> There is no one challenging Apple on hardware right now. This isn't true IMO. Everyone is challenging them and has for a long time. Android phones have bette

> There is no one challenging Apple on hardware right now. This isn't true IMO. Everyone is challenging them and has for a long time. Android phones have better hardware, by any arbitrary metric. Camera, screen, battery, processor - Apple doesn't have a moat here. Don't get me wrong, their stuff is good. But is it the best? Ehhh... it's close, for sure. Same thing with Macs, just a bit more in Apple's favor. Is M series good? Yes. Is it the best? IMO, no. x86 still has an edge in many applications. Some newer processors, like Intel's Lunar Lake, challenge M in both power and power consumption. Is ARM the future? IMO no - ARM is just a vessel. Low-wattage SOCs with RAM baked on are the future for mobile devices. Intel can do that, and they did, and it competes. But with all the benefits of x86. I mean, I'm driving 2 1440p 240hz monitors right now on Lunar Lake over thunderbolt. Not a single dropped frame, ever. And at less than 30 watts - that's for everything, it's an SOC. Apple users a bit deceived - once you jump onto the Apple ship, you stop looking at competitors. But the competitors are good. Like, really good these days. Apple's moat is their software. They keep a tight, tight grip on it. iPhones are popular in the US because of iMessage, pretty much exclusively. If Android phones could send and receive iMessage and transfer everything over, then it's over for Apple. They know that which is why it would never happen willingly. If Apple's moat was hardware, they would have no problem distributing their software like candy. But they don't.