Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Are you going to order the new iPhone 15?


  • Total voters
    1,460

bmustaf

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2007
607
1,174
Telluride, CO
My guess is that Apple wants to increase margins while still having an outwardly "happy" eco story to tell, when in reality, the eco story should be "we kept the physical dimensions exactly the same so you don't need to throw out your old case if it has a big enough opening for the action button, which we knew last year we were going to do anyway, so we actually designed the iPhone 14 cases to work with the mute switch and the design for the button", but, of course, this isn't good for quarterly earnings and margins, so, well, this probably tested with focus groups as the highest margin case that had some kind of "look, no animal products, so it must be fine/guilt free for consumers" story with it.

Wondering how the lowest carbon footprint way to get my current iPhone 14 Pro Max case to the Pacific Garbage Patch is, you know, so I can feel good about it (j/k).

Is this true? Does it really feel like suede? I don't understand why Apple wants us to protect a $1500 iPhone with a cheap material.

View attachment 2263849
 

CodeSpyder

macrumors 68000
Jun 23, 2010
1,935
1,949
Orlando, FL
People get their tracking information through UPS My Choice. They then search flight aware for scheduled flights coming out of China for UPS that could coincide with a time frame of their phone having to be flown to Alaska. Then they spend hours watching a little plane icon on the screen cross the Pacific Ocean and biting their nails, hoping nothing goes wrong.
Funny, but true!
 

NotApplicable

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2019
1,067
2,036
Apple wants to increase margins while still having an outwardly "happy" eco story to tell
Sure, but there’s no getting around leather’s poor eco-friendliness. And animal-friendliness.

Regardless of whether or not margins are in play, there was never a world where leather remains in the supply chain long-term for a company with the eco goals Apple has.

Exact reason why leather is disappearing from other industries too, like EVs.

Besides, as far as leather goes… Apple leather cases are of terrible/cheap quality. So they were always money-grabbing. I mean… all cases have huge margins. And screen protectors.
 

LasersGoPewPew

macrumors 604
Sep 12, 2014
6,612
23,214
PDX

lazyrighteye

Contributor
Jan 16, 2002
4,159
6,432
Denver, CO
I wound really like if all Apple Stores has new devices on the floors so we could see/hold them AHEAD of pre-ordering. On the eco subject: there would be less returns, exchanges and more exact ordering. 99.9% of us have no idea what these devices really look like. Apple beauty shot has never proven a good go-by. Would kind of bro g some old school in-store launch day energy into the tune between keynote & pre-order.
 
Hmm! That’s interesting..

IMG_3027.jpeg
 

bmustaf

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2007
607
1,174
Telluride, CO
I'm not defending leather, hardly. Whether it is vegan or not, unnecessarily turning every single case out there into trash every year because of a 0.03" change in height (really? that's actually necessary? Anyone actually believe that?) is an absolute disaster environmentally.

Yes, a "vegan" disaster, but a disaster nonetheless.

And *that* is the actual point: the talk track is intentionally designed to mislead. Your post is case-in-point, you have been misled to think "well, it's better than leather!" is somehow a validation (or, worse, a valid response to the actual point) that it's actually OK and you can feel good about it. The truth is, macroeconomically, generating more trash even if you're displacing leather cases is a terrible idea all around if you don't have to do it, because the cow already died, the carbon footprint of that case is sunk already (and, no recycling is not actually effective for most of these cases, even if the packaging has the nice green leaf and logo on it!).

You bring up EVs, a GREAT example. I love EVs! They are AMAZING! Are they equally amazing (ecologically) when replacing an ICE vehicle that is less than a year old that is driven a regular amount? Absolutely not. No way. But daaaaamn, people feel "good" driving one and buying one to replace a ICE vehicle that is young and not actually being used much, facts be damned, and marketers know it and exploit that without shame.

Sure, but there’s no getting around leather’s poor eco-friendliness. And animal-friendliness.

Regardless of whether or not margins are in play, there was never a world where leather remains in the supply chain long-term for a company with the eco goals Apple has.

Exact reason why leather is disappearing from other industries too, like EVs.
 

Surf Monkey

Suspended
Oct 3, 2010
6,249
5,384
Portland, OR
I wound really like if all Apple Stores has new devices on the floors so we could see/hold them AHEAD of pre-ordering. On the eco subject: there would be less returns, exchanges and more exact ordering. 99.9% of us have no idea what these devices really look like. Apple beauty shot has never proven a good go-by. Would kind of bro g some old school in-store launch day energy into the tune between keynote & pre-order.

That would be cool, but not something Apple will do. Too much potential customer confusion.
 

JBinPDX

macrumors 6502
Oct 19, 2021
431
1,522
For what it's worth, I had a heck of a time getting in to my pre-order this morning. It took forever for anything other than the "almost ready" message to show up. And then my order just kept erroring out. I finally clicked on the link in my pre-pre-order email, and that opened in the app. Just as I completed my order for a 256 Natural, the app crashed again. I had no idea if my order went through or not. But I got the email at 5:23 AM PDT with a 9/22 delivery date. And now my order is in PFS. So I guess, despite the panic, it all worked out OK. It was a harder preorder than last year, though.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.