Gurman: Many of Apple's Latest Products Are 'As Incremental as Ever'

[MacRumors]

In his Power On newsletter over the weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman opined that most of Apple's product announcements this month "were as incremental as ever."

For example, he said the latest AirPods Max being named "AirPods Max 2" is a "massive stretch" given the headphones received the H2 chip and little else.

AirPods Max 2 did gain many new features overall, including increased active noise cancellation, improved sound quality, Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, and Live Translation, but many of these capabilities were enabled as a result of the headphones finally getting the H2 chip from 2022.

"The real issue is putting a '2' in the name," he argued. "It means that Apple is treating a maintenance update as if it were a new generation. Historically, this branding would signal meaningful hardware changes." With the AirPods Max 2 name, however, he said it "implies a leap forward that isn't present."

AirPods Max 2 do not have any design changes compared to the previous generation, and the Smart Case carrying case has the same unpopular design.

"Like the earlier USB-C refresh, this update feels designed to sustain sales rather than push the product forward," he added.

While the MacBook Neo is impressive in the sense that it is easily Apple's most affordable new MacBook ever, and the Studio Display XDR checks a lot of boxes, many other products unveiled this month received faster chips and little else, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPad Air, iPhone 17e, and the regular Studio Display.

Nevertheless, Gurman acknowledged that customers continue to purchase Apple products, with the company reporting an all-time revenue record last quarter.

"Imagine if the recent product updates themselves were as impressive as the advertising," he concluded.

Article Link: Gurman: Many of Apple's Latest Products Are 'As Incremental as Ever'

 

[HouseLannister]

Incremental is good. Just increment faster. Each computer should be getting updated each year with the newest SoCs. How long does it take to put an existing chip into an existing form factor?

 

[goonie4life9]

FALSE! Theses are the BEST, MOST POWERFUL versions of each product that Apple has EVER released. Each update takes Apple's best-in-class products to a whole new level, with game-changing features. Apple can't wait to see the incredible things customers are able to do with a level of privacy only Apple can deliver. Apple thinks you're gonna love it.

One more thing.... The MacBook NEO!!!

But seriously, we're now back to the, "More evolutionary than revolutionary; has the Apple lost the shine; etc." nonsense?

 

[Slix]

"I know Apple added some new hardware to enable a bunch of new features, but naming it 2? They should really keep that name for when they add new hardware features."

What.

 

[Kylo83]

He is right, every update now is just using newer or even older chips and that’s it, it’s cheating updates, nothing is major anymore

 

[MayaUser]

Since is better in every-way in sound...it should be 2 since the iphone 16pro to 17pro is also improved in SoC and get a new number
This got more to a non-display device than iphone pro did

 

[the future]

Gurman is such a hack. If he didn‘t have inside info, on his merits as a tech journalist alone he wouldn‘t have gotten anywhere. All his editorial takes are either completely obvious or dead wrong.

 

[Kylo83]

They run out of older chips so update a new product with an already outdated chip and call it a new product, it’s becoming increasingly annoying now, AirTags and AirPods Max all just updated chip

 

[minik]

His argument doesn't checkout. I never purchased the AirPods Max to begin with, I'm sure this version 2 will be solid as I never had one before. Yes, customers continue to purchase Apple products, but it is not designed for a yearly type of purchase.

 

[tyrnnsrs]

Well you could pretty much say the same thing about the entire Airpods line and the new Airtag.

 

[Arctic Moose]

Remember when Apple products would sit at the same price for years and years, without a single change?

Sure, the ”2” identifier is dumb, and it is even dumber that Apple didn’t just add the H2 with the USB-C update, but I’ll definitely take these over waiting another five years for any update.

 

[iKnowMr.Jobs]

From my perspective, that argument only holds up with the AirTags & AirPods Max. The former of which…I dunno what people were wanting/wishing/hoping from them that they don’t deliver. The Max are just embarrassing. The Neo & Studio Display XDR are really pushing boundaries. Even the M5 Pro & Max are really putting a stake in the ground that Apple Silicon are fantastic computers for GPU & AI centric workflows

 

[BeatsByTim]

Mark Gurman's reporting continues to be as worthless as ever. I don't know why anybody pays attention to him.

 

[jcshas]

I agree the updates are incremental, but Apple is essentially using the same naming convention across most of their products.

 

[I7guy]

Ok, Apple is as incremental as ever. Next record breaking quarter please.

 

[idrewuk]

He sounds increasingly bitter and ridiculous as each day passes. Aww, sucks to be you Mark - as much as you like to talk the company down, it gets stronger and stronger!

 

[Johnny907]

Because they lost their visionary years ago, and it’s catching up to them.
Cook isn’t a visionary, he’s a bean counter. There’s more stability in incremental improvements than big swings that may become big losses.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

This isn’t news, this is just Gurman reeling off his thoughts

 

[DunedinD]

And yet double-digit performance increases in Intel processors used to be congratulated until such time as Apple's exceptionally thin designs started to mean throttling under heavy workloads.

 

[hieranonymous]

Sometimes Gurman says stuff just to say stuff. He’s engagement farming. Tap dancing for his supper.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Gurman reports that Apple, like all tech companies that have been iterating products for a VERY long time are iterating products. When asked why he’d report something so obvious, he mentioned that “At least by stating the obvious, I’m not wrong… my win percentage is dropping. I’m just glad that AppleTrack stopped keeping track awhile back!”

 

[Unregistered 4U]

He sounds increasingly bitter and ridiculous as each day passes. Aww, sucks to be you Mark - as much as you like to talk the company down, it gets stronger and stronger!

Has he retroactively predicted the iterative AirPods Max? 🙂 I would NOT be surprised if he does to see if the internet notices that he had absolutely nothing to say about it before it released.

He’s SO confident that there are devices waiting in a warehouse somewhere for a new software release so won’t come out until later this year, but completely unaware of the AirPods Max that was announced and was ACTUALLY in warehouses ready to be shipped.

 

[captrlp]

Definitely don’t need Gurman to know Apple upgrades have been incremental across the board….since Steve died.

 

[Pezimak]

I won’t lie, I am keen to get my return iPhone 17 Pro Max later this year when the 18 is launched, but I am ALSO excited to see what the new MacBook Pro or Ultra will be like..

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

in the AirPods Pro Max case, i agree with him. I'm still getting a pair as i need a new set of over the ear headphones, and now that they finally have the H2 chip in them, its worth the investment (I bought and returned the originals), but they still need to inprove other aspects of the headset. That horrific bra case thing is just idiotic and they need to be able to fold in some way and have an actual OFF button!

Other then that, i dont see what more you can realistically do with headphones or ear buds. This idea of adding a camera into the next version of the AirPod Pros sounds crazy. It allready has a ton of tech packed into it, the damn things can read your heart and take your temperture for christs sake. Thats alot for a pair of ear buds. Whats a camera going to do, tell me how much ear wax i have? or if they obviously face outside of my ear, give me motion control gestures? So in order to change a song or raise the volume i got to do these weird gestures like im a marine giving hand signals in combat? I just dont get it...yet..

But yes the H2 chip is a step in the right direction for the Airpod pro Max, its just a year behind!