I would argue that theirs was not a stellar year, and imho their momentum stalled relative to other tech giants.

So hence they ended up in the 'losers' column.

Of course that doesn't mean they had quite as terrible year as some in the list...but for ease of reference it's a binary list rather than a gradient.

Apple actually released products. The iPhone 7, Apple Watch, iPad Pro, Macbook, Macbook Pro [1]. Do note all these products have their own use cases and niches. Of these, iPad Pro is a new line, while Apple Watch is a stable iteration. IMO only the MBP was rather disappointing, and too expensive for what it delivered (I bought a 2015 MBP instead).

There was also a noticeable lack of product updates though; MBA, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro. That's two times Pro. Apple is losing on the top segment of laptops/workstations. They're doing rather well on handheld/portable devices.

The reason people say Apple is 'losing' is because they perceive the competition is catching up on high quality laptop/notebook design, as well as hybrid tablet/notebook. Wether that is true remains to be seen.

[1] http://buyersguide.macrumors.com

> At this point it is becoming cliche to predict the demise of Apple.

Well, if everyone's doing it then in a certain sense they _have_ lost a lot of their cachet, no?

Also, you don't remember the late 90s. I was a huge Apple fan back then, and those were some disheartening years. In retrospect, I rather wish I'd bought their stock back then …

If you read technology pundits Apple has been predicted to be in demise for nearly every year after the 90s.

It's just like the 1990s, except instead of being nearly bankrupt, Apple is now one of the wealthiest companies in the world.

Nothing lasts forever. The moment Apple fails to excite people it is game over. And the apple fatigue is getting stranger.