I think the designs are fine on their own but a tremendous number of the decisions look completely ridiculous.
The biggest thing to me is the inconsistency with Apple and lack of long term planning or thinking through decisions before they make them. It really feels like there is so little alignment at a high product level.
1. The move from Titanium to Aluminum feels like a difficult sell to me. Titanium has a significantly more premium feel and cooling aside is much more resistant to damage from drops. I never had cooling issues with my 15 or 16. I am a pro user... I play graphically intense games, use my phone 6+ hours per day. I don't know what they're on about.
2. You have the Apple Watch Ultra and Series 11 premium version which are both Titanium. The new phones do not in anyway match the watches stylistically. You have a cheap looking recycled aluminum phone and a premium looking titanium on Apple watches with different finishes across the board. On top of that, the watches have barely improved or changed in the last several years. Particularly the Ultra line.
3. FineWoven wallets were the worst material known to man and still available! They look awful when paired with TechWoven cases. The contrast is jarring. Jury is still out on if TechWoven improves at all but why not offer some sort of vegan leather option. My Tesla vegan leather seats have withstood my ass for nearly 5 years surely there is some well understood vegan option for these products that doesn't totally suck. If you look at the videos the contrast is like nails on a chalkboard.
4. You have the most polarizing color choices on what is supposed to be a broadly appealing mass market phone. You have zero neutral color choices outside of silver which still is two-tone white / silver which makes matching it to wallets and cases more challenging even if it's neutral! Surely a company with the resources of Apple can make a phone that has 4-5 color choices and include at least two neutral options so people can choose. The wallets and cases look like **** on the orange phone and navy phone outside of the orange case and wallet.
I love upgrading every year or two but in my head this is what the iPhone 17 pro line looks like to me. I want to find a reason to upgrade, but right now I just can't justify it.
I am starting to agree with Gruber. Something's rotten at Apple and it goes beyond the software issues. This is the first time in my life where I am genuinely concerned what is happening there. The new phones are a symptom of a much bigger problem. Not only can they not ship new products they're barely iterating and the iteration is quite frankly bad. They gave up on the car. The Vision Pro is an overpriced joke. The new phones have many questionable choices. It might be time for a leadership change.
