After years of wait Apple finally upgraded their MacBook product line but with no major redesign and an exorbitant price increase for ‘Touch Bar‘. A feature no one asked for and one that is clearly inferior touch-screen laptops.
Apple products are no longer cutting-edge
With every passing year it seems Apples’ product launches are becoming more difficult to sit through. Even for hardcore Apple fans. Apple is still the most valuable brand in the world. Carrying Apple products still convey a strong message about the bearer. But gone are days when you could flash your futuristic Apple products to non-Apple users. And brag about the unique design or features of your Apple device, which in some cases were years ahead of anything else on the market. That time it seems is gone.
Exclusive Apple users may not even realize that on average, it is taking Apple around 3 years to bring new features to market. And Apple are doing it only after they become standard on Android phones.
Looking at things purely from a hardware perspective here’s how Apple is doing hardware upgrades on its top product, the iPhone.
Did you know:
- Apple users first saw big screens with the release of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. This is already two years after they were standard in the Android world. Samsung started the big screen trend first. Apple copied it later.
- This is ironic especially after Apple famously said in their official trailer that small screens were better.
- It took Apple 4 years to finally add stereo speakers in the iPhone, only starting with iPhone 7.
- The screen resolution increased four-folds to 326 PPI just going from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4s. This was revolutionary at the time. Also, the last big resolution jump we have seen since.
- Apple is stuck at the same 326 DPI through multiple generations and years, while the Android world is enjoying much higher-resolution displays.
- When Steve Jobs first announced retina display, he said that it was enough for the human eye. We can’t really blame him. He couldn’t have known that human eyes can appreciate and enjoy much higher PPI displays as many android phones have now proven.
- Apple never moved past Steve Jobs words about ‘Retina’.
- Sony and Samsung users are getting used to OLEDs, while Apple fans are still stuck with LCD screens.
- The iPhone still has no waterproofing, no wireless charging, no fast charging, and still no decent power adapter.
Apples loves to make user wait for hardware updates
Apple made us wait years for features and continues to do so. If you think about it, for each real hardware upgrade – not the silly 20% faster than last year nonsense – Apple makes us go through several iPhones in terms of total cost of ownership. So, in a way you are giving apple three times the price of a high-end smartphone just to get to the features you want. This is especially true for those that can’t help but buy a new iPhone each year and are unable to switch to Android.
It’s obvious that this “rationing” of new features on Apple iPhones is a part of their overall business strategy. And it seems they have started to apply these schemes to their other product lines as well.
MacBooks are getting little attention from Apple
Computers made Apple and there was a time when having Apple computers meant you were ahead of everyone else. It’s not an exaggeration but Apple computers really were better than PCs at so many things and for so many years. Apple computers, specifically the MacBook lines have seriously gone downhill.
For several years now (especially after the passing of Steve Jobs) most smartphone and laptop makers have been a step ahead of Apple. This is abundantly clear in the computer segment. Looking from a hardware perspective, other computer manufacturers have been better with specification bumps and launching new features. Admittingly, having the best hardware specs and features doesn’t always translate into product success. At least it shows that they are trying. They are still taking risks and trying new things, something Apple used to be famous for.
While it’s true that Apple has many times breathed life into the stale computer / laptop industry. This is the longest period since Apple has taken a back seat and allowed other to step ahead of them. How often do you hear about Apple computers and innovation anymore?
Even users heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem are worried
Apple is doing exceptionally well, financially, and otherwise. They are still monopolizing smartphone profits globally by a significant margin. This is primarily due to customer loyalty. But does having a historically reliable set of customers equals innovative products?
Undoubtedly Apple products are still premium. They have top-notch quality and are known for their long-term stability, reliability, and seamless connectivity with the overall apple ecosystem. But is that enough? Do they still wow the world like they used to? Do they still incite excitement in users that are heavily invested in their ecosystem?
For many, the answer is still “Yes”, but there is a growing number of Apple users that are getting increasingly frustrated with Apple with each passing year.
A different Apple under Tim Cook
Apple has always been a “high-end” brand requiring a sizable investment from their users to be a member of the “Apple” club. A worthwhile investment for many, including myself.
Steve Jobs delivered some of the best-looking products the world had ever seen. And they performed even better than they looked. He invented and reinvented product segments, transforming entire industries – even economies. Apple under Steve Jobs leaped so far ahead of his competitors that some are still playing catch up years later.
Annual product iterations began with Steve Jobs. But somehow things felt a little different when he was around. He wouldn’t always require additional investment from users for features that he wasn’t confident about. The iterations he released were often worthy of an upgrade.
Steve Jobs deserves respect for taking steps to making his expensive Apple products more accessible to the mass market. A first in the industry, he collaborated with Mobile Operators to subsidize iPhones and make them more affordable to the masses.
During Steve Job’s final years MacBook lines went through a series of price reductions and increasing affordability before subsequent price increases following his death.
MacBook’s base-line price has increased over last several years
Unfortunately, when it comes to pricing, Apple decided to go in the opposite direction after Tim Cook took over. This is especially apparent from the launch prices of new products from Apple in recent years. We will not even talk about the 1000$ iPhones here. Let’s look at MacBook lines and their ever-increasing prices over the last decade.
For simplicity’s sake we will only be talking about and referring to the “base-model” prices only.
MacBook Pro 15
Fans of 15″ MacBook Pro are the unluckiest when it comes to the launch prices this year. The $2,399 starting price for the MacBook Pro 15 (with Touch Bar) is the highest launch price for a new 15″ MacBook Pro till date.
MacBook Pro 13
MacBook Pro 13 is by the far the most popular MacBook model. Somehow, it’s getting less affordable with each major iteration. If you been putting off buying a MacBook Pro 13 to take advantage of highly anticipated redesign, then you’ve made a big mistake. That’s because the new MacBook Pro 13 is a whopping $500 more expensive than last year’s model. At least the one with the fancy new ‘Touch Bar’.
Now you may think you could just ignore the Touch Bar version as nothing more than a gimmick (which it is) and go straight to the one without Touch Bar. But you’ll be disappointed there too because the regular MacBook Pro 13 is now $200 more expensive than last year’s version. Not only that, now you’ll also have to spend at least a $100 more in dongles thanks to massive reduction in number of useful ports.
MacBook Air 13
It might make you happy to see a downward trend in Apple pricing for a change. That’s only until you realize that MacBook Air 13 (a highly demanded model) hasn’t been updated in four years.
The MacBook Air series was incredibly popular for its thin and light design. In fact, it revolutionized the laptop industry. Remember Ultrabooks ? Another reason MacBook Air was loved was due to its attractive pricing. There are many for whom MacBook Air 13 gave them the first taste of Mac OS and overall Apple ecosystem.
The only drawback of MacBook Air was the low-resolution display. MacBook Air fans have been waiting for years for a retina upgrade. Their prayers were (sort of) answered when a 12″ MacBook (now called just ‘MacBook’) was announced. Apple made it look as if the 12″ MacBook was the long-awaited replacement for people wanting a MacBook Air with a Retina screen.
Sadly, there was a catch. The new 12-inch MacBook was priced much higher than the MacBook Air 13. It had only one USB-C port and came with mediocre performance. The specifications were even worse than a MacBook Air, which were not that high to begin with).
MacBook Air 11
MacBook Air 11 was the smaller sized sibling of MacBook Air 13. No doubt the smallest MacBook ever made. It was also the cheapest MacBook ever made. During its final year, MacBook Air 11 base model price was just $899. MacBook Air 11 was killed in 2015 with the release of the new 12-inch MacBook which Apple said was thinner and lighter.
There was a $400 price gap between MacBook Air 11 and new 12″ MacBook instead.
Is Apple justified in its price increase?
Apple doesn’t typically increase an existing MacBook’s base price during their annual upgrades of Intel chipset. From an analysis of Apple’s price trends, it is obvious that they only increase their launch prices whenever they release (what they believe to be) a key new feature on MacBook.
Looking at the charts above, the most massive hikes in price came when Retina screens were introduced into the MacBook Line.
When retina-like resolution screens became common Apple responded by finally lowering their prices for Retina versions. But they never quite took them back to the initial low-price points they had hit during earlier years.
Even in 2015 the 15″ MacBook Pro Retina version was still at least $200 more expensive than the non-Retina versions and the 13″ MacBook Pro Retina version was a $100 more expensive.
After all these years it simply isn’t justified for Apple to continue charging higher prices for Retina versions. They shouldn’t even have non-Retina versions in the first place. High resolution displays are common now, and you don’t need to spend that much to get one in a PC.
Apple finally killed the non-Retina versions this year for all MacBooks except the MacBook Air 13 series. It seems MacBook Air 13 is doomed to carry the low-solution curse to its grave.
Will Touch Bar versions eventually become affordable?
With the introduction of Touch Bar, Apple is demanding an even bigger investment from their users. More than ever before. It’s too early to know whether Touch Bar is worth the extra price. We’ll have to wait and see if this turns out to be another gimmick or a groundbreaking innovation that will change the way we interact with our computers.
Many analysts are already predicting price drops for the new Touch Bar MacBook Pro versions as early as 2017. It best not to have high expectations.
Analyzing the pricing of the MacBook lines during Tim Cook’s reign, it could take up to 5 years before you can grab the 13″ MacBook Pro (Touch Bar) for $1,299 and the MacBook Pro 15″ (Touch Bar) for $1,799.
Of course, this is assuming Apple maintains their current shipment growth rates 5 years from now. With the overall PC industry struggling and number of shipments dropping, it’s possible that laptops will continue to get more expensive. It’s not an uncommon practice to increase prices and make up for lost profits when volumes shrink.
Will we ever see cheaper MacBooks from Apple again? It’s hard to say. I’ll lean towards MacBooks getting more expensive every few years.
What do you think will happen to MacBooks and their prices going forward?