tomasulu

rattlhed said:

tomasulu said:

Apple used to have the best tech and components because they sell at a premium and customer experience is not sacrificed at the altar of profiteering. 

But like the Apple before jobs second return, im starting to have pangs of envy comparing its products against the competition. I think it’s safe to say that iPhones, at least on the hardware side, is falling further and further behind the likes of Samsung Xiaomi Huawei and OnePlus flagships. The Apple se is not even competing on the same weight class as Google pixel 4a. The ugly notch, thick bezel, small battery, average still cam with weak zoom, terrible selfie cam, Face ID that’s so inconvenient in our masked up world, average screen, etc. And now they want to nickel and dime its customers just to include 5g which was available for more than a year in some cheap android phones?! I think this is the year for me to finally make the switch to Android. 

I agree.  Although my plans won't be to switch to Android, I will be hanging on to my 11 Pro for this year's upgrade cycle if the leaks are true.  I do have phone envy, very strong phone envy with all the flagships coming out.  Gorgeous 120hz screens, pinhole cameras, edge to edge bezels, subsonic fingerprint readers (yes, I really miss fingerprint unlock) super quality cameras (though Apple's cameras are probably the best feature).  These flagships are making the iPhone look like tech from 4 years ago.  I love my Apple products but man I wish they would get off their ass and blow us away.  Why the hell can't they do 120hz?  A $2 Trillion company can't do that?  5G is the least important feature for the next cycle of phones in my opinion.  

svanstrom said:

longfang said:

igorsky said:

avon b7 said:

svanstrom said:

avon b7 said:

I can't see this as anything other than an abuse of government powers.

It used to be that sovereign nations were aware of limitations on the sale of US products to third parties before purchase.

I think that's a reasonable approach to applying restrictions but changing the rules at short notice for doubtful reasons and in the concealed name of protectionism but claiming national security concerns AFTER the sale, well that can only end badly because countries and companies will only see the US as an unreliable entity willing to do anything to get its way. In that scenario, the US will find itself in isolation as the world shuns its products. 

We've seen this with Huawei and now with Tik Tok. If WeChat is affected too, it won't be long before Tim Cook is dining at the White House to try and drive a message into Trump's head. 

Get off that pedestal on that horse of yours; even the worst of what that racist orange might do is still less than what Winnie Xi has been doing all the time with that great firewall of his.

People can't react before they react, so any argument of yours along the lines of "but it was ok yesterday" is pretty much null and moot.

However, the US has now moved to an extraterritorial mode and is attempting to apply 'sanctions' on its opponents by restricting what companies in sovereign nations can do with their products, simply because even a small part of them use US technology.

Take a look at China's new HK security law.  Specifically if you make anti-China comments related to Hong Kong anywhere in the world, you can be arrested for them in Hong Kong. Then we can get into Tibet, Taiwan and the South China Sea as well, if you like.  Let's not go comparing each nation's "extraterritorial mode".

Yes when you step into Hong Kong. Otoh the US wanted to extradite Gary McKinnon for things he did in the UK. Also extraordinary rendition of “targets” that they can’t get extradite. So sorry, not sorry, but I don’t give a toss about US security concerns.

"When you step into Hong Kong" isn't really correct; the Swedish citizen Gui Minhai was kidnapped from Thailand and taken into mainland China, and that was before the CCP had this national security law to refer to. He was kidnapped from a third country simply because his bookshop in Hong Kong was about to release a book with gossip the CCP found inconvenient.

So to the CCP the extraordinary conditions don't have to be that extraordinary; and there's no diplomacy with the other country, people are just disappeared from it, and then show up on Chinese television "confessing" to whatever they're forced to say.

Simply using the phrase "光復香港，時代革命" is enough to qualify for a one-way trip into an unknown location somewhere in mainland China. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberate_Hong_Kong,_revolution_of_our_times#Impact_of_the_2020_national_security_law).

PS 光復香港，時代革命.   

Most countries made sedition and related activities illegal. Some even fought a long civil war to prevent the break up of their union.

svanstrom 

This Trump nonsense of sanctions, trade wars, and bravado will make Apple sales tank in China.

And probably, in any other country where TikTok and WeChat is popular.

Now if only Trump has a single proof of illegal behavior on ByteDance, which is funded by (among others) several American firms. 

This. I’m not Chinese and have been as big a fan of Apple As anyone. I own most of apples products and paid services such as iCloud and music. Even as I look at some of the newer android phones with some envy I don’t see myself switching because of how invested I’m with apples ecosystem. But if Apple removed WeChat which I use for work (with Chinese and many around the world), I will have to get myself an android phone. And I think that will be the beginning of a move away from Apple. 

Or they will have to use another app for contacting you.

In the end it comes down to whether or not you are comfortable with going out of your way to make sure that you're only communicating via an app the CCP controls totally.

(I also used to have WeChat just for talking to people in China; but in the end it just seemed like too much of a compromise with my personal values. I do have the luxury of being my own boss, though.)

It’s the US starting Cold War 2.0 on an emerging superpower that can threaten its dominance. Where data privacy is concerned, it’s not like the NSA can’t access my data if it really wanted to