Surely that accolade goes to the first generation Apple Pencil, which rudely stuck out of the lightning port when charging. I took one look at that and said just no.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Biggest Hardware Flops of All Time
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
I love the Magic Mouse 🖱️. It does serve its purpose but I think when it comes to
Charging.. it is poorly designed. Yes, it doesn’t take all day to charge the mouse. I just wish Apple had introduced a wireless charging pad for the Apple Mouse. There were other ways around it but Apple didn't thought about it.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
That's a good question. Or...
How about the biggest flops in hardware and software since Tim Cook became a CEO? 🙈
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
Good point but that’s after customers fork out $3000 from their own bank account and pay for the product first. Otherwise, Apple won’t budge in developing a cheaper model for the glasses. Look at what happened to HomePod.
The Apple Watch was lucky to escape being on this list. Love the watch now but the first one really wasn't ready for showtime, slow, no gps, expensive. I think a lot of early adopters were put off by the experience. Apple persevered though and things really improved with the series 2 and from the series 4 on it's been a great product.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
It was a flop before it was even released to the Market. Not going to lie it was ahead of its time. Dang! It's 2023 I was hoping by now we should have Air Power Charging Pro/Pro Max/Ultra.
Sadly I am calling it now… get ready to add Apple VR/AR to this list. I just don’t see a big enough market for all this other than gaming and fun novelty gimmicks. I love Apple but I am just calling this now. 😢
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
I can already tell it’s going to be too expensive and the regular consumers will be complaining. Honestly, it looks cool for 5 minutes but that fades away really fast.
Great concept but not meant for reality.
This is a worthwhile roundup for people who think that Apple was all wins before Cook took charge. What I find particularly interesting is places where Jobs just refused to learn from experience-- over heating because of lack of airflow is a recurring theme back to Apple III, then the original Mac, then the G4 cube, then the 2013 trashcan. Studio might be the first one to kind of get it right.
Personally, I'm glad he kept trying-- I loved my 2013, and coveted a Cube but it was discontinued before I was ready to buy-- but the rest of the market apparently doesn't always have the same priorities I do, it seems.
The other recurring theme is reaching to achieve a dream architecture and getting strung up because of price. This is very clearly not a new failing of Apple, they've been struggling with compromise essentially from the beginning. For everyone who thinks that Apple has always been about making great computers for everyone, the messaging in that Costner ad (and tuxedoed delivery?!) says something very different.
Personally, I'm glad he kept trying-- I loved my 2013, and coveted a Cube but it was discontinued before I was ready to buy-- but the rest of the market apparently doesn't always have the same priorities I do, it seems.
The other recurring theme is reaching to achieve a dream architecture and getting strung up because of price. This is very clearly not a new failing of Apple, they've been struggling with compromise essentially from the beginning. For everyone who thinks that Apple has always been about making great computers for everyone, the messaging in that Costner ad (and tuxedoed delivery?!) says something very different.
I would add the HomePod. They sound great but Siri on it was terrible and limited. More than half of the commands given yielded failing results. I shelved mine.
I’d also add MagSafe duo. It came out when announced faster charging for WATCH yet MagSafe duo lacked it. MagSafe duo also stained easily and got dirty quickly.
I’d also like to add Siri. Every instance of Siri (Mac, watch, HomePod, phone, Tv) have different capabilities, different success rates. It’s super frustrating and ultimately not worth using. I don’t understand why Siri is different depending on which device you’re using.
I’d also add MagSafe duo. It came out when announced faster charging for WATCH yet MagSafe duo lacked it. MagSafe duo also stained easily and got dirty quickly.
I’d also like to add Siri. Every instance of Siri (Mac, watch, HomePod, phone, Tv) have different capabilities, different success rates. It’s super frustrating and ultimately not worth using. I don’t understand why Siri is different depending on which device you’re using.
Seriously. An iconic industrial design, recognized everywhere. Seemingly featured for years in every movie and TV series that needed a shorthand visual way to say "futuristic computer." I guess it didn't sell enough units, but I don't think that's the only way to judge whether something is a "flop" or not.
Don't show the Cube naked! Someone will start a thread saying your image is "explicit!"
Not a good mockup, in my opinion.
Why is there a 2D video directly behind the 3D/cutout version of the same instructor?
It looks like translucent displays, but the virtual image is often darker than the background, which won’t be a feature of see-through AR any time soon.
It doesn’t do anything interesting with the tracking features of VR. I want targets to hit, like a boxing game or Beat Saber.
It shows text and video anchored to the real world, which is important to show when explaining what VR is capable of to people who haven’t tried it, but that’s about it.
The Cube is a flop, but the 2015 12 inch MacBook with only one USB port isn't? C'mon man. One frakking port for video, power, external storage, everything. Apple back peddled on the one port idea real quick after the backlash. One port. Ugh.
The standard iPhone 11 is a revision of the XR.
I wonder how many people remember the 20" Anniversary Mac (TAM) from 1997 that this article discusses? This was totally different than anything Apple has ever sold. TAM cost $7,499 when introduced, only a few thousand were made, and nothing like it would ever be made again. It was shown in Batman and Robin film.
Truely a think different Mac! Look at its speaker system.
Truely a think different Mac! Look at its speaker system.
Last edited:
I had a Macintosh TV and LOVED it! Friends of mine had the cube, and they loved them. The 20th Anniversary Macintosh is still beautiful today, it was just overpriced on released… IMHO I wouldn’t call any of these flops. Even the Newton was a great learning experience for Apple.
I'm late to this conversation but hopefully now that Apple's gotta move everything over to USB Type-C that they'll redesign this thing & put the port in the front!
That’s footware, obviously.
Interesting list of Apple products. Price tag for some of these products played a role in them being not successful.