Is Innovation Dead (at Apple)?

I have been writing on technology in general, and Apple in particular for a few years now and the vibe that is being getting right now is, that innovation and improvement in the tech field seem to feel stagnated right now. One would argue that Apple has grown bigger as a company, but it is still the iPhone company.

When people think of tech, the narrow focus would be things that from the electronics and computer section on the department store. And I can assure you, that even in those narrowest fields, there is a lot of new things and technology that are coming out from that field. Things might now change every day, but if you look back 2,5, and 15 years before, life has not been the same, we just did not realize it.

Apple Under Tim Cook

Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 and later became the CEO after Steve Jobs’s failing health and eventual death due to pancreatic cancer in 2011. As the role of CEO goes, Tim Cook has his work cut out for him. Trying to fill in the shoes of someone charismatic to the point of having a reality distortion field is bad enough, but you also have to fill out the role of thought leader and someone who managed to reinvent the computing industry, several times. Steve Jobs cast a very long shadow on those behind him.

Tim Cook might not have the charismatic flair of Steve Jobs or his dramatic presentation skills, but what Tim Cook lacks in flash, is the impactful punch that he brings to the table. Some critics might argue that Apple under Tim Cook is just an iPhone company that also sells accessories, but here are some of the new innovations that Apple made under Tim Cook’s watch:-

• The Ecosystem: arguably, the most important invisible product that Apple made but never mentioned nor marketed. It’s the feeling when every Apple device works great on its own, but has a different level of utility when combined. Many other company imitates it, but none are as refined as Apple’s.
  

  

• Making ARM great: For years, ARM architecture has been regalted to low-power, low-performance chips. When Apple comes in and joins the smartphone revolution, a lot of research and development when into building the best smartphone chips, which primary run on ARM architecture. Nowadays, with Apple contribution, ARM chips that runs on mobile phones can rival laptop chips in terms of performance.
  

  

• Apple Silicon: One of the great outcome of the ARM development mentioned above is Apple making their own chips for their personal computers: Macs. With Apple Silicon, Apple can make computers that is faster, better, and cheaper than their Intel/Microsoft counterpart. The chip is so good that Microsoft decided to have a crack at ARM chips by releasing ARM-based Windows.
  

  

• AirPods: When first released during iPhone 7 where Apple took out the 3.5mm headphone jack, Apple released the AirPods. A Bluetooth headphones but with some Apple magic. It was mocked earlier on, but later everyone is using it. The product line spawned into AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and later Beats.
  

  

• Trillion dollar company: Under Tim Cook, Apple become the most valuable company in the world. One might argue that Steve Jobs laid the foundation for it, which is true by the way, but vision can only go so much without great execution. Apple became the first company to reach $1 trillion in market cap, the first company to reach $3 trillion, and actually skirted to be the first $4 trillion company. Tim Cook’s “boring” approach to management helped Apple make more than $1 billion a day in sales.
  

  

• Apple Watch: Apple’s first wearable computer, the Apple Watch, was released under Tim Cook’s tenure. One might say an iPhone accessory, which is not the case today, but that product alone is worth a Fortune 500 company.
  

  

• Vision Pro: Apple’s latest product, which is called a spatial computer is arguably one of the most innovative products in recent times. Yes, it is too expensive, it’s heavy, and one might consider this product a flop. But there is no doubt that there is a lot of thought, innovation, and technology went into the Vision Pro. The future is here. It just need some tweaks.

Many other Apple products went during Tim Cook’s time like the Apple Studio Display, the Pro Display XDR, the iPhone Pros which can rival actual pro cameras and many more. Innovation at Apple didn’t die with Steve Jobs. In fact, Apple’s patent filing increased after the death of Steve Jobs, which shows that Apple is doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work that will never get publically acknowledged. After all, victory is celebrated in the light, but won in the darkness.

Innovation in Tech Industry

Apple might be the titan in the industry, but innovation in tech in general certainly is not dead. There is a reason why one-third of the S&P 500 companies by market cap are tech companies.

To make a point, here are a few things that you can do today, but could not do in 2010:

• You can watch 4K video straight from the internet. Netflix only started streaming 4K content in 2014.
  

  

• If you want to take videos from the sky, aka aerial shots, you need a helicopter. DJI founders were only thinking about making drones in 2010 and their first product came out in 2013.
  

  

• If you need a 100w charger to power your gaming laptop, it will be really big and bulky. Now it’s the size of your credit card. 20w chargers that charge your phone are even smaller.
• A laptop wouldn’t be able to hold a charge for more than 2-3 hours. Today’s MacBook Air can last 12 to 18 hours on a single charge so you can leave your charge at home while you work outside.
  

  

• A 60" LCD TV is expensive and rare. Today, the expense and rare TV is a 115" behemoth that uses LED for backlight. There’s also OLED TV on the market.
  

  

• You can only use gas (petrol) or diesel to fuel up your car. Electric cars are expensive and not practical. EVs today are not only cheap, but they are also the future.
  

  

• There is no way to edit genes that are just a few atoms wide. Today not only you can do that, but you can also have the possibility to edit your offspring’s genes to the ones that you want.
  

  

• Renewables like solar and wind are unreliable and only for hippies. There is no way that solar and wind can power an advanced economy like the United Kingdom. There’s also no way we can generate all our electricity cheaply. Today, those things happen more times than you think.

Innovation is invisible.

People often complain things look the same every day, and that nothing changes. But in reality, small changes are being made. Small changes often go unnoticed every day, but those small changes pile up and eventually end up completely different from the starting point.

As with things in life, strive to make small changes every day, you will be surprised when looking back at how things are different from where you started. People often love to see the big changes that happen quickly, but the more important ones are the drip-drip tickling things that no one notices.

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Other Ecosystem Items

• Apple TV (Amazon) / Apple TV 4K (Amazon)
• AirTags (Amazon)
• HomePod Mini (Amazon)