[onemoresoop]

I'm also part of the nobody group, never buy the latest because I am frugal with my earnings. But I've noticed lots and lots of people with AirPods, latest Iphones, etc. I think you're underestimating the status value that Apple has managed to create for themselves. A large number of people view Apple as a status symbol.

[etchalon]

… they're also good products. It's not just the status symbol thing. People like their products.

[Roboprog]

Some of their products are very good. Some, not so much. That’s the weird thing.

I guess AirPods work for some, but I wouldn’t touch them.

[etchalon]

I have a hard time thinking of a "bad" Apple product. Not "product I don't personally like" or "product that fails to meet a requirement I believe is important", but legitimately "bad".

The Butterly keyboard is the only thing I can think is genuinely, objectively, "bad", due to the reliability issues, but it's hard to say it taints the whole MacBook Pro. I use one everyday, have since they were released, and it's a great laptop for me.

Either way, I'm mostly commenting on the ever-popular and lazy comment that equates Apple's success solely to marketing. Apple's products are successful because they're good products, marketed well. Yes, they're marketed well, but that marketing is only effective because the products being marketed are genuinely "good".

[Roboprog]

Some are good. I’m not an Apple hater. I have an older (good model) MacBook Pro, an iPad mini 2, an iPhone SE, and an iPad. (All with connectors such as headphone jacks)

It’s some of the newer models that strip off functionality for aesthetics , or at least slimness at any and all costs, that turn many of us away.

[NeedMoreTea]

Apple III, Mac Performa.

[kgwgk]

iPod Hi-Fi