Why has the new iPhone 15 launch become such a huge cultural event? Seems like everybody's got their own opinion on it. Yeah, Apple just had its keynote. Let's cue the memes. Introducing the iPhone 15. It's like the iPhone 14, but the same. Did I mention it's more expensive? I'm happy to introduce the titanium iPhone 15. What's new with this one? New? When's the last time we did something new with an iPhone?  The iPhone 15 is exactly how the iPhone 14 looks. Oh, oh, no. Oh, man. It's crazy to think that beyond the Super Bowl, the iPhone launch every year has become like a cultural event that everybody's tapped into. I want to say even more than an election, because if you look at the voting numbers, not that many people are tapped into politics even. So the iPhone's almost like the biggest event in modern culture. Yeah, it's almost like the iPhone launch is almost like a thermometer test for like American innovation or something like that. And also everybody either has an iPhone or has a phone that rivals the iPhone. So that's why everybody's got opinions about it is the iPhone impressive. Is it disappointing? What does this say about Apple? One of the most profitable companies in the entire world. So anyways, guys, we're going to get into it. Please hit that like button. Check out other episodes of the Hot Pop Boys. Now, David, while the iPhone 15 launch is highly debated, one thing that is not is how tasty our new Sma La Sauce is. Guys, we are launching our very own chili oil. Pre-orders are out today at SmaLaSauce.com. It is made with real trouble.  Check it out. Hey, from Sichuan to Sicily. Andrew, back to the iPhone. Here's what's new about it. And of course, we're going to get into why it's so controversial. I'm sure you guys all know about it. It's got a new Pro processor. It's got USB Type-C. It's got a 5X zoom camera. It's now it's made out of titanium. There's thinner bezels, but I guess the titanium's thicker. The camera now shoots 24 megapixels instead of 12. And there is a new action button instead of a mute switch. But some of these things are more limited actually to the Pro models, the Pro and the Pro Max for the iPhone 15. Right. So I guess the Pro model is the one that if it was going to impress anybody, it's the Pro model. The regular 15 is pretty much like the 14 Pro Max of last year. Right, right, right. So I guess it's not that different. Everybody's looking at what's cutting edge, but for a lot of people like Andrew, our parents, if they upgrade, they're going to get the iPhone 15. They're not even going to get the Pro Max because they don't even know what Pro Res video is. Nor do they, will they ever care? Yeah, I mean, after watching some video reviews, I think I would go ahead and my opinion is that, yeah, the new iPhone 15 is not super impressive.  And then it also supports the Academy Award level color science. So literally you can shoot parts of films and have it qualify for that film level. You know what I mean? Right, right, because there's enough colors on the color spectrum for it to count. Like Olivia Rodrigo just shot a whole music video on an iPhone 15. So I guess the camera is really good though. Right, right, right. So like we said guys, as much as it looks the same, theoretically, if you're a certain type of power user, you may be able to draw a lot more new features out of like the new cameras and the new processors than your average person, right? Right. But I also had a quick thought, man. It's just crazy how having an iPhone or hating the iPhone is just like one of the most shared, eventful things in American culture nowadays. Everything's so fractured, everything's so fragmented. Nobody watches the same shows. You know, you could say squid games a little bit and stuff like that. But for example, even the Super Bowl, not everybody cares about the teams in the Super Bowl, but everybody cares about iPhone versus Android or whether Apple is disappointing or would Steve Jobs do what Tim Cook's doing? Yeah, so I would say obviously more people view the live Super Bowl than they view the live, probably Apple event. Maybe not worldwide, but I guess what I'm saying is that people have opinions about the phone because it's technology and it's not attached to a person or a personality. And that's why people ride for their Android versus Apple team so hard. You know, it's been this debate for like, I would say a decade, right? Yeah, people have been debating this and always making jokes about each other. Oh, green bubble, blue bubble, whatever. So I guess like it is interesting that the iPhone launch is seen as such like a certain point of the year, you know? Right, right, right. And you know, about 60% of the U.S. has iPhone Android, 25% are Samsung, 15% everybody else. But in other countries, the split is very different. In China and South Korea, iPhones only make up 20% of the market. In India, iPhone consumption makes up 5% of the market. In Japan and the U.K., it makes about 50% and in France, iPhone consumption market share is 35%. Right. Apple is also like sort of sets the tone for like what's gonna happen next, right? Like if iPhone, like if Apple did do a folding phone, like Samsung and a lot of Chinese manufacturers are, it would basically signal that everybody got to switch to folding phones, right? Right, because usually Apple is a little bit later on technology, but that's because they like technically want to perfect it, right? So that if they came out with a folding phone, that would be almost the new standard. What do you think it meant that iPhone was really focusing on sustainability, recyclability, repairability, the environment? And it was like stuff that a lot of gadget geeks who want the bleeding edge of technology and want technologically to, you know, minority report their lives and make it all technological, they don't care about that stuff. Right, right, right. Yeah, I mean, I feel like but Apple, I feel like being, they want to lead the way as far as also kind of like- Carbon neutral and all that stuff, right? Yeah, as far as the causes. Has technology hit a wall for everybody? Because if Apple's not really pushing the envelope anymore and they're just throwing in, you know, pro user features for people who may or may not use them, does the average consumer just go, man, this phone is exactly the same and technology's just not improving anymore? I think the average consumer has not fully changed the way that they use their phone. Like the average person probably uses only like 10 different features on their phone on any given day. Probably texting, taking photos. Yeah, just wanting to have good battery life, not needing to plug it into a wall looking crazy. No, let's be real. Let's think about it. If you just have your calendar, you just check your apps, Instagram, okay? And then you text people and then you take photos and video, just regular photos and video for Instagram. Then no, you actually don't need that many features. You're talking about the bulk distribution, the masses of people. Yeah, you're never like, how many people really are utilizing their iPhones 100%. So I guess that's why I meant for the average consumer, they haven't fully changed the way that they use the iPhone because I think average people, they just have a limit on what they need. Right. I would say this. Do you think that the average consumer drives the shareholder price? And obviously the reason why Apple wants to drop a new phone every year is because they need new cash flow, right? From the trade-ins and from everything, they need to generate new cash flow so they need new versions. And the new Apple watches, they look almost exactly the same, but you got the double tap feature now or is it more blaming the consumer for always demanding a new phone every year? So it's almost like, of course they're a company. They're in the business of doing business, right? Even though they're technically a consumer technology company, right? So I'm saying that like, is it the consumer's fault for demanding a new iPhone every year or is it Apple's fault for pushing it out so that the upgrades have to be iterative because how much new tech can they really perfect in a year? Oh man, that's a really good question, man. I don't know the answer to it. David, do you have an opinion? Because at the end of the day, think about it. I think that releasing a new iPhone every year or year and a half was like a habit and became something that Apple has to do now. You know, even though at the lower iPhone models, the growth of technology seemed exponential, right? There was a much higher growth curve. From like three to four, it was gigantic, right? Yeah, from the growth curve now, it seems like it's just minor improvements every time. Yeah, and last but not least, Andrew, I still think that it's probably going to perform okay.  Like if you work a certain type of job where you're able to be on your phone, you could be on your phone up to eight hours a day. So realistically, it's almost like you could justify a new phone every year by just the usage rate. Yeah, and I think it really is going to matter for the people who don't really have a computer at home. Like here, we have like multiple computers. We have desktop computers. We have Mac minis and then we also have laptops and then we have our phones. So for us, like obviously we create media so I could use a better camera, I suppose, right? It would be good to get higher res of Smala being poured onto food. But other than that, I don't really need the most advanced thing because I have computers, but for a lot of people who only have the phone as their only primary like computer, I guess I could see why they would need to upgrade. Yeah. Anyway, guys, let's get into the comments section.  Somebody said, man, it was so courageous of Apple to deliver the same phone. As two years ago, this was a lot of things. Like I said, obviously for a lot of people, they're not really going to see any major shift except Andrew USBC. So a lot of people were saying, complaining about USBC saying like, OK, I already own all the lightning cords. Finally, they're switching over the EU. They implemented some new law that made Apple switch over. However, Andrew, if you are a power user, some people were saying they didn't announce it yet, but you might be able to plug in two iPhones through USBC into a camera switcher. So the pro models. So you'll be able to use them as if they were cameras and the USBC allows for that. So basically it's setting the tone for a lot more pro usage that they didn't talk about in the keynote. Right, right, right. They're basically like future proofing it. Right. Somebody said, I can't wait to see Apple's financials in about nine months. And someone said, yeah, honestly, I think they're going to look great because everybody's still just going to buy it. Right, right, right. Somebody said, this is what happens when a company has more managers and marketing people than engineers and designers. This goes back to the man, it wouldn't look like this if Steve Jobs was still alive. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, Steve Jobs was known for spending a ton of money on R&D, but Andrew, sometimes the shareholders, they wouldn't like it because the company wouldn't be as profitable. Right. So do you care about the shareholders, which you do have to care about them? Do you care about the customer? Do you care about just pushing technology? And at the end of the day, if the consumer still buys it, are you just going to give them what they want? Yeah, some people were talking about the action button and how like Samsung has had it for like five years now. But other people were saying that action button seems really great, but how come you can just set it to do one thing? Like how come you can't set the action button to do like 10 different things? Right. No, I mean, hopefully they build that in, to be honest. Someone was saying, I just can't stand the fact that I just know my old iPhone is going to go to ish immediately due to some sort of mandatory update. Some people were saying, man, if we could just rethink the annual release cycle, other people said, listen, guys, if you not into microchips and nanotechnology, you do not understand these new Apple developed chips that they don't need to source from other manufacturers are a really big deal. This is more of a microchip angle for people into processors and things like that. Wow. Do you know the background information about this? Is it because that Apple has moved their manufacturing of their own chips to their own factories? Well, I just know they're making their own silicone now, which previously they were outsourcing it to a third party company. Obviously. Yeah. I do think so. I do think they're setting the tone for something, but the usage like it fully hasn't been built out. Right. The strength is that at the end of the day, you never know, man. Like even though that this like Apple's whole job, like their whole goal as a company is not to only wow you as a consumer every time. They're like, we want to wow people. We want to push technology, but we also need to set up things in place for the next 20 years, 30 years of our business. And guess what? Apple's betting on for the next 20 or 30 years. And this is also another controversial point. Vision Pro AKA AR VR. So they were saying, okay, now you could take like 3D spatial videos, which I don't even really know what that means. Right. Because you only got one camera, but I guess you got three cameras on there. But I guess like people are saying you everybody's going to be able to like basically go into a like, let's say your baby's first steps and you capture it in 3D spatial video, you'll be able to put on the vision pro and really feel like you're there again. Yeah. So I don't know guys. It's going to be like a demolition man, but who knows? Yeah. But who knows in like five years, then we finally see what Apple was doing this whole time. But maybe this iPhone 15 is not the biggest jump, but maybe it's a big jump for their back, like operational manufacturing side. Right. We don't know. But at Apple, they're like, yes, we set the platform for the future and all the fundamentals. We are set for the next 30 years. Somebody said ultimately it's all about iCloud apps and iMessage and the entire ecosystem now. The hardware improvements are always going to be tiny, but it's going to be how everything connects and obviously their ability to extract subscriptions from you. Right, right, right, right. Ultimately, Andrew, we could go on and on forever. There's about a thousand videos on YouTube right now that have anywhere from like a million views each talking about this. So clearly the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro being like supporting it or going against it. It's it's just something that people are talking about. What's your opinion, David, for your life and the trade in value of your current iPhone 14 Pro Max? Are you going to get the 15 Pro Max? Okay. So and why? All right. I think that I got to see the reviews when they come out. I got to see the video features ultimately. Okay. To make sure that it's worth it for my use case because I don't think there's any big jump in battery life. So I think that that like you said for your average user, they really just need like better thermals and they need better battery life. Realistically right for most people, but there could be other people who really need a bunch of like LiDAR scanners and other things. Yeah, like a better lenses and stuff like some people are really going to maximize the new iPhone and use it for their work. If you can figure out a way to use the camera for your work, you are going to do it. Yeah. It's almost like the Apple Watch Ultra. You know what I mean? Like a lot of people don't really need 45 different biometric sensors. Like, but some people it's going to save their life, right? That crash sensor, but a lot of people, they probably be better with like a better looking like much more simple smart watch, right? Right. We just want to track their calories. Right. At the end of the day, I mean, listen, is it that hard to figure out whether you're healthy or not? But I do think ultimately it reminds me of EVs. You know, at first when people switch to hybrid cars and now people are on the full EVs. Like the full EVs ultimately allows the whole car to be interconnected. There's not a combustion portion in an electronic portion. I think that this is setting the future, right? Because you got Apple Silicon, you got Apple building its own titanium supply chains and stuff like that. It's going to be for the future. David, you have an Apple Watch on right now. Yeah, I do. And it looks this is an Apple Watch 4, but it looks like a nine. All right, everybody, let me know in the comments down below what you think. Yeah, would you think about the iPhone 15? Why is this such a big event? Why does everybody care? Even though a lot of people are not going to buy it? I have a lot of people are. But anyways, let me know in the comments down below. What you think? Don't sleep on some of the Asian brands though. I'm telling you, if they ever get like an iMessage type ecosystem, you know, for Android phones, I'm telling you the features of the notebook folding phones is crazy. All right, everybody, let us know. And until next time, we out. Peace.