A voice assistant that takes 3 seconds to reply and then takes half a second per word is a nice demo, but not a product Apple wants to sell.
And yes, some people will say they rather have that than nothing on their hardware, but “the Internet” would say iOS 18 is slow, eats battery life, etc, damaging Apple’s brand.
What they don't do is sell you a lie a year before release then deliver shit (like every other fucking vendor).
If you're referring to Google, then you're right. But OpenAI has consistently delivered what they announced pretty quickly. Same with Microsoft. To think that Apple somehow has a secret sauce that helps them surprise everyone is an illusion. They've had 3 years now to show their interest in LLMs, but they're just too conservative to "think different" anymore.
I mean they do truly useful stuff already using ML just not LLMs
All of Apple's windows software (iTunes, Safari, etc) has been, at best, a barely working port.
I'm assuming they are putting a lot more thought and care into it than the touchbar, crappy keyboards and the rest, but I'm also not holding out much hope either.
It’s incredibly rare for Apple to publicly talk about things that won’t be selling extremely soon.
The iPhone had to be pronounced because it was going to show up on the FCC website, and obviously Apple wanted to control the message. I suspect the Vision Pro may be similar, but they also wanted developers to start getting ready so they would have software day one.
The only thing I can think of that Apple pre-announced and failed at was the Air Power mat. They said it would be coming out soon after and had to push that a couple times before finally canceling it.
Other than that small exception, if modern (post jobs return) Apple announces something is coming, it will come out and be quite close to what they say.
They don’t pull a Humane AI, Segway, Cyberpunk 2077, or No Man’s Sky.
The hardware, that is.
With software, their Come to Jesus moment is still in the future.
(To me, Swift is sort of the Jony correlate on the software side. Doesn't fit perfectly, of course, but very similar "we are perfect who cares about evidence la la la I can't hear you" vibes and results)
They've done this a dozen times already.
Netflix + Hulu / Apple TV+
Generic Earbuds / AirPods
Meta Quest / Apple Vision Pro
(The last one being a hopeful wish)
E.g. assuming Apple Vision launches soon, they’ll be “many years behind” Quest from the date of first launch, but most likely miles ahead as far as usability.
VisionPro is nice. I can see costs coming down over a period of time. Also, we've been waiting long enough for that AI car.
The only exeption of not delivering I can recall was AirPower. It's a product they've announced and then embarassingly weren't able to finish up to their standards (or up to what was promised), so they have cancelled it altogether.
I believe it's more likely we've heard awesome stories about things Apple will do in the future, only to realize that the average HN commenter is incapable of understanding that such stories are contextless leaks, and that it is far more likely you are operating with incomplete information than Apple's "marketing team" is holding things back for future "iOS/MBP/iPhone generations" to keep their profits high.
I know it's more fun to vomit dumb conspiracies onto the internet, but consider changing "realize" to something which conveys equivocation, because your theory about Apple's marketing team holding back mature technology in order to benefit future devices – in addition to being predicated on leaks and rumors, and risibly inane when you consider that such action would create a significant attack vector for competitors – is as equivocal as the belief that Trump is on a secret mission to destroy a global cabal of pedophiles.
Don't underestimate Apple at disappointing enthusiasts like you and me. We've been hearing many awesome stories about the next thing Apple will do, only to realize their marketing team chose to keep it for future iOS/MBP/iPhone generations to keep the profits high.