Mark Zuckerberg slams Apple on its lack of innovation and ‘random rules’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg knocked off the rival tech giant Apple for lackluster innovation efforts and “random rules” in a lengthy podcast interview on Friday.

“On the one hand, [the iPhone has] It’s been great, because now almost everyone in the world has a phone, and that’s kind of what allows for some pretty amazing things,” Zuckerberg said in an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience”. “But on the other hand…they used that platform to put in place a lot of rules that I think feel arbitrary and [I] I feel like they haven’t really invented anything great in a while. It’s like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now I’m just sitting on it 20 years later.”

Zuckerberg added that he thought iPhone sales were struggling why consumers take longer to upgrade their phones because the new models aren’t big improvements from previous iterations.

“So how do they make more money as a company? Well, they do it basically, like, by squeezing people, and, as you say, having this 30% tax on developers to make them buy more peripherals and things that plug into it,” Zuckerberg said. “You know, they’re building things like Air Pods, which are great, but they’ve just pretty much blocked the ability for anyone else to build something that can connect to the iPhone in the same way.”

Apple is defending itself against pushback from other companies by saying it doesn’t want to violate consumer privacy and security, according to Zuckerberg. But he said the problem would be solved if Apple fixed its protocol, such as building better security and using encryption.

“It’s insecure because you haven’t built any security into it. And then now you’re using this as a justification for why only your product can connect easily,” said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg said that if Apple stopped enforcing its “random rules,” Meta’s profit would double.

He also took hits Apple’s Vision Pro headsetwhich had disappointing sales in the United States. Meta sells its own virtual headset called Meta Quest.

“I think the Vision Pro is, I think, one of the biggest swings at doing something new that they’ve tried in a while,” Zuckerberg said. “And I don’t want to give them too much of a hard time on this, because we do a lot of things where the first version is not so good, and you want to judge the third version of it. I mean, the V1, certainly does not have it hit it out of the park.”

“I heard it’s really good for watching movies,” he added.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.