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.
Best Apple Products of the Decade: iPad, iPhones, Apple Watch, Macs, and More
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Siri wasn’t a fail, imo. But then maybe maps should have been mentioned as a fail.
I do love the cynicism and self-importance of MacRumors forum posters.
/s
“I can’t believe _____ made the list! I hate that product and don’t know ANYONE who likes it!!!”
“________ shouldn’t be there! It’s not innovative! Steve Jobs would be rolling in his grave!”
“________ isn’t the best anything because it’s not 5” thick so I can replace parts myself!”
/s
“I can’t believe _____ made the list! I hate that product and don’t know ANYONE who likes it!!!”
“________ shouldn’t be there! It’s not innovative! Steve Jobs would be rolling in his grave!”
“________ isn’t the best anything because it’s not 5” thick so I can replace parts myself!”
Well don't forget that this was the product a lot of people were crying for. An iPad running Mac OS with a real keyboard.
The current app paradigm primarily consists of downloading an app to our smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, smart TV, or laptop / desktop. We then interact with the app to “pull” information and context at a time of our choosing. App notifications are not very smart and instead represent mostly useless distractions more than anything else.
The Apple Watch was the first device to genuinely begin questioning the current app paradigm. The Siri watch face on Apple Watch is all about providing the wearer glanceable amounts of information, data, and context in the form of cards chosen by a digital assistant. These cards are personalized to the wearer based on the time of day and schedule. In essence, we are moving away from pulling data from various apps to receiving a curated feed of data that is dynamic - always changing and tailored to our needs.
Apple is turning AirPods into the second platform built for what comes after the App Store. Instead of being about pushed snippets of information and data via a digital voice assistant, something that will likely remain ideal for mobile screens, AirPods will be all about augmenting our environment by pushing intelligent sound.
Underrated comment.
You can hate Samsung, but there’s no doubt, greater competition pushed (and continues to push) Apple.
For me this decade would have to be the iPhone XS Max, Apple Watch and my favourite payment system Apple Pay.
#1: 7+, by far ! ... $769 USD @ Release !!
#2: iPad Air 2 ... $499 USD @ Release !
The Worst: the iPhone XR, by far ! ... a severely Perf-crippled iPhone !
#2: iPad Air 2 ... $499 USD @ Release !
The Worst: the iPhone XR, by far ! ... a severely Perf-crippled iPhone !
I have most of the products on this list but the two surprises for me this decade were the Apple Watch and AirPods. I was not expecting I would love them. Especially the watch. I was very skeptical but now I can’t imagine not using it and going back to my mechanical watch.
Last edited:
Mac: probably the whole retina generation of MacBook Pros, 2012-15. They were as close as Apple's ever gotten to having the superlative computer on the market, and for what they were at the time they weren't even really overpriced! MacBook Air 2010-18 is probably the runner up in this category.
iPad: I'm going to go with the original iPad Pro. The single most powerful iDevice by an incredible margin at the time and still holding up very well today. The Air 2 would probably be my runner up if I had to pick one, though the basic iPads (5th, 6th, 7th gens) are also notable for the incredible value!
iPhone: I agree with MacRumors, the iPhone 6 was probably peak iPhone in terms of sheer excitement. Honourable mention to the iPhone 4 which was the first iPhone that really grabbed my attention.
other/ accessories: Apple pencil does it for me. Fantastic interactive experience. AirPods would be my second choice for this category.
It's kind of weird how packed this decade was in terms of all this, even the fact Steve Jobs was still alive going into it. All the big changes make it feel like it's gone on a lot longer somehow when you think back to the early part of the decade.
iPad: I'm going to go with the original iPad Pro. The single most powerful iDevice by an incredible margin at the time and still holding up very well today. The Air 2 would probably be my runner up if I had to pick one, though the basic iPads (5th, 6th, 7th gens) are also notable for the incredible value!
iPhone: I agree with MacRumors, the iPhone 6 was probably peak iPhone in terms of sheer excitement. Honourable mention to the iPhone 4 which was the first iPhone that really grabbed my attention.
other/ accessories: Apple pencil does it for me. Fantastic interactive experience. AirPods would be my second choice for this category.
It's kind of weird how packed this decade was in terms of all this, even the fact Steve Jobs was still alive going into it. All the big changes make it feel like it's gone on a lot longer somehow when you think back to the early part of the decade.
Sounds like you need to speak to someone at Apple support. Every problem you experienced has a simple fix. Everyone I know uses Apple Messages across all devices seamlessly so by switching to Android for your phone but keeping your Mac, you are setting yourself up for many future problems.
[automerge]1577556728[/automerge]
How is AirPower a fail? It wasn’t even released. A marketing fail maybe but it’s actually a win because Apple didn’t release a product that didn’t live up to their own promises.Yes the forums are overwhelmingly critical, nearly every news article flooded with negative comments. The news site covers the bad as well as the good. Anyone who thinks there is a lack of critical coverage on the news side is clearly not paying attention lol. Apple news, good or bad. But in either case, comments are mostly negative.
But I’d have no problem with a biggest fails of the decade article, it would be quite entertaining to see the Apple-hate crowd lose their ****
Last edited:
I think a lot of consumers were really skeptical of the Apple Watch when it launched in April 2015. They probably were thinking, ‘Why would I want something that’s an extension in my iPhone on my wrist’. And in a way, consumers were right, it was an extension of your wrist pretty much for notifications/basic health measures in 2015, but look how it’s expanded today to be well beyond that. It’s So much more now in terms of being far more health oriented, and then Apple added features like ‘wheelchair accessibility, EKG, and fall detection’, three major leaps for the Apple Watch.
I think that thin design originally came out 2008. Probably why it’s not on the list.
Last edited:
The 2008-2010 model was a bit different (it didn't have flat sides and had a pull down door to access the ports) the 2010 redesign brought the familiar design that stayed all the way to the 2018 retina model update.
First Look at the MacBook Air
After the keynote, we rushed over to the MacBook Air. We will be adding more photos to this post shortly. Brief impressions - It is quite light...
www.macrumors.com
Fully agreed. My wife still uses ours. Upgraded the RAM and put in an SSD and the machine still works absolutely fine more than 7 years after we bought it.
Completely disagree on the 12” MacBook. I think we will see it return once Apple switches to ARM chips, albeit with the better keyboard. Apple lacks a true ultraportable now. Intel moved the Y chip from a 5W design to a 9W design, which now requires active cooling.
iPhone X is the best product of the decade hands down. The chip and design reinvented the entire smartphone market. Some manufactures are still trying to catch up.
They have had some not so good products for sure.(3rd Generation iPad, 2014 Mac mini, 12 inch MacBook, OS X Yosemite, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5c, iOS 11, 2016 MacBook Pro, etc.)
My favorite products of the decade would probably have to be the Apple Watch, AirPods, and 5K iMac. And maybe the 16 inch MacBook Pro, if that counts!
My favorite products of the decade would probably have to be the Apple Watch, AirPods, and 5K iMac. And maybe the 16 inch MacBook Pro, if that counts!
Siri is bloody awesome. I depend on it every day. It's been one of the most significant technologies to improve my life in the decade. I never understand why people slam it. Partnered with shortcuts, it's a powerhouse of time saving.
[automerge]1577569526[/automerge]
My choice would be iPhone XS Max. By far the best phone I have ever owned. And down the list a ways the AW, though I think it will improve dramatically in the next decade. There are great things ahead for Apple.
Agree that a lot of these were groundbreaking. 2012 retina MacBook, iPhone 6 and X, iPad and iPad Pro, TV4, Watch, and MacBook. Bought all of these, and they’re all good enough on their own to convert people to the Apple ecosystem. That’s the key to their being so important to Apple, I believe.
I particularly like the retina iMac but it was really a progression from the previous one to the retina screen, so not quite as important.
I particularly like the retina iMac but it was really a progression from the previous one to the retina screen, so not quite as important.
My vote is for the Apple Watch. It has been the proverbial game changer in so many way in our society at large.
My only gripe Is Apple still hasn't given us a way to initiate a text conversation on the watch (like we can do on the phone) outside of using Siri.
My only gripe Is Apple still hasn't given us a way to initiate a text conversation on the watch (like we can do on the phone) outside of using Siri.
Bought a lot of Apple-things 2011-15 and I have loved everything during that time. After that I've not seen many reason to upgrade until now. Best things: MBP15 from 2014, iPhone 6s-plus. But the original iPad Pro from 2015 is remarkable because it is still not slow.