Apple Slowly Moves Away From Its Annual Product Release Strategy

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-10-06/when-will-apple-intelligence-be-released-when-is-apple-releasing-m4-macs-ipad-m1xksx7q

14 Comments

  1. Make sense, tech progress is slowing down, product releases should do. They should just do mid cycle color refreshes.

  2. BruteSentiment on

    Last 5 product releases for every Apple “Hero Product” line, aside from iPhones:

    **iPads**

    iPad: March 2018, Sept. 2019, Sept. 2020, Sept. 2021, Oct. 2022

    iPad Air: March 2017, March 2019, Oct. 2020, March 2022, May 2024

    iPad Pro: Oct. 2018, March 2020, May 2021, Oct. 2022, May 2024

    iPad Mini: Sept. 2015, Sept. 2016, March 2017, March 2019, Sept. 2021

    **Macintoshes**

    MacBook Air: March 2020, Nov. 2020, July 2022, June 2023, March 2024

    MacBook Pro: Nov. 2020, Oct. 2021, June 2022, Jan. 2023, Nov. 2023

    iMac: Dec. 2017, March 2019, Aug. 2020, May 2021, Nov. 2023

    Mac Mini: Oct. 2012, Oct. 2014, Oct. 2018, Nov. 2020, Jan. 2023

    Mac Studio*: March 2022, June 2023

    Mac Pro (LOL): July 2010, June 2021, Dec. 2013, Dec. 2019 June 2023

    **Apple Watch**

    Watch: Sept. 2020, Sept. 2021, Sept. 2022, Sept. 2023, Sept. 2024

    Watch SE*: Sept 2020, Sept 2022

    Watch Ultra: Sept. 2022, Sept. 2023

    * Less than five releases

    TLDR: Other than iPhones, which have mostly been released in the Sept./Oct. time period since the iPhone 4s in October 2011 (SEs are the big exception), and the Apple Watch, none of Apple’s hardware products have been released on anything close to a yearly schedule. Some have had opportunities to release more than once a year, some have gone multiple years without a release.

    In other words, Bloomberg seemed to look at just iPhones and thinks that everything is on a strict yearly schedule.

  3. At this point with diminishing returns I feel like they’re gonna kick up planned obsolescence into high gear, and creating problems that dont really exist to sell products

  4. SomeDudeNamedMark on

    Instead of releasing a “new” device every year (with minimal significant changes anyway), how about releasing a cheaper version of the same device?

  5. Not buying another iPhone until batteries don’t need charging and it can display holograms like Star Wars 

  6. Apple latest actually new product is a watch that they stop supporting after less than five years. How’s that for “innovation”?

  7. I think the mistake here is getting rid of the “s”. The 16 isn’t a 16. It’s really a 15s. Or more really, why they probably got rid of it, is because the 16 is really just the 12sss.

    So the phone we have today is the iPhone 12(3s).

    So the tiktok naming is still too fast. It’s probably tiktoktoktoktok now.

    They should do what the car industry does and just go by the year. So just go with iPhone, then the year. They sort of already do this with the iPad. There is no iPad 15 for example. It’s not as deceiving as a full sequel from 15 to 16.

  8. Good, we shouldn’t have to replace these high tech devices all the time. It’s not hard for them to make them last 10+ years

  9. die-microcrap-die on

    I personally think that we dont need new phones, new chips, new gpus, new cars every single year.

    Its ok to release a new product every other year.

    The problem with apple is that they wont reduce prices even doing that, just check the prices of a “new” mac studio.

    Same price for the same specs from almost 2 years ago.