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Steve Wozniak believes Steve Jobs would be proud of Apple today, says Samsung’s ‘fun features’ aren’t ‘innovations’

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sat down for an interview today with CNBC. In the interview, he touched on several topics, including what he thinks of Apple today.

Woz started out by saying that he loves that Apple is continuing to put people above technology, noting that Steve Jobs would be “very happy with Apple today.”

I believe that he would be very happy with the company today and its concern more with end users and putting people above technology. Steve always acted that way. The users should be more important than the technology itself. You should not be a victim of the technology and what it can do. You should get to live your human life in the most human way possible.

He goes on to say that other smartphone manufacturers aren’t really innovating. Instead, they are just creating fun features. Meanwhile, Apple is focusing on innovations that “literally affect everything we do all the time in life.” He believes that new features aren’t inherently innovative. For example, on various Android phones you can smile and the phone takes a picture. Woz says it’s a “fun feature”, but it’s not “innovation.”

The co-founder then went on to talk about “real innovation” that “changes our life.” In his example, he talked about Apple Pay with Touch ID.

Every other phone company had to come along and copy Apple. Apple was the first one to come up with an easy to pay system. Don’t even turn your phone on, don’t unlock it, don’t find an app, don’t type in a credit card number pin. Just hold your phone over the device and put your finger on it to identify yourself.

Of course, on later iOS devices including the 2018 iPad Pro, Apple has replaced Touch ID with Face ID. In most cases, Apple’s facial recognition system requires no user interaction (aside from double tapping the Side/Top button for purchases).

What Woz says makes sense. Apple’s vision has always been user experience at the core and that continues today. Sure, one could debate whether or not details such as software bugs and hardware flaws have seen a decline over the years. Or if Apple is lagging behind on adding new features, such as OLED on iPhone or improvements to Siri.

But, at the core, the company is still putting people first. For example, the company’s stance on privacy and its vertical integration with its software, hardware, and services.

Check out the full clip below:

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