Have you noticed the quality of Apple has gotten worse compared to years ago?

[MRxROBOT]

I've been using Apple products for 20+ years now and I can say without a doubt that my newest Macs are by far my favorite. I'm referencing my M2 Pro Mac Mini and my 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro. No thermal issues and they've handled everything I've thrown at them with ease. Everything just works like it's suppose to. Nearly every previous Macs I've put through its paces has had issues under load regarding thermals. In my opinion, the Mac Mini and MacBook Pros, are at its best right now.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Bull crap. They can absolutely design their silicon architecture to be expandable. They choose not to because they’re arrogant and greedy.

And updating RAM and GPU are THE TWO BIGGEST UPGRADES for pro users. Removing those options makes the machine HIGHLY limited for pros.

Well, of course they are able to make the architecture explandable and they have done so with the extremely pricey Mac Pro. However, they are unable to maintain their lightning fast architecture of their SOC if they make the devices your refrencing expandable. Thats why the expandability of the Mac Pro is limited to storage and IO devices. If the befits of SOC aren't for you, then perhaps an Intel or AMD architecture is better suited for your use case.

 

[eicca]

The Mac has been this since day one. That you had some other idea is not Apple's fault.

Where have you been? Obviously not using Apple products back when they were logical, streamlined, flexible and stable.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Remember years ago when Apple was thriving and couldn’t be matched? They had this unspoken slogan of “it just works.” Now, I have so many issues with just about all of my Apple devices from speed, to bugs, to reliability, to Siri. It just seems like Apple has lost quality and charm. Some examples include how the iPhone 15 pro models have basically given us no major changes than the previous model.

HomePod minis are the worst device Apple has ever released. We have switched internet providers several times and have so many issues with HomePod minis. Siri is always unreliable, gets requests and queries wrong almost every time, does random requests that we didn’t ask. I’ll never buy a HomePod mini again.

My reminders app hasn’t worked correctly since iOS 7. It’s the slowest, laggy app I’ve ever used. Yes, I constantly clear the completed reminders, it doesn’t help.

My Apple watch now displays a white stripe on the date and I have restored it several times but it still hasn’t been fixed. Apple says I have a beta installed but I’ve never installed a beta 🤷‍♂️

I have troubleshooted all of these issues with Apple for years and there hasn’t been a fix for any of them. It’s so strange that they can’t fix these issue that I haven’t caused. They’re all bugs.

So, I’m still an Apple fan but their quality has gone so downhill in recent years that it’s depressing. Their answer for a lot of things is to “reinstall” but that never works and their products should work properly without us having to reinstall and lose all non-iCloud settings just because they can’t figure out how to fix their bugs.

I’m not asking anyone to agree with me, it won’t make me feel better to know that others agree. I’m just venting about the quality of Apple. Hope they restore their old image but it’s doubtful they will. You can do it if you actually care, Apple.

NO! I have not "noticed the quality of Apple has gotten worse," and I have used/owned many Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc. starting with one of the first 128K Macs delivered. Folks who suggest failing quality either are simply trolling (most likely), or they have not actually been looking closely at 40+ years of Apple products.

 

[Motionblurrr]

IMO

I think it's about the same/has gotten better. They address any issues seemingly within days.

The issue is, the internet has turned into a hyper-online, pessimistic, false narrative echo chamber these days compared to a decade ago.

Apple is on top and they are even more heavily scrutinized than ever before. You have people on this forum who will have a mental breakdown if they get a hairline scratch on their phone. I'm not even joking.

 

[GMShadow]

Where have you been? Obviously not using Apple products back when they were logical, streamlined, flexible and stable.

What's even more amusing is the things you idealize (upgrades, etc) were most prevalent in the 90s, when Apple's products were the opposite of all those.

The cMP was always an anomaly of what Macs truly were, hardware wise, and the software has always been "This is our way, we think you'll like it".

 

[NewOldStock]

Two kinds of Software=Always in Beta or Software=Left for Dead.
Software is never finished.

 

[SYCAMOREGRAD]

Couldn’t agree more. I think their hardware is great, but their software is absolute *****. And don’t get me started on Siri!!!

Let’s face it. Craig Federighi is no Scott Forstall. J/S.

 

[Vespi]

My iphone 11 I bought on release works flawless, original battery and still at 79% health, get around 8-9h screen on time with ios 16.7.2, wont upgrade this year I guess

 

[no-reply]

from speed, to bugs, to reliability, to Siri.

I love how ‘Siri’ is in a distinctive defect class of its own. 🤣

Since buying a HomePod mini, I fully agree with that.

 

[laszlo182]

My whole house is built on HomeKit, I have more than 100 devices. Everything was slow or not working since 17.0 until now it seems to be resolved with 17.1.

No response, excruciatingly slow response, HomePod stereo constantly playing out of sync just to name a few. Even Philips Hue which was 100% solid always was not possible to control in the Home.app. It is one thing to have worse battery life or a hot phone (my 15 Pro), it’s another to have your whole house not working.

 

[ignatius345]

Things have also gotten way more complicated than they were years ago. The more complicated things get, the more possible points of failure they inevitably contain.

I mean, I absolutely loved my eMac back in 2005, but there’s no comparing the complexity of a single mac running Mac OS X Tiger to my personal device ecosystem in 2023 that includes a mac, iPhone, iPad and watch, all interacting with each other in dozens of ways.

This 👆

It's easy to take potshots, but if anyone can point to a platform that runs perfectly all the time I'd be interested to hear about it. Complexity raises the possibility of problems to a huge degree, especially when you throw in third-party software, which is also getting more and more complex.

Maybe AI will become smart enough at some point to make "self-healing" software, but at that point we may have much bigger problems

 

[bousozoku]

I love how ‘Siri’ is in a distinctive defect class of its own. 🤣

Since buying a HomePod mini, I fully agree with that.

Around 1997, I was using PlainTalk with the PlainTalk microphone on my Power Computing Mac clone and it worked quite well in opening folders and launching applications, wherever there were AppleEvents available. Siri seems to be able to do things at that level, and makes mistakes anywhere above that.

 

[msackey]

I don't know if Apple's software/hardware quality has gone down hill. But, I will say that sometimes I'm a little surprised that things don't work as well or take a while for some recalcitrant bug to be fixed. After all, these are systems that Apple creates and they are in control of the entire process. I'm not talking about 3rd party software bugs.

For example, MacWorld is reporting that a known bug has taken 3 years to finally fix and has to do with hiding of MAC address: https://www.macworld.com/article/2118771/ios-17-1-private-address-security-hole-fix.html Is this kind of long period to a fix a bit crazy?

A bug that I haven't recently encountered but has taken many many versions before I stopped seeing it is iCloud tab syncing. It did not work well. There are other issues.

Overall though, the issues are minor in my experience but nevertheless because Apple controls the whole process, it's surprising that some bugs take so long to resolve.

 

[msackey]

iPad lineup is a mess. Also naming convention with computers and chips.

I agree the iPad lineup is a TOTAL mess. I don't care so much about the naming of chips. I don't find the naming convention of the Mac computers too crazy though.

 

[_92dopal]

I disagree with respect to hardware. I think the hardware build quality is the same if not better.

But my god do they need to give their engineers a year off from new features for some housekeeping. All the OSs need to get leaner and more efficient.

 

[MrMojo1]

iOS has been lagging for the past few versions. Still on the last 16.6.1 for 13PM as there's no other updates except 17.1 which I'll hold off as I'm still reading issues about it from other online boards.

Apple needs to spend a lot more time in quality control with its software.

Just got some open boxed/pre-owned Homepod minis.
So far so good but still lacking with some connectivity issues whenever trying to connect via Airplay and even when literally touching one of the minis directly with the iPhones.
The newer 17.x update seems to have somewhat fixed the issue, for now.
Rarely used Siri. The mini's Siri hasn't been great before the update but getting a bit better now after the update, for now.

How about making life a little easier for users like...
Making a button to push for updates re iWatch, APP, HP Minis, etc...
Also, release information on what the updates fixed like the APPs!

Still wondering...
Why can't Apple make iPhones at certain sizes like 6", 6.5", 7" instead of the off sizes 6.1", 6.3" & 6.7"?

Battery life is acceptable for a 2 yo model with 90% life.

You Don’t Need a New iPhone. You Just Need a New Battery.

Every iPhone has a secret indicator of battery health. So why did our columnist’s iPhone 14 Pro battery deplete so much in a year?

www.wsj.com

 

[Squillace]

Agree 1000% and the reason their software is so buggy and garbage lies at the foot of one man - Craig Federighi. Ever since he was given the reigns of Mac OSX & iOS the quality has plummeted and the number of bugs and issues has skyrocketed. Every major release people wait for the .1 and even .2 release to upgrade. Hell people who update when it's released are essentially beta testers.

Why Craig hasn't been fired yet I'll never know.

No they don't. A few might, but it's not a majority.

 

[257Loner]

Absolutely, TC. Apple input devices have worsened.

Their keyboards are shallow.
Their mouse is unergonomic.

 

[Analog Kid]

I'm not sure what ago years you're referring to here, but there's other factors to consider:

• Apple ships in much, much higher volumes than they ever have so even the same failure rates will mean more issues in total.
• Those products are exponentially more complex than products of yore.
• Apple now appeals to a much broader cross section of customers with differing expectations.
• Time leads people to romanticize the past which may not have been as rosy as one thinks
• The internet, and these forums in particular, put a magnifying glass on things in ways that amplify even small events.

 

[boswald]

Has Apple gotten worse, or has the competition finally gotten better?

 

[dcp10]

No issues with HW, except with my 5S, it was a bit of a dog. No real issues with software at an individual level either. That said, I think it's fair to say that owning Apple products can be a lot of work if you want them to all work together as designed. When everything is good, "it's magic", but in my experience there's almost always something not quite right. Troubleshooting and setting up devices is a regular part of the experience for me. I pin a lot of it on iCloud, it almost seems like it's collapsing under the weight of the ecosystem .

and yeah, Siri is trash a large part of the time too.

 

[klasma]

It’s obvious that they are drowning in complexity on the software side. What’s worrying is that there doesn’t seem to be much awareness that this is something that needs to be actively managed, as otherwise it will only get worse and worse. IOS is now 16 years old. I’m not sure it can last another 16 years without a major clean-slate overhaul at some point.

 

[Nermal]

Software these days is much better and more reliable than in iOS8-11 and OS X El Capitan, Sierra,... days.

I really have to disagree with that, at least for my own usage. I used to log one or two bugs a year, and Apple would actually fix the bugs. I've logged fifteen bugs since the release of OS 14.0 a month or so ago, and going from experience in recent years I suspect that Apple isn't going to even comment on them, let alone fix them. It's been three years since I logged "here's how to hard-crash any Mac from a user-mode app, requiring cutting power to recover" and Apple has yet to so much as acknowledge it.

 

[philstubbington]

Nope. No technology is perfect, but Apple do a pretty good job. I get more frustrated by our Google Nest which decides to loose connection to our heating system and our Denon CD/DAB than I do with a houseful of Apple gear.