Apple's Biggest Hardware Flops of All Time

[GraXXoR]

I7guy said:
Not too many duds since 2001 or so.

HomePod

User 6502, Please count every entry in that list.

Add to the list:

-Ping
-Magic Mouse with charging port on the bottom.
-USB-C only Macbook Pros
-Apple Music GUI
-That daft touch bar thing.
-The trash can and it 50 Dongles.

Saying you don't know what flopped meant without saying you don't know what flopped meant.

 

[enterthemerdaverse]

Jerry Seinfeld, the character, owned a 20th Anniversary Mac. The show never showed us what he used it for, probably listening to music and streaming Nick At Night.

Imagine Kramer storms into the apartment.

'Jerry...I need to fact check something on your computer. Do you have Microsoft Encarta?'

 

[GraXXoR]

And as horrible as this mouse was, the clit mouse and the hockey puck one were worse.

Apparently I had a clit mouse one one of my earlier machines...
Never did manage to find the fkkn thing.

 

[docbop]

The Apple II was used for business some because thanks to Steve Woznak it was a open system. The popular small business computer were based on the 8080 or Z80 CPUs and CP/M. Being open a couple companies made co-processor boards with Z80 chip that could be put in the Apple II and boot CP/M OS and business app's. The Apple III was just too expensive and there wasn't much business software for the Apple. Also Steve Job hate for fans in computers caused for heat issues with Apple III.

The Apple Lisa was crazy expensive I only know one person who worked for a company that had one. I got to play with it one afternoon and it was the first time I ever used a mouse. What help sell Apple Lisa's is the Mac was coming out and the Lisa was the developer system for writing Mac software and that continued for awhile even after the Mac came out the only Mac development tools available only ran on a Lisa. As soon as developer had tools to develop Mac software on a Mac the Lisa died.

The Apple G4 Cube AKA The Toaster died because of Steve Jobs hate of fans. The Cube overheated and as the nickname says it was hot as a toaster. There was a lot people who liked the Cube and it not for the heat it might of sold.

The Apple Newton was Apple's answer to the popular Palm Pilot PDA. It was actually a really interesting device and the app's they created for it. Again the price was high and it was too big compared to the Palm Pilot so it didn't last long. I alway viewed the iPhone as an small Apple Newton with a cellphone built in.

Most those other Apple computers they showed I don't remember. Also they forget to include the Apple Mac server. Apple thought they get their foot in the door for making web farms and super computer by creating a rack mount server but it died pretty fast. Again it was expensive and not that powerful compared to the Compaq, IBM, and Dell servers. I only knew one place that had a few and I got to check it out once. The SysAdmins told me they were going to switch back it Intel based servers the Mac just aren't worth it.

Not hardware but Apple had it's own version of Unix for awhile called A/UX. That was before CD's and A/UX came on box of 40 or so 3.5" floppy drives. Installing A/UX on a Mac took almost a full day of feeding floppies to it. Needless to say A/UX didn't last long.

Steve Jobs hate for fans is still an issue today and Job obsession with profit margins drives their prices up. Job almost killed Apple once when sales were way down, but he refused to cut the profit margins to build market share up. Apple never made it into the business world because of high prices only graphic arts department would have them. The iPhone was the first Apple to start making its way into the business world.

That's how I remember the Apple flops.

 

[Vlad Soare]

It seems to me most of these have failed solely on the grounds of their price. Otherwise, they were proper engineering marvels, massively ahead of their time.
They may have been commercial failures, but they exhibited that unique, innovative approach that the name Apple has always stood for, and laid the foundation for all the things we take for granted today. They may not have brought the company any money, but the world would have been much poorer without them.
Calling them flops is like calling a Lamborghini a flop because it sells in much lesser numbers than a VW Golf.

 

[Pecka]

I think the Mac IIfx was a very niche product. It was extremely fast (for it's time), and the price was extremely high ($10K USD in 1992 for the max out version). It may have been developed for the US Government, and I'm guessing they were happy with that machine.

SourcE: https://www.apple-history.com/iifx

It was similar performance wise to a Sun SPARCstation 1, but it wasn't enough to beat the machines from that company, HP or DEC.

Also A/UX probably wasn't as good as Sun OS/Solaris or HP-UX.

 

[Danfango]

Lol. What a non-issue. I can't believe people complain about this. Plug the mouse in before bed and it's charged for you in the morning. Plug it in and cook dinner or watch a TV show or any number of other things you do when you're not at your computer. It doesn't take long to charge up. Geez.

The whole point of a wireless mouse is that...it's not attached to the computer via a cable! I honestly can't understand people who want to use the mouse while charging. If a charge only lasted for a few hours, I'd understand. But it lasts for weeks. How hard is it to just plug it in once every few weeks? 🤯🤯🤯

Oh that's fine and all that but when you're in the middle of a working day is usually when it decides to crap out. So you have to plug it in and walk off for a bit and do something else until it's charged enough.

My Logitech, you just plug it in and carry on using it because the hole is on the front

 

[Pecka]

True. SE/30 (SEX) was the pinnacle of the original AIO design.

But the Classic II was a high volume seller.

An that is a shame I think.

In the the 90's Apple released a lot of models that was either sideways or backwards to the previous models.

It wasn't a good decade for the company.

But I understand that they tried to break into the consumer market.

Fortunately those times are behind us, even if Apple have released some bad designs in the recent years.

 

[opeter]

Lol. What a non-issue. I can't believe people complain about this. Plug the mouse in before bed and it's charged for you in the morning. Plug it in and cook dinner or watch a TV show or any number of other things you do when you're not at your computer. It doesn't take long to charge up. Geez.

The whole point of a wireless mouse is that...it's not attached to the computer via a cable! I honestly can't understand people who want to use the mouse while charging. If a charge only lasted for a few hours, I'd understand. But it lasts for weeks. How hard is it to just plug it in once every few weeks? 🤯🤯🤯

At least these guys did put the the USB-C hole in a much more usable location. So you can use you're mouse while it is charging. It's a magical solution! 😍 Oh, and BTW: the mouse can also be wireless charged.

So, if we go back to Apple... Apple just doesn't get it or, in contrary, they like to troll their users/consumers. 😱🤪

 

[Motorola68000]

Didn't realise Lisa's were so rare. I have two of them fully working up in my loft. For me though the first real Apple computer was not Apple at all. I cherish my NeXT computer, because that was the basis for everything to come for Apple, still the basis of today's OS's. Before that Apple were likely to have gone bust. Buying up NeXT to get Steve back was the real start of Apple as we know it.

 

[pj2000]

Damn the 90's sure were wild 😂

G4 Cube is cute af though
now a day apple only can get creative with color

 

[PhilBoogie]

I’m also adding Mac Pro Wheels to the list respectively.

There’s no way they are a success at $699.00 without tax. You can’t buy them
Individually either. That’s just wrong.

Car wheels are less expensive than that. Doesn’t stand a chance! 🤨

View attachment 2142075

They are Wheels Of Fortune.

 

[RodThePlod]

The Apple Newton was Apple's answer to the popular Palm Pilot PDA. It was actually a really interesting device and the app's they created for it. Again the price was high and it was too big compared to the Palm Pilot so it didn't last long. I alway viewed the iPhone as an small Apple Newton with a cellphone built in.

Actually, the Newton was released in 1993 - prior to the Palm Pilot. I bought an original Newton MessagePad around that time. It cost me an arm and a leg, but I loved it. But yes, when the Palm Pilot came out, it considerably undercut the Newton devices both in size/weight and cost, too.

To me, the Newton devices were a class above, though. Sure handwriting recognition wasn't that great in the early versions of NewtonOS, but it improved as time went on. For me, it worked very well.

I had (and still own) most Newton models 100, 110, 120, 2000 and 2100. These are all still in my collection along with other devices on this "flops" list, including my G4 Cube, and Apple Hi-Fi (which I still use occasionally with an old iPod).

 

[Musocat]

I wanted a Cube sooooooooo badly! I just couldn't possibly afford it at the time.

 

[Stiksi]

Success as in they didn’t need to update the design for a long time. Normally if something doesn’t work Apple updates the design.

I personally don’t use that mouse but understood the designers intentions.

Well, ”not needing to update” is also not a marker of success. No one can force Apple to change their design but it is one of the most universally panned mouse designs. It’s more likely that after they came up with the touchpad, nobody at Apple just gave a f about mice anymore. It’s abandonware, not a successful design.

 

[Stiksi]

Is the charging port on the bottom? Kind of looks like it should be…

 

[grad]

I don't recall the stock G4 Cube having overheating problems, maybe the 500MHz version but definitely not as much as some people or media suggest it was.

 

[BvizioN]

Also, this is one of the biggest hardware
failures of all time too. 🖱️

Why do we have to charge a Magic Mouse 2 like this in 2023? 😣

View attachment 2142068

While I agree that this is not a great design, I wouldn't say it is a flop since Apple still sells them. The way it charges doesn't seem to bother me because I only charge it every couple of months and I do that when I am not using it. I honestly never understood the drama about it, most stuff we know of that size are not being used while being charged anyway.

 

[PowerPCFan]

M1 iMac belongs there too

 

[PowerPCFan]

Also, this is one of the biggest hardware
failures of all time too. 🖱️

Why do we have to charge a Magic Mouse 2 like this in 2023? 😣

View attachment 2142068

Sure, it is annoying, but how often does it die? Mine is a Magic Mouse 2 that’s 8 years old and the rechargeable battery lasts for about a year. And that one day you do have to charge it? Just do it before bed, and it will be ready when u wake up!!

 

[AussieStu]

I had the G4 Cube. great machine.
Since the new ARM Apple Silicon M2s are out an updated cube would be great with an M2 Ultra CPU inside..

 

[AussieStu]

That was and is probably my most favorite Mac of all time

i agree. feel the same. new apple silicon would go well in this machine as a update

 

[AussieStu]

I had the

I loved the Cube. I passed on purchasing one though. As the Cube would heat up and oool down repeatedly, tiny cracks would form on the rounded corners at the top of the acrylic case.

G4 450mhz version and mine seemed ok. love if they done one again but with apple silicon

 

[enterthemerdaverse]

I had the

G4 450mhz version and mine seemed ok. love if they done one again but with apple silicon

Lately someone managed to build a dual 1.42Ghz and a single 2Ghz Cube. I think the videos are on YouTube.

 

[Rainshadow]

AirPower Anybody? I mean, if we are talking flops, an announced product that they couldn’t even launch is a pretty big flop.