Why you shouldn’t buy Apple products – stupidity is bankable

10 minutes read

My experience

I write this article out of pure frustration with Apple’s products and their company philosophies.

I’ve been a PC user for most of my life, I even dipped my toes into Linux here and there, but I’m far from a Microsoft Windows fan.
My most hated feature is probably the windows registry.

So in 2010 I switched to Apple:

I bought 3 iPhones (3G, 4s, 6)
A 13″ MacBook Pro 2012
A 27″ Mac Pro 2010

and 2 iPads (1 and mini)
Apple TV (2nd or 3rd gen, I don’t remember)

But the longer I started using Apple products, I noticed the poor quality.

27″ Mac Pro

My Mac Pro was broken out of the box:

A smudge on the left side of the screen was “part of the computer” according to the Apple store.
The Hard Drive was obnoxiously loud. They tried to charge me for a repair under warranty (according to their own words).

The sound quality of the built-in speakers was abysmal.
The USB connections were broken and never functioned properly. I couldn’t connect hard drives or sound cards. According to the Apple store it was “fine”
The bluetooth constantly kept disconnecting my devices, including my Apple keyboard and mouse.

The WIFI kept disconnecting, I had to use an UTP cable
The computer kept complaining I needed to update the software, and when updating I got an error message.
The computer also refused to boot at the end. But when I disconnected it from the internet, it spontaneously worked.

The computer refused to reinstall after a couple of years (not in the beginning).
Because I was using “illegal components”.
That was a flat-out lie, it was all Apple original.
I suspect the Apple store screwed up, because they changed the hard drive (under warranty).

My iPhones

My iPhone experience wasn’t any better.

I updated my iPhone 3 which became unusable slow. I had to buy a new one.

I bought an iPhone 4. Great phone, I updated it … and it became unusable slow. I had to buy a new one.
I bought an iPhone 6, (you would think I had learned at this point)
But that was an even bigger disaster:
- The earbuds where broken out of the box, Apple refused to fix it.
- The charger was defective (it was fixed).
- The microphone spontaneously stopped working (“conveniently” just a month out of warranty).
- The battery life was abysmal, and the phone got slower and slower (known issue)
- The fingerprint sensor worked to be exact: 3 times.
  I tried reprogramming new fingerprints multiple times, nothing worked

My iPads

My first iPad I updated a became unusable slow.
I had to throw it away.

So I bought a iPad Mini.
After a while I reset the iPad and I couldn’t install any apps.
Again, dynamic obsolescence, it became unusable.

My 13″ Macbook Pro:

Lost it’s plastic feet after a couple of years
The sound quality of the speakers was poor
Some keys on the keyboard stopped working

Became incredibly slow to the point of unusable
I tried to reinstall.
But it refused to reinstall because of non-Apple part (again, a lie, it was 100% original Apple)
The power adapter cable broke

The rest

Let’s talk Apple specific Apple features:

Airdrop: I managed to use it twice between my devices.
The rest of the time it refused to find devices.
Hand-off: never got it to work

Air play:
- It worked between my iPad Mini and my Apple TV for a while, then I reset my iPad Mini and it stopped working
- It never worked on any of my other devices. It either couldn’t find it or the connection was interrupted after a while

Side car: never got it to work. It simply couldn’t find devices, or the feature didn’t show up

Marketing lies

Apple’s marketing has always been outstanding.
Hey have built an image for themselves to create quality products.
And people still believe that, even after they have used them … that’s some powerful marketing.

It’s not easy being green

Apple claims to be a green company as a unique selling point, but they are green-washing, instead of being actually green (source).

Beforehand Apple did included headphones and chargers in the boxes of iPhones.
They ditched it, and increased the price of the iPhones.
Now you have to pay extra for that for chargers and headphones.Chargers and headphones are separately packed and have to be shipped separately.
That’s not green.

Apple claims to recycle iPhones when you return them to Apple.
But Apple actually destroys those iPhones (source).
And when the company that should destroy the phones resold them in China, Apple sued them (same source).

Lack of innovation

Apple touts themselves to be the innovator.
But what have they actually invented?

The iPod?
No MP3 players, like the Diamond Rio was first.

The iPhone was revolutionary in 2007, but was it new?
No, PDAs (Windows CE) with phone capabilities existed for a long time.
But I admit, they did it better.

The iPad?
No, tablet-like devices with Windows XP and touchscreens existed before that.
I admit, they were bad.

The Apple watch?
No, Pebble had one before Apple.

The Vision Pro?
No, the Quest existed already for years.

The M-chips?
The big improvement is noteworthy, but not an invention.
You might consider the follow-up chips of the M1: the M2 and M3 a downgrade, despite Apple’s misleading marketing.
The M2 and M3 were slower than M1 with heavy tasks like video editing (source) and DAWs for music producers (source).

Apple is a good improver, but not inventor.
When did Apple actually invent something?

What actual innovations were made to the iPhone since the iPhone 4?

It still can take pictures with a good camera

You are still able to use Whatsapp
You are still able to use your banking app
You can still surf the internet

The only thing that Apple is good at inventing is 5 million incompatible standards for cables to connect, with equally 5 incompatible connector plugs and 10 million converter plugs sold for $80!

Apple is also good in inventing file formats that nobody supports.
And dumping them equally hard when it doesn’t suit them anymore for financial gain.

.ALAC is still an obscure audio format

.MOV it took decades for it to be played on Windows
.PAGES is still compatible with nothing

Security as excuse for everything

When Apple doesn’t know a good answer to a question, security is always the answer when the real answer is: money.

Why weren’t 3rd party App Stores not allowed? Security! While it was the 30% cut.
Why did iPhones not have USB-C? Security! While they charged manufacturers for using Lightning.

Privacy

Little snitch

Years ago Apple had beef with the FBI.
They didn’t want to give the FBI the tools to unlock an iPhone, because of “privacy”.

Did you know that Apple scans your devices for installed apps?
They do, and don’t want you to know about it.

Someone developed a tool called “little snitch” which showed this behavior (see reddit).
Then Apple went out of their way to make sure to that Little Snitch couldn’t see what Apple was doing anymore by hiding processes for programmers.

Converter Cables

Ditching standards

Apple is master at inventing connection standards, and then dumping them.

ADB (Apple display bus)
Inventing Firewire, then Firewire 400 with both different connectors, then dumping it. USB was standard.
Inventing Displayport, then MiniDisplayPort then dumping it. DVI, HDMI was standard.

Inventing the 30 pin connector, then Lightning, then dumping it
I’m not even talking about the mess with USB3, thunderbolt and USB-C

I probably forgot at least 30 standards in this list.
No company in the world invents so much, only to drop it a year later.

I have a drawer full of Apple converter cables and dongles.
When I go somewhere, I need a suitcase full of dongles and converter cables, just because I bought into the Apple ecosystem.

USB-C on laptops

Apple was the first to introduce it at a time that there was hardly any cables or hardware available with the standard.
But instead of using 1 port USB-C, the other USB-A, you had to use a converter dongle.
Because the only ports available was USB-C and nothing else.

Ow, and you needed 1 USB-C port to charge.
So you were also down 1 port (of the only 2) by default.
“Why would you be so stupid to want more?”

That’s just bullying your users.

Losing magsafe

With the introduction of the USB-C laptops, all of a sudden the mag-safe connector was ditched.
Mag-safe was a magnetic connection that automatically detached when you bumped the cable.

In my days at the computer store, the number 1 issue that people brought in their laptop for: they tripped over their power wire and broke the motherboard connection.

The mag-safe was by far the best feature of the macbook.
In which universe did you think it was wise decision to ditch it?

It’s just mind boggling how Apple bullies their users, and everyone accepts it.

Circumventing the law

Apple’s behavior has become so bad that governments have to step up.
It’s so sad …

USB on iPhones

The EU asked manufacturers for a standard to change phones in 2009 (source), is was USB.
So in 2014 it became law to change phones with USB.
Every single manufacturer complied, except one: Apple.

Apple developed dongle (what a surprise), which nobody bought.
So to force Apple on its knees, the EU had to make the law more strict in 2024.

What a pathetic piece of a company you are to be THIS anti-consumer that the EU has to force companies to act normal.

EU digital markets act

To open up Apples App store, the EU has to force Apple by law to open up for other App stores (source).
So, like they did with USB, they tried to circumvent it, by making it extremely hard for 3rd parties to do so.

US monopoly

The USA sued Apple (source) for anti competitive monopolistic behavior.
Again, the government needs to step in to make Apple behave.

Lack of quality

Butterfly Keyboards

Butterfly keyboards were introduced in 2015.
The keyboard used a different mechanism (butterfly) than the traditional scissor mechanism.

The butterfly keyboards broke by the tens of thousands (source).
Instead of fixing the issue in 2016, or switching back to scissor, Apple used it on more laptops!
You can’t make this stuff up!

They did not switch back in 2017.
They did not switch back in 2018.
They did not switch back in 2019.
They switched back in 2020 (source).
5 years they sold garbage to their users with their fancy marketing, and people kept buying it.

Overheating issues

Apple Macbooks are notorious for having bad thermals.
But there were a particular batch of Macbook Pro’s (yes for the professionals) in 2018 that were bad, like this YouTube video by music producer Jon Sine shows.

This was a new laptop he bought.
Apple eventually made him buy a new laptop, instead of fixing the issue.

“you are doing it wrong”

Apple ignoring users and being arrogant about it.
Like Steve Jobs said: “You are doing it wrong”.

Iphone antenna problems
bend gate iphone 6

battery issues iphone 6
slew of iPhone 15 issues (source)

For “premium” products with a premium price, this happens a lot.
But blaming the users for your mistakes, is just lack of accountability.

If they really had quality on top of mind, these mistakes wouldn’t happen over and over and over again.
Apple is cutting corners and still charging a premium, because they feel empowered by paying customers that justify their behavior.

Punishing users for not buying enough

Apple is really good in convincing people to buy their stuff.
But if you don’t buy enough, they are not your friend anymore.

I had iPhones that slowed down, because they want you do buy a new one.
I had Pages on my iMac that complained that I needed to upgrade, but I couldn’t because the new version on Pages (which had no new features) wasn’t compatible with my Mac.

My Macbook became inexplicably slow after a couple of years, just so I would buy another one
My iMac and Macbook couldn’t reinstall, because they accused me of using non-Apple parts.
My iPhone’s became extremely slow, so I would buy another one.

Over the years I got so tired of buying new stuff constantly, just to keep up with.
I realized that Apple products have a really small lifecycle, smaller than what is normal in the industry.

Compatibility

Apple tries to get you into their non-industry standard eco system.
Being it AirPlay, iCloud, or ALAC music files.

But your hardware is not compatible with the world.
Apple limits your freedom of choice.

Coming from a company based in “the land of the free”.

Anti consumer behavior

Not being able to repair or expand

The 30% cut

The 30% cut on the app store is high.
But the problem is not as much as the ridiculous 30% as much as the fact you don’t have an alternative to reduce those costs.
You can’t offer consumers an alternative payment option.
Apple abuses their monopoly on the app store.

Deleting apps on Home

I’m just taking one of the ridiculous Apple rules here, but there are many more.

Why can’t you delete Apple’s default apps (yes, I know the same is true on Android).
Why do you need to make a folder manually to get rid of all the bloatware in there that you don’t need (technically it still takes up space).

It is a really simple feature to implement, it works for other apps.
But Apple went out of your way disable it.

Why is usability NOT the focus?
Arrogance!

Autocomplete still doesn’t work

Again, just one of the numerous examples I could name.
Why is the first thing I need to do when I buy a $1500 iPhone is to disable autocomplete, because otherwise it imagines stuff I don’t want to type?

The iPhone was introduced in 2007 with faulty autocomplete.
Decades have passed, why does it still not work?
Why does it automatically replaces words while a type, without asking me for permission?

Android’s auto complete works like a charm: it predicts my most used word combinations, and does not replace automatically.
It predicts what I want to type in the future, not replace something I didn’t ask for.

That feature in and of itself is worth buying an Android for.
Something that DOES work for 3x less.

Why is usability NOT the focus?
Arrogance!

Dynamic obsolence

You are not Apple’s friend when you pay them a hefty sum each year.
Apple’s planned obsolescence via software infuriates me, especially when their marketing claims for them to be “green”.
The arrogant, anti consumer behavior is what further killed my Apple enthusiasm.

Conclusion

I’m not saying that other companies don’t have their problems and need to recall products.
The Samsungs and Microsofts have their fair share of problems.
But it happens surprisingly more often with Apple than with other companies.

I find that reprehensible for a luxury company that pats itself on the back in their marketing over-and-over again for the quality and attention to detail.

Let’s just face it: their products don’t work and their service department refuses to fix it.

In 2020 I switched back to Windows and Android to great relief.
Windows and Android are far from perfect, but at least it works!
It’s more than I can say from Apple iPhones, iPads and iMacs.

I’m fed up with Apple’s arrogance, I hope that people start seeing Apple for what they really are.

By this point Apple become a parody of itself.
But not many people have figured this out yet.
By all means, buy their new iPhone that is exactly the same as last years.
I’ll keep my Apple stock and enjoy other people’s stupidity.

Yes, stupidity is bankable, Apple figured that out a long time ago.
It made them one of the richest companies in the world.

Dexxter Clark