"Meta" Zuckerberg shot Apple..."Still relying on iPhone"

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shot Apple, saying it lacks innovation after the iPhone.

"The iPhone was great," Zuckerberg said in an interview with the No. 1 U.S. podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" on the 11th local time. "Now almost everyone in the world has a cell phone, and that makes it possible to do something quite amazing."

"Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now it's like they're just sitting there and having it 20 years after (the iPhone) came out," he pointed out.

Zuckerberg also explained the recent slump in iPhone sales because "the new model is not significantly better than the previous model, which takes longer for consumers to upgrade their phones."

Zuckerberg also criticized the way Apple makes money.

"They're basically making money by squeezing people and charging developers a 30% fee, and encouraging them to buy more peripherals and what they connect to it," Zuckerberg said.

"We make cool products like AirPods, but we have completely hindered (other companies) from building something that can connect to iPhones in the same way," he said.

"Apple is defending itself by saying that it does not want to infringe on consumers' personal information and security," he said, adding, "If Apple modifies its protocols, such as building better security and using encryption, the problem will be solved."

Meta strongly protested when Apple updated its iPhone operating system in 2021 with a focus on strengthening privacy, limiting the collection of personal information from Facebook and Instagram.

At the same time, he argued that Meta's profits would double if Apple stopped applying these "random rules."

Regarding Apple's "Vision Pro," a mixed reality (MR) headset launched in February last year, Zuckerberg called it "one of the most challenging new products we've tried recently."

"We also don't want to criticize Apple too much because the first version of the product is often not perfect," he said. "The first version of the Vision Pro didn't seem to have been very successful."