Yet more than a Billion users around the world do love it. Every other tech company in the world envies what you call baloney.
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Apple Continues to Fall Behind
- Thread starter DougiePhresh
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Mostly agreed, except that the AVP does not have "no apps," it has limited apps. It has enough apps working to be a superb tech demo, not "useless" IMO.
Apple should have a full-court press on making AVP software work better; 10x whatever Apple is doing now. The fact that Apple allows AVP software to be proceeding so slowly is an unconscionable fail by Apple. Why Apple has not at a minimum funded having every Apple app (including the wholly owned Claris subsidiary's Filemaker) running bombproof on AVP by now is beyond my comprehension. Surely there must be at least one MBA-educated person in Apple management.
Of course "The cost of these devices will stop most people from buying them," but so what? "Most people" do not need to buy a product to make it appropriate to produce. All a product needs to do is add to the brand and not be too far from breaking even costwise.
I would argue that "most people buying them" should not even be a corporate goal. Instead the goals should be to make only good products that do add to the brand, which will then lead to the important most people buying them.
[Some company ships a left-handed wind-shifter.]
Some bright spark on MR: "Oh no! Apple is falling behind. There is a left-handed wind-shifter gap!!!"
Some bright spark on MR: "Oh no! Apple is falling behind. There is a left-handed wind-shifter gap!!!"
Absolutely. As a new AVP user, it is a synchronicity of being floored by what the device can do already and being frustrated by why it cannot do more – basically most of what runs on iPadOS should work here and most of it should have been augmented for 3D. The widgets show the potential.
In many ways the AVP is like the 1st generation iPhone. Mind-bending and at the same time limited. IF Apple keeps on working on this device, it can and will become a real PRO machine. For working spaces, for 3D rendering, for Artwork, for Architectural presentations, for really working on design projects with a pen or your hands in life-size surroundings. Just imagine being IN a photo and using the Muse to retouch it (which, given how Adobe never manages iOS at all, will not happen). The potential shown in small things like the Disney and Apple immersive spaces, the Virtual Desktops, the personas... this can and if Apple and the Devs let it, WILL be a game changer. And at the highest level it should be expensive and not for consumption only, it's cheap compared to a full-specced Mac Studio oder MBP.
What it needs, apart from simple ergonomics and a boost in resolution and FOV and all that, is more pro apps, a direct wired connection to the Mac with 120HZ no latency screens, Remote Desktop functionality and – down the road – better ways of interacting with the virtual interface.
But as it is, it is the most mindbending device with endless potential for surgery, building and industrial design, photo manipulation, 3D, music production, especially considering the fact that you can share the experience now.
And so far neither Steam nor Quest and not even Samsung can deliver this high-end hardware connected to the most interlocking software ecosphere you could imagine. There is so much crazy potential here, it's a new class of device and working tool. It will take time, a second hand market, new app development, opening side-loading, technological progress, but quite frankly, this is one of the very few moments where you have that «****, we're living in a science fiction movie» feeling in an actually good way.
I like how Sam Tucker pointed out it's not a tri-fold but a bi-fold. Coz it folds twice.
The tri-fold also has a weak-looking display surface where a user's finger can visibly deform the surface of the display. There's obviously no Gorilla Glass on it. You're touching a 0.1mm thick layer of plastic atop OLED. Easy to damage I'm certain.
The folded areas also are visibly deformed when the device is opened. Wavy.
Folded phones are just a terrible, terrible idea.
If anyone had any sense they'd make foldable phones with a non-continuous folded display. Instead use two separate panels, each with Gorilla Glass. And that means there would be a thin air gap down the center of the unfolded display, maybe 0.5mm to 1mm wide.
The tri-fold also has a weak-looking display surface where a user's finger can visibly deform the surface of the display. There's obviously no Gorilla Glass on it. You're touching a 0.1mm thick layer of plastic atop OLED. Easy to damage I'm certain.
The folded areas also are visibly deformed when the device is opened. Wavy.
Folded phones are just a terrible, terrible idea.
If anyone had any sense they'd make foldable phones with a non-continuous folded display. Instead use two separate panels, each with Gorilla Glass. And that means there would be a thin air gap down the center of the unfolded display, maybe 0.5mm to 1mm wide.
You’re coming at this like an armchair critic who thinks Apple’s job is to chase every flashy form factor. The reality is Apple has never been first to market with experimental hardware, they wait until the tech is mature enough to scale to the mass market. That’s why the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, the iPad wasn’t the first tablet, and the Apple Watch wasn’t the first smartwatch. Yet each of those categories only became mainstream once Apple entered.
Folding phones are still niche, expensive, and fragile. Samsung and Huawei can afford to throw prototypes into the wild because their business model thrives on iteration. Apple’s model is different: they build ecosystems and products that hundreds of millions of people can rely on daily. That requires patience, not gimmicks.
So yes, it’s easy to sit here and cry about “innovation being dead” without understanding how Apple actually operates. But don’t expect much more than that on forums like this ,people love to vent without grasping the bigger picture of mass-market adoption, durability, and long-term strategy.
And let’s be honest: Samsung’s approach is basically throwing junk at people until something sticks. They flood the market with half-baked experiments, then quietly drop the ones that fail. That shotgun strategy might look like “innovation” on the surface, but it’s really just trial and error at scale. Apple’s slower, deliberate path may frustrate critics, but it’s the reason their products last and actually define categories instead of cluttering them.
Folding phones are still niche, expensive, and fragile. Samsung and Huawei can afford to throw prototypes into the wild because their business model thrives on iteration. Apple’s model is different: they build ecosystems and products that hundreds of millions of people can rely on daily. That requires patience, not gimmicks.
So yes, it’s easy to sit here and cry about “innovation being dead” without understanding how Apple actually operates. But don’t expect much more than that on forums like this ,people love to vent without grasping the bigger picture of mass-market adoption, durability, and long-term strategy.
And let’s be honest: Samsung’s approach is basically throwing junk at people until something sticks. They flood the market with half-baked experiments, then quietly drop the ones that fail. That shotgun strategy might look like “innovation” on the surface, but it’s really just trial and error at scale. Apple’s slower, deliberate path may frustrate critics, but it’s the reason their products last and actually define categories instead of cluttering them.
Like the Microsoft Surface Duo? I did like that particular design.
I am not sure folding phones are the game changer.
What might be is something in the form factor of iPhone 17 Pro Max that has 4TB or 8TB storage, which does the job of both a phone and a computer - when connected with an external screen (say a 5K studio display) you have your normal MacOS experience, you connect Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to it. And when mobile, it behaves as a mobile like we know now, but with cross-over of the storage so you have easy access to photos and the like no matter which way you use it.
You might need to use some external hub to provide more ports, but for less demanding uses that would cover what a lot of people need, especially if say at work you have a screen at your desk and usually just plug in your computer to it.
The phone does both jobs and you don't have to carry a laptop computer with you anymore.
Some folks will still need dedicated desktop computers or more powerful laptop computers, but for those that don't this could be a winner.
What might be is something in the form factor of iPhone 17 Pro Max that has 4TB or 8TB storage, which does the job of both a phone and a computer - when connected with an external screen (say a 5K studio display) you have your normal MacOS experience, you connect Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to it. And when mobile, it behaves as a mobile like we know now, but with cross-over of the storage so you have easy access to photos and the like no matter which way you use it.
You might need to use some external hub to provide more ports, but for less demanding uses that would cover what a lot of people need, especially if say at work you have a screen at your desk and usually just plug in your computer to it.
The phone does both jobs and you don't have to carry a laptop computer with you anymore.
Some folks will still need dedicated desktop computers or more powerful laptop computers, but for those that don't this could be a winner.
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33 years with Apple products.
Apple has occasionally led, but has more frequently followed with products closer to the conceptual ideal.
Regarding foldables … are they profit centers or demonstrations of prowess? The bird or the feathers?
Well said, I concur.
Give me a moment to take a second look at the box my Z Fold7 came in. Perhaps there's some feathers I didn't notice during the unpacking experience 😁
With a heavy mobile work load, the Z Fold7 I bought upon its release has been a delightful and productive addition to my work gear. When out and about the cornerstones are my 13" M2 MacBook Air, my 11" iPad Pro and my iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The initial thought was to try a folding phone while maintaining low expectations. It would either work or it wouldn't. Much to my surprise it has been quite successful. Yet that said I'm taking the long view and giving it more time to test durability and long term functionality.
I'm not ready to designate it as a replacement for any of my devices, but rather as an encouraging start for what may end up being one of my mission critical devices.
Haven't bought an iPhone since the 3rd gen Samsung fold. And macbook since they started having a notch on the display. Hopefully they'll start being innovative again. And for the people here happy about current status of apple beacuse their earnings still are great. Even as a shareholder the innovation is dissapointing.
Folding displays today are less annoying then the notch. Thats a fact. Had a notch iPhone and its annoying. More so then the creases in a fold.
Tho
Those who say the MacBook notch isn’t distracting must run in dark mode. It’s very distracting with a light colored menu bar.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Apple was too late entering the smartphone market and they’re less than 30% of the market worldwide. They’re never going to achieve anything like being a trillion dollar company like that!
The entire folding phone market sold, at most, 25 million among ALL the completion. The “failed” iPhone Air likely sold that in the first three months.
As shift to standarising on a connector like USB-C… is that the USB-C that the EU drafted, iterated and implemented? OR is that the USB-C that the tech world created and the EU waited until everyone was on to pass legislation to say they HAVE to use the tech they were already using. Just like Brazil did?
Actually, Brazil looked at the fact that everyone was already using USB-C and understood no legislation was required.
haha WHATTT?!
By what metric?
Because Apple doesn't make a phone design which repeatedly breaks and literally caught on fire?
Bro reckons he can design iPhones better than Apple😂
Most unhinged comment I’ve seen this year