iPhone is no longer the superstar of Apple's ecosystem (but Tim Cook is doing everything right)

iPhone is no longer the superstar of Apple’s ecosystem (but Tim Cook is doing everything right)،

I'm immersed in the Apple product ecosystem but the main reason might surprise you…

The iPhone has been the undisputed superstar of the Apple universe for almost 15 years, thanks to a combination of factors. On the one hand, the iPhone is one of Apple's most accessible products, and aside from the iPhone SE's rapidly aging $400 starting price, the smartphone resale/refurbished market has a important role to play in this field, making Jobs-Wozniak's famous invention more accessible to more people.

Speaking of the used/refurbished iPhone market, although I have owned and used the iPhone 4S, 5S, 6S, 8, and iPhone 13 mini, I have never purchased a new iPhone. I know what you're thinking… “Stop being poor, Martin!” »… But tell that to my boss.

That being said, the iPhone is also (by far) the most popular product that Apple makes and sells. Not everyone needs a MacBook, iPad, AirPods, or Apple Watch, but everyone needs/owns a smartphone these days as it replaces many devices traditional ones like a computer, a camera, a multimedia device and even things like a calculator, a calendar and… your wallet.

So there's no room for comparison – the iPhone is the Swiss army knife of Apple's product portfolio, but that's where Android comes in, offering countless alternatives to what it is and does the iPhone, often for a fraction of the price.

And that brings me to the central point of today's story, which is that Android's progress, combined with Apple's progress in different product categories, means I probably wouldn't use an iPhone without my MacBook Air and AirPods Pro. Not the opposite…

The iPhone is no longer the biggest star of the Apple ecosystem for me, because other Apple products are now “too good”

Apple's M series of chips made the MacBook more irreplaceable than the iPhone for me. Maybe I should say the same thing about the AirPods Pro 2.

Although the iPhone remains the most important piece of the Apple ecosystem puzzle, some moves Apple has made over the past few years have changed the way I view the iPhone.

The launch of products like the AirPods Pro and, more importantly, the M1 series of MacBooks mean that these products now offer something more special than the iPhone that you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

In the case of AirPods, it's the cutting-edge technology that makes them the most balanced pair of wireless earbuds for me. And in the case of the MacBook, Apple has literally made the biggest change in consumer computers in years, significantly challenging Intel and Microsoft.

Apple has transformed other Apple products into best-in-class, which now makes the iPhone one of the least important pieces of my Apple ecosystem puzzle.

While your personal experience may vary, the AirPods Pro and MacBook Air M1 have very quickly become the “must have” Apple products in my “everyday carry”, and ones that I truly believe are best in class and hard to replace ( with something better).

PhoneArena may not be the best place to discuss the MacBook, but those who have used one of Apple's M-series machines will know just how good the performance, battery life, and The overall package that the M Series Macs offer is a game-changer. I don't think there's ever been a better $1,000 (now cheaper) laptop than the M1 MacBook Air, while I can't say the same about the iPhone.

Meanwhile, today, virtually every Android flagship phone can compete with the iPhone, making what was once Apple's superstar product a little less special in the Apple world. And yes, that means I can upgrade from the iPhone to something like a Pixel 8 Pro (which I really like) but I'd probably have a hard time finding a replacement for my MacBook Air M1, unless it This isn't a better MacBook.

Sure, I would miss the handy features that I use almost daily, like AirDrop and universal copy and paste on Apple devices, but the iPhone would still be the easiest Apple product for me to give up, as those don't not change the situation. presents the same way that the M1 series of chips has transformed the Mac into a laptop that lasts several days (of work) on a single charge – something that very few (if any) Windows laptops can come close to doing .

Now, of course, for those of you who don't write for a living or listen to 2 hours of podcasts every day, the MacBook or AirPods may not be as “essential.”

The iPhone now seems less “essential” than the MacBook and AirPods, and less exciting than the Apple Vision Pro… But can Apple make the iPhone cool again?

Is there a way to make the iPhone more…important?

OK, fine, the iPhone is less essential than the MacBook to me now, but is there a way for Apple to get the iPhone to a place where it seems harder for me to replace it?

Well, the reality is that devices like Apple's headphones and laptops had a lot more catching up to do to become a 9/10 essential product. Meanwhile, the iPhone was pretty good from the start, and that's where context/competition matters.

For example, iPhone has always been the most reliable, fastest and smoothest phone to use compared to most Android devices 5-15 years ago. Not to mention Apple's far superior software support, which is now roughly matched by companies like Samsung and Google.

But the biggest elephant in the room might be the fact that smartphones are slowly but steadily reaching their peak, whether it's the iPhone, Galaxy, or Pixel. So how good, interesting, essential and cool can the iPhone be at this point?

This brings me to the “yes” part of the question of whether Apple can make the iPhone cooler and more irreplaceable to me, and my “revolutionary” idea has been around for a few years now. Of course, it would be a foldable iPhone.

Can Apple make the iPhone as “irreplaceable” as the MacBook?

Let's fold the iPhone, Apple! And why not make it a real computer?

And I'm not saying that an iPhone that folds in half would magically become as essential as a MacBook, but it would certainly make for a more exciting phone than any other Apple flagship we've seen come out after the iPhone X. Plus, Apple is now trying to get into “proper” mobile gaming by bringing triple-A titles to the iPhone 15 Pro. But what if Tim Cook & Co used all the power of the A17 Pro chip and its engineering expertise to turn the iPhone into a professional-grade computing machine with functionality similar to Samsung's DeX, which lets you allows you to turn your Galaxy Z Fold 5 into a computer when plugged into a monitor?

Ultimately, the point is that I have an iPhone because it fits into my ecosystem, but it's not the center of my ecosystem. To put this into perspective, I would definitely be interested in trying a phone like the OnePlus Open, but I'm not avoiding the Open because of my iPhone but because of my Mac, my AirPods and even the AirTag in my bag. If you want.

Anyway, this story is more about how the iPhone is no longer the reason I have a MacBook. I feel like it's the opposite now. Does this mean Apple has something to “fix”? Not really. But maybe there's a way to make the iPhone more…irreplaceable…again? Sure, if “irreplaceable” means exciting/good/innovative. Not iMessage.

But I guess no matter which part of Apple's ecosystem keeps you in the “walled garden”, Apple wins. But what would happen if Intel made a chip that was more powerful and more efficient than the one in Apple's MacBooks? And what happens if Sony makes a better pair of wireless earbuds than AirPods?