While you're getting rightfully downvoted (although I won't join in), it's worth underlining how much "they have always advertised and placed themselves as such" is utter nonsense. Apple has always advertised functionality and performance of their products, even when the case was (charitably) pretty shaky. They advertised their PowerPC Macs that way, up until the point they couldn't, then advertised their Intel Macs that way. Now they're advertising their ARM Macs that way. They proudly advertised their moves to 64-bit CPUs. They proudly advertised to consumers how cool it was that OS X was "Unix certified." Repeat: to consumers.
Yes, Apple is super conscious of design, occasionally to an obvious fault, from "butterfly" keyboards back through the G4 Cube. But they've absolutely always been interested in aiming for seriously high-end machines, from all of the Mac Pro incarnations all the way back to oldies like the Mac IIfx.
I hope other people make competitive silicon, too. I want Linux around and high-performing, and it's still a bit of an open question what the future holds for development environments on ARM-based Macs. But it is just so wearying for people who are otherwise technically literate to still be trotting out "Apple has never cared about anything but looks" after literally decades of obvious counter-examples.
> Apple has always advertised functionality and performance of their products, even when the case was (charitably) pretty shaky.
"I'm a Mac." "And I'm a PC." was _absolutely_ designed to appeal to the fashionable, "hey, you're going to be far cooler than this stuffy nerd" than just "functionality and performance".
So, in among everything else, they absolutely do care about looks. I'll agree that they don't "[not care] about anything but looks", but it's a part of the brand.
You're not wrong, but Apple also does advertise themselves as fashion. Their products are highly visible. Not too long ago, their computers literally had a giant glowing logo on them. Now it's just shiny. You can spot someone wearing their Apple headphones from 300 meters away. Apple is a fashion statement. It's designed that way.
Yep, and to a great degree, Apple has mostly been behind the curve in technology advancements, just good with the marketing, build quality (necessity if you want to market yourself as fashion) and most importantly, timing.
I'll give them the Apple silicon, but remember the iPhone X's advertising? "We've always wanted a phone that was all screen." Guess what, Android has been that way all along. High-end Samsung, Xiaomi, HTC phones were always that way. Apple just marketed it.
Now that Pixel 5 got rid of the notch entirely, expect the iPhone 13 to have that too. Just that Pixel didn't care to actually market it. You bet Apple will.
Yes, Apple is super conscious of design, occasionally to an obvious fault, from "butterfly" keyboards back through the G4 Cube. But they've absolutely always been interested in aiming for seriously high-end machines, from all of the Mac Pro incarnations all the way back to oldies like the Mac IIfx.
I hope other people make competitive silicon, too. I want Linux around and high-performing, and it's still a bit of an open question what the future holds for development environments on ARM-based Macs. But it is just so wearying for people who are otherwise technically literate to still be trotting out "Apple has never cared about anything but looks" after literally decades of obvious counter-examples.