Featured Image Credit: Mrwhosetheboss and Marques Brownlee / YouTube
As two of the biggest names in the tech scene on YouTube, it tends to be that when Mrwhosetheboss and MKBHD have something to say, the rest of the community shuts up and listens. Now, these two content-creating powerhouses have joined forces and warned that some tech giants are 'lying' to us.
It's no coincidence that the four biggest companies in the world in terms of market cap are Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet (Google), with only Amazon and Meta from the 'Big Five' of tech missing out on placing in the elusive club of those who've crossed the four trillion mark.
Just look at how the release of every new iPhone brings dollars flowing in for Apple, how Google reports record-breaking net income in 2025 after it bet big on AI, or how Nvidia and Microsoft have floated to the top thanks to their own AI innovations.
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In his latest YouTube video, Arun "Mrwhosetheboss" Maini teamed up with Marques "MKBHD" Brownlee to explain why gigabit Goliaths are lying to us with promises that new products are faster and better than ever. In Maini's own words: "Never in history has such little change been sold to us as if it's so much."
Diving straight into the idea that something is X times faster than the previous model, MrwhosetheBoss reminds us that this will often include the caveat of 'up to', suggesting it's a claim that doesn't mean much at all. Using one of his own videos as an example, Maini could say it's going to reach 'up to' a billion people, but even if it only reaches his parents and one cousin, it's a claim that still stands.
Brownlee then refers to how some big tech companies will use a series of specs from different versions of the same product and combine them into what he calls 'the imaginary spec'. He specifically called out Rivian and how it claimed you can get maximum range from one vehicle at the lowest price. In reality, they would apparently need a souped-up version, which is $30,000 more.
Maini highlights how companies might even invent new specs to try and earn your loyalty, with Apple's concept of unified memory putting its boasts about RAM in something of a grey area. Still, he maintains that the TV industry is the worst for exaggerating the specs on its models and confusing customers.
Brownlee again mentioned how smartphones have boasted about 1.5K despite measurements being off, while Maini targeted Samsung for seemingly claiming Google features for itself, even though they're available on other smartphones.
Savvy shoppers should be taking note, and it’s interesting that companies will spend 60% of their time boasting about their fancy new features coming to their fancy new product, often neglecting that many of these features will still apply to older models.
A disgruntled Maini called it a 'joke' and added: "All this is is a thinly veiled tactic to help take, what is in most instances, like 5 to 10% of real world improvement all the way into these astonishing sounding numbers like eight times."
He went on to call out the 'efficiency improvement trap' where we're told we can get 20% faster performance and 20% longer battery life. In reality, getting 20% faster performance obviously comes at the cost of battery life, meaning you can't get both.
Maini concludes: "The truth is the specs of tech products are chosen around how those products are going to be marketed. And that's kind of a given. It's just business.
"But the issue is that very often in today's world, the specs that make a product the most marketable are not the specs that are most useful to a user."
Responding to the video, many thanked the pair for their honesty in calling out some of these clever marketing tricks, although we've got to agree they're probably making some powerful enemies.
One person warned: "These two lads woke up and chose violence. And I'm here for it."
Another added: "I will never watch tech company presentations the same again."
A third said: "'Up to' is such a deceptive sales tactic. I used to work in a supermarket, and we’d always say 'come get our great bargains, with items up to 80% off!!'
In reality, there was maybe one sh*tty product out of dozens at 80% off...the rest were at most 20%."
