Opinion pieces & commentary

iOS 27 Beta 5 includes references to an upcoming new feature to allow Apple to authenticate iPhone photos.

Not many iPhone users will need to use this for reasons we’ll get to in a moment, but the move is just the start …

Yesterday saw two conflicting reports about next year’s 20th anniversary iPhone, said to embody Apple’s long-term vision of “a single slab of glass.”

There have already been contradictory reports about exactly what we should expect, but yesterday’s disagreement was the biggest yet …

A Bloomberg report yesterday suggested that we could see a pretty dramatic shake-up in a future Apple Watch lineup.

In particular, it suggested that the company was exploring the possibility of one or more models with a round rather than square form factor …

Earlier this summer, Apple dramatically increased its prices as a result of the ongoing memory crisis around the globe. Things like iPad Air increased from $599 to $749, M5 MacBook Pro from $1699 to $1999, and Apple TV from $129 to $199. That’s just a few examples, but the point is, these price hikes are steep.

It leaves the question – will Apple work on major improvements to make its products more appealing at these new prices?

We’ve had iOS 27 in our hands for about two months now. Of course, it’s a beta – and the public release won’t be hitting for another 4-6 weeks. That said, despite the fact that I’ve been running a beta on my phone for the past two months, I can’t say I’ve really thought much about it. It just… works.

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 13 back in 2021, it made a huge deal over a headline new feature, Cinematic mode. This is the video equivalent of Portrait mode, allowing you to select a focus point and blur the background.

Portrait mode has improved dramatically in successive generations, but the same cannot be said of Cinematic mode. The company appears to have completely lost interest in the feature, and although that’s understandable in one way, I would argue it’s a big mistake …

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged that Vision Pro is a niche product. I’ve argued in the past that it’s an essential step along the way to a more affordable and consumer-friendly Apple Glasses product.

But it’s also worth noting that sometimes niche products can make a huge difference within specialist fields, and a new surgical study provides a very clear example of why it matters to patients and surgeons alike …

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stirred things up a little with what was likely a deliberately teasingly-phrased tweet. Some took this to be a reference to a live iPhone keynote presentation instead of a pre-recorded one.

That seems unlikely, but there are a couple of reasons for suspecting that the live elements may be livelier this year …

We learned yesterday that a judge is allowing a $32B lawsuit to proceed, alleging that Apple Photos face recognition violates a state privacy law.

It has been conflated with Meta’s use of face recognition, despite the two companies’ approaches falling at opposite ends of the privacy spectrum. In allowing the case to proceed, the court fundamentally misunderstands how the feature works …

Apple has waited a very long time to launch its first foldable iPhone, with Samsung already eight generations in to its Galaxy Z Fold series.

There were already good reasons for Apple to wait, but the latest Samsung experience seems to indicate that the iPhone maker’s timings couldn’t have been better …

We know for sure that Apple will increase iPhone prices when the iPhone 18 Pro launches next month. The company exempted existing iPhones when it increased prices across the board to reflect higher memory prices, but that was only ever going to be a temporary reprieve.

However, two sources are now suggesting that the starting price of this year’s Pro models will be $1,399 – and I find it hard to believe even Apple would go that far …

What seems like a deliberately vague comment by outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook during the earnings call suggests that heavy Siri AI usage could be more expensive than we’ve so far expected.

While it had always seemed clear that we wouldn’t be able to make unlimited use of Siri AI without paying for it in some way, Cook’s remarks do appear to point to some bad news …

Next year, the iPhone will be turning 20 – and Apple is heavily rumored to be working on a radical new design to celebrate. Many have expected this to come in the form of iPhone 19 Pro (more likely to be called iPhone 20 to align with the anniversary), but I think there’s one solid reason that it may not be delivered in that form.

Ray-Ban Meta Glasses and the latest cheaper non-designer option are sold on the basis of the built-in AI features, but in early July the company announced a “ridiculous” limit on the free usage you can make of an accessibility feature.

Effectively, Meta has retroactively applied a paywall to a hardware product it already sold to customers. Update: The social network has now said it is “pausing” plans to paywall the feature – see the end of the piece.

A Bloomberg report suggests that Apple Glasses might be launched without the capability to take photos or record video. Apple is said to be considering this option as a way to address privacy concerns.

However, while I do absolutely understand the thinking that would leave the company to mull this option, my own experience of Ray-Ban Meta glasses is that video recording is absolutely core functionality for this type of product …

Apple devices were long known for having some of the highest-quality LCD screens in the business, and that remains the case for today’s MacBooks. The company upped the ante first through retina displays and then mini-LED backlighting. This is the reason Apple has been in no great hurry to adopt OLED technology.

It has, however, been making a phased transition to OLED. Apple first introduced the display tech with the Apple Watch, followed up with iPhone and iPad models, and the MacBook Pro is next in line for the upgrade …

A Bloomberg report yesterday suggested that Apple is about to launch a new Apple Upgrade leasing contract to replace the iPhone Upgrade Program.

There appear to be two significant differences between the two, and one of those is potentially very worrying …

The next iPhone lineup is around the corner – and it’s going to be a different one. The base model iPhone 18 won’t be making an appearance quite yet, as that model has been shifted to a spring release schedule. This September will squarely be on the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the all new foldable iPhone.

Of course, there’s one major elephant in the room: price hikes. It’s inevitable that the iPhone 18 Pro lineup will cost more, which begs the question – is buying an iPhone 17 Pro at today’s prices a good idea?

Jony Ive and Sam Altman made a big promise when they teased the launch of a completely new concept in AI hardware more than a year ago.

The most recent report suggests that OpenAI may technically be delivering on this promise, but could end up at least partly competing with an upcoming AirPods model. If so, I can easily see AirPods Ultra proving the more popular choice …

Last year, Apple completely reinvented multitasking on the iPad, with the introduction of windowing in iPadOS 26. At first, this meant the removal of the simpler version of multitasking, Split View and Slide Over. Those features did eventually return, but at a cost – they required you to use the clunky new windowing system. I was hoping iPadOS 27 would improve this, but it didn’t.

One of the things tucked away in the small print of macOS 27 beta 3 is the news that you’ll need a 2TB iCloud+ subscription in order to use the new AI features for home security cameras in the Apple Home app.

While some are suggesting that we shouldn’t be too surprised by this, I do find it a somewhat disappointing move by Apple …