There’s two ends of a spectrum when it comes to reactions to DED’s articles, and these ends of the spectrum and views generally on Apple’s prospects tend to match up well.
On one end of the spectrum exist those who look at the immediate timeframe - what’s happening right now - and make an assessment of the company and it’s future based upon what they see. These folks are highly reactive, swayed by emotion perhaps. Armchair quarterbacks tossing out desperation plays in the first quarter because the Patriots are down by 17. We know how that has often turned out; how many Super Bowl rings do Brady and Belichick share?
At the other end of the spectrum reside those with a longer view. These are the folks, like some here in this thread, like myself and like Warren Buffett, who never advocated Apple purchase Netflix or Tesla (history will show whether we were correct or foolish, but that history is not yet written), who understand the rationale behind share repurchases and that it’s a very long game strategy, who see innovation where others seemingly cannot (to what must these folks attribute the incredible success of the iPhone over ten years if it doesn’t actually stand above the copycats?), and who can project forward to see the potential that exists for Apple in enormous markets, like health and transportation. And we also understand, regarding disruptions like 2008 and today’s trade war, that ‘this too shall pass.’
Sadly, like religious of political extremes, there is scant bridge connecting the two ends of this spectrum of views. But history favors the long view.
You’re certainly bigging yourself up there, although I’m sure Warren Buffet will blush when he reads the comparison. That said it’s hard to know what specific comment(s) you are talking about. Nobody mentioned Tesla yet in this thread. History favouring the long view is fairly meaningless cant. It also favoured the long view in the 90’s but it tells you nothing about Apples success or failure in that decade.
The problem with DED is that he can’t see anything wrong with Apple’s strategy even when Apple can. In the internal email Cook said he is going to review some things and change tack where necessary.
DED is just Apple til he dies. Which is fine for a football fan but not a consumer, which is what most of us here are, that or investors. Or both And consumers don’t really care about stock buybacks and the like. Or increasing margins for that matter. In fact we can be understandably opposed to the latter if it means higher prices.
Sure we want the company to do well, but preferably doing well with affordable stuff we can buy, that’s why we are Apple customers and fans are after all - we buy their stuff. Or once did, when we could afford it. And while it’s true that Android trolls do in fact catcall about Apple being over priced, saying that Apple’s stuff is over priced is also something that Apple customers tend to do as well, when it is.
For the investors the extra margins and share buybacks sound great until you realise that they’ve lost 30% or more of the value of their aapl position in the last few months. The money spent in the stock buybacks has disappeared. The extra margins have cost them revenue.
Stock buybacks seem pretty worthless to me anyway. Jobs never did it. That cash might have come in handy now if Apple wanted a major purchase, Netflix is becoming too expensive at a price about equal to Apples net cash position. Not that Netflix is a good buy but it would be nice to have the money nevertheless. Just in case.
Anyway most apple consumers are not diehard fans, hating on Amazon or Samsung or MS. I’m mostly Apple products but most iPhone owners I know (some of whom I encouraged to buy an iPhone) have a Windows PC at home or work. The stats bear his out. Many have Spotify. Others have google home or Alexa, both more useful to most than a HomePod. An Apple TV is rare but theres a definite desire for the AirPods. (Which indicates real innovation). In fact AirPods were supply constrained this Q. There’s a potential market of hundreds of millions for iPhone accessories. If the innovation is there they will buy. However it’s often missing. Imagine Siri was as good as Alexa and Apple had a voice assistant for <$200. Hotcakes.
DED and the fanboy rhetoric is reminiscent of the time Apple was 2% of the PC market. You had to be a fan then to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous limited software. iOS isn’t in that position, there are 1 billion devices and hundreds of millions of users, mostly consumers but not die hard fans. They don’t care about purple prose damning Samsung and the analysts. Most wont read it. They don’t really care about the stock price. Many won’t be aware of it.
They’d like better stuff, more innovation, and cheaper than the present prices. Not cheap, but affordable enough, as it was in the beginning.
China has been taking advantage of the US markets for many decades restricting/charging huge tariffs for products made in the US and past US Presidents and Congress have done NOTHING to change this. President Trump has said enough of this! In order to bring about a level playing field between China and US trade there is going to be some suffering. But this is the only way to force communist China to change it's way. Apple will survive. They might have to lower their sky high margins and lower the outrageous prices on their iPhones but in the end an even playing field between the US and China will only help America and it's workers.
Let's remember that Apple and so many other countries moved all their manufacturing to China years ago to get away from US EPA and labor regulations here in the US. Apple talks a big game but they like China because of it's cheap labor and little to no environmental regulations not to mention all the labor lawsuits they would face here in the US.
Let's also remember that the whole point of a company is to maximize profits. Which includes manufacturing at the lowest possible price. It is the *responsibility of the government* to balance company's success with looking out for its citizens when company behaviors would harm its citizens economically. Time and again, Republican-led presidents and congress abdicated that responsibility by not creating regulations that would inhibit outsourcing or actively removing regulations that would have.
I don't buy the assertion that China did the US great harm for decades by restricting trade or charging huge tariffs. Do you have any evidence that China's overall tariffs are any bigger than the US's? The largest tariffs/restrictions I'm aware of were on automobiles - but "decades" ago, most Chinese couldn't afford a car anyway, so how much damage did those high tariffs actually do?
China also takes US companies' IP. But to me it's not even clear if that it is "theft" as described by the administration. Isn't it more of a devil's bargain? When the Chinese government tells an American company that, in order to sell its cars in China, it has to "partner" with a Chinese firm, the US company knows what it's getting into - how can you not share IP when you setup shop in a foreign country? The company can say 'no'. By saying 'yes', it's agreeing to give up some of its IP in return for access to a market.
I'm against this tariff war - but I do agree that some Chinese behaviors are unfair (e.g. the aforementioned requirement for partnering) and create a tilted playing field. The right place for this all to be addressed would be the WTO. Unfortunately, it was created without "fangs" - it doesn't have the wherewithal to punish those countries that don't follow agreed-to rules - and it was created with some countries having a larger say than others, ensuring built-in unfairness.
Covered elsewhere in the financial press, Chinese consumers are retrenching as well to Chinese brands, in part because of the near parity today as well as an act of patriotism in response to the trade wars. Not sure how that translates to real world purchases of a high-end phone but interesting non the less.
Secondly, I do believe that the prices that Apple is now charging defies logic. I know many people across industries that simply cannot justify a fully outfitted iPad Pro that can't actually replace their laptops. Apple's decision to price in their new hardware well above current prices will cause further erosion of momentum. It used to be they'd keep the price at parity to the old hardware (or with nominal increases) then discount the older tech. No more.
Just to counter the price argument, the Chinese don’t seem to have an issue purchasing other luxury goods. Swiss watch exports there up 15% in November.
There’s two ends of a spectrum when it comes to reactions to DED’s articles, and these ends of the spectrum and views generally on Apple’s prospects tend to match up well.
On one end of the spectrum exist those who look at the immediate timeframe - what’s happening right now - and make an assessment of the company and it’s future based upon what they see. These folks are highly reactive, swayed by emotion perhaps. Armchair quarterbacks tossing out desperation plays in the first quarter because the Patriots are down by 17. We know how that has often turned out; how many Super Bowl rings do Brady and Belichick share?
At the other end of the spectrum reside those with a longer view. These are the folks, like some here in this thread, like myself and like Warren Buffett, who never advocated Apple purchase Netflix or Tesla (history will show whether we were correct or foolish, but that history is not yet written), who understand the rationale behind share repurchases and that it’s a very long game strategy, who see innovation where others seemingly cannot (to what must these folks attribute the incredible success of the iPhone over ten years if it doesn’t actually stand above the copycats?), and who can project forward to see the potential that exists for Apple in enormous markets, like health and transportation. And we also understand, regarding disruptions like 2008 and today’s trade war, that ‘this too shall pass.’
Sadly, like religious or political extremes, there is scant bridge connecting the two ends of this spectrum of views. But history favors the long view.
That's not true at all. I think DED posts are usually very defensive and contrived and I'm very bullish on Apple.
... Its own AI hardware (Ascend) Excellent battery technology and charging etc:
AI hardware is not such a mysterious thing, just a special chip designed to execute some ML math operations significantly faster. What counts for AI are the abstract ML models, that require a painful process of collecting and curating large amounts of relevant data.
Anyway I admire your enthusiasm with technology news and I can only empathize with that. It may be true that those guys may be the most innovative these days. But there is a long way to go from innovation to business success, especially if your competitor is Apple or if you want to operate in Apple's scale. If you want to applaud something Chinese here it is: they landed on the dark side of the moon. That is innovation: not a new wifi chip...
Anyway I admire your enthusiasm with technology news and I can only empathize with that. It may be true that those guys may be the most innovative these days. But there is a long way to go from innovation to business success, especially if your competitor is Apple or if you want to operate in Apple's scale. If you want to applaud something Chinese here it is: they landed on the dark side of the moon. That is innovation: not a new wifi chip...
Try not to feed the trolls.
In any case, its FAR side of the moon, not dark side. It's a nice accomplishment but not much different from their earlier mission or all that innovative. NASA just visited Ultima Thule which is the farthest flyby of any object (4B miles) in history.
Anyway I admire your enthusiasm with technology news and I can only empathize with that. It may be true that those guys may be the most innovative these days. But there is a long way to go from innovation to business success, especially if your competitor is Apple or if you want to operate in Apple's scale. If you want to applaud something Chinese here it is: they landed on the dark side of the moon. That is innovation: not a new wifi chip...
Try not to feed the trolls.
In any case, its FAR side of the moon, not dark side. It's a nice accomplishment but not much different from their earlier mission or all that innovative. NASA just visited Ultima Thule which is the farthest flyby of any object (4B miles) in history.
Yes, just another example of the problem of scale I'd already emphasized.
"Huawei and other Android makers are now working to develop their own internal chips, but these are also significantly behind Apple's work in advancing the state of the art. And the primary reason is that Apple has been selling virtually all of the high-end devices that make money and create a demand for even faster chips in the future. Not just smartphones, but critically also high-end tablets-- a market Apple has effectively owned since it launched iPad a decade ago."
Huawei is working on numerous fronts and at a very high level. The state of the art isn't limited to a smartphone processor.
That's why Huawei has its own in-house designed WiFi chipset (Hi1103) which is the fastest mobile wifi chipset on the market. It has its own 5G modem. Its own storage media (which it will open to the industry). Its own AI hardware (Ascend) Excellent battery technology and charging etc:
Of course, if 5W battery chargers are state of the art, I stand corrected.
More BS from you-know-who.
It’s hilarious watching you try and shift the narrative yet again by claiming there’s more to devices than their processor, thereby trying to diminish Apples achievements in this area (which are FAR ahead of Huawei and everyone else).
And it’s not the first time you’ve tried this.
Sorry, but the processor is the single most important and most difficult component to create. It’s why Huawei doesn’t actually design their processor and uses off-the-shelf ARM cores instead. You know what else Huawei processors lack? NVMe (which Apple has had for over 3 years now) and in-line hardware encryption (which Apple has had for 8 years).
On a related note, where is Huawei’s operating systems? Have they created a world class desktop and mobile OS? Nope. Where’s their workstation class file system to compete with APFS? Are you even aware of the incredible amount of effort required to create a file system? Shall I keep going?
All the other components you mentioned are commodity parts that multiple manufacturers make. Apple doesn’t need to waste time creating their own when they can buy ready made versions. Except for the processor, which has the single biggest impact in device performance.
Regardless of whether these other Huawei initiatives are any good (I doubt you even understand the topics discussed in the articles you linked), it’s all irrelevant anyway. Huawei can pour all the money into cloud and related infrastructure they want, but good luck finding anyone to trust them and use their products outside China.
Diminishing Apple's achievements? Not at all.
He took a swipe at the usual suspects without a care in the world for reality.
I provided a selection of links - which you clearly didn't even bother to read - that hit his claims head on.
The Ascend AI hardware platform alone will go from server based AI down through a whole sub-section of bands right to what Huawei is calling 'nano' use cases.
That's Max, Mini, Lite, Tiny and Nano. That will tie in with the Kirin platform.
I truly think you are not grasping the scope of the project. NVMe? Don't you think the links I provided go a little above that?
No one is taking a stab at the A12 but get real, Huawei is in a different league. I mean, they are literally present (and class leading) at virtually every rung on the communications ladder. Limiting your view to Apple's consumer focused offerings, not seeing the bigger picture and trying to take a swipe at Samsung or Huawei by claiming they are somehow inferior is just laughable.
BTW, Huawei has it own OS in the works - just in case.
Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone.
I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping.
So, why the hell don't you give us a list of features that in your mind people WANT and NEED on a new phone? I have yet to see this from any armchair critics. You hypocritically state there is nothing different with new iPhones apart from speed (which is complete horse-shit) and in the next sentence you claim that 99.9% of people don't need the new features they've added. So, what is "good enough"? Provide a list of features that the newest iPhone doesn't have, and which you think would be feasible, practical, and meaningful for people. Because, I have yet to see one from Apple bashers.
... Its own AI hardware (Ascend) Excellent battery technology and charging etc:
AI hardware is not such a mysterious thing, just a special chip designed to execute some ML math operations significantly faster. What counts for AI are the abstract ML models, that require a painful process of collecting and curating large amounts of relevant data.
Anyway I admire your enthusiasm with technology news and I can only empathize with that. It may be true that those guys may be the most innovative these days. But there is a long way to go from innovation to business success, especially if your competitor is Apple or if you want to operate in Apple's scale. If you want to applaud something Chinese here it is: they landed on the dark side of the moon. That is innovation: not a new wifi chip...
You seem to have missed the whole reason for the post. Weird as I quoted the piece.
He took a short sighted stab at Huawei and Samsung. My links simply highlight how limited his scope was.
5G? Not only the modem but participating in the creation of the thing. So while Apple will be waiting on someone else to produce a 5G modem for it (or try its hand at making its own down the road) Huawei is ready to go with its 1st gen product and of course is a key patent holder (and it is said that Apple licences almost 800 patents from Huawei).
The same with WiFi.
The AI platform isn't just about power. It's about everything and under the umbrella of a common unified architecture:
That is simply the marketing blurb for the 310 but more than good enough to get an idea where things are heading.
Apple is hiring engineering talent for its modem/antenna dedigns. Are we to doubt that Huawei doesn't have some of deepest knowledge already and had it for years?
Apple has done a consistently great job on the A series processors but that doesn't mean others can't be equally great at what they do and overtake Apple. Huawei has done just that in many areas and we should at least recognise it where applicable.
Taking pointless jabs at companies is just that, pointless.
"Huawei and other Android makers are now working to develop their own internal chips, but these are also significantly behind Apple's work in advancing the state of the art. And the primary reason is that Apple has been selling virtually all of the high-end devices that make money and create a demand for even faster chips in the future. Not just smartphones, but critically also high-end tablets-- a market Apple has effectively owned since it launched iPad a decade ago."
Huawei is working on numerous fronts and at a very high level. The state of the art isn't limited to a smartphone processor.
That's why Huawei has its own in-house designed WiFi chipset (Hi1103) which is the fastest mobile wifi chipset on the market. It has its own 5G modem. Its own storage media (which it will open to the industry). Its own AI hardware (Ascend) Excellent battery technology and charging etc:
Of course, if 5W battery chargers are state of the art, I stand corrected.
More BS from you-know-who.
It’s hilarious watching you try and shift the narrative yet again by claiming there’s more to devices than their processor, thereby trying to diminish Apples achievements in this area (which are FAR ahead of Huawei and everyone else).
And it’s not the first time you’ve tried this.
Sorry, but the processor is the single most important and most difficult component to create. It’s why Huawei doesn’t actually design their processor and uses off-the-shelf ARM cores instead. You know what else Huawei processors lack? NVMe (which Apple has had for over 3 years now) and in-line hardware encryption (which Apple has had for 8 years).
On a related note, where is Huawei’s operating systems? Have they created a world class desktop and mobile OS? Nope. Where’s their workstation class file system to compete with APFS? Are you even aware of the incredible amount of effort required to create a file system? Shall I keep going?
All the other components you mentioned are commodity parts that multiple manufacturers make. Apple doesn’t need to waste time creating their own when they can buy ready made versions. Except for the processor, which has the single biggest impact in device performance.
Regardless of whether these other Huawei initiatives are any good (I doubt you even understand the topics discussed in the articles you linked), it’s all irrelevant anyway. Huawei can pour all the money into cloud and related infrastructure they want, but good luck finding anyone to trust them and use their products outside China.
Diminishing Apple's achievements? Not at all.
He took a swipe at the usual suspects without a care in the world for reality.
I provided a selection of links - which you clearly didn't even bother to read - that hit his claims head on.
The Ascend AI hardware platform alone will go from server based AI down through a whole sub-section of bands right to what Huawei is calling 'nano' use cases.
That's Max, Mini, Lite, Tiny and Nano. That will tie in with the Kirin platform.
I truly think you are not grasping the scope of the project. NVMe? Don't you think the links I provided go a little above that?
No one is taking a stab at the A12 but get real, Huawei is in a different league. I mean, they are literally present (and class leading) at virtually every rung on the communications ladder. Limiting your view to Apple's consumer focused offerings, not seeing the bigger picture and trying to take a swipe at Samsung or Huawei by claiming they are somehow inferior is just laughable.
BTW, Huawei has it own OS in the works - just in case.
I find it interesting that Huawei, which has first name connections with the President, appears to be building a vertical and horizontal communication / security collective, presumably under state sponsorship, while at the same time claiming themselves a "private" company, obviously closed controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and running commercial operations around the world. Those technologies that you have previously linked, are the key to that.
Have you even questioned how and why Huawei is getting these rather specialized technologies, if not with the support, and likely direction, of the Chinese Government?
Compared to Apple's technologies, it appears that Huawei is the primary Communications and Security infrastructure provider for the Chinese Communist Party.
Thank you for inadvertently making that case with your comment. It really clarifies for me why Western Democracies should have absolutely nothing to do with Huawei for 5G infrastructure.
By the way, this link might be interesting to you;
Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone.
I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping.
So, why the hell don't you give us a list of features that in your mind people WANT and NEED on a new phone? I have yet to see this from any armchair critics. You hypocritically state there is nothing different with new iPhones apart from speed (which is complete horse-shit) and in the next sentence you claim that 99.9% of people don't need the new features they've added. So, what is "good enough"? Provide a list of features that the newest iPhone doesn't have, and which you think would be feasible, practical, and meaningful for people. Because, I have yet to see one from Apple bashers.
Well, the tri camera setup was a biggie this year. Apple might have one late 2019. By then, others will have quad or higher options (possibly for more depth sensing options)
Low light hand held AI IS was also a talking point this year. Apple playing catch-up there.
Where is the x3 x5 optical zoom?
Battery tech and fast charging. Apple still shipping with 5W chargers is very poor IMO.
3D object modelling and animation. Have you seen the Mate 20 Pro demo?
New cooling options (this year microcapsule, vapour chambers and graphene hit the market)
Offline AI
Design. Apple looking, well, the same. New colours on the XR were nice but gradients were the thing this year.
Higher power wireless charging.
Reverse charging
True dual SIM. Well, in China Apple finally got to that one.
Notchless design. Sliding and pinhole options arrived in late 2018. Notchless options have appeal to some.
Of course, we already know that folding screens will debut in early 2019. It remains to be seen how well they will perform but expect second of third gen options before Apple gets anywhere near a folding screen. 2020?
Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone.
I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping.
So, why the hell don't you give us a list of features that in your mind people WANT and NEED on a new phone? I have yet to see this from any armchair critics. You hypocritically state there is nothing different with new iPhones apart from speed (which is complete horse-shit) and in the next sentence you claim that 99.9% of people don't need the new features they've added. So, what is "good enough"? Provide a list of features that the newest iPhone doesn't have, and which you think would be feasible, practical, and meaningful for people. Because, I have yet to see one from Apple bashers.
Well, the tri camera setup was a biggie this year. Apple might have one late 2019. By then, others will have quad or higher options (possibly for more depth sensing options)
Low light hand held AI IS was also a talking point this year. Apple playing catch-up there.
Where is the x3 x5 optical zoom?
Battery tech and fast charging. Apple still shipping with 5W chargers is very poor IMO.
3D object modelling and animation. Have you seen the Mate 20 Pro demo?
New cooling options (this year microcapsule, vapour chambers and graphene hit the market)
Offline AI
Design. Apple looking, well, the same. New colours on the XR were nice but gradients were the thing this year.
Higher power wireless charging.
Reverse charging
True dual SIM. Well, in China Apple finally got to that one.
Notchless design. Sliding and pinhole options arrived in late 2018. Notchless options have appeal to some.
Of course, we already know that folding screens will debut in early 2019. It remains to be seen how well they will perform but expect second of third gen options before Apple gets anywhere near a folding screen. 2020?
Bone Voice ID
Buttonless phones
IR sensor!! ;-)
The problem is normals don’t care about this stuff only tech geeks do. Gradients were the thing? I doubt anyone wasn’t buying an iPhone because the back design didn’t use gradients. And most other things you mention are either gimmicks or nice to haves but not things that will shorten the upgrade cycle.
People seize on these nonsense terms like "fake news," "innovation," "greedy," "peak iPhone" as if they mean something outside of the subjective opinion of whoever is uttering it.
The cold hard fact is Apple has never invented or revolutionized anything, just like it won't ever invent or revolutionize the car or AR (because they already exist, albeit in a form that could use much improvement for the masses to use). Other companies rely on market share and cutthroat pricing to succeed, whereas Apple relies on quality instead of quantity, and service instead of cut-rate pricing. If you buy an iPhone you can walk into a nearby Apple Store with questions and problems. Try that with Samsung or Google.
What Apple does best is taking existing products and making them more usable, manufacturing them under higher quality standards, and providing better customer service than its rivals. While doing that it has maintained gross margins in the high 30s and is barely able to keep up with demand when a new product is release (contradicting the nonsense that its pricing is driven by greed).
Unfortunately Apple is not immune to the economy or to the misadventures or the orange-haired clown who's in charge of our nation. Also is also very bad at some things, notably software and a large percentage of its ventures into services (see iTunes, MobileMe, Ping, ...)
Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone.
I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping.
So, why the hell don't you give us a list of features that in your mind people WANT and NEED on a new phone? I have yet to see this from any armchair critics. You hypocritically state there is nothing different with new iPhones apart from speed (which is complete horse-shit) and in the next sentence you claim that 99.9% of people don't need the new features they've added. So, what is "good enough"? Provide a list of features that the newest iPhone doesn't have, and which you think would be feasible, practical, and meaningful for people. Because, I have yet to see one from Apple bashers.
Well, the tri camera setup was a biggie this year. Apple might have one late 2019. By then, others will have quad or higher options (possibly for more depth sensing options)
Low light hand held AI IS was also a talking point this year. Apple playing catch-up there.
Where is the x3 x5 optical zoom?
Battery tech and fast charging. Apple still shipping with 5W chargers is very poor IMO.
3D object modelling and animation. Have you seen the Mate 20 Pro demo?
New cooling options (this year microcapsule, vapour chambers and graphene hit the market)
Offline AI
Design. Apple looking, well, the same. New colours on the XR were nice but gradients were the thing this year.
Higher power wireless charging.
Reverse charging
True dual SIM. Well, in China Apple finally got to that one.
Notchless design. Sliding and pinhole options arrived in late 2018. Notchless options have appeal to some.
Of course, we already know that folding screens will debut in early 2019. It remains to be seen how well they will perform but expect second of third gen options before Apple gets anywhere near a folding screen. 2020?
Bone Voice ID
Buttonless phones
IR sensor!! ;-)
The problem is normals don’t care about this stuff only tech geeks do. Gradients were the thing? I doubt anyone wasn’t buying an iPhone because the back design didn’t use gradients. And most other things you mention are either gimmicks or nice to haves but not things that will shorten the upgrade cycle.
China has been taking advantage of the US markets for many decades restricting/charging huge tariffs for products made in the US and past US Presidents and Congress have done NOTHING to change this. President Trump has said enough of this! In order to bring about a level playing field between China and US trade there is going to be some suffering. But this is the only way to force communist China to change it's way. Apple will survive. They might have to lower their sky high margins and lower the outrageous prices on their iPhones but in the end an even playing field between the US and China will only help America and it's workers.
Let's remember that Apple and so many other countries moved all their manufacturing to China years ago to get away from US EPA and labor regulations here in the US. Apple talks a big game but they like China because of it's cheap labor and little to no environmental regulations not to mention all the labor lawsuits they would face here in the US.
Read the linked report and get back to me on Apple relocating to skirt environmental and labor regulations:
Apple performed 756 environmental and labor assessments of supply chain facilities in 30 countries last year. No other company comes close...
Yes, Apple has a significant percentage of their supply chain in China, but it is also a major market. There is no question in my mind that Trump's policies are doing damage to Apple. There is great risk in placing hurdles in front of Apple with respect to affordability of Apple for Chinese consumers and creating battle lines that put APple in a bad light in the eyes of Chinese consumers. Once they move to another (non-US-based) brand (Samsung, Huawei, etc), it will be very hard to get them back.
Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone.
I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping.
So, why the hell don't you give us a list of features that in your mind people WANT and NEED on a new phone? I have yet to see this from any armchair critics. You hypocritically state there is nothing different with new iPhones apart from speed (which is complete horse-shit) and in the next sentence you claim that 99.9% of people don't need the new features they've added. So, what is "good enough"? Provide a list of features that the newest iPhone doesn't have, and which you think would be feasible, practical, and meaningful for people. Because, I have yet to see one from Apple bashers.
Well, the tri camera setup was a biggie this year. Apple might have one late 2019. By then, others will have quad or higher options (possibly for more depth sensing options)
Low light hand held AI IS was also a talking point this year. Apple playing catch-up there.
Where is the x3 x5 optical zoom?
Battery tech and fast charging. Apple still shipping with 5W chargers is very poor IMO.
3D object modelling and animation. Have you seen the Mate 20 Pro demo?
New cooling options (this year microcapsule, vapour chambers and graphene hit the market)
Offline AI
Design. Apple looking, well, the same. New colours on the XR were nice but gradients were the thing this year.
Higher power wireless charging.
Reverse charging
True dual SIM. Well, in China Apple finally got to that one.
Notchless design. Sliding and pinhole options arrived in late 2018. Notchless options have appeal to some.
Of course, we already know that folding screens will debut in early 2019. It remains to be seen how well they will perform but expect second of third gen options before Apple gets anywhere near a folding screen. 2020?
Bone Voice ID
Buttonless phones
IR sensor!! ;-)
The problem is normals don’t care about this stuff only tech geeks do. Gradients were the thing? I doubt anyone wasn’t buying an iPhone because the back design didn’t use gradients. And most other things you mention are either gimmicks or nice to haves but not things that will shorten the upgrade cycle.
Well done.
Short, concise, and he'll totally not get it.
Good food always has to go in through the eyes first. Exterior design of smartphones is the same. It doesn't matter if they will end up in cases - having something 'fashionable' is important to some (dare I say many) people. Often, fashionable just means different. Gradients were the star of the show this year. Now we are seeing different finishes on the gradients. Apple has the XR colour options for the same reasons but the 'new thing' this year was gradients.
It has been proven that the camera advances this year (tri, x3,x5 optical zooms, night mode with AIIS) were anything but gimmicks. The camera is one of the major selling points and will continue to be in 2019.
Some areas are for special use cases. Clearly, cooling tech advances are of more use to mobile gamers but having good thermals is essential to any phone.
Battery tech improvements are always welcome. Watching a SCP Huawei phone charge and seeing the decimals fly is very cool. It is that fast.
Honor is working on a buttonless phone with sensors replacing the buttons. The result will be very elegant and ties in very well with the fashion angle I just mentioned.
Adding everything up you begin to see the 'whole package' as a selling point. You might be interested in one specific area and still doubting. That's where the cumulative effect of other less important features can help seal the deal and those features help to drive home the 'premium' angle.
Comments
The problem with DED is that he can’t see anything wrong with Apple’s strategy even when Apple can. In the internal
email Cook said he is going to review some things and change tack where necessary.
DED is just Apple til he dies. Which is fine for a football fan but not a consumer, which is what most of us here are, that or investors. Or both And consumers don’t really care about stock buybacks and the like. Or increasing margins for that matter. In fact we can be understandably opposed to the latter if it means higher prices.
Sure we want the company to do well, but preferably doing well with affordable stuff we can buy, that’s why we are Apple customers and fans are after all - we buy their stuff. Or once did, when we could afford it. And while it’s true that Android trolls do in fact catcall about Apple being over priced, saying that Apple’s stuff is over priced is also something that Apple customers tend to do as well, when it is.
For the investors the extra margins and share buybacks sound great until you realise that they’ve lost 30% or more of the value of their aapl position in the last few months. The money spent in the stock buybacks has disappeared. The extra margins have cost them revenue.
Stock buybacks seem pretty worthless to me anyway. Jobs never did it. That cash might have come in handy now if Apple wanted a major purchase, Netflix is becoming too expensive at a price about equal to Apples net cash position. Not that Netflix is a good buy but it would be nice to have the money nevertheless. Just in case.
Anyway most apple consumers are not diehard fans, hating on Amazon or Samsung or MS. I’m mostly Apple products but most iPhone owners I know (some of whom I encouraged to buy an iPhone) have a Windows PC at home or work. The stats bear his out. Many have Spotify. Others have google home or Alexa, both more useful to most than a HomePod. An Apple TV is rare but theres a definite desire for the AirPods. (Which indicates real innovation). In fact AirPods were supply constrained this Q. There’s a potential market of hundreds of millions for iPhone accessories. If the innovation is there they will buy. However it’s often missing. Imagine Siri was as good as Alexa and Apple had a voice assistant for <$200. Hotcakes.
DED and the fanboy rhetoric is reminiscent of the time Apple was 2% of the PC market. You had to be a fan then to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous limited software. iOS isn’t in that position, there are 1 billion devices and hundreds of millions of users, mostly consumers but not die hard fans. They don’t care about purple prose damning Samsung and the analysts. Most wont read it. They don’t really care about the stock price. Many won’t be aware of it.
They’d like better stuff, more innovation, and cheaper than the present prices. Not cheap, but affordable enough, as it was in the beginning.
Let's also remember that the whole point of a company is to maximize profits. Which includes manufacturing at the lowest possible price. It is the *responsibility of the government* to balance company's success with looking out for its citizens when company behaviors would harm its citizens economically. Time and again, Republican-led presidents and congress abdicated that responsibility by not creating regulations that would inhibit outsourcing or actively removing regulations that would have.
I don't buy the assertion that China did the US great harm for decades by restricting trade or charging huge tariffs. Do you have any evidence that China's overall tariffs are any bigger than the US's? The largest tariffs/restrictions I'm aware of were on automobiles - but "decades" ago, most Chinese couldn't afford a car anyway, so how much damage did those high tariffs actually do?
China also takes US companies' IP. But to me it's not even clear if that it is "theft" as described by the administration. Isn't it more of a devil's bargain? When the Chinese government tells an American company that, in order to sell its cars in China, it has to "partner" with a Chinese firm, the US company knows what it's getting into - how can you not share IP when you setup shop in a foreign country? The company can say 'no'. By saying 'yes', it's agreeing to give up some of its IP in return for access to a market.
I'm against this tariff war - but I do agree that some Chinese behaviors are unfair (e.g. the aforementioned requirement for partnering) and create a tilted playing field. The right place for this all to be addressed would be the WTO. Unfortunately, it was created without "fangs" - it doesn't have the wherewithal to punish those countries that don't follow agreed-to rules - and it was created with some countries having a larger say than others, ensuring built-in unfairness.
Covered elsewhere in the financial press, Chinese consumers are retrenching as well to Chinese brands, in part because of the near parity today as well as an act of patriotism in response to the trade wars. Not sure how that translates to real world purchases of a high-end phone but interesting non the less.
Secondly, I do believe that the prices that Apple is now charging defies logic. I know many people across industries that simply cannot justify a fully outfitted iPad Pro that can't actually replace their laptops. Apple's decision to price in their new hardware well above current prices will cause further erosion of momentum. It used to be they'd keep the price at parity to the old hardware (or with nominal increases) then discount the older tech. No more.
How many worldwide operators supported? Wait, is 5G worldwide yet?
Without crashing onto patent barriers?
AI hardware is not such a mysterious thing, just a special chip designed to execute some ML math operations significantly faster. What counts for AI are the abstract ML models, that require a painful process of collecting and curating large amounts of relevant data.
Anyway I admire your enthusiasm with technology news and I can only empathize with that. It may be true that those guys may be the most innovative these days. But there is a long way to go from innovation to business success, especially if your competitor is Apple or if you want to operate in Apple's scale. If you want to applaud something Chinese here it is: they landed on the dark side of the moon. That is innovation: not a new wifi chip...
In any case, its FAR side of the moon, not dark side. It's a nice accomplishment but not much different from their earlier mission or all that innovative. NASA just visited Ultima Thule which is the farthest flyby of any object (4B miles) in history.
He took a swipe at the usual suspects without a care in the world for reality.
I provided a selection of links - which you clearly didn't even bother to read - that hit his claims head on.
The Ascend AI hardware platform alone will go from server based AI down through a whole sub-section of bands right to what Huawei is calling 'nano' use cases.
http://fonow.com/view/217956.html
That's Max, Mini, Lite, Tiny and Nano. That will tie in with the Kirin platform.
I truly think you are not grasping the scope of the project. NVMe? Don't you think the links I provided go a little above that?
No one is taking a stab at the A12 but get real, Huawei is in a different league. I mean, they are literally present (and class leading) at virtually every rung on the communications ladder. Limiting your view to Apple's consumer focused offerings, not seeing the bigger picture and trying to take a swipe at Samsung or Huawei by claiming they are somehow inferior is just laughable.
BTW, Huawei has it own OS in the works - just in case.
He took a short sighted stab at Huawei and Samsung. My links simply highlight how limited his scope was.
5G? Not only the modem but participating in the creation of the thing. So while Apple will be waiting on someone else to produce a 5G modem for it (or try its hand at making its own down the road) Huawei is ready to go with its 1st gen product and of course is a key patent holder (and it is said that Apple licences almost 800 patents from Huawei).
The same with WiFi.
The AI platform isn't just about power. It's about everything and under the umbrella of a common unified architecture:
http://www.hisilicon.com/en/Media-Center/News/Key-Information-About-the-Huawei-Ascend310
That is simply the marketing blurb for the 310 but more than good enough to get an idea where things are heading.
Apple is hiring engineering talent for its modem/antenna dedigns. Are we to doubt that Huawei doesn't have some of deepest knowledge already and had it for years?
Apple has done a consistently great job on the A series processors but that doesn't mean others can't be equally great at what they do and overtake Apple. Huawei has done just that in many areas and we should at least recognise it where applicable.
Taking pointless jabs at companies is just that, pointless.
Have you even questioned how and why Huawei is getting these rather specialized technologies, if not with the support, and likely direction, of the Chinese Government?
Compared to Apple's technologies, it appears that Huawei is the primary Communications and Security infrastructure provider for the Chinese Communist Party.
Thank you for inadvertently making that case with your comment. It really clarifies for me why Western Democracies should have absolutely nothing to do with Huawei for 5G infrastructure.
By the way, this link might be interesting to you;
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/politics/jim-webb-defense-secretary/index.html
He's known as being very "concerned" by Chinese Military expansionism.
Low light hand held AI IS was also a talking point this year. Apple playing catch-up there.
Where is the x3 x5 optical zoom?
Battery tech and fast charging. Apple still shipping with 5W chargers is very poor IMO.
3D object modelling and animation. Have you seen the Mate 20 Pro demo?
New cooling options (this year microcapsule, vapour chambers and graphene hit the market)
Offline AI
Design. Apple looking, well, the same. New colours on the XR were nice but gradients were the thing this year.
Higher power wireless charging.
Reverse charging
True dual SIM. Well, in China Apple finally got to that one.
Notchless design. Sliding and pinhole options arrived in late 2018. Notchless options have appeal to some.
Of course, we already know that folding screens will debut in early 2019. It remains to be seen how well they will perform but expect second of third gen options before Apple gets anywhere near a folding screen. 2020?
Bone Voice ID
Buttonless phones
IR sensor!! ;-)
The cold hard fact is Apple has never invented or revolutionized anything, just like it won't ever invent or revolutionize the car or AR (because they already exist, albeit in a form that could use much improvement for the masses to use). Other companies rely on market share and cutthroat pricing to succeed, whereas Apple relies on quality instead of quantity, and service instead of cut-rate pricing. If you buy an iPhone you can walk into a nearby Apple Store with questions and problems. Try that with Samsung or Google.
What Apple does best is taking existing products and making them more usable, manufacturing them under higher quality standards, and providing better customer service than its rivals. While doing that it has maintained gross margins in the high 30s and is barely able to keep up with demand when a new product is release (contradicting the nonsense that its pricing is driven by greed).
Unfortunately Apple is not immune to the economy or to the misadventures or the orange-haired clown who's in charge of our nation. Also is also very bad at some things, notably software and a large percentage of its ventures into services (see iTunes, MobileMe, Ping, ...)
Short, concise, and he'll totally not get it.
It has been proven that the camera advances this year (tri, x3,x5 optical zooms, night mode with AIIS) were anything but gimmicks. The camera is one of the major selling points and will continue to be in 2019.
Some areas are for special use cases. Clearly, cooling tech advances are of more use to mobile gamers but having good thermals is essential to any phone.
Battery tech improvements are always welcome. Watching a SCP Huawei phone charge and seeing the decimals fly is very cool. It is that fast.
Honor is working on a buttonless phone with sensors replacing the buttons. The result will be very elegant and ties in very well with the fashion angle I just mentioned.
Adding everything up you begin to see the 'whole package' as a selling point. You might be interested in one specific area and still doubting. That's where the cumulative effect of other less important features can help seal the deal and those features help to drive home the 'premium' angle.