Opinion pieces & commentary

Anyone reading a couple of recent reports on Apple’s iOS 18 plans might be forgiven for feeling a certain amount of confusion.

The first said that the company had paused all development of new features in iOS 18, macOS 15, and watchOS 11 to focus on bug fixes. The second said that Apple intends iOS 18 to be its biggest update for years …

Understanding what’s happening to Mac sales over the past few years is a tricky business, due to the convergence of three different factors: pandemic-induced demand, COVID-related supply disruptions, and early upgrades driven by the switch to Apple Silicon.

Last week’s earnings report led some to wonder whether Mac sales were in trouble, but my own view is that the underlying longer-term trend of slow and steady upward growth is essentially unchanged …

The first beta of iOS 17.2, released two weeks ago, introduced Apple’s new Journal app. The idea is to offer users some basic journaling features so that people can write about their day based on intelligent suggestions. But Apple’s Journal app is too simple, which could end up ruining it.

Apple’s proud boast that the entire Scary Fast event was shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has lead to a lot of discussion and debate about what that really means, and whether or not it’s a big deal.

There are those suggesting it really does mean the camera is something special, while other are suggesting that it’s at best meaningless, and at worst a cheat …

We’re still awaiting today’s Apple event, but alongside the anticipated new products, we’re expecting confirmation of something which might seem relatively minor, but which could prove hugely influential: Apple dropping leather from its iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands.

While the move is not yet official, there does seem to be strong evidence that the company will this year be taking an environmental stand on the issue …

I’m a longtime HomePod mini user. As soon as Apple announced the cheapest version of its smart speaker, I immediately bought a pair to use with my Apple TV. Then I bought more pairs to spread around my apartment. Even so, I always felt the need to have something with a fuller sound. Now I’ve bought a HomePod 2, and it’s exactly what I wanted – except because there’s AirPlay 2.

We’re less than a fortnight away from the September Apple event, and by this point we’re reasonably sure we know which iPhone colors to expect in this year’s line-up.

Many of you have already reached at least a tentative decision for the Pro models, based on our renders, with Dark Blue the most popular choice. But does it really matter much … ?

This week has seen three iPhone 15 cable rumors, which serve to underline the mess around USB-C cables in general. While that’s not a mess of Apple’s making, it is one the company could and should solve for its own customers.

The first of the three rumors appeared to be good news. It suggested that the charging cable included in the iPhone 15 box might be longer than usual and perhaps also more durable…

A few years ago, the idea of Apple backing right to repair legislation would have been almost unimaginable – even if the company’s co-founder did urge it to do so.

The company has spent literally years fighting it, spending money to lobby against it at both state and federal level, either trying to block it altogether or – if it couldn’t manage that – to weaken the legislation as much as possible …

Analysts have been pitching the idea of Apple buying Disney for many years, and to most of us it has seemed a rather ridiculous one. The supposed reasoning for it has always been absurdly weak.

Personally, I remain extremely skeptical. But the idea is now getting new traction, and being taken seriously in some unlikely quarters – and even I have to admit that there is some merit to the latest incarnation of the idea-that-will-not-die …

A report yesterday revealed that a set of popular streaming TV services can now cost more than traditional cable TV packages.

It pointed out that subscription costs have risen dramatically, which creates an obvious risk of people cutting back on the number of services. But I think there’s a second issue, too, and that’s the competition for attention …

Cortana is Microsoft’s virtual assistant, which was introduced in 2014 back when Windows Phone was still a thing. Similar to Siri, Cortana lets users perform a number of tasks using voice commands. But it seems Microsoft is giving up on its old virtual assistant, as the latest Windows 11 update kills the Cortana app. The reason? The company will now bet on AI instead.

When I recently wrote about the iPhone 15 Pro rumors I care about, I mentioned that upgrading to an iPhone 14 Pro Max wasn’t exactly exciting since I get a new iPhone every year. But I never imagined I’d have to downgrade to an iPhone 11 Pro Max after all these years. Yes, I did that, and honestly, there’s not much I’m missing.

Some might argue that smartphones have reached a peak level where year-on-year evolutions don’t seem so great. At the same time, some companies have been experimenting with different things – and Samsung is one of them. The South Korean company on Wednesday announced the new Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5, which show that it still believes in the foldable market.

Read on as we detail what’s new with these phones and what they mean for the whole market.

Technically, there won’t be any shortage of Vision Pro apps at launch, given that existing iPad apps will run on the platform. But that’s much like arguing that there was no shortage of iPad apps when the device was launched, because iPhone apps ran on the tablet.

Porting apps to Apple’s spatial computer in a way that takes full advantage of the very different environment of Vision Pro takes work – and early signs aren’t looking good …

News that Apple has developed its own generative AI model – dubbed Apple GPT – caused a little flurry of excitement yesterday, with John Gruber noting that it caused AAPL’s stock price to briefly spike by 2.7%

Even investors seemed to quickly realise that the news doesn’t mean much, however, as most of that gain was lost by the end of the day …

Today has seen fresh reporting that upcoming EU legislation will either definitely or probably force Apple to change the iPhone battery replacement process.

We’ve noted before that this is far from certain, and anyone expecting DIY battery replacements to get easier is definitely going to be disappointed in the short-term, and very possibly the long-term too…

Sure, I’m a gadget guy who likes shiny new toys as much as the next geek, but I do try to refrain from upgrades for their own sake – admittedly with mixed success.

My biggest challenge is with the iPhone. I’ve historically described this as my least-important Apple gadget, and therefore one that I ought to upgrade least frequently. For years now, however, I’ve fallen victim to the annual camera upgrades …

We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. As reported by 9to5Mac many times, Apple has been planning a refreshed design with slightly curved edges, plus a new titanium frame for the Pro models. There are also rumors about the entire lineup getting the Dynamic Island and USB-C. But among all these rumors, there are only two that I really care about.

Reports of the death of Twitter have so far been somewhat exaggerated. Musk may have made dumb decision after dumb decision, but each time either did a rapid U-turn shortly afterwards, or the sheer momentum of Twitter as the default social media app has carried it through.

But this time, Musk has not only achieved Michael Scott levels of ineptitude, but Meta has brought forward the launch of its Twitter rival Threads in order to take advantage of the chaos …

Everyone I know who has tried Apple’s upcoming spatial computer has been impressed, but the big question remains: What is Vision Pro for? Who will buy it, and why?

Having had the opportunity to use a similar high-end mixed reality headset, and to consider some of the use cases of that device, I think I’m now a step closer to being able to at least partially answer that question …