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

When you have a bean counter with not a single clue when it comes to taste or design at the top, what do you expect. Considering, its the Industrial Design Group that makes the magic happen and results in the billions in sales, you would think Tim Cook would take a couple trips there every week. But word is, you probably could count on one hand how many times he's been there.

Hopefully Scott Forstall returns and or Apple acquires Jony's new company for 10 billion to bring him back. People like to criticize him, but at the end of the day, he and the core team are why they have had so much success. I think Scott and Jony could work through there differences, they could balance each other well.
 
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The current iPhone design is actually not bad, because the wraparound antenna works well for Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular connectivity. It will be interesting to see what Apple does with the iPhone 15, though; will they go back to the iPhone 11 Pro design but thicker to accommodate the periscope telephone lens system as rumored?
 
To be honest, I couldn't tell that design was taking a back seat at first.

The new iPhones and Pro iPads look fantastic and represent a perfect design for where we're at currently. The Mac is getting it's practicality back (with ports, no more obsessive thinness at the expense of thermal performance) and is experiencing a renaissance thanks to stellar chip design - because a computer isn't just what's on the outside. The Apple Watch is still IMO one of the most attractive designs of a smart watch (that is subjective, I know).

However...

When the iPad 10 was announced it kinda hit me in the face. It was blazingly obvious that the design team weren't given full control and cost-cutting ruled with that one. And it didn't even impact the price point for the end user - it's still a higher cost to us.

That wasn't one of the first times I noticed it, but it was the first time it became blindingly clear. There's been design faux pas in the past decade sure (the Magic Mouse, the AirPods Max's bra, the 'pregnant' iPhone 7 charging cases, the Apple Pencil 1 charging method on older iPads) but that seemed to be just general Apple goofiness - the same goofiness that brought us the puck mouse on the iMac G3's.

But the iPad 10 and it's Pencil adapters fly in the face of the design ushered in by the Apple Pencil 2 and it's perfect charging and pairing method. Apple was about looking forward, why would they release a new product design but rely on the old accessories, and then go to the trouble of making an adapter just to get it to work? That's not good design, that's cost cutting. I always think of the Apple that refused to ship junk. Is the iPad 10 junk? No, on it's own, it's the furthest thing from it. But is the overall experience when you factor in the accessories? Yep.
 
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Need to focus on repairability and upgradability as others in the industry are starting to. Dell are now offering laptops which are slim and repairable. Apple products used to be user serviceable and they should return to this.
 
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adamlbiscuit said:
To be honest, I couldn't tell that design was taking a back seat at first.

The new iPhones and Pro iPads look fantastic and represent a perfect design for where we're at currently. The Mac is getting it's practicality back (with ports, no more obsessive thinness at the expense of thermal performance) and is experiencing a renaissance thanks to stellar chip design - because a computer isn't just what's on the outside. The Apple Watch is still IMO one of the most attractive designs of a smart watch (that is subjective, I know).

However...

When the iPad 10 was announced it kinda hit me in the face. It was blazingly obvious that the design team weren't given full control and cost-cutting ruled with that one. And it didn't even impact the price point for the end user - it's still a higher cost to us.

That wasn't one of the first times I noticed it, but it was the first time it became blindingly clear. There's been design faux pas in the past decade sure (the Magic Mouse, the AirPods Max's bra, the 'pregnant' iPhone 7 charging cases, the Apple Pencil 1 charging method on older iPads) but that seemed to be just general Apple goofiness - the same goofiness that brought us the puck mouse on the iMac G3's.

But the iPad 10 and it's Pencil adapters fly in the face of the design ushered in by the Apple Pencil 2 and it's perfect charging and pairing method. Apple was about looking forward, why would they release a new product design but rely on the old accessories, and then go to the trouble of making an adapter just to get it to work? That's not good design, that's cost cutting. I always think of the Apple that refused to ship junk. Is the iPad 10 junk? No, on it's own, it's the furthest thing from it. But is the overall experience when you factor in the accessories? Yep.
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I agree the iPad 10 pencil support is absolutely a cost cutting measure. However, since that is the device most likely to be used in schools, and because of Chromebook's, this makes sense to me. Right or wrong, wanting to be a device used in schools is going to require a price point that is justifiable to a school board and to tax payers.

Not saying this specific example means anything about anything else Apple. But having spent time with people who write grants and get tax bills passed for schools, absolutely the entry level iPad has a HEAVY influence from education and one of the biggest influences is cost.

All of Apple might be throwing design out the window for the sake of cost reduction, or it might not be. Not trying to say one way or the other. Just this specific product is very targeted and IS being impacted by cost.
 
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Arsenikdote said:
Ive designed one of my favorite iPhone's....the iPhone 4. The iPhone 14....same edges. Did you mean something else maybe?
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The iPhone 6 clear to the epitome of iPhone design: the iPhone X.

The square-edged iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 was very different in design and a much smaller device. And Ive’s team could not yet get the design they really wanted, which was the fully rounded, symmetric body of the iPhone 6, on.
 
Tim Cook is, at his core, an operations guy. So, this is what you'd expect.

Steve Jobs was, at his core, a product guy. We know what we got from him.

Gil Amelio was, at his core, what's usually called a "businessman". We know how that went.

Michael Spindler was largely similar to Amelio. Or, vice versa.

John Sculley was, at his core, a sales guy.

Before that, it was more of a group effort at the top. Conflicts, sure, but a group effort.

So, forgetting any cult of personality aspects - if that's even possible - which worked out the best? At least for us puny customers.

There's lots of similar comparisons you could make of other corporations. I'm no MBA and never took a single business class, but there's probably some conclusions that can be drawn from all this.
 
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GeneralChang said:
So I can get wishing that Steve would have left a few various Apple execs in charge over Tim, but Phil? Really?
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That’s correct. Phil Schiller.

There was just an article not too long ago which spoke about how when Schiller took over the App Store he did things that were negative for costs but because they were better for the customer.

I believe Schiller understood things similarly to Steve and Ive, even though Schiller was not the visionary and design person.
 
The thing is Steve / Ive always made mistakes. Whether it was the sunflower iMac, or the apple hi-fi etc.. some ideas just dont work out. But I dont think there has ever been the amount of noise from online bloggers and influencers to change the narrative as much as there is now. I suppose this is the price of being so popular.

I think the biggest misstep had been the keyboard issues on the MacBook. Thats the bread and butter line and the one that you couldn't just overlook. But the sad thing is, without "idealism" there is no progress. You have to design for the future and where you think things are going to head to lead.

For example, the problem with the new MacBook line is that it is literally the old MacBook from 2012! The design is made to satisfy people who DONT want change. Who DONT want to live in the future. And ironically, they cant see that their love of old and satisfying means there cannot be progress.

I can imagine its not so much fun to be a designer at apple with so much pressure from people who want "new" but dont really. That's a pretty stifling environment.
 
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The current MacBook Pro design is a HUGE improvement over the mid 2010s MacBook Pro. The user's needs are actually being considered now. Hard to believe Ive's MacBook Pro design lacked an HDMI port for so many years. Did he never give a presentation?
 
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threesixty360 said:
The thing is Steve / Ive always made mistakes. Whether it was the sunflower iMac, or the apple hi-fi etc.. some ideas just dont work out. But I dont think there has ever been the amount of noise from online bloggers and influencers to change the narrative as much as there is now. I suppose this is the price of being so popular.
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There really wasn't as much outrage blogging back then.
 
The nickel and diming has already begun by Apple.
Consumers will continue to pay higher prices for its products while Apple keep costs down but will probably keep margins high, for itself and for its shareholders.
One way of keeping costs down is to reduce the number of models in any particular product.
The iPhone and iPad lines are great examples. Don't have more than 2-3 versions.
Many reviewers everywhere has been saying similar things to that effect.
By focusing mainly on cost control, Apple is neglecting in other areas like Quality Control, like in the iOS dept. where iOS has been terrible for awhile with so many bugs as consumers are continuing beta testing even after the official release.

Marking different versions at differing price points to meet 'supposed' customer bases is costly.
Apple shouldn't then blame consumers for not buying certain products like the current 14 Plus iPhone because it misjudged what consumers 'should' want.

Apple needs to get away from the ghosts of Jobs and Ives and go on ahead but can Cook do that? He's no engineer, no dreamer but a financial person.
Consumers need to let go of those ghosts as well as that's in the past and stop making comparisons. Cook needs to help Apple innovate but can he?
 
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I’m going to disagree with just about everyone here. I love the designs recently. The iPhone 12 - 14 designs are fantastic. The iPad designs, especially the mini, the MacBook Air and Pros, and even the Mac Studio and Mac Pro have great designs.

It’s hard to look back and not have rose tinted glasses, but I think this is currently the best design era since the mid to late 2000s.
 
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I've felt like Apple's designs have been going downhill since 2018, so this is hardly surprising news.
 
840quadra said:
That may be, however the result has caused an output of (somewhat) more useful devices than before. Nice bing back on a MacBook "pro" that actually has ports and is of a reasonable size / thickness that gives it reasonable durability.

They brought ports back when I was strongly considering jumping to windows for my main corporate computer, replacing my beloved 2015 Retina MacBook Pro that still had HDMI and other needed ports.
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Just curious, what ports are missing from the current MacBooks that you'd want to see?

Only one I would see as useful is DisplayPort, but HDMI does that job anyway most of the time.
 
The design team that put the charging port at the bottom of the mouse decided to leave? Doesn’t sound like a loss to me.
 
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