If you’ve ever waited in a line that wraps around the entirety of an Apple Store, congratulating yourself on snagging the latest iPhone that’s one millimeter thinner and 0.02% faster than last year’s model, I’m sorry to break it to you—you might be part of a cult.
And no, not the kind that requires robes or secret handshakes, but one that demands a steady offering of your hard-earned cash.
Apple’s marketing strategy is nothing short of genius. From limited releases that create a sense of urgency to exclusive partnerships with influencers and celebrities, Apple knows exactly how to fuel the hype. They use scarcity to drive demand and build anticipation, making each launch feel like an event you simply can’t miss. Ever since the first iPhone was launched on June 29th, 2007, there’s been an insatiable amount of hype around this rectangular chunk of glass and aluminum. Actually, it goes beyond hype. It’s pure obsession…
This tech giant has perfected the art of creating a frenzy around products that, let’s be honest, don’t always differ significantly from their predecessors. Every September, Tim Cook takes the stage with his polished smile and well-practiced “Good morning!” and suddenly, people are prepared to ditch a perfectly fine iPhone 14 for the revolutionary iPhone 15, which boasts a slightly better camera and a “new” color that, spoiler alert, will look identical to last year’s once it’s slipped into a Apple branded case.
Apple has turned planned obsolescence into an art form. Just as your phone starts mysteriously losing battery life and slowing down (thanks, subtle software updates), Apple announces its latest model. The messaging is clear: you need this. They know how to tug at your tech-lust strings with meticulously crafted keynotes, pristine aesthetics, and a little something called the Apple ecosystem.
And that ecosystem? It’s a gilded trap. Once you’ve dipped your toe into the Apple waters with an iPhone, it’s game over. You find yourself rationalizing why you need AirPods (“Wireless freedom!”), an iPad (“Perfect for reading and definitely not just a larger iPhone!”), a MacBook (“For real work!”), and maybe even an iMac for your home office because why not? It’s all seamless, interconnected, and impossible to escape—by design.
Apple has so masterfully woven convenience with exclusivity that once you start, the ecosystem becomes more like quicksand. Try leaving iMessage for another platform and watch your group chats exile you to the green-text bubble void. The exclusivity creates a subtle social pressure—a digital caste system, if you will—where users feel compelled to stay just to avoid the stigma of the ‘green bubble’. Consumer feedback often highlights this as a frustrating yet effective way to keep users tethered to Apple’s ecosystem. They’ve built a world where leaving feels like a social faux pas.
Apple’s yearly cycle of minor upgrades and major hype has sparked a trend that even its fiercest competitors are now guilty of adopting. Samsung, Google, and other major tech players have jumped on the “new phone every year” train. And their marketing strategies can get pretty in your face…
The yearly releases are, at best, incremental upgrades, often with one big ‘highlight feature’—a slightly better camera, a marginally improved screen, or a fancy AI trick—all aimed at making you feel like your current model is embarrassingly outdated.
Take Samsung’s Galaxy lineup or Google’s Pixel series, for example. Samsung often touts its advanced camera technology, like the impressive 100x Space Zoom, as a standout feature to compete with Apple’s offerings. Meanwhile, Google highlights its AI-powered photo editing tools, such as Magic Eraser, to set itself apart. Yet despite these efforts, the overall yearly upgrades remain relatively minor, mirroring Apple’s incremental approach. They too have embraced the annual launch cycle, pushing consumers into an endless loop of tech FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). The major difference? They’ve tried, and mostly failed, to replicate Apple’s locked-in ecosystem. While they compete on individual products, none has captured the cross-device synergy quite like Apple. But make no mistake: they still want you buying every year.
So why do we fall for this year after year? Partly, it’s the psychology of “new”—the excitement of having the latest toy, the dopamine hit of unboxing, the status symbol of being an early adopter. Apple and its competitors understand this and lean into it, creating an environment where tech isn’t just about utility, but identity.
The irony? With each “life-changing” feature announced, we’re not getting radically new experiences; we’re just buying into the promise of being “up-to-date.” It’s a cycle, and until we collectively take a step back and realize that last year’s phone can handle TikTok, emails, and endless photos of brunch just fine, the tech treadmill will keep rolling.
So next time you find yourself caught up in the rush of launch season, remember: it’s okay to not have the latest. Let’s be real—no one will notice that your iPhone doesn’t come in that year’s shade of “space black.”
Till next time, be wickedly wonderful.
The author is completely ignorant of Apple, why customers buy Apple, how technology evolves, what Apple does to extend the useful life of its products so they can work just fine for years and years and years. The author is a person who has done nothing productive but likes to put on airs as if he is the all knowing. He knows nothing.
… IOW, the author has a viewpoint different from yours, so he’s “wrong”. Got it.
All thanks to Edward Bernays…. (American nephew of Sigmund Freud)
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”
…“The invisible government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the few because of the expense of manipulating the social machinery which controls the opinions and habits of the masses. To advertise on a scale which will reach fifty million persons is expensive. To reach and persuade the group leaders who dictate the public’s thoughts and actions is likewise expensive.
For this reason there is an increasing tendency to concentrate the functions of propaganda in the hands of the propaganda specialist. This specialist is more and more assuming a distinct place and function in our national life.”
quoted from his 1928 book “Propaganda”
Chapters include: Organizing Chaos; The New Propaganda; The New Propagandists; The Psychology of Public Relations; Business and the Public; Propaganda and Political Leadership; Women’s Activities and Propaganda; Propaganda for Education; Propaganda in Social Services; Art and Science; The Mechanics of Propaganda.
I think you can replace ‘Apple’ with ‘smartphone’. Seems nobody can live without one and everybody is looking for that next updated one that is released.
I decided to buy the hype and get an iPhone a while back. I wanted to see if they really WERE as much better than the competition as they claim to be.
I found it to be a capable device, but after 6 months of fighting to work around its abhorrence of my PC and the iPhone’s inability to connect to it without PAID 3rd party software, I traded the nasty thing back to VZW and returned to Samsung. Yes, I know about iTunes, but that was awkward and limited. It was an unpleasant 6 months.
Bottom line: iPhones are waaaay too tribal – Apple goes out of its way to ensure that Apple devices are compatible only with other Apple devices. And iPhone prices are inflated to give them the Apple “panache” – flash it around and hear people exclaim “Wow! An iPhone!”
Not for me – I’ll take my Samsung Gaxaxy, that happily connects to my PC USB port like an ordinary thumb drive. I learned my iPhone lesson.
Wow. Where do I start with this. This is the typical viewpoint from someone who isn’t in the ecosystem and doesn’t understand how good it is. He calls it a trap. It’s a great world where everything functions so well. People call it a “walled garden” as a criticism but what they don’t realize is that they are focusing on the wrong word. Instead of focusing on “walled”, they should focus on “garden”. Because it is a garden. A very beautiful garden. The ecosystem does matter and apple by far and away has the best. I used to think the same way he did, until I hopped in apple’s ecosystem. Now I get it. What the author doesn’t understand is that Apple products are high quality products generally speaking that do last a long time, hold their value longer, and work so well together. He sounds like he is a little sour grape who is jealous. Maybe he should come to the light side and he will awaken to a beautiful world out there lol. And he talks about Apple releasing a phone every year with minimal upgrades when EVERY manufacturer does this. So why is everyone copying Apple? Maybe because Apple is making good business decisions so everyone follows. What is it that they say?.. “Imitation is the best form of flattery” lol. 😆 I would tell the author that he can have his foreign Chinese cheapo android. I’ll take the best ecosystem in the world!