Well it depends on whether you prioritise sound quality or comfort. The sound quality on my wired Bose is just better than the AirPods so I do use them both according to my needs. Wired isn't going anywhere till they catch up in sound quality
I agree on the first part.
Of the three, my Sony headphones offered the best sound quality, and there is no question the AirPods pale in comparison to them. Heck, I can't even hear anything out of my AirPods when I am in a moderately noisy room, such as a coffee shop or inside a train. However, they more than made up for this in terms of convenience. I can keep my AirPods case in my front shirt pocket. Taking them out or keeping them is extremely easy to do.
I have also tried wired earbuds with those padded tips but they just made the insides of my ears hurt after a while as well.
Which brings me back to my original point - the best-sounding headphones are useless to me if I can't wear them.
Looking back, the airpods to match my use case pretty well. When I walk to work in the morning, it's pretty quiet, so the AirPods deliver decent sound quality for podcasts while still allowing me to keep my awareness of my surroundings. Same when I am marking books in the staffroom. Likewise, when I am watching a movie on my Apple TV, the AirPods allow me to wear them for hours on end without any fatigue or discomfort. It's just one neat little package with just the right mix of emphasis and compromises for me.
Past a certain point, sound quality just isn't that great a priority for me, especially if it comes at the expense of comfort and ease of use. I find this is an increasingly common trend with Apple. I like their products because they so happen to focus on areas which matter to me, while the areas they do neglect (or opt not to focus on) don't really interest me.
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How does Apple grow their mobile sector aside from creating new services for existing users to sign up on? Where is Apple's growth in mobile hardware sales going to come from? Its existing users?
By moving on beyond the iPhone to the next big thing.
Having seen their recent iPhone sales, I am of the opinion that iPhone sales are more or less beginning to stagnate, as the high-end market begins to mature. That Apple chose to highlight performance improvements as one of the tentpole features of iOS 12 is like no coincidence. The reality is that more and more users are opting to hold on to their existing smartphones (many as old as the 5s or 6) instead of upgrading because they are good enough for their needs.
In the same vein, features such as iMessages in the cloud, iCloud photo library and similar cloud features is probably a nod to many users still owning 16gb or 32gb devices (which made great financial sense back then, but is looking increasingly myopic today). Past a certain point, it's easier to just get a new device with more storage, but at least they aren't left in the cold.
Indeed, replace the battery, update to iOS 12, and your iPhone 6+ is likely still good for another year or 2 at least. Heck, I could hang on to my 5s (were I still using it), still get Apple Pay via my Apple Watch and stream music via my AirPods.
Of course, this doesn't mean people will stop buying iPhones overnight, but if you are looking for growth, it's clearly not in the sales of low-end devices which hardly earn Apple any profit. So what's next?
Wearables is the obvious answer. WWDC showed a heavy emphasis on AR, which likely paves the way for a pair of AR glasses in the near future.
Apple Watch continues to gain more functionality, and it's really only a matter of time before it gains independence from the iPhone. A line of health-tracking wearables and maybe even smart clothing from Apple (weren't they rumoured to be working on a glucose monitor?) doesn't sound all that radical coming from Apple. We already have bits and pieces of the technology in place, from W1 chip, to the fabric used in the iPad Smart Keyboard, to Apple's expertise with miniaturisation.
Then there's content distribution, between News, Apple Music, their purchase of Texture, the rumoured video streaming service, revamped stocks, books and podcast apps. Apple is in a prime position to manage how content is being distributed to its users. My guess is a single subscription for news, music, video and maybe even iCloud storage?
Additional accessories in the form of the homepod, airpods, the upcoming Pro Apple headphones, and who knows what else is cooking in their labs also form a good source of supplementary income.
There's also Apple's self-driving and health initiatives. I don't know how Apple plans to monetise them, but they obviously wouldn't invest in these areas if there wasn't money to be made.
And all this works because by virtue of the iPhone, Apple has access to the best customers who have a higher propensity to spend and generally seem more amenable to adopting new Apple features.
So my answer - look to the future, not to the past.
