I'll say it: This year sucked to be an Apple fan

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Since there's pretty much no more Apple products for the rest of the year, I just want to say it, 2022 has got to be possibly the worst year as an Apple fan in years. This year was so disappointing in news, updates, and new products that I'm amazed Apple greenlit half of these.

To recap in no particular order, this year we had:

• Broken OS updates with iOS 15 and macOS Monterey that took months to fix
• Speaker popping issues with the 14/16 inch Macbook Pros that didn't get resolved until the summer, and some are still having issues.
• The M1 iPad Air...that exists for some reason
• The Mac Studio, which I would like to say is a great idea and the value of the M1 Max in a base spec Mac Studio is really good, but the computer still has issues, namely software issues that can't take full advantage of the M1 Max or Ultra. Apple Silicon has a software issue with pro software that needs fixing before the Mac Pro comes.

• The Studio Display. Good lord there's so much wrong with this thing. Aside from the price of $1600 for 5K60hz and 600 nits which don't get me started on that, no turning, and no height adjust unless you shell out another $400. Not to mention the monitor has had so many technical issues with connection and the webcam. But that is forgivable and fixable. What is not forgivable and fixable is that nonremovable power cord. $1600 for a hardwired propriety power cord that cannot be replaced is so incredibly stupid and as far as I'm concerned is defective by design. There's zero reason for it, especially after Apple gets on their soapbox about how they care about the environment and says "no we can't go USB-C or else all the lightning cables becomes eWaste" then they make this joke of a monitor

Since I know there's certain people on this forum who will dislike anyone who criticizes the Studio Display (you know who you are) I'm just gonna say if you like the Studio Display, good for you. It's okay to like bad things. After all I like the Nintendo Wii U and that console was an objective dumpster fire. That doesn't mean it's immune to criticism.

• The iPhone SE 3 just kinda...exists. If you got an SE 2 there's no reason to get the SE 3 as it's upgrade is so minuscule compared to the jump from SE 1 to SE 2. Not to mention said upgrade raised the cost by $30 because of that 5G modem, which is another discussion in general about the state of 5G. They upgraded the wrong things on the SE 3.
• The M2 Macbook Air is a great new Mac and a great buy for college and daily driving casuals...just so long as it's not the base spec. The base spec's SSD speeds being halved due to only having one 256 gb model is so bad.
• The M2 13 inch Macbook Pro...exists?
• iPadOS Stage Manager. If you've known me for a while you know my stance on iPadOS, specifically on the M Series iPads. Guts of a Mac but does less than a Mac and is more expensive than a Mac. It's why when the patents for an iPad "Pro Mode" in which it becomes desktop like when plugged into a Magic Keyboard or a monitor similarly to Samsung DeX mode there was so much excitement. That excitement was deflated quickly at WWDC when we saw their answer to DeX mode being Stage Manager.
• The culling of the iPhone Mini. To you iPhone Mini fans I feel your pain, especially with how lame, expensive, and redundant the iPhone Plus is.
• Speaking of iPhone, the iPhone 14 has got to be the most lame "upgrade" yet and further proof that maybe the iPhone should stop the annual refreshes. Add that with the SIM tray getting headphone jack'd for US customers, and there's no reason to upgrade if you already got a 12 or 13.
• The 10th Gen iPad. The headphone jack is gone, but at least it got USB-C...at USB 2.0 speeds...and the iPad still uses the 1st gen Apple Pencil requiring a weird multicable adapter to charge...and the price increased by a lot...The iPad lineup in general is a hot mess.
• The prices of all the services jumping really high that it's hard to justify anymore. Apple Music now costs more than Spotify.
• The price hikes for all Apple products in general is absurd, especially in Europe.

Then there's the little things that happened, like the refusal to adopt RCS on iPhone, the continuing shenanigans with the App Store, the sheer amount of zero day vulnerabilities on iOS that got reported but ignored until they went public, Apple Arcade now starting to delist titles with no way to get the games anywhere else, pushing their lies about sideloading in a desperate attempt to maintain their app store monopoly. But there were some good things this year, most notably the new Apple Watch Ultra, the new simplified Apple IT Certification exams, the new cybersecurity bounty program, the introduction of Metal 3 bringing AAA quality gaming to the Mac, and the confirmation we're gonna get USB-C on the iPhone at last.

But man...this year was not a good year to be an Apple fan. This year was just the year of lackluster updates and "we hate our customers" moments. They're already projecting that sales are gonna go down in the next quarters across Mac and iPhone. I hope next year is much better than this dumpster fire.

 

[Juicy Box]

year, I just want to say it, 2022 has got to be possibly the worst year as an Apple fan in years.

2016 was worse, imo.

The “hello again” event alone was such a disappointment.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

2016 was worse, imo.

The “hello again” event alone was such a disappointment.

Oh 2016 was bad there's no doubt about that, but that was mainly because of just how much of a dumpster fire the Macs were. The iPad was doing fine during this time since the Apple Pencil came out a year prior.

But at least 2016 was a precursor to the upcoming storm of one of their biggest releases ever: The iPhone X. So maybe with this year being such a dumpster fire it's a precursor to good things, which we already have a tease with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro and the USB-C iPhone. But who knows, there could be something even bigger on the horizon. Maybe next year will finally be the year we see Apple Reality.

 

[fatTribble]

B-b-b-b-but I can change the font of the clock on iPhone now! 🤭

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

B-b-b-b-but I can change the font of the clock on iPhone now! 🤭

B-b-b-b-but the Studio Display is a bargain! I need 5K because of muh macOS scaling!

 

[I7guy]

Imo…iOS 16 on an iPhone 14PM is great. iOS 16 is also great on my Xs max. Waiting for 16.2 to try out stage manager on my M1 Pro.

So yeah I’m liking what I seeing.

 

[XboxEvolved]

Not really sure why you would complain that the M1 iPad Air exist. The use case for M2 MBP is pretty simple I thought, have a tad more power than an MBA, and people that like the TouchBar. Not sure what’s hard about that?

The iPhones and them not doing much of upgrades this year feel like this is a year to get adjusted to what Apple will do from now on. It’s almost as if designing a bunch of different kinds of chips is hard to do. Just look at the watch and the fact that there's been little in the way of what the processor can do since S6.

I’m overall happy. iOS and macOS had some pretty good updates.

 

[Apple_Robert]

It has been a good Apple year for me. It is easy to have a good time when you don’t live your life based on what Apple does.

 

[BeatCrazy]

2022 - the year I definitely:

• Replaced a few power cords on my Dell monitors - thank goodness they were removable!
• Paid less for my Netflix service than I did 3 years ago - oh wait..
• Had my Windows 2H22 update go perfectly smooth - uhhh
• Enjoyed fitting the perfectly-palmable Samsung Galaxy S22 mini into the front pocket of my Patagonia vest - oh damn!
• Got an amazing deal on a 27" 5K120Hz OLED display from Samsung - I mean...

It was an awesome year to hate on Apple.

 

[maflynn]

It has been a good Apple year for me.

Same,
I got myself a nice iPad mini and its a really nice tablet, and I also bought myself a 14" MBP. I think overall, whether its software updates, new software or new hardware, my experience with apple products/services has overall been positive.

 

[Mousse]

Yep. The Apple products I like, I really like. The Missus really likes her iPad and iPhone. I love my Mac Studio connected to an LG monitor.

As for those Apple products I don't care for, it matters not to me if they're dumpster fires or not. Apple monitors are overpriced for what you get, so I don't give a rat's (_!_) if they a good product or not; not a good value in my book.

I'm not buying Apple's entire product line, so it doesn't mean jack to me if their line up is great or not, as long as what *I* want is great.