6 ms·

I don’t think revenue is a good measure of ‘decline’. People have saturated their lives with devices over the last 4-5 years and iPads iPhones and watches and E

I don’t think revenue is a good measure of ‘decline’. People have saturated their lives with devices over the last 4-5 years and iPads iPhones and watches and EarPods have reached a saturation point. So the revenues will not grow linearly anymore cause new owners of watches and EarPods are not getting added. There is no new device like the Apple watch to enter the ecosystem so revenues have stayed somewhat flat. This is if you think the cult is relevant to revenue. From what I know everyone and their dog on social media uses an iPhone Pro. Given the high usage and addiction of social media, the iPhone that shows 3 cameras on the back is still the gold standard of status. People thought (including me) that raising the price of the flagship to 1000$+ might affect sales but it didn’t. As long as Apple maintains its luxury, people will buy it no matter what you say about them. The problem is that unlike LVMH where margins are insane, Apple is still a tech company thriving on innovation. So unlike other luxury brands, Apple stock may not do as well as others. But if you think the cult is buying something else now, just open Instagram and count how many people have selfies with a pixel and thousands of followers (who are the part of cult). You’ll have a tough time spotting one.

Vampiero 2y ago
If there's one consumer base where the consumers will mindlessly buy every new product despite the price or the fact that it's the same thing as the previous model, it's Apple. It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor, not a brand for people who put thought into their purchases or who care about tech. You said it already, it's about status.
- kcplate 2y ago
  Yeah, flexing on the poor is definitely why I buy their products, it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality and productivity gains I get from their product ecosystem.
  - alt227 2y ago
    > the quality and productivity gains I get from their product ecosystem These gains are also available elsewhere. You are not superior, nor do you have access to superior things or ways of working, just because you buy Apple. That is the success of the Apple marketing team making you think that way.
    - robenkleene 2y ago
      Excel, Adobe suite, Cinema 4D, and Ableton Live/Max don't run on Linux, just for the short list of applications I wouldn't want to give up. So presumably you mean Windows? But then you lose AppleScript, Unix-by-default, and global Emacs bindings. Doesn't seem like a great trade off to me, so I'm curious what exactly you'd suggest here?
      - taylodl 2y ago
        They have nothing to suggest because they have no clue how actual users that aren't like themselves use Apple products. You have ably demonstrated this fact.
        alt227 2y ago
        Dont assume, it makes an ass out of u and me.
      - alt227 2y ago
        WSL
        robenkleene 2y ago
        Curious if you'd elaborate this statement, e.g., WSL is definitely a potential solution to one of the items I brought up, but given what I've stated about the advantages of macOS, would you actually go as far as to say it's a better or comparable experience on Windows? I'd love to hear your argument if so.
        2y ago
- AlexandrB 2y ago
  Thai kind of opinion is pretty common and has been around since before the iPhone, when Apple's computers were considered overpriced luxury items to flex on the poor. Heck, I had this opinion back in 2008 or so. The problem is that it's a thought terminating cliche. Once you've assigned apple customers into the rich/dumb/cultist category you become blind to the actual reasons why Apple is successful. My own take, after using Apple stuff for 15 years now, is it's the attention to detail. It still shocks me that macOS has better support for using EMacs style text shortcuts (^A, ^E, ^K, etc) in basically any applications text field than Linux does.
  - fluoridation 2y ago
    "Gravity is caused by the bending of space-time" is a thought-terminating cliché. Once you've assigned gravity to the space-time-bend category you become blind to the actual reasons why things fall down. There is such a thing as a satisfying explanation. Personally, I like Apple's hardware in general. The 2005 Mac Pros in particular are beautiful machines, possibly the nicest-looking desktop computers I've seen, inside and outside. I would still not pay what Apple asks for, when for the same money I could buy a more powerful non-Apple computer. That leads me to conclude that the people who buy Apple products have more money than me and care more about aesthetics and less about performance than me.
    - paulmd 2y ago
      Apple M3 silicon has about 3-4x the perf/w in light workloads as the leading AMD chips on 5nm, despite a slight node disadvantage, let alone the comparisons against generic android phone SOCs. This is a huge part of what gives them their battery life - it’s not the OS, it’s not the node, it’s not the accelerators, it’s that they pull 1/3 the power running a browser/electron app or a word processor as x86 does. https://i.imgur.com/Kcwo1OM.png https://i.imgur.com/Kcwo1OM.png https://i.imgur.com/IP6vBqk.png https://i.imgur.com/IP6vBqk.png https://i.imgur.com/1pTFnRj.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/1pTFnRj.jpeg Again, you’ve volunteered to self-identify as someone who is doing precisely what GP said: you’ve made your little box and you’ve put people into it and you’ve closed your mind to any alternative possibilities.
- mcphage 2y ago
  > It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor, not a brand for people who put thought into their purchases or who care about tech. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think that this was an actual position that people honestly believed beyond 18 year old edgelords.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - dagmx 2y ago
    Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people mature past that stage in their lives.
  - RichardCA 2y ago
    It's been around since the original Mac came out. https://youtu.be/cV_RLmuoCkE https://youtu.be/cV_RLmuoCkE
    - alt227 2y ago
      Wow this ad is incredible, and just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago!
- dvfjsdhgfv 2y ago
  > It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor. As a user of Apple devices I agree with the first part (unfortunately - their RAM and NVMes are much more expensive than anybody elses) but not with the second. I live in Europe where every second person I meet has an Apple device, so it's hard to perceive it as a status symbol.

Vampiero 2y ago

If there's one consumer base where the consumers will mindlessly buy every new product despite the price or the fact that it's the same thing as the previous model, it's Apple. It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor, not a brand for people who put thought into their purchases or who care about tech. You said it already, it's about status.

kcplate 2y ago
Yeah, flexing on the poor is definitely why I buy their products, it has absolutely nothing to do with the quality and productivity gains I get from their product ecosystem.
- alt227 2y ago
  > the quality and productivity gains I get from their product ecosystem These gains are also available elsewhere. You are not superior, nor do you have access to superior things or ways of working, just because you buy Apple. That is the success of the Apple marketing team making you think that way.
  - robenkleene 2y ago
    Excel, Adobe suite, Cinema 4D, and Ableton Live/Max don't run on Linux, just for the short list of applications I wouldn't want to give up. So presumably you mean Windows? But then you lose AppleScript, Unix-by-default, and global Emacs bindings. Doesn't seem like a great trade off to me, so I'm curious what exactly you'd suggest here?
    - taylodl 2y ago
      They have nothing to suggest because they have no clue how actual users that aren't like themselves use Apple products. You have ably demonstrated this fact.
      - alt227 2y ago
        Dont assume, it makes an ass out of u and me.
    - alt227 2y ago
      WSL
      - robenkleene 2y ago
        Curious if you'd elaborate this statement, e.g., WSL is definitely a potential solution to one of the items I brought up, but given what I've stated about the advantages of macOS, would you actually go as far as to say it's a better or comparable experience on Windows? I'd love to hear your argument if so.
        2y ago
AlexandrB 2y ago
Thai kind of opinion is pretty common and has been around since before the iPhone, when Apple's computers were considered overpriced luxury items to flex on the poor. Heck, I had this opinion back in 2008 or so. The problem is that it's a thought terminating cliche. Once you've assigned apple customers into the rich/dumb/cultist category you become blind to the actual reasons why Apple is successful. My own take, after using Apple stuff for 15 years now, is it's the attention to detail. It still shocks me that macOS has better support for using EMacs style text shortcuts (^A, ^E, ^K, etc) in basically any applications text field than Linux does.
- fluoridation 2y ago
  "Gravity is caused by the bending of space-time" is a thought-terminating cliché. Once you've assigned gravity to the space-time-bend category you become blind to the actual reasons why things fall down. There is such a thing as a satisfying explanation. Personally, I like Apple's hardware in general. The 2005 Mac Pros in particular are beautiful machines, possibly the nicest-looking desktop computers I've seen, inside and outside. I would still not pay what Apple asks for, when for the same money I could buy a more powerful non-Apple computer. That leads me to conclude that the people who buy Apple products have more money than me and care more about aesthetics and less about performance than me.
  - paulmd 2y ago
    Apple M3 silicon has about 3-4x the perf/w in light workloads as the leading AMD chips on 5nm, despite a slight node disadvantage, let alone the comparisons against generic android phone SOCs. This is a huge part of what gives them their battery life - it’s not the OS, it’s not the node, it’s not the accelerators, it’s that they pull 1/3 the power running a browser/electron app or a word processor as x86 does. https://i.imgur.com/Kcwo1OM.png https://i.imgur.com/Kcwo1OM.png https://i.imgur.com/IP6vBqk.png https://i.imgur.com/IP6vBqk.png https://i.imgur.com/1pTFnRj.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/1pTFnRj.jpeg Again, you’ve volunteered to self-identify as someone who is doing precisely what GP said: you’ve made your little box and you’ve put people into it and you’ve closed your mind to any alternative possibilities.
mcphage 2y ago
> It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor, not a brand for people who put thought into their purchases or who care about tech. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think that this was an actual position that people honestly believed beyond 18 year old edgelords.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- dagmx 2y ago
  Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people mature past that stage in their lives.
- RichardCA 2y ago
  It's been around since the original Mac came out. https://youtu.be/cV_RLmuoCkE https://youtu.be/cV_RLmuoCkE
  - alt227 2y ago
    Wow this ad is incredible, and just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago!
dvfjsdhgfv 2y ago
> It's a brand for people with money who want to flex on the poor. As a user of Apple devices I agree with the first part (unfortunately - their RAM and NVMes are much more expensive than anybody elses) but not with the second. I live in Europe where every second person I meet has an Apple device, so it's hard to perceive it as a status symbol.