AFTERPAD

Thoughts On Tomorrow’s Apple Event

Apple September 9th iWatch iPhone event MFi controller screenshot

So it’s that time again. On tomorrow, September 9th, Apple will reveal… something… to the world. Tim Cook will show the world “Apple’s strongest product lineup in 20 years”. There are countless websites and personal blogs covering rumors, news, and opinions, but I figure I might as well add my thoughts to the pool. Tomorrow, we’ll see how close I might be.

I’ll be watching live tomorrow and commenting on Twitter as it all goes down, and I hope you’ll join me. Until then…

1) There will be new iPhones

Too much smoke here for there not to be a fire. There will be a 4.7 inch iPhone revealed tomorrow, and it is likely there will be a 5.5 inch model as well. I’m not quite sure about the rumored resolutions – John Gruber probably isn’t too far off with his guesses, but you never know, Apple could easily standardize on 1080p or something like that.

The resolution difference between the 5.5inch model and 4.7inch model have potentially interesting implications for gaming. If they both feature the exact same GPU performance, than presumably the 4.7 inch model would actually have better graphics and frame rates than the 5.5 inch model. That would be an interesting marketing pitch from Apple, trying to sell a bigger iPhone that is worse for high-performance tasks. At the same time, the 5.7 inch model is rumored to have more storage and a better camera, meaning the highest-end customers are going to want it. We shall see how it goes.

2) There will be an iWatch

The long-rumored Apple wearable will be revealed tomorrow, though won’t go on sale for many months. Apple’s pre-announcement will be about controlling the narrative, and showing the product to the world on Apple’s own terms.

I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that Apple’s wearable will be called the iWatch – don’t overthink it, Apple needs to pitch it as straightforward as possible. I’m not entirely sure what features it’ll have, beyond all those that have already been rumored. There will almost certainly be fitness, Siri, all that sort of thing. Personally, I think the killer feature will be all about mobile payments, perhaps even with a Touch ID implementation.

3) There will be no new iPads this month

Check back next month, early November at the latest. The iPad is important enough to Apple that it gets its own event. Apple won’t muddy the iPhone message with a new iPad, let alone muddy the reveal of a brand new product line in the iWatch. Not tomorrow.

4) There will NOT be a game-playing Apple TV… yet

I’ve been waiting for an Apple TV game console for so long now, and I want to believe it’s here. Sadly, I just don’t think the time is right. Too many people in the know say it is absolutely happening, and that key Apple people have formed a team and are deep in the process of working on a new Apple TV, but those same people say it isn’t ready.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and a new Apple TV will come in next month’s event. That would make sense – it goes along nicely with an iPad reveal. If and when a game-playing Apple TV box is revealed, AfterPad will become THE go-to place for Apple TV gaming. But my money is on next year.

5) Maybe new Macs, but probably not

There have been long-standing rumors of some new 12 inch retina MacBook Air. The time might be right for that – the technology is there, even with Intel’s recent part delays. My money is on next month’s iPad event for new Macs, though, as it fits the theme better. If tomorrow is about Apple’s ultra mobile event, and next month is about Apple’s computers – including the iPad – that would make a lot of sense, positioning-wise.

6) New iPod Touch

What the heck, I’ll go out on a limb and say this product could happen. If Apple is preparing to kill the rest of the A5 powered product line by the end of the year, the iPod Touch could use an upgrade to the A6. I’m not sure Apple cares enough, though.

I’ve long thought it would be amazing to have an iPod Touch style device with integrated MFi controller compatible controls. Kids would kill to have that for the holidays, but I think it’s pretty unlikely.

7) No new MFi controller talk, UNLESS we get a new Apple TV

This one is pretty straightforward. As much as we all wish they would, Apple isn’t going to spend a lot of time on these game controllers at this time, at least without it being part of a broader narrative.

If a gaming Apple TV or a gaming iPod Touch is announced, I would expect Apple to spend some time pumping up game controllers. But I expect these to come next month, so no controller news tomorrow.

8) There will be an A8 processor, and it will be amazing

I don’t know a lot about what Apple has up their sleeves with their upcoming processor, but I’m willing to bet it’ll work great with Metal, and it’ll more than compensate for whatever screen resolution increase the 4.7 inch iPhone provides. Gamers have a lot to be excited about with this, but I have absolutely nothing to speculate on regarding specifics.

Wrap-up

Well that’s what I have for tonight. Should be fun to look back tomorrow and see how wrong it all is. Your regularly-scheduled MFi gaming news will resume shortly.