Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Yep. Apple are now the company they were in contrast to years ago. This X phone is positioned like a luxury item, just like watches and the stores are now. The original iphone, ipod, macbook had ambitions to affect everyone, not just those who could pay through the nose. There is little revolutionary about staring at a phone to unlock it, rather than swiping, even the idea of it is dull. They have become Microsoft, when Microsoft were shit.

The Fashion 'skew' is the easiest one to achieve from a brand's POV, with fashion comes subjectivity and no real world quantification can be applied to it.

it is a gamble which in Apple's case a certain one given their customer base.

would be interested :-)

Great.

I'll put it (inc pics etc) up when i have the new one which will be in November obvs.

The new MacBook Pro should have been full touchscreen. That weird function key touch bar is symptomatic of where they are at as a company. It's cool and a step in technological progress (for Apple), but it's not exciting in the slightest and way too expensive.

The new MacBook Pro should have been full touchscreen.

This I disagree with, touchscreen laptops are shit and borderline useless, the touch bar on the other side is quite useful because its highly contextual.

it's not exciting in the slightest and way too expensive.

This I agree with but their user base keeps defying whats 'expensive'.

I do agree with you that apple arent the company they used to be, but nor is the mobile phone market. remember when we were getting upgrades every year (my dad even used to have a 6 month business contract!) - it is much more common now for people to have phones for 2+ years.

I bought a 64gb iphone 6 off here a few months ago with a dead jack and battery for £50. repaired it with £12 worth of parts and it works perfectly. I will however be looking to pickup a 2nd hand 7 in the near future though, I still haven't been able to shake my apple #buyer status quite yet

stop buying A.P.C. and Margiela

I like my keyboard!

stop buying A.P.C

I like mine as well, to be fair :)

I use both, carry two phones. Also use Mac at home. It's not really an argument about who innovated first but I'm making the point that Apple used to be an innovator - but no longer is.

As I said I get that this is the best iPhone ever - but if they had been more innovative in developing it, instead of using tech that already existed, surely it would be even more exciting?

more innovative in developing it

By doing what though?

The annual release cycle of phones (and most other tech) has warped our perspective of innovation. We expect a leap forward when only steps are possible most of the time.

Apple control the development of certain aspects of the iPhone's tech (namely chip design and software) which you could argue are right at the cutting edge of what's possible. They don't have control over the development of large portions of the actual hardware; screen tech, camera tech etc and must work with third parties and their own dev roadmaps.

I don't know what, I'm not a phone engineer!

That's true on the hardware because they don't make it themselves, but that's kinda the point - Asia is coming up with the innovations, Apple just follows.

This hits the nail on the head:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphone-breakingviews/breakingviews-new-iphones-take-features-from-asia-and-add-profit-idUKKCN1BO09N?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

Don't things usually fall apart just great temples to their own glory have been built ?

There hasn't been much I'd consider innovation from any phone manufacturer though. Batteries, screens, chip speeds etc have all just improved incrementally. Apple, Samsung, OnePlus etc have all just bought what's available.
It was a decent OS and the app store that really marked the early iPhones apart. Android then did the same and since then everyone has just been making little adjustments without anything particularly impressive.
You can't really pick out what's innovative until someone else has done it though. If Apple knew then they'd do it and everyone would fawn over them again like they did 10 years ago. If someone else figures out the next big thing then Apple could go the way of Blackberry and Nokia. Animoji probably aren't the next big thing however.

^of course everyone knows all of this

This hits the nail on the head

But we're now back to what the true 'innovation' (i prefer value) is in Apple phones - the OS / Hardware walled garden.

It's all very well that many phones from Asia have similar innovations but, if you can't buy them here or if they run Android (and you don't want Android) or they're straight out of China, with questionable code included, then where's the value?

Apple put together an undeniably slick package of very high quality tech with super slick software and customer support, wrapped in the most supported OS from a dev perspective. That's their innovation.

Amstrad managed to put email on home telephone before anyone else which was an 'innovation' in terms of tech. Look how that worked out:

All fair points, but what do you mean about Sir Alan? He's a highly successful entrepreneur with undeniable business acumen :)
https://twitter.com/lord_sugar/status/626150974177058816

Value is the right word in both senses - for consumers or shareholders...

Animoji probably aren't the next big thing however.

I suspect you're right about this.

My boss is a sucker for having top tech in the office so if I pay the upfront cost on a phone the company pays the 12 or 24 month contract. I can also spread the up front cost over 12 or 24 months. My 6 plus is fine, but I can't turn down such an offer

I'd forgotten about the twitter thread. Some gold on there....

Literally had me in tears the first time I read it. Just brilliant.

Surprise no one mentioned the iPhone SE.

It seemed to perform better than my old 6+, and still fast on the current OS.

Thinking about getting an 8+ when im in the bay area next month, is there still specific carriers that work across the US and UK? or are they all the same now

You need to make sure you get the 8+ with the model number A1897