In the past few years, whenever the handover in February and March came, speculation about whether Apple will hold a spring conference will reach a high point.
Unlike predicting the "when/where" of the September press conference, the guess for the March press conference also includes a "whether or not" judgment.
The difference will be caused by the fact that Apple is used to launching a new generation of flagship iPhones at the autumn conference, while the spring conference is used to release other products or services, which have even been cancelled in some years.
Here are the invitations/times for the Apple Spring conference in the past five years (Beijing time):
- Tuesday, February 27, 2015/March 10, 2015
- Tuesday, March 11, 2016/March 22, 2016
- 2017/no spring conference
- Tuesday, March 16th, March 27th, 2018
- Tuesday, March 12, 2019/March 26
If you have to find the rules from the spring conference dates of the past few years, the habit of holding on Tuesday (Beijing time) may be the only feature that can convince the public.
As for the released products, there is no regular pattern to find: MacBook and Apple Watch in 2015; iPhone SE and iPad Pro in 2016 ... even transformed into a stage of becoming Apple's "selling member" in 2019.
The uncertainty of the product is linked to the uncertainty of the spring conference to a certain extent, which is one of the important reasons why the outside world has doubts about whether the spring conference will be held every year.
Here are the products/services that Apple introduced at its spring conference in the past five years:
- 2015/MacBook/Apple Watch
- 2016/iPhone SE/iPad Pro
- 2017/no spring conference
- 2018/iPad 2018
- 2019/Streaming subscription service Apple TV +/Game subscription service Apple Arcade/News subscription service Apple News +/Credit card service Apple Card
It is widely believed that the iPhone SE2 and the new iPad Pro with ToF lenses will be launched in the first half of this year, and the spring launch will be their stage. Such predictions have some reliability, but they are not necessarily completely correct.
The first is the iPhone SE2. It is expected that this model will be a model that is closer to the iPhone 8. It will be equipped with a 4.7-inch full-screen LCD and a single camera. The overall appearance will be the same as that of the iPhone 8. LPDDR4 memory has been greatly improved.
From the perspective of product power, the appeal of the iPhone SE2 is obviously weaker than the flagship iPhone at the autumn conference. If this is just a new chip, but the appearance is still the "new product" of the old design, then directly on the official website rack may be more suitable for its fate.
If Apple holds a press conference specifically for it, it may also fall into awkwardness with no highlights to talk about.
Apple is good at telling the story behind the product at the conference. At the 2018 spring conference, Apple's more important "product" may not be the iPad, but the opportunity to announce their layout in the education industry:
Launched a classroom app that turns iPhone and iPad into teaching assistants;
The new course "Everyone Can Create" inspires students from four fields: music, video, photography, and painting;
The updated iWork suite helps teachers and students better complete teaching tasks ...
In contrast, the new iPad Pro with ToF lens may be more attractive. After all, if this product really arrives on schedule, it will become the first key to open the Apple AR/VR situation. I believe the "story behind this" "There will be a steady stream of it. But if you need to pay attention, will this product come in the spring?
From outside rumors, Apple may launch a new iPad Pro equipped with a mini LED screen in the second half of the year. The two information conflicts are that will Apple really make two major updates to the iPad Pro product lines in one year?
In addition, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia virus was an additional factor. Although the epidemic has not yet spread widely in the United States, the spring conference will inevitably invite media from other countries to participate.
Under the premise that MWC exhibition, Facebook F8 developer conference and other exhibitions or press conferences have been cancelled, whether Apple will continue to hold the spring conference is also worth considering.
