Thoughts? I think it’s a good thing as it’s affecting quality standards. They should release when a product is ready, not a forced annual cycle.
5 Likes
I agree that it’s a good thing overall. The only downside is that it makes upgrade decisions a little harder. Holding out for the new iPhones in September becomes holding out until who knows when.
But whether it’s hardware or code, it’s better if they make sure everything is polished and stable before release.
1 Like
I mean, it’s Gurman, but the article seems like rampant speculation based on a number of single data points.
For example, Apple could be announcing Apple Intelligence now and releasing later NOT because they’re moving away from their strategy, but because they got caught flat-footed and are scrambling to catch up.
3 Likes
I rather have them update products every, at least, two years instead of one. We have much better hardware but for the software side it’s just more and more features or polishing some visuals but less reliable and even break the machines (M4 iPad Pro).
As a consumer I don’t want my product to be ignored very soon when Apple launches a new model and rather focus on it. Maybe more frequent updates are good for fans and investors, but not the normal users.
1 Like
I guess it was a slow week for Gurman, with no significant rumours.
What ‘annual product release strategy’?
Looking at:
… and the history of all product groups, more products are updated less frequently than every 365 days than those on an annual release schedule. The only ones we can reliably count upon to be updated annually and are on a strict yearly release schedule are the iPhone and the Watch; the former generates the most revenue, and the latter gets annual releases only because it’s tied to the former. If the Watch weren’t inextricably tied to the iPhone, given the features we’ve been getting, they’d not have to release it more often than every 18-24 months.
2 Likes
Once everyone has an iPhone/iPad/Mac that can run Apple Intelligence won’t there be less incentive to upgrade our hardware?
2 Likes
Well, there’s almost always been something that only the newest phones could run, and it gradually became available to everyone as people replaced their obsolete phones.
I expect that over time Apple Intelligence will get more capabilities and features that require more and more powerful hardware. It’s not going to arrive in some final state in a year or two that iPhone 15 Pros and 16s and current Macs are always going to be able to run.
Also, to drive hardware sales, Apple can prevent the latest features from running on older hardware even when it’s technically capable of doing so.
2 Likes
I agree. In fact I predict Apple will introduce “Apple Intelligence Plus” in the next three years. 
2 Likes
Which will later be superseded by “Apple Intelligence Pro Max,” along with a more compact version called “Apple Intelligence Pro” 
2 Likes