Welcome to our Apple Weekend Breakfast column, featuring all the Apple news you missed this week in a handy bite-sized recap. We call it Apple Breakfast because we love it with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, but it’s also cool if you want to read it over lunch or dinner.
High profile, low margin of error
If I could steal a page from The Macalope in the blink of an eye, Android Central’s Andrew Myrick had an interesting hot take this week: Apple gets a pass with the iPhone 14 issues, and it makes no sense. Like Morgan Freeman at the end of ‘Seven’, I agree with the second part.
Apple has certainly made some missteps with this year’s new devices and OS updates. The new iPhones suffered from a serious camera motion bug, while the Camera app itself opened annoyingly slow. iPadOS 16 is delayed; iOS 16 has a Mail bug that causes an endless series of app crashes, and Apple had to admit that its best feature could be draining your battery. These are not the headlines Apple wants.
But the coverage of these issues — on this and other tech sites, and in the general press — is also ample evidence that Apple isn’t getting approval. indeed, it never gets a pass. Apple is the most controlled tech company in the world, and every mistake it makes is pounced with something close to glee. Even decisions that ultimately turn out to be perfectly reasonable are scheduled at the time.
Just look at the reaction when Apple dropped the iPhone’s headphone jack in 2016 or stopped including a charger with new iPhone purchases in 2020. In either case, widespread media condemnation and ridicule from rival companies… quietly followed shortly after to significantly less negative coverage. Apple is a fun and traffic-friendly target for criticism, and that means it ends up getting the flak and giving cover to other companies.
This is of course not a bad thing. Control is good and keeps companies honest; that’s especially important for a company as powerful as Apple. Mistakes are more likely to be addressed if they are published in the media. (The camera shake and other iOS 16 bugs have already been fixed in iOS 16.0.2.)
And the fact that Apple acts as a lightning rod for so much control can be a powerful force for change. The average phone manufacturer might not like dropping the charger out of the box, just as most PC makers were nervous about dropping optical drives. But Apple has both the power to get away with it, and the profile to take all the criticism, encouraging everyone else to do the same. Indeed, just this week my colleague Jason Snell praised Apple’s courage to change the world by dropping the physical SIM card.
Apple’s standout is a double-edged sword. I doubt Tim Cook would change his place with another CEO; Criticism is part of being number one, and I won’t shed any tears over Apple’s negative press coverage. But I think it’s a bit much that the last entry on the endless list of Apple critiques is that it’s not being criticized enough.
Foundry
Trending: Top Stories of the Week
The iPhone 14 may be the start of an extreme trend: Apple’s mid range loses.
The iPhone 14 Pros new 48MP lens is so good that it can beat an expensive mirrorless camera.
The Macalope has a question that is as difficult to answer as it is to say: When? Apple’s Critics deserve as much criticism, is it really critical?
Jason Cross reveals 16 hidden iOS 16 features for you must find.
A teardown of the iPhone 14 reveals “the” most substantial redesign since the iPhone X.”
Corner reviews
We’ve thoroughly tested the new iPhones in the Macworld labs and can now reveal the results in our first in-depth reviews.
And in our roundup of the Apple Watch Ultra reviews, we discover a impressive debut that exceeds expectations.
Tune in next week for our iPhone 14 review!
The rumor mill
Logitech seems to have accidentally unveiled two new iPads. Which adds a little spice to the October event.
apples Dynamic Island will reportedly expand to all iPhone 15 models in 2023.
Podcast of the week
The beginning of a new iPhone generation coming with the release of the iPhone 14. And these iPhones are arguably the most important models for Apple in recent history. We’ve got the new iPhones, and we discuss why they’re so important in this episode of the Macworld Podcast!
You can watch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloudthe Podcasts app or our own site.
And with that, we’re done for this week. If you would like to receive regular round-ups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news stories. See you next Saturday, enjoy your weekend and stay Appley.