Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tesla Design Chief on Apple Products: 'There's Nothing to Look Forward To'

I really like Apple, but not all products are great or considered Apple worthy. I was kind of dissapointed when I got my first Apple Watch, which was the 5. The menu and fitness was OK. But overall UX it sucks and lot of developers have abandoned it. Pretty sure it will be amazing if the health tech gets further expanded.

Next best thing? All glass sheet iPhone / AR UX. That’s all design wise. Hardware they are rockin it with their A/M chips!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: javisan
jonnysods said:
Blimey, Apple changed the computing industry with their new SOC system in the last year and a bit, came out with fantastic MBPs, and there is the iMac Pro and Mac Pro's still to go. I'm pretty pumped to see what comes next actually.
Click to expand...

To a designer, why would they care about the SoC inside the design?

Now of course he needs to be careful about throwing stones because the Model S and X( Tesla's oldest vehicles) still look largely the same as they did when they debuted. A few refreshes and under the hood changes sure, but still the same design overall.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PC_tech, amartinez1660 and lawrencejuliano
C7 POWER said:
Hes not wrong though, Since Tim Cook Apple has played it very safe and has not really done a lot of exciting updates to the iPhone for example. The X was the big leap but since then innovation has stalled. The Apple Watch as well. I upgrade annually, but lets be real, Apple has not innovated in a long time.
Click to expand...

What exactly though are they missing with phones and watches?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Morgenland, roy_g_biv, amartinez1660 and 1 other person
C7 POWER said:
Hes not wrong though, Since Tim Cook Apple has played it very safe and has not really done a lot of exciting updates to the iPhone for example. The X was the big leap but since then innovation has stalled. The Apple Watch as well. I upgrade annually, but lets be real, Apple has not innovated in a long time.
Click to expand...
The reason they don't do a lot of exciting upgrades is because they want people to upgrade every few years, not annually. They even show this on the trading in page, where they show a iPhone 8, or 6, and the person is getting a 13, which is a massive difference, even when going from iPhone X --> iPhone 13 or 13 Pro
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: roy_g_biv, amartinez1660 and javisan
To be fair, he does have a point. Most of Apple’s products are iterative because they aren’t in new product categories and can feel slight boring. But if you look at products from 3 to 4 years ago rather than products from last year, the changes are still quite significant. Tesla will be like that too in a few years once they push out their major car types and services like self driving and the trucks. After that it will become iterative like their current cars models. Not everything needs to be reinvented every year. Evolution is what actually helps most products reach their full potential.
 
  • Like
Reactions: roy_g_biv, ahurst, PC_tech and 8 others
Those are just his opinions but here are some hard cold facts.

1. Tesla makes good EVs but average cars.
2. They (Tesla the Company) are over hyped and over valued and will find it really hard to compete once tax benefits for EVs dry up.
3. Elon Musk is a giant turd. Tim Cook is just a shrewd boring business exec in comparison.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: whatgift, ja', TakeshimaIslands and 13 others
"Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything" - We all know, who said that...
Then it is about iterations to keep that product up to date and the audience applauding.

The first step is very hard to do. You succeed, or you fail. If you succeed, it is even harder to stay alive in the market.
 
  • Like
Reactions: roy_g_biv
Sigh……

He’s just doing this because Apple Car is likely going to destroy Tesla’s market share once it comes out. He knows whenever Apple comes out with the product, the refinements they make is what makes the product stand out.

And Tesla knows once Apple comes out with a car, it’ll be a car “perfected” and that will be the one other automakers will copy, not Tesla. And Tesla, they’ll be forgotten about.

Dream on Tesla and Elon Musk. Your distraction tactic won’t work on most Apple evangelist like me. As soon as Apple releases the car, many of us will likely dump their Tesla for Apple’s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TakeshimaIslands, lazyrighteye, amartinez1660 and 2 others
On a side note I might be in the minority but I like that apple doesn't change the way MacBooks or other iDevices look every year. Does anyone remember the craziness with the iPod nano. Every year it looked different and if you got one by the next year it looked super outdated which sucks when spending hundreds of dollars.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bgillander, roy_g_biv, lazyrighteye and 5 others
If only. I wish Apple would focus on iterative and solid updates to their hardware and software, instead of the style over substance model they’ve followed since Tim took over.

That said, I couldn’t give two farts what folks at Tesla think. They’re even further down the yellow brick road than Apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TMax
dang, I must have overslept - is it April fools day???
Seriously, when you sit in a glass house, you shouldn't throw stones ...

Tesla has been a trendsetter in the EV space, no question, but in Design? not so sure, and, when did Tesla deliver on time? or on quality? need I say roadster, cybertruck ...

Anyway, good laugh ... maybe Musk is grooming his successor
 
  • Like
Reactions: entropys, roy_g_biv, amartinez1660 and 3 others
C7 POWER said:
Hes not wrong though, Since Tim Cook Apple has played it very safe and has not really done a lot of exciting updates to the iPhone for example. The X was the big leap but since then innovation has stalled. The Apple Watch as well. I upgrade annually, but lets be real, Apple has not innovated in a long time.
Click to expand...
He's a bit wrong. I think the AirPods were a pretty new and exciting design. The new iMac is certainly evolutionary, but I think Apple had a good home run with this design. Also, I think he's taking an overly narrow view in considering only industrial design - Apple has been just killing it with regard to SoC design (though I think much of the credit lies with TSMC for making it a reality).
 
  • Like
Reactions: ahurst and amartinez1660
jooish said:
How's that AirPower working out for you?
Click to expand...
Well played. One example of Apple having to pull a product has completely leveled my argument. Good show.

After all, one day Tesla will actually redesign the Model S/X instead of a refresh. And they'll ship that Cybertruck. And the semi. And the roadster. And full self driving is just a few updates away.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: newbididewbidie, amartinez1660, FriendlyMackle and 2 others
We all know that he’s right but the Apple apologists will backlash as they do.
In 14 years:
1. Trash Can Mac Pro (which was a surprise and fun but ultimately poorly designed)
2. Apple Watch (if you’re into that sort of thing)
3. Wireless earbuds.

And that’s it!
Makes you wonder what they’re spending their tens of billions of dollars of R&D on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ted13, PC_tech and Naraxus
jonnysods said:
Blimey, Apple changed the computing industry with their new SOC system in the last year and a bit, came out with fantastic MBPs, and there is the iMac Pro and Mac Pro's still to go. I'm pretty pumped to see what comes next actually.
Click to expand...
Apple are very strong with the internals, but the story is about the design. Apple were the leaders in computer design. No company was anywhere near them. Now they are not even the leaders. Apple have played it safe while the opposition have come on in leaps and bounds.
 
Let's be fair though. From a *design* point of view, Apple has been very, very iterative as of late.

I'll use iMac as a good example.
iMac G3: WOW - completely new and revolutionary.
iMac G4: WOW AGAIN - probably my favorite Apple design of all time. Just beautiful.
iMac G5: Slabtastic in white.
iMac Intel: Slabtastic in white.
iMac Intel Next: Slabtastic, in silver.
iMac 27" in 2022: Still Slabstastic, in silver.
iMac 24" M1: Slabtastic, in colors.

Hasn't really been anything but iterative since, what, 2004?

MacBook Pro hasn't changed much at all, design wise. In fact, it's actually regressed with the latest M1 Max update (in the best of ways -- back to a design that was almost perfect.)

But really, be fair -- it's iterative. Now, the guts? Absolutely top notch. M1 is a killer beast. But the industrial design.... yawn.

The last new anything from Apple were the AirPods. Wildly successful, but that was 6 years ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amartinez1660 and sudo-sandwich
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back