Comment by Toutouxc
2 hours ago
Oh wow, it’s like they’re trying less and less.
When they introduced the Apple Pencil and people were like “haha it’s a stylus”, the thing was decidedly NOT a stylus (it actually couldn’t be used to control some parts of the UI). It was an actual digital pen, something that used to be specialized and expensive external hardware, and it worked beautifully with the iPad. It was literally “stylus but GOOD”. I saw it and thought “people will make memes about this, but Apple totally gets it”.
When they introduced the Vision Pro, VR was just kind of shit. Bulky, ugly, uncool. Vision Pro tried to resolve some of the issues, but it was still kind of half-assed. Like they wanted to have a VR device but couldn’t actually make it work. Good resolution, but not great. Vergence-accomodation conflict not addressed. Still bulky and ugly. Isolation kind of addressed (with the AR-ish UX and the “see-through” display), but not enough.
Now we got the foldable iPhone and a touchscreen MacBook.
Foldable phones are still awfully delicate and the whole concept doesn’t have a clear “killer” use case. There’s no new UX, no new features, it’s just an iPad Mini in a marginally smaller device that’s expensive as hell. Apple didn’t even try to address the obvious shortcomings, they just built the same stupid thing everyone else is failing to sell.
Touchscreen laptops still wobble, they still get covered with fingerprints, they’re still uncomfortable and there’s still no meaningful UX. This thing doesn’t even try to address any of that. Their marketing images literally just show hands hovering above the keyboard and touching the screen for no good reason. They’ve been mocking touchscreen laptops for years now and now they release one like it’s the most obvious thing ever. 1984 vibes.
> Now we got the foldable iPhone and a touchscreen MacBook.
And the HomeView, which also feels like it lacks a clear “killer” use case.
Maybe I’m just not the intended audience for any of these products, but I’m also starting to wonder if Apple are throwing things at a wall and hoping something will stick.
Small business POS system/register?
How else would they get consoomers to keep buying?
I am a dev with a m1 air 16gb and I have 0 reason to update yet, it's been 6 years now, laptops are solved for 90% of people, they need to introduce gimmicks to create demand
Tim Cook and his lieutenants were decidedly running on fumes for the last 2-3 years. That's how long these products take to plan and design so that's what we're seeing right now; the last of the Cook era is being released now. Wait for 2-3 years for Ternus and his gang to start doing their work in hardware; on the software side they've already reversed the direction and its hopefully getting better.
>When they introduced the Apple Pencil and people were like “haha it’s a stylus”, the thing was decidedly NOT a stylus
Ironic: when they introduced the Apple Watch, the narrative around it was "whatever it will be, it WON'T be just another smartwatch" and yet it was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfir0Ide0A
Apple nowadays feels like it’s rudderless and grasping at everything for $$$, in turn giving up on their OG design principles.
First Liquid Glass, then the 17’s design, then ads and ecosystem subscription bloat, then Duo/HomeView, and now the touchscreen Mac. Jobs is rolling in his grave.
The people who made Apple what it is today are long gone. The planks have been fully replaced
Also they lost the simplicity to their product lineup.
How come they just released a Macbook Pro yesterday with the latest M6 chip, to release the day after another Macbook Pro with a year old chip?
Why is there not one Macbook and one Macbook Pro?
This. 100% this. My first look at their marketing images resulted in "well, that's the most awkward looking thing I've ever seen."
The Duo does have a killer use case at least for me: multitasking
Game + Video
Messaging + Browsing
App + Development
Notes + Research
etc
That’s not a killer use case, that’s just running two apps next to each other. There are tons of phones and tablets that can do that.
I want to know why I want my phone to cost twice as much and have a dozen delicate moving parts in order to fold. Like the movie quote: “sell me this pen”. I’m waiting for someone to sell me a folding phone. I thought Apple would be able to do it, but they haven’t even tried.
> That’s not a killer use case, that’s just running two apps next to each other. There are tons of phones and tablets that can do that.
But they aren't iPhones.
Running two apps next to each other isn't practical on a normal sized phone. That's why the Duo folds out into a larger screen.
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Aside from the fact that you can not do two things at the same time, all the other phones, foldable or not can do this for not a gagillion dollars.
ADHD + Life
Apple lost its magic long time ago.