Apple isn't really an innovator, at least in the sense of delivering "new" things. Their success is in assessing a market and refining products for consumer adoption.

Mac wasn't the first personal computer but it was well-suited for the mass market, not just "computer people". iPod wasn't the first mp3 player but the first that was easy for regular folks to use. iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but the first one that people actually wanted.

There's a pattern here.

What do you mean by your statement, "no longer thinking different?"

> these technologies are many years old

That's been Apple's MO for almost forever. Very rarely do they chase the newest tech, instead they wait for it to mature. They didn't invent the smartphone or the touchscreen, they did revolutionize it. It's still to be seen how their Duo holds up and until we can play with it we don't really know. Yes there are Android folding phones, yes there are even passport-style ones, but I've seen plenty of "slop" folding phones from Android manufacturers. We will see how the Duo holds up in real use.

> same for the Duo, even the name is stolen.

Stolen from who? Surface Duo? Did they steal it from their own Powerbook Duo?

> I miss Steve Jobs' "One more thing..."

They literally did a "One more thing" in the event yesterday (and said that line). Yes, it had all leaked already but that's just the reality. There is no hardware product from Apple that doesn't leak nowadays. They are able to surprise with software sometimes and naming but everything else will leak.

I don't disagree that they should be better on the AI front and they are still cleaning up from their massive fuck-up in 2024 but I haven't seen any of their competitors do anything compelling w.r.t. AI either so I'm not quite ready to get out the pitchforks.

Upstarts who dare to think differently may be able to get a shot, since Apple are no longer confidently occupying that space. The shape of a successful upstart would probably have to unbundle Apple, turning their strength into a liability.

When did they? They just make better versions of what already exists

Seems a better question is who do you believe is actually innovating today?

Apple has rarely been about providing bleeding edge technology to early adopters. They've always been more concerned with evaluating technology, often building things behind closed doors to explore and iterate, and then only releasing something once they felt it was ready and able to address a defined purpose or need. It's not first to market, but often first to get it right.

Their AI strategy is actually pretty smart when you consider how they're focusing on small, local models with a clear security model. Others are spending billions to make incremental progress on models while Apple can sit back, build integrations that allow users to leverage the best models, and then once a certain level of maturity is reached, Apple can either license models or train their own using the lessons learned by everyone else.

I was not impressed with how wide the iPhone Duo is when folded closed. The whole idea is supposed to be something like a cell phone that expands to something like an iPad. They basically copied the Samsung Galaxy or similar phones with no real innovation.

I dunno, as a user I’d rather have the basics right first (longer battery life, no forced obsolescence, good UI etc) before having innovation. We already have enough good features, except many of them are frustrating to use. Might be a good idea to improve them first before adding more new stuff…

They did with Vision Pro, see how that turned out.

But I will keep saying it, VR is the future.

Apple always been that way, the “apple invented X!” always been a joke, what apple usually does is taking an already existing feature and turns it into an actual useful (mostly) one, not gimmicky, and well integrated with their eco system. That being said, smartphones hit the stagnation point long time ago, it’s really hard to bring an overly new thing besides “better camera, better cpu, better screen”, even batteries aren’t improving anymore.

I mean the thing is, I'm finding it quite difficult to pay for Apple products anymore. The new Apple iPhone Duo is a whopping A$3,500 here in Australia! I kid you not. Who has that kind of money to fork out for a god damn phone?! I'm finding it really hard to justify the crap Apple are putting out, which let's face is, is made orders of magnitude cheaper over in China/Taiwan anyway.

They haven’t changed, you’ve just grown. It’s okay to look back fondly as you move on.

Apple hasn't innovated in a long, long time. At a bare minimum since the 2000s. What they have done in the last 20-30 years is to take ideas that are already out there and polish them up. The "think different" stuff was just marketing speak.