It wouldn’t be surprising if Apple didn’t hold a spring event this year

In the past few years, when it came to the handover time between February and March, speculation about whether Apple would hold a spring conference would reach a high point. Unlike the prediction of “when/where” the September conference will be held, the speculation for the March conference also includes the judgment of “whether it will be held”.

The difference comes down to the fact that Apple is used to launching a new generation of flagship iPhones at the fall event, while the spring event is used to launch other products or services, and the latter has even been canceled in some years.

The following are the release invitations/holding times (Beijing time) of Apple’s spring conference in the past five years:

▎2015/February 27th/March 10th (Tuesday)

▎2016/March 11/March 22 (Tuesday)

▎2017/no spring conference

▎2018/March 16/March 27 (Tuesday)

▎2019/March 12th/March 26th (Tuesday)

If you have to find a pattern from the dates of the spring conferences in the past few years, the custom to be held on Tuesday (Beijing time) may be the only feature that can convince the public. As for the released products, there is absolutely no pattern to be found: MacBook, Apple Watch in 2015; iPhone SE, iPad Pro in 2016… Even in 2019, it turned into a stage for Apple to “sell members”.

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 Apple has launched at its spring event over 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 generally 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 conference will be the stage for their debut. Such predictions have some reliability, but they are not necessarily completely correct.

The first is the iPhone SE2, which is expected to be a model positioned close to the iPhone 8, equipped with a 4.7-inch LCD full screen and a single camera. The overall appearance will be the same as the iPhone 8, but the performance will be upgraded to an A13 chip and 3GB in configuration. After LPDDR4 memory has been greatly improved.

From the perspective of product strength, the appeal of the iPhone SE2 is obviously weaker than the flagship iPhone released in the fall. If this is just a “new product” with a replaced chip, but the appearance still uses the old design, then it may be more suitable for its destiny to be listed directly on the official website. If Apple holds a press conference specifically for it, it may also be embarrassed with no bright spots to talk about.

Apple is good at telling the story behind the product at the launch event. 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: the launched classroom app can turn iPhone and iPad into teaching assistants; the new course ” “Everyone Can Create” inspires students in four areas: music, video, photography, and painting; the updated iWork suite can help teachers and students better accomplish teaching tasks…

In contrast, the new iPad Pro equipped with a ToF lens may be more interesting. After all, if this product really arrives as scheduled, it will become the first key to unlock the overall situation of Apple’s AR/VR. I believe the “story behind this” “It will continue to flow. But if you need to pay attention, will this product arrive in the spring? Judging from outside rumors, Apple may launch a new iPad Pro with a mini LED screen in the second half of the year. The conflict between these two information is that Apple will really make two major changes to the iPad Pro product line in a year. Update?

In addition, the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia virus is 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 the MWC exhibition, the FaceBook F8 developer conference and other exhibitions or conferences have been cancelled one after another, it is also worth considering whether Apple will continue to hold the spring conference.