Apple have gone to great lengths to use renewable energy and even managed to coerce some of their largest suppliers into doing the same. Their latest range of devices are built with increasing numbers of recycled materials. They generally have a good track record with recycling, even if not very repairable.
I would guess there are companies out there far worse for the environment than Apple.
Playing devil's advocate here with your "short product life" argument but Apple generally release operating system builds for older devices for much longer than, say, any Android manufacturer out there does. Why aren't we singling out Samsung or HTC too?
For example, iOS 12 still supports the iPhone 5S which was released in 2013 (and actually works perfectly well considering the age of the device, as my work phone can attest).
On the Mac front, macOS 10.14 is still wholly supported on computers released in 2012 (and that also works fine, as my 2012 MacBook Pro can also attest).
Apple themselves have even acknowledged that the purchasing of new devices has declined significantly recently as people tend to be happier with what they have for longer, knowing that it'll be supported for longer and get feature upgrades for longer. If anything, I would suggest that Apple have never had a harder time trying to persuade people to buy new products.
I have an old unsupported ipad that I still use to read every night.
The planned obsolescence is such that it cannot be charged while powered on - literally doesn't even try. When I power it down, it charges just fine, and the battery is good for another week.
Likewise, it harasses the living shit out of me to log in to Apple Store, and since I never do, apps running while being harassed invariably crash on the third attempt at forcing me to log in.
To me, this is super unethical. I haven't updated it and never will because of the extent of their trying to needlessly force me into an upgrade that won't improve my experience outside of that harassment.
> The planned obsolescence is such that it cannot be charged while powered on
Your charging brick isn’t capable of providing enough amps. That’s the problem. Not “planned obsolescence”. Last I checked, the iPad needs at least 10 watts (5V at 2A) to charge. The small 5 watt brick that comes with an iPhone isn’t going to do it.
I even used a new fast charger and a number of 5V/2A blocks thinking the original one was toast.
This only started happening suddenly after an update, and I've never been able to charge it unless shut off ever since. Even the "plugged in" graphic doesn't show, and it will not even try to charge when plugged in to sync.
I read about the voltage/amperage thing before, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. It is a sensible solution that I wished would work, but isn't working on mine.
Of course, it is possible that the charging circuit inside is worn down or something. But again, it started happening immediately after an update, and no subsequent update fixed it. And now it is unsupported, so it is what it is until it officially croaks.
That is the nature of capitalism and not really something in Apple's scope to fix. If Apple do not participate by bringing out new models and marketing upgrades then people will just go and be capitalistic with other companies and their products instead.
Yes, Apple actively stabotage right to repair. I'm not a fan o them because of that and some other things. But at the same time iPhones are pretty sturdy phones with OTA updates spanning years, while most android manufacturers seem not to care.
...Get thrown away after a year or two? Apple iPhones have relatively low depreciation, compared to Android phones. See the resale values of older iPhones on Swappa. One would be a fool to throw away an iPhone after a year or two. As for me, I always buy about 1.5-2 year old used iPhones and then resell them after another 1.5-2 years -- to other users who continue to use them for years.
Personally however I know people whose homes are littered with old Apple devices that lay abandoned because even their small children use later models.
The replacement cycle that Apple created had some technical reason perhaps but it was mostly forced by marketing and drive for profits at the expense of enviroment.
If he were to try too hard to reduce the rate at which iThings are replaced, Apple's profitability would suffer, and he would be replaced by a CEO without environmental misgivings.
That's why in many cases, engaging in an activity while calling for that activity to be banned, is perfectly sensible. You don't want to do something, but the market forces you, and the only way to stop, is for everyone to stop.
Well I am aware of the dilema. But your argument the usual defense line of war criminals. "I had to do that, if not me someone else will do it instead".
Each of us is taking some moral choices. Tim Cook isn't acting under a gun to his head.
Public speaking where Cook is signalling concern about enviroment is just hypocrytical virtue signaling in my humble opinion.
It's not like Apple is some struggling underdog for Christ's sake. With hundreds of billions in liquid reserves they could afford to optimize 90% for profit and q0% for sustainability instead of 100% for profit.
It's interesting that Cook mentioned the danger of how today algorithms keep pushing for preexisting beliefs.
One of the risks with AI is the over-relying on analytical data. When a desirable pattern is discovered, it often leads to future actions specifically targeting this pattern simply to reinforce it more, this in turn perpetuates a narrow and single-minded culture.
It may take away our natural ability of intuitive thinking and thus preventing new patterns to emerge. Every decision must be made based on existing knowledge/data so there's no more room for any unproven hypotheses. Organizations may just avoid exploring new directions altogether when no data readily exists.
I’m sure Millenials and Gen Z will have their own failings and shortcomings that will become obvious to future historians. No generation is perfect, and during happy times the flaws of the previous generation is exactly what the next generation aims to fix.
But I do believe that the Baby Boomers will go down as one of the least successful generations in modern American history. That would be survivable if their failings were purely personal, such as their poor test scores and their penchant for unprotected sex, but unfortunately their mendacity has spread into the public sector. The era of Boomer rule has been nothing but corruption and short term thinking, and they’ve left behind a country with crumbling bridges, overdrawn pension funds, two wars longer than Vietnam, an environment beginning to collapse, and trillions of dollars of student debt because they defunded the education system once they’d left. And to think they have the temerity to lecture Millenials about fiscal responsibility!
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 43.4 ms ] threadSays executive of a company which makes completely unnecessary vanity consumer goods which get thrown away after year or two.
Apple have gone to great lengths to use renewable energy and even managed to coerce some of their largest suppliers into doing the same. Their latest range of devices are built with increasing numbers of recycled materials. They generally have a good track record with recycling, even if not very repairable.
I would guess there are companies out there far worse for the environment than Apple.
[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/40554151/how-apple-got-to-100-re... [2] https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/11/18305840/apple-foxconn-ts... [3] https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-ups-the-recycled-materials-i...
I am just pointing that Apple products are an icon of consumerism and example of unnecesarily short product life and forced quick replacement cycle.
And it is exactly that rampant consumerism that is at the root of our enviromental problems.
For example, iOS 12 still supports the iPhone 5S which was released in 2013 (and actually works perfectly well considering the age of the device, as my work phone can attest).
On the Mac front, macOS 10.14 is still wholly supported on computers released in 2012 (and that also works fine, as my 2012 MacBook Pro can also attest).
Apple themselves have even acknowledged that the purchasing of new devices has declined significantly recently as people tend to be happier with what they have for longer, knowing that it'll be supported for longer and get feature upgrades for longer. If anything, I would suggest that Apple have never had a harder time trying to persuade people to buy new products.
The planned obsolescence is such that it cannot be charged while powered on - literally doesn't even try. When I power it down, it charges just fine, and the battery is good for another week.
Likewise, it harasses the living shit out of me to log in to Apple Store, and since I never do, apps running while being harassed invariably crash on the third attempt at forcing me to log in.
To me, this is super unethical. I haven't updated it and never will because of the extent of their trying to needlessly force me into an upgrade that won't improve my experience outside of that harassment.
Your charging brick isn’t capable of providing enough amps. That’s the problem. Not “planned obsolescence”. Last I checked, the iPad needs at least 10 watts (5V at 2A) to charge. The small 5 watt brick that comes with an iPhone isn’t going to do it.
This only started happening suddenly after an update, and I've never been able to charge it unless shut off ever since. Even the "plugged in" graphic doesn't show, and it will not even try to charge when plugged in to sync.
I read about the voltage/amperage thing before, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. It is a sensible solution that I wished would work, but isn't working on mine.
Of course, it is possible that the charging circuit inside is worn down or something. But again, it started happening immediately after an update, and no subsequent update fixed it. And now it is unsupported, so it is what it is until it officially croaks.
Not only that, but effectively saying, "hey, nevermind the tens of trillions in debt the country is, spend more."
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/04/30/apple-right-to-repair-c...
Personally however I know people whose homes are littered with old Apple devices that lay abandoned because even their small children use later models.
The replacement cycle that Apple created had some technical reason perhaps but it was mostly forced by marketing and drive for profits at the expense of enviroment.
That's why in many cases, engaging in an activity while calling for that activity to be banned, is perfectly sensible. You don't want to do something, but the market forces you, and the only way to stop, is for everyone to stop.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ explains it well.
Each of us is taking some moral choices. Tim Cook isn't acting under a gun to his head.
Public speaking where Cook is signalling concern about enviroment is just hypocrytical virtue signaling in my humble opinion.
One of the risks with AI is the over-relying on analytical data. When a desirable pattern is discovered, it often leads to future actions specifically targeting this pattern simply to reinforce it more, this in turn perpetuates a narrow and single-minded culture.
It may take away our natural ability of intuitive thinking and thus preventing new patterns to emerge. Every decision must be made based on existing knowledge/data so there's no more room for any unproven hypotheses. Organizations may just avoid exploring new directions altogether when no data readily exists.
Heck, we haven’t really properly transferred power from the Boomers to Gen X yet.
But I do believe that the Baby Boomers will go down as one of the least successful generations in modern American history. That would be survivable if their failings were purely personal, such as their poor test scores and their penchant for unprotected sex, but unfortunately their mendacity has spread into the public sector. The era of Boomer rule has been nothing but corruption and short term thinking, and they’ve left behind a country with crumbling bridges, overdrawn pension funds, two wars longer than Vietnam, an environment beginning to collapse, and trillions of dollars of student debt because they defunded the education system once they’d left. And to think they have the temerity to lecture Millenials about fiscal responsibility!
When we die, we'll pass the torch to you, and you'll be the only generation that matters.
Everyone else, please continue to not exist. Thanks.