4 ms·

Apple iPhone sales dip despite AI rollout

27 points by colinprince 2y ago

weikju 2y ago
for some, s/despite/due to the/ perhaps
- RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
  That even the wealthiest corporations in the world are too cowardly to take a stance against ruining their products with this inane, tasteless, broken-by-design genai garbage is a sobering lesson on how much "consumer choice" is an illusion.
  - gnkyfrg 2y ago
    [dead]
  - Edman274 2y ago
    Choosing not to buy is still a choice and it seems like it's not so illusory as to escape notice by reporters and (by extension) the companies themselves.
futybt 2y ago
Because* ftfy No one asked for it, we are all broke, and the truth is pissing in our faces. The truth being that we must never trust that built by the wealthy at the cost of the rest.
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  Thank you for the breath of fresh air. The fact so many people are still burning their hard earned money for a overpriced status symbol is insanity.
oriel 2y ago
I havent personally tested it, but I also havent allowed it on my phone. I figure either its time to drop the smartphone concept, as I barely use it for more than calls, or try to wait it out for them to realize I/we didnt want or ask for it.
wronglebowski 2y ago
Apple has a reserved billboard right across the street from my apartment. Every time it changes I notice, Privacy ad, Sexy product photos, Shot on IPhone ads. Guess what it is now? AI Emoji, a hot dog holding a briefcase. I’m not surprised people aren’t impressed.
- avree 2y ago
  Mine is a snail riding in a car. It's a baffling ad campaign; am I expected to google "Genmoji", or want to buy an iPhone because I can combine emojis? I could combine images on KidPix in 1989...
  - eighthourblink 2y ago
    lol, KidPix. Havent heard that one in a long time -
sampton 2y ago
Services saved the day. Apple needs to restart Siri from scratch.
- wahnfrieden 2y ago
  They are
Vivtek 2y ago
Astonishing.
gamesbrainiac 2y ago
Let's be honest, there isn't much of a difference between an iPhone 13 and 16. Why buy? I almost exclusively buy second hand these days.
- dwood_dev 2y ago
  I buy new, with Apple Care. I'm still waiting on a reason to move from my 13 Pro Max. Apple Intelligence looks very meh.
  - jitl 2y ago
    The notification summaries are good comic relief (only reason I haven’t turned it off), besides that it’s just gimmicks like image generation that never follows my prompt. Very meh.
- benjaminwootton 2y ago
  Since the 13 they’ve all been so incremental. I’m left wondering what’s changed most times. This is the first cycle I’m not upgrading. I pay for my wife and kid phones and as we all have 15s that feel brand new, I’m looking forward to a few years of “sim only” bills.
- shepherdjerred 2y ago
  I went from an 11 Pro to a 15 Pro and definitely appreciated the difference, but upgrading every year or two doesn’t seem necessary at all
dyauspitr 2y ago
I keep getting updates but Siri is dumb as ever. Are the changes only on iPhone 16 and above?
- joecool1029 2y ago
  15 pro/pro max and above.
- kelseydh 2y ago
  Similarly it amazes me Amazon Echo and Google Home's voice assistants are still so bad. Why haven't they plopped an LLM on top of these devices yet?!
  - RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
    They were all operating at a massive loss before LLMs offered an even more expensive and less reliable alternative.
baggy_trough 2y ago
Apple Intelligence is terrible and there's barely any reason to upgrade any more.
allenbina 2y ago
I feel like they would make a killing if they made a pro version that would be able to dock into a simplified desktop. I’ve been wanting this for years. They love taking a semi cooked idea and polishing it and this could make Samsung dex look like a child’s tool. I think a lot of this community would be interested in something like that. I like what they did with CarPlay, now they just need office play.
- luqtas 2y ago
  > they would make a killing > dock into a simplified desktop > could make Samsung dex look like a child's toy is this a pure blind fanboy comment? because even my years old second hand Samsung phone streaming to a TV (without dex) with Termux without root is more capable than your shitty & shinning iPad, let alone a 137 megapixel iPhone Max Pro that barely can sideload an app edit: fuck the Android too, i just use this shit because society obligates me to (Whatsapp, non-tech friends on Instagam etc.)
- NoPicklez 2y ago
  I think Apple might be worried it would cannibalise some of their other products like the iPad. I've liked the idea since the Dex as well, but I feel like there is a product segmentation reason that makes them hesitant.
- dwood_dev 2y ago
  I've wanted the same for a long time. The ability to dock my phone and let it drive a display and desktop. Not because I think it would be better at it, but because it already has my stuff.
  - walterbell 2y ago
    Google Pixels are heading in this direction, with Pixel 8 supporting USB-c DisplayPort Alt Mode and Android working on Debian Linux VMs. Hopefully Pixel Tablet 3 will challenge Apple iPad Pro with Linux VMs, https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-3-power-users-3495268 https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-3-power....
  - 2y ago
asciimov 2y ago
If they can’t innovate the technology they should innovate the design. I’m ready for a new style from Apple, something that looks different.
nkrisc 2y ago
Still waiting for one worthy of replacing my 12 mini.
- binarynate 2y ago
  Same with my 13 mini. Small size + lightweight is a killer feature. I want the 5x camera zoom of the iPhone 16 Pro, but it's not worth the tradeoff. And none of the other new features matter to me.
  - nkrisc 2y ago
    I bought an aftermarket case + swappable lens kit for mine and it’s pretty good for my purposes. The brand is Moment.
- michaelhoney 2y ago
  Yes, I am now on my third 12/13 mini (after breaking or drowning the previous two). Refurbed iPhones are a third of the price for >80% of the goodness.
- tacitusarc 2y ago
  Hear, hear
blindriver 2y ago
AI on the iphone has been absolutely useless. I was hoping they would integrate AI with Siri, which is mostly useless, but I don't think they did because Siri remains mostly useless. I don't understand what their strategy is with AI.
michaelhoney 2y ago
Apple is very keen, especially on iOS, for the user to be safe. There's not a lot of freedom in the iOS world. And that totally works for most people most of the time. A truly useful AI (which I have no doubt they are capable of building) is also a dangerous AI. It might do weird shit. So instead it's stuck doing safe-but-trivial things.
lgleason 2y ago
The bigger issue is that the market is saturated with the only real growth opportunities in either taking Android market share or trying to get into developing countries where people are more price conscious. Even as a mobile app developer, I have no need to upgrade hardware until my phone can no longer support the latest version of IOS. Sure the camera may get marginally better and you may miss out on 5g etc for a few years, but do I really need most of that? No.
- HDThoreaun 2y ago
  Google claims there are 1.4 billion iPhone users. If they replace once every 5 years that’s 280 million phones sold a year without growing the market at all. Apple doesn’t really need to grow iPhone base to make their sales numbers at this point. Keeping the App Store 30% cut is their most important job now.
brianbest101 2y ago
[dead]
xyst 2y ago
“Apple Intelligence” shit re-enables itself after every update too.
lvturner 2y ago
I finally replaced my iPhone 14 with a Xiaomi Fold 4 - the ability to turn it in to a small tablet has been far more useful than I anticipated, I also appreciate easy side-loading of apps and multiple stores. There are some cons, especially with using a phone aimed at the Chinese domestic market (not all features and UI are in English) But so far it feels like a far more innovative and 'free' ecosystem - iOS/iPhone was starting to feel really stale to me.
brundolf 2y ago
Apple Intelligence is a nothingburger so far. We'll see if that changes with app intents, or if Siri ever actually gets better (it still mis-hears me on a regular basis!), but I'm getting pessimistic
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pzo 2y ago
They could reignited sales if all iphones as base had 16GB Ram and 256GB storage. Also easy system wide integration with open source models - something like ollama +but also for TTS and STT. If they cannot make decent on the edge models and they make big release once a year they should allow easily bring open source models like ollama that have tight system integration for UI Also their appleTV has a lot of potential but is wasted opportunity for them. Wish apple tv could replace router, backup server, wireless charging, smart speaker, vpn, private home cloud, private local ai models hosting - basically acting as home server similar like umbrelOS [0] [0] https://umbrel.com https://umbrel.com
mbrumlow 2y ago
If you used it you should know how last minute crappy it is. Whoever is running Apple now has really dropped the ball. Maybe the ghost of Jobs had found pease and left. They being said I think tech in general is failing. We see it at Google and other big companies. My assessment is those who can code are finally outnumbered and out ranked by those who can’t code but want to get paid like people who can actually change the world. Business folks are winning and they will squeeze wifey last cent out before it is worthless. No. I am not talking about entrepreneurs. I am talking about passionless MBAs who want to remove the art from making amazing products.
Gud 2y ago
What do you mean, 'despite'? I don't want it. And it seems impossible to get away from theses 'assistants'. I'm all the time reminded that I have somebody snooping on everything I do and say on my phone because it seems to me that Siri is impossible to get rid of. I know we are talking about 'Apple Intelligence' but I am sure the same shit applies. What happened to putting the user in control? At least in the OLD walled garden I got toggle the switches (mostly) myself.
- Volundr 2y ago
  > And it seems impossible to get away from theses 'assistants' Assistants or assailants? Between my Apple stuff at work trying to get me to enable Apple AI, and both Samsung and Google trying to get me to enable their version of this crap on my personal phone, I'm feeling pretty harassed.
  - JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y ago
    Google enabled Gemini in Gmail at work. It’s annoying, time wasting, and useless. I hid the icon with uBlock Origin but they still push it through other means. In 50 years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more stupid rollout than AI across the whole industry. No wonder I hate it.
- sitzkrieg 2y ago
  user hasnt been in control for years. and virtually never on apple products
throwawa14223 2y ago
Perhaps AI features make an object less desirable to the kind of person who purchases an iPhone?
vishnugupta 2y ago
My first and only iPhone is 11 which is going very strong, 6th year running. It works as good as new, the physical device has taken its fair share of abuse but is nearly as good as new. Every year I’ve been vaguely following iPhone launches which over index on camera capabilities and recently intelligence. And yet not once have I felt that I’m missing out on anything because honestly for my use what I have is perfect and will probably be like this for 5 more years. I wonder what % of iPhone users are like this. Happy with their 11/12/13/etc and see no reason to upgrade. I suppose the dip in sales is inevitable give this so maybe Apple needs a new entry level model to go after newer segments.
- yftsui 2y ago
  I used almost all the recent iPhones except 14. 11 is heavy and no MagSafe thus its a hard pass, the camera is also super old; 12 is lighter but poor battery life, camera improved a lot; 13 has better battery life but weird camera optimizations despite they tried to improve the low light performance; 15 Pro is good except the low light spatial video capture is noisy; happy with 16 Pro now.
  - seaal 2y ago
    The 16 Pro has a fantastic hand feel with the titanium body, the stainless steel from previous models and combined with their sharp edges feel barbaric by comparison.
singularity2001 2y ago
"despite" "AI"
akmarinov 2y ago
That AI rollout - only in the US Apple's three biggest markets - the US, China and Europe, we're 6 months into iPhone 16 and they've barely covered the US. No wonder they're down 11% in China. All this time could've been spent on actually useful features.

27 points by colinprince 2y ago

weikju 2y ago

for some, s/despite/due to the/ perhaps

RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
That even the wealthiest corporations in the world are too cowardly to take a stance against ruining their products with this inane, tasteless, broken-by-design genai garbage is a sobering lesson on how much "consumer choice" is an illusion.
- gnkyfrg 2y ago
  [dead]
- Edman274 2y ago
  Choosing not to buy is still a choice and it seems like it's not so illusory as to escape notice by reporters and (by extension) the companies themselves.

futybt 2y ago

Because* ftfy No one asked for it, we are all broke, and the truth is pissing in our faces. The truth being that we must never trust that built by the wealthy at the cost of the rest.

kylebenzle 2y ago
Thank you for the breath of fresh air. The fact so many people are still burning their hard earned money for a overpriced status symbol is insanity.

oriel 2y ago

I havent personally tested it, but I also havent allowed it on my phone. I figure either its time to drop the smartphone concept, as I barely use it for more than calls, or try to wait it out for them to realize I/we didnt want or ask for it.

wronglebowski 2y ago

Apple has a reserved billboard right across the street from my apartment. Every time it changes I notice, Privacy ad, Sexy product photos, Shot on IPhone ads. Guess what it is now? AI Emoji, a hot dog holding a briefcase. I’m not surprised people aren’t impressed.

avree 2y ago
Mine is a snail riding in a car. It's a baffling ad campaign; am I expected to google "Genmoji", or want to buy an iPhone because I can combine emojis? I could combine images on KidPix in 1989...
- eighthourblink 2y ago
  lol, KidPix. Havent heard that one in a long time -

sampton 2y ago

Services saved the day. Apple needs to restart Siri from scratch.

wahnfrieden 2y ago
They are

Vivtek 2y ago

Astonishing.

gamesbrainiac 2y ago

Let's be honest, there isn't much of a difference between an iPhone 13 and 16. Why buy? I almost exclusively buy second hand these days.

dwood_dev 2y ago
I buy new, with Apple Care. I'm still waiting on a reason to move from my 13 Pro Max. Apple Intelligence looks very meh.
- jitl 2y ago
  The notification summaries are good comic relief (only reason I haven’t turned it off), besides that it’s just gimmicks like image generation that never follows my prompt. Very meh.
benjaminwootton 2y ago
Since the 13 they’ve all been so incremental. I’m left wondering what’s changed most times. This is the first cycle I’m not upgrading. I pay for my wife and kid phones and as we all have 15s that feel brand new, I’m looking forward to a few years of “sim only” bills.
shepherdjerred 2y ago
I went from an 11 Pro to a 15 Pro and definitely appreciated the difference, but upgrading every year or two doesn’t seem necessary at all

dyauspitr 2y ago

I keep getting updates but Siri is dumb as ever. Are the changes only on iPhone 16 and above?

joecool1029 2y ago
15 pro/pro max and above.
kelseydh 2y ago
Similarly it amazes me Amazon Echo and Google Home's voice assistants are still so bad. Why haven't they plopped an LLM on top of these devices yet?!
- RodgerTheGreat 2y ago
  They were all operating at a massive loss before LLMs offered an even more expensive and less reliable alternative.

baggy_trough 2y ago

Apple Intelligence is terrible and there's barely any reason to upgrade any more.

allenbina 2y ago

I feel like they would make a killing if they made a pro version that would be able to dock into a simplified desktop. I’ve been wanting this for years. They love taking a semi cooked idea and polishing it and this could make Samsung dex look like a child’s tool. I think a lot of this community would be interested in something like that. I like what they did with CarPlay, now they just need office play.

luqtas 2y ago
> they would make a killing > dock into a simplified desktop > could make Samsung dex look like a child's toy is this a pure blind fanboy comment? because even my years old second hand Samsung phone streaming to a TV (without dex) with Termux without root is more capable than your shitty & shinning iPad, let alone a 137 megapixel iPhone Max Pro that barely can sideload an app edit: fuck the Android too, i just use this shit because society obligates me to (Whatsapp, non-tech friends on Instagam etc.)
NoPicklez 2y ago
I think Apple might be worried it would cannibalise some of their other products like the iPad. I've liked the idea since the Dex as well, but I feel like there is a product segmentation reason that makes them hesitant.
dwood_dev 2y ago
I've wanted the same for a long time. The ability to dock my phone and let it drive a display and desktop. Not because I think it would be better at it, but because it already has my stuff.
- walterbell 2y ago
  Google Pixels are heading in this direction, with Pixel 8 supporting USB-c DisplayPort Alt Mode and Android working on Debian Linux VMs. Hopefully Pixel Tablet 3 will challenge Apple iPad Pro with Linux VMs, https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-3-power-users-3495268 https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-tablet-3-power....
- 2y ago

asciimov 2y ago

If they can’t innovate the technology they should innovate the design. I’m ready for a new style from Apple, something that looks different.

nkrisc 2y ago

Still waiting for one worthy of replacing my 12 mini.

binarynate 2y ago
Same with my 13 mini. Small size + lightweight is a killer feature. I want the 5x camera zoom of the iPhone 16 Pro, but it's not worth the tradeoff. And none of the other new features matter to me.
- nkrisc 2y ago
  I bought an aftermarket case + swappable lens kit for mine and it’s pretty good for my purposes. The brand is Moment.
michaelhoney 2y ago
Yes, I am now on my third 12/13 mini (after breaking or drowning the previous two). Refurbed iPhones are a third of the price for >80% of the goodness.
tacitusarc 2y ago
Hear, hear

blindriver 2y ago

AI on the iphone has been absolutely useless. I was hoping they would integrate AI with Siri, which is mostly useless, but I don't think they did because Siri remains mostly useless. I don't understand what their strategy is with AI.

michaelhoney 2y ago

Apple is very keen, especially on iOS, for the user to be safe. There's not a lot of freedom in the iOS world. And that totally works for most people most of the time. A truly useful AI (which I have no doubt they are capable of building) is also a dangerous AI. It might do weird shit. So instead it's stuck doing safe-but-trivial things.

lgleason 2y ago

The bigger issue is that the market is saturated with the only real growth opportunities in either taking Android market share or trying to get into developing countries where people are more price conscious. Even as a mobile app developer, I have no need to upgrade hardware until my phone can no longer support the latest version of IOS. Sure the camera may get marginally better and you may miss out on 5g etc for a few years, but do I really need most of that? No.

HDThoreaun 2y ago
Google claims there are 1.4 billion iPhone users. If they replace once every 5 years that’s 280 million phones sold a year without growing the market at all. Apple doesn’t really need to grow iPhone base to make their sales numbers at this point. Keeping the App Store 30% cut is their most important job now.

brianbest101 2y ago

[dead]

xyst 2y ago

“Apple Intelligence” shit re-enables itself after every update too.

lvturner 2y ago

I finally replaced my iPhone 14 with a Xiaomi Fold 4 - the ability to turn it in to a small tablet has been far more useful than I anticipated, I also appreciate easy side-loading of apps and multiple stores. There are some cons, especially with using a phone aimed at the Chinese domestic market (not all features and UI are in English) But so far it feels like a far more innovative and 'free' ecosystem - iOS/iPhone was starting to feel really stale to me.

brundolf 2y ago

Apple Intelligence is a nothingburger so far. We'll see if that changes with app intents, or if Siri ever actually gets better (it still mis-hears me on a regular basis!), but I'm getting pessimistic

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

pzo 2y ago

They could reignited sales if all iphones as base had 16GB Ram and 256GB storage. Also easy system wide integration with open source models - something like ollama +but also for TTS and STT. If they cannot make decent on the edge models and they make big release once a year they should allow easily bring open source models like ollama that have tight system integration for UI Also their appleTV has a lot of potential but is wasted opportunity for them. Wish apple tv could replace router, backup server, wireless charging, smart speaker, vpn, private home cloud, private local ai models hosting - basically acting as home server similar like umbrelOS [0] [0] https://umbrel.com https://umbrel.com

mbrumlow 2y ago

If you used it you should know how last minute crappy it is. Whoever is running Apple now has really dropped the ball. Maybe the ghost of Jobs had found pease and left. They being said I think tech in general is failing. We see it at Google and other big companies. My assessment is those who can code are finally outnumbered and out ranked by those who can’t code but want to get paid like people who can actually change the world. Business folks are winning and they will squeeze wifey last cent out before it is worthless. No. I am not talking about entrepreneurs. I am talking about passionless MBAs who want to remove the art from making amazing products.

Gud 2y ago

What do you mean, 'despite'? I don't want it. And it seems impossible to get away from theses 'assistants'. I'm all the time reminded that I have somebody snooping on everything I do and say on my phone because it seems to me that Siri is impossible to get rid of. I know we are talking about 'Apple Intelligence' but I am sure the same shit applies. What happened to putting the user in control? At least in the OLD walled garden I got toggle the switches (mostly) myself.

Volundr 2y ago
> And it seems impossible to get away from theses 'assistants' Assistants or assailants? Between my Apple stuff at work trying to get me to enable Apple AI, and both Samsung and Google trying to get me to enable their version of this crap on my personal phone, I'm feeling pretty harassed.
- JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B 2y ago
  Google enabled Gemini in Gmail at work. It’s annoying, time wasting, and useless. I hid the icon with uBlock Origin but they still push it through other means. In 50 years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more stupid rollout than AI across the whole industry. No wonder I hate it.
sitzkrieg 2y ago
user hasnt been in control for years. and virtually never on apple products

throwawa14223 2y ago

Perhaps AI features make an object less desirable to the kind of person who purchases an iPhone?

vishnugupta 2y ago

My first and only iPhone is 11 which is going very strong, 6th year running. It works as good as new, the physical device has taken its fair share of abuse but is nearly as good as new. Every year I’ve been vaguely following iPhone launches which over index on camera capabilities and recently intelligence. And yet not once have I felt that I’m missing out on anything because honestly for my use what I have is perfect and will probably be like this for 5 more years. I wonder what % of iPhone users are like this. Happy with their 11/12/13/etc and see no reason to upgrade. I suppose the dip in sales is inevitable give this so maybe Apple needs a new entry level model to go after newer segments.

yftsui 2y ago
I used almost all the recent iPhones except 14. 11 is heavy and no MagSafe thus its a hard pass, the camera is also super old; 12 is lighter but poor battery life, camera improved a lot; 13 has better battery life but weird camera optimizations despite they tried to improve the low light performance; 15 Pro is good except the low light spatial video capture is noisy; happy with 16 Pro now.
- seaal 2y ago
  The 16 Pro has a fantastic hand feel with the titanium body, the stainless steel from previous models and combined with their sharp edges feel barbaric by comparison.

singularity2001 2y ago

"despite" "AI"

akmarinov 2y ago

That AI rollout - only in the US Apple's three biggest markets - the US, China and Europe, we're 6 months into iPhone 16 and they've barely covered the US. No wonder they're down 11% in China. All this time could've been spent on actually useful features.