Apple recently announced their new iPhone lineup and the devices are ruffling some feathers,
but not for the reasons you might think.
The issue many people have is with the device’s names.
Which are iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
So, why are people upset about this naming scheme?
Well, they believe there’s no reason to call the iPhone a “pro” product.
And that by doing so, Apple is watering down the word pro since the iPhone is clearly a
consumer-level product.
But I take issue with this argument, and in this video I’m going to explain exactly
why.
This is Greg with Apple Explained and I want to thank Squarespace for sponsoring this video.
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Now I want to begin by giving you a run down of Apple’s history with the word “pro.”
Since that’ll give you a better understanding of why some people are upset that Apple is
associating it with the iPhone.
So the first time Apple actually used the “pro” suffix in a product was with the
MacBook Pro back in 2006.
And that’s because it was equip with features that power users needed to get their work
done quickly and efficiently.
Features like a larger display, a more powerful processor, more ports, more storage, and more
RAM.
And what exactly where these users doing with their MacBook Pros?
Well, many of them used their machines for work like video editing, photo editing, graphic
design, or 3D rendering.
So you can see why everyday users who just browse the internet, check email, or write
papers, had no need for the more expensive and more powerful Pro model MacBook.
In fact, back in the late 2000’s, it was uncommon to see people with MacBook Pros or
Mac Pros unless they had a job where those powerful machines were necessary.
And it’s easy to understand why.
The 2006 MacBook Pro started at $2,000, while the MacBook was almost half the price at $1,100.
Compare that to the MacBook Pro today, which starts at $1,300.
But that isn’t really a fair comparison.
Because today’s MacBook Pro is much different than the model in 2006.
It’s display 13” instead of 15, and it features the same amount of storage and RAM
as the MacBook Air.
In fact, its only real “pro” feature is its quad-core processor and faster graphics
card.
And yes, you get a cool touch bar, but you also get the same number of ports and the
same quality display as the Air.
That’s exactly why you see more MacBook Pros being used today by what some may consider
to be non-professionals like students.
But curiously, there was no backlash when Apple introduced an underpowered 13” MacBook
Pro that started at just $1,200 back in 2008.
Even though it watered down the “pro” name in almost exactly the same way as the
iPhone Pro today.
The first time Apple was widely criticized for this, was with the iPad Pro in 2017.
Not only did many people see it as an excuse to raise the device’s price by $100, but
they also felt like it was still a consumer-level product unworthy of the Pro name.
But as I said in the beginning of the video, I don’t agree with the premise that the
pro suffix is being watered down.
In fact, I think it just signifies how capable devices like the iPad and iPhone have become.
Back in 2007 the iPhone could hardly take a decent photo, but today it takes better
photos than most dedicated cameras.
Not to mention all of the built in photo editing tools with a marketplace of apps that push
its photography capabilities even further.
And that’s why we’re seeing iPhones being used in professional settings.
Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch shot parts of his latest film with an iPhone.
Saying, “Orsen Welles would have loved shooting with an iPhone.
It will change the history of cinema.”
So does that officially make the iPhone a pro device?
Or do more professionals have to use it in order to qualify?
If so, how many?
As you can see, there isn’t such a clear division between the pro and casual user as
some may think.
After all, don’t pro users become casual users after their workday is finished?
And don’t casual users sometimes need powerful tools to edit together a video of the family
vacation or to create a professional-looking photo book?
I believe there’s much more overlap between “pro” and “casual” than people care
to admit.
And as the line between those two categories begin to blur, so are Apple’s products.
Just consider the fact that today’s mobile devices are more powerful than computers were
ten years ago.
So when does a device stop being casual, and start being professional?
One minute I could be playing words with friends on my iPad, and the next minute I could be
editing 4K video.
When I was a kid, it was obvious that mobile devices like weren’t made for professional
use.
And I think that’s why we never saw an iPod Pro.
But things are much different today, and I think backlash over the iPhone 11 Pro name
is coming from people unaware of how much technology has shifted over the last 10 to
15 years.
But because Apple has official made the iPhone a Pro device, it has caused people to point
out all the quote unquote pro features they think the iPhone is missing.
Things like a USB C port, a headphone jack, or Apple Pencil support.
And this isn’t all that different from when the iMac Pro was introduced.
At that time there were complaints about its lack of user upgradability, which earned apple
criticism for calling it a pro machine.
It’s a response we see every time Apple uses pro in a products name.
If it doesn’t have a feature I need as a professional, then it isn’t worthy of being
called a professional grade product.
But of course this depends on who you ask, since different people have different needs.
That brings us to one of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs who said, “products are
packages of emphasis.
Some things are emphasized in a product and other things aren’t.”
And that has been Apple’s approach to products since the very beginning.
Is my iPad considered a flawed product since it doesn’t support flash?
I don’t think so.
But maybe that’s a dealbreaker for someone else.
If so, that person should look for a tablet that supports flash if that’s what they
need to get their work done.
And I think that same attitude can be applied to the current Pro naming situation with Apple
products.
But it’s also important to point out that there were marketing reasons behind the iPhone’s
new naming scheme.
And it’s easy to understand Apple’s logic by looking to their other product lines.
There’s the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
Then there’s the iPad mini, iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
But when it came to the iPhone, there was the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max.
The first problem with those names is that the most popular iPhone, the XR, had a name
that implied it was lesser-than the other models.
Just like the iPhone SE, the iPhone XR simply sounded like a budget phone.
And I don’t think Apple wanted their most popular iPhone to be marketed that way.
Even if that was technically the truth.
So when it came to naming the new iPhones, Apple wanted to establish their most affordable
model as the baseline.
And make it clear that the two more expensive models were premium offerings.
And they did this by simply naming the most affordable model iPhone 11, instead of iPhone
11R like many rumors predicted.
But this created a problem, how would Apple differentiate the two premium models when
the name iPhone 11 was already taken?
Well, they had to add a suffix.
And which one makes the most sense?
Certainly not Air.
That’s used for models of products that are lower-priced, like the MacBook Air and
iPad Air.
And if you’re wondering why Apple didn’t name the budget iPhone the iPhone 11 Air,
that brings us to my initial point.
Apple didn’t want any iPhone model to have a budget-sounding name.
Instead, they added the only suffix that implies a premium device.
And that was Pro.
So, iPhone 11, and iPhone 11 Pro.
And in order to differentiate the larger 6.5” model, Apple carried over the max suffix from
last year’s iPhones.
And that gave us the longest iPhone name in history at seven syllables, the iPhone 11
Pro Max.
I should also mention that Apple wasn’t even the first company to use the pro suffix
for their smartphones.
Both Xiaomi and Huawei had models that included pro before Apple did.
So while I understand why some people are frustrated by Apple’s liberal use of the
word pro.
I think it’s something that should be celebrated as a testament to how far the industry has
come.
Professionals like doctors and filmmakers are using the same device to get work done
as they are to unwind after a long day.
The iPad and iPhone are capable of being used as pro machines, while also being used as
gaming or Netflix machines.
And I think that boundary between a pro and casual device will only become more blurred
in the future.
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Alright guys thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.