Apple on Friday cut the price on its USB-C adapters in the online store. The company also said that third-party USB-C peripherals in the store would be reduced in price.
“We are extremely excited about the new MacBook Pro, which is the best pro notebook we’ve ever made,” Apple said in a statement provided to The Loop. “It has the fastest CPU, graphics, memory, storage and I/O, best display, the innovative Touch Bar and more. MacBook Pro uses the most advanced industry-standard connector, USB-C with Thunderbolt 3, to provide maximum performance, expandability and compatibility.
“We recognize that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition. We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem. Through the end of the year, we are reducing prices on all USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals we sell, as well as the prices on Apple’s USB-C adapters and cables.”
It’s obvious that pros looking to move to the new MacBook Pro will have to buy adapters to continue using the same gear. I’m in this position myself if I want to use my pro music gear, so having steep discounts on adapters will save me quite a bit of money.
In looking at Apple’s decision to reduce the price of the adapters, I immediately thought of Phil Schiller’s comment in an interview earlier this week.
“We care about what they love and what they are worried about. And it’s our job to help people through these changes. We know we made good decisions about what to build into the new MacBook Pro and that the result is the best notebook ever made, but it might not be right for everyone on day one. That’s okay, some people felt that way about the first iMac and that turned out pretty good.”
Schiller, and Apple, are taking the transition responsibility seriously. They know there are costs associated with moving to the new MacBook Pro and they are trying to ease that transition.
It’s also important to note that new MacBook Pro sales are not suffering, as Schiller pointed out in that interview.
“And we are proud to tell you that so far our online store has had more orders for the new MacBook Pro than any other pro notebook before,” said Schiller. “So there certainly are a lot of people as excited as we are about it.”
Adapters included in the price reduction include:
- USB-C to USB Adapter (from $19 to $9);
- Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter (from $49 to $29);
- USB-C to Lightning Cable (1m) (from $25 to $19);
- USB-C to Lightning Cable (2m) (from $35 to $29);
- USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (from $69 to $49);
- USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter (from $69 to $49).
The cost of the SanDisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II Card USB-C Reader will be reduced from $49 to $29, and all other third party USB-C peripherals will also be discounted.
Great move on Apple’s part to ease the transition. I’ve been using the 13-inch MacBook Pro for just over a week and love it.