Here's why Apple is "obsessed with thinness" of their products

[yoblin]

My first post in a very long time to share my take on a topic that I see endlessly debated 😃

Lots of people notice that Apple seems "obsessed with thinness." Here's why:

Apple wants their products to be expensive to manufacture.

Wait... what?!

Apple doesn't want to compete on specs alone. When you pick up an Apple product, you have to feel how premium it is. And Apple can manufacture these premium products cheaper than the competition. They've got huge scale, a fairly limited product catalog, and (most important) a deeply vertically integrated manufacturing processes. That's their big competitive moat, and they want to flex it!

If a company wants to compete with an Apple product, that device isn't going to be cheap to make. They're not going to be able to sell a windows laptop that feels premium like a MacBook Air and costs 50% less. That's why Apple is always pushing the limits of mass industrial design: they want to make sure launching a competing product requires an enormous investment of up-front capital, and probably won't even have good margins if it's priced competitively with Apple's product.

Going back to thinness, specifically - look at Framework, for example. Great laptops, but Apple wants you to immediately tell the difference when you pick it up. Framework just doesn't have the scale to compete on the premium feel (so they're trying to compete on modularity/repairability instead - smart!).

So TL;DR, it's more complex than any single factor, but in general the thinness isn't due to the whims of industrial designers - it's about making sure it's REALLY REALLY expensive to compete with Apple.

 

[SnowPenguin]

That could be the case. I always thought companies go for thinness to make their products more appealing, even if it sacrificed some functionality.

 

[Iwavvns]

I don't think Apple's goal is to "make products expensive to manufacture". Rather, I think their products are expensive to manufacture because of their desire to do things their own way.

 

[yoblin]

I don't think Apple's goal is to "make products expensive to manufacture". Rather, I think their products are expensive to manufacture because of their desire to do things their own way.

Admittedly, my phrasing was a bit hyperbolic

They surely try to minimize their manufacturing costs. But they intentionally choose product segments that have a high barrier to entry for competition.

My main argument is that they don't just start with "let's build a great product!" and then realize "darn! so expensive to manufacture!" - even though that's the narrative.

Sometimes they "do things their own way" because it makes good product, sure, but also because it's expensive for the competition to copy. (of course, it's still got to be stuff that lots of people want to buy!)

Plus, what's good for Apple can be good for the consumer, too. Privacy, for example - do you think that they would be so privacy-centric if they made most of their revenue from ads (like Google) instead of hardware? It's not because they're just such great people. The business/finance teams definitely have a spot at the table when they're planning the product roadmap. Apple didn't get to (...second) most valuable company in the world on the back of just engineering+design.

 

[Iwavvns]

They surely try to minimize their manufacturing costs. But they intentionally choose product segments that have a high barrier to entry for competition.

Do you have statements from Apple proving your theories? If not, then our statements are nothing more than speculation. Look, we could guess all day long and still be wrong. So, what is the point of arguing if we have no proof? Is our goal to feel that we are right and someone else is wrong? Where is the satisfaction in that?

 

[Ctrlos]

Despite being a bargain at $599 it is the sheer dinkyness of the new Mac mini that has everybody hyped. Its so cute!

The M4 processor is finally giving Apple what it has always wanted: thin, light products that do not sacrifice utility. You cannot underestimate the mindshare created when somebody walks into the Apple Store, picks up a product and marvels at how cool it looks.

The butterfly keyboard might not have worked out but the 'MacBook' was the most beutiful laptop Apple has ever made. Imagine that with more ports, Magsafe and a keyboard that works.

Once the Mac mini has had its time in the sun I fully expect a 5mm iMac next year as well.

 

[G5isAlive]

Do you have statements from Apple proving your theories? If not, then our statements are nothing more than speculation. Look, we could guess all day long and still be wrong. So, what is the point of arguing if we have no proof? Is our goal to feel that we are right and someone else is wrong? Where is the satisfaction in that?

The irony is strong in this one. If we can’t speculate in Mac RUMORS, where can we?