twolf2919

"a combination of unrealistic expectations, fictional narratives, and ignored progress won't stop it from being a key part of Apple's ecosystem" - I don't think anyone had unrealistic expectations!  The expectations were totally realistic, based on what Apple teased at the 2024 conference.  And it's not that everyone is ignoring progress - it's just that most of the AI progress is in areas that are pretty niche (not many people feel the need for AI generated images such as in Image playground or need email summaries) and, in others, it's just a step improvement (e.g. object recognition in Photos).  Removing unwanted objects from photos is a pretty nice feature that might be useful to anyone taking photos.  But I find it awkward/unintuitive to use - and the results are often not perfect.

In summary, I think everyone expected a much better Siri in at most a year's time.  That wasn't an unreasonable/unrealistic expectation given what was demoed in 2024.  Apple simply shouldn't have demoed and subsequently advertised that feature if it couldn't deliver it.

nubus said:

twolf2919 said:

The announced tariffs on Japan, Korea,  Malaysia, and Khazakstan are tariffs the US will begin charging for goods coming into the US from those countries.  As far as I know, Apple doesn't import goods - INTO THE US - from any of these countries.  It is importing parts from them into China, Taiwan, and  India - so these US tariffs are irrelevant, no?

Mac Studio and more are assembled in Malaysia. Transshipped parts are hit by 40% to block China from shipping through other countries. But mostly tariffs are "Country of Origin" which translates into "where was it assembled". Even if the actual assembly is like 2% of the total cost.

It does block Apple from moving production to the US. If Apple produced chips in the US, exported for assembly, and imported... the entire phone would be hit. The only way to avoid it would be to let all components and assembly happen in the US. Much easier to keep parts manufacturing in place but shuffle assembly to a low-tariff, semi-low-wage country. Cost of repairs is likely to increase as batteries, displays,... are delivered directly and take the full hit from tariffs. The list of suppliers show the countries used to sources parts from: https://www.supplychainreports.apple/Apple-Supplier-List

I agree with everything you said - but it doesn't really negate my point that Apple is not really affected further by the initial list of countries announced on Monday.  Even if Apple is assembling Mac Studio in Malaysia - that country's tariff went from 24% tariffs before today to a whopping....25%.  And Mac Studio isn't one of Apple's big sellers, so an additional percentage point in tariffs on them won't even be  a rounding error on their quarterly statement - or disappear entirely if it simply raises the Studio's price.  Initially, many companies, including Apple, have tried to keep prices low because the tariff landscape was still in flux, but as soon as it becomes clear what the permanent tariffs will be, I think those companies will forward those costs onto the American consumer.

Wesley_Hilliard said:

twolf2919 said:

"For Apple, Monday's list of tariff letters means it faces even more costs than it did before April's omnibus announcement for importing goods in the future." - why is that?  The announced tariffs on Japan, Korea,  Malaysia, and Khazakstan are tariffs the US will begin charging for goods coming into the US from those countries.  As far as I know, Apple doesn't import goods - INTO THE US - from any of these countries.  It is importing parts from them into China, Taiwan, and  India - so these US tariffs are irrelevant, no?  Far more important is what  China, Taiwan, and India tariff goods from those countries at.

Right, but if Apple were to build products here, these tariffs would increase the cost of imports. It directly contradicts the supposed purpose of the tariffs.

Also, the Trump administration is writing more rules around tariffs to penalize companies that try to get around tariffs by moving products between countries before importing them to the US, like Apple did with India.

It's complicated, but this isn't going to be zero effect on Apple for sure. It just adds to the overall costs of tariffs, which are already astronomical.

TLDR: None of this is working how it should or how it was promised.

The rules  they're writing is to prevent the games various countries are playing to avoid tariffs by routing their goods through third-party countries.  E.g. the Chinese routing their goods through Vietnam because it has a lower tariff rate.  BTW, Apple did *not* do that to any extent, as far as I know.  If you do, please provide a references.  What Apple did is to actually begin to increase its production capacity in India - for the same reasons (keeping tariffs low), but not by routing its Chinese-made iPhones through India.

You seem to think that I'm pro-tariff .  Absolutely not - they're a tool employed by a guy int he White House who doesn't even seem to know how they work.  My comment was solely the observation that what the article claims doesn't seem to be true, as of now at least.  Your comment about it affecting Apple in some hypothetical future isn't really relevant as Apple is nowhere near producing anything in the US.  In my opinion, Apple is far too smart to go down the US manufacturing road - they're just telling Trump what he wants to hear.  They'll slow-walk that $500b investment they promised to stroke his ego.....then slow-walk it until the next President comes to power.

"For Apple, Monday's list of tariff letters means it faces even more costs than it did before April's omnibus announcement for importing goods in the future." - why is that?  The announced tariffs on Japan, Korea,  Malaysia, and Khazakstan are tariffs the US will begin charging for goods coming into the US from those countries.  As far as I know, Apple doesn't import goods - INTO THE US - from any of these countries.  It is importing parts from them into China, Taiwan, and  India - so these US tariffs are irrelevant, no?  Far more important is what  China, Taiwan, and India tariff goods from those countries at.

Readability in Safari has hit a new low with macOS 26.  By letting web pages affect the color of the bookmark bar, address bar, and tab bar, it's become pretty much impossible to find the active tab when the web page has dark/black background and it's impossible to read bookmark labels when the web page has a white background.  Maybe it's only because of me using "dark mode"?  But if that's the case, don't Apple engineers test their sh1t in dark mode?  Utterly ridiculous.  I think Apple tried something similar in a previous release, where they let the web page "bleed through" to those areas when you scrolled - but at least then there was a way to turn that off.  I don't see any way of turning off this behavior this time.  Am I missing something?

But overall I find macOS 26 much snappier than iOS 16 - and it's still in beta, so that's a good sign.