> This is an incredibly fanboy-y article even by Gruber standards.

Agreed... this was the most Gruber-y he's ever Grubered: "Is the higher price of the iPhone X over the iPhones 8 justified? [...] But you also get something you can’t compare in a checkmark comparison — a sort of joie de vivre."

> I'm not sure he's physically capable of criticizing Apple, even if he wanted to.

That's definitely not true. While he generally likes their products, he's definitely critical of them when he thinks they mess up. If all you read of his are these posts shared on HN, you'll probably only read his glowing reviews. And if you don't like his writing, then sure, there's no point in seeking him out. But don't assume that because you don't read his criticisms, that he doesn't—can't!—write them, because he most assuredly does.

My take on Gruber is to not take him seriously. Don't take his recommendations, he'll flip on a dime. For example, when the Pebble was announced he was first in line on the Kickstarter. It shipped, he liked it. As soon as the Apple Watch came out, the Pebble was suddenly a piece of shit.

I'm also convinced that he recommends things that he's either never used, or took money to recommend. An outstanding example is a weather app he gushed about that I'm convinced he never used because it was horrible (as in, the forecasts weren't even close), and the visual design was something he'd typically tear into.

For me, Gruber is in the "Dvorak/Cringley" bucket: entertaining, sometimes on point, but for $DEITY's sake don't take it for gospel. But despite all that, I read every post.

While it does read as a fanboy article, Gruber has criticized Apple at least a few times in the past. Here's one example, in particular.

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/04/08/snell-3d-touch

Perhaps the best way to extract information from Gruber is to analyze which Apple products he does not write about.

Waaaay over the top with glowing, hyperbolic language about how the X truly, truly this time “reinvents” the iPhone in a way unlike any device has ever been reinvented.