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Apple's Product Design Team Reportedly Focused More on Costs in Recent Years

tonywalker23 said:
Compare that with page 350 of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs where the iMac G3 outer translucent design cost triple what other computers cost at the time… and Steve allowed the design without even discussing the cost of it. Long before there were trillions in the bank.
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That was an important Mac. How many people here would like a base model iMac to cost the inflation-adjusted equivalent of almost $2400 instead of the base model costing the same as it did in 1998 ($1300)?

That iMac put Apple back on track but cost has to be a factor in decisions. Companies are unsustainable without it, unless they only cater to those who have a lot of money. Again, without considering costs, the base iMac would easily be $1000 more than it is now.
 
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Ive team was a good riddance. There's many talented people in this world and likely working for Apple already. Apple designs post Ive are increasingly better and more functional while still looking distinctively Appleish. Alan Dye is doing an incredible job on the software design side as well.
 
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Wasn't it design that made Apple what it is today? I have used Apple exclusively for my personal electronics for almost two decades now and, frankly, it is worrying to see such articles.
 
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tonywalker23 said:
Compare that with page 350 of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs where the iMac G3 outer translucent design cost triple what other computers cost at the time… and Steve allowed the design without even discussing the cost of it. Long before there were trillions in the bank.
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That was a decision that caused trillions in the bank.
 
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This is personal of course, but I feel like Apple's designs over the past few years are the best they've been in absolute ages, probably since the G4-G5 days. I really hope they stick with this trajectory going forward. At this point all I'm really missing in their current lineup is a plastic chassis $700 MacBook that pays homage to the G3 Clamshell.
 
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I often wonder how hard it is to design something like an phone and an iPad.
 
ericinboston said:
I would argue that Apple's Product Teams (or Apple as a whole) hasn't come up with anything in 10+ years. For 10+ years it's been iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The iPods have been gone for quite some time. Apple/Tim has been producing the same 3 items for over a decade and I am still amazed at how many people believe Apple is innovative the last 3+ years. The iPhone and iPad have been a commodity for quite some time. The Macs have their "stellar" years of 8% personal computer market share.

Apple is just so boring these days. It's like buying a hammer.
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Air Pods and Air Pods Pro are amazing. They completely changed the wireless headphone market segment. Wireless headphones before were chunky (some still are) and still needed wires to connect between them. Because of the Air Pods, we now have great options for wireless headphones.
 
opeter said:
Yeah, but the cost wouldn't be reduced for the people, but rather for Apple. The cost for consumers will be raised further on.
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Yes? And?

Reducing costs for Apple reduces cost for consumers.

If Apple had higher production and manufacturing costs, would that mean the price of iPhone would stay the same?
 
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Spaceboi Scaphandre said:
Not just costs. Since Ive left we got practical designs again. All the form over function designs Ive made that crippled so many products finally got reversed and they're now better than ever (except the mouse. For some reason they haven't reverted that one yet.)

Plus we're getting cheaper machines as a result. Hope we get some more cheaper Macs because of this, and maybe a monitor that isn't absurdly overpriced lmao.
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The new MacBook Air isn’t better than the curved m1
 
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CWallace said:
Considering the other visionaries alive at the time of Steve's passing were running their own companies, an outside-hire was likely not an option. So having to go with an internal candidate, who inside Apple had Steve's vision? (Honest question, not a snarky snipe.)
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Jony Ive had Steve’s vision in design. It was about making the greatest products, with care, attention to detail, and perfectionism. Ive didn’t want to lead though. I believe Schiller was the best person Steve could’ve chosen. Schiller I believe would have maintained Job’s Apple for much much longer.
 
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Infiniverse48 said:
Hilarious statement which is devoid of the knowledge that YOU aren’t getting the benefits from that. YOU are losing out while Apple takes more of your money by reducing your value.

How you don’t understand that, I have no idea. The entire article is about Apple customers losing value because instead of Apple using money freely to make the designs insanely good, they’re cutting that out to make the designs worse, while they save money……….not you.
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My goodness you’re cranky.

If Apple had higher manufacturing costs, would they keep the price of iPhone the same?
 
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JM said:
Reducing costs for Apple reduces cost for consumers.

If Apple had higher production and manufacturing costs, would that mean the price of iPhone would stay the same?
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Reducing costs for Apple has not reduced the cost for consumers. We're still paying higher premium iPhone prices. Even the iPhone SE model isn't cheap.
 
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