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The iphone has lacked innovation under Cook. Last 3 iterations (since 13) have been virtually identical. Also, the failure of Apple Intelligence (oversold promise) has seriously hurt the brand. I am an avid iphone user, and will likely continue to be for the next 3 years. But innovation is suffering. Anecdotally, the least talented ML engineers are currently at Apple (the best engineers I know in the field are at Google and OpenAI). I don't expect Apple to be innovating much in that regard, given a lack of talent (just look at Siri for instance).

▲ mikepurvis 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm a mostly-satisfied iPhone 13 mini user, but I'm considering moving back to Android for my next device. No one reason is the deal-breaker, but it's just a pile-up of stuff:

- My main compute platforms are now Linux and Windows, but even when I had a MacBook, I didn't really benefit much from whatever integration there was between the two.

- I tried and did not like Apple Watch, and I'm upset at Apple's treatment of other wearable makers like Fitbit and now Pebble.

- I'm frustrated that my iPhone 13 is still not USB-C when basically everything else I carry around is.

- I don't like how the Epic/Apple case went, and I wish Apple had been made to allow competing stores on their devices (the EU got this one right).

- With Apple having discontinued the "mini" models, physical size is no longer a differentiator— the Galaxy series phones are basically indistinguishable from modern iPhone models.

▲ firefax 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>The iphone has lacked innovation under Cook. Last 3 iterations (since 13) have been virtually identical.

Why do things need "innovated" constantly? Why keep making the phone slimmer rather than replace the battery with something more efficient, maybe add back the headphone port?

The original iPhone was a great leap forward, UX wise, but much like with a pickup truck at a certain point you'd expect minor tweaks with the yearly models.

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MPSFounder 5 hours ago | parent [-]

I agree they don't need to (and I believe their software needs lots of work, so stagnant hardware while they work on software should be fine). But, lack of innovation drives consumer fatigue, which hurts the brand (other companies will innovate and eat your customers).

	▲	firefax 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>lack of innovation drives consumer fatigue, which hurts the brand (other companies will innovate and eat your customers). But is adding features no one wants that sometimes degrade the user experience "innovation"? I agree if they don't think about what consumers want and make updates they could get overtaken, but I don't think anyone is gonna jump to Android because they can get a 2MM smaller chassis --- the opposite, they might want an "innovative" phone with a removable and swappable battery, multiple SIMs, FM tuner, and a few other features that aren't "shiny" but the iPhone lacks.

▲ no_wizard 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Apple has some serious talent working on this stuff but they aren’t willing to rip apart user privacy to do things quickly like other companies.

▲ throwaway2037 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

    > the failure of Apple Intelligence (oversold promise) has seriously hurt the brand

If this is true, is the dominance of the iPhone faded in any of their primary markets? Also: If the brand was so damaged, what brands are people moving towards?

▲ serial_dev 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it?

I am a former Android user, but the quality of apps on iOS is just so much better. The apps "just work", and the integration with Mac, iPad, and watch is just simply so far ahead of anything Android offered, even if people think there is no innovation. IMO, it's so much better and the whole mobile space is stagnating, I think they will be fine even if they add features 3 years later.

▲ rahkiin 17 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It does what I need it to do.

As opposed to Google Search which does what I need it to do (and could do before) less and less

	▲	FirmwareBurner 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>It does what I need it to do. The thing is, Apple of Steve Jobs was more than just a "does the job" kind of product company, which was IBM's and Microsoft's place. It was sort of magical and ahead of the curve on many innovative things that would revolutionize and set industry trends. Now under Tim Cook it feels stale and boring, kind of like your grandads khaki pants, does the job but we've seen it already several times, give us something new and revolutionary not incremental upgrades to the same things from 10+ years ago. Apple of today resembles more the Dell/Compaq of the early 2000s, focused on milking the user lock-in effects and optimizing the supply chain to increase margins except wrapped in flashy presentations, but just as soulless and dead inside as those.

▲ dontlaugh 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’m just upset they don’t make small phones anymore, but I don’t think that’s relevant to their revenue.

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ska 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Didn’t they just release a small-ish one ?

	▲	dontlaugh 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The 16e is still a lot bigger than the 13 Mini. Even the Mini series is much bigger than the 5 or 1st SE. I have a bit of hope that if they ever make a foldable phone, it’ll be small when folded.

▲ FirmwareBurner 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> has seriously hurt the brand

You're forgetting the Apple Vision Pro flop.