Apple is the company that taught the world what elegant design looks like, and how technology can transform from mere static devices into works of art we proudly display. From the iPhone and iPad to the Apple Watch and Vision Pro, Cupertino set industry standards that competitors struggle to keep up with. But even geniuses make mistakes, and Apple's history isn't just a string of dazzling successes and iconic launches; it's also filled with some design blunders that make you wonder, "What were they smoking when they approved that?"
The beginning of the trouble: the Apple III computer
In 1980, Apple aimed to dominate the business market with the Apple III, but its obsession with design led to disaster. Steve Jobs insisted the device have no cooling fans because he hated noise. The result? The machine overheated to the point where the memory chips literally popped out of their sockets!
Apple's proposed solution at the time was both laughable and tragic: users were instructed to lift the device about 10 cm off the desk and then drop it, hoping the impact would force the chips back into place. This marked Apple's first major commercial defeat, stemming from poor cooling, high prices, and software deficiencies.
Hockey Puck Mouse
The iMac G3 was a revolution that saved Apple from bankruptcy with its colorful, transparent design, but the mouse that came with it was a nightmare—easy on the eyes but painful to the hand. The mouse was perfectly round, making it difficult to determine its direction by touch without looking at it.
Users strongly criticized the poor ergonomics of this mouse, as it was too small and inaccurate, which later made Apple realize that form should never kill function, an experience that it sometimes seems to have forgotten in later products.
Power Mac G4 Cube computer
This device is a true work of art, a suspended glass cube that looks like it's straight out of the future. But behind this beauty lay fatal flaws. First, it was prohibitively expensive ($1799) without delivering professional-level performance, and second, cracks began to appear rapidly in its transparent acrylic casing.
Apple tried to justify the issue by claiming it was simply "mold lines" from the manufacturing process, but users weren't convinced. The device also lacked the expansion options professionals needed, leading to its commercial failure despite winning numerous design awards.
The Macintosh TV
Years before Apple TV, Apple tried to combine the computer and the television into one device in 1993. The idea was bold, but the execution was strange; the device was not able to do both tasks at the same time! You had to either use the Mac or watch the television, and you could not do both at the same time.
With its sluggish performance, mediocre screen, and high price, Apple sold only 10 units before discontinuing it. It was a prime example that combining two worlds doesn't necessarily guarantee the best of both worlds.
The iPhone 4 antenna scandal (Antennagate)
The iPhone 4 is considered one of Apple's most beautiful phones ever, but its design, which made the outer metal frame also the antenna, was an engineering flaw. Once the phone was held in a certain way (covering the gap in the lower left corner), the signal would weaken or drop completely.
Steve Jobs' famous response at the time was: "Just avoid holding it like that!" Apple was later forced to distribute free bumper cases to fix the problem, and learned a hard lesson about how to integrate antennas into metal designs.
MacBook "butterfly" keyboard
In its quest to make MacBooks as thin as possible, Apple invented the "butterfly" key mechanism. The result? An extremely fragile keyboard, where a single speck of dust could completely disable a key. Not only that, but the typing experience was unpleasant due to the short key travel.
This design cost Apple millions of dollars in lawsuits and free repair programs, and the ordeal only ended in 2020 when Apple finally returned to the traditional and reliable “scissors” mechanism.
Magic Mouse 2 and Charging Turtle
This mouse is the subject of countless internet memes. While it looks incredibly sleek from the top, Apple decided to place the charging port on the bottom! This means that when you need to charge it, you have to turn it over like a dead turtle, rendering it completely unusable while charging.
It is a strange design decision that prioritizes external aesthetics over simple logic. Instead of placing the port at the front for use as a wired charging port, Apple insisted on this ridiculous arrangement that continues to this day.
Mac Pro 2013: “The Trash Can”
When Phil Schiller unveiled the cylindrical Mac Pro, he famously said, “We can’t innovate anymore, eh?” But the innovation here was in the wrong direction. The design was small and sleek, but it put Apple in a “thermal corner” from which there was no escape.
The device was not user-developable, and as graphics processors evolved, the cylindrical design could not cool the modern components, ultimately forcing Apple to revert to the traditional (grater) design in 2019.
Mac Pro wheels for $700!
If you thought buying an expensive Mac Pro was the end of it, Apple has a surprise in store: a set of wheels for moving the machine for $699! Yes, the price of a smartphone for four metal wheels. The real disaster isn't just the price, but the design; these wheels don't even have brakes!
This means your workstation, which costs thousands of dollars, could roll over and hit the wall if your desk isn't perfectly level. It's a product that embodies the height of arrogance in both pricing and impracticality.
Other disasters: from Pippin to AirPower
The list goes on to include the Pippin gaming device that failed against the PlayStation, the first-generation Apple Pencil that strangely charges by being plugged into the iPad port like a radio antenna, and the third-generation iPod Shuffle from which Apple removed all the buttons and made you a prisoner of its own headphones.
And let's not forget AirPower, the charging mat Apple promised and then completely canceled two years later because it couldn't resolve the overheating issue caused by the charging coils. These failures remind us that Apple, despite its greatness, is a company run by humans, and humans make mistakes, especially when they try to reinvent the wheel (or sell it for $700!).
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