Seven Unexpected Apple Design Decisions
Apple is known for its meticulous and usually smart design work, so it stands out more when the company fails. Apple began shipping its new M4 devices last week, and despite some pretty stellar reviews , the line of devices has Apple fans scratching their heads over the company’s latest quirky design decisions : the Mac mini’s power button is on the bottom of the computer.
To celebrate what appears to be wickedness at the moment, let’s go through some of my favorite, baffling Apple design decisions.
The Mac mini’s power button is located at the bottom of the computer.
It’s a good thing the 2024 Mac mini is so small , because you’ll have to lift it every time you need to access the power button. In an unfortunate asterisk on what otherwise looks like a neat Apple TV-style redesign, the M4-powered Mac mini’s power button is located at the bottom of the device.
Speaking to Chinese site ITHome, Apple Vice President Greg Joswiak justified the decision by saying that “you almost never use the power button on your Mac,” according to machine translation. This may be true, but that hasn’t stopped the community from developing all sorts of fixes that make the power button more accessible .
Joswiak says, “I can’t remember the last time I turned on my Mac,” so I’m guessing my boyfriend doesn’t live in an area prone to thunderstorms. I use sleep mode as much as the next person, but as someone who grew up in tornado alley, I also know that when there’s a power outage, it’s nice to not have to move the desk just to turn the computer back on.
You cannot charge the Magic Mouse and use it at the same time.
Here’s another Apple device that seems to be hiding key features for no reason. Announced alongside the M4 iMac , the updated version of Apple’s Magic Mouse accessory in 2024 left a key feature—literally. The only change in the update was the upgrade of the charging port to USB-C, but unfortunately, that charging port is still located on the bottom of the mouse.
I’ve never been a big fan of Magic Mouse because I need a dedicated right-click button . But I recognize the versatility that combining a touchpad with a mouse provides. Unfortunately, even my less Windows-poisoned colleagues hate this thing.
This is because it is not possible to use the Magic Mouse and charge it at the same time. Of course,Apple claims that the Magic Mouse only needs to be charged once a month , but if you have to charge while you’re rushing to meet a deadline, that won’t be much consolation.
This problem could have been easily avoided by placing the charging port on the front of the mouse, like every other wireless mouse I have. There are a dozen universal charging cases on Amazon that claim to solve this problem (and also make the notoriously flat mouse more ergonomic while they’re at it), but it really shouldn’t be a problem.
The “bold” decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone
This is the biggest thing: it changed the way every other phone was built. In 2016, with the release of the iPhone 7 , audiophiles and casual users noticed the lack of a port on their new phones—there was no headphone jack.
This was not a surprise. Consumers knew it came from the phone’s announcement a week earlier, when then-marketing chief Phil Schiller famously said it would take the beloved audio standard to get rid of.
“It all comes down to one word,” Schiller said on stage in what has since become one of the most memorable moments in the company’s history. “Courage. The courage to move on and do something new that will benefit us all.”
Yeah, ok, buddy.
In place of the headphone jack, Apple announced the first set of AirPods at the same conference, kicking off the shift to wireless listening for many. There’s no doubt that AirPods were definitely convenient for anyone who could afford the premium, but the rest of us had to use a clunky adapter (at least we couldn’t accidentally flush our headphones down the toilet as easily). And while Samsung and Google initially ridiculed Apple for this move, they soon followed suit.
Over the years, the loss of the jack has brought several benefits – mainly allowing phones to become thinner and more waterproof. Apple’s (very) recent move to USB-C has also made it a little easier to connect a wider range of accessories to its phones, but in those lightning-fast years, “missing the aux” suddenly meant having to fiddle with a lot more cables than anyone behind. the steering wheel should.
MacBook Touchpad
Up until last year, Apple was still selling at least one MacBook with a Touch Bar , a relic of an era when the company decided that a long, thin touchscreen would be a better experience than dedicated media keys or a proper Escape key.
On paper, the idea was compelling: Replacing the function bar with a touchpad allowed users to see contextual controls for the app they were in, such as emoji keys in messaging or various font options in a word processor.
In reality, however, the Touch Bar simply wasn’t useful enough and relied on developer support that simply wasn’t there. It also made media controls less tactile, which can be a problem for buttons that most people don’t actively look at while pressing. Not to mention all the frustrating calls to less tech-savvy relatives who suddenly couldn’t find the key to salvation. (Look over the keyboard, grandma.)
Perhaps Apple will improve the Touch Bar and bring it back in the future, but this is one technology trend that the rest of the world (except Dell, for some reason ) hasn’t followed.
The butterfly keyboard was as fragile as its namesake.
Keyboard mechanisms are usually only a concern for technicians. I may have gone out of my way to type this article about low profile mechanical switches, but my relatives just use the keyboard that came with their computer or as a $30 kit at Best Buy. That’s why it’s especially impressive how disastrous the butterfly keyboard turned out to be for Apple.
The history of the butterfly keyboard began in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook. The idea was that the keyboard switch mechanism, which resembled butterfly wings, was thin enough to make room for additional components or simply make the laptop thinner. Also, ideally the keys should be more stable when typing. The reality, however, was that it was so small and fragile that it could break at the slightest hint of dust or debris.
To make matters worse, Apple would often not service a single broken key and would often dismantle the entire machine to fix it, which turned out to be much more expensive. And because of the unique design, third-party repair shops were often unable to help, leaving customers with no choice but to rely on Apple itself.
Apple stopped using the butterfly keyboard in 2020, but only after extending its warranty and having to first pay off a $50 million class-action lawsuit .
iPod Shuffle without buttons
In 2009, Apple decided to make the most of the iPod’s similarity to hard drives by eliminating buttons. I’ve never been a big fan of the iPod shuffle because I usually only listen to music when I want to hear a specific song or album, but the 2009 model went above and beyond. The device had no play buttons and instead required users to listen through a specific pair of headphones included in the box.
The headphones featured the capacitive touchpad that users became accustomed to when smartphones became more common, complete with the now standard “tap to pause, double-click to forward, triple-click to go back” controls. Luckily, you can also tap certain areas next to the touchpad to adjust the volume, but if you want to do anything more advanced, you’ll either have to consult the manual or get help from a voice assistant called VoiceOver.
Even though it was ahead of its time, I’m still not sure it would work even today. We’re used to these click controls now, but even then our phones have screens that help us with more complex navigation. Add to that the limited headphone options, and the whole offering is too finicky to serve as anything more than a fashion accessory.
$700 Mac Pro wheels
In 2020, Apple began selling drives for the Mac Pro for $700 . This proposal sounds ridiculous enough that it does not seem to need clarification, but in fact the dispute turned out to be more subtle.
The Mac Pro is generally not intended to be a consumer-grade device. Starting at $6,999 for the tower it will be attached to, it’s aimed more at enterprise customers than anyone else. If you select wheels at checkout, they will cost you $400. The wheels are about the same price as everything else on the Pro.
So, were they worth it for the business? Well, their all-metal and rubber construction makes them much more durable than the plastic casters you might be more used to from cheap computer chairs, meaning they’ll better protect your investment. In other words, if you opt for cheaper wheels and they fall apart while you’re moving your Mac Pro, you could be out a lot more than $700 when it hits the ground.
Even so, these wheels do not have brakes and are designed to be attached to a computer that needs to be plugged into the wall. Being able to pull your computer out from under your desk every now and then is nice, but it’s not worth $700, especially when you can just put the Mac Pro on a cart instead. A manager who is in it for reasons other than image will have a hard time justifying the expense.
So the jokes began to fly: Several influencers were using the wheels to make super-expensive skateboards .
But perhaps the joke is on us. According to tech commentator Marques Brownlee , the Mac Pro wheels are so expensive and so niche that they were never intended to be a serious product, but instead helped Apple maintain its luxury image.
However, corporate 5D chess aside, I feel sorry for anyone who bought these things only to have the Mac Pro stuck with an M2 series chip for years to come.