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0 pointsThrowawayR23y ago0 comments

Apple is focused on consumer products and consumers can be fickle. While it won't be anytime soon, it's not impossible for Apple to someday lose the design mojo that makes their products popular. Steve Jobs and his RDF aren't there anymore and neither is Jony Ive.

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scarface743y ago

Creating hardware at scale is hard. What company do you think will be able to duplicate Apple’s infrastructure, manufacturing, chip design, retail, etc?

Not to mention that even with “great design” any Android phone is still stuck with being Android and the lack of integration between software, hardware and ecosystem.

ThrowawayR2OP3y ago

Foxconn is the most prominent contract manufacturer that Apple uses, Samsung makes iPhone screens, etc.; their infrastructure and manufacturing pipeline is the same as everyone else's. And suggesting that Apple's leadership in processor design can't be toppled is akin to saying that Intel's leadership in chip design can't be toppled back in the several decades when they were dominant.

It's the design and ecosystem that keeps consumers buying Apple product but what used to be seen as cool and hip can turn old-fashioned after a while; Sony's Walkman products used to be everywhere but where are they now?

scarface743y ago

You’re not going to get the same prices or priorities from Foxconn or TSMC with a less than 10 million device run rate that Apple gets by selling 300 million + devices. Besides Apple invest billions in TSMC and Foxconn and their other suppliers.

Do you remember that Apple became dominant in the iPod era by buying up all of the worlds supply of 2.5 inch hard drives and later flash chips?

Anyone else is going to struggle to get the prices or manufacturing time from suppliers to produce at scale.

Heck Sony is struggling to make even 21 million PS5 in a year. If Sony can’t manufacture at scale, which electronic manufacturer can?

It’s not just priced for design, it’s processor design, supply chain management, software, software/hardware integration etc.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

scarface743y ago

Creating hardware at scale is hard. What company do you think will be able to duplicate Apple’s infrastructure, manufacturing, chip design, retail, etc?

Not to mention that even with “great design” any Android phone is still stuck with being Android and the lack of integration between software, hardware and ecosystem.

ThrowawayR2OP3y ago

scarface743y ago

Do you remember that Apple became dominant in the iPod era by buying up all of the worlds supply of 2.5 inch hard drives and later flash chips?

Anyone else is going to struggle to get the prices or manufacturing time from suppliers to produce at scale.

Heck Sony is struggling to make even 21 million PS5 in a year. If Sony can’t manufacture at scale, which electronic manufacturer can?

It’s not just priced for design, it’s processor design, supply chain management, software, software/hardware integration etc.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse