Apple is one of the biggest, most valuable, and most beloved tech companies in the world. Still, not everything the company debuted in 2018 lived up to expectations. We highlighted the most disappointing moments from Apple in 2018.
1. Apple hiked prices on just about everything.
Apple bumped up the starting prices of many of its most popular products in 2018, compared to 2017.
2. Apple killed the iPhone SE, its smallest and most affordable iPhone.
In 2017, the cheapest iPhone you could get from Apple was the $350 iPhone SE. In 2018, Apple removed that phone from its lineup. Now, the cheapest iPhone you can buy is the iPhone 7, which starts at $449.
3. Apple released its first HomePod speaker, which showed just how far behind it is compared to Google and Amazon.
Apple’s HomePod speaker, which debuted in February, has brilliant sound.
But there is a list of things the HomePod can’t do:
It won’t do a great job answering random questions like rival devices
It doesn’t work with Android phones
It doesn’t work well with other music services besides Apple Music
It can’t be hooked up to another device with an auxiliary cord
4. Apple’s September event was one of the most disappointing iPhone launches in recent memory.
Chalk it up to leaks, but Apple’s September event, which debuted three new iPhone models and a new Apple Watch, featured absolutely zero surprises, which was very un-Apple.
5. The new iPhone names were terrible.
Apple in 2017 unveiled the iPhone X – pronounced “ten,” not “ex,” since it represents the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.
In 2018, Apple had an opportunity to return the iPhone naming convention to normalcy, but instead decided on three terrible names for its 2018 iPhones: the iPhone XS (pronounced “ten-ess,” not “excess”), the iPhone XS Max (“ten-ess max”) and iPhone XR (“ten-arr”).
6. The iPhone XS was hardly an upgrade from last year’s iPhone X.
Apple traditionally redesigns its iPhones every two years. For the years in between, Apple typically releases an “S” variant of that phone featuring faster chips and usually a handful of standout features to set it apart from the prior-year phone.
In 2018, the iPhone XS featured faster specs and a slightly better camera than its predecessor, the iPhone X. But it had nothing else to set it apart, and its starting price of $1,000 stayed the same. It was a very boring upgrade.
7. The gorgeous, redesigned iPad Pro is still hampered by frustrating limitations.
The 2018 iPad Pro is a gorgeous tablet, and a really powerful computer.
But despite the addition of a USB-C port for the first time, Apple will not allow the iPad Pro to connect to external storage devices.
And despite Apple’s insistence that this is a work computer, the iPad is frustrating to use if you want to do actual work, since Apple refuses to let its tablet work with mice or trackpads.
This means you’ll need to constantly lift your arm to touch the screen, which is still not a great experience.
8. No new AirPods in 2018. (And no AirPower, either.)
Despite the many reports about new AirPods coming in 2018, this just wasn’t the year.
Apple debuted AirPods in 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, which was the first iPhone without a headphone jack. We’re hearing the next version of AirPods will have improved sound and water-resistance, but those are just rumors. It was a bummer we didn’t get the new models this year, but here’s hoping they arrive in 2019.
9. iOS 12 didn’t feel much different from iOS 11.
Every year, around the same time, Apple releases at least one new smartphone. But the best part of that annual cycle is actually the free software update that precedes the launch of the latest iPhone.
iOS 12, though, didn’t feel much different than the previous software, iOS 11.
10. Siri is still bad.
Siri is still a punchline in 2018.
Apple blew its massive head start it had back in 2011, when Siri debuted on the iPhone 4S. Over the past eight years, other better, more accurate assistants from Google and Amazon have dominated the marketplace: They connect to more devices, and offer more skills and abilities.