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Apple is the best company in the world at operations. I don't know how they do it but: 1) Ever year they manage to diligently upgrade iphones/ipads, macbooks a

Apple is the best company in the world at operations. I don't know how they do it but: 1) Ever year they manage to diligently upgrade iphones/ipads, macbooks and watches. 2) Every year they make some progress in their quest of removing suppliers by becoming vertically integrated. They don't only remove the supplier. They beat their former suppliers specs. (e.g: M1 chip). 3) Every year they make some progress in their quest of generating more revenue from services. They are managing to launch one or two services a year or create a new program that integrates services into attractive bundles. All those things are incredibly hard operational challenges. Nothing there seems to be easy and some how they manage to always come ahead in delivering that operational excellence.

DRW_ 6y ago
Yep, Apple's operations and logistics are second to none in this industry. Watching AMD, NVIDIA, Sony, Microsoft and others struggling so much manufacturing their products, and then having Apple launch: - 2 new Apple Watches - 4 new iPhones - 3 new Macs - Airpods Max - Homepod Mini All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avoid the huge shortages that those others have faced is impressive. It's probably a combination of their operations, logistics, supply networks - their predictable yearly cycles that allows them to plan out further in advance, having higher margin products that allows them to outbid the competition for capacity, etc, etc... But as someone who did the fight for the new AMD CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, been on the look out for the new Sony console, and bought a new iPhone, Apple Watch & Homepod mini on release - the Apple experience was such a breeze in comparison. It may seem like an odd thing to be impressed by, but with how much everyone else has been struggling - for it to appear to relatively easy for Apple is notable.
- GloriousKoji 6y ago
  > All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avoid the huge shortages that those others have faced is impressive. I would not be surprised if the other companies are having shortages because of Apple taking up most of the fab capacity and support engineers.
  - whoisjuan 6y ago
    Both Apple and Huawei have been stockpiling on silicon wafers for months. The silicon shortage is becoming real.
  - ksec 6y ago
    >I would not be surprised if the other companies are having shortages because of Apple taking up most of the fab capacity and support engineers. The whole reason why Apple got the advantage and others dont is merely because Apple is willing put down payment, contract obligation and guarantee over number of years. And their volume will dictate how TSMC plan their capacity. Unless other company are willing to place some sort of bet that they will at least buy x millions on x node within the x years. It is not TSMC's duty to second guess everyone of their customers volume and take the risk of empty Fabs with redundant capacity. Fabs are meant to run at near constant Full Capacity. Most so called Supply Chain expert and professionals are being taught JIT without really understanding the purpose of JIT. I dont like the product and strategy direction of Tim Cook, but he is absolutely a genius in Supply Chain and Operation Management. Edit: And it just so happens there is a news story on JIT from Toyota https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26151072 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26151072 And after the Qualcomm and Samsung 4G/5G settlement it seems Qualcomm will try to use Samsung Foundry whenever possible. So it should mean more room at TSMC next year.
    - rangibaby 6y ago
      Toyota had a lot of trouble after the 2011 earthquake, I'm sure their decision to keep inventory is related to that
systemvoltage 6y ago
Every year their UX/UI gets consistently worse.
- bromuro 6y ago
  I don’t agree: I love the recent UI updates.
  - grishka 6y ago
    Big Sur is a huge step in the wrong direction. And there were links here on HN to posts that explained it better than I'll ever do. In short: there were many changes that only considered the looks, without ever thinking about actual usability. Then the fact that this overall touch-ification of the UI has now plagued macOS as well just saddens me. If nothing changes, in several years we'll lose the last mainstream OS that had a proper desktop UI made for keyboards and mice. You know what was the best thing they could've done to the macOS UI? Leave it alone.
stevievee 6y ago
On 2)... TSMC produces the M1 and it will be interesting if they eventually enter the fab business... Apple is one of the few companies with the required capital. This is all on the heels of the news that Samsung is planning a foundry in the U.S.
- GeekyBear 6y ago
  Apple's usual way of doing business with Tim Cook running the supply chain is to buy a supplier a manufacturing line in return for guaranteed production levels on exactly the part they want. This is the first case of this in action that I can remember. >CUPERTINO, California—November 21, 2005—Apple® today announced that it has reached long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba to secure the supply of NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple intends to prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/11/21Apple-Announces-Long-Term-Supply-Agreements-for-Flash-Memory/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/11/21Apple-Announces-Lon... Here's a more recent example. >(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Tuesday said it would award Corning Inc $250 million from a $5 billion fund dedicated to U.S. advanced manufacturing. In the past, Apple has made long-term supply agreements here with its vendors in which it provides upfront cash to lock in supplies of parts and better prices. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-corning/apple-awards-iphone-supplier-corning-250-million-from-u-s-manufacturing-fund-idUSKBN1W217H https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-corning/apple-award...
- simonh 6y ago
  Ive seen this suggested a few times and I don't believe it. Apple is only intersted in the latest cutting edge processes, those are the ones that give them competitive advantage. The problem is no process stays cutting edge forever. After a few years it becomes a commodity process. That's not a problem for TSMC who has plenty of customers for commodity nodes, but it would be a millstone round Apple's neck. They don't want to be in the business of owning a commodity process line used by their competitors.
novok 6y ago
Apple's mobile devices haven't been that interesting since the iPhone X / Watch Series 3. Nothing really has felt like a 'must have' upgrade. iPhone 12 & series 4 watch was definitely an improvement stylistically, but that's about it. And apple only really cares about privacy from 3rd parties, not privacy from apple for their customers. They don't E2E encrypt their backups, and many other services, which makes their service operation not very attractive. Why use apple services if it's not going to be private, might as well use the better run or cheaper google or amazon ones at that point. Most interesting thing so far is the M1.
- whoisjuan 6y ago
  Upgrades are hard even when they subtle. Iterating hardware is extremely complex. The internal layout of the phones changes every year and all the supply chain needs to get instructions to get the exact adjustments. New parts need to be procured. New software needs to be integrated and tested. Every year there are major software updates that launch new stable OS versions. Every year your ecosystem evolvez and you have to keep everyone in the loop. I find mind-blowing how good they are at re-aligning all the pieces after major shifts like form-factors or adding propietary silicon. It’s even more mind-blowing when you think that they are producing millions of these devices and distributing around the world at key times of the year. I know for some people it’s hard to see innovation in their year updates. But they need nearly perfect operational coordination to achieve what they do at their scale.
  - prox 6y ago
    The parent comment makes it sound like a bad thing, but I kind of enjoy the current way of not feeling the need to buy the latest and greatest every year.
    - Thlom 6y ago
      Chugging along with my iPhone 8. Screen is cracked and battery is getting worse, but the phone itself I have n problems with. If I could get the battery and screen replaced for relatively cheap I would, but as it stands that would cost me way to much compared to a new phone.
himinlomax 6y ago
> I don't know how they do it but: Easy to answer. Well, it's not the complete answer but I think it's crucial: Small number of different products. Think about it, why was the first iPhone so good compared to the competition? On paper, it had a fraction of the competition's features. But as a result, what it did it did so much better.
- petercooper 6y ago
  They've also always charged enough of a premium to afford to do things (mostly) properly. Apple's brand value isn't just in name recognition but in being able to command this premium which in turn improves their brand image more.. a virtuous cycle.
jwr 6y ago
And yet they fail so spectacularly at software. All their devices are limited by software, they can't swing their weight to develop software across all platforms, and they can't deal with software bugs in a scalable way. It's intriguing: they managed to scale their hardware in an impressive way, but software lags so far behind it's not even funny.
- simonh 6y ago
  I hesitated to reply because this is such a subjective issue. I look at the software on the Android and Windows side and just don't see much of interest to me. That's just me though. I think one area that Apple clearly does excel at though is software features that take advantage of specific hardware features. The fact they design the whole product in sync on both the hardware and software side, without either taking priority by itself is truly unique in the industry. So for example the way the M1 has instructions that accelerate particular operations common on the OSX/iOS software stack, or the computational photography software that works hand in glove with the neural engine hardware. The fact that apple develops their own developer tools, OS, application software, hardware and even CPUs now is unique in the industry and deep software skills are a really important differentiator. Maybe that side is slipping, but if so that will be a big problem for them down the line.
  - 908B64B197 6y ago
    > I look at the software on the Android and Windows side and just don't see much of interest to me. That's just me though. At the end Windows Phone ended up being tightly integrated to the handsets Microsoft built. And it could run extremely well on hardware considered too light to ever run Android smoothly. But it dropped compatibility for a lot of Windows API surfaces. Windows has to maintain 25+ years of compatibility in certain areas (and still run software that only exists in compiled blobs, the source having been lost a long time ago by whatever enterprise software shop gone bankrupt). Android has no excuses however. It's OEM cutting corners and shipping patched kernels and "fixes" for their SoC that's plaguing the whole ecosystem.
fctorial 6y ago
> They don't only remove the supplier. They beat their former suppliers specs. (e.g: M1 chip). They remove the supplier because they beat their specs.

DRW_ 6y ago

Yep, Apple's operations and logistics are second to none in this industry. Watching AMD, NVIDIA, Sony, Microsoft and others struggling so much manufacturing their products, and then having Apple launch: - 2 new Apple Watches - 4 new iPhones - 3 new Macs - Airpods Max - Homepod Mini All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avoid the huge shortages that those others have faced is impressive. It's probably a combination of their operations, logistics, supply networks - their predictable yearly cycles that allows them to plan out further in advance, having higher margin products that allows them to outbid the competition for capacity, etc, etc... But as someone who did the fight for the new AMD CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, been on the look out for the new Sony console, and bought a new iPhone, Apple Watch & Homepod mini on release - the Apple experience was such a breeze in comparison. It may seem like an odd thing to be impressed by, but with how much everyone else has been struggling - for it to appear to relatively easy for Apple is notable.

GloriousKoji 6y ago
> All with Apple's own custom designed chips, even relying on the same chip fabs as those other companies, and still managing to mostly avoid the huge shortages that those others have faced is impressive. I would not be surprised if the other companies are having shortages because of Apple taking up most of the fab capacity and support engineers.
- whoisjuan 6y ago
  Both Apple and Huawei have been stockpiling on silicon wafers for months. The silicon shortage is becoming real.
- ksec 6y ago
  >I would not be surprised if the other companies are having shortages because of Apple taking up most of the fab capacity and support engineers. The whole reason why Apple got the advantage and others dont is merely because Apple is willing put down payment, contract obligation and guarantee over number of years. And their volume will dictate how TSMC plan their capacity. Unless other company are willing to place some sort of bet that they will at least buy x millions on x node within the x years. It is not TSMC's duty to second guess everyone of their customers volume and take the risk of empty Fabs with redundant capacity. Fabs are meant to run at near constant Full Capacity. Most so called Supply Chain expert and professionals are being taught JIT without really understanding the purpose of JIT. I dont like the product and strategy direction of Tim Cook, but he is absolutely a genius in Supply Chain and Operation Management. Edit: And it just so happens there is a news story on JIT from Toyota https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26151072 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26151072 And after the Qualcomm and Samsung 4G/5G settlement it seems Qualcomm will try to use Samsung Foundry whenever possible. So it should mean more room at TSMC next year.
  - rangibaby 6y ago
    Toyota had a lot of trouble after the 2011 earthquake, I'm sure their decision to keep inventory is related to that

systemvoltage 6y ago

Every year their UX/UI gets consistently worse.

bromuro 6y ago
I don’t agree: I love the recent UI updates.
- grishka 6y ago
  Big Sur is a huge step in the wrong direction. And there were links here on HN to posts that explained it better than I'll ever do. In short: there were many changes that only considered the looks, without ever thinking about actual usability. Then the fact that this overall touch-ification of the UI has now plagued macOS as well just saddens me. If nothing changes, in several years we'll lose the last mainstream OS that had a proper desktop UI made for keyboards and mice. You know what was the best thing they could've done to the macOS UI? Leave it alone.

stevievee 6y ago

On 2)... TSMC produces the M1 and it will be interesting if they eventually enter the fab business... Apple is one of the few companies with the required capital. This is all on the heels of the news that Samsung is planning a foundry in the U.S.

GeekyBear 6y ago
Apple's usual way of doing business with Tim Cook running the supply chain is to buy a supplier a manufacturing line in return for guaranteed production levels on exactly the part they want. This is the first case of this in action that I can remember. >CUPERTINO, California—November 21, 2005—Apple® today announced that it has reached long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba to secure the supply of NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple intends to prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/11/21Apple-Announces-Long-Term-Supply-Agreements-for-Flash-Memory/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005/11/21Apple-Announces-Lon... Here's a more recent example. >(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Tuesday said it would award Corning Inc $250 million from a $5 billion fund dedicated to U.S. advanced manufacturing. In the past, Apple has made long-term supply agreements here with its vendors in which it provides upfront cash to lock in supplies of parts and better prices. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-corning/apple-awards-iphone-supplier-corning-250-million-from-u-s-manufacturing-fund-idUSKBN1W217H https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-corning/apple-award...
simonh 6y ago
Ive seen this suggested a few times and I don't believe it. Apple is only intersted in the latest cutting edge processes, those are the ones that give them competitive advantage. The problem is no process stays cutting edge forever. After a few years it becomes a commodity process. That's not a problem for TSMC who has plenty of customers for commodity nodes, but it would be a millstone round Apple's neck. They don't want to be in the business of owning a commodity process line used by their competitors.

novok 6y ago

Apple's mobile devices haven't been that interesting since the iPhone X / Watch Series 3. Nothing really has felt like a 'must have' upgrade. iPhone 12 & series 4 watch was definitely an improvement stylistically, but that's about it. And apple only really cares about privacy from 3rd parties, not privacy from apple for their customers. They don't E2E encrypt their backups, and many other services, which makes their service operation not very attractive. Why use apple services if it's not going to be private, might as well use the better run or cheaper google or amazon ones at that point. Most interesting thing so far is the M1.

whoisjuan 6y ago
Upgrades are hard even when they subtle. Iterating hardware is extremely complex. The internal layout of the phones changes every year and all the supply chain needs to get instructions to get the exact adjustments. New parts need to be procured. New software needs to be integrated and tested. Every year there are major software updates that launch new stable OS versions. Every year your ecosystem evolvez and you have to keep everyone in the loop. I find mind-blowing how good they are at re-aligning all the pieces after major shifts like form-factors or adding propietary silicon. It’s even more mind-blowing when you think that they are producing millions of these devices and distributing around the world at key times of the year. I know for some people it’s hard to see innovation in their year updates. But they need nearly perfect operational coordination to achieve what they do at their scale.
- prox 6y ago
  The parent comment makes it sound like a bad thing, but I kind of enjoy the current way of not feeling the need to buy the latest and greatest every year.
  - Thlom 6y ago
    Chugging along with my iPhone 8. Screen is cracked and battery is getting worse, but the phone itself I have n problems with. If I could get the battery and screen replaced for relatively cheap I would, but as it stands that would cost me way to much compared to a new phone.

himinlomax 6y ago

> I don't know how they do it but: Easy to answer. Well, it's not the complete answer but I think it's crucial: Small number of different products. Think about it, why was the first iPhone so good compared to the competition? On paper, it had a fraction of the competition's features. But as a result, what it did it did so much better.

petercooper 6y ago
They've also always charged enough of a premium to afford to do things (mostly) properly. Apple's brand value isn't just in name recognition but in being able to command this premium which in turn improves their brand image more.. a virtuous cycle.

jwr 6y ago

And yet they fail so spectacularly at software. All their devices are limited by software, they can't swing their weight to develop software across all platforms, and they can't deal with software bugs in a scalable way. It's intriguing: they managed to scale their hardware in an impressive way, but software lags so far behind it's not even funny.

simonh 6y ago
I hesitated to reply because this is such a subjective issue. I look at the software on the Android and Windows side and just don't see much of interest to me. That's just me though. I think one area that Apple clearly does excel at though is software features that take advantage of specific hardware features. The fact they design the whole product in sync on both the hardware and software side, without either taking priority by itself is truly unique in the industry. So for example the way the M1 has instructions that accelerate particular operations common on the OSX/iOS software stack, or the computational photography software that works hand in glove with the neural engine hardware. The fact that apple develops their own developer tools, OS, application software, hardware and even CPUs now is unique in the industry and deep software skills are a really important differentiator. Maybe that side is slipping, but if so that will be a big problem for them down the line.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  > I look at the software on the Android and Windows side and just don't see much of interest to me. That's just me though. At the end Windows Phone ended up being tightly integrated to the handsets Microsoft built. And it could run extremely well on hardware considered too light to ever run Android smoothly. But it dropped compatibility for a lot of Windows API surfaces. Windows has to maintain 25+ years of compatibility in certain areas (and still run software that only exists in compiled blobs, the source having been lost a long time ago by whatever enterprise software shop gone bankrupt). Android has no excuses however. It's OEM cutting corners and shipping patched kernels and "fixes" for their SoC that's plaguing the whole ecosystem.

fctorial 6y ago

> They don't only remove the supplier. They beat their former suppliers specs. (e.g: M1 chip). They remove the supplier because they beat their specs.