That awkward moment when Apple mocked good hardware and poor people

Apple 2016 press event played out pretty much exactly like they always do. A few new products, a few promotional videos, and a lot of talk about changing the world. But amidst all that was an interesting and perhaps revealing moment.

At the beginning of Phil Schiller’s iPad presentation, Schiller mentions that a lot of users come to iPad from PCs. “This is an amazing statistic,” he says with a serious look before revealing that there are more than 600 million PCs in use that are over five years old. “This is really sad.” Schiller continues. The audience laughs. “It really is,” he says, and tries to continue before being interrupted by more laugher and applause. “These people could really benefit from an iPad Pro,” he finishes.

If you want to watch this for yourself, it starts around 46:17 into Apple’s event video.

The event audience finds it hilarious that some people have old PCs.

To many people, it might seem like an innocuous comment about a market Apple is hoping to reach. But the more I think about it, the more it strikes me as offensively out-of-touch and stupid.

Let’s break this down

There are really only two reasons why people might have a computer that’s more than five years old:

1. They can’t afford an upgrade.
2. They don’t need an upgrade.

Unfortunately for Apple, Schiller’s comments and laugher look bad no matter which one of those you pick.

Door number one

For people who fall into category one, Apple’s iPad Pro definitely isn’t the answer. The cheapest, lowest-end model starts at US$600, and there are tons of PCs that boast better specs at lower price points. Even if you insist on a tablet, you could get Microsoft’s Surface 3, which boasts a slightly worse screen but offers double the storage capacity, for US$100 less.

If you can’t afford to upgrade to a new cheap laptop or a Surface, you sure as hell can’t afford to upgrade to an iPad Pro. So if you’re one of the hundreds of millions of people likely using an old computer because they can’t afford to upgrade at the moment, Schiller’s comments read like what The Wire character Ellis Carver once called “a casual curbside fuck you.” Can’t afford to upgrade your PC? That’s so sad! Apple is apparently willing to pity-laugh at you, but not willing to actually offer an affordable product that might help.

If you want old PC users to upgrade, give us a reason