oh god, another apple is doomed post, and the next post on here will be someone crying about how they don't like something apple is doing.
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Is Apple doomed?
- Thread starter d5aqoëp
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Dude, don't kid yourself. those are ancient machines no matter what OS you throw at them.
Except you cannot counter my points explaining why Apple will not be forced to change due to existing market conditions. We are too far deep in trouble than anyone wants to believe.
So far you have ignored points that counter your original post so why would you expect others to extend you a courtesy you won't extend them?
You have yet to make any case at all as to why Apple would be forced to do anything by "market conditions".
You have yet to explain why Apple would pivot their entire company over to AI and forcing people to rent cloud computing.
You have yet to explain how Apple would even do such a thing given their focus has never been on that and they don't have the heavy hitting talent in those areas to do that.
You haven't pointed to a single thing Apple has done that shows they are heading down this path.
So you haven’t even understood my main point. I don’t want them to pivot towards AI. Because of AI and cloud computing instances, Apple faces a real threat to their hardware business. Once people are used to running things on cloud and ordering compute power online, Apple’s hardware specs will have no relevance. Who would want to spend $1500 on hardware when they can rent compute as per their requirements? Once that happens to regular computers, our mobile phones will follow the same suit. This is where Apple might have to pivot towards thin client manufacturing and that’s where the cookie crumbles. Less money from hardware business. Apple would be forced to adapt or become irrelevant.
I sincerely hope I am wrong about this. ☹️
I also get it that initially, cloud instances will be dirt cheap subscriptions. When Big-Tech companies have taken out every single hardware manufacturer out of the market, then it will be a proper money squeeze where it would be more costlier than owning the powerful hardware itself. Just like how monopolies/duopolies work. But that is for after 5-10 years.
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You might have convinced yourself that these things are logical or likely, but you've done nothing to convince others. You're vividly imagining a future and skipping any reasoning for why it would happen.
You have yet to make any case at all as to why Apple would be forced to do anything by "market conditions".
You have yet to explain why Apple would pivot their entire company over to AI and forcing people to rent cloud computing.
You have yet to explain how Apple would even do such a thing given their focus has never been on that and they don't have the heavy hitting talent in those areas to do that.
You haven't pointed to a single thing Apple has done that shows they are heading down this path.
While I agree with you (I have not really liked AAA gaming in a while, maybe a game here or there). However, the gaming industry is not based on Stardew Valley or Balatro. And gaming is where it starts. I foresee a time where Creative Cloud now becomes "Rent a server to perform the work for a monthly fee!" and other creative workflows.
If AAA gaming can be handled from the cloud, then productivity is the next step.
And I do not like where we are headed.
How about Micron? NVIDIA cutting consumer production? Yes Macs do not use NVIDIA, but it speaks to an industry change. SSDs and HDDs are anticipating increases too. Apple will need to do something for these market conditions.
Samsung considers shifting production from HBM to DDR after extreme price increases
After memory manufacturers massively switched to HBM memory production for AI workloads, Samsung is considering a reverse move.
itdaily.com
As DRAM Costs Soar, Prices For NVMe SSDs Start To Rise Too
Although not a massive increase, the prices for NVMe storage for PCs have started to go up in recent weeks.
We are regressing
ASUS to increase DDR4 motherboard production - OC3D
ASUS reportedly plans to to increase DDR4 motherboard production in response to DDR5 memory price hikes. DDR4 remains affordable.
Memory crunch: Mid-range laptops may slide back to 8GB RAM, analyst warns
TrendForce says DDR5 RAM prices will soon result in reduced memory for default laptop configurations across the board...and higher prices, too.
www.pcworld.com
Apple will soon be priced out of the market entirely. I highly doubt Apple will eat the prices. Therefore, a base MacBook Air might now be $1,600 and not be worth it at all.
Oh, and this will impact phones and tablets too. Not just Macs. No new iPhone 18 this year rumor just shows how ridiculous this CURRENTLY is and will get much much MUCH worse.
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That kind of hyperbole is funny, but it's not accurate. Apple likely has enough manufacturing contracts lined up with the likes of Samsung and TSMC to be largely unaffected by the market conditions of the next year or so. By then, prices will likely start to trend back downwards anyway.
You also have to have crypto bro levels of blind belief in AI to think that bubble isn't going to burst at some point. (It will).
Love it how people here seem to laugh it off. I used to too. But this time it’s really serious.
Nope. I just saw an article that Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix that they are reevaluating their B2B contracts this year for a 50% increase.
It won't just be Apple. If this trend continues it will be the death of all affordable computing and impact every device downstream as well.
No iPhone 18 this year is just the start for Apple.
Isn’t it obvious? They don’t have enough RAM and NAND chips for this year so they put them in their most popular line of products which fetches them max profits. I would not be surprised if iPhone 18 series is totally scrapped in favour of Fold or ultra thin Air 2.
LMAO how naive of you to believe things will go back to normal. All the companies hoarding hardware for AI also have multiple backup plans to keep the shortage of hardware alive. Cloud computing is one of them.
Only if China somehow manages to steal TSMC tech to make their own chips at 3nm or lower process, things might somewhat change for good.
Even then, Apple is in the best position of any company to weather these price increases, and the idea they of all companies will be "priced out of the market" is ridiculous.
Will you agree to come back here and admit it when they do? It's telling that you respond to that but you don't respond to anyone when they actually drill down into your points.
I have already said that I would be more than glad to be proved wrong. In fact, I am hoping to be proved wrong.
You on the other hand won't be there to even comment. lol
We never saw MSRP go down with GPUs after the crypto craze in 2020/2021. MSRP here NOT scalpers. You honestly think the RTX 5090 will go back down to $2,000 after the jump to $5,000 (rumored price)? You honestly expect Micron to come back to us consumers? Neither will happen.
I don't speak for the others, but I am more than willing to admit I was wrong. We are all speculating here. I hope I am wrong. I highly doubt I am wrong though. But businesses don't normally operate this way, especially lately.
Um, one would think that you would understand the simple concept that every business entity is "forced to change due to existing market conditions." Apple's extraordinary success proves that they are better at it than most.
Yes. I never thought I'd be able to come up with all the workarounds I needed to be using a PowerMac G5 Quad up in to May 2020. But Apple empowered me with the creativity to push my Mac to that limit.
OCLP and the whole series of patchers before that were certainly not a thought at some early point to make Intel Macs run modern versions of MacOS. All that was Apple empowerment.
Although I'm pretty sure Apple would have preferred everyone using this stuff to just buy a new Mac rather than feeling empowered by them to make it work.
Next you will suggest that Apple is going to raid our homes, remove our old computers and force us to use thin clients.
I mean really…we can't continue to use what we already have?
Exactly. Apple would adapt in ways you, me and most here would not like.
You are taking it too far. Ofcourse you will continue to use what you have. But will that last you more than 10 years?
Heck it's a bonus if it works beyond 5 years. Computers of today are not so well built like they were few years ago.
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No, I am not taking it too far. You seem to be suggesting that there will be no other option.
I used a PM Quad G5 up until May 2020. On Leopard 10.5.8!
From 2004 to 2018 I put out a weekly newspaper including ads, pagination, classifieds, legals and special sections using PowerMacs.
My current job had me using a 2015 MBP from 2019 to 2023 running High Sierra. We only just updated to M2s two years ago.
I'll probably buy an M1 Mini at some point and continue until I decide what to do next. Linux could be in the future. And Linux runs on PowerPC and Intel Macs, of which I have plenty.
There is nothing I do at home that requires some current model with the fastest processor and oodles of ram. My iPhone is the 11 Pro Max. Not even 5G! It runs iOS 26. When I upgrade it will probably be to the iPhone 15PM or 16PM. So I'm covered there.
What I think you are not seeing is how adaptable and creative people can get to make things work for themselves when they have to (or want to).
Virtual computing and cloud computing has been possible for over 25 years. Dumb terminals much older.
No, dumb terminals are not going to be mainstream.
Anyone who believes dumb terminals will be mainstream doesn’t understand computers or computer users.
Anyone who believes dumb terminals will be mainstream is terminally dumb.