Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Future-mac

Right up front, this segment is going to contain A LOT of speculation. This is not news, or leaks, but analysis based on past performance an hopefully, some common sense.

I’ve complained in the past that Apple sucks at naming things. I’m hoping that with M1 Macs and their kinda fresh start, we could see much simpler names going forward.

So, we’ll run through the ranges Apple offers right now and see what would make the range easier for people to understand and where there could be gaps that Apple may fill with new products.

iPhone

This is probably the most compete range, and in all honesty its Apple’s core product right now. As it stands, in price from low to high we have…

  • $399 iPhone SE
  • $499 iPhone XR
  • $599 iPhone 11
  • $699 iPhone 12 mini
  • $799 iPhone 12
  • $999 iPhone 12 Pro
  • $1099 iPhone 12 Pro Max

So this is almost our template for what we need. Devices with older tech come under the SE banner, mini for smaller, Pro & Max for you know, higher end and bigger. They also hit basically every price point from 400 bucks up, with the only gap at $900.

That also fits with what we see in our Audio category, I’m not going deep on beats, but the fact you can get Beats Flex at $49 is amazing value if you just need a backup to keep in your bag.

On the AirPods side, we have:

  • $159 AirPods 
  • $249 AirPods Pro
  • $549 AirPods Max

Assuming Apple wants to hit a bunch more price points, we have got rumours of a new 3rd gen AirPods, which would likely replace the 159 start point, and a lower cost sport version of the AirPods Max according to Jon Prosser, at $349. I could see the classic AirPods returning at $99 perhaps with AirPods SE branding to fill this range right out, especially if Apple goes fully portless on next year’s iPhones.

Apple Watch

For Apple Watch we have a range again, though this one is a little more confusing, naming display sizes to identify the lines. This whole range could be easily brought in line with iPhones.

  • $199 Apple Watch Series 3 38mm
  • $229 Apple Watch Series 3 42mm -Max
  • $279 Apple Watch SE
  • $299 Apple Watch SE Max
  • $399 Apple Watch Series 6
  • $429 Apple Watch Series 6 Max
  • Stainless Steel versions add Pro

iPads – this is another area where the naming could be improved!

I’d personally give the base iPad the SE name as it tends to be a couple of year behind on the chip tech. The original iPad was always at $499, so that’s where I’d fill that gap, with the Air taking the new design language at 599, then iPad Pro at $799 and rename the 12.9” as Pro Max. 

Macs – 

Heres the fun part – we have…

  • $699 Mac mini
  • $999 MacBook Air
  • $1099 iMac 21.5” 
  • $1299 MacBook Pro 13”
  • $1799 iMac 27”
  • $2399 MacBook Pro 16”
  • $4999 iMac Pro
  • $5999 Mac Pro

Here we have LOTS of room to expand, mainly because with the advent of M1, there’s just one version of the new Apple Silicon Macs, so we’re just focusing on starting prices for now.

Lets fast forward a year too, once we have a full range and flesh this out. We’ll assume everything here with M1 moves directly to an M2 as well.

Start the range with a Mac mini SE. I predicted it way back in September and I won’t stop going on about it until it happens. $499 with M1, maybe fanless. The price is doable, and it could fit into a smaller housing, Apple TV size.

  • $699 Mac mini M2 
  • $799 MacBook Air SE (M1)
  • $999 MacBook Air M2
  • $1099 iMac (March)
  • $1299 MacBook Pro 
  • $1799 iMac Max (okay, that name is janky) – keep iMac name? (March)
  • $2399 MacBook Pro Max (March)
  • $3999 iMac Pro (June)
  • $4999 iMac Pro Max (June)
  • $5999 Mac Pro (June)

Now, I’m not sure if we’ll still need iMac Pro, or Mac Pro at the current price, but up to that point, this is what I’d do. Let me know your thoughts 

If you made it this far, congrats.

I was writing this script whilst watching SpaceX do one of the most incredible flights I’ve ever seen – Starship SN8 launching, losing an engine on the way up and compensating with the other 2, flipping, falling back, relighting a couple of engines, flipping over and being SO close to landing perfectly when they lost another engine and couldn’t quite slow down enough.