The central premise is that Apple isn't innovative anymore. Let's look at the technologies Apple has materially advanced over the last few years.
* Custom screen technology leap-frogging 4K displays directly to 5K, at a full-system price below that of a 4K screen alone from competitors at the time.
* wide colour gamut screen tech putting them several years ahead of the competition.
* Brand new screen digitiser technology in the iPad Pros that also puts them several years ahead of any of their competitors.
* 3D Touch technology nobody else even appears to have a path to implementing because it requires such close design integration with the hardware and software.
* mobile processor designs putting them years ahead of any of their competitors in yet another technology category.
* A new variant of iOS (Watch OS) that's now powering two completely different product categories.
I venture to suggest that the death of innovation at Apple is being declared somewhat prematurely.
> Brand new screen digitiser technology in the iPad Pros that also puts them several years ahead of any of their competitors.
What technology are you talking about?
> mobile processor designs putting them years ahead of any of their competitors in yet another technology category.
Are you talking about the A10 Fusion? It's the fastest single-core processor, but according to https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Mobile/Apple-iPhone-7-and-7-Pl... the Snapdragon 820 has a faster GPU and the Kirin 950 a better mutli-core score in Geekbench. So I wouldn't say that their mobile processor design is years ahead (it's more that iOS doesn't need more than two cores and therefore they can really optimize single-core performance).
> A new variant of iOS (Watch OS) that's now powering two completely different product categories.
> Regarding processor tech I was mainly thinking of the move to 64bit and secure enclave which completely out-manoeuvred the competition.
Why is the move to 64 bit so important, but the move to 4 cores isn't? I don't really see why 64 bit makes sense for < 4 GB RAM devices and I also bet that no one can really tell the difference performance wise.
Pass codes aren't perfectly secure either. Someone can see you type it in, or infer it from finger smudges. If your criterion for accepting a technology is perfection in all circumstances you're not going to find many technologies that satisfy it.
it depends on what qualifies as "innovation". The bar you set is so low that literally every new "feature" (Reversible iphone connector!) can qualify.
Watch OS has nothing innovative about it that Android Wear doesn't already have, and is not taking off in the market.
3D Touch is a technological marvel but a useless feature for usability. It hasn't taken anymore than Samsung's "hover over the phone" touch has.
I can't comment on the colour gamut tech or the screen digitiser tech, but what exactly is Apple doing there that is leaps and bounds ahead of other display/tablet manufacturers? Do you have any links that compare these?
> * Custom screen technology leap-frogging 4K displays directly to 5K, at a full-system price below that of a 4K screen alone from competitors at the time.
"3D Touch" is something thar was in the Nokia E6-00 in 2011. Force-feedback touchscreen is not new, and much like capacitive touch-screens I suspect it was R&D'ed by Synaptics and Apple happened to be their first mass-market customer.
Apple can use their formidable logistics (few variants bought in huge quantities for several years) to be first-to-market with these improvements. The same logic probably applies to their Hi-Def smartphone/laptop screens, I don't think they made fundamental R&D in that space, but signaled early to manufacturers they were ready to pay for them. This makes them appear as innovators, while allowing their competitors to offer cheaper alternatives a few months later (where they invariably outdo Apple spec-wise after a year or so, so clearly the tech is coming from the manufacturers, who were just waiting for their next-gen to become economically viable). That is no small feat, and has a positive impact for the industry, but I would not call that innovation.
Apple's ipad pro/pencil is better than the previous industry best (Wacom) by a wide margin. It's more sensitive, better ergonomics (narrow diameter, not plastic), much lower initial activation pressure. Paired with a much better display in a more portable package at similar price to a Cintiq companion. Professional artists are flocking to it in droves.
From my facebook feed where I follow artists from AAA game companies: Blizzard, EA, 343, etc.
Interesting. I'll have to give it a try. I've been against a screen + drawing surface combo up till now, my Intuos Pro has met my needs pretty well. But I'm always down for more precision.
Actually yes, this was the main reason I moved from apple. I was looking for a new laptop and apple still used a 1400 something resolution as a standard with a 1600 something as an upgrade. Most windows oems used full HD panels at that time and some of them 99% ore more adobeRGB. I was forced buying an ugly laptop because apples screen tech was years behind, even now the air has a ugly and very cheap low resolution panels.
Apple was really good at making basic consumer ideas work not at inventing stuff. Most inventions (by apple, MS) are based on older ideas. Don't get the invention religion anyway, who cares if apple was first or not. Just use wat you like
None of the standard connector specs has the bandwidth to support a 5K signal at the same level of quality, so they can only do it in an all-in-one system until the public standard connector tech catches up.
* Custom screen technology leap-frogging 4K displays directly to 5K, at a full-system price below that of a 4K screen alone from competitors at the time.
* wide colour gamut screen tech putting them several years ahead of the competition.
* Brand new screen digitiser technology in the iPad Pros that also puts them several years ahead of any of their competitors.
* 3D Touch technology nobody else even appears to have a path to implementing because it requires such close design integration with the hardware and software.
* mobile processor designs putting them years ahead of any of their competitors in yet another technology category.
* A new variant of iOS (Watch OS) that's now powering two completely different product categories.
I venture to suggest that the death of innovation at Apple is being declared somewhat prematurely.