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OpinionOpinion pieces are intended to provide interesting perspective on an Apple-related topic, and to be an entertaining read. They represent the opinions of their authors, and not of the site as a whole: this is the reason we don’t label them as editorials.

We use the ‘Opinion’ prefix for longer pieces, and ‘Comment’ for shorter pieces that may be making just a single observation.

We fully encourage discussion and debate on opinion pieces, and you are of course welcome to strongly disagree with both the author and other commenters. All we ask is that you apply the golden rule to your interactions: treat others as you’d wish to be treated. In particular, debate the topic not the person – it’s absolutely fine to say that you think someone is completely wrong because x, y and z; it’s not ok to call their views idiotic.

That said, we love to hear your thoughts and views, and really appreciate those who take the time to give their considered opinions.

These three improvements could turn M4 MacBook Air into my dream laptop

M3 Macbook Air - Apple Store

While the MacBook Pro is the place to go for the latest and greatest tech, I’ve always been drawn to the MacBook Air for one key reason: portability. There’s just something really nice about the thinness and lightness of the MacBook Air, one that makes me willing to compromise on miniLED, ProMotion, additional ports, and so on.

The MacBook Air isn’t a perfect computer by any means, but there are some simple upgrades that I’d like to see Apple make with the M4 MacBook Air this year. Any of these upgrades would make it a much better package in my book.

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When will Apple Intelligence arrive on Apple TV and Apple Watch?

Apple Intelligence

Google recently announced that it’s bringing the Gemini AI assistant to Google TV. At the same time, our sister site 9to5Google found evidence of Gemini coming soon to Wear OS – Google’s operating system for smartwatches. On the Apple side, devices like Apple TV and Apple Watch don’t have Apple Intelligence support, and some people are starting to wonder when that will change.

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iPhone SE 4 could be branded as iPhone 16E: Here’s why that makes sense

iPhone SE 4

Earlier this week, some sources begun to claim that the next generation iPhone SE, which is expected to debut this spring, won’t actually be called ‘iPhone SE’ at all. We’re now starting to hear that it’ll be called ‘iPhone 16E’ instead. This may be a weird rumor, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense, given what we know so far about the iPhone SE 4.

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These are the features I’d like to see in a potential ‘Apple Card Pro’

Apple Card amex

Apple Card passed its five year anniversary this year, and I’ve recently been thinking about whats next for the credit card. With Apple Card not being super profitable, combined with the fact that Apple wants to grow its services revenue among declining hardware sales, I think it could make a lot of sense for Apple to start offering a higher end credit card.

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An Apple smart doorbell would be a sure-fire winner – for all of us

An Apple smart doorbell would be a sure-fire winner | Nest doorbell shown

A report over the weekend suggested an Apple smart home doorbell with support for Face ID is in development. It follows an earlier report of an Apple smart home camera next year.

While it could be argued that both are commodity products, and that Apple’s most important contribution is the HomeKit platform rather than the hardware, there seems little doubt about the opportunity here …

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Apple’s foldable iPad is likely a test-bed for a future MacBook

Apple's foldable iPad is likely a test-bed for a future MacBook | Render of an all-screen MacBook

Bloomberg this weekend reported that Apple has made prototypes of a foldable iPad, and plans to release it in 2028. The device is said to open out into a screen with a size approaching 20 inches.

The report is intriguing, because it describes a product that might seem almost as niche as Vision Pro, but it may be that Apple will launch it for similar reasons …

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Luigi Mangione fake news could have been easily avoided by Apple Intelligence

Luigi Mangione fake news could have been easily avoided by Apple Intelligence | Illustration of a typewriter with fake news text

Apple Intelligence managed to create a piece of Luigi Mangione fake news last week, thanks to the notification summary feature. It somehow decided that the suspect in the killing of United Health CEO Brian Thompson had shot himself.

The mistake, in itself, is not surprising: AI systems make this kind of error all the time. What is rather more surprising is that Apple allowed it to happen when it could have been easily avoided …

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iOS 18.2’s new Mail app is nice, but I disabled one of its main features

Mail iOS 18.2

With iOS 18.2, Apple introduced an all new Mail app. It introduced mail categorization, a fresh coat of paint, contact photos/business logos for conversations, a new system for grouping emails, and more. All of that sounded nice when it was unveiled back at WWDC, but now that I’ve actually spent some time using it, I’m having some doubts.

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Apple made a prototype cellular MacBook in 2007 – should it finally sell one? [Poll]

Apple made a prototype cellular MacBook in 2007 – should it finally sell one? | MacBook in a coffee shop

Apple actually built a working cellular MacBook as a prototype all the way back in 2007, and Bloomberg reports that the company may finally release one using its own radio chip.

Steve Jobs was not sold on the idea at the time, for two reasons, but neither of those would apply today. So 18 years later, is it finally time … ?

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The new Beats Pill is a better deal than the HomePod mini – and here’s why

Beats Pill

Apple in June announced a new generation of the Beats Pill, a portable Bluetooth speaker under the Beats brand. As my 9to5Mac colleague Chance Miller said in his review here, the new Beats Pill is “better than ever” – and I have to agree. The more I use the new Beats Pill, the more I realize that it’s a better deal than the HomePod mini.

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Microsoft Recall now available in beta – and I believe Apple could do it the right way

Microsoft Recall

Microsoft this year teased a new feature for Windows called “Microsoft Recall,” which essentially captures snapshots of everything that happens on the PC and uses AI to let users quickly find something they’ve forgotten. After much controversy, the feature is now available in beta – and I believe Apple could do something similar on the Mac, but in the right way.

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Reported iPhone 17 Air compromises tell us a lot about Apple’s thinking

iPhone 17 Air display

We’ve known for some time that the iPhone 17 Air will require compromises to pull off the ultra-thin design, but a new report yesterday suggests buyers may be sacrificing even more than we thought.

That Apple is willing to pare back the device so severely tells us a lot about the company’s thinking – and not just about this specific model …

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Feature request: Apple should merge Spotlight and Type to Siri on iOS and macOS

Siri Spotlight Mac macOS

Apple has given a lot of attention to Siri in iOS 18 and macOS 15, as the virtual assistant now integrates with ChatGPT and will soon work with Apple Intelligence. One of the changes made is that it’s now easier to interact with Siri just by typing – and I believe this feature should be combined with Spotlight.

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The expensive iPhone 17 Air may have a lot in common with Apple’s cheapest iPhone

iPhone 17 Air (render shown) could have overlap with the iPhone SE

The latest iPhone 17 Air report suggests that the expected ultra-slim model could be as thin as 6mm, which would make it the slimmest iPhone ever made.

While that would be a challenging metric to hit, and we’ll believe it when there’s supporting evidence, we do seem to have growing clarity on the market Apple is targeting with the device …

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Final Cut Pro 11 auto-caption feature is a huge win for creators and accessibility alike

Final Cut Pro 11 auto-caption feature is a huge win

Apple last week launched Final Cut Pro 11, and the company clearly consider the new features offered to be a big deal. The last time Apple did a full version number change was the launch of Final Cut Pro X (aka FCP 10) way back in 2011.

Final Cut Pro 11 includes eight new features, and the AI-driven automatic caption feature was one of the headline ones …

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The reported Apple smart home camera will combine ultimate privacy with Apple Intelligence

An Apple smart home camera will combine privacy with Apple Intelligence (Xiaomi camera shown on desk with flowers in vase)

Earlier this week Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that we’ll see an Apple smart home camera in 2026, with the company confident it will prove to be a popular accessory, selling in the tens of millions per year.

Given Apple’s habit of minimizing the number of products it makes, if the report is accurate the company must feel there’s good reason to enter a crowded product category, and I think an Apple camera will likely differentiate itself in two ways: privacy, and Apple Intelligence

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Surgical complications really brought home the value of Apple’s Health Records feature

Surgical complications really brought home the value of Apple's Health Records feature | iPhone screenshot on blurred surgery photo

Apple first launched its Health Records feature way back in 2018, to provide a unified view of our own health records.

Recent complications following surgery really showed how valuable this could be if universally adopted, not just for us as patients, but also to assist healthcare providers in delivering the best standard of care …

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