Stratechery iPhones 17 and the Sugar Water Trap
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Sep 10, 2025 Delve into Apple's strategic moves in a shifting tech landscape, examining how its services sector impacts user growth and revenue. Discover the fallout of potential Google payment bans on innovation for companies like Apple. Reflect on Apple's transition from an innovation powerhouse to perceived stagnation, questioning its current focus on profits. Get the latest on the iPhone 17 and its nuanced advancements, including camera enhancements, while acknowledging the pressure from rising AI competition in the industry.
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Meaningful Hardware Iteration
- The iPhone 17 brings Pro features to the base model and introduces a new iPhone Air with clever engineering decisions.
- These changes show Apple continues to iterate meaningfully on hardware design and user experience.
Air Reframes Product Line
- The iPhone Air repackages the camera bump into a compute module and offers a premium light-weight option at $999.
- Apple used the Air to justify raising Pro prices while giving consumers clear size/weight choices.
Perception Outweighs Specification Gains
- Despite many objective improvements, public sentiment called the update boring and incremental.
- That gap suggests perceived imagination matters as much as technical upgrades for public enthusiasm.