1 Responses to iOS 17.1 Features List: AirDrop Over Internet & 11 More

1. Mark S. says:

   November 17, 2023 at 4:55 pm

   Today I sent the following to Tim Cook of Apple:

   Re: Apple Case #xxxxxxxxx831

   Dear Mr. Cook:

   First, please accept my apologies for this intrusion. Under normal circumstances, the problem that brings me to you would be handled well below your pay grade. In this instance, however, I ask your indulgence because my issue goes to what may be an important flaw with the iPhone 15 Pro Max (the “Max”).

   I begin with a confession: I am neither a professional engineer nor an expert photographer. My only proximity to either status arises from the fact that I am an obsessive taker of pictures. As a result of this annoying (to my family) avocation, I’ve developed some ability to discern relatively subtle differences between images and between the cameras that produce them.

   Until October 14, 2023, I was the owner and satisfied user of an Apple iPhone 11 Pro (“11 Pro”). However, on that day I purchased from a Best Buy store in Atwater, California, for $1314.99, a 256 GB Max. I did so because I was led to believe by Apple’s advertising that the Max camera was superior to that of the 11 Pro.

   Over the roughly ten days that followed my purchase of the Max, I noticed that the images it produced were “fuzzy” and had a yellow cast. Thinking the problem might be transient or the result of my lack of familiarity with the new device, I consulted the source of all wisdom—Google—and found that many other Max purchasers had encountered the same difficulties. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255174732

   As the period during which I could return the Max was coming to an end, I had to make the decision as to whether to keep it and rely on Apple to fix the problems I had found, or to return the Max to Best Buy for a refund or exchange. I opted for the latter, and on October 28, 2023 returned to Best Buy. The store’s Apple personnel took a number of photographs with the Max, compared them to photographs taken with earlier generation iPhone cameras, and concluded the Max was not producing satisfactory pictures. Accordingly, they allowed me to turn in the camera for a replacement Max.

   By early November, it was apparent that the replacement manifested the same problems as the Max I had returned to Best Buy. I then contacted your support organization for help. During an extended conversation, your representative, “Adam,” consulted a variety of sources in an effort to diagnose and resolve my issues.

   Eventually, Adam requested access to the replacement Max. After viewing the camera’s pictures “live,” he directed me to take shots of certain items on my desk. After comparing the images, he agreed that the problems I had described to him were, indeed, problems. He then instructed me to upload the photographs for examination by Apple engineers.

   I followed Adam’s instructions and, after uploading the images, sent him an email that recited, in part: “I’m heartened by the fact that you found nothing to suggest my use of the device was the cause of the blurring or yellowing, and that we were able to reproduce the problem for review by Apple engineers.”

   At 9:58 AM on November 15, I received an email from Adam, transmitting the conclusions of Apple’s engineers. In sum, their bottom line was that what I had identified as “problems” were actually the product of the subjects Adam had directed me to photograph, the available light, and the positioning of the camera. They referred me to off-the-shelf Apple instructive videos; suggested I take several steps through which Adam had already guided me; and reminded me that images “can be very subjective.” They also recommended that I consult “various [unidentified] 3rd party resources…using your favorite search engine.”

   Curiously, the Apple engineers made no request for a new set of pictures taken with the replacement Max under conditions they regarded as satisfactory. In other words, they relied entirely on pictures they deemed to have been taken under suboptimal conditions to conclude that the Max was not deficient. In addition, they made no mention of having compared images produced by earlier iPhone models, such as my retired 11 Pro, with those taken with a Max.

   At 10:05 AM on the 15th, I wrote to Adam saying that the engineers’ response was unsatisfactory and self-serving. I noted that he had directed me to take the specific pictures I had uploaded and that he had concluded those pictures were satisfactory for analysis by the engineers. I added that if the engineers felt the shots were inadequate, they should have directed me to take new ones. I concluded by requesting that if the engineers’ verdict was Apple’s final word on my problem, that Adam elevate my case to the Office of Apple’s General Counsel.

   Roughly ten minutes later, Adam replied that he had notified the engineers that their response “was not to [my] liking” and that he would try “to see if we can get anything further from them.”

   I replied to Adam’s note at approximately noon on the 15th, telling him that in light of the time he and I had devoted to the replacement Max problems, I felt that asking for a response within 48 hours was reasonable. If I did not have an answer within that period, I asked that he draw my case to the attention of Apple’s General Counsel. I also suggested that if he passed the case on to the latter, he include the link to the skein of Max user complaints. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255174732

   It is now after noon on November 17, 2023, more than 48 hours since my last communication from Adam or anyone else at Apple. Apple’s silence reflects not only a refusal to take meaningful steps to fully examine the problems I have raised with the Max, but, as well, a refusal to confront the scores of user complaints that mirror those problems.

   Given Apple’s apparent decision to ignore evidence of what may prove to be a fundamental flaw in its product, as well as holding out as “service” engineers, a group that seems dedicated to denying rather than remedying product deficiencies, I am taking the initial step necessary to resolve my difficulties with the replacement Max. To that end, I demand:

   1. In exchange for the return of the replacement Max and lens protector I purchased in combination with it, a refund of $1314, i.e., the amount I paid for both on October 14, 2023; or

   2. Substitution of the 256 GB iPhone 15 Pro Max currently in my possession with a new 256 GB iPhone Pro Max, of the 11th through 14th generations, that does not manifest any functional issues, including but not limited to those I have described in this letter (a “substituted iPhone”). The substituted iPhone shall be covered by two years of AppleCare+ and two years of Apple iPhone Express Replacement Service coverage.

   Neither of these options seeks compensation beyond the significant price I paid for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. My goal is not to enrich myself but to get back in my hands a camera that will produce images my grandchildren might want to keep.

   As I said at the outset, I apologize for asking you to deal with a matter that falls, or should fall, within the wheelhouse of some smaller vessel in your organization. That said, I believe the experience I have described is not consistent with Apple’s reputation nor with my prior experiences with the company. Rather, it leaves me with the feeling that Apple is looking to consumers to identify flaws in a new product but is not taking on the corresponding responsibility to alert them to the risks associated with acting as guinea pigs.

   I look forward to hearing from you.

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