It’s that time of the year again. Just this Tuesday, Apple held its annual Fall event in an attempt to build some hype for the upcoming holiday season. The tablet focused event saw the reveal of two new devices: the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2. Taking after its laptop siblings, the new iPad Air is Apple’s thinnest tablet to date measuring only 9 mm. The new tablet will also include Apple’s new hardware standards such as the fast A7 processor and Retina display.
Although all of these additions may sound nice on paper, in reality they leave many tech enthusiasts unsatisfied with Tuesday’s reveal. Apple claims that the new iPad Air performs 72 times faster than the original iPad. With today’s rapidly evolving technology, the original iPad might as well be used as a doorstop compared to modern devices. In fact, Apple’s new A7 chip, while lightning fast, is only slightly faster than last generations A6X processor seen in last year’s 4th generation iPad. Most casual users accessing applications such as Facebook, YouTube, or simply browsing the Internet will be hard pressed to notice any glaring improvements in the speed department. Surprisingly, the “tech giant’s” new Touch ID software debuted in the iPhone 5s will not make an appearance in the new device.
With this year’s tech lineup fully released for Apple, another generation of sameness can be tallied in the books. In the past couple of years since Steve Job’s death in 2011, Apple has done little to progress the devices beyond loud competition. Sure, they did introduce a new fingerprint scanner into the latest iteration of their mobile phone, but they are certainly not the first to implement such technology into a device. With competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and Samsung pushing the limits of what is possible with today’s technology, Apple’s shortcomings are becoming more and more apparent with each year. MHS senior and tech junkie Alex Sokol is one of the many who are beginning to make the switch away from Apple, as he points out that “every year seems to be the same story. All they [Apple] have to do is slap a new processor in a tablet and people will flock to it just to say they have it.” When asked about Apple’s tablet competition such as Microsoft’s Surface Pro2 he commented, “Microsoft literally fit a desktop into a tablet but everybody is too busy waiting in line for something that came out years ago”. Whether or not the company’s innovation died with Jobs, it will be interesting to see how long Apple can manage to survive if they continue these trends in future generations.
Thomas C • Oct 31, 2013 at 9:51 pm
I liked the article. I thought the author was very well spoken and they wrote it well. Yet, I do not like the fact how Apple is just pulling random stuff out now. I feel that they are making stuff up now and it is just getting really stupid. An Ipad Air, really? Overall I think it’s just a pretty stupid concept
Malcolm 96 • Oct 31, 2013 at 3:53 pm
I agree with this article. Every year Apple releases a “new” product which in reality is just a better faster version of the old one. Many other companies are coming up with better and new things but it dosen’t matter because their company isn’t as popular as Apple. Most of the time people are just buying a certain product for the brand name so they can say they can have an “Apple” I phone.
Michael B. • Oct 30, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Loved the article. I like how you included yourself as a source, letting you voice your opinion in the article. I never really thought about the decline of Apple, since I’m not really into computers. But either way, I agree with you. With the information provided, it does seem like Apple is going to crash like a computer with a weak firewall…. Not sure if that last sentence was correct, but…. I think you know what I mean…
Grant • Oct 30, 2013 at 3:24 pm
I think that many people are beginning to realize that Apple’s products are inferior to the competition, but many people just like the simplicity and elegance that goes along with Apple’s name. I recently switched away from my iPhone and in the month I’ve had my new phone people have been constantly telling me how much cooler my phone is then their iPhones, but when i ask if they would consider getting an android they all say no. Many people say its because everyone has an iPhone and others just stand there speechless. Apple’s reign is over.
Isabel B • Oct 30, 2013 at 10:30 am
I agree. There are so many new innovations being made everyday by companies besides Apple. It does seem as though what made Apple special and exciting before has left with Steve Jobs. Products are just getting smaller and thinner with other tweaks. And many people were also saying that their newest change, ios7 was just features that Android phones already had.
brian96 • Oct 29, 2013 at 10:51 pm
apple should attempt to be more innovative with its new releases to stay ahead of the competition. Even with a new processor, it is still a bland product.
Jack Murphy • Oct 29, 2013 at 9:27 pm
I believe that is very true Apple is producing the same product with one new innovation every year while the other company take the lead in technology.
Devon • Oct 29, 2013 at 9:22 pm
I think that Apple is so big and popular they don’t really need to try anymore. the whole A7 processer is basically just so they can have an excuse to ramp up the prices a few hundred dollars simply because they can. I think the whole finger print scanner is stupid. what happens when your friend picks up your phone and cant get in it because of the finger print scanner. the problem is that I haven’t even heard of the Surface pro2, apple is so well known it outcompetes Microsoft and Samsung in advertising and everybody just assumes apple is best.
Brett 92 • Oct 29, 2013 at 8:01 pm
I though that this article was very good. I agree with just about everything the author said mostly because I am an Apple follower as well. To me, these new iPads really do not stun me considering they’re only a bit faster than the previous generation iPad despite the large upgrade in the iPad mini which was a big hit. Overall, this article was informative, persuasive, and interesting. I like how the author chose such a recent topic in the tech world.
Adam Cucchiara 96 • Oct 29, 2013 at 1:18 pm
I always think it is funny how apple handles its buisness. They release the same thing in every year barely changing anything. But they don’t need to change a lot. People will flock to hte brand no matter what they release. I bet they could re-release the apple II and people would still buy that.