New iPhone launches used to be significant events in the past. People from across the globe would tune in to see what innovation and advancement Apple had to share with the world. No other company would receive the kind of coverage in online, print and other media formats as Apple did.
Some of Apple's previous product launch events have been the stuff of legends. The company usually had a “One More Thing…” towards the very end, where it would pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat and announce something that took everybody by surprise. Apple co-founder and ex-CEO Steve Jobs was particularly good at taking the crowd's breath away with those announcements.
A lot has changed since then. Apple has fundamentally changed as a company as well. Its focus has now been growing its subscription businesses which contribute a lot of money to its bottom line. Hardware innovation has taken a back seat. This is apparently one of the reasons why Apple's former design boss and close Steve Jobs confidant Jony Ive left the company. He felt that Apple had lost its soul.
The iPhone is the prime example of Apple's disinterest in design. It has rarely changed in several past iterations. The same can be said for the latest iPhone 14 series that was announced yesterday. Even the daughter of Steve Jobs couldn't help but poke a little fun at the company her father founded for relating a new iPhone that looks quite similar to its predecessor.
It's evident that Apple doesn't care about innovation anymore. One would have thought that Apple would be at the forefront of defining the future of smartphones, and we all know that the future of smartphones is foldables. Yet more than 1,000 days after Samsung launched its first foldable, Apple is nowhere to be found.
I'm sure many hardcore Apple fans wish for the days gone by, when the company usually had something up its sleeve towards the end of its product launch events. At least it represented that Apple will continue to push the envelope on design and innovation, something that it seems to be losing interest in now.
What's pertinent to note is that ultimately, it's a business decision for Apple. The company continues to make record profits based on its expanding subscription business and decent hardware sales. As long as its shareholders are happy with the company's performance, what need is there to upset the (pun intended) apple cart?
In comparison, Samsung is once again redefining what a smartphone can be. Many of us remember when the first Galaxy Note came out in 2011, people were quick to write it off. They felt that nobody would want a phone that big and that the stylus had no chance of making a comeback. As luck would have it, the Galaxy Note would go on to become one of Samsung's most lucrative product lineups.
Samsung is doing it again with foldable smartphones. It has shown the world yet again that we can expand our perception of smartphones to adopt bold form factors that enable use cases never before possible on a smartphone. At least now when there's a Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung fans are excited to witness all of the ways the company is making foldable smartphones more usable, durable, and mainstream.
There's still some level of excitement left for an Unpacked event, however, the same can't be said for an Apple event. Even Apple fans know what to expect. There will be a new iPhone with little or no design changes. Apple won't be showcasing any innovative new products that represent a bold move on the company's part. Lastly, it will tidy up iOS a bit more to add more functionality, and there won't be a “One More Thing” anymore.
Complete boredom is how I'd describe the event yesterday, even though as a tech fan, I used to be quite excited to watch Apple events in the past. Will we see a return to the glory days of Apple events? I wouldn't bet on it.
