Enter into the mysterious world of Apple. Apple is known for keeping its plans top secret, but 2016 was the worst year for keeping its plans under wraps.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were huge successes as always. Apple's marketing machine and brand loyalty have equaled to one of the best selling devices to date. Although, many people might be surprised to know that Apple's 2016 wasn't all that hot.
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| iPhone 7 Plus |
No Apple didn't have a debacle like Samsung, but rather continued its lukewarm trend of innovation. Sure Apple's marketing may make it seem like they are innovating, but the last 3 years in truth have been the opposite. Apple actually missed its margins on sales slightly, thanks in large part to Google, Samsung, and LG. The competition has been more competitive than ever and Apple in some cases has been surpassed in many areas, but remains strong in those areas even if the competition has caught up. Enter 2016 and Apple's yearly iPhone release. It was very "unexciting" as one tech analyst put it. There was just nothing new or exciting about the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.
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| iPhone 7 |
I think many tech analyst have the same sentiments to Apple. What happened? Once a great innovator that has fallen off the map. Okay maybe not off that map, but off the map of innovation. Look at the pictures above, nothing has really changed except on the Plus they added an extra camera. On both devices there is no more physical home button, the cut out for the button is just a target for Apple to tell users how to activate their Taptic Engine button that interacts with the phone.
With that said, I am expecting a strong 2017 from Apple. Yes, I may have been down on them in my analysis, but with the 10th anniversary iPhone approaching and the possibility of an iPhone with and AMOLED display, it is exciting regardless if you're an Apple fan or not. I am hesitant to say if I expect any huge innovation from Apple, but I can't discount it either. If there is, I'm thinking a function area similar to the new Touch Bar on MacBook Pros. 2017 should be an exciting year to be an Apple fan to see how they execute, but if innovation from Apple stifles this year than I think Apple starts losing some of its iPhone brand loyalty in 2017.
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