iPhone 11
Another crazy September day at Cupertino is in the books. Apple held its annual event today and the flood of tech articles fueled by pour-over coffee fawning over the latest slate of Apple products and entertainment services are slapping the pavement like rain water through a broken storm gutter on your roof.
As expected this afternoon, Apple has trotted out the latest iteration of the iPhone, the iPhone 11. It is a tad more appealing than last year's version but is still a middling effort by Apple to innovate the smart phone market. Sure, it has a bunch of cameras, but does it have 5G? Does it fold? Is it affordably priced? No, of course not. It's Apple. Apple doesn't innovate anymore, it just trots out updates to the same tech every year to keep consumers trapped within its ecosystem. Sure, now it has TV shows and the iPhone is a professional camera now. Hold my handkerchief.
Apple tipped its hand with the Apple Card. For whatever we might have thought about the Apple ecosystem, there was part of us that placed Apple products next to Samsung, LG, Nokia as phones that exist. The Apple Card cemented the idea that Apple itself is not a tech manufacturer, it is a way of life. One that we buy into when we attach our lives to our iPhones.
The cynicism seemed to run higher this year than previous Apple events, the jokes flowing on Twitter leading up to the 1pm start time.
There is a bit of Apple fatigue that seems to be setting in after all these years, all these self-prophesying keynotes that claim to be changing the world of technology. Even the most die-hard fans are seemingly less enthused as time goes on. There's a flare up before the event, a healthy does of sarcasm and then on to theorizing about the next event. It's basically pumpkin spice season.
In jest, there may have been a pumpkin spice iPhone 8 and Jimmy Kimmel found a pumpkin spice iPhone 6, but the gist feels the same. Each year a new slate of products take advantage of the pumpkin spice craze, flattening the effects and impact of the seasonal flavor. That's what the iPhone seems like at this point, a seasonal flavor that is refreshed once a year but doesn't have the weight of innovation that we once lauded Apple for.
Fast Company's most innovative companies rankings put Apple at #17 earlier this year, where it once sat at the top spot and it only nabbed a spot in the top 20 thanks to its A12 processing chip. There is a constant and frequent reaction to Apple's annual iPhone event that is akin to Lucky Charms adding a new marshmallow to the mix. Tepid excitement with faux surprise followed by the realization that it really doesn't change a damn thing. It's really the same box it's been for years.
Perhaps this is due to the ecosystem that Apple has created or it becoming an entertainment and gaming company, perhaps it is due to no Earth shattering enhancements to the iPhone itself. Sure, the camera keeps getting better and the processing chip is something to marvel at, but for general consumers a phone is just that. Remember, this company killed the 3.5mm headphone jack forcing consumers to enter a brand new world of dongles.
So sure, in the end we get a new iPhone. The Apple iPhone 11. It comes in different sizes and colors with new and improved camera arrays so we never miss an opportunity to stare through our phones and share our mundane lives and Slofies rather than live in the moment. It's still the same fragile iPhone in the same Apple ecosystem that you either love or vehemently abhor.
After the tech journos file out of the auditorium, touch the new iPhone as if it is the Holy Grail, today turns into tomorrow and what do we have? Do we really have something new and innovative and worth the momentary adulation? Or do we just have yet another iPhone to consume this season?
