domicinator

When we moved into our current house last year, the kitchen was already outfitted with matching stainless steel Samsung refrigerator, stove, microwave, and dishwasher. All four appliances less than 5 years old. About a month in to living here, the condenser on the refrigerator froze completely solid, and the freezer and refrigerator stopped working completely--the repair guy that came out to fix it informed me that this is a common issue with Samsung refrigerators. The stove has burners that get clogged VERY easily no matter how hard we try to keep them clean (somehow the inspectors didn't mention this when we bought the house) and the stove clock can't keep time. When I set it for the correct time, it's 20 minutes ahead of the correct time by the end of the day. In the last few months, the dishwasher has started leaking as well. The microwave is fine, but I hate it because the panel on it is so convoluted and poorly designed that I still have trouble finding the buttons I need when I use it, and that's after using it for a year. 

Also, and I know some of you will call BS on this part because the timing is suspect (I swear it's true), but we got home from a road trip last night and went to turn on our Samsung TV to wind down for the weekend and catch up on some shows. The screen came on, the Apple TV came on, and then the power LED on the TV flashed about 4 times and turned off. I tried to turn it back on with the remote, got another couple of flashes, and then nothing. I unplugged the TV completely for about 30 seconds, plugged it back in, tried to turn it back on, nothing. After some Googling, it sounds like this is a common issue with Samsung TVs and the circuit panel in the back is most likely fried. The TV is only about 6 years old. What a complete joke.

Needless to say, I don't care what products Samsung releases or how many stores they open. I will never voluntarily buy Samsung appliances or consumer electronics again. I don't care how good the picture is on the TVs, I don't care how fancy their appliances look, and I don't care how much they try to shame Apple with their advertising. They are an inferior brand. 

marsorry said:

Fair analysis, but I don't think Microsoft "beat" Apple more than Apple "dropped" below Microsoft's valuation due to investor speculation and subsequent media coverage. Microsoft has remained rather steady over the past few months in terms of strategy, share price and resulting the Market Cap. So in my view, the headline is a bit misleading, but hail to the new Tech King all the same. Microsoft has done a tremendous job at remaining relevant and I'm quite a fan of their Office 365 Cloud offerings...

My work lets me use my Office 365 account on my iPad and iPhone. OneNote is great on iPad Pro and they’ve really done a great job on the whole Office suite.

I disagree with this article completely. a) There was not a burgeoning third party accessory market with the old Smart Connector. The few keyboard cases other than the Smart Keyboard that were made to work with the Smart Keyboard were terrible. Yes, I'm including that Logitech abomination for the 2nd gen iPad Pros in that group too. b) Third parties can't make keyboard cases for the new connector? News to me! and c) in my opinion, the only viable 3rd party keyboard cases made for the old iPad Pros were bluetooth keyboards. I actually switched to one after getting fed up with the old Apple one that had the "hump" in the middle when folded up. It was not as convenient as the Smart Connector one, but it was more streamlined design-wise. (Incidentally, I'm back on the Apple keyboard folio for my 11" Pro. It addressed all the things I hated about the old Smart Keyboard.)

512ke said:

1) the dollar is really strong creating sales headwinds, 2) Apple was surely tipped off before the public that Trump is about to hit Apple products with tariffs in the USA, 3) global smartphone demand is on the decline, and 4) despite making progress with watches and services, Apple still relies heavily on the iPhone for the lion's share of its revenue.

Those and similar factors could prove that even a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day. Maybe all the years of gloomy thinking will come true for the naysayers, and Apple will become the value rather than growth stock they've been predicting incorrectly for a decade or more. 

This actually already sort of came true years ago. iPhone sales were never going to be able to grow forever, and they've been basically flat for the last several quarters. But that's now almost beside the point when it comes to tech blogs and Apple rumor sites jumping on these supply chain reports day after day and year after year--the narrative they're trying to convey is not "iPhone sales flat/decreasing" but rather "Nobody likes Apple anymore so nobody is buying iPhones." They all know full well this is not true and they don't care. FUD and clickbait sell. Measured, rational analysis doesn't. EDIT: This very comment section is case in point: 6 comments total. The typical Apple Doom article on Macrumors has 200 comments within an hour. Give it a weekend and it usually gets up toward 500-600. Negativity sells.

People will defend this as if it's totally NOT a ripoff.