There will be a new iPhone, an iPad Pro and a new Apple TV announced on stage in San Francisco on Wednesday – at least if the combined wisdom of 5,000 Guardian readers is to be believed.
We asked you to tell us what you expected from the world’s biggest company, and the answers were surprising.
First up, the iPhone. An overwhelming majority expect a simple “tock” update to the phones, with the iPhone 6S being a speed bump and a few new features, not a radical redesign like the iPhone 6 was. That matches the pattern the company has set since the iPhone 3GS, so it’s not too surprising that there’s unanimity on the question.
But readers were much more split on what the new features would actually be, with no single option getting more than 15% of the votes. But the top five were all yawn-worthy, suggesting no one will be jumping out of their chairs in surprise: faster processors, better cameras, a “force touch” screen, better battery life, and a wider array of colours for the phone.
That last guess is based on rumours that the company will be launching a fourth colour for the iPhone: rose gold. If they do, almost 20% of you said you’d fork out for the shiny pinkish hue, vulgar or not.
On pricing, the majority of you expect prices to stay the same, although 40% thought the company might sneak in a price-rise for the line. An optimistic 5% hoped for a price cut. Good luck, guys.
And finally, pour one out for the iPhone 5C, that unloved, primary-coloured baby of the iPhone line. Introduced in 2013 as a recased version of 2012’s iPhone 5, it’s now the lowest-powered iOS device the company still sells following the surprise redesign of the iPod Touch in July this year. As a result, 39% of you expect the phone to be quietly shuffled off this mortal coil, in the same way the iPod Classic was ruthlessly executed last year. But almost as many think that the company will keep the 5C on sale and cut the price still further, leaving Apple with a super-cheap entry level phone.
As for iPads, there’s again agreement that there will be a new one (72% say yes) and that it will be a larger “iPad Pro” (64% say yes). That larger screen will, you think, be between 12 and 13in diagonal (43% think so), or maybe between 11 and 12in (33% think so).
That megaPad could be pricy. The most expensive model is pegged by 24% of you as being priced between £700 and £800 (for comparison, the iPad Air 2 maxes out at £675), but 21% think it could reach £800, 18% think £900 and 15% think that the iPad Pro could be a staggering £1000 or more.
The older iPads might both get a speed bump and a new number – meaning we’ll see an iPad Air 3 and iPad Mini 4, if you’re keeping track – and 36% of you think that’s a possibility (though a further 29% think there will be some change in at least one iPad, and 12% of you think there might be a full redesign in one or both of them).
The Apple TV is likely to be front and centre of the event, and everyone agrees: There will be a new one (84% say yes), it will have an App Store (85% think so), it might have an Apple-branded Netflix competitor (64% say yes) which might make original programmes (69% say yes), or maybe it will focus on gaming (63% say yes) with a fancy, motion-controlled remote (54% think that will happen).
The bad news? Even all those changes won’t be enough to make the damn thing interesting, according to 58% of you.
As for the rest of the event: more people think there will be dad jokes on stage than a woman on stage (44% to 35% respectively), only 23% expect new laptops to be announced, and just 8% are holding out hope for the Apple Car – iCar? iDrive? Whatever, it’s not happening today.
You also expect an update on the Apple Watch (72% do, at least), which is likely to get a new range of accessories, perhaps including its first solid-gold band, as well as the second version of its OS.
Oh, and one more thing: two-and-a-half months after the launch of Apple Music, don’t expect anyone on stage to repeat their acknowledgement of the service’s painful teething problems. While the company acknowledges in interviews that it has “homework to do” with the service, 65% of you expect pure puff on stage. “It’s been our best launch yet”, Tim Cook might say.
