By Kavita Mistry 
Ever since the launch of the first iPhone back in 2007, Apple has been accused of selling overpriced smartphones that fail to bring the latest and greatest features available in the market to the table. Android users (and Symbian and BlackBerry users before them) have always poked fun at how Apple has always been behind the technology curve and brings features that Android has had for years, rebranded as new.
And while these accusations have trailed every iPhone that has ever been launched (no iPhone has ever been called “super affordable”), iPhones have not just survived but thrived in a market that is often very cut-throat. And that is because they are seen as very different from the routine flagship from other brands. The foundation for this thought was laid by the early iPhones, which reflected Apple’s philosophy of not worrying about the latest and greatest numbers but instead making sure whatever the iPhone brings to the table works smoothly and cohesively, and with features that others did not have. After all, it was the company whose tagline was ‘Think Different.’
Changing times, changing Apple philosophy?
You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology, not the other way around.
This was the answer Steve Jobs gave at one of the early WWDC conferences when asked about Apple’s core philosophy. This was the basis of how most of the products at Apple were created. This line of thought is the reason why, for the longest time, Apple did not chase numbers or talk about specs that were used by other brands as USPs to sell products. Jobs believed that brands should be first thinking about how technology can add to the lives of its users, amplify the human potential, instead of creating devices that just add more clutter to our daily lives.
The early iPhones were a great example of this – they were not about megapixel counts, lots of RAM (the amount of RAM on an iPhone or even its battery numbers were not disclosed for the longest time) brightness nits or other performance metrics, they were about design that felt the most effortless to use, software that worked hand in hand with hardware to make smartphone chores and life in general breezy. And as long as Steve Jobs lived, there was just one iPhone model, albeit with different storage variants.
Of late, there seems to be a shift in that philosophy.
Apple recently wrapped its Awe Dropping event where the brand launched four new iPhones– the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the iPhone Air. During the event, the narrative was more focused on the specs that these iPhones have, rather than what the phones could do for the users. Apple showcased the increased display size of even the base iPhone, the high brightness of 3000 nits, and of course, the improved refresh rate. Similarly, in the camera section, the brand highlighted how it has moved to 48-megapixel sensors on the back and 18-megapixel ones on the front. The story was very similar when Apple announced its new A19/ Pro processor powering the new iPhones. Even the new designs did not strike as deep a chord as they once did. The new Pro phones look like they have taken inspiration from a certain Android smartphone of the past (the Xiaomi 11 Ultra), and while the iPhone Air was very slim and suited the Air tag and feel, the camera unit jutting out on its back took away from its seamless feel.
Now these are all improvements and important ones too. And we in no way mean to say that Apple should not be talking about specs at all. It is necessary to put numbers that the audience understands and appreciates in the foreground; we are only saying that these numbers could have been part of a better narrative, to highlight how they can change and, more importantly, add to our daily lives– how they could amplify human potential, to use a phrase often associated with Apple. What we saw was technology being showcased, rather than its potential impact on those who used it.
For the longest time, Apple believed that technology should empower, not overwhelm– that it should be the “bicycle for the mind” (as Jobs once said), but in recent times, it feels as if Apple is sliding into the same zone where its Android counterparts reside. Its upgrades and updates have been largely predictable and numerical – more camera megapixels, higher refresh rates, more hours of battery life, and so on. As our editor, Raju PP, said, after the recent iPhone launch: “The old Apple used to bring features that people would like. The new Apple is bringing features that people already like.”
Never the first, but almost always the best…
Recent times have, however, seen Apple unveiling new features and then not really seeing them through to a stage where they actually start to make a difference to the user’s everyday life. Apple launched the Mini phones with the iPhone 12 and 13 series and then simply switched to a jumbo iPhone, the iPhone Plus variant. This year, Apple decided to scrap that as well and go for iPhone Air. While Apple is notorious for not doing market research, this does seem to show a ‘launch and forget or abandon’ kind of ideology, leading to what many call ‘the fourth iPhone curse,’ where one of the four iPhones launched at events tends to get discontinued.
This “abandon ship” theme has not been limited to iPhones. It has been happening to features, too. Apple introduced the Action button in 2023, but since its launch, nothing much has been said or done about it – no new features or use case scenarios. It barely got a mention in the recent event. Another victim is the Camera Control button, which was one of the most hyped features of the iPhone 16 series. We were told it was going to revolutionize the way people take photographs.
Well, in the iPhone 17 series launch, Apple not only did not talk about the Camera Control button, but many also noted how the button was not even being used in Apple’s own marketing material. And then there is Apple Intelligence. Apple was not the first in the market to come with AI integration in its smartphones, and given its past of launching features late but brilliantly, most did not mind its absence.
Unfortunately, it has not shown too many signs of being a challenger to what we are seeing on Android, and while we are sure it will not be abandoned (given the importance of AI), it does seem to indicate a change in Apple’s product development process, which used to pride itself on finetuning a feature before releasing it. There is also 3D touch, which had promised to add a new dimension to the touch experience, but was also quietly abandoned in 2018.
Has Apple lost the “it” factor?
It is safe to say Apple’s philosophy has changed. Which is not a bad thing. After all, brands evolve. And while some might miss the old, innovative iPhone, one cannot argue with the massive sales of the new ones — indications are that the iPhone 17 series will break all records. Today, we have more iPhones than we did in the past, and all of them work superbly.
The problem is that the line dividing them from their Android counterparts is now fading – there are hardly any apps that are exclusive to the iPhone, and in terms of broad functionality, both platforms are getting increasingly similar. This is great in terms of ease of use, but also indicates an onset of standardization and a decrease in innovation. iPhones are great phones even now, but they do not quite seem to be as different as they once used to be. The brand that insisted on thinking differently had now been dancing to the same tune that it claimed to be so leagues apart from. And not really doing it all that well either. Perhaps it is time Apple went back to its core values and started thinking really differently, or else we might just end up with an Android-like iPhone, which sells in large numbers, by thinking similarly.