charlesn

"Usually the configuration you get for the lowest price of any Apple device is at the very best just about adequate, and usually not even that."

So my question for Mr. Gallagher is pretty simple: which base models of Apple devices have you bought or borrowed from Apple, then tested as your daily driver for a while and at what tasks did you find them "usually not even adequate?" Because there are actually a few online reviewers who make it a point to buy and use the base models of Apple devices, just to see how far they can be pushed, and I have yet to read of any base model that can't execute, without breaking a sweat, ANY task that a base model buyer might throw at it. That includes the usual suite of common business applications, as well as video/photo/audio editing, so long as the latter three are being done on a hobbyist basis and not professionally. It goes without saying that if your work (or personal passion) includes applications that are processor or memory intensive, then the base models aren't for you, nor were they ever intended to serve your needs. (In fact, maybe the Macbook Air, itself, isn't for you and a Pro would make more sense.) But there is a whole target market of buyers for which the base model makes perfect sense and is as much computer as they will ever actually need. 

Why make this announcement on X, a disinformation platform owned by the unelected co-President trying to force Apple to abandon the DEI policies that are at the absolute core of its company values? Why is anyone who opposes what this administration is doing still on X when their presence there only helps Musk monetize it? 

ApplePoor said:

Not a surprise really that Apple got caught with their pants down. Too much time and money wasted on the "never saw the light of day" car.  The "googles" have consumed untold resources, too and have not been a runaway success in terms of sales. Frankly, usable Apple's AI is years away and could become a serious concern financially as investors loose confidence.

Apple has morphed from a small and fast Navy Destroyer to a more than cumbersome Battleship. The latter finally gets up to speed and requires vast space to change course or turn around let alone stop.

The incremental changes or improvements in their "core" revenue source, the iPhone, are an embarrassment when one sees what the competitors are pushing out. 

The comments here in the peanut gallery should be a five alarm file in the Board of Directors meetings such as the lack of more and more folks upgrading annually as there is just not enough change to justify a $2,000 expenditure for the top model with full memory - their most profitable model.

The incremental change of their most popular laptop (MacBook Air) is a chip change from the M3 to the M4. Wow! ???????

Just observations of an Apple user since1990 into computers since the early 1970s.

YMMV

Another Apple vet here, using Macs at work and home since the Macintosh Classic in 1991. It's not that I disagree, per se, with this assessment, but it's a reminder that perceptions in the tech press and by commenters on tech message boards like this one are often completely disconnected from the reality of how Apple is actually doing as a company. In three words: "Better than ever" by any of the usual metrics by which the performance of companies is measured. Something astonishing, almost unthinkable a short time ago just happened when Apple reported earnings for the holiday quarter: its iPhone numbers were a little soft, which would have normally tanked the stock, but this time, it didn't matter. Why? Because its insanely profitable Services business is growing so rapidly and is essentially a license to print money. Under Tim Cook, Apple has transitioned from a one-legged company whose fortunes rose and fell with iPhone, to a company with three sturdy legs: iPhone, Services (which will surpass iPhone in profit and revenues sooner than later) and Hardware, including Macs, iPads and wearables. Fun fact: even with numbers that were a little soft, iPhone 16 is the best-selling smartphone in the world, while Pro Max, Pro and Plus occupy 3 more spots in the top ten rankings in that order. So you might ask yourself how a phone that is supposedly "an embarrassment" compared to competitors becomes the best-selling smartphone on the planet, especially at a relatively high price point. 

Did I mention that this past holiday quarter was yet another all-time record?  Kind of a yawn, for Apple, I know, because it keeps setting new records like this, but: this only happens because buyers are voting with their wallets to choose Apple products. Here in the technosphere echo chamber, it's the constant sound of doom and complaints about the glacial pace of Apple evolving its products. But the real world of mass market buyers keeps disagreeing. 

Apple does face the problem of being more cumbersome battleship than nimble destroyer--that is the inevitable challenge all companies face when they grow to the enormous size of Apple. Even more difficult: Wall Street continues to price Apple stock like a growth company, so even as it keeps breaking records for revenue and profit, the challenge of continuing to grow those huge numbers just gets exponentially harder... but Apple keeps doing it thus far. Tech message boards have been predicting doom just around the corner for Apple for as long as the company has been in business. It has weirdly become the always-present background noise to Apple's continued success. Just how much more successful does Apple have to be before the doom-saying gets a rest?

opinion said:

I know it’s been said that Apple stopped the Mini versions because of not enough being sold, but is that the whole truth and if, maybe things have changed since then. 

No need to go down the conspiracy rabbit hole. It's really pretty simple: Apple is a for-profit company that is in the business of selling what sells well. Mass market buyers like yourself dictate what those products are. AND: the reason Wall Street gives Apple the highest valuation of any company in the world is because it sees Apple as a growth business, which Apple has to prove again and again, every quarter, if it wants to keep that high valuation. So every new product or new model has to prove that it can contribute to growth. "Okay" sales are not okay. It is very rare (might even be "never") for Apple to kill a new model of anything after just two cycles. I suspect the decision to kill the Mini was made even before the 13 was released because the rumors started very early that the 13 Mini would be the last. Sales had to miss expectations very significantly for that to happen because I doubt Apple even made back its investment costs in the Mini after just two cycles. BUT: this isn't to say that Mini sales weren't "decent." It's just that decent sales aren't good enough to keep a spot in the product lineup of a company that MUST keep growing revenues and profits. 

Meanwhile... the new Xiaomi 15 Ultra, pictured in black and silver below, is the first phone I've seen that has me wishing I wasn't stuck in the Apple ecosystem. What a GORGEOUS piece of design work. 

Apple's selling proposition for the 16e seems pretty clear: you can now buy a version of the world's best selling smartphone (the regular iPhone 16) for 25% less money. The pro side of the equation is also pretty clear: you save $200. On the con side are the various compromises that have been made to achieve that price point. Generally speaking, tech press pronouncements about Apple products have a long history of being wrong as a predictor of how they will ultimately fare with the general public. It's not that tech reviewers are wrong, per se, it's that the priorities of the tech press and commenters on tech sites are often very different from those of mass market buyers. 

Apple's website is specifically pitching the 16e to current owners of the IPhone 11, 12, 12 Mini and SE 2 and 3 phones. Overall, it's a nice upgrade if you're coming from one of those phones. Not considered (and unknown) at this time is the effect if Amazon and other big retailers start discounting the 16e to $499 which would not be surprising. This would tilt the value proposition much more heavily in the 16e's favor. When Apple reports earnings in July for the quarter that ends on June 30, that will mark the first full quarter of 16e sales concluding with the busy graduation season and we should get a much better idea at that time from Apple of how the 16e is faring.