Unlike in its early years, Apple’s current success seems to be based on customers buying every new iteration of its star product — the iPhone — no matter how similar it is to its predecessors.

However, it wasn’t always like that. There was a time when Apple was synonymous to “new and exciting”. This new trend in product recycling then begs the question: Is Apple really losing its edge?

Let’s examine the facts

For the most part, the differences between the recent iPhones can be summed up to storage capacity, camera prowess, battery life and some performance improvements. Except for the infinity display of the iPhone X, you can’t honestly say that any of Apple’s recent releases are innovative.

The iPhone 11 and its siblings were recently released, and it only seems to be a confirmation of everything that critics have said: Apple is losing its innovative touch.

There are no new products

While we gave Apple credit as one of the leaders in innovation in the past, we have to realize that it is no longer creating anything new.

So if it’s not new, then is it still innovation? If they were a small organisation applying for R&D tax credits then the answer would be an obvious “NO.”

Consider the folding phone. Earlier this year, Samsung and Huawei revealed their first models; Samsung has even put the Galaxy Fold on sale. Apple, however, hasn’t yet put forth a conceptual image for the design.

So, while the company may be producing updated products, it hasn’t really built anything new. And it doesn’t look like might anytime soon.

Apple is playing catch up with existing products

Not creating new and unique products is bad enough, but playing catch up with the completion is even worse. Apple isn’t the first manufacturer to produce a phone with multiple rear-facing cameras.

But Samsung and Huawei have alredy done that before. In 2018, they released phones with more than one rear camera. The Galaxy A9 had four, and Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro had three.

Although adding an extra camera to help capture images at long focal lengths and improve overall picture quality is a great move, Apple isn’t the first.

Is there hope in Apple’s services?

Apple made a radical change in its business strategy by morphing iTunes into a streaming service. With the success of streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, this change is definitely in the right direction.

Now that Apple lets its users stream music, movies and podcasts, it may be in a unique position to re-stake its claim as the innovation leaders that we once knew it to be.

However, the tech giant still has a long way to go. It’s definitely going to take more than a few modifications to its champion products.

Apple would have to do the same thing it did with the iPhone — introduce a product no-one knew they needed, but can’t live without. The good news is that no matter how underwhelming the recent products have been, Apple still has the potential and resources to make this happen. It is Apple, after all.

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