Apple is slowly moving away from the yearly “mandatory” launches of its wide array of products.
This is good news considering what recently happened on the iPhone 16 Series launch. It’s claimed to be built from the ground up using Apple Intelligence and yet features weren’t available on day one.
So, if Cupertino goes for it, what will be the benefits? What will Apple’s consumer base gain from a cycle of every two or more years?
Readiness
Apple is one of the biggest and richest tech corporations in the world and no doubt led the world to tech advancements. But in recent years, these advancements started to get boring with incremental changes in hardware and software.
Like others, Cupertino is forced to release new products because of the calendar. It became mandatory to launch something to appease consumers or match the meta.
If the company moves away from yearly rollouts, consumers will likely get the true value of their money. For example:
- Promised features at launch day.
- Major hardware upgrades
- Polished software.
- Fewer revisions over time.
- Consistent user experience.
Upkeep
iPhones aren’t the only thing Apple develops. Macs, iPads, Airpods, smartwatches, and more, plus the individual OS for these, are under constant development.
But not every OS for each Apple device requires extensive updates like the software for Apple Watch Ultra. It’s good to get a new version regularly yet the Apple smartwatch needs minimal upkeep.
If the company stops following annual releases, it will have the time to fully mature one piece of software. Once it’s rolled out, consumers will certainly receive breakthroughs that competitors won’t have.
Also, different teams at Apple won’t need to be relegated to other product lineups. They don’t have to be frantic because the deadline is imminent. The company can let these teams focus on the goal and finish them with ample time.
If you didn’t know, many Apple product users experienced major glitches from new patches. The iPadOS 18 included a bug that made some M4 iPad Pros unusable and the fix is available at the hardware level.
Cupertino has been forced to pull back the watchOS 11.1 beta 3 because it resulted in a similar problem. The HomePod beta update wasn’t an exception either.
Timeliness
In a scenario where Apple skipped for a year, the company has enough time to produce true innovations. Then, roll them out during sale seasons like the holidays.
These convincing breakthroughs can lead to a major sales boost that topples the market. Even Android brands rethink their strategies because Apple is taking the time to fix problems, discover life-changing features, and launch an entirely distinct series.
For instance, iPhone 18 and iPhone 19 Series may be close kins but a gap of two years will make the iPhone 19 a greater raid boss than its predecessor. Its hardware components are so advanced that upgrading is meaningful.
Once the series arrives on store shelves during holidays, people will be motivated to buy because they’ve been given the time to save up. They will drool over those breakthroughs since their old iPhones don’t have anything that resembles those upgrades.
Systematic
Android is open-source and flexible but suffers from fragmentation, which Google has tried and failed to solve for years. The brands and the minimum two-year software support window further widen the crack.
iOS is different because it’s a real ecosystem that unifies software and hardware, all managed by Apple. This is the iconic royal identity that Apple created and is now running across other OS it handles.
Leaving the mandatory annual launch can further stabilize Apple’s tech ecosystem development stages. It no longer has to get iOS, macOS, visionOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPadOS, and others out of the door immediately because of the calendar.
Each software and assigned engineering team can work systematically using a different calendar that dictates OS maturity. So, when all OS are ready, they have syncing features and everything advertised is up for use.
Consumers don’t have to wait for months to experience the big changes. They’ll only have to wait for enhancements and improvements derived from user feedback.
Apple used to be a trailblazer but now, it looks like following Android’s footsteps despite having a more stable ecosystem. Hopefully, Cupertino will wake up soon and return to its roots as a pioneer that everyone looks up to.
