In a recent episode of Sharp Tech/China, Bill Bishop asks Ben Thompson what’s wrong with the US adopting a dual strategy. That is to push ahead with the AI/chips innovation while handicapping China with its chip export controls. One of Ben’s responses was essentially, it’s about focus. While technically it’s possible for the US to do both, in theory it can only do one of them. And by nature of it having predictable outcomes, limiting China will be all the US will be doing. And that’s not what made the country what it is today.

This got me thinking about Apple. What’s wrong with Apple having a great Services (read: Apps Store tax) strategy while building great hardware products. Again possible but lacks focus. And in reality one of them will be the top priority. With over two billion active devices, leaning into Services is the “easy” choice. So that’s where Apple is headed.

And the latest casualty? The iPhone 16e.

The original iPhone SE had a purpose. That was to introduce people to iPhone who can’t afford the top of the line while giving them the best the company could offer while staying in the $300-$400 price range. iPhone 16e, apart from murdering a reasonable name, is Apple pushing another device on which it can run its “Apple Intelligence”. I use quotes because the service does not work. And I would argue is hurting the devices it’s running on.

This might seem early but we are seeing the slow death of an American giant. Not the literal death which will take some time but a spiritual one.

But wait… Aren’t iPhones great? And the iPads, all thousand plus one versions of them? And what about the Macs? Aren’t they the best they have ever been? Sure. But those are products from a different Apple. The recent ones are struggling.

The Apple Watch fumbled its way to product-market fit. And Apple Vision Pro is slowly going into the Newton category. Great tech for its time but useless product. Back then John Sculley was on a multiple revenue sources strategy. And now it’s Tim Cook. At-least Sculley had a reason i.e. the company was struggling financially. Well, I guess Wall Street is a reason (hello, Apple Intelligence ads) but that just makes me sad.