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317 points diwank | 10 comments | | HN request time: 1.113s | source | bottom
1. poszlem ◴[] No.41850362[source]
I still remember the Steve Jobs era when people would praise Apple for having a simple lineup of devices, in contrast to Android, which had some crazy amount of variants of every device. How times have changed.
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2. ◴[] No.41850395[source]
3. wslh ◴[] No.41850459[source]
Regarding variants, it continue to be more complex to buy a Microsoft Windows notebook.
4. alpaca128 ◴[] No.41850863[source]
What other large brand has a simpler lineup? Samsung released 22 phones just in 2024 with memorable names like C55 and M05.

Although I wouldn't mind if they got rid of one or two iPhone variants, or at least gave them more meaningful names. I have no idea what the difference between Plus, Pro and Max is. I only know that Pro doesn't mean pro, and that doesn't make it any easier.

Edit: also Steve Jobs was still alive when you could choose between four different iPod variants.

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5. hbn ◴[] No.41853170[source]
It's mainly just the iPad lineup that's a mess, but it's optimized for there always being an iPad available for increasing budgets in $100 jumps, give or take. It's confusing to try and keep track of them all, but that's not really the point. What they have is anyone can walk into a store and say "give me an iPad, I'll pay $600" and they'll get a good device.
6. scarface_74 ◴[] No.41853506[source]
When Jobs did that Apple was close to bankruptcy. When the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, was less than $25 billion. It’s now $385 billion.
7. walterbell ◴[] No.41853988[source]
Google Pixel has one Tablet.
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8. ◴[] No.41854490{3}[source]
9. alpaca128 ◴[] No.41857350{3}[source]
Within the first year of release there was also just one iPhone and one iPad.

Meanwhile there are 4 variants of the Pixel 9. So clearly Google shows the same trend over time.

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10. walterbell ◴[] No.41859364{4}[source]
9 years, 3 tablets, 1 active:

  Pixel C (2015)
  Pixel Slate (2018)
  Pixel Tablet (2023)
https://www.androidcentral.com/google-pixel-c-was-best-andro...

> I'll forever remember a different tablet, the Google Pixel C, as the best Android tablet ever made.. The Pixel C's design was just overflowing with potential.. like so many Google hardware products, few people ever had an opportunity to use a Pixel C. It never received a model refresh, and its spiritual successor, the Pixel Slate, was a total disaster. I felt at the time, as I still do today, that the Pixel C deserved a simple update with new components to give this hardware design more time to shine.

So far, no news on Pixel Tablet 2, other than Pixel Tablet being sold standalone without the dock.