[rpiotro]

Ah yeah they cut support for both hardware and software after set periods of time, Apple does that a lot on the software side in particular
to force people to upgrade from older devices.

Not a big deal if you are upgrading your phone every 2 years or so but If you hold onto your phone for
4-5 years it feels like your being black-mailed into upgrading when you have a perfect functional device.

An older phone may simply not have the hardware necessary to run the latest version of software. The phone will still work. You are not being forced to do anything. An older brand X phone will probably not do 4G LTE. Or maybe even 3G like a 2014 Q50. They all will need to be upgraded at some point.

Until very recently I used the latest Apple Airport extreme first as a router and then simply as a WiFi access point. It has been out of production for years but it is still being supported. Not with features but I got a security update about a year ago. It still works like a charm but I went in a different direction with some Ubiquiti stuff. I needed more flexibility and options.

 

[Avedis53]

Sad.

Haters gonna hate.

 

[BigHeadClan]

An older phone may simply not have the hardware necessary to run the latest version of software. The phone will still work. You are not being forced to do anything. An older brand X phone will probably not do 4G LTE. Or maybe even 3G like a 2014 Q50. They all will need to be upgraded at some point.

Until very recently I used the latest Apple Airport extreme first as a router and then simply as a WiFi access point. It has been out of production for years but it is still being supported. Not with features but I got a security update about a year ago. It still works like a charm but I went in a different direction with some Ubiquiti stuff. I needed more flexibility and options.

In some rare cases that can happen yes, but generally speaking the vast majority of hardware is compatible with the updates and features
included but are simply not included in the updates.

An Iphone 6 from 2014 for instance has 3G/4G/LTE network capabilities and upwards of 128GB of capacity, it supports all the required
Blue-tooth standards and has a lightning bolt connector, dual-band Wifi and 1GB of memory in the base model,
so from a hardware perspective is still a decent phone but is now end of life and limited to IOS ver 12 where as the latest
version is IOS 14.

Cutting off software support is fine but it should only be at the point where hardware is actually impacting performance in a meaningful way.
I can't count the number of times applications (especially enterprise ones) that won't work with versions older than IOS 13 because they
are excluded from most security updates.

And I don't think we even need to talk about how Apple was actively undermining performance of their phones
when they had older battery's installed.

 

[twin_snails]

So Apple and Kia are supposedly partnering up to build the autonomous electric Apple Car according to reports. Apple says they will invest $3.6 billion to build the car at the Kia manufacturing facility in Georgia. Launch is anticipated to be in 2024. Apple and Kia are targeting an eventual production of 100K Apple Cars a year.

Not to sure what to think of that.

I used to be an Apple fanboy, but NO MORE! I still begrudgingly buy and use their products because for me, there's nothing better out there. I like their products but I don't like the direction they're heading with regard to software. Some unix commands that I've used in the past simply won't work anymore. I used to clear out my /var/vm swap files if they got too large, and I can't find a way to do that anymore on my MBPro running 10.13.6. I also tend not to upgrade until I'm forced to. They really fvck over developers of third party software, which is most of the ecosystem. They'll make a change in a new release of the OS...you know deprecating a slew of API's and then they don't document jack sh!t about which API's to use instead. So developers are left to figure out on their own how to get their software to work again, which is mostly on the forums.

It's also frustrating that they're so obsessed with shaving nut hairs of thickness off of their laptops that prior to the M1 chip has come at the expense of battery life.

As an end user, I like the experience because I feel like for the most part, the macOS just gets out of my way and lets me work. When I have to use windows, I feel like it's constantly getting in my way. I doesn't feel like a fluid, seamless experience. Just take IP settings in windows...there's not one simple control panel for the network stack...there's different sh!t in different places. Wifi should be under the network control panel, but it's not.

For software development, I'm not a big fan. Then getting nagged with constant software updates and there's no setting for "leave me the fvck along and let me live my life!" The phones do it too...surreptitiously slipping a software update through in small lettering asking you to enter your 6 digit pin.

I'm strongly looking at a System76 laptop like the Darter Pro and the Librem 5 phone. I don't like the way Apple is getting so controlling about what they say you can run on your machine and what you can't.

If anyone hasn't seen this piece, it's good. It encapsulates a broad scope of corporate life...haha. "I was trained in business school to start with something positive and then fvck someone over".

They also take advantage of their component suppliers because they're the 800 pound gorilla.

 

[Avedis53]

They also take advantage of their component suppliers because they're the 800 pound gorilla.

Really? Samsung is the 800 pound gorilla as they are substantially bigger than Apple in smartphone sales. You don't think Samsung takes advantage of their component suppliers? Heh.

 

[BigHeadClan]

Really? Samsung is the 800 pound gorilla as they are substantially bigger than Apple in smartphone sales. You don't think Samsung takes advantage of their component suppliers? Heh.

Samsung is definitely the 800lb gorilla in that conversation, but they are also one of the few electronics companies that still make use of vertical integration to develop and design
components something most electronic makers cannot claim.

Sooo they actually don't take advantage of their suppliers, its more they take advantage of their customers. lol

 

[Avedis53]

Samsung is definitely the 800lb gorilla in that conversation, but they are also one of the few electronics companies that still make use of vertical integration to develop and design
components something most electronic makers cannot claim.

Sooo they actually don't take advantage of their suppliers, its more they take advantage of their customers. lol

I have to disagree. Samsung has plenty of suppliers they contract with to provide smartphone components. They've moved a lot of their business to Chinese suppliers as they are cheaper and the quality has improved enough to meet Samsung standards.

 

[BigHeadClan]

I have to disagree. Samsung has plenty of suppliers they contract with to provide smartphone components. They've moved a lot of their business to Chinese suppliers as they are cheaper and the quality has improved enough to meet Samsung standards.

Samsung owns 7 manufacturing facilities at the moment 4 of which are in South Korea which combined make up nearly 30% of all NAND memory chip (for RAM and storage) in the world,
nearly 10% of Lithium Battery's and one of the few that can produce OLED displays and camera sensors on-top of that.

Pretty much all of the major components of a phone are made by Samsung even the CPU, the odds and ends like camera lenses, capacitors
and smaller stuff sure they probably have dozens and dozens of suppliers for but you can't say that about most smart phone companies.

Sony (and maybe LG) are probably the only other electronics manufacture that compares in terms of scope and manufacturing capability.

 

[[email protected]]

So this isn’t a good way to kick off a partnership...
Kia outage may be the result of ransomware

 

[rpiotro]

...And I don't think we even need to talk about how Apple was actively undermining performance of their phones
when they had older battery's installed.

That whole thing has been unfairly maligned. It was done with good purpose and best intentions. Slow down the processor to extend battery life as the battery aged. There was a simple fix. Get your aging battery replaced or live with a shortened use. It is good to have choices.

 

[BigHeadClan]

That whole thing has been unfairly maligned. It was done with good purpose and best intentions. Slow down the processor to extend battery life as the battery aged. There was a simple fix. Get your aging battery replaced or live with a shortened use. It is good to have choices.

Anyone who was buying that narrative is simply naïve.

If Apple truly had good intentions they would have A) Offered a better battery that didn't degrade as quickly or B) Been up-front about the software slowing Iphone performance as they aged from day one and simply recommended people buy new battery's every so often or given then an option for a power-saver mode and let the end user decide.

They did none of those things and Instead they denied those claims for years despite growing reporting of being a problem as early as 2010, they only back-tracked those statements after a major lawsuit and a number of independent benchmarks confirmed Apple was intentionally reduce performance in their devices around 2016.

The fact the phones also started slowing down after about 2 years also happens to coincide with new Iphone generations being released.

 

[twin_snails]

Really? Samsung is the 800 pound gorilla as they are substantially bigger than Apple in smartphone sales. You don't think Samsung takes advantage of their component suppliers? Heh.

They are bigger in smartphone sales yes, but Apple, the company as a whole, is bigger than Samsung. Apple has a special way of fvcking over their suppliers so they benefit at the expense of the supplier. I've seen it first hand. And I don't think that Samsung d1cks over their suppliers in the same way that Apple does.

 

[twin_snails]

I like their products a lot, but I've seen too much stuff behind the scenes to like them as a company.

 

[Avedis53]

They are bigger in smartphone sales yes, but Apple, the company as a whole, is bigger than Samsung. Apple has a special way of fvcking over their suppliers so they benefit at the expense of the supplier. I've seen it first hand. And I don't think that Samsung d1cks over their suppliers in the same way that Apple does.

And you know Samsung doesn't do things like that based on what?

Samsung is just a big a bully as Apple if not more so. For example:

In 2014, Samsung Display demanded that supply chains including backlighting makers reduce pricing for components by as much as 30% during the 4th quarter in order for them to return to profitability.

China Labor Watch investigated six Samsung-owned plants and two of its suppliers in China and found:

• Workers were not provided with protective clothing.
• Workers were barred from sitting down during shifts.
• Workers were subject to physical and verbal abuse.
• Workers were forced to work more than 100 hours per month of overtime.
• Workers under the age of 16 were hired and ID cards falsified by management with names of past workers to circumvent Chinese laws regarding the use of child labor.

In Malaysia, Samsung suppliers duped, exploited and underpaid Nepalese workers by:

• Charging recruitment fees of £1000 in order for migrant workers to secure jobs.
• Confiscated passports so the migrant workers couldn't go home.
• Forced to work 14 hour days on their feet without adequate rest and restricted toilet breaks.
• Told they must pay large fines (3-4 months salary) if they wanted to return home before the end of their contracts.
• Payed workers less than initially promised.

I'm not saying Apple and it's suppliers aren't guilty of similar abuse but Samsung's hands aren't clean either.