Disappointed in Apple announcements

 While a new set of phones is an annual happening, I'm surprised that Apple wouldn't try to be more giving.

The iPhone 16 will have USB, type C connectors but will have USB 2.0, 480 Mbps speed.  The Pro models will have 10 Gbps speed.

The iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro will start with 128 GB of storage, even though the 16 Pro will be US$999.

I can't believe that 10 Gbps speed and 256 GB of storage across the line would have impacted their profit margins so much that they would so negative results.

Apple are just too worried about their balance sheet and not how they're perceived.  It's true that moving to Android would be a huge problem for many people.  Today's crowd seems so convenience-oriented that not getting the exact pumps of mocha they wanted will ruin their whole day.

Long time using Macs

I've been an Apple Mac user since 1993 when Atari was failing and Windows wasn't ready.  My first smart phone was an LG Optimus on Android 1.3, as I recall.  It barely had enough storage to update itself, after I un-installed my applications.  I went to the iPhone 4S afterwards and missed the "you're holding it wrong" problem.  I'd had a second generation iPod touch, so switching wasn't a big change.

I give Apple credit for coming up with some good experiences.  Windows and Android wouldn't be where they are today without Apple's leadership.

When I put MacOS Catalina on my mid-2012 MacBook Pro, Mac users were complaining about how horrible it was.  Just prior to that, I had an Omen by HP (2018) laptop computer and Windows update 1709 ate itself and I had to recover Windows 10 from scratch.

More announcements on the way

They didn't mention Macs.

The pandemic is over and the sales of stay-at-home equipment might never recover.  However, they haven't announced any M4 Macs.  The M4 is barely in iPad.  The iPad mini hasn't been updated since 2021.

If they said that the products will be available by Christmas, it would at least be something more than we've been told to date.  You'd think will the Qualcomm Elite X laptop computers actually out for sale that they'd be more energetic about saying something.  Those machines haven't been as horrible or as great as expected but they're available.  If someone starts converting games to work on ARM, I'll be ready on my M1 MacBook Air.  With all of the development studio closures and the layoffs, I'm not sure any of that will be happening soon.  The Resident Evil engine is working on ARM, just fine, though.

Maybe, there aren't enough M4-series SoC to make enough MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Studio, and Mac Mini units.  They might as well ditch the Mac Pro line.  They screwed that up.  For something similar, Qualcomm is supposedly hiring Intel engineers to likely create desktop machines with interfaces to outside devices, such as graphics cards and internal drives.

Apple needs to "think different" because doing the same thing year-after-year isn't great.  Their security is better than the others but they tend to put certain software updates on the back burner until they make the news report.  Microsoft wouldn't even bother to respond in most cases, but would point the finger at someone else, if necessary.

Extensible Macs?

Will there ever again be Macs that have replaceable storage, graphics hardware, or memory?

I bought my M1 MacBook Air with as much as I could get.  It was 1 TB of storage, 16 GB of RAM, and the most cores that the SoC had available.  Even refurbished, it cost quite a bit.  Compared to an Intel quad-core i7, it was a huge step-up in performance.  The graphics hardware still needs more work to compete with AMD or Nvidia but compared to the GeForce 650M or 1050 mobile, it was good.

The EU is calling for removable, easily-replaceable batteries for phones.  Apple pretty quickly abandoned replaceable batteries in Macs back in 2012.  That's why my previous "last" Mac was from the series just before that.  My M1 MacBook Air doesn't have a thing that I can change easily.

Computers aren't as disposable as phones.  I've had 20 year old computers that were slow but fine.  Getting 5.25 inch floppy diskettes to not degrade is another matter.

Apple has shown and sold us machines that need their help to be repaired.  Can they do better?

Have the watches really changed?

I didn't mention the Apple Watch at all, until now.  I don't know that there is anything truly compelling, except for Sleep Apnea detecting.  The size has changed somewhat and the charging is better somewhat.  They haven't figured a way to speed up the transfer of updates to the watch, I'm sure, and I don't remember my 2nd generation iPod touch being so slow, even if it really was.

My Series 7 Apple Watch is sufficient.  It feels as though Apple has made it worse with each update.  The only good things I can say for it are that the original band is still okay, it detected that my heart rate was 192 BPM, and if I'm out walking to the store and forget to start the Outdoor Walk, it will give me an option to start it around 15 minutes later.

Update 2024.09.16: I was just reading an opinion piece about how iPhone 16 Pro didn't get so many pre-orders/reservations because AI wouldn't be available right away.

I'm thinking that people didn't reserve as many because AI would be forced on them.  Besides, the majority of people are probably spending their money on items that are more important to them.  Spending US$1000 or more probably isn't a priority for them.

2024.09.17: Warning!  Updated to iOS 17.7 and macOS 14.7 today.  Went to California DMV to renew my license.  Filled out the application on my phone through the process to be ready for the window.  I got a notification and my application was GONE.  I could not log into the system through the California DMV app but Apple should have been checking since so many people working there live in California.  Maybe, someone at headquarters will return with a story and the fix will be out next week.