Today’s smartphones, computers, and tablets have centralized many features that their users cannot seem to live without. For example, most smartphones are fitted with a micro-USB port for charging. This way, chargers are more readily available, making life easier for their users.

Most smartphones, that is, except for the iPhone. Apple does not use the same standard charger as every other smartphone company. This is because Apple wants to make more money by trying to control the accessories market as well. This is understandable, considering the main focus of a business is generally to make money. But Apple should not disguise what is an obvious competitive business move as “innovation.”

This is not Apple’s only regressive feature on their products. They constantly release outdated products with flashy designs that come with even flashier price tags. In fact, Apple’s flagship product, the Macbook Pro 13-inch, is priced $300 more than the Sony VAIO Pro 13, with almost identical specifications. The computers have the same processor, the same amount of RAM, and the same amount of disk storage. Sometimes it seems that Apple thinks it has a license to overprice their products because of the sleek LED logo on the back.

It has not always been this way, however. Apple started off as a great company whose innovations and contributions helped push the world toward a new digital age. Once their products started getting beat out by superior PC products in the ‘90s, their stock price fell. New management and new business decisions were made at Apple that ultimately transformed it from a power-driven computing company to a cash cow that caters to the uninformed consumer, selling flashy portable devices, and starting a new suburban trend that, unfortunately, has not died out yet.

It is not only Apple that has changed their priorities from performance to design; in fact,
there is probably a sleek new Microsoft retail store at your mall, selling computers that share a common interface with a smartphone, and a few comparable specifications as well. Computers are becoming tablets, tablets are becoming phones, and touch screens are replacing keyboards and mice.

This is how it goes with the two tech giants. The world of computers is changing, and not
necessarily for the better. Companies like Apple and Microsoft are destroying performance-based consumer electronics by continuing to make products of lower and lower quality.

So, the next time you are shopping for a new laptop, phone, or tablet, look at its specs before you consult with an Apple “genius” about buying it.