Today we’re going to talk about some of the conspiracy theories that surround Apple and its products. Some of these theories can be pretty far-fetched and resonate with small, more niche groups. But others, seem to have some pretty sound evidence. I’m going to go through some of the biggest of these conspiracies, including the evidence that supports or disproves them. Now probably the biggest and longest-running pole conspiracy is that of planned obsolescence. Basically, planned obsolescence is the idea that any company, not only Apple, intentionally designs its products to be unusable after a certain period of time.
This ensures that customers buy new, upgraded, and, usually, more expensive replacements as the years go by essentially guaranteeing that the company will remain profitable, rather than people just buying a product and using the same one for ten or twenty years. Now, a lot of different companies have been accused of planned obsolescence, but it’s especially prevalent among tech companies and Apple in particular. Now there are several parts to this theory when it comes to Apple products – and the first is their software.
Basically, the theory is that a few months after a new device is released, Apple begins to introduce software updates that drain battery life faster, throttle performance, and reduce the device's overall functionality. Now the incremental pace at which the updates slow devices isn’t enough for most people to notice right away. But over time, many users find themselves getting so frustrated with apps crashing or slowing down that they begin to consider buying a new version of that device. Now, this theory may not be 100% true, but there is some evidence to back it up.
For example, back in December 2017, Apple admitted to slowing down older iPhones, and the reason they gave for doing it was that as the iPhone’s battery weakens and degrades, it increases the likelihood of system-wide crashes. This obviously would frustrate many users, so Apple limited software performance to keep the operating system stable. And when users replaced the batteries in their older iPhones, they saw performance improvements across the board. Now could Apple have been throttling the older iPhone more than they needed to be? Maybe, but we’ll never really know the whole story.
All we know so far is Apple’s reasoning checks out, and there’s now an option to turn off performance management in the iPhone's settings. Now another conspiracy theory that’s sort’verelated to planned obsolescence is that Apple intentionally seals their devices shut so users can’t replace or repair anything. That way, you have to send it in to Apple and pay them a lot of money to fix it, or just buy a completely new device. Now there was an example of this in 2009 when Apple introduced a new type of proprietary five-point screw to its MacBook Pro. And this meant users had to find a special screwdriver in order to get inside their MacBook Pro, instead of using standard Philips head screws that they had been using prior.
Now the proprietary screws may have been no more than an aesthetic decision or maybe they were more sturdy, but many people felt it was just one more step towards limiting users’ ability to fix their own devices. And if you think about it, we all used to have flip phones with replaceable batteries where you just slide off the back, but today, it is almost impossible to find a smartphone with that same level of access. And that means third-party repair shops are becoming much more limited in what they can do, and some even refuse to service certain devices completely.
Now according to the planned obsolescence theory, this is a deliberate move by Apple to make more money by forcing customers to repair their iPhones or iPads through them, or by forcing customers to buy new devices. Now, in Apple’s defense, there are legitimate reasons to seal their devices shut. For example, when the user-replaceable battery in the MacBook became non-removable, it allowed for a much bigger battery that provided longer battery life. And the same thing happened with smartphones. So it's entirely possible that these decisions were made to benefit the user, rather than just make money for Apple.
But there was one decision Apple made didn't seem to benefit users at all. And that was the removal of the headphone jack, starting with the iPhone 7. A lot of users were frustrated by this, and many became suspicious when Apple introduced their wireless Bluetooth AirPods at the same time as the iPhone 7. Now it isn’t very hard to make the connection that maybe Apple removed the headphone jack in order to boost sales of their $159 AirPods. But Apple denied this, saying they needed the extra room inside the iPhone for its Taptic Engine. Now, it’s important to remember that Apple is a for-profit business – not a humanitarian organization. And while Tim Cook and other executives have expressed a commitment to human rights, accessibility, and global good, company decisions must still meet a bottom line.
So, if Apple did decide to remove the iPhone's headphone jack to encourage sales of the AirPods, it’s not necessarily a conspiracy – it's just business. That being said, there are plenty of conspiracy theories that go well beyond the realm of business practices and into issues of privacy, state surveillance, and even mind control. For example, one of the biggest and most controversial theories is that Apple devices are listening to and watching users without their knowledge. And the scariest part is there have actually been incidents of this kind of thing happening.
In 2008, a remote administration tool was accidentally used by high school administrators in Pennsylvania to take over 50,000 pictures of students in their homes from their webcams. In 2013, an application called I see you allowed hackers to remotely access the webcam on MacBooks without triggering the green indicator light. So strangers were able to watch and record users without them knowing, and this all became public knowledge when Miss Teen USA CassidyWolf received an extortion attempt that included over one hundred nude photos of herself taken remotely by her own notebook.
Now, let me be clear, neither of these events were perpetrated by Apple themselves, and they’ve actually worked hard to close different loopholes and vulnerabilities in their software to prevent this from occurring again. But there is always a risk for security breaches, so their work is never done. Now I just mentioned Apple not being involved in any of those incidents, but some people believe other companies like Facebook andGoogle are using Apple products in sinister ways. Which brings us to the next conspiracy theory, that various companies listen in on users through their microphone and collect data on their conversations to use for advertising.
Now I don’t know if this is much of a theory anymore since it has been demonstrated in many videos, where someone will have a conversation about a specific item, and after mentioning it out loud a few times, will find advertisements for that specific item on Facebook, Google, or another app. Maybe you’ve even experienced it for yourself. And if this theory is in fact true, how are we to know what else they’re doing? Maybe they also have access to our camera, and we just don’t know it yet. But what scares me the most is what might happen if these companies are hacked. All of a sudden a hacker would have access to the microphones and perhaps cameras of every user on earth.
And I don’t think any person or company for that matter should have the power to invade our privacy so freely. Now the last conspiracy theory I want to discuss has to do with Apple’s various biometric sensors like TouchID and FaceID. When the features were first introduced by Apple, they assured users that all of our biometric data would be stored locally on your device inside something called the secure enclave. And so far, that appears to be true. But that hasn’t stopped some theorists from considering unintended consequences or hidden agendas that Apple might have. For example, some human rights groups have advised users against using a TouchID or FaceID as a way to unlock their phone because of the possibility that it gives authorities away inside their phone without their consent. Imagine that you get pulled over and the police want inside your phone for whatever reason, what’s stopping them from pointing your iPhone X at your face and going through all its contents.
But others theorize that there are more sinister and far-reaching uses for Apple’s new biometric measures. Beyond advertising or evidence for simple drug arrests and car searches, there are those who believe that Apple is using FaceID to build a database of human biometric data. This database could be used for large-scale surveillance, which could have untold consequences for personal security and privacy. Beyond Apple’s own use of this database, they could have an incentive to sell facial mapping data to third-party companies – and the consequences of these sales could be massive. But it would also make Apple an even bigger target for hackers, who would do anything for that much data on all iPhone users.
Now, this is all speculation of course and while I don’t think Apple is saving our biometric data, that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t. Because even though there isn’t any evidence of Apple listening in on our private conversations, there is evidence of third-party companies doing it through their own apps. And it's very difficult for users to manage the types of permissions given to different apps, especially when they need those permissions for certain features. For example, I give Facebook access to my microphone so I can record audio messages, but that doesn’t mean I want the microphone to stay active even after I close the app. And I definitely don’t want Facebook to record my private conversations for advertising purposes or whatever else they’re using it for. So this becomes a very complicated issue that fuels all sorts of conspiracy theories.
So overall I think most of these conspiracy theories about Apple are false, but there are a few that wouldn’t surprise me if they turned out to be true. Especially the ones about planned obsolescence. Now there are many other theories that I didn't into today, from radio wave frequencies disrupting health to caustic rubber-melting substances applied to iPhones before they hit the market, so I encourage you to do some research for yourself because reading about all of these different theories can be quite entertaining and fun. So those were some Apple conspiracy theories.
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