Since Cook took over the iPhone business, iPhone sales have repeatedly set records, selling 220 million iPhone 6/6 Plus at its peak. For Cook, it seems necessary to open up new businesses, and the Apple Car seems to be a good choice. But there's a good chance Cook won't be able to apply the marketing tactics he uses on the iPhone to Apple cars.
Cook
Recently, Tianfeng International analyst Guo Mingxi posted on Twitter that Apple's Apple Car team has been disbanded for a period of time, and if Apple wants to mass-produce Apple Car in 2025, it needs to reorganize the team in the next three to six months. For a time, about Apple cars, about Apple Cars, they all became a fog.
Guo Mingxi tweeted the news
Last September, Apple granted Cook new stock options to keep him until 2025, which could be a critical time for mass production of Apple Cars. But Cook said in an interview that another ten years at Apple is too long, and five years may be just right.
"Goodbye," Apple Cars
In fact, the important thing is not whether Cook is at Apple or not, but whether the Apple Car team can get together. But in recent years, we've heard too many changes in the Apple Car team, especially the turnover of the executive team, which is rare in many technology companies.
Apple Apple Car team departures (Source: Car stuff)
According to Bloomberg, half of Apple Car's core team of 13 people has already withdrawn. Since last year, dave Scott, Jaime Waydo, Dave Rosenthal, Benjamin Lyon, Doug Field, and Michael Schwekutsch have left in succession. In January, Joe Bass, the software engineering project director for the automotive team who worked for Apple for 7 years, was poached by Meta. In just over a year, the core of the Apple Car team has gone for more than half.
Apple Car rendering
Temporary replacement will sometimes be a taboo in the workplace, not to mention Apple's "tossing". To some extent, frequent replacement of core team members will drag the product's hind legs, and the slow progress of Apple Car may have something to do with this. Once the research and development is dragged down, Apple's car-making project may cause dissatisfaction among Apple's senior management and board of directors, which will eventually lead to the dissolution of the team.
But for now, all this is just speculation, and even if the Apple Car team does disband, Apple will have the ability to restructure it. The so-called "no break, no standing", the restructured Apple Car team may be able to do better, which is also the special meaning of the word "goodbye".
Why is it so hard for Apple to build a car?
Many people say that the reason why Apple's car manufacturing has stagnated is related to Apple's high expectations, and it is indeed possible. Among Apple's main businesses, iPhone, Mac, iPad, etc. are unique in the market, if Apple wants to produce an Apple Car, "a blockbuster" may be the effect that Apple wants to achieve the most.
However, the difficulty of Apple's car construction is not here. As mentioned earlier, Apple Car personnel changes too frequently, affecting car research and development and mass production. But I personally feel that the inability of Apple executives or Apple car-making teams to establish a clearer direction for the entire car-making business is a more important reason for Apple Car's delay in mass production.
For a long time, since Apple launched its car-making project code-named "Titan" in 2014, it seems that it has not been possible to make a choice between the development of autonomous driving systems and the construction of complete vehicles. When Apple is still hesitating, another giant Huawei has set the direction - resolutely not to build the whole car, only to provide technical solutions to help car companies build good cars.
In terms of technology, we can only say that Apple is trying to accumulate patented technology related to cars. According to relevant data, Apple began to apply for auto-related patents in 2012, and until October 2020, the number of apple patents in the automotive field reached 949, with an average of nearly 20 patents per year.
Apple Car related patents
However, as of now, in addition to the in-vehicle system Carplay, we have not seen how much advantage Apple cars have in core technologies, especially autonomous driving systems. Because apple's secrecy work is excellent, Apple's ability to drive itself is currently unclear. But last month, the annual test reports submitted by major autonomous driving test companies revealed some information. Among them, Apple's total mileage of the autonomous driving test ranked 14, and the MPD (average mileage per departure) was 20.02 miles (about 32km), ranking 22nd, and there is still a certain distance from the head Cruise, Pony Zhixing, etc.
Foxconn
In addition, Apple has a huge supply chain, and it is very important to be able to coordinate supply resources. Not long ago, there was news that Apple may be considering Apple Car by Foxconn and Luxun Precision. The two foundries have indeed been actively laying out the automotive supply chain recently. In January last year, Foxconn and Geely cooperated to establish a joint venture company, and its main business is OEM. Last month, Luxshare Precision announced that it will form a joint venture with Chery New Energy, mainly engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of new energy vehicles.
Apple has repeatedly rumored that it intends to cooperate with several traditional car companies, but in the end it has not been resolved. In this case, Apple's turn to Foxconn and Luxshare Precision is not surprising at all. However, car OEM is not more difficult than mobile phone OEM, Apple needs more patience, which is why Apple Car may not be able to mass-produce in 2025.
Is there a follow-up to the Apple Car?
While the Apple Car may not be able to usher in mass production in 2025, it is therefore too arbitrary to say that the Apple Car has no future. It can be said that Apple has been preparing for a long time. From the earliest project for the "Titan" plan, the accumulation of patented technology, to Apple's supply chain into vehicle manufacturing, Apple's car preparation plan can be said to be more than half carried out. Now that the curtain has been lifted, Apple, as the protagonist, must stay on stage.
Apple Car definitely has a follow-up, but under this premise, there is a lot of uncertainty in Apple's car-making business. Take the most typical team change, Apple seems to have no one to drive the entire car project until now. If Apple is slow to solve this problem, it will be difficult for the Apple Car to be mass-produced as planned.