avon b7

This would be a logical move and something I've argued in favour of for years.

Both the notion of more models and a scaled roll out. 

It's a win-win on every level and competitors have been doing the same for ages. It works. 

Marketing gets something to 'sell' all year round. 

Manufacturing get it's load lightened. 

Engineering gets some respite. 

Logistics becomes more agile. 

Consumers don't have to wait a full year for the 'latest' phones. 

How they would go about it depends on higher management. 

No 'Pro' models early in the year and 'Pro' models prior to Christmas is definitely an option.

Another is one full range in spring and another in autumn.

The strategic benefit to that is being able to release competitive flagships throughout the year and scale features between releases.

Currently Apple releases phones that are often trailing the competition on new features even at release and then they have to wait a full year for another shot and then the same thing happens all over again. 

IMO, that is one of the main reasons Apple has constantly trailed in camera and battery/charging advances. That's setting aside folding phones for a moment. 

It's also the main reason (but not the only one) why it's losing ground and competitiveness in China quarter after quarter and that is having a knock on effect with wearables etc. 

Not having a car and folding phone simply exacerbate the problem. 

macxpress said:

MplsP said:

A coworker has a folding Android phone (I think it’s a Samsung.) It seems nice for the times you have your phone and need something closer to an iPad mini, but there is a very visible bump/crease in the middle where it folds and the screen did seem to be having some issues along the edges. If you’re watching a movie, the aspect ratio doesn’t really work or help you and you end up with a crease down the middle of the image so it’s really no good for that. The form factor also means you can’t have much of a case or a case with a kickstand so in some ways it’s a bit limiting.

For iPads, many of the same limitations apply, only more so. You’re not trying to fit an iPad in your pocket so they don’t have the size constraints that a smart phone has, and iPads are designed to do more work using the entire screen, so having a crease in the middle is even more of an issue. 

Overall, from what I’ve seen I’d take a standard smartphone and skip the folding screen and i can’t really see the use for a folding iPad. 

This is exactly the issue with folding phones (even iPads for that matter). There's minimal value and far too many tradeoffs. I doubt Apple would ever release something with a crease down the center of the screen. Android users don't care about stuff like that. They'll buy nearly anything if it sounds cool and then act like their product is better because it was first to the market so it's "cutting edge" and Apple is always years behind! 

Plus there's only so many folds it can do before it breaks and I wouldn't be surprised if some even broke prematurely. 

Yet the rumours are constant and pointing to ever-increasing probability of a release in the relatively short term so I think Apple has decided to sign off on the product. 

The notch was a huge trade off for something that wasn't even strictly necessary. 

Glass fronts and backs have to be accepted even though there are great alternatives for backs that are far more durable. 

Folding phones, by nature, need extra care and that is a trade off. A hinge is a potential point of failure that slab phones don't have. But then slab phones can't double as mini tablets.

Anything mechanical will have a certain amount of actions before they break. Buttons, physical sliders, even ports
(insertion/removal). 

Modern folding phones are rated for years of use but the target audience at the high end probably renews the device with every hardware upgrade as they have lots of disposable income. 

I can see why that might appeal to Apple. Especially as they might be losing high income users through not having a competing offering. 

As for the crease, even the first foldable phones (with more visible creases) it was a non-issue. They were hardly noticeable in use. Very similar to the situation with the notch. 

If it's 'cheap' and runs macOS there will be a market for it unless it is crippled in someway (RAM etc) or 'Apple upsell' ends up killing the 'cheap' aspect.

To my mind, I think OS 'convergence' is inevitable despite what Apple says and will mark the way forward just like HarmonyOS is doing right now. One OS for every device. 

It will require a huge effort to restructure the OS underpinnings and I think that is already underway even if nothing has been said officially. 

missile man said:

sloth77 said:

I voted Remain in the UK back in 2016.  But as an Apple user, I can't say hand-on-heart that I would do so now, with the shenanigans the EU is pulling with Apple.

It is a shame, as some of the EU regulations have been decent - like the USB-C support.

If you believe in free markets and no fraud is occurring, please tell how the EU setting a USB-C standard is a good thing.  Shouldn’t companies be free to provide options.  If the customers feel ripped off, they’ll buy an Erickson or Nokia.  Oh wait, that didn’t work out too well.  Did Apple cheat or just out compete?  Since the EU has mandated USB-C, how will we ever get anything better?  Oh yeah, the old Soviet model, what ever the government mandates is for the good of the people!  Do you remember the US government mandating Windows for all us Government computers?  How well did that work out?  Innovation?

Nope! And if you had read up on why that requirement was put into place, you would know full well that the EU had tried for decades to harmonise the situation.

The requirement was due to fragmentation in charging options (and goes far beyond phones BTW). 

citpeks said:

appleinsideruser said:

Scuzzy terminations we’re a right laugh and a great way to lose data and days. But they did let you make phone calls on your Mac via your iPod! 🤪

Remembrances of FireWire would be incomplete without mentioning the procedure to reset the FireWire bus -- unplug all devices, powering down the Mac, and waiting for some time period I don't recall.  Or something to that effect.

And also that some models of iMac could act as firewire repeaters even when switched off. 

The Sawtooth Macs had an internal firewire port. 

I very nearly bought a Sony Lissa stereo system, too with 1394 interconnects.