2016 hasn’t been Apple’s best year by a long shot. While the company is still making money hand over fist and has seen its Services division go from strength to strength, Apple also consistently stumbled for the first time in years.
While we remain loyal to the Apple brand, here are our picks for the year’s biggest disappointments.
Apple’s 2016 disappointments
Declining Apple revenue
From unpredictable global events to Wall Street’s insistence on undervaluing Apple stock, this one’s not totally Cupertino’s fault. With that said, a lot of other factors on this list certainly contributed, with Apple ultimately failing to generate the kind of excitement seen in previous years.
One thing that’s for sure, however, is that this was Apple’s first annual revenue decline since 2001, the year that ended with Apple introducing the first-gen iPod. In 2016, iPhone sales finally started to fall, the iPad continued its downward slide, and Macs failed to live up to expectations.
Yes, Apple is still making an insane amount of money and, absolutely, its Services division is doing very well indeed. But falling revenues are pretty much the epitome of “disappointment” for a company. And this year Apple experienced them.
Lack of love for the Mac
Tim Cook recently made a bid to convince us that exciting new Macs will arrive next year, but there’s no getting around the fact that 2016 has been a poor year for the Mac division.
From a consumer perspective, the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar was the most notable disappointment, but the lack of exciting upgrades for the iMac didn’t help, either.
The fact that Apple is seemingly moving further and further away from the pro market (the MacBook Pro is anything but a “pro” machine, while the Mac Pro hasn’t been upgraded since 2013) means that, for the first time in years, a number of people have called for Apple to consider farming out the Mac license to third-party developers who may care more about it.
The last time that happened? The bad old days of the 1990s.
A recent report claimed that the Mac division has lost clout within Apple as resources get poured into the money-making iPhone products.
A disappointing iPhone 7
With falling revenue and a lack of emphasis on the Mac, you’d expect that this year’s iPhone would have been a massive chance for Apple to prove itself with the best iPhone in years.
Was it? Not really. Instead, we got the third iteration of the slippery, 2014-era iPhone 6 design, with minor incremental improvements. Yes, the camera upgrade was nice, but the iPhone 7’s reviews epitomized the “yeah, it’s OK” type of responses that are unfortunately becoming par for the course for Cupertino.
This year also marked the first time Apple refused to announce opening weekend sales for a new iPhone. Yes, that’s partly because the company knows it can’t keep pushing for bigger and bigger opening weekends every year. But this move told a macro story as well: The iPhone isn’t a device capable of surpassing its own highs each and every year.
With a major form factor rethink and OLED displays apparently in the offing for next year’s 10th anniversary iPhone, it seems like Apple saved some big upgrades for the birthday edition. But, still, since your average punter doesn’t exactly care about stuff like that, couldn’t Apple have pulled out the stops a bit more this year?
Apple Watch Series 2 doesn’t convince the world smartwatches are essential
Photo: Apple
I’ve defended the Apple Watch many times. Asked whether it’s a disappointment, I point people toward stats like the fact that it’s a big seller even by regular (non-smart) watch standards, and that it outsold the iPhone in the devices’ respective first years.
But unless you were desperate for GPS or swim-proofing, there was nothing majorly compelling about this year’s offering. Arguably more damningly, Apple pulled back on its previous fashion ambitions and focused on fitness this time around. Sure, a fashion device doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot to readers of a tech blog (not throwing shade at any of you!), but it sure felt like Apple lost interest in its new product line.
With no sale figures released by Apple yet, and the latest watchOS suggesting Apple knows it got the interface wrong the first time around, this was far from the year that Apple convinced naysayers that the Apple Watch was a device we all need to own.
Apple TV becomes an afterthought again
For a long time, Apple TV was considered a “hobby” by the folks at Apple. Then it started hitting sales milestones and the company acknowledged that it was difficult to continue classifying the streaming device in such frivolous terms. The fourth-gen Apple TV, released in 2015, was supposed to break with this label once and for all, and show us that Apple was serious about the TV business.
Except it hasn’t. Defend the Apple TV all you like, but comparing Apple’s approach to the cord-cutting TV market with its change-the-world attitude about the iTunes Store a decade ago shows that this is not really a market Cupertino cares much about.
Apple hasn’t been able to broker major content deals. Its new TV app doesn’t offer anything unique. And, in an age in which Netflix and Amazon are teaching us the value of original content as a subscription driver, Apple’s TV effort is woefully lagging.
While Apple dipped its toe in the original content pool, this took the form of hip-hop documentaries for Apple Music subscribers rather than Cupertino’s answer to The Crown or Stranger Things.
Lack of innovation
Aside from its nadir in the 1990s, Apple never was a company that jumped blindly into new markets to beat everyone else to the punch. Instead, it’s picked the right time and place to launch products — and found that magical nexus between technological advances and public readiness.
In other words, we’re not looking for (and don’t believe that it’s possible to create) a new product of iPhone levels of word-changing-ness each year.
However, this year has seemed frustratingly short on innovation. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s True Tone display is genuinely great, but when you’re referring to this as arguably Apple’s most successful piece of innovation this year, that’s a problem.
Apple appears stymied by not wanting to take big risks — and while it’s failing to do so, it’s being outshone in certain areas by competitors like Amazon and Microsoft, who are creating hardware like the innovative Amazon Echo and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Surface Studio which, though not perfect, are far more exciting than many things Apple is working on.
Meanwhile, instead of areas like smart homes and VR, which would fit nicely within the Apple ecosystem, the company appears to be messing around with (and maybe abandoning) an Apple Car.
Has there been a less innovative year from Apple since the company’s late 1990s turnaround?
AirPods’ delayed launch
This one is a bit tougher, since Apple eventually shipped AirPods — and the wireless headphones rank up there with the best innovations of the year (even if they do look pretty odd). However, the massive AirPods shipping delay after the devices got announced during September’s iPhone event seemed telling for a company that rarely makes that kind of slip-up.
That wasn’t Apple’s only frustrating delay, either. With seemingly every Apple launch these days frustrated by limited supply and constrained availability, the once fantastic logistics chain has hit a roadblock.
Will 2017 be better for Apple?
Any story about disappointments on Apple’s part must acknowledge that this is a company that managed one of the biggest turnarounds in history after critics wrote it off. Apple remains tight-lipped about upcoming products, so there’s every chance that the new year could address some (or even all) of these concerns.
Do you think we’re being unfair about 2016? What have been your biggest Apple-related disappointments? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
38 responses to “All the ways Apple disappointed us in 2016”
Yes, Apple seems to be more interested in making drone videos at their new headquarters than updating their products. My old MBP was dying a slow death and I delayed replacing it hoping for an update but it came way too late, so I bought a refurbished Mid 2015 MBP. Don’t even get me started on my aging 27″ Cinema Display. The good news is I’ve saved on buying dongles and other adapters.
Nothing wrong with a couple year old MBP….. when they where ‘still’ decent. :) – right now it’s a total disaster…… :(
Unfortunately Tim Cook seems more interested in social causes than creating Insanely Great products. When Microsoft (freaking Microsoft!!!!) is releasing more innovative hardware than Apple you know something is rotten in Cupertino. We always hear whispers of these amazing new products secretly hidden away in Apple’s labs, but we never see them. Siri is stagnant. Macs have been completely neglected by the company. What exactly are Apple employees doing?
Apple is the greatest company in the world, but they certainly aren’t acting like it lately.
How much longer will shareholders allow Tim to stay at the wheel if he’s just going to keep things on cruise control and enjoy the scenery?
Tim does what shareholders tell him to do. In fact Im sure he is a shareholder too.
I think the best thing that could happen to Apple is collapse, failure and then maybe these greedy shareholders loose interest in Apple and maybe it can raise again and start over and work for the propor reasons, for the fans and not for the buck.
“I think the best thing that could happen to Apple is collapse, failure and then maybe these greedy shareholders loose interest in Apple”
No thank you. (I’m a shareholder too.)
That would not be a comfortable scenario for most creative professionals. I endured the late 90s as a graphic designer, It was not a comfortable time. I am in no particular hurry to repeat that experience.
This will be is very LAST year……. IF he makes it that long……….
“Unfortunately Tim Cook seems more interested in social causes than creating Insanely Great products.” That is very true, and for that reason among others it will be a great day for Apple when Tim Cook is no longer with the company – but the problem is that we have to have someone in line to replace him first, and I’m not sure at this point who would best fill that role.
I’m sure we all hate bringing up that “if Steve was alive” thing but It’s so damn hard to ignore how different this year and these products and even the presentations could’ve been if he haven’t move on. We probably still would’ve had Forstall!!
Maybe invite the Woz back in some manner or as an advisor. ….. also seek out and try to get back some of those that left in the past couple years……..
Apple is slacking; though, I imagine they have a few years’ of products in their design cabinet on for planning. Their mishap release with AirPods was a bit disastrous; poorly planned, especially around the holiday. This has been a flat year, for sure! But I don’t doubt Apple. At the very least, Jobs left a few tricks up his sleeve for them to market, but they need to up their game. Amazon and Google getting in the home automation market, Apple has rumors… they should already be there, the app isn’t enough.
I am willing to bet those iddy biddy AirPod batteries will turn out to be crap and since they are not replaceable Apple will eat untold millions on that experiment. Tim Cook need to take a walk.
When Steve Jobs was alive, Apple was all about his ego, about being The Best, about being perfect in every way… AND he was a genius.
Now, Apple is all about Money. Feel the difference?
Got that right.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Apple is more interested today in building electronics with obsolescence in mind so its customers have to buy products much as if on a subscription basis. This is bad for the wallet and environment as well. Granted a great number of people are okay with this model, but it’s not sustainable. At the very least, Apple should make professional products that can be upgraded and expanded — particularly the Mac. Though, I guess at this point Apple has diluted the Pro moniker so badly that it would have to name a professional line as something else. In short, Apple has become blinded by the consumer space and cannot see outside that box. No matter what it says. I’ve been a loyal Apple customer since it formed. Yet there is not a single Mac I would buy today, and it saddens me that our relationship might be drawing to a close. I cannot continue to support Apple ad infinitum when I am disappointed year after year, and by now they have racked up a good 3 or 4 year run of that. It really sucks. Thanks, Apple. Whatever happened to making the best personal computer possible? Not to mention its products are anything but personal today. Here are your closed box options. Pick one, any color.
Welcome to the “Tim Cook Apple” ………. Tim and his boys need to vacate the building…….. very soon… I’ve been an Apple Customer since the very first Mac came out and yea they had some hard times back in the 90’s but overall they always were a really great and innovative company. The Tim Cook Apple has been all about $$$ (and good times at the top) ……….. It cannot and will not last much longer. I see the new campus and wonder “how in the hell are they going to pay for this monster?” – their funds will dwindle and dwindle FAST…
While I don’t think anyone is going to argue 2016 was Apple’s best year ever, I do think a lot of people have the “if it’s not something I want, it doesn’t count towards innovation”.
– The 9.7″ iPad Pro is pretty freakin sweet
– The iPhone 7 Plus has a wicked cool camera
– The AirPods (and the W1 chip in particular) are amazing sweet
– Let’s not forget Swift Playground
– The new MacBook Pros have some battery issues, but are otherwise pretty sweet (yes, there’s nothing really “insanely new” about them other than the touch bar, but they’re still sweet laptops)
If this is Apple’s “off year”, I think we can cut them some slack.
As for Microsoft “out innovating” Apple? I say it’s about time Microsoft actually had a good year. After years of being stagnant, then the Windows 8 misstep, the Windows RT debacle, the Nokia disaster, the repeated failed attempts at entering the mobile business, Microsoft offers two things in 2016 – Hololens and Surface Studio (and if I can imitate iPad naysayers – Surface Studio is basically just a big Surface).
Don’t think that I’m anti-Microsoft, just saying that it’s easy to look innovative when you haven’t been for a long time.
I don’t think Apple will get on track anymore.
Just an example. Im not 100% sure and Im not going to see the video again but when they unveiled the new macbook pro, Phil , when announcing the price of the macbook pro didn’t use a word for the first time on their keynotes.
They used to say JUST :) and on the last keynote they didn’t. Just to prove that even them know that the price is ridiculous and they don’t have the guts to use the word just.
Yup….. pretty funny :) but hey……. now they can come out with a whole new “pro” line at reduced prices and then use the word “JUST” once again……. gouge the customers for a while to help with production costs (or just being greedy) …. then slowly introduce reduced prices again (??? just a thought)
Used to buy several MacBook/iMac/Mac mini every year for family and research lab, not anymore. Put SSD in my 2010 17″ MacBook Pro and will not buy any MacBook with soldered RAM and storage. Bought 2 iPhone 6S instead of 7 (listen/charge at the same time out of the box). Still holding on our 3 iPod Classic (all my music 24/7 with no need for internet connection) and will not use subscription services. Professors/students on my campus are doing the same. Apple has alienated many long time users that spent thousands of $ every year and that are no longer trusting Apple (software bugs, termination and removal of features, more and more update problems) and do not recommend it to either family, friends or students anymore. I will be sad to move to Linux or Windows but my wallet will not support Apple anti-repair/upgrade (=anti-environment) strategy anymore.
The older Macs and MacBook Pro’s are becoming more and more expensive on eBay right now…. and will continue to do so…….. unless Apple makes some big changes….. hey they’ve stepped back a few times over the years with products that where bombs (like the Cube and others….) they can always regroup and make great products once again (once Time Cook and his merry men LEAVE!!!)
Hey….. it’s the “Tim Cook Apple” – the guy that temporarily stepped in for Steve Jobs (while sick and was not planning in kicking the bucket) …… he took over and that rest….. well…… innovations out the window…… things must change and change soon or Apple will have a really hard time paying the light bill on the new campus about to open……..
Almost the whole 2016 has disappointed us folks
Not to mention the innovation on the SE
You are kidding me, are you not? Disappointment has been redefined as “2016 MacBook Pro”. The super neatest newest bad boy of the MacWorld is scarcely anything more than a revamp of the 2015 ‘ho hum’ release. WHY are we paying premium prices for such mundane hardware (with very very L I M I T E D choices to boot)?? Because the Apple monopoly says we should be grateful to bring bales of cash for boring (but even thiner) machines. OH OH OH my… a ‘touch bar’ … oh pleazzzze. We will be too busy with dongle-palooza.
So what parts of the Adobe professional creative apps are enabled in the frakkin’ touch bar?
You should try the Adobe Suite on a Surface Studio. It’s incredible. The Surface Dial is cool off the screen and way cool ON the screen.
I took the $4000 I set budgeted for a 2016 MBP update and plunked it down on a Studio. Should be here in about two weeks! First computer I’ve been excited about in a decade.
With the Surface Studio, Microsoft just took a shot across Apple’s bow aimed straight on at the community of creative professionals that Apple has kicked to the curb since the ascendancy of the iPhone. But compared to that vast consumer market, they could utterly jettison creative’s without any significant impact to their bottom line, other than in bad press.
I don’t disagree with you. Perhaps the direct creative market IS too small to show up on Apple’s radar. But, that’s ignoring the effect an Apple Computer has on the purchase of other products. I’ve used Apple laptops & desktops for my work since 2002 (freelance video production & design). And MY use of Apple products affected the products my family purchased since then.
For example: I carry an iPhone because it works with my other Apple products. But, I hate the fragile glass bits on these phones.
If the Surface Studio is as reliable, productive, and enjoyable as I anticipate, I’m pretty sure my next phone will NOT be an iPhone. And if the iPhone goes, do I need $120/year of iCloud storage? Or will the unlimited storage of my Amazon Prime membership replace it? Lethargy has kept me from moving so far but when my computer no longer easily drops stuff into iCloud I’ll probably begin the migration.
But the effect goes further. My kids carry iPhones and use iMacs and MBPs because I’m their tech support. And my husband uses an iPad, MBP & (2) iPhones because we share an ecosystem. And our media server is a MacMini. And every TV has an Apple TV attached. Because it all works together. But when my primary computing device no longer communicates with it, the ecosystem will begin to change.
What about Mac App store purchases? I’m migrating from Final Cut to Adobe Premiere in anticipation of switching platforms. And my primary work computer won’t talk to it. So, there go Mac App Store purchases.
And will my next music purchases be at Amazon? So far, we’ve been using the iTunes Store exclusively *because* it’s on the phones. When the phones are no longer Apple…
And then what else gets replaced with a different (and probably less expensive) device? iPads, AppleTVs? Will I finally invite Alexa into the house? Probably.
The knock-on effect is WAY larger than the direct loss of the creative computing market.
When Razer laptops start showing up in coffee shops, and computers on TV are Surface Studios rather than iMacs, how will *that* change the vast (media-driven) consumer market you mention?
This crappy MBP design will have farther reaching effects than a few disgruntled and crotchety designers.
(Anecdotally I recently calculated that our family purchased more than $56,000 of Apple products — not including iTunes & App purchases — in the past 10 years. We’ll probably buy about as many devices in the NEXT 10 years but most likely not at Apple. The last $4843.81 was spent at the Microsoft Store in Manhattan…first PC purchase since 2000.)
I’m so disappointed by the past few years and I truly hope Apple gets their sh!te together soon. But then again perhaps my family is not their target market.
End of the day…Surface Studio is still…Windows. No thanks. If it weren’t for Jobs’ hail mary passes into the end zone from 1998 – 2007, Microsoft would be monopolistic King of All Software, managing your expectations into the dirt in perpetuity. I say this as a 30-year corporate IT guy supporting multiple platforms and user bases. Dealing with the plethora of Microsoft problems was the nadir of my day.
As an MCSE for 20+ years I hear you. But the days of competing DLLs is long past. I’ve been running a Windows system for 4 months, starting with the horrendous Windoze7 and upgrading to Win10, plus a Win12 Server in preps for the change.
It really is a different playing field than the Win98/2000 years which scarred most IT support people. Myself included.
I can’t say that I’m not discouraged about Apple’s prospects for 2017, especially as a graphics professional dependent on desktop and workstation class computing. Not that Apple does not have a poor partner in Intel, no longer seems to be able to sustain new generations of desktop chipsets. Or there may be larger issues at hand.
I am actually wondering if Apple, Like many large multinationals, is struggling backstage with tying to cope with actual real world constraints of sustainability, resource depletion, and other effects of the global Age of Limits. Despite their insane hoard of cash, that will not help them all that much with dealing with the hard physical limits of the world running out of everything, including talent and skilled labor.. Part of a larger global pattern of decline and instability.
I for one miss Apple’s innovative software; even under Jobs it was going downhill. Pages is a mess, with bugs that have been around for years and basic functionality that they’ve actually *removed* such as mail merge; the “save” dialogue/process seems to be different with every program, and even within the same program depending on the day; iTunes, although it’s been a bloated mess for years, is even more of a bloated mess; and when are we going to get a **real** PDF editor? And I’m not even a power user, I just do word processing, internet, mail, and some accounting.
And my MacBook has flagged “MacBook” as misspelled for a decade now.
Tim Cook has grounded the Apple flying circus.
Agree. Have found zero reason to upgrade my 2012 Macbook Pro or my 2012 iMac, both suit my needs amazingly well… Would be nice to get Retina, but the iMac is gong to need a lot more upgrades to convince me it’s time.
Second, for the first time ever, I am now 2 generations behind on my iphone with my Iphone 6+. I did not see a need for the 6S nor the 7. The only thing that is tempting me on the 7 is the camera, but I am enjoying having a cell phone bill that is $40 a month less due to not having to pay a monthly payment on a device. I will definitely spring for the 8 if it does in deed deliver the power punch all the rumors are sprouting.
So, my Apple products are lasting longer, and less compelled to refresh. Does not help that their Craigslist/Ebay values have fallen significantly too. It used to be you could sell your used Macbook pro for $300-400 less then what you paid for it on ebay or Craigslist when the new model came out. Now that price hit is around $1000 which makes me more likely to hold on to it longer.
The scariest thing to me is that Mr. Cook has been backed into a corner several times since Steve Jobs left us by the barrage of comments from geeky Apple-lovers and fund investors alike that there doesn’t seem to be very much innovation any more from the company. When he’s in that corner and finally reacts, he typically comes out with statements like: “You won’t believe the incredible and amazing products we have in our pipeline. You will be astonished by them when we release them” Then, a year or so later, we all look back and wonder how the words ‘incredible’ and ‘amazing’ have no meaning any more in this context. His most recent attempt at trying to palliate complaints about macOS enhancements was the denial of the corporate downgrading of macOS resources.
He doesn’t get it – nobody can believe his hyperbole any more.
(…and perhaps Jonny Ive should return his knighthood)
I never thought I’d be looking at Microsoft stuff, the surface in particular, but I am. The iPad Pro was anything but…that gave me the first push towards exploring non-Apple products i.e. plan B.
Curated music, subscription models, beats, the iwatch, touchbar macbook “pro”, apple car WTF!?
i predict that apple will next release a paper-thin (literally) computer with no ports, totally reliant on the cloud. while incredibly innovative, it will be totally useless and lacking of any practicality…but it is so amazing how thin it is…and you can play all the latest apps on provided you subscribed to them through IAPs that are curated to your tastes by celebrities who are fountains of knowledge and so socially conscious.
about to say ef u aple