Apple Innovation Debate

This cluster centers on discussions questioning whether Apple continues to innovate or has stagnated post-Steve Jobs, relying on marketing, incremental improvements, and hits like the iPhone instead of revolutionary products. Users debate Apple's strategy of perfecting existing trends versus creating new markets and its future relevance.

➡️ Stable 0.6x Startups & Business
5,926
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#3988
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

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Keywords

company.They OK MacBooks PC MM XR YC N95 MDM P.A apple iphone product innovate market ipad products car siri business

Sample Comments

grillvogel May 31, 2017 View on HN

does apple still innovate anymore or just follow trends that are already on their way out?

vim-guru Jan 12, 2026 View on HN

Apples products are still the best on the market, but if they keep this up; they will sooner or later become irrelevant.

eq88 May 18, 2023 View on HN

Apple notoriously hinders it's own potential so it doesn't cannibalize it's own market share. They have no incentive to turn off the iPhone faucet, so why would they make a product that devours smartphones?

amelius May 7, 2020 View on HN

Can't Apple throw more money at revolutionary stuff rather than at evolutionary stuff that already works just fine?

nikau Nov 8, 2023 View on HN

That's apples playbook even today, they don't invent new technology, rather time it perfectly to start using it.

netcan Jun 11, 2011 View on HN

Apple have been going at a clip these past few years creating, scaling and tweaking a few massive products - ipods, itunes, iphone & ipads while outpacing competition with macs and still carrying a few fizzles (apple servers, apple tv...) and a few lower visibility but fairly important products (iwork, ilife..).I think they just don't have the capacity to do more big things right now. When/if iOS gets put on medium heat like OSX is/was, then maybe we they'll try this. It's not really much

BFatts Sep 7, 2016 View on HN

It's honestly a game of innovate or catch up. It's not like Apple is unique in this...

JimDabell Jan 28, 2022 View on HN

The iPhone is a once-in-a-generation product. Virtually no company ever creates a product this successful. Why are you treating that level of success as if it’s the new norm that Apple must repeatedly reach in order to keep up?What happens if they don’t catch the next wave? In that case, they will still be wildly successful. They’ve already had the iPad, which is the clear winner in the tablet market. They’ve already had the Apple Watch, which is the clear winner in the smartwatch mark

cmdrfred Oct 21, 2014 View on HN

Even Apple can't innovate anymore, they coast on prestige alone.

8jef Sep 12, 2022 View on HN

Apple never invented anything. They always took something that already was nichely popular (Nokia's smartphones, Creative's MP3 players, PCs), then improved upon those things just enough to make them palatable to the masses, logo included. It's not a mystery why they've recently invested heavily in AR and electric transportation: these are two newish hardware things that still badly need to be improved upon. Unfortunately, all the money in the world cannot replace Steve Job&#