Did we really? You’re just dropping SKU numbers like it means something.
iPhone: The XS is an exact replica of the X, and the XS Max its jumbo sized version. The XR, to me at least, was a cheap-ish mistake akin to the 5c.
iPad: The new iPad Pros were a refreshing redesign which soon turned out to be structurally flawed, hampered by typical iOS limitations and equipped with mutually incompatible peripherals with the previous Pro’s. So whether the end result was net positive for the user, the jury is still out on that. The 9.7 was just a hygiene/maintenance update on an unchanging shell that’s not even worth mentioning
Mac: what’s new about the 13/15 TB MBPs? Again, maintenance/hygiene updates. Mac Mini was a welcome maintenance update, and the MBP air.. what was the point of that even?! Do they even remember why it was first introduced as the “Air”? The 12” MacBook is technically Air-ier than the Air, no updates on that, no new iMacs and god forbid no Mac Pros
Series 4 watch: YES. That was a good one and probably the only solid, well rounded product update in the annual lineup that felt refreshing and new
What about iOS/MacOS? Both maintenance updates with nothing new to show. In fact, when it comes to the iPad and iOS 12, it’s frustrating that the ONLY change in a whole year was changing the gestures and control center for no other reason than parity with the iPhone X. No effort to make Siri suck less, other than poaching Workflow app and presenting it as “Shortcuts”.
HomePod.. oh dear. That lil’ thing went nowhere very fast.
So, when you take a closer look at it: really, where did all of this R&D investment go, other than to design bespoke pizza boxes for the spaceship campus? These are all hygiene updates on existing products, some with more pizzazz than others (e.g. the watch 4) but what was NEW to justify the lots of R&D expenditure?
PS. AirPower. Wah-wah-wahh
Yes, Apple spent $14 billion on R&D last year. You already saw some of the results of that spending last year; some you won’t see until this year, 5 years or 10 years from now. Some things will never make it out of the lab. That’s how R&D works.
Your rant is little more than the Apple-hate greatest hits. Let’s start with your first sentence:
“The XS is an exact replica of the X”.
So we’re discussing the results of R&D. Let’s take a look at the XS. It’s a better X in almost every way—and with no increase in price. It’s got 4GB RAM (increased from 3GB), a better camera with a new sensor, a new image signal processor, various improved picture and video modes, a better display, improved sound, IP68 vs. IP67 water resistance, dual SIM capability, faster FaceID, faster wireless charging, up to 15% faster CPU, up to 50% faster GPU and the machine learning neural engine co-processor has been upgraded from 2-cores/600 billion operations per second to an amazing 8-cores/5 trillion ops per sec—over 7 times faster. Amazing.
Also: stronger glass, better battery life, stereo video recording via four microphones, more supported frequency bands (including T-Mobile's 600 MHz LTE Band 71) and a faster “gigabit class” cellular radio that more than doubled the average download speeds and increased upload speeds by 50% over the X (stats are for US carriers).
All those improvements don’t just happen by magic; it takes money. So what’s your take on the upgrades of the XS, and the results of the R&D expenditures that are the subject of this discussion?
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. You might be ignorant of all the upgrades I mention above, or even worse, you deliberately ignore them. Instead, all you do is complain it looks the same as the X—as if that somehow negates all the improvements that Apple’s R&D efforts have brought.
The rest of your post is just more ridiculousness. You can complain about “maintenance” updates all you want, but upgrades are upgrades. For instance the 9.7” iPad update you don’t find “worth mentioning” had a 40% increase in CPU and GPU performance, and it also added Apple Pencil support—with no increase in price. HomePod sounds absolutely great and has sold 4+ million units in the US alone; not sure how many more billions in revenue it would have needed to earn before you would be satisfied, but no matter. And yes, AirPower is almost 4 months late—and counting! But it’s hardly the end of the world, and I have no doubt it’ll be another billion dollar product.
So this year we’ll have new iPhones, probably Watch series 5 and a new iPod Touch; iMac is due to be updated; AirPods, iPad/iPad mini, Mac Pro and new Apple-branded displays will be released; possibly the 12” MacBook; MacBook Pro will likely get its usual yearly upgrade; and of course Apple will release the new MacOS and iOS yearly updates.
But I’m sure it won’t be good enough for you. I don’t expect you will ever be satisfied, but again, that’s not relevant; Apple (and Mr. Cook) can take all the complaints you can dish out. Apple’s actual customers are satisfied, year after year, and that’s what counts. That continuing customer satisfaction drives huge revenues and profits. How frustrating that must be for you! Oh well. Complain, complain and complain some more. It’s of no consequence.