Other Giving up on Apple for iPhone

[now i see it]

To put things into perspective-
The Mac Mini hasn’t changed much either. Nor the MacBooks or iPads or Apple TV or Mac Pro or their headphones or their software.
Might as well bail on the company entirely and switch because Microsoft is really putting out exciting products every year…….. ha

 

[SpitUK]

One of the issues is scale, Apple cannot put really fancy cutting edge tech in the iPhone as they would not be able to make enough to keep up with demand. The iPhone is like a super tanker now and has to be turned and maneuvered slowly. Apple could ask Sony for their latest camera sensor but Sony would say we can only make 10,000 a day, thats useless to Apple. It’s the bit that people forget so we just need to marvel at the amazing phones they release at the scale they produce them.

 

[NotApplicable]

One of the issues is scale, Apple cannot put really fancy cutting edge tech in the iPhone as they would not be able to make enough to keep up with demand. The iPhone is like a super tanker now and has to be turned and maneuvered slowly. Apple could ask Sony for their latest camera sensor but Sony would say we can only make 10,000 a day, thats useless to Apple. It’s the bit that people forget so we just need to marvel at the amazing phones they release at the scale they produce them.

Eh, Apple has the ability to make low-scale cutting-edge products. See the Vision Pro.

But smartphones are homogenized to a point there’s probably no such product to make. Foldability is arguably a fad like 3D TVs.

 

[Webcat86]

Eh, Apple has the ability to make low-scale cutting-edge products. See the Vision Pro.

But smartphones are homogenized to a point there’s probably no such product to make. Foldability is arguably a fad like 3D TVs.

But that’s the point isn’t it? Vision Pro is a niche, expensive product sold in low quantity. The iPhone is the opposite and anything it incorporates needs to be produced at a scale that is very challenging.

Outside of foldable phones which are still early and far from maturity, other companies are facing the same issue with Android. The “candy bar” form factor that we are used to is boring in every competitors devices. Look at the last few pixel and galaxy phones, tiny incremental updates that look generally the same year over year.

It’s not an issue exclusive to the iPhones, it’s an issue with the form factor in general. I honestly don’t know if we’ll ever get foldable iPhones, but I do expect Apple to try to find ways to innovate in the candy bar phone when all of the components get smaller and more efficient without compromising cost.

Foldables will make sense when we can unfold a phone into a tablet. Until then, it feels like a fad to me. Candy bar phones are slimmer and sleeker, but longer. Foldables are shorter but thicker, both are ultimately portable enough.

 

[QuarterSwede]

There’s less and less room for big changes in iPhones these days. Take the screen, for example. Ever since the iPhone 4 with its Retina display, we haven’t seen any game-changing upgrades. Sure, the quality is better, and they use less battery, but nothing that makes you say “wow” like when we first went from non-Retina to Retina. The same goes for the battery, CPU, GPU, and everything else — it’s all just incremental improvements. After a few generations, you kind of get a feel for how much something, like the camera, has been changed, upgraded.

Gotta disagree with the battery statement. When I went to the Pro Max it was a HOLY $HT moment when at the end of the day there was still a ton of battery left with heavy usage. Doubt I'll ever go down in size now. Who needs a battery bank with a monster battery? My wife went from a mini (RIP) to a Plus because of the battery, now she's happy. To me, that was the same as non-retina to retina.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I'd love for apple to come out with something that changes the game, but I have no idea what it would be. What would make a big difference to me are things like improved connectivity, which is mostly my carrier's issue, and improved predictive functions and integrations, which is software.

I don't really mind phones being just a big ole screen. I definitely don't want a folding phone.

For me that would be a phone that transforms into a tablet but isn't held back by a useless OS like iPadOS. I either want a simple UI on a small device or full on OS like macOS and with plenty of RAM for all the tabs I need at work. That would be transformative for me and the company I work for. We buy a lot of iPads and Windows laptops (to use in web browsers and Office apps, that's it) and are growing quickly. I HATE when I have to run back to my laptop to do something I could've done away from the office if iPhone had enough RAM to not crash in the web portal constantly and not be squinting at a screen trying to decipher customer info. That would be a dream and solution to a real world problem for me and my team daily at work.

I really think the future we're headed to is so obviously 1 device that does everything and I can't wait.

 

[McScooby]

Eh, Apple has the ability to make low-scale cutting-edge products. See the Vision Pro.

But smartphones are homogenized to a point there’s probably no such product to make. Foldability is arguably a fad like 3D TVs.

On the contrary, I suspect this is why Apple keep bumping the screen sizes on the iPhones - to prime the market for larger screens that’ll magically shrink in your pocket come next year, think iPads, watch, it’ll be a foldable love-in across all devices!🤣

 

[odanrot]

I think the satellite connectivity is a significant advance. While the technology has been out there with Garmin and others, having it integrated, for part of the purchase price instead of a subscription, is significant. It will save me from buying another Garmin product and will prove to be essential not just in emergencies but anytime you don't have a cell signal, you can be connected.

Imagine being able to communicate in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc with family and friends.

 

[thosmatthews]

I’m ok with not being ‘wowed’.

I need a reliable, long lasting device that almost never gets turned off, does all my heavy lifting and rarely misses a beat.

iPhones have got better and better at that, on the whole.

I used to upgrade every two years from 3G to XS. I don’t intend to replace my iPhone 13 Pro (probably) until it doesn’t get updates.

 

[ThailandToo]

I don’t know if I’m alone and I very well may be in the minority here but Apple is getting really lazy to me.

Here’s my thought, let’s only go back as iPhone X- when a “new iPhone era was born”. Now grant every year there’s a better camera, better cup and potentially better battery life - but that aside:

iPhone X - truly a worthy upgrade from any other iPhone including iPhone 8
iPhone XS - bigger screen - yay!
iPhone 11 - slightly larger screen, better camera - ultra wide, and CPU (same upgrades every year)
iPhone 12 - brings back a similar iPhone 4 design, 5G, brings 3 back cameras, and MagSafe - fun upgraded nothing revolutionary , but MagSafe is fantastic to me
iPhone 13 - smaller notch (improvement, but nothing mind blowing)
iPhone 14 - Dynamic Island - again fun, but other than moving down a few mm and creatively creating a “Dynamic Island” out of it, crash detection, satellite connectivity, and eSIM, while impressive and satellite and 5G very welcoming, nothing too mind blowing
iPhone 15 - swap mute button for the action button, and due to EU regulation, finally, USB-C port. Again, it took some creative engineering but nothing mind blowing

And now 16… AI (mainly powered by ChatGPT), and adding yet another camera feature with the new button, again nothing mind blowing.

iPhone X to iPhone 16 you can see incremental upgrades which are nice, but nothing is “revolutionary”. And I feel Apple has embraced the fact that they will sell no matter what and gave up on trying to innovate.

Of course this is pure subjective speculation but am I the only one who feels like Apple just stopped caring because they know they will sell?

I can’t stand TIM’s AAPL. It’s sickening. He worries about the company now for his stock grants, but he has ruined the future of the company. So sad. Everything you said is true, and this is the problem with replacing Steve with someone who is a numbers person not a product person!!!

 

[ThailandToo]

I think the satellite connectivity is a significant advance. While the technology has been out there with Garmin and others, having it integrated, for part of the purchase price instead of a subscription, is significant. It will save me from buying another Garmin product and will prove to be essential not just in emergencies but anytime you don't have a cell signal, you can be connected.

Imagine being able to communicate in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc with family and friends.

You don’t think AAPL will charge for this feature once people count on it? Don’t bet against Tim’s greed for AAPL!

 

[JohnC1959]

For me the iPhone still has a major advantage. I love my MacBook and love how smoothly the MacBook and iphone work together. For any device these days a big part is their ecosystem and how well that works for you.

 

[daddyd302]

The phone market is pretty much stuck right now as it is at it's height. The next logical move is to make foldable phones and Apple is way behind Samsung and everyone else. You're not gonna see much improvement over what's being offer right now from anyone.

 

[Bungaree.Chubbins]

You don’t think AAPL will charge for this feature once people count on it? Don’t bet against Tim’s greed for AAPL!

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of capitalism, but it’s the world we live in. Apple isn’t a charity, it’s a publicly traded company. If a CEO turned around and operated the way it appears you think they should, what do you think will happen? I give it three weeks for the shareholders to sack them and find someone who will think of the numbers.

 

[Webcat86]

You don’t think AAPL will charge for this feature once people count on it? Don’t bet against Tim’s greed for AAPL!

So we have a thread complaining about lack of innovation but when an innovation is mentioned it gets dismissed on a baseless assumption that it will one day become paywalled?

 

[Diorama]

I can’t stand TIM’s AAPL. It’s sickening. He worries about the company now for his stock grants, but he has ruined the future of the company. So sad. Everything you said is true, and this is the problem with replacing Steve with someone who is a numbers person not a product person!!!

I think AirPods and the Apple Watch are great products. Both are products I scoffed at in the beginning, ended up with through odd circumstances, and now can’t imagine life without.

 

[ThailandToo]

So we have a thread complaining about lack of innovation but when an innovation is mentioned it gets dismissed on a baseless assumption that it will one day become paywalled?

It even says free for two years.

 

[cmiller4642]

I think we're past the time when you're going to see crazy stuff put into phones in the foreseeable future

The screens are already at about the max size that consumers want in a phone, the cameras are overkill, the phones run super quick on 5G networks, etc...

Foldable is a gimmick and hasn't been done correctly yet because of that big crease in the middle and the fact that they charge you $2000 for a phone with lesser specs than the single screen ones.

 

[kitKAC]

It even says free for two years.

iPhone 14 has had 2 years of service, are 14 owners getting charged yet?

 

[hagjohn]

iPhone X to iPhone 16 you can see incremental upgrades which are nice, but nothing is “revolutionary”. And I feel Apple has embraced the fact that they will sell no matter what and gave up on trying to innovate.

The revolutionary changes in phones are mostly over, until there is a revolutionary change in how we use the device. We will really only see tinkering around the edges until that change comes.

 

[darkelipse04]

IMO, I don't think it's a not caring/lazy thing. Smartphones have plateaued as a whole, unless you try going in a different route with form factor (folding phones) and experimenting with that. I'm not unhappy, but it's just another "S" year, I'm completely happy with my 15PM and will not be purchasing a 16. I'll be waiting till the next, if it also yields to be another S year, I'll skip that too.

 

[Adora]

Laptops also stopped changing much a long time ago and you don't need to upgrade your CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM and optical drive in your PC anymore every 6-12 months like in the 90s for new software running not too slow, or having enough space to install it.

A great new invention would be an alternative where not the camera is the central point of usage and everything else is just built around it.

Or a privacy phone with hardware switches for almost anything: one for each camera, one for microphone, one for each WiFi frequency, one for BT, one for each cellular network 2G-5G, one for GPS, one for NFC, one for satellite and whatever there might be that I forgot.
Two phones already exist having stuff like this.

There are also dual-boot phones with Android and Ubuntu Touch out there. Maybe Apple can invent a different special iOS version to choose or just give an option to boot into macOS too.

Also modular phones are nice, where you can easily replace any part by yourself and maybe leave out what you don't need.

Durability is also a thing. Just make something "unbreakable".

 

[Nikhil72]

I’d argue there’s a reason AI exploded. It’s software front for the next generation of tech; the hardware will give the plugins needed to integrate into daily life. Hence Apple’s vision for a plug and play with different LLMs. Make it the play with all device where android ends up strictly Gemini (or whatever nonsense Samsung peddles)

 

[NotApplicable]

But that’s the point isn’t it? Vision Pro is a niche, expensive product sold in low quantity. The iPhone is the opposite and anything it incorporates needs to be produced at a scale that is very challenging.

Apple is fully capable of producing multiple phone lines. From mainstream to cutting edge/low volume. Simultaneously.

I suspect this is exactly what will happen when the next “big” phone change comes - foldable/rollable etc. Whatever it is, it will be released alongside slabs; the volume seller.

 

[jagolden]

It’s the software not the hardware.

Not in this case. I use third party camera apps. These by-pass Apple’s lousy camera process algoritms.