As a general rule, Apple doesn’t mention competition very often. In fact, even when comparing processor speed or past camera improvements, the company usually only compares its latest hardware to past generations of its own stuff. And they do it for a very good reason. Instead of giving you any reason to go research a competing device, Apple tends to keep the conversation at home and this provides consumers with a different framework for addressing their hardware. The question is not how much better is this Apple product compared to Google? Instead, it becomes how much better is this product compared to the same one Apple made last year and should I upgrade?
Theft? For sure. Calculated? You bet, but it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. I recently saw a video about this tactic and it does a great job keeping the narrative geared to a world that is all Apple, all the time. Not to mention the competition, Apple basically rises above the others in its own eyes. By doing this, not even mentioning the competition, they almost create an alternative reality within their bubble of influence that gently indicates to the consumer that there is nothing worth paying attention to other than Apple.
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Misleading statistics
That sheet broke a little yesterday while Apple was moving to the iPad part of its main note. In the first minute of the actual presentation of the iPad, Apple broke the norm and quickly called for its new entry-level iPad with the A13 Bionic chip is “Up to 3 times faster than the best-selling Chromebook and up to 6 times faster than the best-selling Android tablet.” Check out the 7:45 minute video below.
Now, they didn’t linger on this for any real time period, and that was likely on purpose, but you caught what they were really saying? This new iPad is not 3 times faster than the fastest Chromebook. No. It is 3 times faster than the Best-selling Chromebook. And you can probably guess which are these best-selling Chromebooks – entry-level, low-cost EDU-focused devices. Seriously, take a quick look at Best Buy or Amazon and sort them by top sellers. You’ll find Chromebooks with the Celeron N3350 (2 generations old) and the MediaTek MT8183 on board. These processors have a hard time getting close to 10K on Octane and would fall into the lowest performance category on anyone’s Chromebook list.
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So Apple’s real comparison is that its new iPad is 3 times faster than the slower Chromebooks you can buy right now. When you say that, not only does it not sound at all impressive, either almost believes that Apple intended to mislead potential consumers so that their product looks better than it really is. No tech company would, right?
A mention means they are paying attention
So Apple used creative language to sell its new iPad. No damage, no fault, right? If you are paying attention, you know that this always happens with all kinds of products. It’s deceptive to the point of almost lying, but it’s not technically mal. But there’s no doubt that the subtle mention of this skewed statistic points to Apple starting to take note of Chromebooks and the impact Google has on the low-cost market.
As I said at the opening of this post, Apple doesn’t directly mention competitors very often, so the fact that I’ve seen the need to specifically call Chromebooks tells me that they’re very aware of the dominance that Chromebooks have. in an affordable computer space. and in school settings as well. How could they not be?
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And, no matter how aggravating the misleading statistics may be, I can’t help but feel a little flattered that Apple felt the need to recognize Chromebooks that way. For so long, Apple products and Google products have taken such different lanes that I’ve never thought of Chromebooks as any kind of threat to Apple. With this mention in a high-level speech, it seems to be changing. Apple sees the growing prevalence of Chromebooks and maybe, maybe, maybe, they’re a little threatened. And that, my friends, is a great thing for Chrome OS fans.
