gmgravytrain

christopher126 said:

Copying and a 'good enough' approach to business will only get you so far!

It shows the extraordinary effort Apple puts into every facet of the iPhone. From glass, software, chips, battery, cameras, antennas, etc., etc. 

And, the syncing of everything across all my devices. 

I will never have a Google, MS, Samsung, Amazon, or Facebook device in my home or service on my devices!

I can't wait until Apple makes all my devices look "Anonymous" on the internet! 

It's coming!

You're in such a tiny minority, like one in a million.  The whole internet is Google's playground and Android OS overwhelmingly dominates.  Almost no one on the planet is concerned with personal privacy because almost everyone wants free services.  Paying for those free services with personal data is completely acceptable to billions of internet users.  Everyone believes Apple is missing out by not having eavesdropping/listening devices in every room.  I believe most consumers don't mind being spied upon.  It makes them feel important that someone is listening to their every word.

No one actually cares about the Pixel 3 hardware. They're more interested in the stock Android OS and the AI software in the camera. I doubt anyone would buy the Pixel 3 for outright speed and besides that, everyone hates smartphones with display notches and no headphone jack.

We already know the A12 Bionic is a beast of a processor and there's no Android smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 that can beat it in benchmarks. (I wonder how powerful the Snapdragon 850 is.) Still... Even the Snapdragon 845 produces fast app launches and loads of system RAM makes the Pixel 3 snappy enough for most users. App launches on the iPhone are surely not twice as fast but why should anyone normal be counting in milliseconds on either smartphone.

Apple needs to find some 'must have' app that can run smoothly on the A12 but stutters like crazy on the Snapdragon 845. Then some critics might sit up and take notice and possibly even praise Apple for having such a powerful processor in its arsenal. Until then, Apple's SoCs are going to produce yawns for most people. In side by side app launch tests with Android smartphones, the iPhone shows almost no real advantage of having all that power. No matter, the A12 does what it needs to do and does it well which is to provide a quick and fluid user experience and benchmarks be damned.

Google isn't going to be able to sell a huge number of Pixel 3 units, so Apple has nothing to worry about.  There are just too many other Android smartphones for Google to compete against.  Apple has a lot going for it when it comes to premium smartphones being sold in top-tier countries and the Pixel 3 isn't going to change that.

High benchmarks are nice but I believe most consumers are more concerned with what the total package brings them.  Most people I know have no interest in benchmarks and certainly they don't choose their smartphones based on benchmarks.  Most of their choices seem to be based on some sort of price/feature selection.  Many are happy with products that are just 'good enough' for their needs.

No matter how fast the A12 Bionic is, very few consumers in India will never get their hands on one.  Same goes for Brazil or Russia.  The smartphone that's going to win in those countries is the one most consumers can afford to purchase.

Although the A12 Bionic is a monster SoC, when flagship smartphones are tested next to one another, they're usually within milliseconds of each other when performing routine app launch tests.  Seriously, most consumers are not going to pay a couple of hundred dollars more for a gain or loss in milliseconds.  Apple's OS animations are very fluid but many times some Android smartphone can launch an app slightly quicker.  Apple just needs to keep making the whole iOS platform and ecosystem better and that will make the biggest difference in what smartphone consumers will purchase.  I'll always prefer an overall balanced package but that's just me.  As long as Apple doesn't keep pricing the iPhone much higher, Apple will do quite well selling a nicely balanced iPhone product.

That really looks like Apple may be taking some sort of street view in a serious way. I'd love to see Apple maps get a street view. I wish Apple could also map the NYC Greenway bicycle paths like Google Maps does.

It sounds impressive and I'm sure the price for the Mac Pro will be equally impressive. I don't care about the price as I don't need any beast machine like that. Just keep in a tolerable price range of competitive pro computers. I just hope Apple does right by pro users and provides the Mac Pro with everything they need to produce their projects in the shortest amount of time. Please, Apple, make the newest Mac Pro respectable and not some laughingstock computer that's going to be criticized by all the tech-heads as being lame. I really don't want to see a repeat of the trash-can Mac Pro. If Apple follows current pro level standards, they really shouldn't pull a bottle job with this version of the Mac Pro. They absolutely must pay attention to the thermal levels whether it be air- or liquid-cooled.