ne1

Horrible idea. USB-C on an iPad is passable. But USB-C has shown on the MacBooks it is NOT a durable connection- the ports get loose, they are flimsy and pull right out. On an iPad or MacBook this is not much of a problem. But on an iPhone, you're frequently plugging it in, dropping it, catching it by the cable while plugged in- it gets A LOT of wear and tear, and USB-C is way to flimsy a connector for this. Beef up Lightning and make a new, higher capacity version of it, please. We need robust connectors for devices that are used as much as our phones are.

xyzzy-xxx said:

bluefire1 said:

No matter how laudable Apple‘s motives may be, this is an idea which should never have come to pass.

Totally agree, if it's really about the cloud they would need to scan in the cloud and not putting spyware onto a billion if devices.

Since scanning data on user's devices is prohibited in many countries, Apple is also in legal trouble (even when it officially is only in the USA), since a company plays the gatekeeper of this spyware and could change things at any time (even for specific users)!

Agree with both these points. 

I will never donate to Wikipedia again— too biased and unreliable. 

You know what this means. I have to buy another #%& Magic Keyboard. 

Mike Wuerthele said:

mrstep said:

greg.edwards69 said:

So it's a large ipad, with a fixed keyboard, no touch screen and runs MacOS. It will sell by the bucketload.

Personally, I'd love to see Apple revisit the 12" MacBook with this processor instead. It was a brilliant design, just hampered by dreadful performance.

It was definitely laptop (not CPU) perfection - toss it in a bag without worrying about it, easy to open and use anywhere.  I was shocked that the 12" @ 2lbs didn't get an M1 makeover, it would have been the ultimate portable.

Honestly, we were very surprised about this too.

I was surprised about it, too. Anyone who ever used the 12" MacBook knows what a useful and portable device it was. I still have my 2017 model as a (rarely used) museum piece. If they can create one with better cooling despite the fanless design we'll have a winner here.

So let’s take a poll— who thinks we’ll see 

A) an iPad Pro Fall 2020 release with A13X
(And mini-LED, as predicted) 

or 

a next release of iPad Pro in Spring 2021 with A14X?

I’m curious because I have an upgrade due this fall and, well, quarantine— I’m bored.

What's the deal with the transparent one? It would be pretty bad*ss if Apple made a transparent iPhone. 

ne1 said:

"The issue isn't that Apple got caught off guard or has some kind of talent brain drain."

Usually, I would say the assertion of this article is correct. But in this case, Apple was caught off guard by the popularity of consumer available AI tools, that's why they have not yet gotten a model working to their satisfaction and have been delayed. They likely had too much of a focus on the abandoned Apple Car and Apple Vision Pro and failed to devote resources to AI early enough and recognize its importance. We all know they sat on Siri and didn't improve it for years.

So normally, you would be right but in this case, they did drop the ball. I blame the executive team for not putting enough emphasis on it earlier. 

I think the framing is important. It's not as if Apple wasn't working on LLMs in 2022 or earlier, it's just that the leadership didn't see them as worthy of pursuit that early on. I'd even argue that Apple engaging in the AI nonsense in 2024 was still too soon and only brought about because of ceaseless chatter from pundits. To be clear, I'm glad the announced and released what they did, but it was still too soon by Apple standards. And the delay was necessary, why release something that'll just spew garbage like the rest of the industry, we already have garbage generators, why add another?

AI is going to help make a lot of work easier, but it's still in its infancy. All the people pretending it's this amazing futuristic technology today is going to feel real foolish in a couple of years when it's as mundane as an excel spreadsheet. The hype is doing the technology injustice, and people are believing the hype. AI fatigue in general pop set in last year as Apple announced Apple Intelligence, and the company is lucky they took such an approach.

AI should be a background tool that you don't even realize you're using. It's why all the grift around it being some kind of world-altering technology that could be the end of mankind will ultimately fall apart, because it will never be much more than what it is today -- a powerful next bit prediction engine. It's why I find the pursuit of "superintelligence" laughable, because it's a fiction invented by people seeking investment and the ability to bypass regulations that will ultimately fail. I expect when a company finally declares the've reached superintelligence, it'll be a watered down version that's much less than expected, if not completely underwhelming and not actually "beyond human intelligence." They moved the goalposts before, they'll do it again.

Meanwhile, Apple will succeed by doing what it always does: releasing products people actually use, that are ethical, and maintain privacy.

You make some interesting points. Thank you for responding in a thoughtful manner. Context is important and I'm glad we agree on the leadership's lack of emphasis on AI. I largely agree that the technology is in its infancy and has a long way to go. But disagree that it should always be a background tool implementation. People are not only using it as such-- they're using it as a primary driver of what they need to do everyday (whether or not they should be doing that is a different matter).  

Overall, what Apple is (and should be) afraid of is the iPhone simply becoming a conduit for other AI services and apps. This was referenced last year when someone mentioned a concern that it would just become a "dumb box." We are a long way away from that right now, thankfully. However, Jonny Ives' pairing with OpenAI to create new products must be increasing Apple's concern. Nothing OpenAI (or others) create will replace an iPhone in the next few years, but in 5 years, 10? If those products (which are not meant to replace the phone) are successful, of course they will build a phone in the future. 

Whether AI is hype or not, right now people are buying into that hype (as you said) and one day, a "black box" type phone with AI as the primary driver may emerge that can do all sorts of things an iPhone can't. Which is why Apple is (and should be) busting a move on the technology now.

The good part of last year's fiasco is they are unlikely to be caught with their pants down again. I hope. 

"The issue isn't that Apple got caught off guard or has some kind of talent brain drain."

Usually, I would say the assertion of this article is correct. But in this case, Apple was caught off guard by the popularity of consumer available AI tools, that's why they have not yet gotten a model working to their satisfaction and have been delayed. They likely had too much of a focus on the abandoned Apple Car and Apple Vision Pro and failed to devote resources to AI early enough and recognize its importance. We all know they sat on Siri and didn't improve it for years.

So normally, you would be right but in this case, they did drop the ball. I blame the executive team for not putting enough emphasis on it earlier. 

I sure hope it's not that blue; because that blue is hideous. Not that I would buy the blue one anyway.