When the first photos of the new iPhone 17 Pro leaked to the press, thematic portals and commentators spoke unequivocally: “What kind of freak?”, “This is not an iPhone!”, “The design of a Chinese smartphone”. Apocalyptic forecasts of the company’s imminent collapse and a sharp drop in sales sounded again, especially since they were based on Apple’s very real failures in 2024.

“The ugliest smartphone ever”

In the first quarter, sales fell by 24% at once under the pressure of extremely successful phones from local manufacturers, but they could not consolidate their success. As a result, 2025 was a record year for Apple in terms of both units sold and profit, becoming the global market leader for the first time in 14 years, displacing Samsung from the pedestal.

Samsung remains in second place, but only due to multi-million dollar sales of more budget models.

A total of 247.4 million iPhones of all kinds were sold, which is an insane figure. In the last quarter of last year, one in four smartphones in the world was sold by Apple, and these are only new models. How did it happen that after a wave of criticism from users and journalists, Cupertino not only resisted, but also broke all their past records, and what does design have to do with it?

In September 2025, when the new model was presented, the Internet was flooded with posts of bewilderment and condemnation. People saw the new design as an attempt to sell an old device without any innovation once again, accusing engineers and designers of impotence and inability to give the market something new.

The fact is that critics of Apple products are not its target audience. As a rule, these are pragmatic people who reason in numbers and characteristics, while Apple focuses on emotions and sensations. The company has never advertised either the battery capacity, or the number of processor cores and their frequency, or the amount of RAM. All this is completely unimportant for the target audience, as long as the device works normally, does not bug and does not freeze.

At the same time, technically, both the iPhone and Macbook are amazing devices with the best processors in their class, but if they talk about this in Apple’s advertising, it is in passing, without emphasizing it. Specialists who buy computers for half a million already understand what we are talking about. For everyone else, it does not matter in the slightest. They are hired because they are the best, not “the best for their money”.

Other manufacturers feverishly cram all the innovations of the world into their devices, cameras with a huge sensor, carbon fiber and huge batteries, but they get only a temporary effect, spending a lot of money. Apple, meanwhile, sells experiences, impressions, and emotions, making crazy profits. How did it happen?

Research in the field of neuroscience shows that among fans of Apple technology, the image of a bitten apple causes reactions in the brain similar to family loyalty or religious ecstasy. Do not rush to throw the word “sectarians”! Creating a cult of your product is the highest goal of any marketer, and the guys at Apple are the best of the best in this business. But they do not zombify their customers with secret rays, there is much more delicate work here.

For 25 years, the company has created a user retention system that works perfectly. It provides a 92% user retention rate, which means that after a year, out of 100 newcomers, only 8 people leave the Apple ecosystem. Samsung has only 77%, Pixel, the closest competitor, has 89%. At the same time, Apple receives about $140 in profit per user, while Samsung and Google receive $40 and $55, respectively.

The first trap that keeps the user is a convenient ecosystem. The Apple Watch connects to the iPhone and works in conjunction with it perfectly, no other smartphone will give you such an experience. Photos are synced to iCloud, messages come via iMessage, files are transferred via AirDrop, and then there is Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+… The user simply does not need to leave this environment, he has almost everything he needs. And what is not available can be installed from the AppStore. Although Google is also on the alert and is gradually improving the convenience of migrating between systems, because it is easier to poach an iOS user than to get a completely new client.

The second trap is social pressure. For years, marketers have whispered to their customers, “You’re just like everyone else. Just a little better.” And so that no one actually heard, but felt well. The best illustration of this is the moment you open iMessage for Android. It would seem that now fans of the green robot and the apple will be able to communicate in a single space and Apple will lose, albeit a small, but a piece of monopoly. But they kept the color of bubble messages blue for Apple users, and green for Android. So that everyone understands who is the boss and who is the guest.

This is reflected in user behavior as well. For example, once my colleague, a successful entrepreneur and designer, saw an inexpensive Android smartphone in my hands and asked: “Why not an iPhone?” Not “why this phone”. It is the iPhone.

All this turns a person into a loyal consumer, a brand ambassador who no longer sees any benefit in other products. Rational reasons like a better camera or a big battery don’t work where emotions and . Although owners of Apple devices still have practical considerations – they depreciate noticeably more slowly over time.

Let’s say you’ve been using an iPhone for a long time and want something new that gives you a radically different experience and features. What to take? The traditional competitor Samsung Galaxy has shown stagnation and lack of innovation in recent years. S25 Moreover, the company sells more of its flagship models than any other manufacturer, given the sales of smartphones that even a student can afford.

Samsung, like many other brands, failed to create a strong marketing myth and an attractive ecosystem, and therefore bet on technology. Engineers added the fastest memory, the most powerful chips available, and the best cameras to their devices. But people don’t need better cameras on their own. You need a bundle of comfortable experience and stable quality. The feeling that you have been taken care of, that you are holding a premium product in your hands. Apple does it better than anyone else.

The Samsung Galaxy 25 Ultra is a technological masterpiece and arguably the best Android smartphone in the world. But the iPhone is still more willing.

In addition, the pursuit of technology is fraught with a “progress trap”. Engineers are simply hitting a ceiling of possibilities and for some time cannot create components that are sufficiently ahead of last year’s. We need some kind of breakthrough, which can be expected for years and decades.

Apple deliberately avoided the technology race, introducing them not immediately as they appeared on the market, but on a clear schedule, gradually extending the exclusive features of older models to cheaper ones. For example, the iPhone 17 for the first time added ProMotion from the Pro line, a 144 hertz display refresh function – and it became a wow effect. Can an Android owner be surprised by such an innovation? No, but Apple doesn’t care. It makes products for its loyal users.

Apple focuses on the essentials, bringing its few products, if not to perfection, then to harmonious completion. Samsung sells everything: in addition to the S25 series, it produces a bunch of budget phones and specific devices like the Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE. The market needs budget devices, and the Koreans are leading in them, there are no questions about it. But with the “innovative iPhone killers”, they constantly have something wrong.

The same flexible screens. They implemented them as soon as they could, trying to win over new audiences. And at first it succeeded, but disappointment quickly came. The resource of such a screen turned out to be small, the “wave” at the bend point looks repulsive and is covered with microcracks. Gradually, the technology is improving, but Samsung will never be able to surprise the audience again – the first impression can only be made once.

But Apple may succeed. To do this, behind the scenes of the company, there are tests of a new generation of flexible screens, which are made for them by … also Samsung But the approach to implementation here is completely different. I am sure that the device will not come out until the screen gets rid of the “childhood diseases”: vulnerabilities and folds at the fold point.

Whatever innovative product you have, it’s important to launch it on time and in the right context.

And another important trump card that Apple plays is product update cycles. Marketers clearly understand what kind of product needs to be released to the market in order to interest a loyal audience thinking about updating. In 2025, these are owners of the 11th and 12th series who bought the device during the pandemic and are already tired of them.

iPhone 12. From the era when 64 GB of memory was enough.

They needed a little push. Not a revolution, but a significant enough improvement to renew itself. As a result, the iPhone 17 has a new fast screen with ProMotion, a new 48 mP camera and 2 times more storage than previous generations. Nothing revolutionary, but these improvements hit the mark without requiring billions to develop something unique.

The noticeable change in appearance also had an important impact on the success of the iPhone 17 Pro. The 14th, 15th and 16th generation models were almost identical to each other, and they were bought just to upgrade their old smartphone. The new camera module in the latest, 17th model pressed a powerful trigger – status. Finally, users could show that they had the freshest, newest iPhone. For this purpose, a bright orange color was introduced so that the owner could notice and appreciate the novelty from afar. For the premium segment, the element of recognition and status is very important. No other smartphone has such an effect.

In terms of industrial design, the iPhone 17 Pro does not represent an attempt to “make it beautiful”, but a conscious work with the identity of the generation. The form here does not serve as an aesthetic decoration, but as a visual marker of renewal in a rich product line.

The key element is the redesigned camera module. It cannot be considered in isolation as a compositional solution. This is intentional visual disruption: a deliberate violation of the visual tranquility of previous generations for the sake of instant readability of novelty. With the differences between the 14, 15, and 16 models minimal, Apple needed a strong formal anchor that uniquely separated the new generation from the old ones.

It is important to note that the “dispute” of the form in this case is not equal to a design error. In industrial design, acceptable ugliness is a tool, not a defect. It is used when a product needs to go beyond the usual visual code without destroying user trust. The iPhone 17 Pro remains instantly recognizable as an iPhone, despite criticism of individual elements.

The CMF strategy amplifies this effect. Bright color is not a decorative, but a signal element. It works as a remote indicator of model relevance, which is critical for the premium segment, where the status is read visually and quickly. Color here is part of the product communication, and not just a finishing option.

As a result, the shape of the iPhone 17 Pro solves several problems at once:

– visually fixes the change of generation;
– strengthens status differentiation;
– Supports an upgrade cycle without a technological revolution.
– preserves the continuity of the brand.

From the point of view of industrial design, this is an example of controlled design risk. Apple allows discussion around form, but does not allow for a loss of identity.

And if you have something to say about what you have read, we will be happy to discuss it in the comments to a special post in the telegram channel.