What to Expect From Apple in 2017: iPhone 8, 10-Inch iPad Pro, Refreshed iMacs, and More

[the8thark]

This whole topic is proof that generation slowflake exists. These snowflakes are like "We expect Apple to do this and we will be butthurt if Apple do not conform to our exact wishes". Apple is not perfect. Apple will do it's best. Just hope for what you want and see if it comes true.

Expecting the largest corporation in the world to bow down to your specific expectations is silly and very first world problematic. This generation, these snowflakes can't handle the fact that something might just not go their way. They don't hope for a better future. They just expect it and complain when it does not go the way they thought it would.

 

[Bacillus]

This whole topic is proof that generation slowflake exists. These snowflakes are like "We expect Apple to do this and we will be butthurt if Apple do not conform to our exact wishes". Apple is not perfect. Apple will do it's best. Just hope for what you want and see if it comes true. Expecting the largest corporation in the world to bow down to your specific expectations is silly and very first world problematic. This generation, these snowflakes can't handle the fact that something might just not go their way. They don't hope for a better future. They just expect it and complain when it does not go the way they thought it would.

Translate this to the automobile (or fashion/energy/...) industry. Where company X might risk alineating its "snowflake" customers with a couple of years of lamentation. Before it'd even consider, it's future is gone. Because there are 10/20 alternatives in a very dense and competitive space. Therefore, they regularly output 5 to 10 new (often meaningful) designs yearly.
Compare this to the wealthiest company on the planet, Apple, with the largest budgets and most patents, and how lamentary, flagrantly static, stuck it got in its own near-monopoly ecosystem...
Yet there must be so much designer talent in there who get their pilots refused by upper mgt., it must be hell to work there...
But they choose to cash and spoil their talents in your snowflake world. Cheerio.

 

[Firebrand]

It's a good article that puts Apple's feats into perspective. But it does what it claims those other media companies are doing, distorting perception to make you come to another conclusion.

Personally, I look at success by answering the following questions:

1) Am I in the market to buy a product
2) Do I want the product
3) Did I buy the product
4) Do I want a competitors product.
5) Did I buy a competitor's product, or exit the market

Right now, I can honestly say for many products, I am in the market but am looking at competitors products as I'm not satisfied with Apple's efforts. I can say I'm quite impresses with Microsoft lately, and some of the efforts of Google such as google now.

In the end the PR masters will always put spin so the only way I can judge if I'm happy with Apple is look internally, and ignore the media and fashion wannabees. At the end of the day, I can say.. Tim dongle head Cook can go **** himself. He can take his dongles and get lost. I can't stand the nerve of someone who says, I have courage to switch to USB-C, but buy my dongles as none of my other products will use the standard.

Tim's products are boring, his presentations are super boring, and the article you posted only shows that Apple has amazing engineers. But that doesn't mean I want those products or consider them a success. If I didn't love OSX, i wouldn't care. But slowly I have seen the products I use to love slowly become fashion accessories, and suck.

The hyperlink was never meant for persuasion, only to add something to the discussion that widens perspective. But you clearly get that ;-) Indeed, at the end of the day one has to think for oneself...

Hopefully 2017 will be the year of the walk, not the talk. Or: Hammer time!

 

[robeddie]

This whole topic is proof that generation slowflake exists. These snowflakes are like "We expect Apple to do this and we will be butthurt if Apple do not conform to our exact wishes". Apple is not perfect. Apple will do it's best. Just hope for what you want and see if it comes true.

Expecting the largest corporation in the world to bow down to your specific expectations is silly and very first world problematic. This generation, these snowflakes can't handle the fact that something might just not go their way. They don't hope for a better future. They just expect it and complain when it does not go the way they thought it would.

You dudes kill me. You act like we're making some crazy request that is totally unreasonable.

For decades, apple has always had a line of more powerful computers that were made for heavy lifting, like large video projects, and were updated with the latest components. So .. we're just asking them to CONTINUE WHAT THEY'VE ALWAYS DONE.

These are essential work tools that we've relied on Apple for. Their core market.

But you: Because the only Apple products you like (watch? overly thin battery/power/keyboard compromised laptops?) are still being updated, you're fine with the rest of Apple's product line rotting away. I'm sure you feel you look cool with your little watch and stylin' laptop, but some of us have work to do.

You're the snowflake, dude.

 

[Bacillus]

Tim: He you guys - Bonus time !!
Time to summarize all my achievements ! And review how you contributed, if so..
Joni: Well, I'm baffled with my iPhone 7 redesign. It's completely new, nothing stayed the...
All: Been there, we did this a week ago, Tim - it's 2017 now.
Tim: Eahhh, yeah. But we must reassess 2016 now that Airpods do so well.
Eddy: (Snore, snork…)
Phil: Oh Tim, please skip it. I am trying to forget that terrible 2016. All product introductions were late or became a disaster. Product designs get hampered by Joni's dictatorship. Batteries are failing or way too small. It's insane that a single Iviot can hostage a 200 Billion company. Billions of people can hardly use their gear anymore. We now put button cells in our MacBook Pro and you still can't even plug an iPhone in there anymore…
Tim: Who says that ??
Phil: A colleague found out. I switched over to Samsung S7 myself.
Tim: You did WHAT ??
Phil: Ehhm, I had to. Someone needs to investigate those OLED and curved screens that we can proactively copy from our competitors. Besides, playing around with my S7 helps negotiations with the Sammy’s that we depend upon to make them. And, I've come to like the device - it always works, never updates.

Greg: OMG, those flupdates. Our customer feedback was just terrible. 463 public beta's didn't help. Products are malfunctioning, several have to be replaced. We can't repair this with emojis anymore. Health-, space, research- and other software-kits crawl devices down. We now need a calculate kit to administer all kits. Lack of RAM makes everything terribly slow. And how many people benefit from it ?
Tim: Shut up, Greg, concentrate on animation effects...
Greg: OK. Damage control: I will darken/hide everything. Let's call it...Theater mode...!!

Angela: Dim as much as you can, Greg. I am so embarrassed by our product line. Now that I personally redesigned our AppleStores, the ugly things not fitting in there are 3,4 year old iPhone designs and 5+ year old CPU's. We fulfilled the transition to luxury shops, now to sell…refurbs ? And in our jewelry boutiques, what is the Product of the Year ? Chinese plastic earphones in a dental floss box ! Sales trainees are running around replacing batteries, by the millions. The largest booths are complaint departments now. AppleStores are sizzling, but as breeding places of frustration. How can I revert this ?
Tim: Ask Siri. But there are enough AppleWatches now that you can display.
Angela: Yes, but we don't want to scare off customers. You wouldn't exactly call them Award Winning Designs, those clunky hockeypucks. Hardly jewelry, so to say. So in most places, they have become watchband placeholders now…

Tim: You guys start boring me with all your rabbit talk. Our sales are stellar, even with the little innovation that you achieved. We conquer the world. And here I sit, in the middle of a set of moaning complainers...
Angela: Fine Tim, but we are not a team. Phil can hardly sell the stuff Joni restricts him to. Greg works like crazy to compensate for ill hardware innovation, software-wise. Nobody's responsible for either CPU or phone business, so we spend all our time fishing in the same fished-out pool of engineers. We can't keep the hardware up as markets get flooded with gigabyte iOS Beta's. It appears as if 100.000 employees are too lazy to fix bugs themselves...
People are perplexed by the lack of focus and Post-PC era declarations made by, ehhh...
Either way, nobody understands what Eddy does, he's never here. Just steady piles of Hollywood hotel bills coming in...
Eddy: Wait, I am about to strike the biggest content deals ever. Maybe people don't recognize, as I wear suits now. But this company can't miss me. I need a raise !
Angela: As you see: we're not a team. So my accomplishments only come from my exceptional individual talents, despite cooperation.
Tim: Angela, why don't you return to Burberry's, if you're not happy ?
Angela: I can't. Someone else is leading that company now. Some Pluto-sized ego, that doesn't want to work for me.
Tim: Well, who would, as we all have our troubles. Anyway, sales are stellar. Customers despise us, just as the other way around, but we have a solid press on WallStreet. Despite your hostilities, it was me who succeeded in making this team great. In fact, I am the most prominent CEO in history. And so, I decided to keep this team intact. To better motivate you, you'll get a raise plus a 85% bonus increase. Offer expires now and is not disputable. See you next year !

All: Agree. This year Tim...
_______

 

[Abazigal]

You've perfectly nailed one of the many problems with Abziagal's arguments (and the half dozen others like him). Why root for less flexibility? Fewer customer options? Less power? He tries to say it so Apple can focus better. The BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD needs to get down to 3 products lines so they can 'focus'?!?! ... umm ... yeaaaa, right

But trust me: Theres no getting through to people like that. He's happy with the limited options apple gives us nowadays, so to hell with anyone who still wants the tools apple was happy to give up until the last year or two.

Let me pose you this conundrum.

What if the price of having your Macs updated on time meant no Apple Pencil? No Airpods? No 4th gen Apple TV? No Apple Watch? So you might be happy because you have a shiny new Mac Pro. Someone else would be unhappy because a product they didn't care about was updated, in favour of a product that they were enthusiastic about.

Our situations would be reversed. I might be here complaining about how Apple is neglecting us iOS users, while you are there telling us to shut up.

In a perfect world, Apple would have no problems keeping all their product lines updated in a timely manner while still churning out new product categories and entering new markets.

But the world is not a perfect place and Apple is far from perfect, and the reality is that Apple is evidently have problems focusing on all its products equally. So really, the main point I have been trying to make here is that at the end of the day, Apple has to make a decision with regards to which products to focus on and which to neglect.

And no matter what decision Apple makes, some people will be happy and some people will be unhappy.

That's really all there is to it.

 

[Abazigal]

Paid shills. Nothing more.

And I say that as someone who most likely has far more of a vested interest in Apple doing well than most - I bought 1000 shares of Apple in 1997 for ~$10 a share. So selfishly I hope it does well; pragmatically I know it has peaked and is on the decline. Time will tell if it can pull itself out of its descent.

I am not paid a cent by Apple (whether you believe it or not), nor do I own any Apple stock. But hey, if believing otherwise will make you feel better and help you sleep better at night...

 

[nuvvanda]

We want more cowbell !!!

 

[9081094]

This whole topic is proof that generation slowflake exists. These snowflakes are like "We expect Apple to do this and we will be butthurt if Apple do not conform to our exact wishes". Apple is not perfect. Apple will do it's best. Just hope for what you want and see if it comes true.

Expecting the largest corporation in the world to bow down to your specific expectations is silly and very first world problematic. This generation, these snowflakes can't handle the fact that something might just not go their way. They don't hope for a better future. They just expect it and complain when it does not go the way they thought it would.

This makes me laugh. Name one other electronic concern that can neglect their whole computer range for almost 4 years and still in business. We are talking about tech here, not china porcelain.

 

[Unami]

No reason to update the Apple TV? Really? I can think of two really good ones: 4K and HDR. Every other streamer has it at this point and I'd be shocked if Apple doesn't do it too before the end of the year.

plus, this is the one device that would profit from getting thinner again - the current one just looks plump. also, a dedicated game-controller would be nice.
[doublepost=1483272257][/doublepost]

That's really all there is to it.

maybe they should also overthink their communication strategy, at least on the mac front of things. (saying you got great desktops on your roadmap is probably counter-productive if you said similar things about laptops before october).

if you bought a macpro in 2013 and were expecting an upgrade path, you're probably so pissed right now, you wouldn't want to buy an apple pencil or airpods, and you'll tell everybody you know, how disappointed you are - this can't be good business for apple.
[doublepost=1483272639][/doublepost]

5+ year old CPU's

not sure that means what you think it means
( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_processing_unit )

(the rest is probably pretty spot on, though)

 

[apolloa]

Guess you're very late to Macs or you wouldn't make such a ridiculous statement.
Apple has only recently abandoned the high-end performance segment, by not refreshing the Mac Pro and under powering the Mac Mini. The quad-core MBPs are still very capable and comparable to the equivalent PC laptops except at an even higher price than previously.

I've been critical of Apple plenty of late, but blanket statements like yours are indicative of trolling and not based on fact.
[doublepost=1483237217][/doublepost]
they already do. take a look at https://www.tonymacx86.com and see how easy it is to roll your own.

The trouble is that you get all these teenagers now who are Apple fans, but they ONLY know the Apple of the let what 4 years, so really have no clue about what the company has done or made in its time, then they come on here calling older people stupid and idiots for wanting high performing Apple computers??

They don't realise the Apple of old was used across the professional spectrum, I've even seen MacBook Pros used in BBC wildlife documentaries editing their videos in the middle of Africa in the back of a truck! Not too sure how much more professional performance you could want then that?
Will be interesting to see what they do with the Mac Pro this year apart from give it a price increase.

 

[mkeeley]

I am not paid a cent by Apple (whether you believe it or not), nor do I own any Apple stock. But hey, if believing otherwise will make you feel better and help you sleep better at night...

You'd never have guessed the way you fawn over them.

 

[TechGeek76]

Hahaha, Windows still is the old-Old stuff, it's by no means much better than Windows 7 or earlier versions.
Installing software still sucks, Preferences are even more all over the place, Calls back home too many times, drivers suck....
No, I rather go to Linux which actually is a nerd OS than using Windows.

Thanks for showing us you haven't used Windows....
[doublepost=1483277359][/doublepost]

If that noice comes over as negativity or trolling, I apologize. I want to be a proud Apple user from the time not so long ago.

I wouldn't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. They are the problem, not you.

 

[dilbert99]

Let me pose you this conundrum.

What if the price of having your Macs updated on time meant no Apple Pencil? No Airpods? No 4th gen Apple TV? No Apple Watch? So you might be happy because you have a shiny new Mac Pro. Someone else would be unhappy because a product they didn't care about was updated, in favour of a product that they were enthusiastic about.

Our situations would be reversed. I might be here complaining about how Apple is neglecting us iOS users, while you are there telling us to shut up.

In a perfect world, Apple would have no problems keeping all their product lines updated in a timely manner while still churning out new product categories and entering new markets.

But the world is not a perfect place and Apple is far from perfect, and the reality is that Apple is evidently have problems focusing on all its products equally. So really, the main point I have been trying to make here is that at the end of the day, Apple has to make a decision with regards to which products to focus on and which to neglect.

And no matter what decision Apple makes, some people will be happy and some people will be unhappy.

That's really all there is to it.

Apple are by all intense purposes a large company with more resources and more cash than probably any company on the planet. Are you seriously suggesting that Apple cannot make a laptop and other products at the same time?

Take a look at Samsung or any other massive manufacturer out there making every product under the sun.
Take a look at Elon, making rockets, cars and the like.
Apple can make decisions to work on many products at once. They have the cash and resources to do so.

 

[scaramoosh]

I want a 18 inch iPad, I love my 12.9, I couldn't ever go back to 9.7, but I want the screen to be even bigger.

 

[mkeeley]

Thanks for showing us you haven't used Windows....
[doublepost=1483277359][/doublepost]I wouldn't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. They are the problem, not you.

He's not wrong about any of his points.

 

[TechGeek76]

He's not wrong about any of his points.

Right....

 

[I7guy]

The trouble is that you get all these teenagers now who are Apple fans, but they ONLY know the Apple of the let what 4 years, so really have no clue about what the company has done or made in its time, then they come on here calling older people stupid and idiots for wanting high performing Apple computers??

They don't realise the Apple of old was used across the professional spectrum, I've even seen MacBook Pros used in BBC wildlife documentaries editing their videos in the middle of Africa in the back of a truck! Not too sure how much more professional performance you could want then that?
Will be interesting to see what they do with the Mac Pro this year apart from give it a price increase.

I don't care what Apple did yesterday, last year or 10 years ago. If I want a product and Apple has what I'm looking for, I'll buy it. If not I'll move on to the next manufacturer.

 

[StevieD100]

I don't care what Apple did yesterday, last year or 10 years ago. If I want a product and Apple has what I'm looking for, I'll buy it. If not I'll move on to the next manufacturer.

It is more than just the product specs to think about these days.
There are things like
- Security OS and of your data
- Spying - How much of your data which for many is their life is sent to the Mothership for all sorts of nefarious reasons
- Update - Can you choose when yo apply them? Does every update mean at least one reboot
- Longevity and Durability - Self explanatory

I moved to using Apple for my own needs 8 years ago. I got fed up to the back teeth with the annual Windows re-install just to get the PC running at a decent speed again. I had to endure Window 7/8.1 and the start of the migration to W10 at work. What a total crapfest it is. Windows server wasn't to bad until 2012 then it went to pot as well. I'm also an RHCA/RHCE so I've had plenty of use of that side of things as well and let me tell you, the grass on the Redmond side of the fence is **** brown. It ain't greener at all.
While there are bits of W10 that aren't total crap most of it is just one big WTF moment after another.
So after 45 years of S/W development, much of it writing stuff in or close to the kernel, I still find MacOS a delight.
I have a 2015 MBP so I'm not looking to replace it anytime soon but when a replacement is needed my choice will be based upon Usability more than anything else with the list above a close second.

 

[bjet767]

Let's say Apple updated their Mac Pro every year how many of you would buy one every year? Don't forget a "Pro" costs from around $4000 to $10000 US. So will a very small improvement in WIFI, Bluetooth, SSD drive size/speed, 4K - 5K, or whatever, make you fork out nearly the price of a small car every year?

Apple's biggest danger is the mature market that now exists in both portable and desktop devices.

 

[Labeno]

You dudes kill me. You act like we're making some crazy request that is totally unreasonable.

For decades, apple has always had a line of more powerful computers that were made for heavy lifting, like large video projects, and were updated with the latest components. So .. we're just asking them to CONTINUE WHAT THEY'VE ALWAYS DONE.

These are essential work tools that we've relied on Apple for. Their core market.

But you: Because the only Apple products you like (watch? overly thin battery/power/keyboard compromised laptops?) are still being updated, you're fine with the rest of Apple's product line rotting away. I'm sure you feel you look cool with your little watch and stylin' laptop, but some of us have work to do.

You're the snowflake, dude.

The "8shark" follows Apple's new 90% group... read email and browse websites. They are not likely power users that need a 10 hour battery to last 10 hours when doing something other than reading emails. They don't understand the usefulness of magsafe. I'm all for USB-C but give the UBS dongle for free since hardly anything in this world is USB-C. I'm all for light and thin, but don't kill battery power for something other than reading emails. Give us an HDMI dongle for free since there isn't a TV or projector with USB-C yet. What Apple is doing is horrific, but those who only read emails and browse the web will never see these issues.

 

[apolloa]

I don't care what Apple did yesterday, last year or 10 years ago. If I want a product and Apple has what I'm looking for, I'll buy it. If not I'll move on to the next manufacturer.

But then your being selfish because other people want Apple to make a product like they used to. Mac Pro being a case on point, it was powerful in 2013 and now can't cope.
Also your not a teenager?

 

[Labeno]

Let me pose you this conundrum.

What if the price of having your Macs updated on time meant no Apple Pencil? No Airpods? No 4th gen Apple TV? No Apple Watch? So you might be happy because you have a shiny new Mac Pro. Someone else would be unhappy because a product they didn't care about was updated, in favour of a product that they were enthusiastic about.

Our situations would be reversed. I might be here complaining about how Apple is neglecting us iOS users, while you are there telling us to shut up.

In a perfect world, Apple would have no problems keeping all their product lines updated in a timely manner while still churning out new product categories and entering new markets.

It's an interesting way to put it. On the other hand, Apple has more money sitting in there vault than any other publicly traded company. They have plenty of money to work on multiple products at a time.
Think about the complaint and how a single immune wage employee could solve it:
- Put a magsafe back on the MBP: Belkin created a USB-C version of this, why can't Apple.
- Don't make the MBP 1 mm thinner, killing battery life.
- Include a free USB and HDMI dongle with the new MBP since 99% of customer devices don't use USB-C yet.

See, I wasn't even paid to help Apple, but I just solve a large part of the MBP problem. Why couldn't Apple think of this?

 

[Roller]

This whole topic is proof that generation slowflake exists. These snowflakes are like "We expect Apple to do this and we will be butthurt if Apple do not conform to our exact wishes". Apple is not perfect. Apple will do it's best. Just hope for what you want and see if it comes true.

Expecting the largest corporation in the world to bow down to your specific expectations is silly and very first world problematic. This generation, these snowflakes can't handle the fact that something might just not go their way. They don't hope for a better future. They just expect it and complain when it does not go the way they thought it would.

I don't want Apple (or any other vendor, for that matter) to cater to my whims. However, I think that it's appropriate to expect products that match or exceed the design, build quality, and performance of offerings from leading competitors or to ask for OS releases and application software that set the standard for functionality, UI, and quality control. Apple has massive resources at its disposal, and it's not unreasonable to demand excellence.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple are by all intense purposes a large company with more resources and more cash than probably any company on the planet. Are you seriously suggesting that Apple cannot make a laptop and other products at the same time?

If you want Apple to be like Samsung and spam the market with a dozen minor variations of the same product, then sure.

But if you want Apple to take the time to refine the small details and get it just right, it will take lots of resources and importantly, time.

Look at the 2016 MBP. For all its flaws, does it look like a minor update that Apple crapped out overnight? Just about every aspect of it was dramatically revamped, and I can only imagine the sheer number of man hours that went into making all this possible.

The touchbar takes time. Force touch takes time. Touch ID takes time. Doing something differently and better takes time. Especially for a mature product like the Mac, where incremental improvements require ever-increasing amounts of R&D.

So yes, if you want Apple to do it all at the same time, then quality will suffer because they won't be able to devote as much time to each product.

Take a look at Samsung or any other massive manufacturer out there making every product under the sun.
Take a look at Elon, making rockets, cars and the like

And the disparity in design and quality shows.

Apple can make decisions to work on many products at once. They have the cash and resources to do so.

As I mentioned above, some things, such as innovation just can't be rushed.

It's not as though this hasn't happened before. Apple delayed OS X tiger to concentrate on the iPhone. The people claiming that Steve Jobs would never let this happen clearly don't know their history very well.