Apple in Brooklyn: What the analysts are saying

They’re pretty quiet today. With tomorrow’s earnings looming, only a handful of Apple analysts took the time to write up Tuesday’s special event.

Below: Excerpts from the notes I’ve seen.

Samik Chatterjee, J.P Morgan: Apple cashing in on the success of the Pro line up. After years of strong growth between 2010 and 2013, the iPad was losing relevance in the wake of increasing screen sizes of smartphones. The launch of the iPad Pro in June 2017 put the tablet much closer in capabilities to a notebook in terms of performance, while offering mobility closer to a smartphone, widening the differentiation for the tablet line up and sparking a revival starting in F3Q17. Through the update to the iPad Pro announced yesterday, Apple continued on the path of increasing the capabilities of the iPad (A12X Bionic processor, Neural Engine, storage options up to 1TB, reverse charging), while offering portability through a tighter and lighter form factor, as well as convenience with introduction of Face ID, and redesign to the Apple Pencil (attaches magnetically, auto pairs, charges wirelessly). Overweight. $272.

Jun Zhang, Rosenblatt: Apple Event Takeaways. We are positive on this iPad Pro cycle, as Apple fully upgraded its design for the iPad. We believe this cycle will be positive for 3D sensing component suppliers. We expect iPad Pro shipments to offset some of the weakness seen in iPhones in C4Q. This is the main reason why we still believe C4Q guidance will come in in line or slightly better than our estimates, even with us recently trimming our iPh- one units for C4Q. The MacBook Air added a finger print sensor, and we believe this will finally lead to the move to 3D sensing in 2019. We believe the Mac mini may drive some PC sales growth in the mid-end market with its reasonable price range. Buy. $200. (!)

Gene Munster, Loup Ventures: Round Two of ASP Gains. The products announced today represent Apple’s impressive speed and depth of constant innovation. The company continues to push the boundaries of consumer tech products… Apple’s retail stores are an underappreciated competitive advantage with 70,000 employees providing face to face advice, support, and experiences. Microsoft has the second largest consumer technology retail footprint with 6,000 employees. Today at Apple announced 60 new sessions, furthering the number of experiences offered at retail stores.

Neil Cybart, Above Avalon: Attending the Event. Apple held a strong product event in NYC. The iPad and Mac updates were significant. The overall theme around creative tools was on point. The unique venue and audience added a nice vibe to the mix… Apple also invited a good number of employees from its retail operations, specifically, Creatives… When considering how these employees are the ones interacting with customers day in and day out, they have a pretty good sense of what could get customers excited. Said another way, they have a good idea of what could be easy to sell. The iPad Pro was viewed very favorably, especially the new Apple Pencil. The changes found with Pencil, besides being more practical, demo really well. Interestingly, there was some grumbling when Apple unveiled the MacBook Air’s $1,199 price, which is $200 higher than the old MacBook Air.

More as they come in.