Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple explained and in this video I want to explore all the
major events Apple experienced in 2018.
Because the company had quite an eventful year from the release of the HomePod in February,
to the big Apple Watch update in September.
But there was a lot that happened in between that you may have forgotten about.
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Now I want to take 2018 month by month and cover all the main stories about Apple, so
you get a chronological feel for how the year went.
So things were off to a relatively slow start in January, since Apple didn’t make any
hardware announcements or releases, but they did issue quite a few software updates.
And this is likely because just one month earlier in December 2017 Apple had already
released the iMac Pro, so there wasn’t much left for January.
But February did feature new hardware in the form of the HomePod.
Which had been introduced eight months earlier on June 5th, 2017, and was initially scheduled
for release in December, but that date slipped to early 2018.
Now the HomePod marked Apples entrance into a new product category, smart speakers.
And it had a few advantages over its competition, namely, a great design, impressive sound quality
and freakishly good voice detection.
But it didn’t really revolutionize the smart speaker market in any significant way.
And other products like Amazon Echo and Google Home were capable of doing a lot more.
Like purchasing products from Amazon, answering more trivial questions, and working with multiple
music services.
Unlike the HomePod, which only natively supports Apple Music.
But the good news for HomePod is that all of its limitations are software-based.
So Apple could easily make it a much more valuable and capable product by issuing updates
to Siri.
Now March was the first month of 2018 to feature an Apple event.
It was held in Chicago and geared toward the education market.
And although Apple didn’t make any huge announcements they did reveal a new low-cost
9.7” iPad with support for Apple Pencil, which used to be an accessory exclusive to
the higher priced iPad Pro models.
And they not only made the iPad more affordable than ever, they also made its stylus more
affordable by partnering with Logitech to create the $50 Logitech Crayon.
And this meant buying an iPad and stylus was more affordable than ever before, which put
the technology within reach of more students and educators than ever before.
Apple also announced new classroom management apps for educators like Schoolwork, which
allowed teachers to manage their classroom digitally.
But Apple actually had more hardware to release in March, and it came in the form of a space
gray keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse.
Which were previously only available as bundled accessories with the iMac Pro.
But there is something else I want to say about this, and it has to do with pricing.
You see, the traditional white and silver accessories already carried hefty price tags,
but the new space gray versions of the same exact products featured a twenty dollar premium.
Which was a bit strange since none of Apples other space gray products had a higher price
than their counterparts.
And these price hikes would only be the first of many in 2018.
Now April wasn’t as busy for Apple, but they did reveal some information about the
new modular Mac Pro in an interview with TechCrunch.
Apple made it clear that the Mac Pro would be released in 2019, not 2018 like some had
hoped.
The company also shared details about a new division dedicated to Professional hardware
called the Pro Workflow Team, which includes creative professionals that inform Apple of
what they need in a high end product.
There was also a hardware release in April with the new Product Red iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
Now May was a month of Apple playing catch-up, since there were features still missing from
iOS 11 that users had been waiting on since its release in September 2017.
And the wait finally came to an end in May, with Apple releasing AirPlay 2.
Which brought features like stereo support and multi room audio to the HomePod.
Apple also released Messages in iCloud, which synced your iMessages across all of your Apple
devices.
So with those delayed features finally being added to iOS 11, Apple was ready show off
iOS 12 at their Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Because this event was all about software, with the only hardware announcement being
the newest Apple Watch Pride band.
And in addition to iOS 12, Apple introduced watchOS 5, tvOS 12, and macOS 10.14 Mojave.
Now these software releases, especially iOS 12, reflected Apples focus on performance,
stability, and addressing users needs.
With iOS 12 actually making older devices run faster, which was probably one of the
most exciting features of this release.
It also had a much cleaner notification center, more advanced parental controls, and made
improvements to Apple Maps.
And Mojave finally brought dark mode to the Mac, something users have wanted for years.
Now after all of those announcements in June, things started to slow down.
With July only featuring a press release from Apple regarding their new 13 and 15 inch MacBook
Pro models with new intel chips, a third generation butterfly keyboard, and for the first time,
an option for 32GB of RAM on the 15 inch model.
And in July, Apple began their annual Back to School promotion where they offered students
and educators a free pair of Beats headphones if they purchased select Mac or iPad models.
Now September is when Apple had their third special event of the year with the tag line
“Gather round,” and it was held at the Steve Jobs Theater.
It was probably the most anticipated event of 2018 since everyone knew Apple would be
introducing new hardware.
And for the most part, the company did not disappoint.
They started off with the biggest update to the Apple Watch since the original.
The new Series 4 models featured rounded displays that were 30% larger than their predecessors.
And that was only the beginning.
The watches also had a thinner, rounder body, an ECG reader, fall detection, a smaller Digital
Crown, and updated watch faces to take advantage of the larger display.
But there was one disappointment, and that was the price, which Apple decided to raise.
And that meant the most affordable Apple Watch now cost $400, up from $330 with the series
3.
But despite that, the watch update was the most exciting part of the entire event.
Since it was just so dramatic and impressive compared to the other announcements.
Among which included the iPhone XS and XS Max.
And their introduction actually disappointed quite a few Apple fans, myself included.
Because although S updates have always been incremental, they’ve also always introduced
a significant new headlining feature that helped to differentiate it from the previous
generation.
The 3GS had video recording, the 4s had Siri, the 5s had Touch ID, and the 6s had 3D Touch.
But the XS is the first S model without a major new feature.
And yeah, the new Depth Control feature on the XS and XS Max is a nice addition to the
camera app, but I wouldn’t call it a headlining feature.
And neither would apple, since they focus on the new iPhones display sizes on all their
promotional material way before they mention depth control.
And the fact that the price of an iPhone XS Max started at $1,100, and went as high as
$1,450 could also be a big reason why many people were disappointed with the iPhone introduction.
Now there was one last device announced at the Gather Round event in September, and that
was the iPhone XR.
Which served as a more affordable alternative to the other models, but I wouldn’t call
it cheap since it still cost $750, which is more than the flagship iPhone 7 back in 2016
which started at $650.
And while the XR did come in colors, which is the first time we’ve seen colorful iPhones
since the 5c, demand for the product wasn’t as high as Apple anticipated.
And if you want to know the reasons why, just watch the video I made a few days ago called
Apples iPhone XR Problem.
Now October is when Apple held their fourth and final event of the year, with the tag
line “There’s more in the making,” and this time, the event was actually held at
the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.
Which was the first time Apple has held an event in New York in decades, so the crowed
was super loud and responsive and it made the event even more enjoyable to watch.
Now the focus was on hardware, and Apple made updates to the Mac mini, which featured much
more powerful internals and a sleek space gray design, the MacBook Air, which adopted
many of the same features the MacBook Pros had, as well as new iPad Pros, which I think
blew many Apple fans out of the water.
Because not only did they feature rounded LCD displays with an all-new design.
But they actually had a new Face ID system that works in any orientation, something that
was a challenge for Apple to implement.
But the features didn’t stop there, because the 2018 iPad Pro was the first model to feature
a USB-C port instead of Apples proprietary Lightning connector.
Which suggests we might see a shift to USB-C on future iPhones.
And the Apple Pencil was also given an update, featuring tap controls and the ability to
magnetically attach to the new iPads, which also allowed it to charge.
But there was one bitter pill to swallow with every single piece of hardware Apple introduced
at this event.
And again, it was the pricing.
Which has been a thorn in the side of virtually every product Apple introduced in 2018.
The Mac Mini, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, and even the Apple Pencil all saw price hikes of at
least 20%.
And this has left many wondering how far Apple will go until they’re satisfied with the
price points of their products.
Now November wasn’t nearly as eventful, since all Apple did was release new watch
bands and iPhone cases.
But in December things picked up a little bit, since that was when Apple released the
highly anticipated clear case for the iPhone XR.
And the Apple Watch finally received an OS update to support its ECG feature along with
new Infograph complications like Mail and Home that were previously unavailable on the
new watch faces.
So with four Apple events featuring a bunch of new software and hardware updates, 2018
turned out to be a very productive year for Apple.
But it also turned out to be very profitable.
With the company posting a total annual revenue of 265 billion dollars.
Which was up 16% from 2017.
And this in part, is likely due to the substantial price hikes Apple has made to virtually every
product category.
So as we enter into 2019, my biggest hope is that Apple upgrades their products without
upping their prices.
Now that is apples 2018 year in review, and if you want to vote for the next video topic
don’t forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.