Shubham Agarwal for Digital Trends:
In June, Jony Ive announced he’s parting ways with Apple to form an independent firm. Many wondered what an Apple without Steve Jobs’ closest confidant and the company’s iconic head of design will look like. Six months and a string of launches later… It’s a company that’s much less obsessed with its products’ aesthetics and not hesitant to prioritize essentials for users over ostentatious features.
In an attempt to build thinner devices, Apple has taken a series of missteps in the past few years upsetting longtime customers. Its 2016 revamp of the MacBook Pro is the epitome of the heights Apple was prepared to go to push its designs — no matter how flawed they were.
Following Ive’s departure announcement, however, Apple has fortunately started to recover in fits and starts. The first sign surfaced when the company introduced the iPhone 11 series… Instead of slimming down, Apple made its latest iPhone bulkier to accommodate a larger battery… Last week, Apple also backtracked on its Butterfly keyboard design. The latest 16-inch MacBook Pro has pretty much the same keyboard and scissor switches from the 2015 MacBook Pro… The new MacBook Pro is also thicker and heavier to make more room for better thermals and a longer-lasting battery.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Jony Ive helped turn Apple into what it is today. Yes, by the end of his time at Apple, he got a little weird and seemed more than a little bored/distracted, but his myriad contributions to Apple over many years cannot be overstated!
That said, as usual, we told ya so long ago:
The law of diminishing returns can also be applied to industrial design. Apple’s eternal quest for thinness eventually runs into issues such as bulging camera assemblies, battery capacity, strength (breakability), etc. – is Apple’s quest for thinness now bordering on the quixotic?
So, is it “you can never be too thin” or is it “thin enough is thin enough?” — MacDailyNews, December 21, 2015
What’d be wrong with slightly thicker iPhone with more battery life and a flush camera assembly? — MacDailyNews, December 21, 2015
Hey, Jony: Enough with the thin.
Everything is thin enough. Sometimes too thin. Thinner isn’t the answer to everything, nor is thinness intrinsic to good design. We’d gladly take a bit more robustness and battery life over more unnecessary thinness, thanks. – MacDailyNews, June 25, 2018
If Apple made an iPhone model that was the smartphone equivalent of the Panasonic Toughbook — thick, heavy, full of battery, and virtually indestructible — they’d never be able to make enough of them. — MacDailyNews, November 2, 2018
Maybe now we can get a decent remote for the Apple TV.
I don’t think it’s that bad. The only problem I have is trying to go backwards isn’t reliable when touching the left side of the pad. Other than that I don’t mind it. I usually hold it and use my index finger and other times use my thumb depending on what I am doing. But I see that alot that people don’t like it, so you’re not alone!
And we never have to hear Jonny say “Al-yew-many-um” and the ensuing design cliche explanations again. 🙂
Time to enter a new phase of Apple design that takes into account more factors than just being “thin.”
Yeah basically that excerpt and MDNs take hit the mark, though the use of the term ‘ostentatious’ seems a rather curious choice considering Ive specialises in minimalism almost exclusively in his design work and was an avid student of Dieter Rams design aesthetic, so his whole philosophy is the opposite suggested by that term.
All of those changes occurred while Jony was still around. They don’t happen a couple months before their official launch.
I’m betting part of Ive’s decision to “retire” was that his thinness fetish designs were being overruled, which made him conclude his influence was waning.
If the new MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are post-Jony Ive devices, then I’m all for it. Maybe the whole how-thin-can-we-go shtick is over with. If a thin device is going to cause thermal-throttling or reduced battery life, then that strategy should be done away with. I honestly don’t think making some product thinner by a couple of millimeters is worth the effort. That butterfly keyboard switch should never have made it into any Apple product. A key switch having such short travel was an unnecessary evil. I’m certain most consumers would rather have a decent amount of key travel and I’ll bet most would rather have a device with a longer battery life.
I have watched well over a dozen favorable Youtube reviews for the new MacBook Pro so I’m sure that was the way to go. I anticipate the new Mac Pro will also be highly praised and won’t have any criticisms that the trashcan Mac had.
Let’s see what happens (if anything) with iMacs.
Glad he’s gone, he was turning Apple into an emoji company
people that post on this site are fu$#@! LAME