2018's Biggest Apple Leaks: iPhone XS and XR, iPad Pro, Macs, and More

[alFR]

As 2018 comes to a close, it's a great opportunity to take a look back at the year that was.

Or maybe just take a week off rather than recycling all the stories from the past year.

The Apple Watch has shown the most promise - and has seen annual updates, but my concern is that it tries to do so much with its form factor. Can't Apple consider other lifestyle devices that augment the application of the technology? Home Healthcare is blowing up and Apple could be a significant player in this arena. Instead, their 1-lead EKG watch is less of a 'hobby' than AppleTV was in its early years. When I use an Apple Watch I'm struck by the fact that it tries to do SO much instead of being focused on what it can do BEST.

What sort of devices? Scales? Blood pressure monitors? There's plenty of those already. I actually think they've really focussed Apple Watch from the cool but directionless product it was at first onto 3 things: notifications, health and fitness.

The foundation of Apple was the Mac line-up. While there have been reasonable advance in the MacBook Air and even the MacBook Pro line ups, the absence of a new Pro (aside from last year's iMac Pro) is just not good. The last Pro, while impressive, spoke more toward Apple's sense of style than the actual consumer's sensibilities. I'm encouraged by the talk of a more modular approach - but 5 years on, the delay speaks to Apple's disinterest in this foundation they've laid.

The subject of the trashcan Pro, the wrong bet Apple made on how GPUs were going to feature in the future of workstations and the "thermal corner" they got themselves into with that design is well documented and has been done to death already. They've already announced a new Pro coming next year. Too long between refreshes? Yep. Delayed? Nope, it's coming when they said it would.

Second, what's keeping Apple from simple speed bumps and tweaks every 12-18 months?

They talked about that when they announced the new Air: they feel that the incremental improvements between recent generations of Intel chips aren't worth the engineering effort to update the Macs every time Intel releases something. The processor benchmarks would seem to bear that out. You may disagree with that but it's a valid point of view.

With all the capital in the bank and margins on other products, such a goal could be achievable by reducing Mac prices further.

Good luck with that.

I could understand delays based on a smaller company or failing business model, but Apple is in neither boat.

Everybody seems to forget that while they are a big company in terms of sales, turnover, value etc. they don't have that many staff (only 132,000 people in 2018 and that's everybody worldwide: support, retail, engineering, everything). They actually don't have that big a pool of engineering talent: recruiting doesn't seem to be that easy either from what you read.

If you are hoping for an Ice Lake/Cannon Lake/Sunny Cove refresh and a new chassis, I would not expect to see anything until mid-2020, at the earliest, maybe even 2021.

They'll be on ARM by then.

 

[citysnaps]

Or maybe just take a week off rather than recycling all the stories from the past year.

I (for one, and possibly many) enjoy seeing the year's recap. Thanks MacRumors!

It's easy enough to change the channel if a particular post doesn't interest you.

 

[justperry]

I (for one, and possibly many) enjoy seeing the year's recap. Thanks MacRumors!

It's easy enough to change the channel if a particular post doesn't interest you.

Seems like I am addicted...to MR, that's why I said I was boring/it was a boring week, nothing much else I did last week.
To each their own, respect your view.

 

[LordVic]

Delayed? Nope, it's coming when they said it would.

They've delayed it. in 2017, they said 2018. in 2018, they now say 2019.

 

[ipponrg]

Everybody seems to forget that while they are a big company in terms of sales, turnover, value etc. they don't have that many staff (only 132,000 people in 2018 and that's everybody worldwide: support, retail, engineering, everything). They actually don't have that big a pool of engineering talent: recruiting doesn't seem to be that easy either from what you read.

I find this somewhat amusing. For a company that boasts how much excess cash they have, you'd expect differently. From what I recall reading, the majority of their employees are part of the retail sector (i.e. non-exempt employees). Less than 50% of their total employees are non-retail. You can only imagine what % of that is engineering after cutting out the other exempt staff (finance, marketing, project|product managers, etc).

 

[Baymowe335]

I find this somewhat amusing. For a company that boasts how much excess cash they have, you'd expect differently. From what I recall reading, the majority of their employees are part of the retail sector (i.e. non-exempt employees). Less than 50% of their total employees are non-retail. You can only imagine what % of that is engineering after cutting out the other exempt staff (finance, marketing, project|product managers, etc).

How do they boast how much cash they have? Reporting it as required by the SEC for a public company?

How many engineers does Apple have and how many does Microsoft have? You have no idea how many they have or how many they need to run the company. Seems like it's working out pretty well for them, as they just put up the best year of any company, ever with $60B in profit.

Having too many employees is not a good thing.

 

[Bacillus]

I find this somewhat amusing. For a company that boasts how much excess cash they have, you'd expect differently. From what I recall reading, the majority of their employees are part of the retail sector (i.e. non-exempt employees). Less than 50% of their total employees are non-retail. You can only imagine what % of that is engineering after cutting out the other exempt staff (finance, marketing, project|product managers, etc).

Agree. For their depreciated whole stock value (120B) alone they could’ve purchased 7x a company like Dell (16B) and more (to prevent that vaporisation and perceived cluelessness in the market)

 

[ipponrg]

How do they boast how much cash they have? Reporting it as required by the SEC for a public company?

How many engineers does Apple have and how many does Microsoft have? You have no idea how many they have or how many they need to run the company. Seems like it's working out pretty well for them, as they just put up the best year of any company, ever with $60B in profit.

Having too many employees is not a good thing.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Do you think it's "too many" or "not enough"? If it's the latter, then I agree. Otherwise, there is a shortage of engineers across the board. How would I know? Because I'm an engineer in the field.

Microsoft's portfolio is vastly larger than Apple. Apple only put up the best year in numbers. As a consumer, I could care less about how much profit they make. Excess profit not translated to a plethora of products tells me that Apple is content with focusing on only their small portfolio of products and not expanding.

There is no reason for them to not pursue ubiquity with things such as their computers or own their server side solutions.

I don't understand why people such as yourself are so happy with how much profit they make, when they are making a lackluster effort on expanding and dominating the world in all fronts.

 

[Baymowe335]

You have no idea what you are talking about. Do you think it's "too many" or "not enough"? If it's the latter, then I agree. Otherwise, there is a shortage of engineers across the board. How would I know? Because I'm an engineer in the field.

Microsoft's portfolio is vastly larger than Apple. Apple only put up the best year in numbers. As a consumer, I could care less about how much profit they make. Excess profit not translated to a plethora of products tells me that Apple is content with focusing on only their small portfolio of products and not expanding.

There is no reason for them to not pursue ubiquity with things such as their computers or own their server side solutions.

I don't understand why people such as yourself are so happy with how much profit they make, when they are making a lackluster effort on expanding and dominating the world in all fronts.

So you think you understand Apple’s staffing requirements for engineers because you are one? Lol...

I am simply telling you that we don’t know the details of how they run their business, but HOW they run it has produced the best results in corporate history.

I’m not only a consumer and the only product from MSFT I use is Windows and Office, and it generally sucks.

Saying Apple is “content” with the small portfolio misses the point. I think Apple is content with dominating. Why is Microsoft content with making 1/3 of the profit of Apple? So they can have market share?

 

[ipponrg]

So you think you understand Apple’s staffing requirements for engineers because you are one? Lol...

I am simply telling you that we don’t know the details of how they run their business, but HOW they run it has produced the best results in corporate history.

I’m not only a consumer and the only product from MSFT I use is Windows and Office, and it generally sucks.

Saying Apple is “content” with the small portfolio misses the point. I think Apple is content with dominating. Why is Microsoft content with making 1/3 of the profit of Apple? So they can have market share?

I’ve interviewed with them enough to spot significant holes in their engineering compared to their competitors including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. They don’t really encourage their engineers to stir their creative juices, and so they attract a particular engineer profile. How many times have you seen Apple expose test projects?

Your opinion about Windows and Office is comical. I’d like to hear what alternatives you think are better. Apple Numbers? At work even though we are all on Macs, we use Office (outlook/ppt/word/excel) and Google Business. Apple’s first party suite (keynote/numbers/etc) is very constricting when you need portability answers lacks extensive features compared to the MSFT counterparts.

I don’t understand why you continue to focus on profits and forget about expanding your ecosystem for a greater reach for ubiquity. From your overemphasis on profits alone, you would be great for an operations role, and that is all.

 

[Baymowe335]

I’ve interviewed with them enough to spot significant holes in their engineering compared to their competitors including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. They don’t really encourage their engineers to stir their creative juices, and so they attract a particular engineer profile. How many times have you seen Apple expose test projects?

Your opinion about Windows and Office is comical. I’d like to hear what alternatives you think are better. Apple Numbers? At work even though we are all on Macs, we use Office (outlook/ppt/word/excel) and Google Business. Apple’s first party suite (keynote/numbers/etc) is very constricting when you need portability answers lacks extensive features compared to the MSFT counterparts.

I don’t understand why you continue to focus on profits and forget about expanding your ecosystem for a greater reach for ubiquity. From your overemphasis on profits alone, you would be great for an operations role, and that is all.

Stopped reading after your first sentence.

1) You cannot make that assertion with anecdotal interviewing.
2) You are not the authority or any authority on Apple engineering/engineers.
3) The 3 companies you mentioned, particularly FaceBook and Google, have a lot of their own problems.

 

[developer13245]

I for one come here to read their stories. I use the Tapatalk app 95% more than any app on my iPhone, to read the MacRumor stories as well visit the various Apple forums.

How many iOS and Mac apps have you developed and published?
BTW: Coding 'camps' (daycare) does not count.

 

[Momof2.1107]

How many iOS and Mac apps have you developed and published?
BTW: Coding 'camps' (daycare) does not count.

I never mentioned anything regarding coding or developing apps, so I think you’re quoting the wrong person.

 

[k0bayashi]

Hope 2019 will be even better! Happy New Year (in advance) everyone!

You too bud.