26 letters review Apple's year: from Admire to Zenith

The New Year bell of 2016 is about to ring, and in the blink of an eye it is already the end of 2015. In 2015 you may have cheered, been disappointed, expected, or complained about Apple. This year Apple has many unforgettable moments that are worth remembering. Now let us use 26 English letters (AZ) to take you through Apple's 2015.

Admire

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In an interview with Fortune magazine, Tim Cook said that after helping to raise his 10-year-old nephew until he finishes college, he will donate "all his wealth." After announcing that he will join the naked donation queue of the rich list in the future, industry insiders roughly estimated Cook's current wealth: in addition to regular personal property, Cook holds about $120 million worth of Apple stock and about $665 million in restricted shares. In other words, after fulfilling his obligations as a supporter, Cook may donate at least nearly $800 million in wealth. How can you not admire such a Cook?

Backdoor

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In May this year, Apple and more than 140 organizations jointly sent an email to Obama, in which they requested the White House to reject the upcoming proposal to change the policy to allow law enforcement agencies to access encrypted user data. In addition, the UK has also introduced an "Investigatory Powers Act" to require technology companies to leave a "backdoor" for smartphones so that the police can monitor users' smartphones and computers. Apple, which has always been very persistent in user privacy issues, naturally refused to compromise, believing that once the backdoor is opened, there will be endless troubles.

Chip

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A9X may be Apple's most powerful chip to date, but it seems to be less popular than its family member - A9 in 2015. Ever since users learned that the A9 chips in iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are manufactured by Samsung and TSMC respectively, the debate over which chip is more powerful has exploded on the Internet. It was not until Apple officially responded that the matter was settled.

Design

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In May this year, Apple announced that Jonathan Ive, the former senior vice president of the company's design department, was promoted to the newly created position of "Chief Design Officer" (CDO). In response, Apple said that it would give Ive more research freedom and allow him to have time to do what he is really interested in. This means that Ive's key management responsibilities will be handed over to others, and the Ive era at Apple may be coming to an end.

Enterprise

Speaking of enterprises, we have to mention the cooperation between Apple and IBM. In December, the two parties announced that they have developed 100 IBM MobileFirst iOS enterprise applications, covering 14 different industries and 65 different professions. The in-depth cooperation with IBM can not only increase the share of Apple devices in the enterprise market, but also increase Apple's revenue.

Fanless & Force Touch

In addition to the regular upgrades to the MacBook product line, Apple also launched a 12-inch MacBook this year. The new MacBook is a fanless Mac laptop. Since the Intel Core M chip has a power of only 5W and generates very little heat, it does not require fans or heat pipes to dissipate heat. Instead, the motherboard is placed on an anisotropic graphite sheet to help dissipate heat around.

Force Touch is also a new technology that Apple has applied to the new MacBook, which allows you to customize the touch sensitivity, so that you can adjust the pressing force corresponding to the click operation as needed. The trackpad can even distinguish whether you are using your thumb or other fingers to click and automatically adjust the sensitivity.

Game-Changer

3D Touch is a special feature of iPhone 6s. Based on Force Touch, Apple has further expanded 3D Touch, bringing a new dimension to iPhone operation. Many industry observers are very optimistic about this technology, believing it to be a game-changer in the industry. Currently, its influence has "spread" to Android devices. There are even reports that screen pressing technologies like 3D Touch are expected to be widely used in 2016.

Hello, China (Cook starts blogging)

On May 11, Apple CEO Tim Cook opened a Weibo account in the afternoon of Beijing time. In his first post, he said, "I am very happy to be in Beijing again and announce innovative new environmental projects." In just one hour, Cook's Weibo followers exceeded 200,000. Whenever Apple launches new services or opens an Apple store in China, Cook always posts one or two Weibo posts. Of course, it may be posted by someone else.

iPad Pro

You can say that iPad Pro is a continuation of the iPad product line, or you can say that it is a brand new product line. The 12.9-inch screen gives it more attributes that previous iPads have never had. iPad Pro is equipped with the A9X chip, which is a third-generation 64-bit chip with twice the memory bandwidth of the A8X. iPad Pro has 4 speakers, the volume is three times that of iPad Air 2, and the battery life is 10 hours.

Jobs

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There are not many topics about Steve Jobs this year, but there are still two movies "paying tribute" to the former Apple CEO. One is called "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine", and the other is the Jobs biography "Steve Jobs" starring Fassbender and others. The similarity is that both films were mainly criticized for their inaccurate portrayal of Jobs.

King

Speaking of Apple's main source of revenue, the iPhone is still the most important. Apple sold 74.468 million iPhones in the first fiscal quarter, a 46% increase from 51.025 million in the same period last year. Just looking at the results of this quarter, you can feel the shocking power of the iPhone. Apple launched the iPhone 6s this year, and the sales of iPhone 6s exceeded 13 million units in the first weekend of its launch, setting a new record and exceeding analysts' expectations.

Live Photos

Live Photos is used to record a 1.5-second dynamic video before and after a photo is taken. When the user presses deeply on the photo, the photo will automatically play the dynamic effect. Users can also set Live Photoss as lock screen wallpaper to replay dynamic moments at any time. Currently, social applications such as Weibo and Facebook support this feature, and it may become a popular new way to play social applications.

Music (Apple Music)

Apple entered the music streaming market for the first time this year and launched Apple Music. The biggest highlight of Apple Music is the built-in 24/7 global radio and the social network for fans to interact with their favorite artists. Cook revealed that there are currently 15 million users using Apple Music, of which 6.5 million are paid subscribers. However, the experience of Apple Music seems to be criticized by users.

News (Apple News)

Apple News is also a new service launched by Apple this year. It is a news aggregation application that will collect content from news publishers around the world, and users can customize the display of articles, etc.

Odd

Some of the products and accessories launched by Apple this year have confused some users, who have begun to doubt Apple's design philosophy. These include the strange way the iPad Pro charges the Apple Pencil, the Magic Mouse 2 must be placed upside down to charge, and the strange iPhone 6/6s Smart Battery Case launched at the end of the year. Users call them the three best designs of Apple this year.

Payment (Apple Pay)

Apple launched Apple Pay in 2014 and expanded to more countries this year, including the UK, Canada, Australia and China. Cook called 2015 the "Year of Apple Pay", but a year later, not many people are using Apple Pay. A survey by market research firm Kantar in the United States showed that as of April this year, more than 75% of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users had never used this service. However, the entry of Apple Pay into China is expected to have a more far-reaching impact on Apple Pay's layout.

Question (Mysterious Car)

At the beginning of the year, news came out that Apple was developing electric vehicles, including driverless electric vehicles. Since then, rumors of Apple's entry into the automotive field have spread like wildfire. Subsequently, a project codenamed "Titan" was exposed, and many reports pointed out that Apple has formed a large team for the car project and recruited many talents from the automotive industry. At present, it seems that the question of Apple's development of cars is only a matter of time (when to launch).

R&D

In fiscal year 2015, Apple invested $8.1 billion in R&D projects, and its total revenue was $233 billion, which is only 3.5%. In comparison, Facebook's R&D expenditure is 21% of its total revenue ($2.6 billion), Qualcomm's is 22% ($5.6 billion), and Google's parent company Alphabet's is 15% ($9.2 billion). Bloomberg commented that Apple has never followed the philosophy of "the more R&D investment, the more advanced it is."

Shake-up

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In mid-December, Apple announced several important personnel changes, including the appointment of Jeff Williams, formerly the senior vice president of operations, as COO (Chief Operating Officer), and Phil Schiller, the senior vice president of marketing, who will take over the App Store business across all Apple platforms. In addition, Johny Srouji will serve as the senior vice president of the hardware technology department, and Tor Myhren will join Apple in the first quarter of 2016 as the vice president of marketing and communications, reporting directly to Cook. This is one of the biggest personnel changes Apple has made in recent years.

TV (Apple TV)

Apple launched Apple TV 4 this year. The new Apple TV adopts a new design. Although it is thicker, it has a more powerful configuration. It is equipped with a more powerful 64-bit A8 processor to meet the needs of high-bitrate streaming media and living room entertainment games. At the same time, the new generation of Apple TV is equipped with a new Siri remote control and a touchpad, giving you a new operating experience. In addition, the new operating system is equipped with a new app store. Cook said: Apps will be the future of TV.

Update (Product Update)

Apple updated many product lines this year, including (excluding accessories) the launch of a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch, a regular update of the MacBook Air, the official launch of the Apple Watch, a new 12-inch MacBook, a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch, a lower-priced 27-inch 5K iMac, iPod touch (color update), the launch of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, iPad mini 4, Apple Watch (new gold and rose gold cases for the sports version), Apple TV 4, a 21.5-inch 4K iMac, an upgraded 27.5-inch 5K iMac, Apple Watch (Hermès edition), and iPad Pro.

Value

In February this year, Apple became a company with a market value of more than $700 billion. This is twice the market value of Google, four times that of Bank of America, eight times that of McDonald's, 12 times that of General Motors, and 24 times that of Twitter. If Apple were a country, it would rank 55th in the world in terms of cash on hand. $178 billion is more than twice the net worth of Bill Gates and exceeds the GDP of countries such as Vietnam, Morocco, and Ecuador.

Watch

Apple Watch is a new product category launched by Apple this year. Although Apple has not announced the sales of Apple Watch, market observers believe that Apple Watch has quickly occupied the wearable device market and has had an impact on some traditional watch manufacturers. There are rumors that Apple will launch Apple Watch 2 in 2016, a second generation with more powerful hardware configuration, which is expected to capture the hearts of more users.

Xcode (development tool infection)

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Xcode was originally just an Apple development tool, but in September this year it became synonymous with malware in the short term. Some developers downloaded pirated Xcode that had been infected with malware, and the apps they developed were infected. Some of the infected apps were even uploaded to the App Store, causing a significant impact for a while.

Yuan (China)

The Chinese market is a topic that must be mentioned in Apple's quarterly earnings conference. Whether it is the sharp increase in iPhone sales or App Store revenue, it is inseparable from the huge contribution of the Chinese market. However, there are also skeptical voices pointing out that Apple has achieved good results in the Chinese market, and Apple's dependence on the Chinese market is becoming more and more obvious, which may bring greater risks to the company.

Zenith

It is undeniable that Apple created many records and achieved many glories in 2015, but the problems of product innovation and software services often put it in the vortex of doubt. Some people say that Apple's market value will soon reach 800 billion US dollars, which will make it reach the top soon, while others say that after reaching the top, Apple will decline. In any case, 2015 is about to pass, and Apple's 2016 is still worth looking forward to.