This is the thing I've found amazing about people's complaints about Apple and AI.

Historically the strength of Apple was that they didn't ship things until they actually worked. Meaning that the technology was there and ready to make an experience that was truly excellent.

People have been complaining for years that Apple isn't shipping fast enough in this area. But if anything I think that they have been shipping (or trying to ship) too fast. There are a lot of scenarios that AI is actually great at but the ones that move the needle for Apple just aren't there yet in terms of quality.

The stuff that is at a scale that it matters to them are integrations that just magically do what you want with iMessage/calendars/photos/etc. There are potentially interesting scenarios there but the fact is that any time you touch my intimate personal (and work) data and do something meaningful I want it to work pretty much all the time. And current models aren't really there yet in my view. There are lots of scenarios that do work incredibly well right now (coding most obviously). But I don't think the Apple mainline ones do yet.

▲ burningChrome 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

>> Historically the strength of Apple was that they didn't ship things until they actually worked. Meaning that the technology was there and ready to make an experience that was truly excellent.

They dragged their feet on a host of technologies that other handset makers adopted, released and subsequently improved.

- USB C charging

- 90hz, 120Hz refresh rates

- wireless charging

- larger batteries (the iPhone 17 still lags behind Samsung and Google)

I'm not sure what happened, but the iPhone used to have the most fluid, responsive experience compared to Android. Now, both Google and Samsung have surpassed them in that regard.

I've used both Android and have owned several iPhones and it just seems like its not an issue of releasing something that isn't ready, but more about them not being capable enough to release phones to compete with other phones that are regularly beating them in the specs race.

	▲	culi 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		This isn't necessarily a counterargument. Apple's always been conservative with their specs but their tight link between software and hardware has meant they've been able to do more with less. Batteries are a good example of that. Apple has always had a much smaller battery than flagship competitors but has had similar or better battery life than, say, Samsung

▲ nik736 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Meaning that the technology was there and ready to make an experience that was truly excellent

In general I would agree, but Siri is honestly still so bad.

	▲	convenwis 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yep, I agree. Should have been more clear that it used to be their philosophy. It isn't nearly as much.

▲ anonyfox 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

this night I got accidentially the update to the latest iOS with this liquid glass stuff - and its schockingly bad in any dimension. keyboard input lags, many thing ned MORE clicks/touches then before, weird contenxt menu popovers that don't even register taps 50% of the time, general lags and sluggishness and UI artifacts everywhere. Its really really a degradiation of UI/UX even though I personally am a fan of that glass-style design in itself

▲ some_random 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I really wish I lived in the world where Apple didn't ship things until they actually worked, that would be so cool.

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mitchell209 4 days ago | parent [-]

I feel like the only people who say that still are people that don't actively or daily use Apple products because macOS Tahoe is a joke. Jelly scrolling on the iPad mini was a noticeable issue that should never have shipped. Antenna-gate on the iPhone 4. iOS 7... etc etc

	▲	FireBeyond 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		iOS 26.1 will regularly blur the "status line" (clock, signal strength, network, battery) while the rest of the phone functions correctly. Just sitting on the home page with the status blurred. Locking, unlocking, switching screen modes, doesn't fix it - just have to reboot the phone. :\
	▲	some_random 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The fucked up thing is that they're typically all-in on Apple and either don't notice bugs or blame themselves.

▲ ghusto 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Historically the strength of Apple was that they didn't ship things until they actually worked. Meaning that the technology was there and ready to make an experience that was truly excellent.

Tell that to almost anything they've shipped in the last 5-10 years. It's gotten so bad that I wait halfway through entire major OS version before upgrading. Every new thing they ship is almost guaranteed to be broken in some way, ranging from minor annoyance to fully unusable.

I buy Apple-everything, but I sure wish there were better options.

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convenwis 4 days ago | parent [-]

Oh, I totally agree that things have changed and that philosophy doesn't exist much any more. Should have been more clear on that point.

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supportengineer 3 days ago | parent [-]

I wonder if a new tech company was founded with a quality-first and customer-service mentality, could they succeed? Especially if there are NO investors trying to make a quick buck.

Certainly the company would provide good jobs, good benefits, salary and bonuses.

But none of this "the company is the product".

MBAs would be strictly forbidden.

	▲	3 days ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

▲ awestroke 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My complaint is that they overpromised and then didn't deliver anything at all. They should have just kept their mouth shut

	▲	baq 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		they had to say something and show they're working on something even if it doesn't work to appease the market spirits so they didn't lose their best people (stock compensation, right?) now the tides are turning, so they can go back to scheming behind the closed doors without risking their top people leaving for meta for a bazillion dollars.

▲ esafak 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When it came out in 2016 Google Assistant was delivering value while Siri was not.

▲ hinkley 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What people hate about Apple is that they ship things other people couldn't get to capital-W Work, and they're seen as 'stealing' the idea instead of perfecting them.

Great artists steal.

▲ aurareturn 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

  Historically the strength of Apple was that they didn't ship things until they actually worked. Meaning that the technology was there and ready to make an experience that was truly excellent.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini are already working.

▲ lowbloodsugar 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

iOS26 is a shit show. Glass looks terrible on my old 12 Pro Max, and just recently it has started trying to connect phone calls to my child's iPad Pro. That is, the speaker button, which previously I pushed to enable the speaker, now pops up a menu with other nearby devices listed in an annoyingly small font. My wife finally asked me for an Android because all her friends get far better pictures. Something isn't right over there, and a lot of people are leaving.