I like an annual look at Apple fromSix Colors, with commentaries from prominent people. Nobody asks me, but I have opinions, so here is my report card. Yes, I know it’s March already, but as there were no events or product releases from Apple I think it’s still relevant. 2020 was a good year for Apple in terms of hardware and not so great in terms of regulations and developer relations.
Mac
Grade: A
How can you give a different score when there was a release of Apple Silicon? It seems that M1 is just perfect, although I didn’t buy a new laptop yet, I’m very tempted. Last year was a turning point for the Mac and let’s hope it will continue that way.
The problems with keyboard are over, Apple designed processors are remarkable, we are just waiting for new hardware (redesigned iMac among other things, please).
For the last couple of years I didn’t use Mac much, so can’t give a mark regarding software quality, but I don’t mind Big Sur, from whatever use I got from it.
But all the changes Apple made tempt me to return to Mac and I think that tells a lot.
iPhone
Grade: A
This is the great year for an iPhone. First, iPhone SE — perfect budget phone, yes the design is a bit old, but internals are great and for that price it’s unbeatable.
Next, the iPhone 12 lineup is solid. Although, there are reports that Apple overestimated the demand for the Mini (and I believe them, just because when it was hard to find Pro Max every store had iPhone 12 Mini in abundance in every color), I loved holding one. If the camera was on par with the biggest one I would buy the Mini without hesitation.
Every time I buy a new iPhone, I get the one with the best camera and this time was no different. I got iPhone 12 Pro Max in glorious gold color and I love it. Still, after 4 months, sometimes I catch myself looking at it and enjoying it as a physical object.
One could argue there is one thing Apple missed with the iPhone this year — high refresh rate display. I would agree, but the current display is so good, I don’t see the difference even using it simultaneously with the iPad Pro (interestingly, I do see the difference when using Pro and non-Pro iPad).
All things considered — iPhone 12 Pro Max is the favourite thing I bought last year, and I bought many good things.
iOS 14 is also solid, with addition of widgets, the first time in a while I downloaded public beta before a release because I wanted new features like incoming calls as a notification and Picture in Picture.
iPad
Grade C
As an iPad Pro user I didn’t see much change. iPadOS 14 gave nothing, it’s hard to call 2020 iPad Pro new, so there was no need to upgrade. The only new addition this year is The Magic Keyboard, but it is too expensive for what it is. I know Apple products are expensive, and I gladly pay for them, but not this time, especially for 12.9” iPad Pro.
I’m waiting for a new new iPad Pro and probably will go for a smaller one (if everything else remains equal). I hope last year was a year of Mac and this year Apple will give attention to the iPad.
Watch and Wearables
Wearables: Grade: B
Watch: Grade B-
The only new product in wearables are The AirPods Max which I guess is a great product, but too pricey for many. I see myself buying them in the future and I think it is a compelling product for a niche audience.
I finally bought a pair of AirPods Pro, and they are great. Spatial audio is great, but unfortunately, it is not adopted by different services, so there is not much use.
Apple Watch on the other hand (sorry) didn’t compel me in any way. I bought one for my wife, but not because of some new feature, but because she wanted one, so I bought the latest. With Series 5 there was a big selling point — always-on display, they could’ve left everything else untouched I would’ve still bought one the first day, but with Series 6, there is nothing even remotely similar.
Apple Watch SE, although a nice addition, is overpriced for what it is and will probably become more viable after a price drop.
Apple TV
Grade: F
It’s just laughable. I did buy one last year or a year before, but wouldn’t have now. I have everything Apple offers on my LG OLED TV (Fitness+ the only thing missing, but it is missing everywhere in the world and hardware has nothing to do with it). Apple TV box wasn’t updated in years and still costs a lot. You can’t even compare it to other boxes, sure there is a privacy angle, but common, it’s comically expensive and internals are outdated.
Services
Grade: C
I’m starting to get frustrated. I didn’t understand why Apple News+ is not available in my country, but okay, there could’ve been some rights issues or something, it’s not Apple’s content, but Fitness+, really? Apple makes all the videos, so in this case they do own the content, why not make it available everywhere? I hope they know people over the world speak English… And because of that Apple One Premiere is not available in Latvia. So to have more storage, I have to pay extra and the idea of a bundle and one payment is not working.
I did subscribe to the family Apple One bundle plus an additional 200 GB of storage, so Apple is taking my money monthly.
The really great thing about services — Ted Lasso, of course. I’ve watched it three times already, it’s so good.
HomeKit
Grade: C
I only started to use smart home appliances and I don’t see much from Apple. Home app is not great, Apple doesn’t provide accessories themselves, so I’m not even sure what to grade here.
Hardware reliability
Grade: A
All my Apple hardware worked perfectly last year (maybe because I didn’t buy a laptop with a butterfly keyboard). The only thing I’m afraid of — problems with AirPods Pro, but so far they work, so can’t say anything bad.
Software quality
Grade: B
Although the iOS 14 and watchOS 7 are solid, I still have some inexplicable problems from time to time. Mail stops showing messages until a restart is the latest. Notifications in Big Sur are bad, but luckily, I don’t use macOS a lot.
Developer relations
Grade: C
I think Apple had an awful year with developers. It tried to improve it with the commission cut at the end of the year, but there were still many questions. The whole Epic saga and Hey fiasco gave a lot of bad publicity. Whoever you support in both situations, Apple still doesn’t look good.
Environmental and social issues
Grade: C
It’s hard to give a high score to a company which is so heavily reliant on Chinese labor and precious metals mines. Whatever Apple tells, it remains a badly kept secret that working conditions there are below humane. I know Apple can’t change everything, but they are so vocal about some things, that you start question why they are not about the other.
They tried to do a lot of good regarding Covid-19, but contact tracing went nowhere, I would say fortunately, but that is another topic altogether.
Taking a charger out of the box, while understandable, still doesn’t sound like something totally because of the environment.
