Is Apple in a creative and financial slump?
Google has just overtaken Apple to become the most valuable company in the world. Mac Rumors has the news.
“With Apple shares dipping below $90 this morning, Google’s parent company Alphabet briefly overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company hitting a market cap of $498 billion compared to Apple’s market cap of $494 billion. Apple and Google shares continue to fluctuate and the two companies are neck-and-neck for the top valuation, but Google remains in the lead.”
Apple has run into some obstacles lately, with many believing Apple just isn’t as revolutionary as they used to be. First, there are the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which haven’t sold as well as people have predicted. Both phones aren’t huge upgrades from previous units, but don’t pretend to be — that’s why they weren’t called the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
There are rumors that the iPhone won't see a huge upgrade until 2017.
However, there have been rumors that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7s won’t be huge upgrades, and the big revolutionary change will come with the 2017 iPhone, which some are already referring to as the iPhone 8. The 2017 iPhone is said to have an AMOLED edge-to-edge display with the front-facing camera, Touch ID and other sensors underneath the screen. If this is true, 2017 may be a little late.
Apple’s major problems really started in early 2015 with the Apple Watch. Though many actual watch owners like their device, sales numbers are way lower than expected. While the Apple Watch may have outsold all other smartwatches, it doesn’t mean much since smartwatch sales are very low in the first place.
Then, there is the 12-inch Macbook, which is a beautiful and under-powered device that is, perhaps, ahead of its time. The fact that it only has one USB-C port (look for that to be common two years from now) has been a turnoff to a lot of buyers. There are other ultraportable laptops such as the Dell XPS 13 that weigh slightly more and have a lot more power.
In November of 2015, Apple released the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which was supposed to be a tablet that could replace your laptop. Although the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is a hardware marvel, it only runs a mobile operating system and — in now way — can replace your laptop. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is also a hardware marvel and instead of marketing it as an incredible tablet (which it is), Apple once again has tried to market it as a laptop replacement.
Apple certainly isn’t over with. The new MacBook Pro is coming out in June and could very well excite consumers. The new Apple Watch is supposed to be a big upgrade that fixes most of the complaints from the first one. The iPhone 7 may also be a bigger upgrade than expected, despite the rumors. One year from now, we all may be laughing at the fact that Apple is currently in a slump.
