Agree with the OP about the trying to squeeze more profits argument. This is not the motivating factor in these design decisions if you followed Apple's history. It's tired, uninformed, and a lazy cop-out to say that everything that didn't work out in an individual's favor is so that Apple can squeeze more profit. I am not a fan-boy per se. I pass on Apple products frequently. I'm not "tied" to the ecosystem, I just prefer it for the time being.
These guys are about design and user interface. They sacrifice all other considerations to fit that design or user experience. Then they simply say, we need to make X% margin and slap on a price to make that margin. Profits at the Mac division at Apple is so small now that it's now probably more of an iOS support division, just for continuity. Accessory sales don't register on their public financials, they are so small. iOS and services are dominant profit line items.
They soldered all this stuff and killed ports and made the battery smaller because they just wanted to make the sexiest, smallest laptop, which translates into better user experience. This is not the case for 100% of customers, but 99%? They weren't trying to make the ultimate gaming laptop or mobile 4k video editor. The MBP's are decent at that, but size and balance and usability were clearly the primary considerations.
Yes a fortunate byproduct is additional sales for them, but it's not the motivating factor. If it were, they wouldn't be making all of these out of left field, controversial design decisions. They would go the safe, profitable route, which is what most public companies do. It's what Apple did in the 90's in the Job-less era. Mac clones? Upgradeability? Nice, safe moves from professional executives. Lack of innovation slowly kills companies, but they satisfy shareholders for another quarter. Sad state of public tech companies. It's what happened to Microsoft until recently. You've been seeing it with every iteration that Apple does. The entire industry follows their lead on what ports to build in, what features to add.
No I am not a fanboy. I don't defend everything they do. I still think iTunes blows and I refuse to sign up for any subscription from them. IMO Beats suck. My new MBP is not perfect in all ways. But see their decisions for what they are, and I appreciate that they push the industry. They are not making MBP's to "squeeze" profits. Their financials show they can care less if you buy their new MBP's, as long as you keep buying iPhones. Consider that maybe they actually want to make more profit on their computers and make it profitable. That's a reasonable expectation. The market will dictate whether or not their products are good enough to justify the price. They are not a flea market vendor trying to squeeze every last cent out of people. That's just not smart, long term business sense.
