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Wow... all the people saying this is a sketchy rumor... macrumors already hit this a couple of days ago and, today, I see serious coverage in ... Reuters, Bloomberg...

Something I'll never understand is the curmudgeonly instinct. "Oh look, Apple are doing something. I know, I'll go on macrumors to trash it."

Will there be an apple car? Who knows. But there's not enough information to suggest there won't be one, at this time. And a decent enough set of sources to suggest something might be on the way.

Hopefully soon the US government will nationalize Apple and Tesla, and make electric cars free for every citizen.
 
Apple doesn’t need to keep making cars forever. If they can develop enough useful car technologies and allow other car makers to license them the money from that alone will generate much revenue for decades. They only need to have a high end car that shows off all those features. That car would still sell out if it’s actually a good car. It can be the car company with the least cars sold and yet still be the most profitable car company at the same time. If they play their cards right.
 
Traditional car manufacturers are about to go the same way as Nokia and Ericsson because they haven't realised their industry is now a software industry.
This is false. They may go under for not adopting battery power, but the car industry is a manufacturing industry. Ultimately, manufacturing and product quality sells cars.
 
First I’ll go for the new electric VW Microbus (first shown in 2017 and supposed to arrive in 2022) then I’ll consider an Apple Car.
 
if apple were to own the whole stack, I can actually see them killing a lot of manufacturers.

there's so much glut between process validation, technological validation etc that the legacy car makers do which just keep piling cost of development of the car up that apple won't be constrained by. Its the entire reason why teslas look like teslas and bmws look like bmws. meaning, all those extra knobs, shifters, wiring, materials, inefficient sound deadening placement is really just years and decades of process glut that's built into the car.

Apple starting from the ground up would be able to remove a lot of that crap.


but they will probably farm out production to another automaker and just be happy selling less cars with 20% margin than to sell a metric **** ton, bankrupt all the automakers and make 1% margin for the first 20 years.
 
I remember when Steve Jobs wanted to to be insanely great at a few products. I feel like Apple is trying to be a Swiss Army knife at technology. That doesn’t work out well. Ask Microsoft.
Not a good look for your argument when you want us to look at the largest and 2nd largest richest companies in the world , if Microsoft didnt branch to cloud computing for example or if Apple didnt branch to cell phones as they were a computer company , Steve wanted to sell you products and with the scale of Steve`s Apple he needed to focus on fewer products then Tim`s Apple which is 2x the R&D or even more.

Apple doing their own Mac CPU`s for example is a BIG undertaking , you think they shouldve kept buying Intel?
Amazon pivoting and going AWS , when their core business is selling books - > physical products.

the list goes on and on , you make money -> you invest money in your future , you dont sit on your pile of money and just wait for your golden goose no matter what it is to die or become a commodity with low margins.

If Steve were here , I have 0 doubt they would be investing heavily into more futuristic technologies , call it the post phone Apple or whatever you want , it is criminal not to.
 
if apple were to own the whole stack, I can actually see them killing a lot of manufacturers.

there's so much glut between process validation, technological validation etc that the legacy car makers do which just keep piling cost of development of the car up that apple won't be constrained by. Its the entire reason why teslas look like teslas and bmws look like bmws. meaning, all those extra knobs, shifters, wiring, materials, inefficient sound deadening placement is really just years and decades of process glut that's built into the car.

Apple starting from the ground up would be able to remove a lot of that crap.


but they will probably farm out production to another automaker and just be happy selling less cars with 20% margin than to sell a metric **** ton, bankrupt all the automakers and make 1% margin for the first 20 years.
It will be a similar fight between a Rolex (or a good mechanical watch) and a apple watch , the BMW is amazingly built with great quality control and premium materials , the Tesla/Apple car are plastic like Cars BUT they have extremely handy SW and tech features with great engines (CPU instead of a quartz) , Apple is prime to make your car fun again with a great set of Tech features , BMW can only give you more of the same , in the end there is market for both , but we saw that with all its flaws (apple watch) ppl liked tech on their wrists instead of a fashion statement , which is why i suspect they will love the AC.
 
I used to be excited about the prospect of an Apple Car. As a huge apple fanboy since the late-90s, anything with an apple logo on it I wanted to buy even the market-duds that really weren't sold at a good price or features to penetrate the sector.

But as I get older (34 now) and I have owned more vehicles (400 horsepower hot hatch (Golf R), Corolla, Camry, Faux-UV (ford escape) Wagon (golf estate), maxima and now a Hyundai Ioniq fully electric, I don't think Apple is capable of making a car that will really solve any issues or appeal to the general public.

This car will need to be sub-50K, will need to best Tesla at design, service, support, buying experience and it'll never have Tesla's super charger network and it will need to be flexible enough to not require apple service stations and repairs. Sort of like how I'm glad Apple never tried the MVNO route with iPhone, I'd like / prefer Apple to make a platform and license that to others struggling to compete with Tesla. AppleCar becomes a platform other companies can build on top of with self-driving AI technology and infotainment along with crash test scores & range that better Tesla then we can get the Bolt EV, Ioniq and E-Golf, aka sub-standard RVs onto a platform that allows them to compete with Tesla and for Apple to get their experience in more customer hands without apple having to do any of the 'car things' that they'd have to do.

if Apple can make a platform (hardware & software) and license it out, then they don't have to worry about warranties, support, service, financing, leasing, charging networks. They basically become like Bosch or Denso in that regard.
The main problem you have in this concept is that the big German/Japanese automakers are going solo , each big car "firm" is trying to win by themselves , giving Apple big money for each car sold doesnt seem like what those corpos are trying to do , at least today.

Also take few years back when Tesla just started , I read the SAME exact comments about "how can they compete with 50 years of industry experience" ,and other comments like that , same with Apple building phones to compete with blackberry and Nokia , now days it looks obvious to you and you use Tesla as peak electrical car as your reference , but it wasnt the case back then , give them a chance , and judge accordingly , there is no reason they cant build a good car , its not THAT complicated , its very streamlined these days and can be done on an automated production line unlike the good old days where you needed manual workers , getting good car designers is not an issue either and Apple shouldnt have problem attracting talent.

regarding issues with scale (wont have super charger network) - Apple are churning out 250 million phones in the biggest (by far) logistic operation in the tech world , on a yearly basis with no hiccups with great QA , they will know how to setup the manufacturing lines for whatever they decide to build , no worries there.

The only thing that might hamper them is the price , if they over engineer the car to a point they need to price it so high that avg joe cant buy it , it will be tricky , but they will probably go the homepod way , highend first, low end later.
 
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Reading this article does get me seriously hyped. The line of it being similar to the first time you saw an iphone especially, I have honestly never had that feeling about a consumer product since the iphone. Technology has stagnated the last few years imho. Even next gen consoles are just like better resolution and FPS and the graphics are a bit more shiny, but not profound change from what I can see, in the whole experience.

The originaly iphone definitely felt that way when the first time I saw it I just thought 'wow, this is the future', it felt like such a leap at the time as something just a year before I would never have thought would become a product so soon.

If apple do manage to pull off an apple car that does truly bring down the cost of electric cars down to make it more accessible for the masses, and not only that, but makes it a great car as well with amazing featues, safety, design, and comfort, then I believe it would be apple's greatest ever accomplishment by far. It would steal Elon's thunder for sure, but I bet he would be the first to applaud it.

I do however remain enormously skeptical. I'll never believe this until I see it. There have been so many apple rumours over the year that amounted to nothing (remember the apple TV (as in an actual TV made by apple) rumours for so many years?). But I do absolutely hope this one turns out to be true.
I can’t tell if your paid per post or if you are seriously that far gone into Apple. Absolutely no way Apple can bring down costs “to make is more accessible to the masses”. They never complete in the low end market which is what is needed for it to reach the masses. They will compete in the upper end market.
 
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I still don’t think it’s a terrible idea. Apple produces the best displays in the industry. Even high-end TV’s have an embarrassing calibration out of the box.
Hate to break it to you, they dont produce displays. LG does along with some others.
 
Ha, you've forgotten how Palm and Blackberry schoffed at the iPhone in 2007 and said "we've spent years working on phones, they don't know what they are doing". Turns out they did because software is King, not hardware.
Pretty sure hardware is king in the car. The occupants’ life depends on it.
 
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The main problem you have in this concept is that the big German/Japanese automakers are going solo , each big car "firm" is trying to win by themselves , giving Apple big money for each car sold doesnt seem like what those corpos are trying to do , at least today.

Also take few years back when Tesla just started , I read the SAME exact comments about "how can they compete with 50 years of industry experience" ,and other comments like that , same with Apple building phones to compete with blackberry and Nokia , now days it looks obvious to you and you use Tesla as peak electrical car as your reference , but it wasnt the case back then , give them a chance , and judge accordingly , there is no reason they cant build a good car , its not THAT complicated , its very streamlined these days and can be done on an automated production line unlike the good old days where you needed manual workers , getting good car designers is not an issue either and Apple shouldnt have problem attracting talent.

regarding issues with scale (wont have super charger network) - Apple are churning out 250 million phones in the biggest (by far) logistic operation in the tech world , on a yearly basis with no hiccups with great QA , they will know how to setup the manufacturing lines for whatever they decide to build , no worries there.

The only thing that might hamper them is the price , if they over engineer the car to a point they need to price it so high that avg joe cant buy it , it will be tricky , but they will probably go the homepod way , highend first, low end later.
Who’s going to manufacture and assemble the car? As someone pointed out, autos aren’t about the car biz, they’re about the manufacturing. Apple contracts out everything. They do the initial design but they don’t manufacture and they don’t assemble. Every auto company does that themselves because of QA and profit margins. And Tesla learned the hard way with trying to automate everything. It can’t be done at this moment in time. So again, who’s going to have the capacity and willingness to manufacture and assemble cars for Apple?
 
They don’t manufacture them, but they’re produced to their specification.
Like I said, Apple doesn’t make their displays. They simply spec them. Vastly different things. Anyone can spec hardware.

edit: I don’t disagree that they have the best displays in most of their stuff but other companies simply choose not to due to cost.
 
Pretty sure hardware is king in the car. The occupants’ life depends on it.
When is FSD coming out?
This is false. They may go under for not adopting battery power, but the car industry is a manufacturing industry. Ultimately, manufacturing and product quality sells cars.
Have you had a look at TSLA's value on the stock market recently (in comparison to the incumbents/traditionals)?
That kind of money isn't riding on just a new upstart car manufacturer and Apple obviously isn't planning on missing out on the next tech wave in software either. If the established car companies can't keep up in software terms it could be game over in less than 10 years. How quickly did Nokia, Blackberry et al loose a market they pretty much owned in only 5 years?
 
What is the hurt Apple want to solve?

Better Battery - along with all others. Mono cell may solve something but it is essentially new chemistry that is needed - not exactly any "tech" companies strengths. Sometime I think IT tech companies being arrogant. Every car manufacturer has figured out that the battery is the key. It even trumps software.

Autonomous cars: if getting FDA approval for the clock sensors was difficult, this will be much worse. Do the customers want this?

Cheaper cars : It is already a race to the bottom. Not Apple forte.

The European car industry has been slow to react to electrification but that is changing now - partly because of legislation. The big ones comes out with some really good EVs. They maybe not top of the line in terms on "IT Tech" but they have many decades of experience of making comfortable and reasonably robust cars ("mechanical tech") which compensate a lot.

Some times the private sectors disappoint me: they should have learned that customers want to have one power plug standard not several...same mistake again as the power outlets and we talk about a globalised world in the 2020 and not the 19:th century. The IT techs really like vendor lock-ins business models and it sometime feels like they building virtual North Koreas for their customers (yeah, go ahead and press the dislike button). It forces liberal EU to bring some sense to this which they really should not need to (press the dislike button again).
 
Yeah I dunno about that, premium cars ARE about driving pleasure and utility. Tesla still haven't made a pure driver's car. Even the upcoming roadster is compromised by being a convertible, and having too great a range (and thus too heavy battery). Yeah, the cars are awesome for outright acceleration, but lack for cornering handling compared with other performance cars. Sure, software can help with that, but it is 95% about hardware and physics. And on the subject of software, Apple's recent track record for quality control leaves a lot to be desired. I most certainly wouldn't trust my life with an Apple car! Oh, and if we are talking about driverless cars, and Apple's expertise in AI, then I have one word for you - "Siri".
"Hey Siri, drive me to the courtyard"
"okay, driving you to graveyard"
 
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Still don't understand why are they doing this. I doubt they can achieve margins anywhere near the current products.
 
Apple charges $1,000 for a monitor stand. How much do you thing Apple is going to want for their electric cars$$$$$
 
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