wisey

I just bought an iPad Pro 11”.  Of course, I looked at my iPad after reading this article and it is as straight as my eyes can tell.  If these articles had not brought it to my attention, it would never have occurred to me to check.  Now that I have checked, I asked my wife to look at the photo in this article. She said that the photograph showed that the iPad Pro is straight.  I told her to look again and she did.  She still could not see the slight bend.  I am wondering if anybody else cannot see the bend in the photo.  

My question to whoever took the picture:  How many iPad Pro’s did he/she have to look at to find this ipad with the slight bend?  How common is this?  Is this one in a thousand or one in a million?  Anybody who is buying an iPad Pro 11” can easily look to see if it is straight or not.  Apple is probably concerned whether people will abuse this small defect to get free replacements.   If Apple adopts the policy of replacing all bent iPad Pros, people may bend the iPad Pro if they want to get a new one.  

So, I then asked myself the question, what if there had been a bend in my iPad Pro 11”.  Would I go to the trouble of replacing it?  This question is not unlike the Zen question.  What is the sound of one hand clapping in an empty forest? The answer is none.  The slight wind produced by the hand perhaps can be heard by somebody with very good hearing.  But, for most people, if you can’t hear it and it makes no difference, perhaps the answer is that it doesn’t matter.

The correct answer is of course that it is in the eyes of the beholder.   If the bend is relatively uncommon, they should just replace the iPads of people who complain.  If the defect is common, Apple should change the manufacturing so that it happens less frequently.  If necessary, Apple can even take a image of each iPad Pro to confirm that it is straight.  Don’t argue with people who may be offended that they have paid for a defective product. Replace it.  

    

Nightstorm said:

Has apple insider gone mental? This is the worse matchup, one is brand new and one is a whole generation ago. 7th gen cpu vs 8th gen’s latest? When comparing cpu’s This is like putting a 2019 corvette up against a 1999. You can justify this with cost all you want, it is still ludicrous.

I agree with this comment.  At the very least, the author should have compared a more expensive MacBook Pro that is of similar hardware vintage, to show that there are MacBook pros that are as good or better.  The extra price that Mac users pay Is for the reliability, the operating system, the frequent free upgrades and security of its operating system, the much lower incidence of malicious viruses, and long-term compatability with Mac programs over decades.  

If somebody has actual repair statistics of the Razer and MacBook Pro, that would be a worthwhile discussion.  I have had probably ten Macbook laptops for the last two decades and experienced a keyboard failure only once and never with the recent MacBooks.  I have had only one Macbook fail on me and Apple replaced free (under warranty) in less than a week.  I also know many people who have used their MacBooks for 6 years or longer.

I have a late 2016 Macbook with a 4-core Intel Core i7-6920HQ@2.9GHz CPU, 16 Gb 2133 MHz RAM LPSSE3, Radeon Pro 460 4096 Mb - Intel HD Graphics 530 1536 Mb, and 2 Tb SSD, running Mojave 10.14.1.  Its single and multi core performances are not that different from the Razer.  Interestingly, my 2018 iPad Pro 11” with an ARM 2.48 GHz 8-core (A12X) blows both the MBP 15” and the Razer out of the water.  The 2016 iPad Pro 12.9” with the A10X processor had lower single and multi-core Geekbench 4 scores.

                           Single Multi OpenCL

‘18 Razer Blade 4883 16017 47516

‘16 MBP 15”      4631 15614 20890

‘18 iPad Pro 11” 5014 18301 42209

‘16 iPad Pro 12.9” 3946 9496 29310

To tell you the truth, I am happy with my late 2016 MBP 15”.  I use my Mac to do a lot of word-processing, drawings, excel and statistical programs.  It is more than fast enough for my purposes.  It also has a 10-hour battery life, finger print detector on the on-off button, the color touch strip, a reliable keyboard, the beautiful bright screen, and the best safety of all laptops with relatively few malicious viruses.  It runs 95% of Mac software, including programs from 20 years ago.   I have used it for nearly 2 years and will probably continue using it for at least another 2-3 years.  By that time, the iPad will likely have a Finder-like app and may be able to replace the Mac.

The recent 20% decline in Apple stock price is not based on any credible data.  Some claim that it is because Apple changed its policy of divulging unit sales and average sales prices of IPhones, IPads, and Macs.  Others attribute the drop to unit sales not increasing.  Neither of these can be true because no other cell phone company divulges unit sales and average sales prices and it is wrong to penalize Apple for deciding against this practice.  They will continue to report revenues and earnings.  The fact that unit sales did not increase should not be bothering anybody.  In case nobody noticed, Apple had a 27% increase in iPhone revenues last quarter, despite the lack of increase in unit sales.  Apple had a choice, sell few units and make more money or sell more units and make less money.  They chose the former and I don’t think that any shareholder should fault them for making that decision.  

It is likely that the decline of Apple share represent two factors occurring simultaneously.  

First, many articles have reported that suppliers have cut back on the parts they are delivering.  As pointed out by Tim Cook and others, these are not reliable indicators of iPhone sales for many reasons.  First, there will always be cutbacks.  After all, companies order parts for manifacturing and companies reduce those orders when their planned manufacturing run has been fulfilled.  Nobody knows, least of all stock analysts, whether these cutbacks mean a reduction in the number of units that are being sold.  People should also remember that many manufacturers are using some of these component manufacturers and cutbacks could also represent the general decline in smartphone sales.  

Second, the entire stock market is falling.  Previously high flying stocks such as Amazon and Facebook have lost 25% or more of their value.  Stock fund managers are rushing to take their profits before the market drips further.   In my opinion, falls of Amazon and Facebook are warranted because Amazon is extremely overvalued and Facebook is having serious problems with protecting their user data.  On the other hand, no bad news has emerged since its spectacular Q4’18 earnings report.  In fact, Apple news has been very positive. Apple’s China business is looking up, the first cooperative agreement between China and the U.S. was announced suggest s beginning to the end of the trade war.  Reviews of the iPhone XR, iPad Pros, and MacBook Air have been glowingly positive.  

Analysts appear to be ignoring to striking new developments:  Apple has opened up its own online store refurbished Apple products and many large retailers (Walmart, Bestbuy, Target, Costco) are selling iPhone 6, 6s, 7, X, and 8 for very low prices.  The fact that Apple has started selling its own refurbished products tells you that this market has grown large enough for Apple to try to take a cut.  Older models of Apple iPhones will be taking market share away from cheaper Androids.  Which one would you rather have, an iPhone X or any Samsung or Huawei smartphone for the same price?  Apple has found a way to grab market share from Android makers.  By leapfrogging all the other smartphone makers in terms of technology, Apple now can offer year old or even two year old technology for the same or lower price as their competitors.  I think that Q1’19 sales will pleasantly surprise many people, even diehard Apple fans. Goldman Sachs will be kicking itself for giving its customers bad advice.

rogifan_new said:

More comments that boil down to: its the users fault. What a shock.

I am not sure why we are rehashing all of this.  Apple agreed to replace batteries for $29.  It is a generous offer, well beyond the guarantee or AppleCare period.  People who replace the batteries will likely use their iPhones for another two years or more, almost certainly accounting for less growth of Apple unit sales last quarter and this quarter alone.  It is hard for me to understand why people continue to complain and cry that Apple is failing because they made this decision to benefit its users.  No other manufacturer is doing this for their users.  Apple did not blame the users.    

My iPhone 6s (bought in Hong Kong) was shutting down expectedly last year after two years and I replaced the battery of my iPhone 6S for free under an Apple program for iPhone bought in China.  My wife did the same for her 6S.  The battery replacements rejuvenated the 6S’s and I am continuing to use mine when I travel overseas and her 6S is still my wife’s only cell phone.  I bought an iPhone 8 for U.S. use and am very happy with its rapid battery charging, better camera, and higher speed.   While the X is a better smartphone with its OLED screen and Face ID,