Mark Zuckerberg Critiques Apple's Innovation and Business Practices

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made strong criticisms of tech giant Apple concerning its innovation and business strategies during a recent podcast interview with Joe Rogan.

Zuckerberg pointed out that while the iPhone has had a significant impact, making phones widely accessible, Apple has not introduced any groundbreaking innovations since its launch over 20 years ago by Steve Jobs. He stated, "On the one hand, the iPhone has been great, because now pretty much everyone in the world has a phone, and that's kind of what enables pretty amazing things. But on the other hand ... they have used that platform to put in place a lot of rules that I think feel arbitrary and I feel like they haven't really invented anything great in a while."

According to Zuckerberg, the sales of the iPhone are currently declining because consumers are delaying upgrades, largely due to the lack of significant improvements in newer models. He elaborated, "So how are they making more money as a company? Well, they do it by basically, like, squeezing people, and like you're saying, having this 30% tax on developers by getting you to buy more peripherals and things that plug into it."

He mentioned products like AirPods, suggesting they are interesting but that Apple has made it challenging for other companies to create products that connect with iPhones. He claimed that Apple's commitment to consumer privacy and security has led to these restrictions. However, he suggested that the company could alleviate these pressures by improving its security protocols and encryption methods.

Zuckerberg estimated that if Apple relaxed its strict policies, Meta's profits could potentially double. He also commented on Apple’s recent Vision Pro headset, which has faced disappointing sales figures. "The Vision Pro is, I think, one of the bigger swings at doing a new thing that they tried in a while. And I don't want to give them too hard of a time on it, because we do a lot of things where the first version isn't that good, and you want to kind of judge the third version of it. But I mean, the V1, it definitely did not hit it out of the park," he said. He added, "I heard it's really good for watching movies."

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comments regarding Zuckerberg's remarks.

Zuckerberg, Apple, Innovation