Apple’s Most Outrageous Marketing Terms: Ultra Retina XDR and Tandem OLED

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The new iPad Pro and iPad Air add even more crazy names to the lexicon of marketing terms used by Apple. We would love to attend the meetings where these terms are chosen.

Nano, mini, Plus, Pro Max, Ultra… Even though they are sometimes very caricatured, the names of Apple products are quite sober in comparison to the technical terms used by the brand as part of its marketing. When the industry says LCD, Apple talks about “Liquid Retina”. When others mention Dolby Atmos, Apple uses the term “Spatial Audio”.

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On May 7, with its new iPad Pro and iPad Air, Apple added two new names to its lexicon of WTF marketing terms. A good opportunity to return to its improbable dictionary, which could almost become a living language in Duolingo.

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The iPad Pro OLED. // Source: Numerama

Tandem OLED and Ultra Retina XDR… Apple freewheeling

The art of naming things is one of Apple's strengths. The brand acknowledges this half-heartedly, without completely revealing its production process. rebranding. The only thing we know is that its teams are perfectly aware of the offbeat side of this exercise and have fun finding improbable names, while refraining from certain excesses.

With the new iPads, two new marketing terms join Apple's marketing:

  • Tandem OLED : this name refers to the use of two OLED panels in the iPad Pro M4. This technology makes it possible to eliminate the brightness defects of OLED.
  • Ultra Retina XDR: after the Super Retina XDR of the iPhone (the name given to OLED since the iPhone 11 Pro), make way for the Ultra Retina XDR. A way for Apple to indicate that the OLED screen of the iPad Pro is superior to that of the iPhone 15 Pro, in particular thanks to Tandem OLED. Logic would dictate that future iPhone 16 Pros would also switch to Ultra Retina XDR screens.
Under the glass of the iPad Pro, there are two OLED panels. It's Tandem OLED.Under the glass of the iPad Pro, there are two OLED panels. It's Tandem OLED.
Under the glass of the iPad Pro, there are two OLED panels. It's Tandem OLED. // Source: Apple

The WTF Glossary of Apple Marketing Terms

Before Tandem OLED and Ultra Retina XDR, Apple has long excelled in the art of inventing improbable names for technologies that are nevertheless universal. Here is a non-exhaustive list of terms renamed by Apple for the sake of its marketing:

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  • Ceramic Shield : since the first iPhone in 2007, Apple has used Gorilla Glass in its products (like all competing brands). Apple calls it Ceramic Shield, so as not to be like the others.
  • Liquid Retina: LCD screens, which have a bad press today, have changed their name at Apple. The brand calls them Liquid Retina since the iPhone XR.
  • Liquid Retina XDR: why talk about mini-LED (LCD with several backlight zones) when we can talk about Liquid Retina XDR?
  • Retina HD: after the iconic Retina display in 2010, with invisible pixels, Apple launched the Retina HD with the iPhone 6, to indicate that it was even better.
  • Super Retina HD: with the iPhone X in 2017, Apple abandoned LCD for OLED. For the occasion, the brand invented the term Super Retina HD, which indicates that we are changing screen technology.
  • Super Retina XDR: always reserved for iPhones with an OLED screen, Super Retina has become Super Retina XDR with the iPhone 11 Pro. This term indicates extended HDR.
  • Promotion : some brands talk about 120 Hz screen refresh, Apple talks about ProMotion.
  • Nano-textured glass: in a normal world, Apple would talk about matte coating. But Apple is not in a normal world.
@numerama
  • Haptic Touch : The iPhone and Apple Watch have an excellent vibration motor, which Apple calls Taptic Engine. The vibrations are called Haptic Touch.
  • Airport : with the iBook, its first Wi-Fi computer, Apple attempted to rename the wireless Internet. The brand eventually adopted the term Wi-Fi.
  • iSight : in 2003, Apple launched a webcam called iSight. This name has been reused several times in its iPhone and iPad, to name the cameras. The brand also talks about a FaceTime camera rather than a selfie camera.
  • Face ID and Touch ID : why talk about facial recognition or a fingerprint sensor?
  • TrueDepth: Since the iPhone X, certain Apple devices have had a 3D camera capable of seeing in relief. Apple obviously gave it a name.
  • True Tone: white balance adjustment technology to match ambient brightness
  • QuickPath: in the Android ecosystem, the Swype keyboard has long been popular. It allows you to slide over the letters to save time. When Apple integrated it into iOS, they renamed it QuickPath.
  • Slofie: a term used to refer to selfies filmed in slow motion.
  • Spatial Audio: AirPods, Vision Pro and Apple Music support Spatial Audio, which gives the impression of listening to sound in 3D. This is often Dolby Atmos content, with a proprietary name.
  • ProRAW / ProRES: Apple is not content with professional formats like RAW, but offers its own version of these standards.
Basically, it's an LCD screen.Basically, it's an LCD screen.
Basically, it's an LCD screen. // Source: Apple

What will be the future crazy names invented by Apple? Strangely, the Apple Vision Pro is rather sober. The brand talks in particular about Micro-OLED and has not tried to invent a name for its technology (it must be said that it crushes the competition). Either way, something tells us that the department naming Apple hasn't finished having fun.

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