Has Apple lost it?

I’ve long been an Apple fan – nicely designed, functional, but admittedly at a price. however, recently, I’ve had an iPhone replaced on warranty after a chunky IOS update killed the battery life to minutes, then had a macbook pro replaced after 4 months due to out of control fans. now the replacement laptop screen has started to lose it’s anti-reflective coating, leaving it looking a bit like this:

note this isn’t my laptop – but it looks very similar. I’m not alone: http://www.staingate.org

Add to that a bit of temperamental behaviour with other stuff like apple TV, makes me think, is it the premium quality brand it used to be?

Annoyingly I’m just out of warranty. Customer services have been helpful and are looking into it. again…..

I think the volumes they are shipping now has resulted in quality control issues. The non reflective screens are one example. I’ve had one iPhone with an issue (broken wifi on a 4S which is a known chip supplier issue). That being said my 2009 Mini is still used daily and no issues with other phones / laptops (my 2006 MacBook hung on gamely till last year). iPad1 still going strong. Apple TV’s no issues

There definitely seem to be a few quality issues, but it’s hard to adjust given the growth they’ve experienced over the past few years. I do worry about the way they build everything these days. I’m still using a 2006 macbook right now and it’s great. I can take it apart and clean and upgrade it or replace things like a broken fan, but that’s just not possible now.

I think for my next laptop, I might switch to selling within warranty and replacing since depreciation is pretty good.

There’s almost certainly been a small percentage of issues with Apple products over the years, thing is, as the production numbers escalate, even if the issues stay at roughly the same percentage, the actual global number will increase proportionally. Half of one percent of 100 million is going to be a higher number than half of one percent of 1 million.
And the Internet and social meeja, along with higher media focus on Apple means those issues get greater coverage.
My brother uses Android phones, not sure if it’s Samsung or LG he favours, think it might be Samsung, anyway, he’s had three examples of his current phone, without whatever issue its suffering from being resolved.

They’ve always had these kind of issues and they’ve had an equally long history of fobbing them off, and i say that as a bit of a fanboy . 8)

I suspect that rather like audi etc, the image is based on perceived rather than actual quality.

Apple is the most valuable company in the world, worth nearly double the next closest on the list. Whilst i’m not an Apple fan, i would say they are getting it pretty right at the moment.

More the issue seems to be some duff software. See recent comments about apple music streaming thing, and I gave up the horrid piece of bloated and unintuative software that is iTunes a few years back.

I agree – their quality has dipped but is still streets ahead of their competition.

I had my previous 5c replaced as the screen was a bit ‘clicky’ (hard to explain but the engineer said there was something wrong with it but he couldn’t work out what) out of warranty. The replacement had 3 random shut downs and reboots in the first afternoon and I took it back the next day and they swapped it with no questions (or appointment needed).

I’ll happily pay the apple tax for the added customer service and having a shop I can walk into and get help.

I’ve also had a logic board replaced twice out of warranty for no charge on an old Macbook Pro (approx £750 each time).

Ramping up production like they have had to has meant there’s more issues, but that’s to be expected really

Have you splashed anything on your screen? *Snigger*

Theyve, not been at the forefront of innovation for a while now.
Quality wise, plenty of others are just as good, often at a better price.
That’s not to say their products aren’t good. As a brand they are hugely successful and desirable and that’s what consumerism is all about !

Feh.

They’ve always had quality issues, their approach to them varies though.

There have been things they’d replace out of warranty (iMac screens that slowly went yellow IIRC), and things they wouldn’t. There was an entire batch of early 2011 MBPs that the GPUs tended to die on, and their stance on that was “Nope, lalala, not listening”.

I’ve avoided Apples for years now, as above, the quality issues have always been there, I prefer Samsung for quality these days.

I am using Apple products since long time and i am totally satisfied with them 🙂

So – you’ve loved them long time, eh? 😉

@nach

stick it in the oven

was it the faulty GPUs where they went to court a few times and paid people not to mention it?

I gave up the horrid piece of bloated and unintuative software that is iTunes a few years back.

I’ve seen this sort of thing written loads of times on this forum
I have no problem with iTunes at all. I can’t see what you’re on about at all.
So, exactly what do you mean please? Something more than ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘it’s crap’ as an explanation is needed I think. 🙂

gofasterstripes – Member

@nach

stick it in the oven

I almost did reflow it, but read people saying they tended to have to do that again every 1 – 3 months. There were also some non-computer factors that meant the best thing was to sell it spares or repair. Thanks to it having the upgraded screen and getting it to at least boot to the sad face icon on the ebay photos, it went for twice the money I was expecting.

I did wonder about doing that with my Lenovo which has similar GPU problems, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort given I could pick up an upgraded version for <£100 on ebay, and much as I loved mine for all sorts of reasons and would happily buy a Lenovo again (hint for anybody falling out of love with Apple 😉 ) the newer one is significantly better in the areas where mine had slight issues.

Have you done that successfully with a MB? Maybe I should try with mine as I have nothing to lose and I might be able to get something selling it on then.

I think people are right that as the numbers have increased then quality has dropped a bit which is to be expected. But for me Apple products have always been about simplicity and ease of use. However they now seem to be taking that to the next level and things have just started to get complicated as they have dumbed down things so much. Using iMovie today and just found out that they have removed the function to allow you to produce movies in different formats in the latest version, why?

Also can’t use iCloud drive as a replacement for Dropbox for syncing between home and work computers as there is no indicator to show all files are upto date. According to Apple support there is no need with fast broadband, it all happens instantly and in a flash. However we don’t all have superfast fibre broadband so it doesn’t work! So end up paying for iCloud and Dropbox. Not great sums but just such a simple function that is lacking.

I think Apple live in a bubble and have started to forget the consumer.

I walked around a phone store for the first time in a long long time the other day as I was trying to kill some time. I have always had an iPhone for the last 4 or 5 years, but oh my god what choice and great designs there are out there on the Android and Windows market. Came away thinking my iPhone 6 looks so dull and really no excitement when you get an upgrade as ok the phone outer looks a bit different but nothing new and exciting about it. Where are all the new functions and toys to play with. Even though everything I run is Apple I am actually thinking of an Android phone next time just for a change in design and something new. Apple you are just a bit dull and nothing exciting.

Even though everything I run is Apple I am actually thinking of an Android phone next time just for a change in design and something new

You’ll buy a phone based on how it looks?

By my experience on Nexus 5 with Apple everything else, I’d learn to like the iPhone design to be honest. You’ll spend a long time kludging stuff that used to be seamless. Fine if you are Windows/Linux or don’t sync at all, but Mac and Android isn’t a great match up. It can work, but it’ll do your head in at some point I suspect.

I’ll agree Apple Music and the changes to the music app are idiotic and ill conceived though.

I agree they have lost the edge on innovation. Still a great brand and good simple user experience.

But when you look at the android market: waterproof phones, noise-cancelling and 20MP sensors from Sony, genuine compact camera phones like the K-Zoom, Amoled screens, the ever-popular Note series, enhanced bass.

So much choice, all at teenager prices.

“I gave up the horrid piece of bloated and unintuative software that is iTunes a few years back.”

I’ve seen this sort of thing written loads of times on this forum
I have no problem with iTunes at all. I can’t see what you’re on about at all.
So, exactly what do you mean please? Something more than ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘it’s crap’ as an explanation is needed I think.

Well, as a long-term iOS user and also thus a long-term iTunes user on both Windows and OSX, I can clarify for you: –
– It is in no way intuitive
– Every action that should be a simple case of a single command, click or drag and drop is needlessly complicated by additional steps or diversions e.g. burn to CD or synchronise with store
– Synchronising with the store is haphazard. I buy content on multiple devices, but to make sure this is downloaded to my Macbooks consistently is not a single click and you need to check and re-complete the actions as it is not reliable
– The way it manages data associated with files that you import is rubbish

There is a reason for this. iTunes is not meant to help you. It is there to make you buy Apple content. It is not intended to help you utilise your current music or video. Frankly, it is a sales channel, first, second and third. It is not a great media application.

PeterPoddy – Member

I’ve seen this sort of thing written loads of times on this forum
I have no problem with iTunes at all. I can’t see what you’re on about at all.
So, exactly what do you mean please? Something more than ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘it’s crap’ as an explanation is needed I think

A few years ago admittedly but it slowed my computer down massively when I had it installed, insisted on running on start-up which it kept doing despite my attempts to stop it & wanted to update almost every time I turned the computer on, which again slowed things down further.

I never liked the fact that I couldn’t just ‘drag & drop’ music from & to an 8Gb Nano, but had to do it all through iTunes. It actually stopped me from putting new music on the Nano as it was such a pain.
Swapped over to Media Monkey for music library stuff (which still isn’t perfect) and stopped using the Nano too. Just use my phone now for all music; can drag & drop when I want and/or use Spotify.

It’s probably improved since I last used it but I wouldn’t be rushing back to it.

I’ll pile in on itunes with the flaws in the searching last time I used it some years ago: no tabbing results, couldn’t search in the description, couldn’t search the text on the screen in front of you.

It was a poor browser for a shop designed to get in the way so that you couldn’t put things you already had on your phone unless you bought them from Apple. The sole reason I got rid of my iphone.

^similar to stumpy here. Intrusive and slow, a faff to pop things on iPods. The new version was then really unintuative, and so I gave up.

iTunes is significantly worse on Windows than OSX, but I don’t have much time for it either. I live with it for simplicity but as time goes on I like it less and less. Every rebuild is indeed a push toward the shop window these days, when I just want a simple way to sync with my phone and catalogue & serve media to other devices which it used to do quite well.

They’ve certainly lost some of my songs on iTunes.

Apple is the most valuable company in the world, worth nearly double the next closest on the list.

This clearly demonstrates how many suckers there are around the planet buying their stuff.

anyone ever ran ITunes on a PC around 7-8 years ago.
Remember how people would constantly ask for a new DVD drive in their newly bought computer because it had disappeared from My Computer and was thought to be faulty, first question was always “Have you installed iTunes” as that had a habit of making the optical drive disappear, I have had a dislike for ITunes since then without having ever used it myself lol

itunes is utter guff, why can’t you just drag and drop to the device? Also Apple like the worst software companies like to try and con you into installing another load of sh*t you don’t want onto your machine.

Also can someone explain how come despite memory prices haven fallen hugely ipods haven’t dropped in price or alternatively got more storage for the same price? Apple are as complacent and taking the p*ss out of their consumer base as MS did with Explorer 6.

I bought an iPad when they first came out, like the iPhone before it, it was a real game changer. However, I’m typing this on a Tesco Hudl2 that cost £42 with club card boost and the likeyhood of spending 3x/4x its rrp on an apple equivalent is never going to happen!

why can’t you just drag and drop to the device?

You can.

I fell hook, line and sinker for apple.
The previous update has turned my ipad2 into a paperweight. Apparently the chip isn’t strong enough for the new stuff (which has no benefit I can see anyway). I don’t for a second believe that apple didn’t know this would happen.
iTunes still loses my music with regularity. It’s a dreadful app and I can’t wait to be free of it.
The airplay issue on the mac (where you have to put coreaudioid in to get the sound working) seems such a basic thing and they STILL haven’t fixed it.
I do love the macbook though.

Inside Apple by Adam lashinski is good book to read about the internal workings of apple.

People rejoice in the choice you now have.

Apple released the iPod, IPhone, iPad and their various computers.

This kickstarted the market in to producing all the other alternatives we now have to choose from.

Just the rumour they would do an “iWatch” had other companies falling over themselves to get to market first.

So choose your price point and pick your products.

Things have never been better in gadget land.

Enjoy the variety.

Precisely Pete.

I think the GPU issue mentioned above was finally addressed by Apple. I have rMBP 15″ that just managed to fit into the serial numbers that were affected. Even though I didn’t have any symptoms and the machine was two years old when I managed to get it into one of their Bars, they still gave me six years should anything go wrong. That’s pretty fair, IMO.

Also, that issue with iTunes kicking off on start up was solved by a setting in the app itself, iirc. I seemed to sort it without any probs once I realised what it was doing.

Not a fanboi, BTW, just a user.

teasel – Member
I think the GPU issue mentioned above was finally addressed by Apple. I have rMBP 15″ that just managed to fit into the serial numbers that were affected. Even though I didn’t have any symptoms and the machine was two years old when I managed to get it into one of their Bars, they still gave me six years should anything go wrong. That’s pretty fair, IMO.

Ah, that’s interesting and kind of good to hear. At the time mine broke, they seemed to be ignoring the problem and I needed to get a computer immediately for work.