Apple’s best product ever
More than 1.6 million votes cast by users have identified the most significant devices in Apple's 50-year history, shedding new light on how we perceive the evolution of consumer technology. The Cupertino giant's anniversary coincides with a sharp turn in the industry: OpenAI is recording a record 900 million weekly users and a valuation of $122 billion, while simultaneously abandoning the further development of its Sora video generator. These two worlds—Apple's hardware nostalgia and the aggressive expansion of AI—define the current creative landscape. Rankings prepared for the company's half-century mark show that products such as the MacBook Air or QuickTime had a greater impact on the foundations of modern digital work than might be assumed in the era of iPhone dominance. For professionals and creators, the conclusion is clear: we are living in a post-gadget era where hardware is becoming merely a vessel for AI-based services. At the same time, rising component prices, visible even in the Raspberry Pi segment, and increasingly difficult access to free AI tools (exemplified by new restrictions from Anthropic) are forcing users to revise their technology budgets. Apple's legacy teaches us that it is not the most powerful projects that survive, but those that most effectively transform our daily habits.
Half a century on the market is an eternity in the technology industry. Apple, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is no longer just a manufacturer of computers or phones – it is the foundation of the modern digital ecosystem. To mark this impressive anniversary, the editorial team at The Verge took on a daunting task: creating a ranking of the 50 best products in the history of the Cupertino giant. The scale of community engagement exceeded expectations, generating over 1.6 million votes, shedding new light on how we perceive the legacy of Steve Jobs and his successors.
A ranking driven by millions of votes
The process of selecting the winners was not merely an editorial poll, but a massive opinion study of the global user community. David Pierce along with Nilay Patel, in a special episode of The Vergecast, analyzed the results, which stretch from position number 50 all the way to the very top. Interestingly, the list prepared by readers diverges in many points from the subjective feelings of the experts, who spent weeks refining their own lists.
The discussion surrounding the ranking exposed phenomena such as "recency bias" (the tendency to overvalue newer products) or specific prejudices, for example, towards Apple printers, which today seem like nothing more than an exotic memory from the past. However, an analysis of 50 years of operation shows that Apple is not just about successes, but also a long, bitter war over the App Store or complicated relationships with Foxconn, which shaped the production model of modern electronics.
A new era of services and the twilight of classic hardware
Looking at the list of the 50 best products, it is hard to escape the impression that the era of "pure hardware" is coming to an end. Apple is increasingly focusing on services and vertical integration, as seen in the success of the Apple Watch or the dominance of the iPhone as a command center for home and health. At the same time, the company must face new players like Anthropic, which is introducing restrictive subscription models for Claude (blocking free access via OpenClaw), signaling increasing fragmentation and monetization of the AI market.
My forecast for the coming years is clear: Apple will not win the race for the "best product" with another iteration of a phone or watch. The true winner of the next ranking – perhaps for the 60th anniversary – will be the product that most effectively hides AI technology under the cloak of an intuitive interface, which Apple has accustomed us to over the last half-century. The success of initiatives like Flipboard Surf, which combines decentralized social networks (Bluesky, Mastodon) with traditional RSS, shows that users long for the clarity that Apple can provide like no one else.