MacworldApple is no stranger to unsolicited shots across the bow. The latest comes from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who used his time on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to take a few shots at the iPhone maker.I feel like they havent really invented anything great in a while. Its like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone and now theyre just kind of sitting on it 20 years later, he said. Mind you, this comes after Apple launched several new products in 2024, including:Apple Vision Pro: A brand new category with several innovative features that propelled Meta to announce the Meta Quest 3 early and tease a pair of AR glasses that cost $10,000 to make.AirPods 4 with ANC: A new pair of mid-range open-ear earbuds with active noise cancellation for under $200.M4 Mac mini: A completely redesigned desktop computer thats smaller than an Apple TV.Thats in addition to the 5.3mm iPad Pro, 13-inch iPad Air, Apple Intelligence, Apple Pencil Pro, and four new models of the aforementioned iPhone. Now you could argue about whether a thinner iPad Pro or a smaller Mac mini is innovative, but to say Apple hasnt invented anything great in a while is a bit of a stretch.Its so bad, Zuckerberg continues, that Apple is due to get knocked off its perch any day now: Im pretty optimistic that just because theyve been so off their game in terms of not really releasing many innovative things that eventuallyI meanthe good news about the tech industry is its like,its just super dynamic and things are constantly getting invented.And I think companies, if you just dont do a good job for like 10 years,eventually youre just going to get beat by someone.Meta Quest 3 is just like Vision Pro if you ignore all the things Vision Pro does better.Jim Martin / FoundryThat someone, I presume, would be Meta. After all, back when Vision Pro arrived last February, Zuckerberg mused that Apples headset was basically a heavier, overpriced, inferior version of the Meta Quest 3 despite the latter having inferior passthrough and eye tracking. And lets not forget that the first-gen Oculus Go had its own growing pains. And its better we dont speak of the early days of Meta Horizons at all.But the real reason for Zuckerbergs Apple ire isnt invention at all. Its money. Zuckerberg wanted to tap into Apples quick-pairing AirPods system for the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, but Apple wasnt having it: We basically asked them Can we basically use the protocol that you use for AirPods and some of these other things to just make it so we can as easily connect? So its not like a pain in the ass for people who wanna use this?And I think one of the protocols theyve used that they built, they basically didnt encrypt it. So its like plain text. And theyre like, well, we cant have you plug into it because it would be insecure.Obviously, it would be a huge boon for the Meta Glasses if they just worked with the iPhone without needing to dig into Bluetooth settings. But if Zuckerberg really thought Apple was just going to open a proprietary connection method for Meta, hes more delusional than I thought.And not for nothing, Zuckerbergs claim that the protocol isnt encrypted is unfounded, as is his earlier claim that iPhone sales might actually be declining. You know what actually is declining? Facebook.There are plenty of things to criticize Apple about, but a lack of invention isnt one of them, especially coming from someone whose two biggest products were bought rather than developed. In fact, the only new product Meta has released recently is basically a Twitter clone.But hey, I guess Id be upset too if I was responsible for one of the biggest smartphone flops in history.