Opinion pieces & commentary

I last year described the touchscreen Mac as “the idea that will not die.” No matter how many times Apple says it won’t make one, we see continued suggestions that it will, or should.

To be clear, Apple absolutely has made prototypes of touchscreen Macs. The first of these dates back to at least 2008, and probably earlier …

Two years ago, Apple effectively censored a core iPhone communication feature. The change was reportedly initially made at the request of the Chinese government. However, Apple quickly implemented the change to all iPhones globally a few months later.

Apple essentially endorsed China’s censorship demands by voluntarily enforcing the limit on all iPhone users, including the United States and every other democratic nation. Despite being controversial at the time, Apple’s decision has not faceted sustained public scrutiny. Instead, user control and a decentralized communication method were lost under the guise of safety.

The Siri crisis is showing no sign of ending, with a blistering attack by a high-profile commenter, and even senior Apple execs admitting that the delayed features are embarrassing.

At this point, there isn’t anything Apple can do to completely recover from the embarrassment, but a report on an internal Siri team meeting did seem to indicate a potential way to at least mitigate the damage …

The last few days have been very busy when it comes to Apple news. That’s because the company has confirmed that the new Siri experience has been delayed while sources suggest that the new features promised at last year’s WWDC won’t be ready any time soon. Given everything that’s going on at Apple recently, there’s one thing that could really help: another Snow Leopard.

According to recent rumors, Apple has been exploring the idea of putting cameras in the AirPods. Although this project probably won’t see the light of day any time soon, I can’t stop imagining how AirPods with cameras would be a good match with the promised contextual Siri – which was recently delayed by Apple.

A Bloomberg report yesterday suggested that iOS 19 could be getting a completely new look, in the biggest change since iOS 7 back in 2013. A similarly dramatic change is expected for macOS 16.

While the report is light on detail, the few clues it provide does make it sound like the upcoming software updates could almost a complete reversal of the flat look we’ve had for more than a decade …

While Apple has been in no hurry to launch a folding iPhone, it does now seem like we’re getting closer to the day when it finally happens.

Folding smartphones are never cheap, but a new report today suggests that the price could be even higher than some have anticipated, namely “above $2,000 and $2,500” …

As expected, Apple today announced the M4 MacBook Air. It’s a spec-bump update, with unchanged design aside from a new color, so it’s not a compelling upgrade for existing owners of any Apple Silicon model.

However, if you’ve been considering a MacBook Air purchase as either your first model or a replacement for an older Intel one, this is a really good time to press the button …

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) is a privacy feature very few people have been using. Non-techies had never heard of it, and even some geeks hadn’t enabled it.

So Apple standing up to the UK government’s attack on ADP might not seem a big deal – but I’d argue that it’s way more important than it might seem, for three reasons …

One of the odder aspects of Apple’s history is that the company has gone in 14 years from one of the leaders in intelligent assistants to one of the biggest laggards.

We’ve gone from the futuristic-feeling Siri way back in 2011 to a painfully inadequate-feeling Apple Intelligence in 2025 ….

I’m a relatively early adopter of smart home products. While I didn’t dive in during the X.10 days, I’ve been using a variety of smart home devices for well over a decade now, and jumped in on HomeKit as soon as it crossed the Atlantic.

But a recent experience of something as simple as replacing a failed light-bulb really drove home how much further we have to go before we can expect non-techies to climb on board …

In a world in which privacy is a hot-button issue, we might have expected Brits to be outraged that their government was responsible for Apple withdrawing Advanced Data Protection from the UK. In reality, it’s gone largely unremarked.

A new Bloomberg piece suggests that’s because people care far less about privacy than they claim. While I do think there’s some truth to that, it’s not the primary reason …

I guess I’m far from alone in having non-techy friends ask my advice on which Apple device to buy. I always start by asking what’s important to them, and what they want to do with it.

For Macs, my advice changed significantly after the launch of the M1 MacBook Air. Prior to that, my answer to the question “which Mac should I buy for basic tasks like email, web, and writing” was quite often “buy an iPad and keyboard instead” …

From time to time, I see some nostalgic posts about the good old days when iPods were everywhere. Personally, the iPod was responsible for getting me to like Apple products. But years after the iPod was discontinued, I don’t think people really want the iPod back even though they claim they do – and here’s why.

Last year I reviewed the ViewFinity S9, Samsung’s 5K monitor that competes directly with Apple’s Studio Display. In my own words, “the ViewFinity S9’s big selling point is price.” But what about the Studio Display? Is it still a good monitor two years after its launch? Is it worth the price? That’s what I’ve been trying to find out for the last few months.

Apple introduced iCloud back in June 2011, and since then, the free tier of iCloud has remained at 5GB. However, I’m not here to talk about that today. While 5GB of free iCloud is definitely too little for our needs nearly a decade and a half later, I think Apple has a bigger issue to address with iCloud: its paid tiers.

Earlier this month, 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.

We yesterday got a look at what is claimed to be the iPhone 17 Air camera bump, and the reaction hasn’t been … overly favorable.

While we don’t know for sure that the photo shows the real thing, our own sources indicate that the design depicted is probably accurate …

I’ve previously argued that Apple Intelligence could be the biggest reason to buy an Apple smart home camera. Longer term, I think it also has the potential to create a whole new era of truly smart homes.

How long it will take before we can trust Apple Intelligence to run our homes is a whole other question! There’s no arguing with the fact that there’s a long way to go before the AI tech will be more than a public beta. But the longer-term potential does excite me …

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the iPhone 17 Air will cost less than the iPhone Pro models, contradicting the long-standing expectation that the new ultra-thin iPhone would be even more expensive than the iPhone Pro Max models. With that being the case, the phone actually makes more sense than ever.

The upcoming change in the presidency has seen a number of companies make changes to long-standing policies, in fields spanning content moderation to DEI policies.

As we reported on Friday, however, Apple is holding firm on its own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, urging shareholders to reject a resolution to abandon them …