When Our Devices Crash Into The Real World

Apple Devices Last…Sometimes

I’m a big fan of Apple hardware. They make excellent smartphones, laptops and desktop computers, whether all-in-ones like the iMac or small form factor like the Mac Mini. The performance is generally excellent and the energy efficiency is top tier. And while some Apple software has regressions — Tahoe should probably have gone through more of a QA cycle, for instance — generally I think Apple has excellent software quality as well.

It’s a great combo.

Their offerings are generally secure and reliable. Their pricing is entirely competitive, especially now that Apple isn’t suffering the RAM price inflation that its competitors are1.

Treated carefully these things generally last forever. I’ve never had an Apple device fail on me, and instead they only go out of service due to extreme obsolescence2, or because of misfortune yielding a physically destroyed device.

I’ve decommissioned some iPhones, iMacs and an iPod due to obsolescence. We lost a couple of iPads and an iPhone due to physically being destroyed. Lost an Intel-era Macbook Pro because my son lightly dented in a corner of the screen, and courtesy of the tiny bezel made of soft aluminum, it destroyed the screen.

If Treated Extremely Carefully

Some Apple devices are built for aesthetics, however, with form clearly prioritized over function. At least in how they can survive the perils and risks of the real world.

iPhones look and feel amazing from the factory, but I don’t even take one out of the box until I have a heavy duty case and screen protector ready to be installed within seconds of its consumer birth3.

“Just buy AppleCare+ and don’t sweat it”

I have zero interest in spending my time at an Apple store, or without my device. Going without my device and then getting some refurbished device is not a valid solution for me. There is literally zero upside to getting a phone repaired or replaced in this fashion, and I’ll avoid it wherever possible4. And to be clear, I usually do buy AppleCare+ regardless and for worst case scenarios, but I still don’t want the hassle.

And clearly I’m not alone. Only maniacs use their iPhone without a case5, and all of Apple’s boasting about making slightly thinner or lighter devices just doesn’t matter to most people who just want a better battery, performance, screen, camera, etc.

See the flop that the iPhone Air has been. Seriously, almost no one thinks smartphones need to be thinner, yet for some reason Apple particularly seems to really care about this. Every release goes on about tiny savings on thickness or weight that no one outside Apple cares about at all. It’s institutional pathology at this point.

An uncased iPhone is an attractive, impressive device. But it isn’t practical for most people. We all occasionally fumble our device, knock it off shelves and chairs, or put it in a pocket with scratchy companions.

The Counterpoint

This whole thought came about while moving my youngest son’s Lenovo laptop6. It offered an example that it doesn’t have to be this way.

The thing is built like a tank. He tosses it in his backpack with little concern. The shell is strong, and the screen is well protected by beefy, strong bezels. It’s still a speedy, impressive device, but somehow it also can survive normal use without babying.

I contrast this with the MBPs I’ve had. All are outrageously fragile devices that I carefully extract from their massively-padded laptop cocoon and carefully place on the desk. MBPs often feature tiny bezels and beautifully curved aluminum shells, so you need to be extremely vigilant that are never hit around these perimeters.

I treat Macbooks more carefully than any other electronic in my life. It is a device I actually don’t like using out and about. Whoa, does that table I put it down on have tiny bits of material that are going to scratch the bottom? Is someone going to bump the edge while moving by?

Give Us Rugged Apple Devices

I know this angers some people who really prioritize looks above all, but we need rugged Apple variants.

I want to use Apple Silicon (especially now that they added “tensor” functionality in the GPU) on the road. I want to use Apple’s software. The outrageous, unacceptable fragility of the devices is the part that I find hard to rationalize, and always reach for alternatives.

Give us rugged options. No, I do not care that everyone knows I have the latest Macbook or iPhone. No I don’t want people marvelling over bezels or soft-metal shells. I absolutely do not care if it weighs a bit more or is thicker or has larger bezels.

Give me some sort of beefy, robust options that I don’t have to fret over and baby. Make it ugly if need be. Make the form fit the actual function. Let those of us who don’t prioritize the aesthetics of a tool the option to have more durable, robust options out of the gate. There is a medium somewhere between “fragile, precious work of art” and “gaudy plastic covered with stickers”, and I think it’s a medium many customers would prefer.

Footnotes

  1. Apple fabs their own RAM on their SoCs, and aren’t buying the production of companies like Crucial. ↩

  2. We’re in the process of replacing a couple of XRs in the family. They still operate perfectly, performance is still satisfactory and the screens still look fantastic, but they’re being replaced purely as these seven-year-old devices are no longer getting major OS updates. While they’re still getting security updates, it won’t be long before major apps start gatekeeping on iOS 26. ↩

  3. This isn’t always enough, however. A few years back one of my sons was late going out for the bus to school and had to run down the icy drive to get there in time. An unfortunate fall on an inconveniently situated rock yielded a situation that even Spiegen armour couldn’t help with. The iPhone was soundly destroyed. ↩

  4. While maybe it’s just online bluster, often in discussions about driving — whether in the real world or online — people will boast about how people had better not “cut them off” or the like, because they don’t care they’ll smash right into them.

    This attitude fascinates me. I’ve avoid a number of accidents through careful defensive driving because even if the other guy is fully at fault and my dashcams back me up, it’s still an enormous hassle with only downside. I think of this when people use AppleCare+ as their fallback. ↩

  5. Seriously though, I am truly fascinated by people who use fragile smartphones without cases. I mean, often they have multiple cracks on their screen, a dented in enclosure, and so on, and I guess they’re willing to live with that. ↩

  6. He bought this laptop with his own earnings from his various initiatives in the virtual world. At times this teenage Roblox developer/business man in training is out-earning me, which is humbling. ↩