Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took aim at tech giant Apple on Friday, accusing the company of lacking significant innovation and imposing arbitrary rules on developers. Speaking on the 'Joe Rogan Experience,' Mr Zuckerberg praised iPhones for revolutionising global connectivity, but criticised Apple for failing to produce groundbreaking products in recent years.
"On the one hand, [the iPhone has] been great, because now pretty much everyone in the world has a phone, and that's kind of what enables pretty amazing things," Mr Zuckerberg said. "But on the other hand, they have used that platform to put in place a lot of rules that I think feel arbitrary and [I] feel like they haven't really invented anything great in a while. It's like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they're just kind of sitting on it 20 years later."
Mr Zuckerberg also said that iPhone sales were struggling due to the lack of major upgrades in new models. He suggested that Apple was instead profiting by "squeezing people," through a 30 per cent commission on developers and by pushing consumers to purchase additional peripherals like AirPods.
"They build stuff like AirPods, which are cool, but they've just thoroughly hamstrung the ability for anyone else to build something that can connect to the iPhone in the same way," he said.
Mr Zuckerberg further claimed that Meta's profits could double if Apple stopped enforcing its "random rules."
The billionaire further criticised Apple's stance on privacy and security, which the company often cites to justify its strict rules. He argued that Apple could resolve the issue by improving its protocols, such as enhancing security measures and using encryption, instead of restricting third-party developers.
"It's insecure because you didn't build any security into it," Mr Zuckerberg said. "And now you're using that as a justification for why only your product can connect in an easy way."
"I think the Vision Pro is, I think, one of the bigger swings at doing a new thing that they tried in a while," Mr Zuckerberg said in reference to Apple's mixed-reality headset, which has had disappointing sales. "But I mean, the V1, it definitely did not hit it out of the park."
