Opinion pieces & commentary

Apple put up a lengthy fight against being forced to allow iPhone sideloading – the ability for owners to install apps directly from a developer’s website, in the same way we can a Mac app.

The company even went as far as arguing that Macs weren’t safe from malware because users can download apps directly. But ultimately the battle was pointless, and may even have been harmful …

The launch of Apple Silicon Macs back in 2020 was one of the longest-awaited developments in the history of Macs. The rumors date back to at least 2014, and with hindsight, the writing was already on the wall when Apple developed its own chip for the first-gen iPad and iPhone 4 back in 2010.

Apple’s hardware chief, Johny Srouji, said last year that the company itself had been working on the project for 14 years …

Some people can already use Apple Pay Later, with the company promising that it will come to “all eligible users” in the next few months. But while you will be able to use it soon, the question is: Should you?

On the surface, it seems like a decent option. It’s interest-free, there’s no application form to fill out, there’s no impact on your credit rating, and you’re dealing with Apple rather than a bank or finance company. But there are a few things to consider …

Artificial intelligence has been with us for years, even in the little things like identifying the faces in a picture to the recommendations we see in our favorite apps. But more recently, we’ve seen new types of AI capable of doing things unimaginable years ago. This new type of AI is changing how people interact with technology. But at the same time, Apple is clearly falling behind its competitors.

After years of speculation, Apple’s Reality Pro headset is expected to debut at WWDC in June. But an Apple Glasses launch is likely still years away, and the Xiaomi Wireless AR Smart Glasses have just given us a very good understanding of the reason for this.

While the role expected to be performed by Apple Glasses is technically achievable today, we’re nowhere near the kind of form factor we’d expect from an Apple product …

The MacBook Air has been sold as a single 13-inch option for years, while customers who want a larger-screen laptop have to opt for the MacBook Pro. This makes sense from a certain point of view since most users who prioritize having a large screen are professionals. However, a lot has changed since then, and now it seems that Apple may introduce a 15-inch MacBook Air. Here’s why this is a good idea.

9to5Mac yesterday gave an exclusive first look at the iPhone 15 design, based on CAD drawings provided to a reliable casemaker.

It appears to be a truly beautiful evolution of the flat-sided form factor first seen in the iPhone 4, revisited in the original iPhone SE, and then revived for the iPhone 12 to iPhone 14 …

We first heard reports about a 15-inch MacBook Air almost a year ago now, and I noted at the time that it could be the perfect machine for many users.

A report yesterday indicated that the machine may be arriving early in April, and while customers have had a long wait, I suspect that the timing is not coincidental …

Chat AI tech is without a doubt the most exciting thing to have happened in the world of technology for quite some time – providing answers to questions, writing essays, generating working code, or even passing an MBA exam through a conversational UI.

Microsoft announced that a version of ChatGPT will power a conversational search feature within its Bing search engine. Google has been quick to announce that it, too, will use its own AI chatbot, Bard, for searches. Does all this mean that Apple too will climb aboard this next-generation chat AI tech to finally make Siri smarter … ?

When Apple announced the transition of Macs powered by Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon in 2020, the company said it would complete the transition of the entire lineup in two years. However, that timeline has passed, and Apple still has one Intel Mac available in its lineup: the Mac Pro. Did Apple overestimate its ability to build a Mac Pro with an Apple Silicon chip?

Could Apple be planning a new iPhone Ultra, costing even more than the Pro Max? That’s the suggestion of a report over the weekend, and it may be backed by a hint dropped by CEO Tim Cook in last week’s earnings call.

Asked about the company’s continued push to drive up the average selling price (ASP), Cook said:

The iPhone has become so integral into people’s lives. It contains their contacts and their health information and their banking information and their smart home and so many different parts of their lives, their payment vehicle and – for many people. And so I think people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category …

It has been quite a while since we started hearing rumors about Apple’s mixed-reality headset. In recent months, a lot of extra details about the product have leaked out on the internet, as it is expected to be introduced sometime this year. Interestingly, one of these reports pointed out that Apple has been investing in an immersive Apple Store experience. But if the company wants the headset to become a hit, it will need more than just an Apple Store app in VR.

Activation Lock is condemning even 2020 Macs to a future as spare parts and landfill, by making it impossible for them to be restored to use.

To be fair to Apple, the technology is only part of the problem – the other half is corporate policy in many companies that issue MacBooks to their employees – but it is an issue that only the Cupertino company can solve …

The Mac Pro has effectively been defined as two things. First, the most powerful Mac in Apple’s line-up. Second, the most expandable machine, but it’s looking increasingly like neither will apply to the 2023 Mac Pro.

And if you take away both of the unique selling points of the Mac Pro, isn’t it dead on arrival … ?

Apple last year introduced a new iPad Pro that is essentially the same as the previous generation model, but this time with the faster M2 chip. While rumors suggest that none of the iPad models will get massive upgrades in 2023, it seems that Apple has been working on a “major iPad Pro revamp” for 2024. But at this point, iPad Pro doesn’t need a major revamp, but better software.

A couple of reports earlier this week made two claims about Apple’s VR/AR plans. One, that the company is trying to trim the cost of a second-generation Apple Headset. Two, that work on Apple Glasses has been put on hold.

The first claim is almost certainly correct; the second, almost certainly wrong …

Apple still manages the occasional surprise, and yesterday was an interesting example. Almost two years after discontinuing the original HomePod, Apple launched a new HomePod.

Or, rather, it basically re-released the original HomePod, at the same price the company was last charging for the discontinued model …

The 27-inch iMac used to be one of the most popular models in Apple’s line-up, and a lot of people still view them with great affection even today. If you wanted a Mac but didn’t need portability, the machine combined all-in-one simplicity with a beautiful design and a great screen in a decent size.

But the iMac Pro was quietly discontinued in March 2021, with the non-Pro model suffering the same fate a year later. Not everyone was happy about this, and reports of a new iMac Pro persist, but I’m honestly not sure there’s a role for either Pro or non-Pro versions any longer …

Both users and developers of Twitter’s third-party clients were surprised last week when many popular apps like Tweetbot stopped working out of the blue. Since then, not even Twitter or its new owner Elon Musk (who likes to talk a lot on the social network) have addressed this issue. Today, Twitter continues to disrespect developers, this time with a weak explanation of what’s going on with its API.

There have been numerous examples of people losing a lifetime’s worth of photos after being locked out of their iCloud account. The Apple account recovery process often proves impossible, especially in cases where an iPhone has been stolen and its owner forced to unlock it.

Just yesterday there was a fresh example, where an unlocked iPhone was stolen at gunpoint by seemingly tech-savvy thieves …

Touchscreen Macs are back in the news – though it’s unclear whether there’s actually much reason for this. The Bloomberg report didn’t say that Apple actually plans to make any, only that engineers are ‘‘actively engaged‘‘ in the project.

I mean, that much has always been true. Apple has long made touchscreen Mac prototypes, and put them through usability testing. So are we talking a dozen engineers, as has probably always been the case? Or hundreds of ’em, which would indeed be evidence that Apple has serious plans? The report doesn’t say …