the spring of 2025" rumor started, I rejected it. Nothing about it made sense.
As we got closer and the rumor persisted, I tried to rationalize why Apple would do this. It could be similar to how MacBook Air and MacBook Pro both have the M4 but different feature sets. It could be due to iPad Pro getting M5 in 2025.
Either way, it didn't click with me and ultimately didn't happen. We've already heard whispers of iPad Pro not getting M5 until after MacBook Pro does, which makes me think it may be a 2026 product after all.
Which, honestly, would be better for consumers and timing. I need to think on this more, but I do think there is such a thing as too fast a turnaround on a new product cycle.
I owned the iPad 3 when the "new" iPad was revealed by Apple about seven months later. That's certainly too close together, and the ten months for M2 to M3 iPad Air feels similar.
Personally, and for my wallet, I think the 18-month cadence for pro products makes the most sense. Have a predictable annual release schedule for MacBook Air, iPad Air, iPad, Apple Watch, iPhone, etc., but push it out longer for those higher-end devices.
Products should release when they are ready, but there is some strategy to ensuring customers are ready too.
The MacBook Air is the easiest to discuss here. M4 chip, blue color, done. That's it, really.
Mac Studio's generational drama
Mac Studio isn't much of a mystery either if you ignore Apple's chip marketing names. Sure, they're two different generations of the 3nm process, but that's not important for the user.
The leap from M4 Max to M3 Ultra is a big one and not dissimilar in scope to the leap from M2 Max to M2 Ultra. Since it's pretty much confirmed M4 won't get an Ultra chip, I suppose we'll have M3 Ultra through to the end of 2026 at least.
That doesn't mean the Mac Pro couldn't get a new specialized chipset above M3 Ultra that is based on the second-generation 3nm process. However, Apple won't call it M4 Ultra because it won't be built using two M4 Max combined with an interconnect.
Let's hope Apple provides some use for those Mac Pro slots.
I've seen some chatter around M3 appearing in iPad Air and Mac Studio. "Isn't this an undesirable process?" or "Didn't Apple abandon this chip according to rumors?"
Both are still true, at least I believe so. The M3 generation is built on an undesirable process and Apple moved away from it quickly. However, it still made plenty of inventory for products like iPad Air, and M3 Ultra is going to be incredibly low volume.
I like these weeks where we get a few products over a few days. Too bad there wasn't any video productions this time, even if it didn't make much sense.
Doom™
I want to discuss the Apple Intelligence delay for proactive, personalized Siri with App Intents, but this one has already run long and I don't want that discussion lost at the bottom here. I will say it was unfortunate that Andrew and I discussed this on HomeKit Insider and concluded recording minutes before the news broke.
I stand by what I said though. It wasn't a delay if it was coming in 18.5, but Apple's adjustments here are a much longer delay. I'm glad they made that clear.
There are so many conflicting and plain odd opinions around Apple Intelligence. I'm pretty sure this falls under the usual category of Apple=Bad=Engagement.
On a happy note, Tapbots is working on a Bluesky client named Phoenix and it's coming this summer!
If you like these little weekly summaries, let me know so I can be motivated to keep them up. I want there to be regular content on this blog, but it isn't easy to always have something new, so news it is while I work it out.