O n May 11 2020, the crypto world experienced the phenomena knows as Bitcoin halving . For those who are still a little looney-toons regarding this phenomena, here's the lowdown . Moral of the story is that, as the Bitcoin supply decreased and it's 21 million market cap slowly approached, it was widely accepted that the low supply and high demand will increase the price of the cryptocurrency back to its previous highs. Basic business right? Wrong! Source: Equity Trust Company BTC prices actually fell and after briefly holding steady, are only just rising above the 10000 USD range. Surprise eh? Well, we are not done yet. Because while the most valuable crypto coin wasn't showing it's expected gains, some other cryptocurrencies shot to outer space. There was no SpaceX rocket nor a Tesla Roadster involved. These "altcoins" bumped up in their market value thanks to the entire underlying system of cryptocurrency: investor speculation. But what exactly are these ...
Oh, the joy at being wronged yet again by the executives of Apple. Tim Cook may have had much fun watching the press ogling Apple's new handsets, but that's beside the point. This event was for something new to be procreated by the California based tech company, for Apple to get its mojo back. And what do they gave us: some colourful little handsets with incremental upgrades. The event was as disappointing as going to a sauna to see Morgan Freeman in his undies instead of Keira Knightley lounging with only a towel. And Morgan Freeman is a good guy!
Frankly speaking, the event was 'leaked' several times over, with only handsets visible in a typical blurry kind of horizon. But there were leaks of the next-gen AirPods as well as the seamless AirPower charging mat. Where are they??
Yes the XS is a brilliant phone. It has faster Face-ID, better waterproofing, louder and crisper stereo sound as well as a new 7 nm chipset. But you can't tell it apart from an iPhone X, which in my opinion should have been at least addressed by this trillion-dollar company. Expanding the colour palette is not a game-changing move as most buyers will buy covers, and even if the A12 chipsets puts it ahead of a Galaxy Note 9 or an S9, very very few people are bound to notice the difference, more so when compared to that of the A11 Bionic in an iPhone X. And it costs 999 USD for a 64 GB model. Which is absolutely bonkers.
If you that is expensive then there is the XS Max. Only difference is the bigger screen and bigger battery. Even the camera's are same if not similar to a previous-gen iPhone X. And the price is a whopping 1099 USD for..you guessed it...a 64 GB model. Considering this phone has little to no party tricks another than the ability to unlock it itself by winking at your face, you are much better of with a Note 9. The screen size is only 0.1 inch smaller. You get a bigger starting storage of 128 GB at a price of 1000 USD. And its a Note. So it has its new and improved Pen, which can now be used for impressing your mates.
The only great thing from Apple's event was the iPhone XR and the Watch Series 4. Having the same screen size as its more expensive cousins ( iPhone X and iPhone XS..if albeit a little less 'over the edge') it costs a much cheaper 749 USD for the starting model. Of course, there are differences, in that the screen is not an OLED but an LCD, it only has a single rear camera and its body it's not banded by stainless steel but anodized aluminium instead. But the LCD is gorgeous ( even Apple said that), it's rear camera can still produce bokeh effects a'la the Pixel, and it has the same superfast chipset embedded into the XS flagships. And it has more colours than your average male wardrobe. For 250 USD lesser, it as far as bang-for-the-buck Apple goes too. And the series 4 just looks better with a slightly rounded body and a bigger screen. It even comes with an EKG tracker ( although I'm not sure what that is).
In a fiscal sense, Apple's incremental yearly upgrades has so far served them well, but in a market where innovation and product placement is the name of the game, Apple did very little. Last year, they ditched the home button on their flagship, put a notch and gave one of the best looking phones this side of a Samsung flagship. The S8 was a jump for Korea the X was a jump for the US. But while Samsung didn't innovate drastically for the S9, they have made a multitude of changes on the Note. In a sense, this could have been Apple's year if they had added some innovation like in-screen fingerprint sensor or even a bloody headphone jack. Heck if they had made their models a little cheaper, they could have schlepped easily away from the South Korean manufacturer. The introduction of the AirPower and the unveiling of new Airpods would have made Samsung look like it's been chaired by a bunch of loons. But nothing like that happened. Yes, Apple will still sell a ton of phones to buyers who just want to say they have an 'Apple', but the days when people really lusted after an Apple product ( at least the phones) are long gone. With great design, the S9 and the Note 9 have had flying starts, and the release of a proper Galaxy watch shows Samsung means business. And that's not even considering the likes of Huawei, Google, OnePlus and the steadily rising Nokia brand. As good as Apple products might be, they are bound to be caught up, unless they give the customers what they want ( like Black AirPods) and innovate like crazy. Cuz only crazy people win this kind of game.
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