Feeling Underwhelmed and Disappointed with Apples 2024/25 Product Launch

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(First full disclosure though most know. I am fully in the Apple world now and have been for a few years, Long ago I was an Android and Windows person. Now, we (my wife and I) have 2 iPhone 13's, 1 MacBook Air, 2 Mac mini desktops with 27 inch monitors, wife has an Apple Watch 7 and I have an Apple Watch 9. We also have my wife's maybe last Windows device which is a Lenovo Yoga EVO laptop and her company provided Dell workstation.)

Am I the only one? I combed and searched but no one posted anything.
Apple held their annual new product launch yesterday Sept 9th and I am disappointed, was really hoping for something new, something exciting, something that I could have an excuse to go out and buy, yet, completely underwhelmed.
I am not specifically talking about AI which I think is a farce at the present time. AI is in its infancy and the new Apple models will be more like (hopefully) a better Siri that works properly.

I honestly feel their stock price will be affected by this lame product launch but maybe I am not a typical consumer. I want something new, not the same old phone design, same old ear buds, same old stuff but just updated = BORING!

I cant think of anything in the new product launch that wants me to go out and get one. HECK I would even settle for maybe an excuse to get a iPhone 16 Pro for a change but the same old boring colors of the Pro makes me like the cheaper iPhone 16 non pro model. So I guess I will just stay with my iPhone 13 because the 16 isnt giving me any kind of thrill right now.

Anyway, Im annoyed and let down. Meanwhile Samsung has a less capable but BEAUTIFUL folding screen smart phone, google has theirs, other companies, mostly all Chinese like Motorola offering folding screens and top rated, Xiaomi has best in the world camera phone and also folding phones, HUAWEI is another, but world class Apple?!?!?!? NO, same old boring design, nothing wrong with that but give us options. Actually HUAWEI just announced the world first TRI-FOLDING phone 3 days before Apples launch. 3.7 million preorders in China.

Im sure Apple with survive and be fine? Sometimes I get these "feelings" about companies, my wife almost laughs about it. Let's say we go to a restaurant that we like all the time and then one day I will say to her, this place is going to close down and sometimes even large corporate ones goes for retail stores too. She tells me "oh no" *LOL* "stop it"
.... and .... well sooner or later it happens.

Anyway, all I know is it is fantastic that Apple products work so well and integrate like no other system in the world but sometimes walking on the wild side can be more fun (if you know what I mean) and Im getting to the point that I am getting bored with the perfect little Apple system and might be tempted to give some of that up for more fun! COME ON APPLE!!!

(Im still about a year out from that thinking but I keep thinking about it and once that starts I dont know how long I will last*LOL*)

If I do it will be a big project as I will never live without a Smart Watch so would have to move the watch and phone into the Android world together which both will no seamlessly integrate with my Apple Desktop and Laptop... but I am getting bored so might be worth the risk one day. Im just plain bored and Apple better get their act together because I cannot be the only one.
 
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Your iPhone 13 has a bit of life left. My family is spread across 12s, 13s and 14s and there is no compelling reason to upgrade for another 3 years at least.

The new feature of the iPhone 16 seems extremely invasive where it would read my text messages and tell me how I should interpret them. Sounds like a drama factory. No thank you.
 
I am also disappointed. I just want an 8K camera which Samsung already has. Not a fan of Android myself as I found earlier phones glitchy and they seem to age out and slow down earlier than they should. It is hard to back out of the Apple ecosystem though, everything just works.
 
Your iPhone 13 has a bit of life left. My family is spread across 12s, 13s and 14s and there is no compelling reason to upgrade for another 3 years at least.

The new feature of the iPhone 16 seems extremely invasive where it would read my text messages and tell me how I should interpret them. Sounds like a drama factory. No thank you.
Im just plain sick of the design. I want something new and cool, like an awesome folding screen or something. Gosh it's been the same old tired looking phone for so long now. Even the new Apple Watch 10, yeah, its thinner, big deal and battery life claims to be the same, then why not thicker and longer battery OR how about the Apple Watch Ultra which I would consider as my health insurance will pay for it but its not really that compelling to me yet and of course this recent launch it is still the same old Ultra 2.

I guess this is my only point, I want a cool folding type phone OR a phone with a camera system like the XIAOMI 14 Ultra (OMG!)
Come on Apple!
Never say never, but I think this product launch is going to bite them in the ____.
Gosh you can have an iPhone 11 and in passing wouldn't know it wasn't an iPhone 16/ give me a break.
 
We're in the market for a new phone. My wife has a 2020SE, I have the third generation SE. Her phone has 85% battery life remaining, so it is almost due for a battery. The price on the 15 fell $100, so I'm kicking around the idea of grabbing the 15, or possibly a 16, and giving my wife my third generation SE which has 96% battery life remaining. That will easily go another 2 years maybe more and we'll do something along those lines again. Her phone is currently fetching $60 on a trade.
 
I guess this is my only point, I want a cool folding type phone OR a phone with a camera system like the XIAOMI 14 Ultra (OMG!)
What about a dedicated digital camera, like they used to do in the "old days."
 
What about a dedicated digital camera, like they used to do in the "old days."
I got one, a Nikon DSLR... but it just kind of sits in the closet now 🙁
Far superior photos to a camera phone but we are at a point in society that good enough is good enough and really for me too except maybe truly special occasions. Though I am thinking about taking it on a trip later this year.
 
The only reason I moved from my Note 10+ to a Samsung S24+ was because they stopped sending security updates for the Note.
Battery life was good after 5 years and the camera still was better than what I have in the S24+. 5G is not a feature that provides any benefit to me.
If your screen is good and battery life is good, I see zero reason to upgrade phones.
 
I’m perfectly happy with my iPhone 13 and I just moved my mom to a 3rd gen iPhone SE from her old Android.

Otherwise, I hate Apple and you will never find a Mac in my household.

The new iPhones still only having USB 2.0 data transfer speeds through its port is a joke. Although I don’t really care, I never connect it to my computer or transfer data, it’s still kinda ridiculous.
 
I got my first iphone in Jan 2008, it was the original and have had most models until they went big screens. I will replace this one with another iphone. I was looking at the new 2024 Razr+ but while the specs are good the software with its deeply embedded google can be sketchy.

 
iPhones cost too much. But owners love 'em! I am very happy with a Pixel. Nice and stripped down Android. Killer camera; too bad I don't know how to take a decent picture.
Ease of use and longer /safer security life.
My mom was forced into an Android, the screen is bigger but many Android phones aren’t really made to last more than a year or 2, hers is 2 years old and already crashes, freezes and does other BS.

On price, Sucks that an IPhone SE 3rd Gen is still $149 when that was the launch price from certain carriers on day 1.

I would like to get my mom one of the larger iPhones but even as near useless antiques they are still overpriced, too bad they didn’t include full phone and call functions on the iPad minis


As to the op phones at this point are a commodity like corn flakes, they just are doing security and bug fixes at this point with minimal quality of life improvements that anyone would actually care about.

My phone needs a faster CPU and more ram to run the same speed as the old one to handle the security payload
 
I also have a 13 (86% battery health) I've had for three years and was looking to upgrade. Not sure I'll do it this year, I kind of wanted to go into the Pro and the 16 Pro is basically the same as the 15 Pro with slightly more horsepower, slightly larger screen and one better camera. Not sure it's worth it.
 
I the 10 version and waiting for my son to upgrade the 14 phone that he currently has. This is how I upgrade my phone.
Me too, I'll get the wife's hand me down.
I have a 2nd gen SE now and its fine, I would want a better camera, real waterproofness, and a regular headphone jack. I like the thumb print reader and button to wake it up over new the buttonless ones. Also I would like a better "family sharing management" app, with easy to understand and implement sharing/editing of pictures, media, calendars, to immediate and extended family.

Since apple will never make the phone I want, I don't follow what they release these days.
 
Next update will be when they put FaceId under screen for me.

Its pathetic they’re still speccing new phones at 60hz though.
THIS. I cannot believe they sell an $800 phone with 60hz. It’s insulting on many levels. I have a 13 Pro, still works great. The only reason I got the Pro is because of the 120hz display. It’s a night and day difference. It was absolutely worth the extra cost, especially since I keep my phones for 3+ years. However, one shouldn’t have to pay such a premium for a feature that most phones much cheaper have. Holding out hope that next year the base iPhone 17 will have a higher refresh rate, but I’m sure it won’t. They’ll probably further insult us and give it 90hz 😄
 
While I'm surprised there isn't much new and exciting, I'm certainly not disappointed. I use both Apple (personal and work) and Windows. The Apple ecosystem is still way ahead of anything Microsoft, and the Apple silicon chips in the new devices are great. Even my used M1 Air I have for personal use with 16GB of memory is awesome, and the M3 stuff at work is even better. My work laptop is a Macbook Air 13 with M3 chip and 16GB of RAM, and it has done everything I've asked it to easily, and the battery life is extremely good.
 
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