I think you will find if you read closely, that most of the issues seem to be occurring to the same people. They likely are experiencing issues. But the question is why are they experiencing these issues, when most people are not?
Is it their hardware? Doubtful, as many have detailed - both here and in the mega AirPods firmware thread - about swapping devices at least once if not multiple times.
So what is it? I think one of 2 things:
- a heightened sensitivity to what would for many people be deemed “minor irritants.” Again, not saying this is wrong: a minor irritant in an app or function that is used once a week will be far less annoying than if that app is used multiple times per day. E.g., the mail fetch bug (where mail is not pre-fetched and ready for viewing when you open the app) may be inconsequential for a phone-user who casually checks mail once per day but a major impedance to someone who relies on getting mail timely for work and checks mail every 10-15 minutes. That could get old real quick!
-Hardware/software configuration. Face it, these forums are home to power users, many of whom push the envelopes with how they use their devices. I don’t think jailbreaking is what it once was, but I think some people push the devices hard: attaching external hard drives, mice, running memory intensive apps...all at the same time. Even my MBP 16” suffers when I have too many apps open at once. I know iOS has superb memory management for suspended apps, but I suspect there are upper limits.
I could add to this list with:
-unrealistic expectations
-obsessive concern for tiny nits that are to be expected with software that is massive (millions of lines of code) and massively re-written every 9 months (Sept release to WWDC Keynote in early June)
Bottom line: my advice to anyone who bases decisions on what they read here as to the overall quality of either the hardware/software really needs to do some additional research as well. These are echo chambers and, just like social media in general, the danger is that you don’t hear from the other side.
In this case, Apple is selling billions of dollars in products every year and its not because people are brainwashed. It’s because they offer what to those purchasers is the best value proposition in terms of hardware, software and ecosystem.
Final note: IMO, one should never cite Elon Musk (or other celebrities) as an authority for anything, other than what he/they specialize in. His opinion is worth no more than yours.
I see many, varied issues from lots of people, not the same ones. IMHO they are experiencing the issues because something didn't get QCd by Apple.
Apple hardware is the best on the market, I doubt that many swaps are necessary. This great hardware is not so great when the software that makes it work, doesn't.
I don't consider numerous posts concerning loss of iTunes album artwork and/or files or Photo images to be "minor irritants".
I have over 17,000+ tracks of numerous genrs collected over thirty years of collecting and purchasing, and refuse to take the chance of losing any of it, despite backups on Time Machine (not without forum post mumbles), on and off line external discs, and semi-annual dumps to DVDs. My iPhoto files were damaged by an upgrade some years ago, some recovered, but images collected over 60 years of photography and digitized slowly from thousands of slides and negatives are rather precious and not to be risked by sloppy software.
I don't believe most of these posts come from power users. Based on their composition, many are from just plain folks that have invested their funds in a convenience or tool that is suddenly inconvenient at best, or useless for daily usage for communications, personal investments or banking, or amusement with photography and music, both of the latter causing lots of post gripes.
I suspect many power users sometimes find solutions themselves or regress to stable, working versions without bothering with these forums.
Over the years, it seems to me that Apple spends too much time on too frequent updates adding goodies instead of armor plating the essential functions of their current, admittedly hugely complex software. I worked in, and managed IT for a $2B major corporation for 17 years, and know well about complex software, but would never have allowed bugs like these out of my organization. In my company, I would have been out of a job quickly. Any senior software folks been sacked at Apple lately?
I'm sure there are, fortunately for Apple, a very large number of users, several in my own family, who use Apple devices for simple purposes like just talking on iPhones, taking photos, or playing games, that either never need, are aware of, or use an upgrade, being happy with their existing software level, as I am, who have never heard of posts.
As for Elon Musk, I suspect gripes from people at his level are of significantly more interest to Apple than mine.
Have a nice day. I like Apple, but hate to see the degradation that has occurred since Jobs died.
