Since the iPhone Brings The Big Bucks, Some Apple Products Have Been Gathering Dust In Cupertino

The iPhone has pushed Apple revenues up, even overtaking long-time rival Samsung to be today's' smartphone market leader. The Cupertino-based giant is channeling its resources and time on the smartphone business and leaving some Apple products with no refresh or upgrades. The iPod products seem to be the most neglected lineup with the iPod Shuffle getting a major refresh seven years ago while the iPod Nano had its update five years ago.

Apple has overtaken Samsung by a small margin to be the top smartphone vendor. It is a post that the South Koreans have held for eight consecutive years. Early this week, a Gartner report pegged Apple's market share at 17.9 percent as compared to Samsung's 17.8 percent. For the last quarter of 2016, Apple has sold 77 million iPhones and Samsung sold 76.8 million units.

Though the feat is a milestone for the Cupertino giant, its' small advantage could mean that it is a post it may not hold for long. For the coming years, Apple may be focusing its energy on its smartphone business to stay on top. Other Apple products will be inadvertently set aside or left out to gather dust in Cupertino.

These Apple products have not had major refresh or updates recently and Apple may discontinue them altogether. To start, the iPad Mini is a likely candidate as iPhones get bigger with a 5.8-inch display for the new OLED iPhone 8. The iPad Mini's latest update was just a minor storage bump last Sept. 2016.

Another Apple product that has lost its use is the MacBook Air, which was the thinnest and lightest of the Macbook lineup. It is not anymore for MacBooks have taken its place. Its latest substantive update was two years ago in March.

The most expensive of all Apple products is the Mac Pro, which was an innovative Pro desktop Mac redesign. It has not been updated since 2013 and more likely will not be as Apple may move away from the Pro to penetrate the consumer market, ZDNet reported.

Apple is still selling the iPods but these are already considered ancient Apple products in the tech world. Unlike the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano, the iPod Touch has the latest refresh but this was back in 2015. Meanwhile, the Mac Mini which was Apple's low-cost entry to the Mac ecosystem has lost its role as the consumer market now focuses on laptops.

The Apple Time Capsule or Airpot may have been popular with both newbies and enthusiasts but the group behind it has been disbanded by Apple. It is likely that these devices may get the same treatment as well. The last of the endangered Apple products is the Apple TV, which tech experts consider as just a large iPhone with a myriad of apps and services. It has failed to be a revolutionary device and just settled to be an evolutionary one according to Bloomberg.

However, the Apple TV may be the only one among the.Apple products mentioned here that could still be saved from extinction. The same Bloomberg report adds that Apple may be working on a new streaming device. The fifth-generation Apple TV or J105 is reported to be capable of playing Ultra High-Definition 4K.