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What does buying Apple Pixelmator mean for your iPhone, iPad or Mac? This is the most likely scenario

Umito November 4, 2024

Apple recently purchased the popular photo editing app Pixelmator
New theory suggests it could eventually become Apple’s ‘Photos Pro’
Pixemator’s applications will continue in their current form “for now”

Last week, Apple used some of his spare change to buy one of the Macs best photo editorsPixelmator – and since then, theories have been flying about what the deal means for iPhones, iPads and Macs.

For now, the answer isn’t much, as the app creator says there won’t be any “substantial changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time.” But now respected Bloomberg Apple commentator Mark Gurman has shared what he thinks the plan is in his Power Up Newsletter – and it’s not as user-friendly as we hoped.

Gurman’s Pixelmator prediction is that it will become “something like ‘Photos Pro’ and will be offered as a subscription on the App Store alongside new iPad programs like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro.”

The move would dash hopes that Pixelmator’s many attractive talents, including a powerful repair tool, AI background masks, and more, could be integrated into Apple’s free Photos app. However, it would also make perfect sense in the context of Apple’s other creative apps.

As Gurman notes, creating a “Photos Pro” would mean that Apple would “again have mainstream and high-end iterations of its video, music, and photo-editing apps (with Photos, GarageBand, and iMovie serving as a free downscaling version). versions)”. The Pro versions of the latter are Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro.

Finally, he adds that “given Apple’s desire to increase service revenue, I think you can rule out it offering Pixelmator features for free in its current Photos app.” We think some features could still make their way to Photos as a taste of what Pixelmator will become, but that theory currently seems the most likely scenario.

The return of Aperture?

Two laptops on a gray background showing Apple's Aperture application

Pixelmator Pro seems likely to be the successor to Apple’s Aperture app (above), which was discontinued in 2015. (Image credit: Apple)

Apple discontinued its professional photo editing app, Aperture, in 2015. It was so popular that some fans still run it on older Macs using open source tools like Retroactive. So why did Apple buy Pixelmator almost ten years after it decided to pull the plug on Aperture?

Services and subscriptions are now a major asset for Apple, and towards the end of Aperture’s life it didn’t seem to want to integrate the app into its iCloud Photo library. At the time, apps tended to be one-time cost rather than subscription offerings (Aperture originally cost a whopping $499 in 2005), which also limited Aperture’s popularity.

With the ability to charge a subscription for a new pro-level photo app and also use Pixelmator’s existing iCloud integration to grow its cloud subscriber base, Apple clearly sees a financial opportunity to once again offer a pro-level photo app alongside its existing music apps. and video.

Still, for those of us who just want to see Apple improve the editing features of the existing Photos app, this move could still bring some benefits in the form of free demo features. Apple certainly needs to continue offering tools like Clean Up if it wants to keep up with the impressive pace set by Google and people like Pixel 9 Pro when it comes to AI-based editing features.

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What does buying Apple Pixelmator mean for your iPhone, iPad or Mac? This is the most likely scenario

Umito

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What does buying Apple Pixelmator mean for your iPhone, iPad or Mac? This is the most likely scenario

Umito

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