I want to take up the cudgels for the iPhone and what it can do.
Most people won't know me, but very briefly:
I'm annoyed by the high prices, I'm annoyed by how Apple no longer thinks many functions through or deliberately leaves them unfinished. But in comparison, Apple continues to be very good. No other company comes close to its quality. Especially not when it comes to support.
If you take Apple's own claim as a benchmark, the company fails every year.
But if you see this claim as marketing and advertising, compare Apple with other companies, then the company is still at the top.
I would like to show this using the current iPhone 16 Pro. With a few examples.
Wired charging connection.
I would like to see Thunderbolt on the iPhone. Or completely wireless.
Apple offers USB3 10 Gbit/s.
But is that little? What does the competition offer?
And did you know that Apple takes full advantage of the standard, including offering DisplayPort mode to stream the iPhone to a monitor?
The company had to be forced by the EU to use USB. But they got the best out of it. They are several steps ahead of the competition.
Wireless charging connection.
The iPhone 12 mini offers not only MagSafe but also Qi2.
Why can't the Fold 6 or Huawei do that? Instead of the open standard that Apple supports, Huawei relies on its own proprietary solution. The same goes for Honor.
Incidentally, I had to laboriously gather this information from various tests. Because, unlike Apple, the other manufacturers are very stingy with data and... can you call it deception when the words promise almost more than the device delivers?
You decide.
By the way, Samsung has said that the Galaxy 24 does not support Qi2 because the standard was not finalized until after the smartphone was developed. In other words, Samsung doesn't care about the product even during the development of the devices.
Zoom
This brings us to zoom and the fraud of other manufacturers.
In 2016, Huawei had a phone with 10x optical zoom. Where is it now?
I'll tell you: it's cheaper for manufacturers to advertise with absurd digital zoom instead of investing in the camera.
Apple is the only manufacturer that offers more than 3.5x optical zoom in the "small smartphones". Often, manufacturers only have 3x or even 2x. They solve the rest with AI.
Look at the page for the Honor Magic V3. 3x optical zoom is still reasonably ok, 10x and 20x result in images that any of you can upscale for free on your own computer.
And do you remember that Samsung is cheating you directly? By incorporating things into the pictures that the camera can't even see? For example, a moon when actually only a gray disc can be seen?
Do you know this from Apple? I don't.
Service and support
Have you ever tried to get repair services from Huawei or Samsung?
I live in Europe. That means we have consumer protection laws here that Americans don't even dare to dream of.
And yet these companies still fail to provide good service. They do the bare minimum. They send devices abroad for repair, have no plan, and deny any responsibility for damage.
How does Apple do it?
You can see immediately on their website what a display replacement costs. When you make an appointment at the store, employees take their time. You have time to read the terms and conditions. No pressure. Extensive photos are taken and every single step is recorded and discussed. Apple is also accommodating (if you are polite and friendly yourself).
Four examples, and I bet you can find even more if you compare the devices a little more closely.
As I said, with Apple's own standards, it's easy to criticize the company.
If you think you're the greatest, you need a slap in the face every now and then to see how small you really are.
But compared to the competition, Apple is huge. In quality and features.
Yes, the company likes to copy and is ingenious in marketing.
But that doesn't make the objectively better performing functions worse.
On the one hand, it's good that even at MacRumors the critics are now in the majority. The Apple fans, who think everything is great, can no longer gloss over every mistake the company makes.
On the other hand, we should occasionally go into more detail about the devices. Not rely on marketing blurb, but actually compare. And then we realize that Apple is technically much better than we want to believe from advertising (I also include most “test reports” in this).
Thanks for reading.
Most people won't know me, but very briefly:
I'm annoyed by the high prices, I'm annoyed by how Apple no longer thinks many functions through or deliberately leaves them unfinished. But in comparison, Apple continues to be very good. No other company comes close to its quality. Especially not when it comes to support.
If you take Apple's own claim as a benchmark, the company fails every year.
But if you see this claim as marketing and advertising, compare Apple with other companies, then the company is still at the top.
I would like to show this using the current iPhone 16 Pro. With a few examples.
Wired charging connection.
I would like to see Thunderbolt on the iPhone. Or completely wireless.
Apple offers USB3 10 Gbit/s.
But is that little? What does the competition offer?
- Samsung Fold 6 or Galaxy 24 Ultra, brand new: USB 3.2 Gen. 1
- Honor Magic V3, brand new: USB 3.1 Gen 1
- Huawei Pure 70 Ultra: USB 3.1 Gen 1
And did you know that Apple takes full advantage of the standard, including offering DisplayPort mode to stream the iPhone to a monitor?
The company had to be forced by the EU to use USB. But they got the best out of it. They are several steps ahead of the competition.
Wireless charging connection.
The iPhone 12 mini offers not only MagSafe but also Qi2.
Why can't the Fold 6 or Huawei do that? Instead of the open standard that Apple supports, Huawei relies on its own proprietary solution. The same goes for Honor.
Incidentally, I had to laboriously gather this information from various tests. Because, unlike Apple, the other manufacturers are very stingy with data and... can you call it deception when the words promise almost more than the device delivers?
You decide.
By the way, Samsung has said that the Galaxy 24 does not support Qi2 because the standard was not finalized until after the smartphone was developed. In other words, Samsung doesn't care about the product even during the development of the devices.
Zoom
This brings us to zoom and the fraud of other manufacturers.
In 2016, Huawei had a phone with 10x optical zoom. Where is it now?
I'll tell you: it's cheaper for manufacturers to advertise with absurd digital zoom instead of investing in the camera.
Apple is the only manufacturer that offers more than 3.5x optical zoom in the "small smartphones". Often, manufacturers only have 3x or even 2x. They solve the rest with AI.
Look at the page for the Honor Magic V3. 3x optical zoom is still reasonably ok, 10x and 20x result in images that any of you can upscale for free on your own computer.
And do you remember that Samsung is cheating you directly? By incorporating things into the pictures that the camera can't even see? For example, a moon when actually only a gray disc can be seen?
Do you know this from Apple? I don't.
Service and support
Have you ever tried to get repair services from Huawei or Samsung?
I live in Europe. That means we have consumer protection laws here that Americans don't even dare to dream of.
And yet these companies still fail to provide good service. They do the bare minimum. They send devices abroad for repair, have no plan, and deny any responsibility for damage.
How does Apple do it?
You can see immediately on their website what a display replacement costs. When you make an appointment at the store, employees take their time. You have time to read the terms and conditions. No pressure. Extensive photos are taken and every single step is recorded and discussed. Apple is also accommodating (if you are polite and friendly yourself).
Four examples, and I bet you can find even more if you compare the devices a little more closely.
As I said, with Apple's own standards, it's easy to criticize the company.
If you think you're the greatest, you need a slap in the face every now and then to see how small you really are.
But compared to the competition, Apple is huge. In quality and features.
Yes, the company likes to copy and is ingenious in marketing.
But that doesn't make the objectively better performing functions worse.
On the one hand, it's good that even at MacRumors the critics are now in the majority. The Apple fans, who think everything is great, can no longer gloss over every mistake the company makes.
On the other hand, we should occasionally go into more detail about the devices. Not rely on marketing blurb, but actually compare. And then we realize that Apple is technically much better than we want to believe from advertising (I also include most “test reports” in this).
Thanks for reading.
