- Apple recently purchased the popular photo editing app Pixelmator
- A new theory suggests it could eventually become Apple’s ‘Photos Pro’
- Pixemator’s apps will continue to exist in their current form “at this time.”
Last week, Apple used some of its spare change to buy one of the Mac’s best photo editors, Pixelmator — and theories have been flying ever since about what the deal means for iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
For now, the answer isn’t much, as the app’s creator says there will be “no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time.” But now Bloomberg’s respected Apple commentator Mark Gurman has shared what he thinks the plan has in store Power On Newsletter – and it’s not as wallet-friendly as we’d hoped.
Gurman’s Pixelmator prediction is that it will be “something like “Photos Pro” and offered as a subscription in the App Store alongside new iPad programs like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro”.
This move would dash hopes that Pixelmator’s many compelling talents, including a powerful repair tool, AI background masks, and more, could be folded 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 once again have both consumer and higher-end versions of its video, music and photo editing apps (with Photos, GarageBand and iMovie serving as free downscale apps) . versions)”. The Pro versions of the latter are Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro.
Finally, he adds that “given Apple’s push to grow services revenue, I think you can rule out Pixelmator features being given away for free in the current Photos app.” We think some features could still end up in Photos as a preview of whatever Pixelmator becomes, but that theory seems like the most likely scenario at the moment.
The return of Aperture?
Apple discontinued its professional photo editing app, Aperture, in 2015. It was so popular that some fans still use the app on older Macs with open-source tools like Retroactive. So why did Apple buy Pixelmator almost a decade after it decided to pull the plug on Aperture?
Services and subscriptions are now a big push for Apple, and toward the end of Aperture’s lifespan, it didn’t seem eager to integrate the app with its iCloud Photo Library. At the time, apps were mostly one-time costs rather than subscription offerings (Aperture originally cost as much as $499 in 2005), and that also reduced Aperture’s popularity.
With the ability to charge subscription fees 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 introduce a pro-level photo app offer in addition to the existing ones for music. and video.
But for those of us who just want Apple to improve the editing features in the existing Photos app, this move could still bring some benefits in the form of free trial features. Apple certainly needs to continue offering tools like Clean Up if it wants to keep up with Google and the Pixel 9 Pro’s impressive pace when it comes to AI-powered editing features.