Six Colors, a blog run by Jason Snell and Dan Moren (two veterans of Apple reporting), publishes a so-called report card every year. It gives connoisseurs, journalists, developers, podcast makers and even more prominent Apple enthusiasts the chance to share what they thought of Apple over the past year. Apple has deteriorated in almost all respects, while one product category did a lot better in 2021 than a year before.
Apple score for 2021
The report discusses a total of twelve components: Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, wearables, hardware reliability, software quality, services, HomeKit, sociality and the relationship with developers. For each part, the expert, of which there were 51 in total, gives a score from 1 to 5, which ultimately results in an average. The Mac scores the best with an average of 4.6, closely followed by hardware reliability (4.5). There is not much difference in these categories compared to a year ago. The Mac now scores 0.1 point lower, while the hardware reliability score has remained the same.
Other high scores are for the iPhone, wearables, iPad, Apple Watch and services. The iPad and warables received the same score as a year ago, while the iPhone, Apple Watch and services received scores that were respectively 0.3, 0.2 and 0.4 points lower than in 2020. Apple will have it on all in 2021. these points therefore performed worse than in 2020. The lowest score of all categories is for HomeKit. Especially the lack of developments in HomeKit is often mentioned. The plug went out of the original HomePod, Apple still doesn't make accessories itself and the development of the Home app has also been standing still for a while. And due to the many conflicts with agencies and developers, Apple also scores a lot worse than before in the developer relations category.
Apple TV makes great progress
But there is also good news: the Apple TV was the only one to score a whole point higher in 2021 than a year earlier. This makes it the only climber in this study. That sounds very positive, but bear in mind that the Apple TV stood still for a long time before 2021. In fact, with a score of 2.1, the Apple TV scored the worst of all components. In 2021, the Apple TV has risen two spots, with an average score of 3.1. Especially new Siri Remote 2021 is mentioned as a big plus. We were also enthusiastic in our review of the Siri Remote 2021.
Do you want to read more substantiation or dive deeper into the numbers? Read the full report at Six Colors.
At the end of December we also published our own Apple annual overview for 2021 on iCulture. In it we discuss the highs and lows and everything in between. Also listen to our iCulture Podcast, because in the last episode of 2021 we also looked back on the past year and discussed our favorites, biggest setbacks and more.