Apple users bash new iPhone 15: ‘Innovation died with Steve Jobs’

Steve Jobs didn't innovate a thing in his life. Apple has always been stealing tech and pretending that they created it.

Now with this new version, they don't even have much anything to steal. At best, they pretended that the EU didn't force them to adopt USB 3 and boast how much faster it is than Lightning port.

Actually the EU only forced them to adopt USB C. Only their 'Pro' model actually has USB 3. Imagine having to pay a premium for the luxury of a 15 year old technology
- And they still don't have PD on the pro.
  
  My guess is that they'll be going portless soon, and don't want users freaking out that they can't change their phones as quickly, so they're intentionally nerfing the charge speeds on USB C.
- A 15 year old technology pretty much every other phone uses now. A technology used in pretty much every modern laptop - especially Apple's own - and many desktops.
- Apple just wants to get rid of low income people having an iphone.
  
  Iphones whole thing has always been to be a luxury brand, that only rich people can afford.
Did Jobs build teams that invented the GUI, the cellphone, multitouch gestures, or mobile web browsing? No, he didn’t. But he built teams that productized those things better than anyone else before them, and that team forever changed our expectations for computing.

To be an innovative composer you don’t have to invent new instruments, scales, time signatures, etc. You have to know how to arrange existing stuff in new ways.
- Yep, I am not a Jobs fan boy at all but he definitely had a clear goal and required people to get the product right before shipping it, to the extent to which that was possible for the tech at the time.
Yeah because the first iPhone wasn’t a Revolution,
- It was not revolutionary in the sense of technology, it was revolutionary in the sense of getting the general public to understand and accept the idea of a smartphone.
  
  EDIT: Not to say it's still necessary. I mostly stick to the iPhone because I don't want to repurchase all the apps I already purchased, some for a significant amount, if I have to replace my phone. If that becomes moot one day, like if iPhones get to the point that they're unusable or somehow Apple goes under, I'll switch.
- Not for anyone that knew about mobiles...
Their Laptop Chips are in fact leading technology. Intel and AMD are far behind in Performance/Power used
- You're correct, but it's important to note that the M chips are very expensive to produce, and abandoning x86 means literally all the software iOS and OSX uses needs to be rewritten (or translated via Rosetta). It's a huge project with tons of risks and massive costs. Apple can do this because they're pretty much completely vertically integrated at this point, and control their ecosystem completely. If amd independently released some new non compatible architecture that was dramatically faster, it'd likely be dead in the water.
  
  Intel learned this lesson the hard way during the Itanic days. AMD took the relatively safer approach when they released amd64.
~~Except that their implementation of USB-C will be way slower than the lightning port.~~

Edit: I've been schooled.
- The lightning port is USB 2. The 15 is USB 2, powered by the same USB 2 chipset as the 14 pro. The only difference is the connector not the cables or encoding.
  
  The 15 pro has USB 3, which is faster than the lighting port ever was.
- lmao what?
Yeah wtf is apple innovating?
- Coincidentally, USB C. Just not on their mobile devices.
  
  They were some of the first to ship a laptop with USB C, and they went balls out.
They can’t. It’s clearly stated that the USB connector is still limited to the lightning speed.
- Apparently the Pro version has USB 3.0. Still mediocre compared to new Android phones (not just the flagships) that are pushing Thunderbolt.
  
  Hooking up your android phone to an ultrawide with built-in dock is still funny, but not very useful.
- There is no such thing as ‘lightning speed’. It’s just a connector, not a data communication standard. The non-pro iPhone 15 uses the same SoC as last year’s pro models, which happens to have an USB 2.0 controller. The new SoC used in the 15 Pro models have a 10 gbit USB 3.0 controller on board.
I bet you also think it's the year of the Linux desktop 🙄

Y’all are unironically engaging with a NYPost article

It’s an insult to call this an article, is regurgitating some shit some dudes on twitter said.
- Thats 50% of modern journalism. The other 50% is copying police press releases verbatim without investigation.

Eh. I mean, are there any great innovations left when it comes to smartphones? They kinda all just look and do the same nowadays.

They sure made USB3 look like a breakthrough innovation, though...

Functioning AI voice assist, foldable, better peripherals, better input systems, better data transfer between systems, more durable, better battery life, repairable, more sustainable, better UI, decentralised communication options, meshnet options, etc.

There's plenty to do about smartphones that needs innovating...
- They are always making Siri better (check out the news for it), I super do not want a foldable phone, the Apple peripherals are quite good, the data transfer between Apple systems is one of the main appeals of Apple, never broke an Apple product unless I chuck it at a wall, battery life is quite good I have a 4 year old phone that still has 24 hour battery life, Apple is committed to making not just their products but the entire company carbon neutral by 2030, Apple UI is also one of the main appeals since it’s so nice.
- better battery life
  
  Really debatable, since apps battery consumption increases balances it out. It really feels like we have to upgrade just to keep up.
  
  better UI
  
  REALLY debatable. There's some UI updates that I abhor. Several have reduced functionality.
- Apple is always doing all of that other than the fokdable, which has been turned for a long time.
  
  AirDrop and AirPlay are always getting better between Apple products. They literally just made the iPhone titanium for better durability. It has better battery life pretty much every year.
  
  This one is more repairable than ever with the easily removable glass.
  
  Those are all things Apple announces every year and everyone shits on them because it’s not innovative enough, like every year needs to be 2011 again when phones were making massive leaps year over year.
  
  Like oh, this chip is only 20% faster than the last one with only 10% better battery life. Yawn.
are there any great innovations left

Honestly, this is such a weird take because, yes. Of course there are innovations left, you just cannot think of them yourself now because then they obviously would not be innovative but rather same old same old. Now the rate of new innovations probably did slow down a lot, I agree with that, so its harder to find something that is innovative in this space.
Of course, they're just being done on Android until Apple takes them on later and markets them as their innovations.

Foldables are already a thing and the next iPhone will likely be their version of it.
They sure made USB3 look like a breakthrough innovation, though...

I've commented this elsewhere in this thread:

All accessory vendors are going "woah, revolutionary! Apple is now USB-C", but Apple itself isn't being too pushy about it. They're more focused on the titanium shell, better cams and action button.

I dislike Apple, but I think it's mostly vendors and reviewers that highlight the connector (both protocol and form), Apple isn't doing it.
I think innovations in phones are going to go the other direction honestly. Bringing back shit like eink displays, batteries that last days, fuck it, am/fm... New consumer tech is outpacing the users needs. I see a touch of old standards making a comeback. Hell how old is USB-C?
- Fuck it, but an antenna and TV tuner on there. Give Cathode Ray Dude something to enjoy.
- What you're describing is not innovation.
I am holding out for rollables! There still so many things that can be done. Satellite coms and holographic displays are my dreams.
- Speaking of sat comms, imagine a cell device with a whole suite of radio tools for amateur operators and professional ones. Im waiting for the FTC to open up some fun bands for us to play with as they depopulate while consumers etc switch to the newer ones.
- i just don't see holographic displays being all that great to interact with. they might look pretty, but what's the advantage over what we have now?
Pov: you dont understand what innovation mean.
Innovation is kind of their job

I'll admit the hardware on iPhones is excellent but waaayy overkill for iOS.

Let me install my own third party apps w/o the App store (I know altstore exists, but needing to renew apps every few days is super janky). If I spend my money on a device, I should be allowed to put whatever I want on it, however I want. Let me, the consumer accept the risks of doing so.

Let me use HDMI out over USB-C to an external monitor and have a full desktop with ability to run desktop class apps. Let me use the full potential of the chipsets to get actual work done and effectively replace a computer.

Till then, Android it is for me because I can do both these things easily. I know my use cases are more niche, but "Pro" naming on consumer Apple products is just fluff.

Let me install my own third party apps w/o the App store (I know altstore exists, but needing to renew apps every few days is super janky). If I spend my money on a device, I should be allowed to put whatever I want on it, however I want. Let me, the consumer accept the risks of doing so.

This is THE reason I switched from Apple to Android in 2017 and never looked back.
Unless forced this will never happen on Apple devices. The reason has nothing to do what they claim, about protecting users and people not knowing better. It has everything to do with locking people in their ecosystem. If uncurrated store appears it might bring with it applications that help people migrate out of the Apple ecosystem or provide compatibility with "undesired" devices. Better compatibility with Android watches means lower chances of people buying Apple Watch, etc.
- EU has an upcoming law that will force Apple to allow sideloading apps.
How would they sell you a mac or a iPad along the iPhone if they open The iPhone that much? We still live in capitalism sir.
- Well they eventually pulled the plug on iPods..
  
  Took them "only" 10 years to add mouse support for iPads, something that's been used for decades.
  
  So surely, give it 10 more years and then they'll "revolutionize" using a bigger external display for iPhone (and not just screen mirroring) :D
  
  They'll do it, they just take their sweet time.
Seriously, I would buy an iPhone if it was not so locked down. I like a lot of things about them but I need my non app store compliant apps
Let me install my own third party apps w/o the App store (I know altstore exists, but needing to renew apps every few days is super janky). If I spend my money on a device, I should be allowed to put whatever I want on it, however I want. Let me, the consumer accept the risks of doing so.

I'm honestly a bit divided on this. Like yes, freedom is great, but the Apple app monopoly, for all its faults, does one good thing and it's the fact that all the software is easily available in one place and I am not forced to install multiple app stores to search trough to find what I'm looking for. It turns out that while I like to tinker with personalized Linux installs on my computers, on my phone I just want it to work as quickly and easily as possible without having to figure things out.

I would like an easier way to compile your own app packages for the phone though.
- You say like this is normal on Android. It's not. Basically everything is still on google play

I don’t know what people are expecting anymore, phones are a mature market. Short of something like foldables (which don’t seem to be catching on) they’re going to be iterative updates. Look at TVs and computers. Years of big advancements and then they’re iterative.

Also the NY Post is an absolutely terrible publication to link to.

Foldables are catching on, they're growing absurdly fast.
- Exactly, they grow like 200% in the second it takes to unfold them
- I got my fold because I was tired of incremental upgrades that didn't make my phone feel any different than the last years phone (moved from Pixel 2 to pixel 3 right prices dropped when as pixel 6 launched). Sure it was faster but it didn't feel any faster than when the old phone was new. The screen was the same size, it felt the same speed, why even spend the money? I wouldn't pitch that anyone needs a foldable, but by that comparison noone "needs" a $1600 ultra/pro phone when base models are $800-900, but people do anyway. As long as I can afford the upgrade every 3 years, I will get the new one. when the screen finally gives.
(almost) fully agree. However, I think people are just waiting for the next "game changer" since it's been quite long since the "smartphone" was launched... and as you say, foldables obviolsy didn't fill that desire. Computers, on the other hand, has seen some quite big improvements lately. Mainly with small, energy efficient chips (like the m1, m2...) so there is hope for a not so stagnant market with only marginal gains.
I mean I'd agree but apple consistently jacks up the prices with every "new" release. I'm going to assume that the 15 is literally just the 14 with usb c.

At this point I’m trying to figure out what people want from yearly releases. iPhones are pretty much already packed with every feature imaginable. There’s not much more to add without completely transforming the device into something it isn’t.

I really liked the times when features were added and not killed off.

10 years ago you could purchase a flagship phone with IR blaster for controlling whatever you couldn't find a remote for, or trolling people in public spaces by turning off their TVs. Cloud storage wasn't as popular, but if your phone died, the images were safe on the micrSD card. Bluetooth headsets were a thing, but you could always just use a cheap pair of headphones to stick in the headphone jack. People who desired it could install a custom ROM with all kinds of optimizations and less bloat. It used to be a lot more popular back then. Other than cameras, battery life, and reversible and more robust USB-C connectors, there isn't much innovation. I used to feel like I owned my device much more back then. Now I only use the stock ROM, can either use wireless headphones or ones that use the charging port. I can't insert a microSD, or test new features for Android ported from other devices by someone on XDA Developers. I'm not using the phone the way I want, but the way the companies who made it decided on.
The base model of the iPhone still doesn't have USB 3 and won't have the latest USB-PD. The USB 2 standard was released over 20 years ago. The Lightning plug was released over 10 years ago. The plug technology on iPhones is seemingly being kept out of date on purpose. At least that is what people are complaining about.
- They repinned the current chipset from the current iPhone 14 to use USB-C, which is why the base model won’t be USB3. They’ve done this with every model, the previous pro becomes the base model chipset next gen.
  
  Next year the base model will likely have USB3. And lightning worked for 99% of Apple users. The 1% complained a lot, but the majority of iPhone users no longer plug in their phone to anything but the wall.
I agree. We don't really need anything else from a pocket computer. Just keep improving what we have. Nothing wrong with that at all. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head and making them buy the new version every year.
- Someone else pointed out that for more and more people their phones are replacing a desktop/laptop, and that makes a lot of sense as to why people keep wanting more from them.
It has nothing to do with features and performance, most people don't use those anyway. You really don't need 8-core CPU on your phone but it's 2 more than 6 and me having 8 and you having 6 has everything to do with that. People love status symbols and pointing them out to others, as if that makes them better by comparison or something.

No matter what others say, you really don't feel limitations of your device. Sure screen might feel a bit faster, animations might feel more fluid. None of those a crucial to device operation and use and certainly not worth paying premium price for newest iteration that has all those marginally improved. It's just consumerism at work.

Case in point, pretty much every MacBook Pro has a TPM chip on it (trusted platform module). Guess how many people used it or has it configured to supply entropy to their systems to increase security. ThinkPads also have those, but most other laptops don't. Even most developers don't know what those are. They are great addition and extra feature for business users... but for the most part it's just another thing on the spec sheet that people pay for but never use.

As for the every imaginable feature... it seems they are being removed rather than added. I found 3.5mm jack useful. I wish we still had qwerty keyboards on our big screen devices as most used feature of phones these days is typing. I wish we had expansion slots and memory cards. I wish we had replaceable batteries so you don't have to depend on finding an outlet on long trips. I wish we had sapphire screens so you don't have to worry about scratching your screen. I wish we had smaller devices because some people just need a phone and not a tablet or they have smaller hands. But naaah... removing those is considered brave.
Better local AI capability. It's definitely something they are working with, introducing new accelerator features with new processors. Currently most of the actually great AI tools still require you to offload the workload to a server somewhere. And some stuff is not worth doing in a mobile device before it can be done at a fraction of the power.

For the basic hardware features, mainly the camera and image processing tools are actually relevant. Almost all non professional photography in the world is now done with phones and there is still a lot to do to improve the miniature cameras.

Some of the greatest new features from the past few years are things people don't even realize weren't always there. Like for example my phone opens up when I pick it up and look at it. And locks when I put it down. This makes usage so much more fluid and is something that did not happen just ten years ago. This kind of UI optimizations are way more important than some numbers in spec sheet. And the local AI processing I mentioned is a key in enabling more situations where the phone understands what you want without you explicitly pressing buttons.
- A Siri that doesn't feel like it's ~13.5 years old would be nice, especially with the advancements in LLMs. I use Siri daily (timers, alarms, weather check while in bed, etc.) but it feels SO ancient. Can't even ask it follow-up questions.
Lol wot? "Every feature imaginable" 🤣🤣🤣 did I read this right?!
- They just haven't yet "imagined" the many new features we have received in the last few years from non-Apple phones. Don't worry, once Apple "imagines" it, they will acknowledge the only logical truth they could conceive. That Steve Jobs' consciousness uploaded to an iMac has graced them with innovation once again.

So stop buying them!

1/2 the people complaining about the lack of innovation will turn around and order a new iPhone within the next 12 months or so. Apple doesn't know or care about your snarky comments about them, but they sure as hell know you just gave them many hundreds of dollars for a new phone.

100% this
It’s some idiots on Twitter being reposted by a trash tabloid. This site should be banned from here it’s garbage.

I only hear: „mimimi, apple does not give me any reason to buy a new phone every year.“ just use your phone 5 years and try a new one then you will feel the difference. Source: I own a iPhone X and my girlfriend owns a iPhone 12 pro

It's better for the environment anyway. Regardless of manufacturer. There's also almost no need to get a new device every year. Marginal hardware upgrades mean very little to average consumer, it's just a numbers race and most people don't really take their devices to the edge of performance.

The iPhone is their cash cow. They need it to bring stable and sizeable income to fund things like vr goggles. I’m not saying the haters are wrong, just that their expectations for what Apple will innovate on the iPhone might be a little misplaced.

The iPhone is their cash cow

Isn't the Apple ecosystem their cashcow? Get them hooked on one Apple device and "Look! Everything Just Works™" is kind of their shtick.

All accessory vendors are going "woah, revolutionary! Apple is now usb-c", but Apple itself isn't being too pushy about it. They're more focused on the titanium shell, better cams and action button.
- iPhone makes up like 75% of their hardware revenue.
The haters are looking for any surface to attack.

You don't buy Apple products for the technology or innovations anymore, now you buy Apple products for the bragging rights of being able to pay premium prices for things everyone else has been using for a decade that have a lot more features for a fraction of the price.

This is a take I would expect to see on Reddit, it’s simply not true. None of those devices run iOS either which is what a lot of people prefer. It’s okay to dislike something, you don’t need to insult the people that do.
- There's nothing overtly insulting here unless you consider implying ignorance an insult
Premium Android phones are just as expensive as iPhones and come with worse software quality and shorter support periods.
- $Maybe in the us but elsewhere the apple prices are nuts. I bought new s23 for 800$. There is no fucking way I'd pay 1200$ for much worse iphone.
- Base iPhone is midrange device, not a flagship.
- Except you can buy a pixel A series which will work just as well as the most expensive iPhone just slightly slower. I'm at about 3.5 years on a $350 pixel and still it's the best phone I've owned. Yes I know you can buy cheaper iPhones too but aren't they phasing that out? Like you now normally would have to buy a 1-2 year old model to get a price similar to that. My pixel was brand new and 4-5 months past release I think

No matter what the subject, the NY Post is not even good for toilet paper.

iPhone users wouldn't piss on the best part of an innovative phone if it was on fire. Who are we kidding?

Usb-c is going to be a big deal for connecting devices to the phone. Now I don’t need to have some studios lightning adapter to plug in a usb drive or to get video out.

I look forward to experimenting with different things connected to see how they work. I’m curious how video out is handled. But I’m guessing I’ll be disappointed in most cases.

I expect being able to connect a usb drive will be helpful though.

Usb-c is going to be a big deal for connecting devices to the phone.

Android users welcome you to 2017...

Now I don’t need to have some studios lightning adapter to plug in a usb drive or to get video out.

...or not. Apple will limit USB-C to USB 2.0 speeds so... good luck with that.
- Isn't the limit apply to non-pro devices only (which is still ridiculous btw)?
- Pro models support up to 10 gigs per second which is a touch more than 2.0
- Honestly I am fine with it. It looks like they did not have the usb3 controller built into the cpu until they made the 17 and m1 chips. To be honest, I am not going be moving any large files between the phone and a flash drive, at most a short video. The slower speeds will not bother me.

corporate wants to know the difference between these two phone versions

"its the same phone"

“We put a bigger number on the box.”
- We also changed the 14 to a 15
- Congratulations, you have discovered car manufacturers too.

I would like to give apple credit for not rebranding USB Type-C and claiming they invented it.

Didn't they actually participate in it's invention...?
- they did, yes. something like half of the engineering team that developed USBC was provided by Apple.

Hear this remark every year now.

Ngl they kinda are right. The last time I saw a feature that made me consider them was maybe like 4-6 years ago. I still bloody love Ipods tho.

Did you forget about the groundbreaking feature of the removal of the audio jack?
- And the micro SD card
- Honestly fuck Apple for that and starting that fucking stupid ass trend.
That’s probably true for most phones. There’s only so much you can do with the black obelisk they’ve all become and now we’re just quibbling over what external connections they have. I mean you could tweak the camera, put in a better battery, better processor…but the obelisk phone is done as far as what can be “innovated”.
- I just want a 3d holoprojector on my phone, is that so much to ask?
- Yeah agreed.

I just miss all the backwards comparability Jobs used to maintain. When he was driving the bus, he may have been a complete asshole, but he made sure a 12 year old mac computer could still work with the new tech, as best as it could.

Snow Leopard was the last, glorious OSX that was secure (enough), and very malleable.

Now? I want to dump their whole ecosystem.

Do it. I did and never regretted it. I don't know anyone who has. And you aren't locked in like you think. It's really easy to convert everything over.
I hear Linux is on the rise. ;)
I don’t think Apple has every really had great backwards compatibility. Apple’s last PowerPC computers shipped in 2005, and in 2009 Snow Leopard released with no PowerPC support. That’s 4 years of upgrades, which is about the same as it is now for macOS.

The only thing apple can really do to push the platform forward is to allow people to dock their phone and use it as a desktop.

But they are not doing this because it will hurt their laptop and desktop sales.

They also don’t want to let people sideload. They know that people will not want to use a washed down desktop version because people don’t like using the washed down iPadOS desktop version.

This will be tough when the USB interface is still using USB 2.0.
- Even the USB 2.0 phones support DisplayPort 4K 60Hz/HDR https://www.macrumors.com/2023/09/13/all-iphone-15-models-support-displayport/
- Sure, 3.0 would be better for transferring files, but I’m personally not transferring stuff like this.
  
  I do t expect apple to even do this for year anyway. Maybe that’s when I’ll do my next upgrade.

I was watching the announcement yesterday and afterwards I was trying to recollect what cool new feature there was, I had to rewatch it because I fell asleep, but even then I couldn't find anything. They should thank the EU that they at least can talk about the difference between USB2 and USB3 speeds.

Lightning was already capable of USB 3 speeds. The OG iPad Pro had it.

They just never brought it over to their phones/cheaper ipads.
- It wasn’t really though.
  
  The original iPad Pro had to do some shenanigans with it, which is why it only worked with a couple of specific accessories like the SD card dongle. They had special lightning connectors.
  
  Lightning itself is only capable of usb 2 because of the pin set. Each side is redundant to the other to make it reversible. USB-c is a bigger connector with more pins.
  
  The accessories that it worked with had a modified lightning connector that wasn’t redundant. The iPad would figure it out and change how data was flowing to the lightning connector.
  
  That turned out to be a significant pain in the ass so they scrapped it and went to USB-C instead which solved that issue entirely, without having to pull the backend shenanigans.
- The iPad Pro had an external USB3 chipset on the mainboard. There likely isn’t space for an external controller in an iPhone.

It died long before Steve Jobs did. Steve straight up fought tooth and nail to keep superior emerging technologies like OLED off new iPhone's.

Steve's big computer innovation was fanless design. Apple had to design custom power supplies with custom voltages and custom motherboards. Then the power supplies started overheating and failing after a couple years the replacement power supply was 500 when a normal power supply was 100.

Leave it to Apple to release a new iPhone with intentionally outdated, hamstrung technology just to upsell more expensive models.

My 2013 Samsung had usb 3, used a special micro USB 3 cable but still.

And Samsung quickly switched back to USB 2 shortly after because nobody really cared and it created other problems.
- All phone models for the last many years from them have USB 3.
- What other problems?
- That's mainly because microusb 3.0 was a failed tech, the cable was just so unwieldy and huge. Focus of S6 was on design so a large chunky port would be very difficult to keep.
The base model hardware is usually the chips, boards and controllers from last year’s pro phones. If that trend continues, next year’s base models will be on the new IO.
It's shocking that they're so openly scamming their customers. Base models comes with last's year chip and features. Has a gimped USB 2.0 port for maybe a 5$ difference. It's a total insult.

Apple fans are delusional, the iPhone has always don't tiny ass incremental changes. This is par for the course.

Apple has n't made anything impressive and quite a long time

Most hilarious is adding USB-C, announcing lightning 5 and then keeping the transfer rate at USB 2.0 speeds.

Imagine if these stupid fucking articles came out about desktops and laptops each year. What is wrong with you people that you upvote this shit out come in here removed about how apple NEVER innovated.

No one's claiming that Apple was never innovative, they developed the smart phone and helped out computers in the household. However, those years are way behind them and the only thing they do now is find new ways to hoodwink their customers into buying the same thing each year.
- The new Apple silicon in the Mac lineup is the most exciting thing they have done in the PC space in more than a decade.
- 🙄👌👍

I find it amusing that it's taken Apple fans this long to realize this.

Huh, so that's why Apple stocks dropped

That likely had much more to do with the China drama.