Although the growth of the high-end segment has declined of late, there have been some truly remarkable devices launched over the course of the year. Here are the five best smartphones of 2014:

New Moto X

The new Moto X is larger, wider and more feature-filled when compared to last year’s version. While the first-generation Moto X was highly regarded for its in-hand feel and comfort, this year’s models eschews ergonomics for a larger screen, a trend that is becoming more and more common among high-end devices of late. That doesn’t mean that the new Moto X is too unwieldy to use one-handed; far from it. The thin bezels and curved edges mean that the device fits in your hand better than others that also feature large screens. Also, the aluminium frame around the device adds to its premium nature and highlights the overall design.

While offering a near-stock UI, Motorola has baked in enough custom features that serves to differentiate the Moto X from devices running vanilla Android. The Active Display feature is so intuitive that it should be offered as standard across all devices. With this feature, the device lights up whenever a notification arrives, allowing you to quickly look at it without having to unlock the screen. Active Display combined with an always-on listening mode – which sees a dedicated digital signal processor actively listening for the hotword – are the two best features to be included in a device of late. While the first-gen Moto X had this feature through a middle-man service, Android 5.0 natively allows this functionality, which gives quicker access to voice-enabled actions.

The Moto X from 2013 did not feature the latest hardware available at the time, but this time around Motorola has included the latest available specs with the new Moto X. Under the hood, there’s a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP camera, 2 MP front shooter and Wi-Fi ac connectivity along with a 2,300 mAh battery. The battery life was a major concern in last year’s handset, and while the 2014 Moto X does not fare much better in this segment, at least there is the ability to charge the device quickly due to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology, which is leveraged through a unique charger.

The 16GB version of the smartphone is available for $499, and can be customized heavily through Moto Maker. Should you wish to do so, you can get a leather or wooden back variant for $25 more. The sheer number of customization options combined with the exclusive features like Active Display make the new Moto X one of the best devices available today.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4 is unlike any Samsung (KRX:005935) flagship smartphone thus far in that it actually looks like a premium handset. Samsung has finally decided to use metal in the construction of their devices, and in the case of the Galaxy Note 4, this is in the form of a metal frame that runs around the sides of the device, adding rigidity to the structure as whole while providing aesthetic value.

Another first is the 16MP camera sensor, which now comes with OIS, a feature that has been long-requested by loyal fans. The imaging sensor is from Sony (NYSE:SNE), and comes with Samsung’s customizations on the software side of things. The 5.7-inch QuadHD AMOLED screen is outstanding, and is one of the best displays on a Samsung handset yet.

TouchWiz, long criticized as one of the worst manufacturer skins, has also received a facelift. However, Samsung has not cut down on the gimmicky features, and in fact found new “health-oriented” utilities that will allow you to track your daily activities better. The result is that a device with a quad-core 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 SoC (octa-core Exynos 5422 in some markets) stutters during the loading animations. Turning off animations entirely makes things better, but if there is a single drawback to the Galaxy Note 4, it is the software. Samsung needs to re-evaluate its stance of software design and focus on things that matter to users instead of just bundling every single utility it has made over the course of the last five years into its devices.

That being said, there are a few features that stand out, and serve to distinguish the Galaxy Note series from other phablets out there. The most useful is Multi Window mode, which as the name suggests allows you to run two utilities side by side simultaneously. There’s also a similar mode for video as well that allows you to run two videos side by side, but that once again falls into the realm of gimmicks. The stylus has also been tweaked to offer better sensitivity, and comes a lot of features that boost its functionality. For instance, Photo Note is a utility that scans images and lets you make changes to them using the stylus.

Overall, the Galaxy Note 4 is a move in the right direction for Samsung. The device is easily the best-looking Samsung flagship we’ve seen, and the stellar hardware means that you will not be encountering any lag (barring those caused by TouchWiz, of course). With carrier subsidies in effect, the device comes down to $199, although the off-contract pricing of $800 is not astronomical considering the features you’ll be getting. There’s also the Galaxy Gifts promotion, through which you stand to get over $300 worth of digital services for free from Samsung.

OnePlus One

If there is one device that can be categorized as the best of 2014, it would be the OnePlus One. Nothing comes close to the device in the sheer number of features it offers for the price. Sure, novel utilities like double tap to wake, ambient display and camera software tweaks are missing, but when it comes to the basics, the OnePlus One smartphone gets everything right. Though the device features a 5.5-inch 1080p display, non-existent bezels and a clever design – which sees the display slightly raised from the rest of the device – lends to a form factor that allows you to use the device one-handed.

The OnePlus One has hardware that is often found in devices twice as costly: there’s that 5.5-inch full-HD display, 3GB RAM, 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 13 MP camera at the back with a Sony MIX214 sensor (the same that’s used in devices like the LG G3), 5 MP front shooter, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac connectivity and a 3,100 mAh battery.

The device features a custom CyanogenMod skin, and the differences from stock Android are immediately noticeable. The theme engine, which allows you to modify all facets of the UI, is a great feature to have for users looking to customize the handset to their liking, and the settings feature the most comprehensive list of options we’ve seen on an Android device. Another point of differentiation is the quick rollout of updates, with the OnePlus community constantly listening to consumer feedback and providing quick fixes for commonly found issues.

Talking about issues, the only major drawback with the device is availability, although getting hold of an invite has gotten relatively easier over the last few months. Retailing at $349 for the 64GB Sandstone back version, and just $299 for the 16GB variant, there are few devices that match up to their billing. The OnePlus One is one of the few devices that manages to do so successfully.

iPhone 6 Plus

After years of making snide comments about phablets, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has decided to join the game with the iPhone 6 Plus. The device is not being called a phablet, but a handset that allows you to do more. The more is in reference to the screen size, which at 5.5 inches is larger than most Android flagship devices out there today. The resolution has been increased to 1080p, and the hardware has also gotten a boost.

Powering the iPhone 6 Plus is the Apple A8 SoC, which has a dual-core version of a Cyclone architecture CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz along with a PowerVR GX6450 GPU. Other specs do not matter much, connectivity as the software is tuned to run on whatever hardware is current-gen. With the iPhone, it has always been about the experience, and this time around it is no different. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with a new design that is being heralded as the best ever, is thinner and has a more premium look to it, and runs iOS 8 out of the box. That is one of the things it is meant to do well: get going out of the box without having to fiddle around with a bunch of settings (or as Android users like to call it, customization).

Of note is the 8 MP camera at the back that now comes with OIS, which is in fact one of the reasons to go with the iPhone 6 Plus instead of its smaller sibling, the iPhone 6. The device is available in memory variations of 16, 64 and 128GB, with each increment costing $100 (on-contract) more. The cost of the device varies based on the territory, but the entry-level handset is in the vicinity of $800.

One of the major talking points during the launch of the iPhone 6 Plus smartphone was the introduction of NFC, which allows customers to pay for services using their mobile devices using a digital payment system called Apple Pay. Currently available in the US but facing backlash from a variety of retailers including CVS and Walmart (who are in the process of introducing their own digital payments service called CurrentC), Apple is looking to launch the service in additional countries. If you’re looking to go with iOS, the iPhone 6 Plus is the handset to get.

Lumia 930

The Lumia 930 is the last flagship device to bear the iconic Nokia (NYSE:NOK) name, at least for this decade. Now that the Finnish manufacturer’s acquisition to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is finalized, the Redmond giant’s logo will be used on future Lumia models, like the Lumia 535 that was announced last week. For now, Microsoft seems to be content targeting the entry-level and mid-tier segments with its latest device launches, as evidenced by the announcement of the Lumia 730, Lumia 830 and now the Lumia 535.

What this means is that for this year, the Lumia 930 smartphone is your only real choice if you’re looking to get a Windows Phone in the high-end segment. There is the 6-inch Lumia 1520 that was announced last November, but considering we’re already more than 12 months into the life cycle of the device, it is not being recommended. Also, the form factor of the Lumia 1520 does not make it a comfortable device to use on a day-to-day basis.

Ever since the Lumia 1520 was announced, fans of Windows Phone have been clamoring for a device with similar hardware in a 5-inch form factor, and the answer is the Lumia 930. The device comes in color variations of white, black, green and orange, and carriers on Nokia’s ethos that is clearly visible in all Lumia handsets. The build quality is excellent, there is a camera shutter key on the right side, and the camera itself, a 20 MP PureView sensor, is one of the best imaging sensors you can get in a handset.

Furthermore, Nokia’s exclusive utilities like HERE navigation services (which Microsoft is now licensing for the Lumia series) are a standout in this category thanks to features like offline turn-by-turn routing. Then there are the host of camera-centric utilities, as well as the music and video services. But the best feature of all has to be Cortana. It may not be as accurate as Google Now, but it is the most fun to use among all voice-based assistants available today.

The list of features that can be handled by Cortana is increasing on a weekly basis, and the assistant excels at getting the basics right, which can be said of the platform itself as a whole. With Windows Phone, you may not get Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) services, but Microsoft is starting to add enough functionality that you don’t have to.

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The history of sapphire screens on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products is a short and eventful one, despite not a single product shipping with a screen protected by the strong material. What was once one of the most hotly anticipated features of the iPhone 6 never materialized, and pushed the sapphire supplier over the edge into bankruptcy. But, questions remain as to whether the deal between the two companies was a fundamentally fair or flawed one  —  that was set up without the proper due diligence.

When the iPhone 6 launched without a sapphire screen, Apple was silent to the reason why this occurred. After all, well placed leakers had fairly convincing pictures and videos of screen protectors for the iPhone 6 which, by their sheer strength, had to be made of something other than regular plastic or Gorilla Glass. The absence of the sapphire-based screens led many to question as to if the upcoming Apple Watch was in danger, as sapphire would be even more critical to the smartwatch than to the iPhone 6. But while Apple was silent on the issue of sapphire, only confirming its non-use when the iPhone 6 launched, the bankruptcy filing of  GT Advanced Technologies (OTC Pink:GTATQ) was the first step in finding out what exactly happened to Apple’s sapphire ambitions.

For most of 2014, GTAT was a stock market darling. In November of 2013 Apple announced that it GT Advanced Technologies would be its sapphire supplier, sending the company’s stock into the stratosphere. Apple’s orders accounted for approximately 80% of GTAT’s projected 2014 revenue (estimates peg this to be around $700 million), and Apple loaned it $439 million to upgrade and expand its facilities to meet the expected demand from the iPhone 6 and Apple smartwatch.

Then on October 7, bankruptcy.

Who’s to blame?

While GT Advanced Technologies has filed for bankruptcy, its filings with the courts don’t entirely paint a clear picture why the firm said it was going under. GT Advanced Technologies lawyers have petitioned the court to keep the contracts and other confidential documents between it and Apple sealed.

The best indicators come from reports by securities research firms. In a note to clients, Gilford Securities said that Apple may have forced GT Advanced Technologies to begin loan repayments early as it may have believed GT Advanced Technologies was not hitting performance targets. As mentioned by MarketWatch, Pacific Crest Securities published a note that said the firm’s researchers believe Apple was unimpressed with the quality of sapphire produced by GTAT and decided to source it elsewhere — but requiring Apple to still pay back the loans.

While the company’s lawyers fought to keep the most revealing documents about its relationship with Apple — including the contracts — they also asked the court to render the contracts the two companies have null and void saying that they imposed  “oppressive and burdensome terms and obligations on GT.”

“GT believes that it has many claims against Apple arising out of its business relationship with Apple.”

Then things got better

On October 23 GT Advanced Technologies published a press release announcing that it had reached a settlement agreement with Apple. The agreement holds that GT will wind down its sapphire production business in addition to liquidating its furnaces in order to pay back Apple.

“We are pleased with the settlement that we have negotiated with Apple,” Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer of GTAT said in a statement.

“Apple put a lot of effort into an ambitious new sapphire manufacturing process with GT which is not ready for production,” Apple said in a statement. “We’re going to continue evaluating GT’s progress on larger sapphire boule development, as well as consider other options for the facility.”

But the agreement was still unfair

In all likelihood GT Advanced Technologies asked the court to keep its contract with Apple sealed, along with other key documents, because the agreement would be viewed by the public and stakeholders as fundamentally unfair for GTAT. The opportunity for massive windfalls of profit, but punishing clauses in the event that GTAT could not meet Apple’s expectations.

It could be that if GT Advanced Technologies’s biggest voting shareholders got word of this agreement there would be a coup of sorts, as shareholders would recognize the dangers of this contract. It appears (though the contracts are still sealed) that Apple was given too many outs in the event that this new sapphire process simply did not work.

Apple might not have deliberately bankrupted GT Advanced Technologies, but GT Advanced Technologies’s decision to sign on to this contract with Apple without negotiating a better deal set in place the path for  its  downfall.

The post Anatomy of a Deal: What Went Wrong Between Apple and GT Advanced Technologies appeared first on VR World.

In a conversation with Apple’s (NASDAQ: APPL) Senior Vice President of Design, Jony Ive, Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter sat down and talked to Ive about the company’s latest products and even their competitors.

Ive brought up an interesting point when they were talking about how the iPhone’s design had moved from having curved edges, to sharp edges and then back to curved again. Then, Ive started to talk about the iPhone and numerous prototypes that they had made, including ones with large screens. You can listen right here.

Ive calls competitors’ phones ‘big and clunky’ and says that many of their competitors’ devices are in fact big and clunky when the reality for Apple is actually very similar. In fact, if you were to hold the 5.5″ iPhone 6 Plus and put it up against something like LG’s G3, then you would realize that Apple’s iPhone is actually a bigger and clunkier phone, noticeably so. The LG G3 actually has the exact same screen size as the iPhone 6 Plus, but has a smaller body and a higher resolution display. So not only do you get a smaller phone with the same size display, but the pixel density and image quality of that display is arguably better as well.

LG has done a fantastic job with the G3 and there’s no denying that they have. Jony Ive was smart not to mention any of their competitors, but he’s clearly calling out Samsung here since Samsung is Apple’s #1 competitor and still makes fairly ‘clunky’ phones with their Galaxy Note series of smartphones as well as the Galaxy Mega phones which are even larger and more unwieldy to the normal human hand.

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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported its earnings Tuesday for the last quarter of the company’s fiscal year revealing it had generated $42.1 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion in profit.

This translates to an earnings per share of $1.42 per share, which is well above what Wall Street’s consensus was of around $1.31 as well as revenue of about $40 billion. This means that Apple has once again beaten Wall Street’s lofty expectations, partially helped by the strongest iPhone launch in the company’s history with the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. This represents a continuation of the company’s profitability even though Apple as a company has significantly changed internally. Apple was able to ship 39 million iPhones, roughly in line with what many analysts were expecting, but still above the average expected 37.5 million consensus. Apple also saw huge growth in the Mac sales thanks to the back to school season and they have now seen market share increase to some of the highest levels in over a decade.

Apple reported that its gross margin went up 1 point in the quarter, to 38% up from 37% in the same quarter a year ago, representing the increase in profitability. Additionally, Apple only reported $37 billion in revenue in the same quarter a year ago, showing that Apple has continued to drive the company upward year over year. Apple also stated that 60% of the revenue generated in the third quarter came from international sales, which also means that a lot of the cash flow generated from operations, $13.3 billion worth, will very likely stay abroad. Apple’s board also announced a $0.47 dividend for November 13th this year, and will be issued to holders of the stock on November 10th this year.

Apple Earnings

Apple also guided their fiscal first quarter of 2015, calendar Q4 2014, to a record revenue to $63.5 billion and 66.5 billion, they also expect gross margin to be somewhere between 37.5 and 38.5 percent.

Apple’s current share price is at $99.76 but it is already trading higher in after hours trading, once again breaking the $100 barrier up over 1% to $101.26.

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Thanks to our friends at ecoATM, we were able to gather some really interesting statistics about people’s trade-in/recycling behaviors after the iPhone 6’s launch. ecoATM is a company that owns and operates 1,100 machines across the United States that allow people to trade in their electronics and have them recycles for an instantaneous cash payout. ecoATM has been in this business for quite some time so they have experience with new product launches and sudden jumps in trade-ins.

As such, it comes as no surprise that they have some really interesting data about the iPhone 6 launch’s impact on iPhone trade-ins nationwide. Thanks to their data, we can see exactly what people are upgrading from as well as what kinds of devices are being replaced the most by iPhone 6s and 6 pluses.

So, what do these colored dots translate to? What do the blue (light), green (medium), light green (high) and orange (enormous) demand dots come down to?

EcoATM Trade-in Map

Since the iPhone 6 and 6 plus became available, ecoATM saw an increase of 80% on iPhone-related activity across their entire network of kiosks. And specifically in California, trade-ins were up 104% and in Texas 92%. EcoATM says that they normally expect such jumps in these areas because these regions are populated with plenty of techies. They did, however, discover some outliers including Tennessee, which saw an increase of 195% and Massachusetts with an increase of 168%. When looking at the map, it does seem a bit odd that the Tennessee/Kentucky/Ohio area is so dense with trade-in activity but the stats don’t lie. They also saw New York increase 92%, like Texas, which isn’t surprising considering how many iPhone users live in New York City alone.

In addition to actual iPhone trade-in’s ecoATM’s own site saw a huge amount of increase interest in their phone recycling for cash kiosks. Their website has seen a 200% increase in sessions since the launch as well as their kiosk locator page saw an increase of 250% during the same period since the launch.

People were also checking the prices of specific devices before they went to the ecoATM Kiosks (which you can do here)

The iPhone 5S saw an increase of 205% of inquiries, the iPhone 5C saw an increase of 110% and the iPhone 5 saw an increase of a whopping 480%. Clearly, you can tell that the majority of people looking to upgrade to the iPhone 6 are people with iPhone 5’s which makes sense since that would have been 2 years ago when people first signed their new 2-year contracts. Additionally, the iPhone 4S saw an increase of 100% in inquiries and the iPhone 4 saw a pretty sizable 240% increase as well.

But Apple’s iPhones weren’t the only devices that started to get more trade-in interest, there was plenty of interest in trading-in Samsung devices as well. The fairly new Samsung Galaxy S5 actually saw an increase of 77% in inquiries while the Galaxy S4 saw the biggest increase among Samsung devices with a 110% increase. The Galaxy S3 saw an increase of 63% and all Galaxy Notes (Note, Note 2, and Note 3) saw an increase of 93% in inquiries.

Overall, if you take all of this trade-in data into consideration it really seems like the iPhone 5 was the primary device that people were looking to replace with an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, which admittedly isn’t very surprising. What may actually be more interesting is the regional increases, especially in Tennessee. Either way, there is a lot of very good data about the needs and wants of iPhone users and it really looks like a lot of people buying the iPhone 6 were already iPhone users and many of them were very likely iPhone 5 users too.

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Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) is no stranger to major industrial design flaws, such as the infamous Antennagate, creeping up after a product launch. But this time, it appears the hype over its most recent scandal of bending iPhone 6 Plus phones may be overblown.

Apple released a statement late Thursday saying that reports of iPhone 6 Plus phones bending when placed in pockets were largely overblown, and that the phenomenon was contained to only 9 people who have complained to the company about the issue.

Below is a statement from Apple sent to the press about the issue:

Our iPhones are designed, engineered and manufactured to be both beautiful and sturdy. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature a precision engineered unibody enclosure constructed from machining a custom grade of 6000 series anodized aluminum, which is tempered for extra strength. They also feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry.

We chose these high-quality materials and construction very carefully for their strength and durability. We also perform rigorous tests throughout the entire development cycle including 3-point bending, pressure point cycling, sit, torsion, and user studies. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus meet or exceed all of our high quality standards to endure everyday, real life use. With normal use a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus. As with any Apple product, if you have questions please contact Apple.

While the vast majority of users have not experienced the extreme bending that has been demonstrated on a handful of YouTube videos, some — including Wired magazine’s reviewer — have reported mild bending after normal use.

As the iPhone 6 Plus is released in more markets it will be interesting to see if the bending issue continues to appear.

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Ever wonder what people in other countries are paying for their shiny new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 pluses? Well, we’ve decided to look into the current Apple  listed prices for officially launched (or about to launch) countries in Europe, Asia and North America.

Last time we looked at iPhone prices was with the iPhone 5S and by that point there were already dozens of countries launched. So, this time it was decided to start from the beginning and to continue to follow the market as it moves forward. There have already been reports of iPhones selling for over $1,500 in some markets, but the majority of those are grey market iPhones and can effectively be sold at any price that someone is willing to pay. Those prices do not officially reflect Apple’s own pricing or MSRP that they recommend to carriers.  Even so, there are some pretty outrageously high prices coming straight from Apple’s own site.

iPhone6 Pricing

The prices as you can see above are specifically organized using Apple’s own iPhone 6 prices listed on the various regional sub-pages. The countries listed above are in order of lowest iPhone 6 Prices in blue and iPhone 6 Plus prices in orange. The iPhone 6 Plus prices actually vary from country to country with some actually costing more than in certain countries where the iPhone 6 is more expensive. This very likely has to do with how Apple structures the price differences between the two devices as well as how the local currency is converted to US dollars. All currencies have been converted to US Dollars in order to make the comparison easier for a table like the one above.

For example, the iPhone 6 is $898.49 in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. This is why there is a flat line in the graph, they all have their prices in Euros and have the exact same price in terms of Euros. All other countries have their prices in different currencies and some even have slightly different taxes. The difference in taxes or other external factors are why Italy and France nearly top the list for iPhone prices because they use the Euro but have higher prices than the rest of Europe. However, Turkey still wins when compared to the rest of the world (at this given moment) with an iPhone price of $1,049.20 and an iPhone 6 Plus price of $1,182.20. That’s a solid $500 more for the iPhone 6 in Turkey than in the US for the exact same product.

Some interesting surprises were that the UAE’s prices were so close to the US market’s when adjusted for currency prices and that overall APAC (Asia Pacific) pays less than Europe and South America for iPhones. Additionally, Japan surprises with the lowest prices of all the countries in the world, even the US, very likely due to the US dollar to Yen conversion rate being at its lowest in years. Some other historically expensive markets will very likely beat these iPhone 6 prices in the future, like Brazil and Jordan, but Apple is not officially selling the iPhone 6 there yet. In fact, the Foxconn factory in Brazil where the iPhone is made for the Brazilian was on strike for 5 days earlier this month and may have affected the release date and final price of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. We will revisit the iPhone 6 Prices and the iPhone 6 Plus prices as Apple rolls out the rest of the world’s markets where iPhones are wanted. Right now, there is supposedly a very large grey market for iPhone 6s in China where it can already be purchased in Hong Kong, just across the border.

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There is no denying that Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) is a different company from the days when Steve Jobs walked the halls of the company’s Cupertino headquarters. Apple is now run by Tim Cook, Steve’s operations guru that managed to enable Apple’s ruthless efficiency and even more importantly their absolute profit margins. It comes as little surprise that Apple comes off as feeling dull to many since Jobs’ death in four years ago in 2011. Sure, four years is a long time in the tech world, but when it comes to a company like Apple, it takes time for someone’s impact to wane, like Jobs’.

Let’s not forget that Jobs’ helped Apple introduce a plethora of new products to the market, all with varying levels of wild success, but one of the most important things about the man is that he stuck to his guns. Very rarely did Jobs compromise or waver in his decisions and one of those decisions was that the iPhone needed to be a certain size in order to be “usable” or user-friendly. Before his death, Jobs in fact stated that nobody would want to buy a big phone, which proved incredibly wrong as the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S have been competing with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy, HTC One and Sony Xperia phones, all of which now come in 5 inch or larger screen sizes.

It comes as little surprise that Apple today announced that it would be releasing the iPhone 6 at a screen size of 4.7 inches as well as the iPhone 6 plus at a whopping 5.5 inches, something Jobs probably would’ve fired someone over. However, after Jobs’ passing, Apple started to see challengers and face challenges from competitors that Jobs somewhat foresaw (in Samsung (KRX:005930)) but also didn’t foresee (LG (KRX:066570). The reality is that many users started to leave Apple for Android devices for one reason or another. At first, it was LTE because the iPhone didn’t have it and Android phones did, then it became screen size because Android phones had bigger higher resolution screens and now Apple does too. But until today, Apple clearly feared the implications of not having a competitive “big” phone, some may argue that can be considered a phablet (at 5.5 inches).

In fact, some people are already discussing selling their iPad retinas and just getting an iPhone 6 Plus to simplify their usage needs. Truthfully, there is no denying that Apple has the most diverse set of smartphones for consumers to buy, ranging from the iPhone 5C all the way up to the iPhone Plus. However, Apple may have made a grave mistake by not offering a size smaller than 4.7 inches because there are a lot of people out there have stuck with iPhones because of their size. The new Apple is focusing on what is driving market demand and where the market appears to be going, which has been bigger and bigger phones for the last two years running.

The new iPhone 6 does bring some new things to the table for Apple, which includes NFC technology, something that Apple’s devices have lacked for quite some time. The iPhone 6 also sports an entirely new camera, which promises to once again deliver incredibly competitive images against the rest of the competition. But really, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are fairly dull and merely represent Apple’s pivoting to market demands and very little by ways of innovation.

Sure, the new phones use Apple’s new A8 SoC, which happens to be the world’s first 20nm SoC, but the truth is that it mostly appears to be an incremental improvement over the iPhone 5S’ A7 chip. It does pack a whopping 2 billion transistors into an absolutely tiny area, allowing Apple to continue to use minuscule battery sizes and still get fairly good battery life. Apple’s 64-bit lead will also be extended with the A8 processor, as none of the Android vendors have really shipped anything with a 64-bit on Android until recently. So, Apple’s lead here continues to be strong.

In fact, Apple really seems to be focusing very heavily on hiring very talented individuals and there appears to be a search for top talent, one that the company has never seen before. It appears that Apple is compensating for their lack of vision (sans Jobs) with a focus on having the best tech and the best execution of that tech that could possibly exist. This can be seen across the board throughout the company’s various divisions and there’s a very good chance we’ll see a result of this new culture in the iPhone 6’s launch and whether or not users experience any issues like previous Apple early adopters.

The Apple Watch

Now, the Apple Watch is technically the company’s very first new product line since Steve Jobs and Apple launched the iPad back in 2010. However, this new product won’t actually be available until 2015, meaning that Apple will have had five years between new product lines and most of those years were without Jobs at the helm. It comes at little surprise that the new Apple Watch comes off as incredibly ugly to some (if not many) and very likely would have never passed Jobs’ muster. Some may even argue that Apple’s new watch is uglier than Motorola’s already announced Moto 360 and that today marks the day that Motorola out-designed Apple.

Apple’s clear focus on health was noticed by us back in July when it was announced that the new Apple Watch would have a very heavy health focus. Back then, it was reported that it may have been a mistake to release such a device as an overly health focused device, and if one would look at it now, it has a very strong health focus and may lose some of a smart watch’s utility by not emulating more of what Android wear does. But if one were dig deeply, it can be seen that Apple clearly wants to do more with the smartwatch but doesn’t quite know any killer apps other than health tracking/fitness right now. And at the $350 price and iOS exclusivity they are going to have a hard time selling these to people that aren’t already fitbit or some other type of health tracker.

The fact is that Apple is not ready yet with its first new product in five years, but it is clearly afraid of losing the war of perception and decided to announce it at today’s event even though they really won’t be ready with it until next year. This is another thing that Jobs never did, if he had a product to announce, he was ready to ship it. This is just another sign of how things have changed inside of Apple and what we can expect to see for years to come. A more nimble, fearful, and competitive company that will very likely continue to react to market demands in ways that the old Apple probably never would have.

Many people talk about how Jobs’ departure effectively marked the beginning of the end for the company. But the reality is that if Jobs still were in charge today, there’s a very good chance that the company would not be anywhere near as competitive as it is today. There’s a very good chance that Jobs’ own beliefs may have prevented him from really doing what the market demanded. Sure, Jobs was the kind of person that told the market what they wanted (iPhone, iPad, Macbook, etc) but that doesn’t last forever either. Tim Cook has done a great job of keeping Apple going and they appear to be hiring all the right kinds of people to keep the company innovating, even if in small steps.

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