[prodigycorp]

Apple of late is a mystery. Their software and hardware product quality is wildly inconsistent and, yet, with the most simplest of hardware like AirTags and AirPods, they're like magic. iPhones, I could hardly care less about. These new airtags? Insta buy!

[throwfaraway4]

I'm not convinced AirPods are that "simple" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB_8dGKh9JI

[m463]

yes, apple has a LOT of hidden complexity. Another example is their dongles - many of them have significant processing power, like video conversion chips inside the shell.

[emchammer]

Apple’s headphones adapter contains very high quality output and driver hardware. Their basic software usability quality problems simply shortchange everyone involved.

[dlcarrier]

The quality would be better if those weren't needed, though.

[fragmede]

Airpods are a great example of good UX making things seem simple. There's a ridiculous amount of engineering that goes into making them work as well as they do.

[prodigycorp]

Or their chargers! https://www.chargerlab.com/apple-18w-usb-c-power-adapter-a16...

[tonyedgecombe]

>Their software and hardware product quality is wildly inconsistent

Their hardware has been exceptional in recent years.

[tacker2000]

How are Airtags or Airpods simple?

Cramming lots of tech into a small footprint is an extremely complex affair.

[dangus]

Simple user experience.

[FigurativeVoid]

I've started to dislike the narrative that "Apple never leads the pack, but it waits to release the best product."

But that hasn't been true for a decade. Most improvements have been marginal, and they totally missed the boat on LLMs.

[no_wizard]

To be fair, I think everyone but Google has been missing the boat on LLMs as platform integrations.

I call out Google as an exception because Gemini when it works correctly from an integration point of view can actually do some cool stuff like predictive suggestions in messaging based on context, though I wish it was all on device stuff, as on a privacy level I don’t trust Google

That said, it’s not like they’re so far and above anyone else they blow the competition out of the water either, they simply managed to make the functionality sometimes useful

[AdamN]

LLMs are way outside their lane. With that said they've been focused on the underlying components to enable LLMs since way before ChatGPT was on the scene: Unified Memory, Neural Accelerator, even Spotlight counts (as a data source), etc...

There was no world where they were going to be the breakthrough leader in LLM development. That's a problem they can catch up on when they need to or license the technology.

[postexitus]

Why should Apple care about LLMs? They missed the boat on cloud, cryptocurrencies and on search engines. So what? It's not their business - they can just license a good offering and move on to what they do best : Products.

[kwanbix]

I can see it in AirTags, but, haven't used AirPods myself, what is so "magical" about them?

Also, my understanding is that AirTags are only usable if you have an iPhone, am I wrong?

[singularity2001]

That just work. I know it sounds simple but if you have been burned by Bluetooth devices before again and again get unburned by AirPods. Also, they stick in my ear even though all other headsets with cable fell out. I don´t know how

[ulfw]

I've never had any 'not work'. Sorry. My Huawei Freeclip 2 are fantastic and a very different form factor Apple doesn't offer sadly. Great for urban walks and listening to podcasts while still being able to hear your surroundings.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bensin/2025/12/11/huaweis-freec...

[kwanbix]

Maybe I got lucky, but I never had issues with my Bose, Shokz, or even with my Soundcore headphones and bluetooth. I don't use in ear, so I can not comment on that.

[pjerem]

Yep but with AirPods, you are listening music or watching a video, on your Mac, your iPhone rings (on your AirPods), you accept the call, and now the video is paused on your Mac and your AirPods are already connected to your iPhone.

Any time any of the registered devices needs to emit sound, the AirPods instantly switch to this device (and both devices will show an unobtrusive notification to reverse the auto switch).

And it works every. single. time.

Apple can't make Airdrop work reliably after decades but somehow, they are able to magically and instantly transfer bluetooth audio from a device to another device.

Though, if you use your airpods with anything non apple, it will juste work like a classical bluetooth device, with manual pairing and no magic switching.

[fragmede]

That is a great point. Airdrop on my iphone currently has this weird bug where if I try and airdrop directly to a target (eg my laptop) it doesn't work, but if I go into airdrop and select the exact same target, works fine. This is even weirder because it's followed me between phones (I restored from icloud backup). Yet, yeah, my airpods are fine at switching.

[tuetuopay]

From what I've read, it's an accumulation of small details.

I have a pair of Soundcore buds, and they work well. Unless only one of the two decides to not connect to the phone. Or they randomly decide to change the noise cancellation setting. Or their gesture detection randomly triggers. To be fair, it's pretty rare and easy to fix: put them back in the case and back out, etc. But it's small things that remind me "yeah, I did not shell out for AirPods". (also, their transparency mode for conversations is nigh useless, but it may be because those are a 4 year old model).

I regularily use a pair of Sony headphones too, and they are a bit less troublesome, because it's a much simpler product: a single BT connection, physical buttons for some quick controls, etc. But they still have their warts: can't charge and be used at the same time, handoff between two source devices still don't work after years, etc.

It's an accumulation of details that are not big, happen rarely, and don't need much to get used to. But they still need to get used to.

[pvab3]

I've had Bose 700s, Sennheisers, Anker Soundcore, and probably other bluetooth earbuds and none of them come close to the simplicity of the Airpods. The Bluetooth handoff and pairing is insanely easy and works within a second or two. I've never once had to go to Bluetooth settings to force it to pair.

[lynndotpy]

This is the opposite of my experience. AirPods refusing to connect, randomly disconnecting, pressing "pause" on my phone only to have "play" instead invoke Apple Music on my Mac, and so forth. There are tons of "smart" features built into these that make the experience worse than I've had on normal, bluetooth headphones.

When it works, they at least connect with little friction. That's nice. The real value is in the very good noise-cancellation and battery life.

[rjh29]

They're just expensive. If you spend the same amount on Sony earbuds or another good brand, they also work fine.

[user34283]

That is correct. With the iPhone at home, you keep getting "Unknown tracker found travelling with you" spam on your Android, and the AirTag rings occasionally.

I would not call that usable.

[criddell]

I've used them with my iPad. I don't have a Mac, but I would guess they work with any Find My-capable machine.

[toast0]

AirPods are great! You can use them with an Android, and it will let you know there's AirPods travelling with you every time!

[otterley]

Apple is a big company. I’d be more surprised if they were completely consistent.