Macworld Cables are pretty boring. They come in different lengths and a variety of colors, but for the most part, people just buy the cheapest they can find. But not all cables are created equal. The king of cables is Thunderbolt, offering at least 40Gbps transfer speeds. All Apple silicon Macs support at least Thunderbolt 3, with the M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pro, M4 Pro Mac mini, and the latest Mac Studio delivering 240W fast charging and data speeds up to 120Gbps with Thunderbolt 5. Compare that to the average USB-C cable’s 60W and 480Mbps. Thunderbolt 5 cables are so high-end, in fact, that they’re only available in one color option, black. In fact, while some early Thunderbolt cables were available in white, most Thunderbolt 4 and all Thunderbolt 5 cables made over the past 5 years have only been available in black, even the ones made by Apple. But CalDigit is on a mission to change that. The same company that makes the TS5 Plus—Macworld’s favorite do-it-all Thunderbolt 5 docking station—has launched the first-ever white Thunderbolt 5 cable. Much like its white Thunderbolt 4 cable, the CalDigit Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) Pro Cable is available exclusively through the Apple Store for $30 in a braided white design that’s 0.5m (19.7 inches) long and weighs 0.9oz (26g). The cable comes with a two-year warranty, and CalDigit boasts that it can withstand 20,000 bends. CalDigit has made the first Thudnerbolt 5 cable in white. CalDigit ## Black might still be the better option CalDigit is also selling its Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) Pro Cable in standard black, in lengths of 0.5m ($29.95) and 1m ($59.99), with a 2m version expected in 2026. All versions of the cable are designed to work with iPhones, even through a protective case, unlike most existing Thunderbolt cables. They are compatible with MacBooks & iPads (Thunderbolt or USB-C) plus USB-C iPhones (iPhone 15 and later), and backward compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and 4, as well as USB4 and USB-C. The cable supports Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 v2 transfers speeds up to 120Gbps with Bandwidth Boost, or bidirectional 80Gbps, plus 240W of power delivery. It supports 8K displays resolution and 64Gbps PCIe technology with speeds up to 6,200MBps. It’s a great fit for a Mac Thunderbolt dock. Find more of the best Thunderbolt 5 cables in our extensive roundup. #### Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) Pro Cable (white) ### CalDigit Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) Pro Cable (White) Price When Reviewed: $29.95 Best Prices Today: $29.95 at Apple

Macworld If you’ve got a few Amazon gift cards burning a hole in your drawer, this iPad deal will help you get the most bang for your buck: Amazon is selling the 13-inch blue M3 iPad Air with 5G and 128GB of storage for less than $780, a savings of $170, and the best price we’ve ever seen for this generation. In fact, it’s $20 cheaper than Apple charges for the same model without cellular. The M3 iPad Air is the closest you can get to the iPad Pro without spending more than four figures. It’s the only other iPad with a 13-inch screen and an M-series processor, and it’s ready for everything you want to throw at it, from lounging around and watching videos to creating movies with Final Cut or drawing with the Apple Pencil Po (also on sale for $35 off). In our iPad preview for 2026, we noted that we don’t expect the iPad Air to get much more than a chip refresh, so you don’t need to worry about regretting your purchase in a few months. So go save a bundle right now on this iPad Air before the price shoots back up.

Macworld Apple’s smart home efforts have generally lagged behind its rivals. While Amazon and Google have been putting out all sorts of smart doorbells, speakers, and home hubs, the iPhone maker has long limited its ambitions to its multi-functional line of Apple TVs and HomePods. This approach could finally change next year. In 2026, Apple is expected to expand its smart home footprint by releasing several new devices aimed at the smart home, including at least two entirely new device categories. Curious what’s coming? Here’s an overview of every Apple smart home product expected to debut in the year ahead. ## HomePad home hub Arguably, Apple’s most exciting smart home device in 2026 will be the rumored home hub, dubbed HomePad. For those unfamiliar, Apple has reportedly long been working on an iPad-like device that doubles as a home hub for your connected HomeKit, Matter, and Thread accessories. While iPads once functioned as Apple Home hubs, the HomePad’s utility will likely expand beyond basic accessory controls. Reports suggest that the HomePad will pack a 7-inch square touchscreen and the iPhone 16’s A18 processor. This would enable the device to handle Apple Intelligence features, including the context-aware Siri that should launch in the spring. Another standout feature could be an advanced, never-before-seen variant of the TrueDepth camera with support for multiuser facial recognition. Apple’s HomePad will reportedly merge an iPad with a HomePod to create a completely new device. Foundry If the leaks materialize, the 1080p ultra-wide camera will be able to identify users in the room and curate the displayed content dynamically. Siri on HomePod can already recognize different users’ voices, so a visual implementation of this feature would be the next logical step for Apple Home. Unsurprisingly, the bundled lens will also work with FaceTime, letting household members make and receive calls even when their iPhones aren’t around. Given that the HomePad will probably rely heavily on the new Siri’s voice commands, Apple may coordinate their release, which means it could arrive alongside iOS 26.4 in March or April. ## Security camera Along with the hub, Apple is also reportedly working on some smart home accessories, including at least one that could arrive in 2026: a HomeKit-enabled security camera. Like HomePods, the accessory will reportedly monitor the audio in your house and notify you when it detects fire alarms. Not much else is known about this peripheral, beyond the inclusion of multiple sensors and its ability to take photos. Apple Home already supports HomeKit security cameras, with iCloud+ even offering specialized perks for these third-party devices. The number of cameras you can use with the HomeKit Secure Video feature depends on your iCloud+ tier, with the 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB plans unlocking one, five, and unlimited camera slots, respectively. Perhaps the best part about this implementation is that you can store recorded footage in the cloud without it counting against your iCloud storage quota. Apple may be looking to release its first smart home accessory in 2026. Foundry Other neat tools include the ability to detect people, pets, and cars using the home hub’s on-device smarts, sharing the live stream with other users, and viewing ten days of activity right from the Home app. It’s safe to assume that Apple’s rumored security cameras will support all of these existing perks and much more. After all, Apple tends to favor its devices and gives them exclusive advantages to entice customers to use its own products. ## HomePod mini 2 Turning to more modest but still welcome updates, the second-gen HomePod mini could debut in early 2026. Beyond introducing new color options, the first-generation model hasn’t seen any meaningful upgrades since its initial 2020 launch. Despite the five-year gap, the HomePod mini 2 is unfortunately not expected to feature any groundbreaking changes. Perhaps the most noticeable boost will be the inclusion of the latest Apple Watch S10 chip. This would allow the small smart speaker to potentially support more advanced features launching with future firmware versions. Given the S10 chip’s constraints in the Apple Watch, however, it’s unclear whether the HomePod mini 2 will support Apple Intelligence, including the more advanced features of Siri 2.0. Will the HomePod mini finally get an update in 2026? Foundry Elsewhere, the HomePod mini 2 will likely pack Apple’s custom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, contributing to higher efficiency and smoother interoperability with other Apple devices. The speaker may also adopt the U2 ultra-wideband chip, which would increase the precision of spatially-aware features, such as Handoff with iPhone. Moving on to the most _innovative_ aspect of the HomePod mini 2, the petite player could feature refreshed colorways to distinguish it from the current-gen model. ## Apple TV 4K 4 In a similar fashion, the Apple TV 4K could see a minor upgrade early next year, primarily revolving around a processing push. The fourth-generation model could boast the iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro chipset, possibly unlocking some AI features on the large screen. It could also bring support for higher-end AAA games, given how powerful that processor is. Like the HomePod mini 2, the Apple TV 4K 4 is also rumored to adopt the company’s in-house chip for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for an elevated connectivity experience. The set-top box could potentially see a price drop, too, to better compete against Amazon Fire TV and Google TV.

Macworld When you set up a new iPhone, iOS prompts you about some preferences for customizing certain things, such as the theme, access to location services, and Siri. Still, there are a lot of hidden features in iOS that many users don’t even know about—even those who have been using iPhones for a long time. Whether you’re setting up a brand new iPhone or have just restored yours, read on as we detail which settings you may want to change on your device to get the most out of it. ## Give your iPhone a name Did you know that your iPhone has its own name? It appears not only in the list of devices logged into your iCloud account, but is also visible to other people when you AirDrop to them. Changing the name of your iPhone to something more personal than “iPhone 17 Pro” is a good way to start after setting up your new device. To do this, go to Settings > _General_ > _About_ and tap _Name_. You can type whatever you want. Just keep in mind that other people will see the name you choose if you leave AirDrop turned on, so keep it clean. Make your iPhone yours by giving it a personal name. Foundry ## Limit Background App Refresh By default, iOS apps can keep their content updated in the background, even when you’re not using the app. This allows apps to be ready with the latest content available when you open them. However, keeping this feature turned on can drain your battery faster. Revisiting this setting is a good way to ensure that your iPhone won’t drain your battery or waste your cellular data plan if you don’t want it to. Go to Settings > General > _Background App Refresh_ and tap _Background App Refresh_ at the top of the list. You can choose from three options: * Off: Turn off background updates completely (you will still receive notifications from your apps). * Wi-Fi: Your apps will download new content only when your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. * Wi-Fi & Cellular Data: Your apps will download new content regardless of whether you’re connected to Wi-Fi or 5G. If you opt to keep this feature enabled, you can also limit it to specific apps. All you have to do is disable the apps that you don’t want to allow to download content in the background. ## Switch between light and dark modes automatically During iPhone setup, you can customize things such as text size and whether you want to use your iPhone in light or dark mode. However, there are many more options available when it comes to display settings, and revisiting them can make your experience better and more comfortable. You can set a schedule for when your iPhone switches to dark mode. Foundry For instance, your iPhone can automatically switch between light and dark mode. To do this, go to Settings > _Display & Brightness_ and tap _Options_ under the _Appearance_ section. You can choose between “Sunset to Sunrise,” which will automatically select the best time of day for each theme, or set a custom schedule. ## Make Liquid Glass more opaque In the same Display & Brightness menu, you’ll also find a “Liquid Glass” option. By default, iOS 26 comes with Clear mode enabled, which makes the entire interface appear more transparent. Choose “Tinted” for a more opaque look with better contrast. Please note that this option is available on iOS 26.1 or later. So if you don’t see it on your iPhone, make sure to update it to the latest version of iOS. If you don’t love Liquid Glass, you can tone it down with the “Tinted” option. Foundry ## Turn on Always On (or not) Some iPhone models feature Always On Display, which keeps the display on and shows information even after you lock the screen. If you don’t like this mode or just want to turn it off to save some battery life, here’s how to do it. Go to Settings > _Display & Brightness_ and tap _Always On Display_. Here you can either customize how Always On Display works or turn it off completely. For instance, you can choose to turn off the wallpaper and keep only the clock in Always On mode. There’s also an option to show or hide notifications. If you don’t want Always On Display at all, just switch off the main toggle. Turning it off will make your screen go completely black when you lock your phone, just like in the old days. Not seeing the option? Always On Display was only available on Pro models starting with iPhone 14 Pro. However, all iPhone 17 models support the feature, including the base model and the iPhone Air. ## Save your eyes at night Here’s another hidden feature you’ll find in the _Display & Brightness_ settings: Night Shift. Introduced with iOS 9, this feature essentially reduces the blue light from your display, making it appear warmer. The idea is to make the screen more comfortable for your eyes, especially at night. You can manually enable Night Shift from sunset to sunrise or set a custom schedule. There’s also a slider to adjust the intensity of the effect on the screen. ## Enable pro camera features If you want to take advantage of everything your iPhone has to offer when it comes to the camera, it’s definitely worth checking out the _Camera_ section in the Settings app. Even if you don’t have an iPhone 17 Pro, there are lots of professional camera settings at your fingertips. Foundry By default, the iPhone is set to record 1080p videos. You can change the default resolution to 4K in the “Record Video” menu. There, you can also disable HDR video if you want. If you have an iPhone 12 Pro or later, you can also enable ProRAW under the “Formats” menu. After enabling ProRAW, you’ll see a button to turn it on or off in the Camera app when taking photos. You can also take a look at the “Composition” section in the _Camera_ settings. Personally, I like to enable “Grid and Level” to help me take better photos. ## Disable Control Center on the Lock Screen Control Center on iOS lets users quickly access some useful settings, such as managing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, changing the volume, enabling Do Not Disturb, or even turning AirDrop on or off. You can access Control Center from anywhere by swiping down from the top right corner of the screen. This works not only from the Home Screen or apps, but also from the Lock Screen. You can limit access to the Control Center in Settings. Foundry However, this also means that anyone who gets their hands on your phone can change settings in Control Center, but there’s a way to change that. First, go to Settings > _Face ID_. Scroll down until you find _Allow Access When Locked_. Then, turn off the “Control Center” option. You can also turn off other options to prevent them from being accessed from the Lock Screen, giving you more privacy and security. After turning them off, you can only access Control Center or other features from the Lock Screen after authenticating with Face ID. You’ll find extra levels of security if you dig through the Face ID settings. Foundry ## Turn on Stolen Device Protection Introduced in iOS 17, Stolen Device Protection adds an extra layer of security to your iPhone if it’s ever stolen, especially if someone also knows your passcode. When enabled, sensitive actions such as changing your Apple ID password, turning off Find My, or accessing saved passwords require Face ID or Touch ID, with no fallback to the passcode. In unfamiliar locations, iOS may also enforce a security delay before allowing these changes. To turn it on, go to Settings > _Face ID & Passcode_ > _Stolen Device Protection_ and enable the feature. This is one of those settings you hope you’ll never need. But if your iPhone is lost or stolen, having it enabled can make a huge difference. ## Set up an Emergency Contact Setting up an emergency contact ensures that first responders, or anyone trying to help, can reach someone you trust if something happens to you. An Emergency Contact is a set-it-and-forget it feature that could save your life. Foundry Emergency contacts are accessible directly from the Lock Screen without unlocking the iPhone, and they’re also used by features like Emergency SOS and Medical ID. To add an Emergency Contact, open the Health app, tap your profile picture, then go to _Medical ID_ > _Edit_. From there, you can add one or more emergency contacts and include other useful information such as allergies, medications, or medical conditions. It only takes a minute to set up, but it can be invaluable in a real emergency. ## Now you’re ready to get the most out of your iPhone Now that you know which settings are worth revisiting, you can make sure your iPhone is configured the right way from the start. A few thoughtful changes can improve everything from battery life and security to how comfortable your iPhone is to use throughout the day.

Macworld **TL;DR:** Windows 11 Pro is just $9.97 (MSRP $199) for a limited time — upgrade your aging computer with a modern interface, improved performance, and advanced security for under $10. Let’s get something straight: A sluggish computer doesn’t mean you need to shell out for a new one. Sure, the thrill of unboxing fresh tech is real, but in this economy, stretching the life of the hardware you already own is the smarter play. One of the simplest ways to breathe new life into an aging machine is upgrading the operating system — and right now, you can grab Windows 11 Pro for just $9.97. Maximize your computer’s functionality by adding Windows 11 Pro into the mix to get the best of both worlds. Windows 11 Pro features a seamless interface that helps increase productivity while being visually pleasing. Plus, you get access to a world of advanced security like biometric login, Smart App Control, and advanced antivirus defenses. Get the most out of gaming with DirectX 12 Ultimate graphics that allow you to play the game the way it was intended: with rich visuals and realistic graphics. Upgrading to Windows 11 Pro is a great way to enhance your operating system for just $9.97. Regularly $199, you don’t want to miss this deal. Microsoft Windows 11 ProSee Deal _StackSocial_ _prices subject to change_.

Macworld **TL;DR:** Get lifetime access to your favorite AI tools with ChatPlayground AI, now $79. AI tools are getting harder to live without, but when each of them requires a separate ongoing paid subscription, you end up budgeting for your own productivity. If you want a cheaper alternative, try a platform like ChatPlayground AI to get lifetime access to many of the same AI models, minus the constant cost. Right now, an Unlimited Lifetime Subscription is even on sale for only $79 (reg. $619). ChatPlayground AI lets you compare outputs from multiple AI models in a single window. You enter one prompt and view responses from GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Flash, DeepSeek V3, and many others. This saves time when you need the best version of an answer, code snippet, summary, or creative idea. The platform also includes image generation, prompt-engineering tools, saved chat history, and the ability to chat with PDFs or images. A browser extension allows you to use it while you work online. Since the plan is unlimited, you can run as many prompts as you want without watching usage counters. You get lifetime access, future updates, and priority support. If you want to experiment with multiple AI systems without juggling monthly payments, this deal sets you up long-term. Until January 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT, it’s only $79 to get a ChatPlayground lifetime subscription. No coupon needed. ChatPlayground AI: Lifetime Subscription (Unlimited Plan)See Deal _StackSocial prices subject to change_.

Macworld **TL;DR:** Get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more for life when you get a lifetime license for Microsoft Office on sale for $30. Microsoft 365 isn’t the only way to get apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It’s definitely not the cheapest, especially when you never know if Microsoft is going to raise the price of a subscription again. If you want another option, check out Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019. The apps may be a little older, but they still work great with modern hardware, and you can get a lifetime license on sale for $29.97 (reg. $229). This lifetime license comes with * Word * Excel * PowerPoint * Outlook * OneNote * Teams Classic If you’re used to Microsoft 365, these apps may look a little different, but they still work great whether you need daily productivity tools for work or apps to help you get through the semester. And you don’t have to worry about sudden price hikes or ongoing costs from a subscription. Right now, it’s only $29.97 to get Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 for Mac. Sale ends soon. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for MacSee Deal _StackSocial prices subject to change_.

Macworld The iPad lineup has settled into a predictable and stable update cycle in recent years. Major redesigns are rare, with Apple mostly focusing on internal upgrades such as faster chips, better displays, and incremental refinements. And according to multiple rumors, we already have an idea of what to expect from the iPad lineup in 2026. Based on information reported by Macworld and other reliable sources, Apple is gearing up to launch another wave of minor iPad refreshes with spec bumps. Read on as we detail which iPads will be updated and which won’t over the course of the coming year. ## Entry-level, 12th-gen iPad: A much faster chip The base model iPad is certainly the right choice for most people who just want a good tablet at an affordable price. This iPad is especially popular in the education segment, with Apple offering it for only $329 to students. In 2025, Apple gave its iPad such a small update that it wasn’t even capable of running Apple Intelligence, but in 2026, it looks like it will get a much more significant spec bump. As previously reported by _Macworld_, the 12th-generation iPad is expected to debut in 2026 with the faster A19 chip, replacing the A16 found in the current 11th-generation model. The A19 chip is the same as the one in the iPhone 17, and is more than 50 percent faster than the A16 chip in the current iPad. The entry-level iPad could be getting a much faster chip next year. Foundry With the upgrade, the entry-level iPad will finally support more advanced capabilities, including Apple Intelligence. It will also become a great option for gamers, as the A19 chip can run console-level games with ease. In addition to the A19 chip, Apple is also expected to bring its new N1 wireless chip to the new iPad. This is Apple’s first custom wireless chip to handle both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, delivering both better performance and energy efficiency. Reports suggest that Apple will keep the same overall design, display, and camera system. This means that the 12th-gen iPad will likely have the same 60Hz LCD panel as the current generation, as well as Touch ID in the power button. While the idea of having the same design and display for another year may not sound exciting, most buyers looking for an entry-level iPad are more interested in having a reliable tablet at a lower price. The A19 chip will make the next entry-level iPad very future-proof. ## iPad Air: M4 comes to the middle of the lineup The iPad Air has increasingly become Apple’s “sweet spot” tablet, offering near-Pro performance without the Pro price tag. In 2026, that positioning looks set to continue. Macworld has reported that Apple plans to update the iPad Air with the M4 chip, replacing the current M3. The jump from M3 to M4 isn’t significant, but most users don’t upgrade their iPad every year anyway. The idea is certainly to make the product more appealing to first-time buyers or those upgrading from a much older iPad. The iPad Air is reportdly getting an M4 in 2026. Foundry The upgrade appears to be almost entirely internal. Just like the next entry-level iPad model, the M4 iPad Air will also feature Apple’s N1 wireless chip and possibly the C1 modem. Otherwise, the design, display, and cameras are all expected to remain unchanged. The current iPad Air is available in 11-inch and 13-inch screen options, both with a 60Hz LCD panel. Apple is comfortable with the current Air design, which already supports Magic Keyboard and the latest Apple Pencil Pro. Plus, the iPad Air is already compatible with features including Apple Intelligence and Stage Manager. In short, the iPad Air will get even better and more powerful with M4, just don’t expect it to have the same fancy display and design as the iPad Pro. ## iPad mini: The next to get OLED While both the entry-level iPad and iPad Air will retain the same display technology for another year, the next generation of iPad mini may surprise us with a more modern display. According to Bloomberg, the 8th-gen iPad mini could feature an OLED panel for the first time. Other sources have already corroborated that the smallest iPad will have its LCD screen replaced by an OLED display made by Samsung. The iPad mini could be in for an OLED upgrade next year. Foundry OLED panels are brighter and have better contrast than LCD, as each pixel is controlled individually. Currently, the iPad Pro is the only iPad to feature OLED, though it’s unclear whether the OLED panel in the new iPad mini will feature ProMotion with a higher refresh rate or remain limited to 60Hz. When it comes to performance, MacRumors reported that the iPad mini 8 will be powered by the A19 Pro chip – the same as the iPhone 17 Pro models. The chip is about 30 percent faster than the A17 Pro in the iPad mini 7. It’s not a huge leap, but it’s enough to keep the iPad mini on par with the latest Apple devices. In addition, a separate Bloomberg report suggested that the next iPad mini could be the first water-resistant iPad. Unfortunately for iPad mini fans, rumors about the release date are quite conflicting. While some believe it may arrive in late 2026, it seems more likely that the iPad mini 8 will be held back until 2027. ## iPad Pro: Don’t expect a new model anytime soon Of all the iPads Apple makes, the one least likely to make headlines next year is the iPad Pro. That’s because Apple has just released the M5 iPad Pro, and a new model is unlikely to arrive until spring 2027, about 18 months after the release of the latest model. According to rumors, Apple is already working on a new iPad Pro with the yet-to-be-announced M6 chip. However, the M6 is still a year away from being announced, as is the next generation of iPad Pro. In addition to the new chip, the next generation of iPad Pro is also rumored to feature vapor chamber cooling, just like the iPhone 17 Pro. Given that Apple has already refreshed the iPad Pro design with the M4 models in 2024, another redesign for 2027 is highly unlikely. The iPad Pro probably won’t get an update until 2027. Foundry ## Should you buy a new iPad now or wait? Whether you should buy an iPad now or wait depends largely on which model you’re considering and the age of your current iPad. If you’re looking at the entry-level model, waiting for the next generation is definitely worth it. Despite no changes to the design or display, the jump from the A16 to the A19 chip will not only bring significantly better performance, but also enable support for more iPadOS features. For the iPad Air, the decision is less clear-cut. The move from M3 to M4 won’t dramatically change the experience for most users, and the current iPad Air is already extremely capable. If you find a good deal on an M3 iPad Air, buying now still makes sense. iPad mini buyers may want to hold off if possible. An OLED display and A19 Pro chip would be meaningful upgrades, even if the release timeline remains unclear. That said, if you need a compact iPad today, the current model remains a solid option, especially given that the new mini may not arrive until 2027. As for the iPad Pro, don’t hesitate to buy one. With the M5 models just released and no major update expected in the near future, there’s little reason to wait unless you’re specifically holding out for next-generation features like vapor chamber cooling.

Macworld The AirPods Pro 3 are Apple’s most feature-rich earbuds, offering advanced tools and settings to fine-tune users’ everyday listening experience. From touch and pressure sensitivity to health monitoring and immersive audio output, the latest AirPods are jam-packed with futuristic technology, despite their miniature design. #### ### Apple AirPods Pro 3 Read our review Price When Reviewed: $249 Best Prices Today: $199 at Walmart | $199.49 at Amazon | $199.99 at Target The AirPods Pro 3 are highly customizable, letting you control the stem behavior, audio output, charging habits, and much more. While the default preferences work well for most users, there are some settings you may want to adjust to better suit your life. It’s worth noting that some of these options are exclusive to the AirPods Pro 3, while others also work with other select models, such as the AirPods 4 and Pro 2. ## **1. Pairing process** Pairing your AirPods Pro 3 with your iPhone requires a one-time, straightforward setup. Simply place the charging case next to your iPhone and open its lid. A relevant sheet should instantaneously pop up on iOS—hit the _Connect_ button. Once done, your iPhone will prompt you to tap twice on the charging case’s back to confirm the action. Going forward, your AirPods will automatically connect to your iPhone and any of your iCloud devices whenever you take them out of their case. Another Apple ecosystem perk is Automatic Device Switching. The feature works by automatically changing the audio source device depending on your playback activity. So, if they’re connected to your Mac and you start playing music on iOS, for example, your AirPods will shift to your iPhone. If you’re unhappy with this behavior, you can head to the _Settings_ app > _[your name]’s AirPods_ > _Connect to This iPhone_ , then select _When Last Connected to This iPhone_ (rather than _Automatically_). Foundry ## **2. Audible announcements** Your AirPods Pro 3 can announce incoming notifications, which can be helpful when your iPhone is out of reach. The feature, however, can become too intrusive if you receive lots of messages, as it’ll constantly interrupt your music and lower its volume to read every delivered text. Fortunately, you can turn it off completely or for select apps by going to _Settings_ > _Notifications_ > _Announce Notifications_. If you’ve opted for notification and call announcements, you can also customize the AirPods Pro 3’s head gestures. The feature lets you interact with alerts by nodding or moving your head side to side. You can try and customize these shortcuts by going to AirPods settings and visiting the _Head Gestures_ menu. ## **3. Tailored tips** To accommodate different ear shapes, the AirPods Pro 3 support five tip sizes. If the default medium ear tip feels off, you can try one of the other variants included in the AirPods’ box. To confirm that the seal is good, you can go to AirPods settings and tap on _Test Acoustic Seal_. After following the on-screen instructions, iOS will inform you of any needed adjustments. To improve spatial audio’s performance and precision, you can scan your ears using the _Personalized Spatial Audio_ section. This will create a unique sound profile that syncs across all of your compatible Apple devices. Foundry ## **4. Stem settings** The AirPods Pro 3’s stems can react to your presses and swipes. To customize what pressing and holding does to either stem, you can head to _Press And Hold AirPods_ in AirPods settings. This lets you pick between triggering Siri and toggling ANC or other Listening Modes. Similarly, you can choose what single and double stem presses do during a call under the _Call Controls_ menu. This enables you to quickly mute/unmute an ongoing call or end it without interacting with your iPhone. Likewise, you can press once or press and hold when the Camera app is open to shoot by setting up the _Camera Remote_ feature under the _Camera Control_ menu. If you tend to run under the pouring rain, then the water drops will likely trigger the swipe gesture on the AirPods’ stems and lower the volume of your music. To disable the touch-sensitive surface, go to _Accessibility_ in AirPods settings and turn off _Volume Swipe_. Foundry ## **5. Hearing help** The AirPods Pro 3 can evaluate your hearing and double as hearing aids if needed. To get started, go to AirPods settings and tap on _Take a Hearing Test_. Once the test concludes, you can enable the _Hearing Assistance_ feature if hearing loss has been detected. This will amplify surrounding sounds based on your personal test results. Foundry ## **6. Battery boosting** If you tend to leave your AirPods’ case charging overnight, it’s best to enable the _Optimized Charge Limit_ option under the _Battery_ menu in AirPods settings. The feature learns from your usage habits and pauses charging as needed to preserve your battery’s health. Speaking of the battery, you may also want to familiarize yourself with the compatible charger types. You can top up the AirPods Pro 3 case using a USB-C cable or opt for one of the several wireless charging options. These include Qi, Qi2, MagSafe, and Apple Watch wireless chargers. Foundry ## **7. Cardio controls** The AirPods Pro 3 offer a heart rate monitor to collect data during workouts. However, the sensor measures your heartbeat even when you’re wearing an Apple Watch, which can consume power unnecessarily. To prolong your AirPods’ battery life and limit the potentially redundant readings, you can disable the _Heart Rate_ toggle in AirPods settings if you’re relying on an Apple Watch. ## **8. Translation training** If you’re living in a foreign country or plan to visit one soon, the AirPods Pro 3 can translate your conversations in real time. For the feature to work, however, you will first need to download the relevant language pair to your iPhone. Go to _Languages_ in AirPods settings, then download the needed packages. Once ready, you can press and hold both stems simultaneously to initiate a live translation session. ## **9. Sleep sensing** Your AirPods Pro 3 pack sensors that can detect when you fall asleep. If you tend to snooze while listening to your favorite podcast or playlist, you can toggle _Pause Media When Falling Asleep_ in AirPods settings to automatically stop the playback whenever you doze off. ## **10. Beta builds** This one’s for the adventurous, tech-savvy users. If you’re keen on trying new AirPods features before they launch to the general public, you can enable the toggle under _AirPods Beta Updates_ in AirPods settings. For this to work, however, you’ll first need to be running the iOS beta on your paired iPhone. Keep in mind that beta firmware can break essential features or brick your AirPods altogether. There’s no easy way to downgrade to the latest stable firmware or revive your AirPods if they die or you’re unhappy with the experience. If these are risks you’re willing to take, you can get a sneak peek of upcoming software additions and provide feedback to Apple.

Macworld For many people, the Apple Watch is primarily a fitness tracker and an extension to the iPhone. It conveniently mirrors iOS notifications, calls, and messages, letting users stay updated without taking their phones out. What a lot of wearers don’t know, though, is how powerful and feature-packed watchOS really is, and how much your smartwatch can accomplish. Below are 10 Apple Watch perks you’re probably unfamiliar with. **Top 3 Apple Watch features** * Use your Apple Watch as a TV remote! * Find a lost iPhone! * Control your iPhone’s camera! Read on to learn about these features and more! ## Add any QR code to your Wallet If you’re a watchOS user, chances are you’re already relying on Apple Pay to quickly make payments from your wrist. Similarly, the Apple Watch automatically syncs compatible tickets whenever you add them to the Wallet app on iOS. This lets you enter venues and board planes by double-clicking the side button and scanning the QR code on the smartwatch’s display. But what if your favorite gym, cinema, or airline doesn’t officially offer Apple Wallet cards for purchased tickets or memberships? Fortunately, you can manually create an Apple Watch card using any QR code. Simply download the Wallet Creator app on your iPhone, create the card, and add it to the Wallet app on iOS. In a few seconds, the newly created card should also appear on your Apple Watch when you double-click its side button. This spares you from digging through your emails or third-party apps whenever you need to cross compatible gates. Mahmoud Itani / Foundry ## Text when your iPhone is away It’s no secret that cellular-enabled Apple Watches can independently make calls and send texts. But did you know that regular Wi-Fi models can also do that, even when your iPhone is off or in a different location? All you need to do is connect to a Wi-Fi network. Open the Settings app on your watch, then _Wi-Fi_ , and enter the name and password of the network you want to connect to. Once connected, you’ll be able to send and receive iMessages and make FaceTime audio calls to other Apple users right from your wrist. This is especially helpful during emergencies if your iPhone dies or gets stolen. ## Browse the web on your wrist Another hidden Messages feature is the built-in web view that provides a basic Safari experience on watchOS. All you have to do is iMessage yourself a link, then open it on your Apple Watch. The feature also supports the Reader perk, which presents articles neatly and hides distracting items. Reading articles on a smartwatch’s tiny display probably won’t be a regular habit, but it could come in handy in certain situations. ## Put an iPod on your wrist You probably already use your Apple Watch’s native Now Playing app to control the music streaming on your iPhone. However, many users miss out on watchOS’s native playback perk. Simply pair AirPods or third-party Bluetooth headphones to your smartwatch, and stream directly from Apple Music if you have an internet connection. For offline listening, both Apple Music and Spotify support downloading playlists to the wearable’s local storage, letting you leave your iPhone behind. This makes it possible to run outdoors with just your Apple Watch and a pair of wireless earbuds. Mahmoud Itani / Foundry ## Never lose your Apple TV remote If you have an Apple TV, there’s a handy Remote app installed on your watch that lets you fully control your television. Even on this miniature screen, the interface manages to fit all of the main buttons, letting you switch apps, go back, navigate, control the volume, and more. It’s ideal for when you’re cooking or cleaning and don’t want to dirty the physical Siri Remote or your iPhone. Or those times when neither of those items is conveniently to hand. You can similarly control other smart home appliances that rely on the HomeKit infrastructure using the native Home app on watchOS. I often use it to change the color of my light bulbs when Siri—in typical Siri fashion—fails to process my voice commands. Mahmoud Itani / Foundry ## Quickly contact other Apple Watch users Apart from FaceTime and iMessage, the Apple Watch offers an exclusive communication tool that seemingly very few people use. Walkie-Talkie is a built-in app that lets you quickly contact other watchOS users using your voice. Once you add a friend there, you can communicate verbally in real time using the FaceTime audio technology. When you’re in a meeting or just don’t want to be reached, you can toggle off your availability. While most users probably prefer regular audio messages or phone calls, the Walkie-Talkie app makes it easier to get quick answers for minor questions—like what brand of milk to get from the supermarket. It mostly caters to best friends, family members, and partners, as having less intimate acquaintances reach you at any time would be too intrusive. Mahmoud Itani / Foundry ## Find a lost iPhone If you often misplace your iPhone, you’ve likely made use of the handy Ping toggle in the Apple Watch’s Control Center. When you tap it, your iPhone produces a loud screech if it’s within Bluetooth range. What you probably don’t know, though, is that pressing and holding on that toggle will also make your iPhone’s camera LED flash. This makes it possible to locate your phone in a pitch-black environment. ## Listen to the time Did you know that your Apple Watch can tell the time? Literally, I mean. Once you enable the _Speak Time_ toggle in Clock settings, you can have watchOS announce the current time audibly by holding two fingers on the watch face. I sometimes use this feature when I wake up in the morning to identify the time without opening my heavy eyelids. ## Control your iPhone’s camera If you’re living the solo life and often need to record videos or take photos of yourself, this one’s for you. watchOS offers a built-in Camera Remote app that transforms your Apple Watch into a viewfinder for your iPhone’s Camera app. This ensures you’re in frame and helps you fine-tune composition before shooting. The app also offers handy shortcuts to some of the Camera app’s buttons, like the shutter, zoom, and flash. Your Apple Watch can do a lot more than count steps and track activiity. Foundry ## Calculate the tip with ease For the last tip, your Apple Watch can actually calculate how much you need to tip at restaurants. Just input the bill’s total in the native Calculator app and hit the Tip button. You can then choose the percentage and optionally the number of people splitting it, et voilà! ## Apple Watch can do more than you think The Apple Watch has come a long way. What once used to be a dependent accessory can now perform most basic smartphone tasks on its own. That’s even more practical for those with an active cellular plan. It’s true that performing most of these tasks would be more practical using the wider iPhone screen. But there are still instances when the Apple Watch makes more sense. Sometimes your hands are occupied, other times your iPhone is out of charge—regardless of your reasons, it’s comforting to know that the wearable strapped to your wrist at all times can connect you to your loved ones, play your favorite tunes, unlock electric doors, control and find other devices, and much more. Over and out. For even more things to do with an Apple Watch see our guide to the cool things Apple Watch can do. We also have a guide to All the things an Apple Watch can do without an iPhone and we also examine the pros and cons of a cellular Apple Watch.

Macworld These days, iPhones can do a lot. And we mean _a lot_. From photography and navigation to gaming and AI, it’s enough to make you forget they can also, you know, make phone calls and send text messages. With all these clever features on offer, it’s inevitable that a few will be overlooked. Whether you’re a power user or an iOS beginner, we bet there are scores of interesting and useful functions that you never knew existed–and which could help you get even more out of that expensive device. In this article, updated for 2026, we round up some of the best iPhone features and settings you’re probably not using. (For each one we list the version of iOS you’ll need to be running; if you’re not sure, you can check this by opening the Settings app and going to General > About and checking the iOS Version field.) With our help, you’ll be an iPhone master in no time. ## 1. NameDrop: Easily share contacts _Works on iOS 17 and later_ NameDrop, which lets you touch two iPhones together to exchange contact details, is a great example of Apple’s seamless and intelligent integration between hardware and software, and it’s something that few other phone makers could pull off. Just bring the top ends of two iPhones close to each other and hold them there until you see a bubble-like animation show on their displays. Once that happens, NameDrop will link the two users like magic, and you can then choose the fields you want to share before exchanging your details or tap Receive Only to get their info without sending your own. And here’s a bonus: The feature also works for sending Apple Cash to another iPhone user. **Why you should use this feature:** It’s a huge time-saver. Instead of laboriously dictating your number, or opening the right app to text your details, do it easily in a flash. ## 2. Back Tap: Add a button to the back of your iPhone _Works on iOS 14 and later_ Some iPhone features feel so natural that you wonder why you didn’t know about them before, and Back Tap certainly qualifies. With a quick double or triple tap on the back of your phone, you can open your camera app, turn on the flashlight, switch apps, and more. To get started, open the Settings app on your iPhone and head to _Accessibility_ > _Touch_ > _Back Tap_. Select either _Double Tap_ or _Triple Tap_ , then pick an option from the extensive list. You can run system functions, activate accessibility controls, and even launch a shortcut, which is a clever way to kickstart a powerful workflow with minimal effort. **Why you should use this feature:** What could be more convenient than having instant access to your most commonly used action? Having instant access to two of them. Back Tap is like having a secret Action button on the back of your phone. David Price / Foundry ## 3. Visual Look Up: Use the camera to learn about nature _Works on iOS 15 and later, although newer software (and hardware) will unlock more features_ How many times have you seen an animal or plant and found yourself scratching your head over what it was? With your iPhone, there’s no need to be left in doubt. Just use Visual Look Up. Simply snap a photo of the animal or plant in question, open the image in the Photos app, then swipe up. You’ll see an option to _Look Up Plant_ or _Look Up Animal_ , which will show likely matches and similar images. Since the feature debuted in 2022, Apple has expanded its scope, and swiping up on other photos may give you the option to _Look Up Food_ , _Look Up Artwork_ and so on, while living creatures gain more specific searches such as _Look Up Mammal_. Who knows what Apple will add in iOS 27? If you have an AI-compatible iPhone, you can use the Visual Intelligence feature to tap into Apple Intelligence or ChatGPT to get similar assistance. By default this feature is activated by tapping and holding the Camera Control for a couple of seconds until a new camera window bursts onto your screen. (If you haven’t got a Camera Control you can open Control Center and add it there.) Point your camera at the object in question, and an animal or plant name will appear at the top. If it says “Maybe,” tap the name to see a few theories. If ChatGPT is more certain, it will show the name of what it thinks it is, and you can tap it to get some information. **Why you should use this feature:** Knowledge is power. And learning is fun! Now you know a little bit more about the humble aloe vera. Foundry ## 4. Song Recognition: Identify music _Works on iOS 14.2 and later_ Shazam is a fantastic way to discover a new song or identify those earworms whose names you can’t quite remember—but you don’t need to open the Shazam app each time, or even install it. Shazam Music Recognition is now built into iOS, and you can put a handy Shazam button right into the Control Center for quick access. Open the Control Center by swiping down from your iPhone’s top-right corner. From here, tap the + in the top-left corner, tap _Add a Control_ , then tap the _Recognize Music_ button (or use the search bar if you can’t spot it). The next time you hear a song you can’t identify, open the Control Center and hit the Shazam button, and it’ll identify the song within seconds. **Why you should use this feature:** There’s no time to waste when a mystery song is playing. There’s even a button to jump straight to the song in Apple Music. David Price / Foundry ## 5. Timer Control: Start a countdown in no time _Works on iOS 11 and later_ You probably know you can set a timer without having to hunt for the Clock app, right? Simply open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right, then tap the Timer button (a clock face with a single hand pointing at eleven o’clock). If the button isn’t there, hit the plus sign and add it. But you might not know there’s an even shorter shortcut. Tap and hold the Timer button in Control Center, and a slider will appear on the screen. Move your finger up and down the slider to adjust the duration (the increments vary from a minute to an hour as you move up the scale) and tap Start to begin. **Why you should use this feature:** It’s the quickest way to set a timer. Or joint-quickest, along with “Hey Siri, set a timer for three minutes.” This works for timers as short as one minute or as long as two hours. David Price / Foundry ## 6. Flashlight: Adjust the width of your beam _Works on iOS 18 and later. You’ll also need a Pro model iPhone_ Everyone knows your iPhone can provide a helpful flashlight to guide you through the darkness. But did you know you can adjust both the width and distance of its beam with just a few taps? Tap the icon on the Lock screen to turn on your phone’s flashlight (or ask Siri), and you’ll notice that a flashlight icon appears in the Dynamic Island. This isn’t just a reminder that it’s on. Tap it and you’ll be able to adjust the light beam to your requirements. Swipe left to make the beam narrower and more intense, or right, to make it wider and more diffuse. You can also move your finger up and down to adjust the light’s strength as usual. (Note that non-Pro iPhones only get the up and down action. Sorry.) **Why you should use this feature:** Because your iPhone is the flashlight you carry all the time, so you might as well make it a good flashlight. Narrow the beam for melodramatic interrogations. Foundry ## 7. Measure: Use the iPhone’s hidden virtual ruler _Works on iOS 12 and later_ Most people don’t walk around with a tape measure in their pocket, but there are times when you need one. Not to worry: your iPhone actually has a hidden Measure app that can help. Open the Search bar (swipe downwards from the middle of your iPhone’s Home screen) and type “Measure” to find the app. Once opened, it’ll turn on your rear camera. To measure something, aim your phone at one point–such as the corner of an object–tap the plus (+) symbol, then move your camera to another point and tap the plus symbol again. The distance between the points will appear on your screen. You can calculate multiple lengths by tapping + again after you’ve taken the first measurement. On iPhone 12 Pro or later, thanks to the LiDAR sensor, you can move your phone near the subject and the line will transform into a ruler that displays incremental units of length. Pro phones can also gauge the height of a person who appears in the Measure app’s viewfinder. **Why you should use this feature:** It adds yet another useful tool to the iPhone’s toolbox. If you tap the Level tab, you’ll unlock yet another handy tool. Foundry ## 8. Widgets: Get quick info on the Lock screen _Works on iOS 16 and later_ Widgets aren’t just for the Home screen—you can add a few to your Lock screen as well to view data at a glance. To add widgets to your Lock screen, tap and hold the screen until the _Customize_ button appears at the bottom of the screen. Tap it. Look for a box labeled _Add Widgets_. Tap this, then select widgets from the list to add them to this box. Depending on the Lock screen layout you’ve selected, the box may already contain widgets. Tap the minus sign to remove any you don’t want, then replace them with better ones. **Why you should use this feature:** Want to minimise doomscrolling? Learn to accessing key information without having to unlock your phone. There’s a huge array of widgets. Just scroll down to see what’s on offer. David Price / Foundry ## 9. App Tracking: Stop apps from following your activity _Works on iOS 15 and later_ When you open an app for the first time, you might see a pop-up window asking if you want to let the app track you across other apps and websites. If you find yourself getting tired of repeatedly tapping “Ask App Not to Track,” there’s a simple fix that will reject tracking attempts once and for all. Open the Settings app and navigate to _Privacy & Security_ > _Tracking_ , then tap the toggle next to _Allow Apps to Request to Track_ so it turns gray. When you do this, you won’t get any more prompts about being tracked—disabling this toggle tells iOS to automatically reject all app tracking attempts on your behalf, so you can protect your privacy without all the annoying pop-ups. **Why you should use this feature:** Because pop-ups are almost as annoying as intrusive tracking. ## 10. Default apps: Open links in the apps you want _Works on iOS 18.2 and later_ For years, Apple devices have been heavily locked down, and that’s even extended to controlling your default apps for email, web browsing, and more. That’s no longer the case, though, so if you want to switch up your default apps, it’s now easier than ever. To start customizing your app choices, open the Settings app and go to _Apps_ > _Default Apps_. You’ll see several options, from email and messaging to web browsing and translation. Just tap one, then pick an app from the resulting list. Your options will be limited to apps installed on your iPhone, so make sure you’ve downloaded your apps of choice before getting started. **Why you should use this feature:** Because that premium web browser you installed isn’t much use if links still open in Safari. Developers have to apply for a place on this screen, so not every app will be available. David Price / Foundry ## 11. Text replacement: Give your thumbs a break _Works on iOS 12 and later_ Tired of typing all the time? Use text replacement. This automatically fills out words and phrases when you enter a shortcut. For instance, you could create a text replacement shortcut that enters your email address whenever you type _@@_ or another that automatically capitalizes _BBQ_ (or types out _barbecue_ , if you’re feeling fancy) when you type _bbq_. This feature can be enabled in Settings. Go to _General_ > _Keyboard_ > _Text Replacement_ and tap + to add a new entry. The Shortcut box is for the condensed word or phrase you want to use, while the Phrase box is for the full version that will be inserted by your phone. But we can be even cleverer than that. If there’s a word or phrase that you _don’t_ want to be corrected, create a new text replacement entry and type it into the same field, but keep the Shortcut box empty. This could be handy if you have an unusual name, or frequently use a piece of jargon that autocorrect insists on changing to something else. **Why you should use this feature:** Because typing _omw_ takes less time than _On my way!_ ## 12. Adaptive Power: Extend your battery life _Works on iOS 26. Requires iPhone 15 Pro or later_ We’ll finish with a feature that was added in iOS 26, which came out in September 2025. And if you want to make your iPhone’s battery last that little bit longer, this is the one for you. Open Settings and go to _Battery_ > _Power Mode_. Hit the toggle labelled _Adaptive Power_ so it turns green. iOS will now do its best to conserve power on high-usage days by dimming the screen very slightly, reducing background processes, and tweaking performance. If you’re thinking this is just another name for Low Power Mode, think again. For a start, Low Power Mode still exists, and Adaptive Power will turn it on when your phone hits 20%. But the main factor is that Adaptive Power is designed to be a lot subtler. It uses AI to predict your needs and to make adjustments that you won’t notice. You should find you get a little more battery life without having to make noticeable compromises. **Why you should use this feature:** Because your iPhone is only as useful as its battery life.

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Macworld In this episode, we take a look back at the major Apple hardware releases. What made an impression? What was a disappointment? Tune in and find out more! This is episode 964 with Michael Simon, Jason Cross, and Roman Loyola. ## Watch episode 964 on YouTube ## Listen to episode 964 on Apple Podcasts ## Listen to episode 964 on Spotify ## Get info Click on the links below for more info on what was discussed on the show. * iPhone 17 and Air superguide * IPhone 16e superguide * M4 MacBook Air superguide * M5 MacBook Pro superguide * 2025 Mac Studio superguide * M3 iPad Air * M5 iPad Pro * Does Apple’s Dynamic Power Adapter really charge your iPhone faster? * AirPods Pro 3 superguide ## This Week in Apple History On December 20, 1996, Apple announced that it would acquire Next Software for $400 million. ## Macworld Mailbag On a recent episode we talked about the Apple executive changes, and we broached the topic of the legacy of Apple CEO Tim Cook. People have plenty of thoughts on this. > He’s already at a pretty low note with ios 26. > > johnnyfive_75 on TikTok > Releasing the Vision Pro flop, fumbling Al, releasing a meh OS reskin, and capitulating & cozying to fascists. That’s his legacy > > pattiestpower on TikTok > Tim Apple should have been replaced YEARS AGO. He may have kept the profits coming short term, but long term he did so much damage to the brand. > > chickenfriedsteak40 on TikTok > If you want to know what Tim Cook’s legacy is – continued growth and stability. Nothing more. > > Peter Windleon on FaceBook ## Subscribe to the Macworld Podcast You can subscribe to the Macworld Podcast—or leave us a review!—right here in the Podcasts app. The Macworld Podcast is also available on Spotify and on the Macworld Podcast YouTube channel. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/macworld To find previous episodes, visit Macworld’s podcast page or our home on MegaPhone. Apple **_Below is an AI-generated, uncorrected transcript of the podcast. The timecodes do not correspond to the published recording. Also, the text has not been edited or corrected, so it will contain improper grammar, misspellings, and other errors._** Roman Loyola (00:00.548) while recording but… Jason Cross (00:00.824) Let me make sure I’ve got it. Okay, I’m good. Michael Simon (00:05.23) All right. Unscripted, unfiltered, unafraid, welcome to the Macworld Podcast. My name is Michael Simon and I am joined for the last episode of the year by Jason Cross. Jason Cross (00:18.008) Good morning. Michael Simon (00:19.284) And our producer, Roman Loyal. Roman Loyola (00:21.636) Ahoy there. Michael Simon (00:23.694) hold on, Roman. Did I miss? Did I update this? Jason Cross (00:25.207) You Roman Loyola (00:26.384) I was trying to get some energy up. Jason Cross (00:28.182) I know, hey. Roman Loyola (00:29.978) Hey, welcome to the podcast. Last one. Michael Simon (00:33.706) Uh, so we just recorded one like 10 minutes ago and was like, it was like an hour and a half and now we have a second one, but we’re pretending like it’s the end of the year and we have lots of energy. This is episode number 964. That’s right. Including the one we just recorded. All right. Episode number 964. And if you listened to last week’s show, you know what this one is. We’re going to talk about hardware, all the Roman Loyola (00:36.752) That’s I mean. Roman Loyola (00:48.452) Yes. That is correct. Yes. Michael Simon (01:00.014) stuff Apple released on the hardware side last year, last year, last week we talked about software. Everything, yeah, software and services. So everything Apple, everything Apple released on the hardware side of what we like, what we didn’t like, what it means, all that other stuff. Then we’re going to have a year-end version of the worst thing that happened this week, this week in Apple history and our reader mailbag. We’re going to zip through the show because the last one was like, was like three days long. So this was going to be quick. Jason Cross (01:06.904) Software and Services. Michael Simon (01:29.848) We’re not going to spend much time on the new iPhone, Speaking of reader mailbag, which I just said before I interrupted myself, you can contact us through Blue Sky, Facebook, threads, search for Macworld, look for the Blue Mouse logo, send an email to podcast.macworld.com, comment under video, tell us what you think about what Apple did this year. Tell us what you want Apple to do next year, whatever you want. We will get, look at those and we’ll get to them next year if… First show will be on January 7th, 8th. We don’t have a show until January. Wow, we have like three or four weeks of no shows. Jason Cross (02:06.904) Ha Michael Simon (02:08.846) okay. Roman, forget three minutes. Give me a minute and a half to talk about. so, this is our last show before, 2026. So, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, happy new year, happy Hanukkah, happy whatever you celebrate. real quick, we’re off between Christmas and new years. Are you guys, doing anything fun? Either of you know? Roman says no. Jason Cross (02:34.86) Nothing special this year. My wife and I usually travel for Christmas. We either go to her family or my family, both of which are a thousand, 2,000 miles from here. But this year we’re staying here. Michael Simon (02:39.832) Yeah. Michael Simon (02:45.186) Yeah. Where does, where does her, her family live? know you go to New Orleans. Is that her family or your family? Jason Cross (02:50.04) Kansas City, Kansas City, her, her mom and dad live in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, but her sisters, he has two sisters and they’re both married and they both live in Kansas City and we stay with them and her parents come up. So Kansas City. Michael Simon (02:56.056) Okay. Michael Simon (03:04.654) Do you ever see a terrorist who to travel is Kelsey walking around? Roman, you said, no, you’re not doing anything. Jason Cross (03:07.904) Yeah, all the time. They walk through the burbs of Kansas City like constantly. Roman Loyola (03:17.744) No, we had a big thing last year. So this year we’re staying home. yeah. In the interest of keeping this short, no, nothing. Michael Simon (03:25.518) Alright, well quiet. I, I… Michael Simon (03:30.506) Yeah, I don’t do much either. We host Christmas. My parents and brother come up for a couple of days. And then my parents come back for New Year’s and we spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I hate like New Year’s. I don’t party or drink or anything. So my New Year’s Eve is very quiet. I watch whatever the ball drop show that my parents want to watch is and that’s about it. We don’t do much. Jason Cross (03:57.624) We have a pretty chill New Year’s as well. Usually, sometimes we can go over to our friend’s house or something, but no, the days of huge big parties are behind us. Michael Simon (04:06.862) Kinda, yeah. Like, we’re all too old for that stuff. There was a time. It ain’t now. Jason Cross (04:12.726) And it’s not about staying up late because I’m up past midnight every night. Like that’s just, it’s just my life. Michael Simon (04:16.149) Sure. Michael Simon (04:21.522) All good. That was pretty short, Roman, right? All right, so yeah, last show before the break, we’re talking about Apple hardware. And a lot of, it’s kind of like software was a bigger deal this year than the hardware was. Liquid glass, I think there wasn’t like a ton of, so they released a lot of stuff. Basically everything but a new iMac, Mac mini maybe, iPad mini, the mini stuff. Jason Cross (04:25.496) You Michael Simon (04:51.384) They didn’t do. But so they updated everything, but there wasn’t anything like that was like monumental. Like they didn’t have like a groundbreaking new anything this year. Right? Let’s not miss something. Jason Cross (05:02.052) I wouldn’t say groundbreaking. I think the iPhone is in the middle of like a three, two or three year shakeup. just started this year and we’ll get to that when we get to the iPhone stuff, but there’s some significant shakeup starting with the iPhone that will continue next year and the year after. but yeah, there were a lot of chip and chip, products this year, you know, Michael Simon (05:10.285) Yeah. Michael Simon (05:26.286) There were. Jason Cross (05:29.26) whether it’s iPhones, iPads, Mac Studios, MacBook Pros, a lot of stuff was just like, well, if it got a new processor and the processor’s great, but it didn’t get fancy new displays or cameras or anything else. Michael Simon (05:46.412) We got the three new generations. Roman, maybe I’m wrong, but is this the first time we ever got? So we got the M3 Ultra in the Mac Studio. We got the M4. maybe we got that last year. we did. Forget it. My thing is wrong. Right. Right. But we already had the chip. Yeah. So we got the M3 Ultra, we got the M5 later this year. Jason Cross (05:56.151) Mm-hmm. Roman Loyola (06:03.504) It’s confusing because the M4 MacBook Air becomes comes out, but the M4 comes out right. Jason Cross (06:11.65) Mm-hmm. Michael Simon (06:16.142) The iPad Air has an M3, like there’s a whole bunch of generations going on. The Mac Pro still has an M2 Ultra, which is just crazy. That’s $6,000 and you’re getting a chip from like three years ago. But yeah, there wasn’t, Jason said like the iPhone aside, this was probably the most meaningfully updated year for the iPhone in a while. Jason Cross (06:36.536) Yes. Michael Simon (06:43.192) But like Macs were like, okay, you know, the MacBook Air got the M4. Okay. I mean, it’s great. You know, they got a hundred dollar price cut, was nice. Everything has 16 gigs of RAM now, which is nice. Like all that, you know, it’s all good stuff. Like I’m not saying Apple didn’t give us interesting and, or not interesting, but it didn’t give us like viable products. It’s just like on the, on the exciting front. It kind of wasn’t there this year, which is fine. Jason Cross (07:10.38) Yeah. And there’s some, some stuff that was kind of rumored that not necessarily super exciting, but just didn’t get, we never got our home pad mini. mean, home pod mini too. we never got the new air tags, you know, those, things were like rumored to drop right at the end of the year. Michael Simon (07:14.413) Yeah. Michael Simon (07:18.38) Right. I’m pied mini. Right? Right. Michael Simon (07:26.112) Apple TV 4K like that hasn’t been updated in a couple of years. That was part of that. Jason Cross (07:29.538) Yep. I’m not sure it needs to be, but you’re right. It’s part of that group of like, yeah, sure. Before the end of the year, they’re going to drop these things. And to be fair, like they did this with the AirPods Max. They just slid into it. We all thought we weren’t going to get it. Then like late December, they’re like, guess what, you guys? And so it’s possible that. Michael Simon (07:35.693) Yeah. Michael Simon (07:46.488) Yeah. Michael Simon (07:50.882) That would be something if we got an air tag next week. Jason Cross (07:53.644) Yeah, that would be something, but weird. Michael Simon (07:56.472) Well, actually it would be last week at this point. wait, wait, hold on. Roman, what are you posting this? So it would have been last week if we got it, but we recorded this on the 16th. I don’t think Apple’s ever released anything this late into December. I might be wrong. Jason Cross (07:58.776) We were in the future. Jason Cross (08:11.372) Just AirPods bags. Michael Simon (08:13.282) That was when? was like the fifth or the eighth or something. I don’t think it was this quite this late. Jason Cross (08:21.24) I’m going to look up December 15th. It was the 15th. Yeah. wait. I announced on the eighth and then shipping on the 15th. So, so they, they, they had announced it by now. So, but that was also a new product. would announce air tags too. They would just be like, it would go up on the site with a splashy thing says like now longer range and yada yada. Michael Simon (08:21.528) But it was in December. wow. So it was yesterday. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So that was late. Yeah, yeah. Michael Simon (08:38.837) Right. Michael Simon (08:43.296) It seems strange that of all the products, AirTag, by all accounts, they’re done. They’re ready to go. There’s a new model somewhere and they just haven’t shipped it. don’t know. I mean… Jason Cross (08:57.878) And it’s, it’s the one that has the least. makes sense to wait for the HomePod mini because they’ve got the big new Siri thing come in and maybe they’re going to dump all the stuff that works on Siri. Like then, even if it’s ready to go and it’s be fine, they’re going to, but the air tags have none of that. The air tags are just, it’s just going to be like longer range, more tamper resistant speaker. Like it’s not, I don’t even know that they’re going to give it a name. Michael Simon (09:05.335) Yeah. Michael Simon (09:18.636) Right. It’ll look the same. You’ll still need a case to put them on a key chain. Right. Yeah. Jason Cross (09:24.854) Like they’ll put parentheses second generation where they have to on a support document, but it’ll just be like the new air tags and they’ll just be air tags and you’ll just buy your tags and they’ll be better now. So yeah. Michael Simon (09:35.07) AirTag is, that’s like the unsung hero of Apple’s lineup. Like they’re 20 bucks for the most part. You can get a pack of four for like 80 bucks on Amazon all the time. And they’re really frigging good. like, so my son has a graphing calculator. He’s in, he’s in ninth grade math and you know, they’re expensive. So I bought him a case. I popped an AirTag in there and he’ll know if he forgets it when he goes to class. It’s fantastic. Jason Cross (09:44.13) Yeah. Michael Simon (10:03.64) They’re like, they’re so good. It pops up on your phone. you you, you, you want, got, it’s got gotten that notification a million times. Like all my keys are behind or my, you know, Apple stuff has a built-in. So like, you forget your iPhone somewhere, it’ll tell you it’s, it’s good stuff. The air tag is, is fantastic. They should make it work with, maybe they do. They don’t work with their Android, right? There’s, there’s no app for that. Like, like you need, you need a iPhone. Jason Cross (10:27.672) They don’t, correct, there’s no, they don’t work properly with Android. have secure, they work together with Google on security stuff so that like if someone’s got an error in Android, they’ll still get that warning that an air tag’s following them. Like, so if somebody plants an air tag on you and you’ve got an Android phone, you’ll still get warned. They have that, but you can’t, there’s no way to like track your own air tag or anything. Michael Simon (10:36.44) Right. Michael Simon (10:44.014) The tracking stuff. Jason Cross (10:57.324) They did make it work with third party stuff, Find My, they opened Find My to third party stuff. And there’s now all of these like great like cards you could put in a wallet, like card shaped things and stuff like that. Other form factors than the little fat disk. That’s super helpful, right? And there are a lot of those out there now that are like 30 bucks or something. yeah, it’s just as, and those are great. Those are killer. Michael Simon (11:00.654) Fine by you. Michael Simon (11:14.062) Right. Michael Simon (11:20.142) Mm-hmm. Michael Simon (11:23.746) Yeah. So I don’t know if we need a second gen, we didn’t get one, but AirTag still, you know, like the value of Apple’s lineup. Jason Cross (11:28.811) Yeah, I- It’s supposed to do a handful of things that I’m glad about like the precision finding, meaning the ultra wideband finding will have a longer range. That’s fine. Whatever you get close enough with the Bluetooth and then it takes over. does need the speaker needs to be harder to disable and they are doing that. So if the rumors are true and then it needs better reporting about how much battery life is left and that’s the other thing it’s supposed to be doing. Like right now it kind of don’t know. It’s just it has battery and then it tells you it’s dying and then you’re like, but could you have warned me when I was at 20 %? Could I see the battery life level? They’re supposed to address some of that. So that’ll be huge. But yeah, these are nice little things. Michael Simon (12:02.284) Right. It tells you when it. Yeah, right. Yeah. Michael Simon (12:17.762) Yeah, Roman, you, we, we completely derailed the show like immediately. Like this is supposed to be looking like we’re, we, turned, started to do an air tag preview. This is what happens when we do two shows in a row. Like we’re now, we’re all off script here. all right. So let’s look at what they did. So we got, we got three iPads that were iPad air with an three and that was it. iPad with an a 16 and that was it. Jason Cross (12:26.072) Yeah, instead of talk. It’s well. But it’s it’s not a 2025 hardware, that’s for sure. All right. Roman Loyola (12:27.492) Well, air tags are hardware. They just aren’t this year’s hardware. Roman Loyola (12:37.445) Yeah. Michael Simon (12:47.412) and the iPad Pro just recently with an M5 and basically that’s it. Like they’re fine. Prices didn’t increase or anything. So, you know, it’s all good, but there’s not much in the way of like features other than the new processors. And, know, we’ve been through this before. Like iPads don’t annual processor updates. just, they just don’t. The differences between an M2 and an M3 and an iPad Air is academic. Like you’re never going to feel the difference in. That performance, I don’t think. Jason Cross (13:20.342) Not for that product. No. I mean, the M5 was a surprisingly good jump from the M4 and it matters in the Mac. They updated the Vision Pro with it. they did that and they did a strap that also goes on the top of your head. They don’t even call it anything else. It’s just still the Vision Pro. It’s not like Vision Pro 1.1. Michael Simon (13:25.974) Yeah. Yeah. In the Mac. Yeah. Jason Cross (13:46.296) So yeah, a lot of chip and ship stuff. The chips are fine. The products are fine. I think all the excitement was in the iPhone this year and AirPods. AirPods Pro 3, mean, which was… Michael Simon (13:57.612) AirBuds Pro 3, but they were fine. We didn’t get the new chip that we thought we were going to get in the AirBuds Pro. You know, the silicon tips are nice and stuff, but it wasn’t really the update that we thought it was going to be. Yeah, right. It’s okay. It was like everything else. was okay. Like there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s still 250 and they’re better. Jason Cross (14:12.492) Yeah, foam infused silicone tips and true. Jason Cross (14:23.766) No, it’s an improvement. Michael Simon (14:27.256) but it’s not the leap that we thought AirPods Pro 3 were gonna bring. Jason Cross (14:35.874) But it gets interesting when we start going through the iPhone. Okay, well we’ll start. Michael Simon (14:38.19) All right. So let’s get to it. Cause that’s it. Like that, that’s, that’s the, that’s the big, the big event was the, there was only two events this year, WWDC and the iPhone event. So the iPhone event was like the big show. Jason Cross (14:43.18) Yeah, let’s. Jason Cross (14:47.906) Well, so. that in the spring we got iPhone 16e right which was a big change they jumped they stopped they stopped doing SEs that they’re only gonna release every two three whatever years they went to a numbered release that’s the same as the current generation because 16 was a current generation at the time and presumably because they’re going to do this every year right so we’re gonna get a 17e and an 18e and we’re gonna get every spring an e of the current number we assume Michael Simon (14:52.782) right. Michael Simon (15:19.19) We should. I mean, we don’t know yet because there hasn’t been a second one, but we think so, yeah. Jason Cross (15:20.418) We should. Right, right. That would be the point of doing this. It was a big improvement from the SE line, right? And it was the first one with their own modem. They introduced the C1, which turned out to be just fine, which is about the best thing you could say about Apple going in with a 5G modem because it’s really hard to make one. And so for them to release one and kind of nobody noticed, except for people like us who like literally test it, like everybody else is just like, yeah. Michael Simon (15:37.538) Yeah. Which is what you want. Yeah. Jason Cross (15:52.728) It’s a phone and it works. So they did that and it’s fine. Nobody’s going like, it’s too slow. Oh, I’m dropping calls. Big success for Apple. [iPhone] 16e we thought it was pretty good at the time. In retrospect now, I would never get one when the [iPhone] 17 is so good. Michael Simon (16:14.85) That’s well, that’s part of it. So it’s, it’s The 16e is $599 right? Right. it has a notch, not to, not the dynamic Island. It has an OLED display. It’s, what’s the size? Six point one, six point one inches. and it has an A 17 chip. it’s, it’s, it’s last year’s internal stuff, but only one camera. And a couple of years ago, screen tech. Jason Cross (16:19.776) Right. Yep. Michael Simon (16:44.782) has Face ID, like it’s a massive improvement over the [iPhone] SE. It’s also $200 more than the, or $180 more than the SE. And. Jason Cross (16:54.712) but it’s still $200 cheaper than the cheapest regular iPhone, you know. Michael Simon (16:57.55) That’s right. But as Jason says, they unveiled the 17 and it got a ton of upgrades. the 16e is in a weird position. Jason Cross (17:04.631) Yeah, so. Jason Cross (17:08.438) Yeah. So skipping forward to September, they changed up the iPhone lineup quite considerably. There’s no 17 plus and they replaced it with this iPhone air that has no number, which makes us all wonder what the heck is going to go on with it. yeah, which, which we can talk about that in a second, but the 17 got everything it has been missing for, for so many years. Like it got Michael Simon (17:22.894) Right. Right. If everything, yeah. Michael Simon (17:32.3) Right. Like literally everything. Jason Cross (17:35.448) Right. It promotion. It got always on. It’s got the dynamic island. It got a brighter screen. It’s the a 19 is quite a bit better than the a 18 was longer battery life. And they introduced to all the iPhones. Right? Yeah. The selfie cam that they put on all the iPhone 17 like line and the iPhone air is this big 18 megapixel square pixel square sensor thing that does horizontal or vertical without turning your thing and Michael Simon (17:47.768) Better selfie cam, better cameras, know? Jason Cross (18:04.312) stabilization. It’s like an actual and the quality that it shoots is better. Like it’s a finally a big upgrade to the selfie cam in iPhones this year. So all of that in the 799 model, I would not recommend the 599 model to anyone who just doesn’t really can’t afford the iPhone 17. I would tell anybody it’s well worth $200. Michael Simon (18:11.662) Great. Michael Simon (18:26.22) Yeah, I don’t disagree. Yeah, if it was $499, I think so. Yeah. But like Apple is prone to do, the first generation, priced a little. So they did this with the iPad a couple of years ago. If you remember, it came out, it was $449. And we were like, it’s $50 too much. It’s really good and blah, But it’s like $449, the Air is only $599. And then they cut the price by a hundred bucks and it’s great. Jason Cross (18:33.933) yeah. Now you’re in a whole other rage. Yeah. Jason Cross (18:56.439) Yeah. Michael Simon (18:59.566) So if they come out in March and cut the price of the 17E to 499, all of a sudden it’s a great phone again. Jason Cross (19:10.878) Or if it’s still 599, but they do some of these other improvements, like it’s got a better display, dynamic islands, if they do some of these other things, it’ll probably have the selfie cam, but I don’t expect it’ll have any of the other stuff yet. Michael Simon (19:20.28) Sure. Michael Simon (19:25.378) I think it’ll still have a camera instead of two. Jason Cross (19:28.79) Yeah, one camera. It’ll have. Michael Simon (19:30.06) Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to get promotion. I’d be very surprised. Yeah. Jason Cross (19:34.434) Probably no promotion, probably no always on, probably no, it probably will have the new selfie cam. Actually, and maybe probably the new selfie cam in Dynamic Island, because I don’t think the new selfie cams, that whole module fits up in that place. Michael Simon (19:43.881) I think so. I think it probably will. Michael Simon (19:53.038) Yeah. Yeah. We’ve heard rumors that it’s going to get the dynamic island, but so the, the, the, the 16 E was something that we were, we had heard about for a long time. The SC was on the market for three years or three years. So like we were waiting for it and we got it and it’s everything we wanted, except the price is just a little bit too high. 599 is just a little bit, a little bit too high. And you know, right. Jason Cross (20:11.085) Yeah. Jason Cross (20:14.648) Right. didn’t seem that bad then, but then the 17 came out and the value on the 17. Also, they doubled the storage to 256 on the 17. They did everything and they kept it at 799 and it’s the runaway hit of the year. It’s like the best iPhone in a long time. And then Pro and Pro Max, which are as expected. mean, it’s a pro version of the chip. It’s the better cameras. Other than that, it’s, Michael Simon (20:22.306) Yeah, yeah, everything, right? Right. Yeah. Michael Simon (20:38.882) I do. Jason Cross (20:42.764) It’s the better cameras, it’s the pro version of the chip. Michael Simon (20:43.34) It’s a somewhat new design with that thing. The little thing below the cab or whatever you call it. Jason Cross (20:50.168) There’s a little area in the the back. the the the camera bump is now wide. It’s like all the width. The plateau. Michael Simon (20:55.15) The, the right, the big camera buns and then the smaller. Yeah. Right. And then the smaller thing below it. It’s, it’s all right. I don’t Roman has the, has the pro. are you, well, Jason, you do too, but Roman, what do you think of the, you, oh, you have the, right. You have the air and the other one, Roman, what do you think of the, uh, like the design now that you’ve had it for a couple of months. Jason Cross (21:07.809) I don’t. Jason Cross (21:12.011) of the air in the rig. Roman Loyola (21:19.888) The design’s fine. I’m not a big fan of the giant plateau, but I think it is. Michael Simon (21:24.736) Okay. You’d rather have a square one in the corner like I did before. Roman Loyola (21:30.48) I don’t know what I rather have because I don’t like the square either. I just feel like there’s a design hurdle that can’t be overcome there. The plateau is kind of better because when you put your phone down, it’s, you know, at least it’s on an even or not a, yeah, it doesn’t wobble. So I like that better, but I still don’t like it overall. But in general, the design, you know, Michael Simon (21:33.006) Okay. Jason Cross (21:36.28) Yeah. Michael Simon (21:40.652) Yeah, I agree. Jason Cross (21:50.2) It doesn’t wobble quite so much. Michael Simon (21:50.2) some way. It was a little bit. Roman Loyola (21:58.832) I like the orange and everything. Jason Cross (22:01.794) yeah. Cosmic orange was a big hit. and, and Roman mentioned this back when we had our iPhone show, like how much he, I mean, the cameras are great. The battery life is amazing. Like it’s, it’s, that’s what pros always were. Right. So the big, the big improvement was in the 17 and then the air was a big change this year. We, we, it’s been kind of panned for being too expensive with too many compromises. Michael Simon (22:02.157) Yeah. Roman Loyola (22:11.63) Yeah. Jason Cross (22:31.288) But it’s the first time they really did something new with the iPhone in like five or six years. Like an iPhone 16 and an iPhone 12 look pretty much the same. Michael Simon (22:36.108) It’s been a while, yeah. Michael Simon (22:42.102) And even like the mini and the plus, we’re just smaller and larger versions of the variations on a beam, if you will. Jason Cross (22:47.66) Right. Yeah. To have an iPhone where they said, like, it really pushed the thinness, like, super far, and then they totally changed the frame, and it’s weirdly super strong. Like, they made this thin thing, and it’s the strongest iPhone they make. Michael Simon (23:07.054) Which they, had to do it because people were like already saying that it was going to, Oh, there’s no way that this thing’s not going to bend. So I was like, well, screw you. We’re going to make it so you cannot bend it no matter what you do. Right. Jason Cross (23:11.959) Right. Right. Right. It’s harder to bend than the regular iPhones. it’s, you know, but it’s a thousand bucks. It only has one camera. The battery life’s worse. It has the, it has the a 19 pro, but of a version of it, that’s no faster than the regular eight 19. Like it doesn’t really, why’d they do that? Like, I don’t know. so it would be a great, Michael Simon (23:36.109) Mm-hmm. Jason Cross (23:42.84) $800 phone. It would be great if you were choosing between Oh, do I want a second camera and it’s fatter and it has longer battery life or do I want to give up those things to have it be skinnier? If that was the choice, it would be amazing. But it’s that and it’s $200 more. And so that was Oh, I know you love it. Michael Simon (23:58.774) I’ve got on record. So I have the air. Yeah. I bought it. Like I happily like I didn’t, it’s not a review unit. I paid the thousand bucks for it. Yeah. I love it. And it’s one of those things where if that’s what you’re looking for in a phone, like I pick up my son’s 17 or I think my wife has, I think it’s 16 pro and it’s like, I it’s so thick and it’s so cumbersome. Jason Cross (24:28.312) the pro for sure. The pro is even more. Yeah. Michael Simon (24:28.962) And it sounds ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. Like it sounds absurd because it’s like, well, who cares? We’ve been saying that for years. Who cares how thin it is? I’m telling you right now, man, it matters. Like the way I’m able to hold it. And part of it is because it’s also a little bit smaller than the, than the, than the pro. It’s like, kind of like, has that like in between size screen. It’s six, six and a half. Right. The max. Yeah. Right. Jason Cross (24:50.486) It’s smaller than the Max. It’s bigger than the Pro and the regular, and it’s smaller than Max. That is the Goldilocks size. I love the size of it, because I find the Pro Max to be too big. Michael Simon (24:59.862) Yeah. And they, they positioned the camera bump or the plateau at the top where like it doesn’t ever hit your hand. So it feels like you’re using an extremely thin phone and like the way I’m able to use it with, with one hand, the way I’m able to hold it without it. Like, you know, I had the pro, I had the plus the plus was kind of cumbersome and the pro before that, like it was, it was heavy. So like, it’s kind of like hits all the marks for me. I would buy it again in a second for a thousand bucks. Jason Cross (25:32.052) I went, I had, I had the review unit and I used it for until last week. I used, I stuck with it until last week. Last week, I moved everything over to a regular iPhone 17. And every day, I love it more. literally every single day, I’m like, I’m so glad I can take a photo up close to this little piece of text I’m trying to take a photo of. Michael Simon (25:47.064) Mm-hmm. Good. Michael Simon (25:57.89) Right. That’s the one thing I miss is the macro stuff. Jason Cross (26:01.848) It’s just as light. It’s just as one handle and that’s partly because it’s smaller. And I do love the slightly larger size of the Air more, but everything else about the regular iPhone 17, now that it has promotion and always on and the brighter screen and all the things, like every single day, I’m just like, if these were the same price, I would still choose this one. And I would definitely not pay $200 more for the Air. Michael Simon (26:07.126) A little bit. Michael Simon (26:28.854) Right. Would you pay $200 for it? like if that was nine, eight 99 and the air was seven 99, let’s just say I’m like an alternate universe. Would you still, would you still pay? Yeah. Yeah. Jason Cross (26:36.136) if it was swapped, would I pay more for this? That’s a good question. That’s a good question. It’d be an interesting choice if they were the same price. I don’t know that I’d pay more for the regular iPhone 17. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s a tough one. But it’s got the sound is better. I watch a video and I’m like, right. It’s supposed not supposed to sound like that. Michael Simon (26:56.746) Yeah, I’ll give you that too. I didn’t think when people were complaining about the lack of a stereo speaker, like I literally said, like, cares? It’s a phone. No, it actually does matter. the air, the three things that do, I won’t say bug me, but they do, I do notice on the air is the stereo speaker, the lack of a second lens, particularly for macro photography. And I do sometimes have to charge it. Jason Cross (27:10.604) Yeah, you hear it every time. Michael Simon (27:27.308) like at some point during the day, like a lot of the times, like if I use it for anything other than like a normal day, I’m going to have to plug it in. And it’s not a huge deal. Like I have them in my car. I got one on my desk. They’re like, they plugs all over the place, but I do have to do it. Whereas I’m sure Jason, don’t. Jason Cross (27:42.626) Yeah. Jason Cross (27:47.458) After not on the regular 17, I haven’t even looked at a charger. It’s funny how long the battery life lasts. I’m so used to using the pros and the larger phones because those were my daily drivers for a while. So going back to the small phone, it’s been a couple of years and they’ve improved the battery life a lot in the last couple of years. so, yeah, don’t even get… Michael Simon (27:52.718) You Michael Simon (28:08.43) Yeah. Jason Cross (28:14.07) I’m one those people who when I get to like 25 % I’m like, my phone’s almost dead. yeah, and I’m running and I don’t even get to that. The air I never, I never got to that point where every day I or like I had to charge it in the afternoon, like I, but it was right there. At the end of the day, it was always like right about to die. And I sat and I would look at it going like, well, in a year, this is not going to make it through the day. Like when this thing gets Michael Simon (28:17.923) Hahaha. Michael Simon (28:24.781) Okay. Michael Simon (28:39.852) Well, yeah, there’s that too. right. Jason Cross (28:41.462) When this battery degrades 5%, I will be charging this thing every single day, even when I just doom scroll on social media all day like this. Michael Simon (28:49.838) So mine’s at 63 % right now, which is pretty good. So it’s 3.30 where I am. But I also have been recording this damn podcast for four hours. So I haven’t touched it since like 11 o’clock. So let me look at my, assuming I have, it’s a hundred percent. Jeez, it better be. I’m just curious to see the battery health. Like it’s gotta be, right? Jason Cross (28:54.85) That’s pretty good. Hahaha Jason Cross (29:14.42) if it says anything, if it was, yeah, would be weird. Michael Simon (29:19.662) Yeah, yeah, it’s 100. I was just curious to see if it degraded at all. Yeah, I probably won’t have it long enough because I do upgrade every year. So I’ll trade it in and they’ll give me $600 or whatever. But I love it. And I don’t care if I’m the only one who does. Jason Cross (29:29.846) Yeah, every year we’re getting a new one. Jason Cross (29:39.8) What’s interesting to me about the iPhone shakeup is that this is the start of about a three year process where they finally after it’s got to be six or seven years now really change the iPhone lineup. instead of small, big, probably we get, we’ve got this air, we’ll probably get an air to next year. We’re not going to get an iPhone 18 next year. That’s going to get bumped into the spring of 2027. We’re going to get the folding iPhone. Michael Simon (29:46.958) Great. Michael Simon (29:54.018) That’s what they’re saying, yeah. Jason Cross (30:08.586) Later in 2027, where we get this 20th anniversary iPhone that’s all glass, it’s all the way to the edge and like the, the dynamic islands practically gone, or maybe it is gone. Like there, there are big changes to not just what the lineup is, but when they release things and everything. And it’s taking, it’s going to take them from iPhone air to late 2027 to get through that. But we’ve sort of kicked off this. Michael Simon (30:24.899) Mm-hmm. Michael Simon (30:28.749) Right. Jason Cross (30:37.752) evolution of iPhone. That’s kind of cool to me because for year after year, it’s been like, well, the chips faster, the battery lasts longer, the camera’s better. And that’s what you get. There’s been all these other little things like faster wireless charging or what I put like the an iPhone at 11 and an iPhone 16 are the same. Michael Simon (30:48.472) Right. Yeah, I mean. Michael Simon (30:57.442) Yeah, essentially, yeah. This could be the last year where we get four models in the fall. They’re saying next year, just the pro and maybe the pro, but maybe the error, you know, like we’re not totally sure, but it’s definitely going to look different next year. Jason Cross (31:04.61) Yeah. Jason Cross (31:11.734) Yeah, it’s going to look different. It could be four because it would be the second air, which I think going to call it air to air second generation. What are you going to do? But like an updated air. Michael Simon (31:19.5) Yeah, that’s right. And maybe nothing, if it’s selling as poorly as people say, maybe they just scrap it and they say, you know what, it’s just not, it’s not worth it to us. We’ll just sell this one for another year. If anybody wants it, they’ll buy it. We’ll cut the price by a hundred bucks and see if anyone buys it. Jason Cross (31:26.956) Yeah. Jason Cross (31:36.674) But if they can improve the battery life a little and add a second camera, which is also rumors, then maybe it’s great to get, I don’t know. So Air, Pro, Pro Max, and the folding phone. So four, but four very different phones, right, than what we’re used to. And then two phones in the spring, know, the whole line-up’s getting shaken up. It’s pretty neat. And it started this year, yeah. Michael Simon (31:40.462) Yeah. Michael Simon (31:50.87) Sure. Yeah. Yep. Michael Simon (32:00.354) Yeah. Roman on the Mac front. Is there anything like? I don’t know. I don’t know what my question is, but I’m thrown it to you. Roman Loyola (32:13.346) It’s been pretty, well, I think that’s indicative of the year that the Mac had. It was pretty quiet. I mean, the only real noise was that the M3 Ultra came out. That kind of surprised everyone because it came out at the same time as the M4 Max. they decided to make the Mac Studio high-end, the M3 Ultra, not an M4 Ultra. So that kind of threw everyone off. But you know, the MacBooks, Jason Cross (32:14.066) Ha ha ha Roman Loyola (32:43.152) We only got one new MacBook Pro this year, the M4. We got the M4 or M5 and then the M4 MacBook Air back in March, I think. Yeah. That was basically it. It’s been pretty quiet. Michael Simon (32:46.413) Mm-hmm. M5. Yeah. Jason Cross (32:50.646) We got the M5, sorry. Michael Simon (32:55.212) Yep. Jason Cross (33:01.112) there was that rumor about them making a sort of purpose-built, inexpensive MacBook that at first was rumored to come by the end of the year, but then that rumor kind of said, it’s going to be early next year. That’s really the most exciting thing going on in Mac land right now is that like, it’s not just going to be a MacBook Air that they sell cheaper. Like a cut down Mac would air. It’s going to have a, its own shell, its own body, you know, and it’s going to be made to be cheaper and it’s going to have an A series processor. Michael Simon (33:07.285) Right. Michael Simon (33:17.059) Yeah. Roman Loyola (33:17.828) Yeah. Jason Cross (33:29.804) Man, all that’s very exciting and it missed the window for 2025. Michael Simon (33:35.458) Right. Yeah, we didn’t hear any like credible reports in the sense that like, well, Mark Gurman is the one that is most, I guess, reliable as far as that stuff goes. But there were reports that said like, maybe it’s coming this year. I’m not convinced we’re getting it at all. We’ll see. Like, I hope so. I really do hope so. But it’s just all… Jason Cross (33:54.138) okay. Roman Loyola (33:59.184) Save that for the next podcast. Michael Simon (34:00.984) Yeah, you’re right. We keep veering into 2026 territory. Yes, I know. Particularly when I get like, as we started, like it wasn’t really an exciting hardware year. What’s your favorite Mac of the year, Roman? Do you have? Jason Cross (34:01.321) Yeah, yep. next year. It’s hard not to look ahead and be excited about what’s coming. Roman Loyola (34:09.582) Right, right, because this year was kind of quiet. Roman Loyola (34:19.28) The ones I tested, well, I’ve been using the M5 MacBook Pro. It’s a nice machine. The speed’s fast. The one thing that I think you guys are kind of sliding is the 40 watt dynamic power adapter with 60 watt max. Michael Simon (34:20.298) Of the ones you tested I guess. Michael Simon (34:37.582) How did I know you were gonna throw a curveball there? Roman Loyola (34:40.272) Well, that’s how quiet it has been in terms of hardware. Jason Cross (34:41.688) That’s true, it’s a game changer. Jason Cross (34:48.044) Yeah. I mean, yep. Michael Simon (34:49.326) Uh, Jason, do you say that plug in it’s it kind of doesn’t really do anything. Just a plug. Jason Cross (34:54.936) It’s basically a 60 watt power adapter that really only guarantees that you’ll get 40. It will give you 60 until it gets too hot or the device. Every device is dynamic. All the plugs will sync to the device. So the device is like, can’t take it this much wattage and they’ll step it down. It gets really technical like they use a different thing that Michael Simon (34:58.636) Yeah. Michael Simon (35:07.426) But don’t all plugs do that? kinda. Jason Cross (35:24.17) steps down in finer increments and more frequently and all that other stuff. But also if the plug itself gets too hot, it’ll step down to 40. That’s why they call it 40 with 60 watt max. But it’ll stay at 60 watts for at least 15 minutes. And usually whatever you’re charging will step down the wattage before that anyway. It’ll use lower voltage by then. So it’s basically a 60 watt power. Michael Simon (35:51.832) Right. Jason Cross (35:54.008) plug. It’s it’s it’s fine. It’s great little tight. It’s very compact. It’s cool. But I kind of still love the little dual charger that Apple makes. And a million a million other companies make these little dual chargers but Michael Simon (36:05.366) Yeah, that’s the best one. Michael Simon (36:09.58) Yeah. The 35, it’s only 35 Watts. right? 45 Watts. The dual one. Yeah. think it’s 35. But yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s really perfect for like an iPad and iPhone and a Mac book air or something. It’s great. Apple watch. Did we talk about Apple watch yet? Yeah. Jason Cross (36:14.944) What? Apple dual one? Yeah, something like $235.40. Roman Loyola (36:18.724) Yeah. Jason Cross (36:22.786) Yeah. There’s the I was gonna say it’s been such a slow year. We just skipped over Apple Watch because Apple Watch series 11 is the same thing as the series 10. Like what’s different? Like and then Ultra three, you know, these were the states you got space black, right? That was it. That was it. All right. You’re right. Michael Simon (36:30.786) Meh. Basically, Michael Simon (36:43.982) Not even. Like I think they had that last year. The Ultra 3 got satellite networking, which, you know, okay, it’s good, I guess, and it got better battery life. It has like 40 something hours of battery now. But the Black Titanium was, I think that that was the two, the update for the two. Jason Cross (36:53.665) Right. Yeah. Jason Cross (37:09.312) You’re right, I think that was an update for the two. Michael Simon (37:11.234) But yeah, like as Jason said, nothing, I mean, they’re good. The Apple watches are great. Like we do this a lot when we talk about the Apple watch. And I don’t know what Apple could really do to make it like radically different or better. I’ll tell you what’s impressive is that we’re 12 generations in and the bands still work on every model. Like that’s cool. Jason Cross (37:20.056) Yeah, skip a year. Michael Simon (37:37.986) But the watch is great. Like, there’s not a ton that could change. Jason Cross (37:38.136) I feel like that’s. Jason Cross (37:42.04) I feel like that’s what they’d have to do to make it an interesting change is change the shape incompatible bands like make a round one and the bands with a different set of bands and you’re going to keep them for 10 years this other band design or something like that. You can make bands that are smarter. They have like some communication when you link them in but then you have to that’s tricky to do with the water resistance and stuff but like you know there’s some stuff that potentially could be done but Michael Simon (38:06.125) Yeah. Jason Cross (38:12.214) I mean, the one thing that everybody wants is multi day battery life just like, let the let the battery last for four days like Michael Simon (38:16.674) Yeah. And they’re close. The Ultra, the Ultra can do multi-day, but it’s big. And the Series 11 now they got up to, they rated for 24 hours. So it’s at least a full day. And depending on your use, so you can probably get it to most of a second day. But yeah, it’s going to take some battery, something breakthrough, efficiency chip breakthrough to really get to like. Jason Cross (38:22.583) Yeah, it’s. Jason Cross (38:42.23) Yeah. Michael Simon (38:44.482) Like realistically, you need it to last like three days. So you can take it out on a Friday, come back Sunday night and not have to worry about it. Jason Cross (38:51.244) Yeah, if you go on an overnight trip and you forgot your watch charger, it’s going to be fine. Like that’s what you want. yeah, display tech, the display uses a lot. The chip uses a lot. They’re getting there on the chip. can just, they can just stop making it faster. Just use all these new chip manufacturing technologies to make it. Michael Simon (38:54.444) Right. Michael Simon (38:57.973) Exactly. Michael Simon (39:04.844) Yeah, of course. Michael Simon (39:11.758) Yeah, the chip this year’s chip based on, actually Apple said it itself. Like it’s the same as last year. Usually they give it a new name, but it’s the same chip this year. They actually said, know what? It’s still the S10. We’re not going to lie to you. It’s the same chip. they, um, the, we we did get a new se, se three, which is really good. It got an always on display, like the iPhone 17. That was like the theme of the year, uh, adding things that were missing. Jason Cross (39:19.416) Yeah. Jason Cross (39:26.22) You Michael Simon (39:39.406) So it gave you got the always on display that you didn’t have. Um, it has 5g now it has the S 10 chip and for 250 bucks and sometimes 200 on Amazon, it’s a really, really good entry level or maybe not even entry level. It’s just a really good smartwatch for that price for any price. Yeah, it’s good. Even if you pay 250 for it, it’s excellent. Jason Cross (39:56.557) Yeah. Jason Cross (40:00.138) Like it’s missing the EKG or ECG and blood oxygen, right? Is that it? Essentially, like that’s the main. So yeah, I get an SE for most people. But it was a slow year for that. So it was kind of slow year for Apple hardware in the sense that we’ve got a lot of stuff. Michael Simon (40:05.954) Yes. Yeah. Those two things. Michael Simon (40:14.988) Yeah, for sure. Michael Simon (40:23.626) It was, we got a lot of stuff, but I was going through it, preparing for the show and I was like, like there’s nothing like. we could hold up and say, we got this thing. Like last year we got Vision Pro, or the year before we got, I don’t know, something. But it was quiet. Jason Cross (40:35.392) outside of the… Jason Cross (40:42.296) Outside of the interesting iPhone developments, it was a very Chip It and Ship It kind of year. And then I think that is because they had plans for things that were very reliant on new Siri. And when they decided to punt on new Siri and it wasn’t even going to make it in the fall, everything was there’s a lot of stuff that’s almost ready to go. You know, and it’s all very new Siri dependent. Michael Simon (41:08.366) Right. Yeah, well, our next show will be right when the new year happens and we’ll talk about 2026. yet next year could be, and we say this a lot, but this one, like maybe, like it looks like there’s gonna be a ton of new stuff, like new, new stuff, not just like a M5 MacBook Air. Jason Cross (41:18.648) We say this a lot. Jason Cross (41:23.168) I mean, we look. We literally said at the start of this year, this year is going to be big because there’s the new Siri and there’s all this home stuff that’s going to work on the new Siri. And then it got delayed. So, you never know. But yeah, there’s a lot of stuff coming. There’s a lot of stuff right now kind of like pegged for next year. That’s very interesting. Michael Simon (41:29.422) Probably. Michael Simon (41:34.05) Yeah. Michael Simon (41:38.988) Right, you never know. Michael Simon (41:47.136) Yeah. All right. Good. I’m going to stop right there because that was a good little wrap up because we’re to talk for another 15 minutes. Otherwise. All right. Worst thing that happened this year. I don’t think we have any like parameters here, but you know, apple related, I guess. Jason Cross (41:51.831) You Jason Cross (42:04.856) yeah, we normally do like the worst thing that happened this week. Well, not normally when we do this segment. And since it’s the year end wrap up, we’re going to go for the whole year. And, I want to hear what Romans is Roman. was the worst thing this year? Is it that, is it that K popped? Michael Simon (42:07.458) Right. We do it, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Roman, you start. Is it going to be K-pop again? Was it so bad it got both shows? Roman Loyola (42:21.904) Yeah, I said mine last week. well, I think it’s pretty obvious. It’s the fact that Apple didn’t really make any progress in AI this year, because it helped. And like Jason just said, it’s kind of like it’s holding everything else back. Michael Simon (42:38.668) Yeah, literally zero progress. We’re exactly where we were this time last year with Apple intelligence. Roman Loyola (42:40.367) Yeah. Roman Loyola (42:43.802) Yeah. We’ve gone over it a hundred times before, so I don’t need to dive in deep in on that. Jason Cross (42:46.252) Yeah. Michael Simon (42:49.26) We have. But no, it’s important to keep bringing it up because it is. For one, it’s for a company of Apple’s size and stature, it’s notable. But it’s also like the entire world, Google, Samsung, OpenAI, like X has Grok, like AIs everywhere, except really on your iPhone. Roman Loyola (43:02.864) Yeah. Jason Cross (43:09.64) I, that was my worst thing was sort of the, the, the sort of iOS 18.4 debacle because they announced these new things and it really wasn’t, it wasn’t that they ever promised Siri was going to be a smart chat bot like chat GPT and Gemini and stuff were, but they announced these other features that sounded really amazing. Like it would build personal context about you so that it could give you understand what you do all the Michael Simon (43:31.459) Yeah. Jason Cross (43:37.484) day and give you answers that related to you. It would be able to understand what’s on your screen. So you would just be using your phone and looking at it and ask it something and it would understand, this is what’s on the screen. They’re talking about this. Right. And then the third was that we’re going to have this massive app intents for developer, like all these developer hooks so that companies can build apps where Siri could do stuff within the apps in the background for you, like work within other apps. it very limited how it does it now I can queue up songs and your Spotify and stuff, but it can’t can’t do much more. And it and it’s not only like you said, they did ads and stuff. And then and then like March rolled around and everybody’s like, where’s the beta? Where is it? Where’s this thing? And Apple basically had to admit, like you said, officially, but not like Michael Simon (44:21.08) Yeah. Jason Cross (44:34.168) press releases and stuff. did it like interviews and everything that like, it’s not going to happen. We couldn’t make it work. It’s basically made Siri have two brains working at the same time that weren’t working. We’re going all the way back and we’re building one Siri based on a new large language model. And we later found out that they’re working with outside companies and they did a bake off with all the anthropic Google and all this other stuff. And we’re, finally going to hopefully get it this next spring. But Roman said it that that put a delay on all kinds of products and stuff that that Apple was supposedly working on. And we’ve seen hints in the code and all this other stuff for all these like smart home products and this new home hub and all this other stuff. And it all got delayed by at least a year. And an Apple was already way behind everyone. So woof. Michael Simon (45:07.426) Yep. Michael Simon (45:29.784) To play devil’s advocate slightly, had they shipped Siri and any of these new products and it didn’t work, that would have been far worse. So at least they had the foresight to say, all right, we can’t, this is not good enough because I don’t think they recovered from that. If they do this and maybe the home pad comes with it and they have this whole push for look how great Siri is and it’s not, I think that’s worse. Jason Cross (45:38.2) yeah. True. Jason Cross (45:56.984) It definitely cannot be another Apple Maps situation, right? So yeah, hoping it gets there, hoping they show everybody, like we want it to be good. Michael Simon (46:01.24) Yeah. Yeah. Michael Simon (46:08.844) Yeah. Yeah. And in the meantime, chat GPT is better and Gemini is better and everyone is getting better while we’re waiting for Siri. I mean, we’ll see Apple has to know. Like everybody’s watching them. They’re not stupid. Tim Cook’s not stupid. So, it got about three months to polish this thing. It looks like March, April, and we’ll see. We’ll see. All right. My worst thing is completely different than all that stuff. Um, I’m going to pick the vision pro because so the vision pro came out a year and a half or is announced a year and a half ago. Uh, no, was actually, no, that was two and a half years ago. Yeah. Uh, came out last February, had a whole type thing, you know, like, listen, it’s a new Apple product. was 3,500 bucks and they, they had a demo thing in the stores and they invited you to come try it. Jason Cross (46:52.344) Do it. Yeah. Michael Simon (47:05.878) I don’t know how many they sold, but I assume that many. then like nothing, like they kind of removed them from stores for the most part. They didn’t really promote it. They didn’t really do much with it. then this, so September or October, they released the de facto second generation model that has a faster chip and a better head strap, which you can also buy separately. So it did nothing to it at all. The M5, there’s no one who was not gonna buy a Vision Pro. Didn’t say, like the reason why I’m not buying it is because the chip is too slow. And the headstrap is absolutely long overdue and the least it could do to make this thing wearable for more than like a half hour. But the worst thing about it, so that’s bad enough. We were waiting for the new, a cheaper model that hasn’t come yet. Maybe a price cut, we didn’t get that. But the worst thing is that if you bought a Vision Pro, Jason Cross (47:52.876) Yeah. Michael Simon (48:06.632) One, there’s no path to an upgrade unless you pay 3,500 bucks. There’s no trade-in. There’s no nothing. And that’s crazy because the people who bought that thing are Apple’s most loyal customers. And they basically said, sorry, you’re out of luck. You want a new one, you got to spend 3,500 bucks. So I had to assume they’re going to sell precisely none of these because… Jason Cross (48:13.036) Yeah, nothing. Michael Simon (48:34.048) I don’t know anyone who would upgrade the first generation to get this one because it’s not good. Maybe they’ll sell straps. People will buy the new head strap. I just don’t understand why, why bother. Jason Cross (48:42.882) Yeah. Jason Cross (48:47.056) There’s a few sort of enterprise applications where when they buy one, they’ll buy this one because it’s what’s there, but they would have bought the first gen because it’s what’s Apple’s doing a pretty decent job of building under the hood technology for Vision OS. They’re doing a good job of building all the stuff that goes on in Vision OS to make VR and AR apps, mixed reality experiences and stuff. Michael Simon (48:52.898) Yeah, okay. Right. Right. Michael Simon (49:06.488) Yeah. Jason Cross (49:16.354) They’re not doing a great job. Michael Simon (49:16.706) Like the frameworks and stuff, the foundation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Jason Cross (49:19.66) The frameworks, the core technology, the eye tracking, all these things that are very, very hard, very, very behind the scenes. They’re not building a great OS on top of it. It’s okay, but it’s, you know, and they’re not building great apps on top of those. The only thing that’s really great are 3D video experiences, which you can’t do for very long. Michael Simon (49:33.038) Great. Great. Michael Simon (49:44.206) just a few and far between, Jason Cross (49:45.912) They’re few and far between. They’re really, really slick. can only do so much of those. They’re really trying to work to get kind of the live sports thing where you can be like your court side at an NBA game, but they have to upgrade some arenas and stuff to make that happen. Because it takes a lot of bandwidth and special cameras and all this other kind of stuff to do it live. They’ve done some of those things where it’s not live. And that’s all cool. It’s all coming. It’s all important work that will be. Michael Simon (49:59.084) Yeah, right. Jason Cross (50:15.714) taken advantage of when they get the more mass market cheaper product out. But God, we haven’t heard anything about that. We don’t know when it’s coming. It’s another like, well, maybe next year kind of thing. Maybe not. Yep. So yeah, the whole vision OS and spatial computing thing is stuck in limbo. And I think there’s just like a tremendous amount of really Michael Simon (50:27.438) Maybe not. Maybe 2027 at this point. Jason Cross (50:42.434) hard work going on behind the scenes. But from the consumer side, it’s in a terrible place for Apple, right? Michael Simon (50:47.928) Yeah. And we said when it came out, it’s kind of like a proof of concept, like they don’t expect to sell, but now we’re two years into it and they’ve released basically the same thing that they released two years ago. It’s like, what are we doing here? It’s, it’s outrageously expensive and I don’t think it’s overpriced. I just think it’s expensive because it’s so cutting age and it’s does, you know, the, the eight K and I try like, there’s a lot of high priced expensive technology inside it and like technically advanced. But no one’s going to buy it. No one. Or as Jason says, maybe like some business that needs it for some application, but not regular people. Jason Cross (51:29.922) Yeah, there’s some like narrow enterprise things, but yeah, not regular people. that’s a tough thing for Apple to expect from Apple, especially after the big deal they made about it. Michael Simon (51:38.072) Like they could have at least. Yeah, like they could have said, Vigin Pro is 24.99. Keep the first one around and cut the price by a thousand bucks. Maybe they’d sell a few. Instead they released the same price for a, and they can’t even, you can’t even upgrade your old one. So frustrating. All right. Roman, this week in Apple history. Jason Cross (51:53.624) I don’t know. Jason Cross (52:01.496) frustrating. Yes. Michael Simon (52:08.504) You’re muted, Roman Loyola (52:11.792) Sorry. Yeah. Michael Simon (52:12.428) See, that happens all the time. Like on your Zoom call yesterday, that probably happened, but we do it too. Roman Loyola (52:18.0) Oh yeah. On December 20th, 1996, probably one of the most important dates in Apple history, Apple announced that it would acquire Next Software for $400 million. And you know. Michael Simon (52:35.118) Do you remember, so December 20th, that’s like your year is winding down in like tech journalist land. That’s a pretty monumental announcement that happened five days before Christmas. Do you remember like what you were doing, where you were working or were you working? Roman Loyola (52:40.772) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Roman Loyola (52:49.904) I don’t remember what I was doing that day because yeah, because 1990, was it? 1997 was, was that the year? Oh, I can’t remember now. Was 1997, the following Mack world the year that where like Steve Jobs took the stage and then Bill Gates came on and da da da and all that stuff? think, yeah, cause that. Michael Simon (53:15.63) Maybe. I don’t know. Roman Loyola (53:19.342) So I don’t remember another, well, I’m trying to jog my memory, but I can’t remember where I was or what was happening when that announcement was being made. I was working for Mac User Magazine at the time, so I have no memory. Michael Simon (53:34.254) Steve Jobs’ Bill Gates was August 1997. So this must’ve been 1996, yeah. Roman Loyola (53:38.296) Okay, so was the following year. Yeah, so it was the following year. I remember that, but I don’t remember this announcement in particular. Yeah. Jason Cross (53:38.53) Yeah. Yeah. Michael Simon (53:46.758) All right. Maybe Jason, know, did, was it a shock or did people know when it just was like a press release that formulate, finalized it formalitized it. Formalitized that what I’m looking for. It’s been four hours of this people. Jason Cross (53:58.508) Formalized it formalized I honestly like so around that year. I was working for PC gaming magazines and stuff like I really wasn’t paying attention to the whole the whole jobless jobless era the whole job Steve Jobs free area of like I was not involved in Apple stuff like at all at that time. They killed off my beloved Apple 2 GS line. Michael Simon (54:28.493) haha Jason Cross (54:29.328) and went with Max and Max were like just black and white. They weren’t even gray scale. They were just black and white at first and then they started doing all these models and stuff. So I wasn’t paying that much attention. I get the, I seem to remember it was kind of a coup. Like that jobs is coming back, that they’re not just buying next, but they’re buying next and they’re kind of doing it in order to get jobs. Michael Simon (54:35.95) Yeah. Roman Loyola (54:56.367) Yeah. Michael Simon (54:56.472) Mm-hmm. Jason Cross (54:56.498) and the other Apple engineers and stuff that he took with him to go do next, Something like that. Roman Loyola (55:03.588) Yeah. Roman Loyola (55:07.12) I prior to the announcement, and I remember there were rumblings of it, but the thing I mostly remember was that Gil Amelio was the CEO, and everybody was like, my God, Apple needs to do something, do something. We’re crashing and burning, because before Gil Amelio, was Michael Spindler. Yeah, and there were a couple CEOs. Michael Simon (55:16.738) Right. Jason Cross (55:20.856) you Michael Simon (55:33.037) Yeah, I think so. Roman Loyola (55:36.964) You know, there was just this free fall and I mostly remember 1996 being, I better work on my resume because I don’t know if this magazine is gonna be around for the next year because Apple just isn’t, you know, they weren’t doing well. And then there were rumblings about it, but I don’t know if people were counting on, I don’t remember if people thought it was actually gonna happen or not. I can’t remember. Michael Simon (55:46.584) Hahaha. Jason Cross (55:46.924) Yeah. Michael Simon (55:50.168) Yeah, yeah. Roman Loyola (56:08.272) So, but yeah. Michael Simon (56:08.526) Okay. Well, it’s probably the most pivotal moment in not just Apple, like tech, like tech history was Steve Jobs. mean, think about all the things that wouldn’t have happened if that didn’t, if that deal wasn’t made and Steve Jobs doesn’t come back to Apple at that moment. It’s crazy to think about like how that impacted the shape of the tech landscape for decades to come. It’s crazy. Roman Loyola (56:19.279) Yeah. Jason Cross (56:20.172) It was a huge. Jason Cross (56:26.468) yeah. Jason Cross (56:38.156) Yeah, absolutely. Roman Loyola (56:40.336) Well, and I think there was still even some, even when they announced that acquisition, there was still some doubt as to whether to save Apple because, you know, next was this niche company. People were like, how is this going to translate? What does this all mean? you know. Michael Simon (56:48.022) I’m sure there was, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Michael Simon (56:57.836) I mean, Steve Jobs didn’t become like Steve Jobs until the iMac and the iPhone and the iPod. Like he was obviously well respected and had done the Mac and you know, was the guy at Apple. But as you said, Dext was, know, it was there. I mean, no one really paid much attention to it. And he wasn’t seen as like the visionary computer guy until five, 10 years later. Roman Loyola (57:01.424) Yeah. Jason Cross (57:08.277) yeah. Roman Loyola (57:21.84) Right. Yeah, I think. Jason Cross (57:24.492) mean, if you believe the Steve jobs, movie, the, not the, not the, not the Kutcher one, the other, the other one. if you believe that, yeah, no, the, the, the math fastbender one, that if you believe that movie, the next was pretty much. Michael Simon (57:33.102) The Ashton Kutcher one. Roman Loyola (57:38.288) That’s a Noah Wiley one. Michael Fassbender. Michael Simon (57:43.98) Yeah, that’s better. Yeah. Jason Cross (57:51.468) The company existed to get acquired by Apple and get him back. Like when they kicked him out, he hatched a plan. Roman Loyola (57:55.408) Yeah. Michael Simon (58:02.722) What bugs me about those two movies is the Ashton Kutcher one. Like he actually kind of looks like Steve Jobs and acts like Steve Jobs, but the movie sucks. And the other movie that he looks, Fast Man, it looks nothing like Steve Jobs nor does he act like it, but the movie’s really good. So I have a hard time to parse those two. Yeah. Jason Cross (58:10.658) Yes. Nothing. It’s a really, yeah, it’s much better writing. Roman Loyola (58:21.84) Yeah, so, you know, in the end, know, Steve Jobs ends up looking like this savior and this, and he, you know, and in many ways he was. I don’t mean that in like a, I don’t know, I guess a religious way or something like that, a deity way, but you know, he was a business savior for Apple. But yeah, those two years prior was really shaky and really, I think it’s hard to, that kind of gets lost in this whole thing. Michael Simon (58:31.661) Yes. Jason Cross (58:35.778) Ha Michael Simon (58:35.854) You Michael Simon (58:39.554) Yeah. Roman Loyola (58:51.376) was that Apple was really in bad shape. And it’s kind of hard to describe how bad a shape it was. It was. Michael Simon (58:58.902) The only thing I knew about Apple at that time was that Simpson’s joke with Nelson writes on his Newton to beat up Martin and it translates to eat up Martha or something. That was my only reference to Apple. And it wasn’t until the iMac that like it put it on my math and God knows how many other people like the iMac was the thing that Roman Loyola (59:11.504) Right. Jason Cross (59:12.6) Roman Loyola (59:19.439) Yeah. Michael Simon (59:25.582) And Johnny, I’ve had a lot to do with that, of course, but Steve Jobs had the vision to bring it to market. Roman Loyola (59:30.128) Yeah. Jason Cross (59:30.988) We talked a lot about earlier this episode about how Apple had a lot of Chip It and Chip It products this year. like imagine if Apple had four years of that, like just more creating more and more products for more and more more price segments that are just the same thing, but just like a little bit better with a new chip. And that’s kind of where Apple is at. And that’s when they bought Nex and Nex came back. That’s what their roadmap was. Michael Simon (59:37.624) Yeah. Jason Cross (01:00:00.022) Like they didn’t have a war. This is not doing well. Let’s shake things up. Like now that it really wasn’t the plan. So it was jobs that came back and said, we got way too many products. We’re everything wrong. We’re not, you know, simplified double down on some narrow things. It really worked. yeah, it was, they, they really needed that. And they went through multiple CEOs in just a few years. Just. Michael Simon (01:00:21.858) Yeah. And you know, he… Roman Loyola (01:00:25.413) Yeah. Michael Simon (01:00:25.518) Yeah. And, you know, it was chipping and shipping for computers that nobody were buying for one. And, you know, you can say like Steve Jobs had this vision. also had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted because you just said the company was basically bankrupt. So he had to swing for the fences and, you know, he did, and he did a, you know, a ridiculously good job doing it. Jason Cross (01:00:30.178) Great. Yeah. Michael Simon (01:00:50.478) All right, Roman, the last reader mailbag of 2025. Roman Loyola (01:00:52.688) I’ll be back. So we were just talking about legacy and last episode we were talking about, or not last episode, the episode before last episode, I think. Yeah. We talked about some of the management changes that were happening at Apple and the topic of Tim Cook’s legacy kind of came up. Michael Simon (01:01:06.753) I… I think it was June was the last time before we started recording today. Jason Cross (01:01:19.288) Mm. Michael Simon (01:01:23.843) Mm-hmm. Roman Loyola (01:01:25.078) and people have plenty of thoughts on this. I like to say that before, I preface this by saying that people tend to be negative on the internet in terms of posting comments, in case you didn’t know, in case you didn’t notice that. with that in mind, Johnny Five underscore, yes, please don’t take it personally, Tim. Michael Simon (01:01:40.728) yeah? I had it. Jason Cross (01:01:42.616) I hadn’t noticed that, yeah. Michael Simon (01:01:48.568) I apologize to Tim Cook before we start this segment. Roman Loyola (01:01:55.152) but johnny5 underscore 75 on TikTok said, he’s already at a pretty low note with iOS 26. Pattyist power on TikTok said, releasing the visual pro flop, fumbling AI, releasing a meh OS reskin and capitulating and causing the fascist, that’s his legacy. Michael Simon (01:02:20.75) I mean, that’s all happened in the last like three months. Roman Loyola (01:02:24.503) Yeah, yeah. Jason Cross (01:02:25.4) That was sort of our point was that like, and there’s all these people leaving, this is the turning point. either ends, his story either ends with that reputation or it ends with a revitalization of Apple. The next year really kind of writes how Tim Cook’s story ends. Roman Loyola (01:02:28.772) recency biased. Roman Loyola (01:02:40.666) Yeah. Roman Loyola (01:02:47.152) Chicken Fried Steak 40, I never thought in my career I’d be like saying, you know, I always thought I’d be saying actual name. Chicken Fried Steak 40 on TikTok said, Tim Apple should have been replaced years ago. He may have kept the profits coming short term, but long term, he did so much damage to the brand. And Peter Wendelin on Facebook said, yeah. Jason Cross (01:02:54.264) Chicken Fried Steak 40. Michael Simon (01:02:57.486) You Michael Simon (01:03:15.028) statement. Chicken fried steak for you. Jason Cross (01:03:18.092) I know. Roman Loyola (01:03:20.57) Peter Wendlin on Facebook said, if you want to know what Tim Cook’s legacy is, it’s continued growth and stability, nothing more. That’s true, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Michael Simon (01:03:29.058) I mean, that’s true. Jason Cross (01:03:30.264) That’s right. mean. Michael Simon (01:03:32.332) You know, depends on what kind of Apple you want. Roman Loyola (01:03:35.704) Right, that’s true. Jason Cross (01:03:36.472) He really did build Apple from the company that was this underdog. Like it’s popular as it was, it wasn’t huge. was the underdog. It was big, but it was. Michael Simon (01:03:43.855) Yeah, right. It was big. It was pretty big. It wasn’t this big by any stretch, it was like the iPhone was rolling. The iPad was rolling. Like they were doing quite fine in 2011, I think it was. Jason Cross (01:03:57.4) iPhone was rolling like like 10 million units a year 15 million units a year like they self they sell 70 million iPhones a quarter now like it’s you know, so he 10x to the company like and he built it from the company that was always the underdog to the IBM that they were always really gets like the big dog of tech that even if they’re not the richest company, I mean in videos rolling an AI money like Michael Simon (01:04:01.262) Yeah, OK. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Michael Simon (01:04:06.486) Right now I know. Michael Simon (01:04:16.696) Great. Great. Jason Cross (01:04:25.97) Among the richest, a multi-trillion dollar company that is definitely the most influential. Michael Simon (01:04:28.696) Yeah. Michael Simon (01:04:35.032) Yes. Jason Cross (01:04:35.884) Like regardless of, could say more Windows laptops are sold, but people do what Apple does with the MacBook. Everyone follows Apple. Michael Simon (01:04:48.78) Yeah. Yeah. That comment that said, you know, listed off all the things. I know one before that about all the things that his legacy is his legacy is this, know, they’re to announce their earnings in about a month and a half. And I guarantee you they’ll break. It’ll be the highest quarter they’ve ever had ever. It’ll be like $120 billion or something in revenue. I guarantee you now. So when does that. Roman Loyola (01:04:53.392) chicken fried steak. Roman Loyola (01:04:58.287) Patty has power, Jason Cross (01:05:13.132) Yeah, probably. Yep. Michael Simon (01:05:18.444) Now going to the one after chicken fries, the short-term legacy. Like when does the short-term profits end? Because I do agree with that in a sense. At some point that growth is going to reach a cliff because as we just talked about for the last hour, a lot of Apple is in cruise control and not all that cruise control is heading in the right direction. And you your steering is a little… Jason Cross (01:05:21.889) You Michael Simon (01:05:48.415) Not a lot, but a little bit. And does Tim Cook stick around long enough to steer it back? Or does he just say, know what? I did what I was told to do. I did what I promised I would do and I’m done. Jason Cross (01:05:49.72) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jason Cross (01:06:00.586) yeah. Do we need somebody else? Do we need, as we talked about Steve Jobs, do we need somebody else to come in and say, although they’re in a very different position, like you said, they’re wildly profitable now, but do we need somebody else to come in and shake things up in order to continue to grow or get into new areas? People don’t give Tim Cook credit for expanding the areas in which, not just their profitability or size, but like Apple watches Tim Cook, AirPods is Tim Cook. Michael Simon (01:06:25.015) sure. Jason Cross (01:06:32.556) These are massively these products. Sure. I’m just saying just products like the AirPods is a Fortune 500 company on its own. Just AirPods. Like, and that’s a Tim Cook thing like that. So yeah. Michael Simon (01:06:34.286) as well as privacy and accessibility and all the things that they do, yes. Michael Simon (01:06:43.672) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Jason Cross (01:06:53.792) It’ll be interesting. Like you said, we’re in a world right now where there’s just a lot of chip and chip it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when we get over this AI hump. If we do and get into the other products that we keep hearing they’re working on, you know, I’m that thing that like the robot lamp with a personality thing that we showed off and it won’t be a lamp. It’ll be a screen, but like, man, I want that. That’s a whole new product. That’s a whole new genre of thing. Right. Michael Simon (01:07:02.818) Mm-hmm. Michael Simon (01:07:17.794) Yeah, sure. For sure. Yeah. Jason Cross (01:07:22.69) So we’ll see, we’ll see what they get to market out of this. Michael Simon (01:07:28.14) Right. You know, just to put one more period on this, like Steve Jobs did a lot of great things. We just talked about next and coming back. The last great thing he did was to promote Tim Cook to CEO because he knew trying to replace him was an impossible thing. He’s not going to find someone that had the same charisma, the same vision, but Apple was on this presidents, like Jason said, you know, they weren’t, they weren’t, they weren’t a massive company, but they had, they certainly were looking up and Tim Cook was the perfect guy to bring him to this level. And now maybe we need someone that’s more like Steve Jobs and can see a vision and could take some risks, maybe a gamble or two and, really take Apple into the next, you know, whatever 25 years. Jason Cross (01:08:12.204) Mm-hmm. Jason Cross (01:08:20.062) Yeah, one could argue the vision pro was their attempt at a gamble that was the completely wrong way to go about it. Right? That’s Yeah. Michael Simon (01:08:24.75) It’s too, yeah, it’s just too expensive. mean, they have to, they must’ve known they’re not going to sell many of them. It could have been the greatest thing ever made. Like that’s just too much. The iPhone was 600 bucks and people said it wasn’t going to sell. mean, you know, that’s a ton of money, even in 2025 money. That’s a lot. Jason Cross (01:08:31.479) Right. Jason Cross (01:08:37.88) Right. Michael Simon (01:08:44.686) All right. That’s it people. 2025 is done. We’re closing the door. uh, Roman I screwed up. I I screwed up my number. Uh, this is number 964. Um, yeah. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy whatever you celebrate. Uh, new year, happy new year. All those things. Thank you, Jason. Jason Cross (01:08:54.134) Have a great holiday. We’ll see you in a few weeks. Jason Cross (01:09:09.548) Thank you, Mike. Michael Simon (01:09:10.676) And thank you, And thank you. I’m sorry, Roman. I didn’t give you a chance to say anything. And thank you, dear listeners, for tuning in. This was a fun year. We rebooted the podcast. Things are a little different. This was fun. You can subscribe to the Macro Podcast to listen to us all throughout 2026 in the podcast app on Spotify, on YouTube, at the Macro Podcast channel, or through any other podcast app. Roman Loyola (01:09:15.15) Okay. I’ll just wave. Michael Simon (01:09:39.424) If you have any questions or comments about what we just talked about and what we’re gonna talk about in 2026, contact us through Blue Sky Facebook threads. Search for Macworld, look for the Blue Mouse logo, send an email to podcast at macworld.com, comment under a TikTok video, comment under a YouTube short, real whatever. Just got in touch with us in some way. And that’s it. We will see you for the next episode of the Macworld podcast next year as you talk about everything in the… Jason Cross (01:09:59.736) You Michael Simon (01:10:10.03) I screwed it up one last time before the year was up. Join us next year in the, All right, right, hold on. I’m gonna rewind and start this whole thing. Join us in the next episode of the Macro Podcast next year as we’re talking about the latest in the world of Apple. See you next time.

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Macworld In the 15 years since it first appeared on the iPhone, Apple’s Find My technology has transformed from a simple GPS-based phone finder to a versatile ecosystem of devices not just from Apple but many specialized accessory makers in all exciting shapes, sizes, and forms. Apple’s Find My app offers a unified, secure way to locate all your Apple devices (iPhone, Watch, AirPods, and Mac) and items (AirTags plus third-party trackers such as these reviewed here) via an anonymous network of millions of Apple devices that ping encrypted Bluetooth to report their location back to iCloud, even when offline. These are detected by other nearby Apple devices, relaying the location data securely to you. Find My helps you to locate misplaced items in seconds, alerts you if you leave them behind, and works through your Apple device. ## Find My features * See all your devices on a map * Get the distance and direction with Precision Finding * Share your lost item’s location * Play a sound to find your device * Notify When Left Behind * Display a message for someone who finds it * Find devices that are offline or powered off ## Best Find My AirTag alternatives Apple’s AirTags are cute, but at 8mm thick, they’re too bulbous to realistically fit in your wallet. The most common type of AirTag alternative that works directly with Apple’s Find My is a thin card design that can slip into your wallet or purse just like a bank card. These can be under 2mm in thickness. If you have an AirTag, stop reading and check out the best AirTag accessories, but if you need a new tracker, Apple’s Find My ecosystem has broken away from locating just Apple devices and AirTags to tracking just about anything, from keys to wallets, glasses cases, and passports, to bikes and pets. Satechi’s FindAll and Journey’s LOC8 are two ranges that make up a few of the products we’ve tested and reviewed here, but there are plenty more, too. As well as linking to Apple’s Find My app as well as Google’s Android Find Hub, the Chipolo range comes with its own app that boasts extra functions such as the ability to make your phone ring when it’s hiding nearby by simply double-pressing the tracker’s button—you can even change the ringtone and volume to make it easier to recognize. You can also double-press the Chipolo trackers to use them as a remote shutter button for your phone’s camera. Here we roundup the best Find My Bluetooth trackers, sorted by category. Some of them also work with Google Find Hub as well as Apple Find My. Think of each as an AirTag in a different shape and form—usually more convenient than Apple’s bulbous tracker pebble. * **Best Find My wallet cards** * **Best Find My luggage accessories** * **Best Find My passport holders** * **Best Find My keychains** * **Best Find My glasses case** * **Best Find My magnetic wallets** * **Best Find My MacBook sleeve** * **Best Find My bike tracker** ## Best Find My wallet cards The thinnest Find My trackers you can buy, these cards will fit in your wallet or general card slots just like any bank or travel card. There are wallets that fit Apple’s AirTags but they add unnecessary bulk compared to these slim trackers. ## Ugreen FineTrack Slim Wallet Tracker – Slimmest tracker card ### Pros * Super slim * Rechargeable Price When Reviewed: $29.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $23.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m * **Charging** : Via proprietary charger (included) * **Battery capacity** : 155mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80dB * **Thin** : 1.7mm * **Weight** : 20g * **Colors** : Black This Find My tracker card is just 1.7mm thick—that’s less than 1mm thicker than a standard credit card. It is certified to IP68 waterproof protection, and should also resist any dust and fluff in your wallet. It connects as an Item in the Apple Find My app. Remarkably, its battery is rechargeable via a proprietary wireless charger that connects to any USB-C wall charger. Ugreen reckons the card will last up to a year on a single charge and offers over 10 years of battery life. ## Lululook AirCard Pro tracker – Slim and loud with lanyard ### Pros * Super slim * Wirelessly rechargeable * Lanyard slot Price When Reviewed: $24.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $19.99 View Deal Lululook $49.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 45m * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 100mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 100dB * **Thin** : 1.8mm * **Weight** : 13g * **Colors** : White, Black At 1.8mm this is one of the slimmest Find My trackers available. Only the Ugreen FineTracker is thinner. One of the reasons that this is the lightest tracker card on test is its lanyard slot, which reduces weight and fits the included cord. It is also quite loud at 100dB when you need to find it via its alert sound. The battery capacity is smaller than most, but you can recharge it using a standard wireless charger. ## Satechi FindAll Card – Most colorful tracker card ### Pros * Slim * Wirelessly rechargeable * Color choices Price When Reviewed: $34.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $29.99 View Deal $29.99 View Deal $34.99 View Deal Satechi $34.99 View Deal $53.88 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m (indoor), 20-50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 220mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Thin** : 2.3mm * **Weight** : 17.8g * **Colors** : Black, Sand, Desert Rose Another card-shaped Find My tracker is part of the same FindAll range as the Satechi Luggage Tag reviewed above, and available in the same pastel colors plus black. This one is thicker than the Ugreen FineTracker card, reviewed above (2.3cm thick vs 1.7cm), but it’s still much slimmer than an AirTag. However, it does have the advantage of being recharged with any wireless charger that you might use for your iPhone or AirPods. ## Chipolo CARD – Loud tracker card with special button ### Pros * Slim * Loud * Wirelessly rechargeable Price When Reviewed: $39 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $38.99 View Deal Chipolo $39 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 120m * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 180mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 110dB * **Thin** : 2.5mm * **Weight** : 17g * **Colors** : Black This Find My tracker card is a tiny bit thicker than the others at 2.5mm, but it is still very light and fits into a wallet card slot with ease. At 100dB, it has a louder alert than some, and it claims the best range. You can double-press the card’s button to quickly locate your iPhone if you’ve mislaid it nearby. It charges via regular wireless chargers. It works with Apple Find My and Android Find Hub. ## Rolling Square AirCard Pro Dual – Loudest tracker card ### Pros * Slim * Loud * Wirelessly rechargeable Price When Reviewed: $39.90 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $29.99 View Deal Rolling Square $39.90 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 80m * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 220mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 150dB * **Thin** : 2.2mm * **Weight** : 18g * **Colors** : Gray This Find My tracker card is 2.2mm thick—a little slimmer than the Satechi FindAll Card but thicker than the Ugreen FineTracker. It claims to have the loudest alert sound of all the Bluetooth tracker cards, with a 20mm buzzer, claiming it is twice as loud as other trackers. Rolling Square says that it is built with “anti-explosion fibreglass” and CNC-machined aluminum, and it looks a bit more interesting than the standard tracker card. It charges with any standard wireless charger. ## Aukey Track Mate 3 Smart Bluetooth Tracker – QR code for networking ### Pros * Slim * Wirelessly rechargeable * QR code contact details Price When Reviewed: $25.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Aukey $25.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 80m * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 170mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80dB * **Thin** : 2.2mm * **Weight** : 20.4g * **Colors** : Gray Another slim 2.2mm Find My tracker card, the Aukey Track Mate 3’s special feature is a QR code on the back that enables users to update contact information and manage a digital business card, so it can be used for both networking and the recovery of lost items if someone finds it and has the wherewithal to try the code. ## Best Find My luggage accessories Losing luggage on your travels is a dread that can be allayed with a Find My tracker embedded into the tag. You can even use it to guess when your suitcase is coming down the carousel or discover with horror that it’s in South America rather than Paris. Of course, the Apple AirTag does this too, but requires an extra accessory holder. ## Satechi Vegan-Leather FindAll Luggage Tag ### Pros * Elegant travel accessory * Wirelessly rechargeable * Color choices Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $39.99 View Deal $44.99 View Deal $44.99 View Deal Satechi $44.99 View Deal $57 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m (indoor), 20-50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Weight** : 42g * **Colors** : Black, Sand, Desert Rose With this Satechi Find My-enabled vegan-leather luggage tag, you can track your luggage through your entire trip. It’s built to withstand the rigors of international travel while retaining its classic good looks and rather elegant design, and is available in Black, Sand, and Desert Rose colors with an adjustable strap. It has space for you to write your name and contact details behind a privacy flap, and hides its inner tracking technology well. Its 150mAh battery is wirelessly rechargeable via standard wireless chargers (battery life up to 8 months), and the tracker has a connection range of 10-20 meters indoors and 20-50 meters outdoors. When you want to find it, you can trigger a loud chime and receive precise directions to your item’s location. ## Chipolo LOOP ### Pros * Great range of colors * Loud * USB-C charging * Flexible silicone loop Price When Reviewed: $39 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $39 View Deal Chipolo $39 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 120m * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : 165mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 125dB * **Weight** : 10g * **Colors** : Coral, Honey, Mint, Navy, Chalk, Charcoal Stick with Apple AirTag white if you must, but why not splash some color into your life with this cute Bluetooth tracker with a flexible silicone loop that’s perfect to attach to luggage. It’s rechargeable via USB-C, so you won’t need to worry about replacing the battery, and as with the Chipolo CARD, you can double-press the card’s button to quickly locate your iPhone if you’ve mislaid it nearby. Using the Chipolo app, you can ring the tracker to make its charging light blink, helping you find your item even in the dark. It’s rated IP67 for formidable water and dust resistance—these trackers are ready to go the distance with your precious items. ## XtremeMac X-Lock Pro ### Pros * TSA-approved luggage lock * USB-C charging Price When Reviewed: ¢39.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price XTremeMac $39.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 20m * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : 60mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80dB * **Weight** : 42g * **Colors** : Black Small but secure, the XtremeMac X-Lock Pro measures just 4.6 x 4.2 x 1.4cm, and can be used to secure not only your luggage but anything the 10.4cm cable can hook around. Being Find My-enabled it will also help you locate your luggage when it’s out of your sight. It’s approved by the TSA so won’t get you into trouble at Security. ## Best Find My passport holders In the days when air travel was a rare treat or when you travelled to different continents via ocean liner, everyone had a passport holder. The advent of the Find My tracker puts the passport wallet back in vogue and makes it even more useful. ## Journey Loc8 Passport Finder Wallet ### Pros * Stylish travel accessory * Wirelessly rechargeable * RFID card protection Price When Reviewed: $99.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price journey $99.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 20m (indoor), 50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 85dB * **Weight** : 138g * **Colors** : Black This super-organized Apple Find My-enabled passport wallet holds not only your passport, but also up to five cards (with RFID protection to prevent data theft), cash, a handy pen, a boarding pass, and other travel essentials. The wireless charging pad is hidden away behind where the passport sits. Inside, the soft fine-woven fabric contrasts with the supple exterior. ## Satechi FindAll Passport Cover ### Pros * Elegant travel accessory * Wirelessly rechargeable * RFID card protection * Color choices Price When Reviewed: $59.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $50.21 View Deal $52.65 View Deal $59.99 View Deal Satechi $59.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m (indoor), 20-50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Weight** : 104g * **Colors** : Black, Sand, Desert Rose Satechi’s FindAll range—in the same elegant color range—includes the vegan-leather Passport Cover that stores not only your precious travel documentation but four cards with RFID protection to secure you from data thieves. Plus, you can recharge the battery via the wireless pad on the front of the case. ## Best Find My keychains There are plenty of good-looking keychains that can host an Apple AirTag—indeed we have reviewed a bunch of them in our roundup of the best AirTag accessories. The expansion of the whole Find My ecosystem means you don’t have to choose Apple or AirTag, just certified Find My solutions, including these excellent third-party keyrings. ## Journey LOC8 Finder Fob 2 Universal ### Pros * Lightweight * USB-C charging Price When Reviewed: $29.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Journey $29.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m (indoor), 20-50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : 120mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Weight** : 12g * **Colors** : Black, White Why choose the Journey LOC8 Finder Fob 2 over the Apple AirTag? You can recharge it via standard USB-C rather than need to replace the battery every couple of years. This is more convenient, cheaper and better for the planet. You’ll never look at your AirTag in the same way again. The Universal in the name means it is compatible with both Apple Find My and Android Find Hub. ## Chipolo POP Bluetooth Tracker ### Pros * Very loud * Lightweight ### Cons * Replaceable rather than rechargeable battery Price When Reviewed: $29 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $25 View Deal Chipolo $29 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 120m * **Charging** : Replaceable CR2032 battery * **Battery capacity** : 225mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 120dB * **Weight** : 9g * **Colors** : Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, White Before you resort to the Find My app to sound an alert to help you find your missing item, the glaring color of this super-lightweight 0.26-inch thick plastic tracker means you should be able to easily spot it. It stands out a mile from all the other dull trackers out there. Indeed, it goes much further than that. It works with the two major Find apps (iOS and Android), but also connects to its own Chipolo app mentioned at the start of this article. You can buy a 4-pack of mixed colors for $90/£90. The only slight downside is that the POP uses the same replaceable CR2032 battery as the AirTag rather than being rechargeable itself. ## Satechi Vegan-Leather FindAll Keychain ### Pros * Wirelessly rechargeable * Color choices Price When Reviewed: $29.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $29.99 View Deal $29.99 View Deal Satechi $29.99 View Deal $36.81 View Deal $40.16 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m (indoor), 20-50m (outdoor) * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 180mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Weight** : 14.3g * **Colors** : Black, Sand, Desert Rose Another fine member of Satechi’s FindAll range and available in the attractive Sand and Desert Rose colors, as well as Black, is the sleek Vegan-Leather FindAll Keychain—wirelessly rechargeable via standard chargers, so not requiring battery replacements as the AirTag does. And it looks just as great attached to a bag or suitcase. ## Ugreen FineTrack Smart Tracker (USB-C) Multipack ### Pros * USB-C charging * Keyring slot * 2-pack or 4-pack Price When Reviewed: $29.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $29.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : 10-20m * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80dB * **Weight** : 70g * **Colors** : Gray This tracker is like an AirTag with a slot for a keyring. You can attach it to whatever you like (if you ask nicely) and it includes all the features you’ve loved since the AirTag. Ugreen has a version that, like Apple’s AirTag, has a replaceable CR2032 battery. While this means longer life between battery swaps, we prefer this USB-C-rechargeable model that is available in a 2-pack or 4-pack. ## Journey LOC8 Urban & Motion Key Organizers ### Pros * Stylish 6-key chains * Leather and metal options ### Cons * Proprietary charger Price When Reviewed: $109.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Journey $109.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 50m * **Charging** : Proprietary charger * **Battery capacity** : 80mAh (MOTION); 100mAh (URBAN) * **Speaker Volume** : 80dB * **Weight** : 44g * **Colors** : Black, Orange, White, Brown There are two models of Find My-enabled keychain trackers in the Journey LOC8 range. The LOC8 Urban Key Organizer is wrapped in premium Nappa leather, while the LOC8 Motion Key Organizer is a starker metal design with an orange version that might excite iPhone 17 Pro owners. Both include a multi-tool component of a bottle-opener and a cardboard-cutter, though only the Urban model is compatible with both Apple and Android phones. ## Best Find My wallet cards We’ve already looked at the best tracker cards that fit into your wallet but why not go the whole hog and get a Find My wallet? ## Journey LOC8 VERSA Money Clip Finder Wallet and Stand ### Pros * Strong magnetic hold * An option for cash users ### Cons * Proprietary charger (MagSafe) Price When Reviewed: $89.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Journey $89.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 50m * **Charging** : Proprietary charger (MagSafe); any wireless charger (Versa) * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 100dB (MagSafe); 80dB (Versa) * **Weight** : 82g (MagSafe); 94g (Versa) * **Colors** : Midnight, Light Gray Journey has two Find My-enabled wallets in its POC8 lineup. The LOC8 MagSafe Finder Wallet and Stand (pictured above left) holds up to five cards, secured with RFID protection. It’s the slightly older of the two wallets and so charges via a proprietary charger (included) rather than wirelessly like the Loc8 Versa MagSafe Wallet with Money Clip (above right) that also holds five cards but also includes a money clip inside. Both are made from eco-conscious vegan leather. Both convert into a stand that can hold the iPhone in either portrait or landscape orientation. ## Best Find My glasses case If you have the sense to put your glasses away in a case you’d think you remember where you put it. Fear not, Satechi has an Apple Find My-enabled case for your losable specs. ## 1. Satechi Vegan-Leather FindAll Glasses Case ### Pros * Protects and locates eyeglasses Price When Reviewed: $49.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $41.99 View Deal $44.99 View Deal $49.99 View Deal Satechi $49.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 50m * **Charging** : Via standard wireless charger * **Battery capacity** : 150mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 80-90dB * **Weight** : 133g * **Colors** : Black, Sand, Desert Rose You don’t need your specs on to find your glasses with the built-in speaker in this Find My-enabled eyewear vegan-leather case, part of Satechi’s FindAll range. Elton John might struggle, but the case is compatible with most glasses, sunglasses, and even XR/AR devices such as VITURE Pro XR, XREAL Air 2, and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. ## Best Find My MacBook sleeve Your MacBook already has Apple’s Find My in its own software but you can double the tracking power with an enabled laptop sleeve that works even when your laptop is switched off and offline. ## 1. Journey LOC8 Laptop Sleeve Universal ### Pros * Stylish protection * USB-C charging Price When Reviewed: $119.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Journey $119.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 50m * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : 230mAh * **Speaker Volume** : 90dB * **Weight** : 278g (13-14-inch); 352g (15-16-inch) * **Colors** : Black If you travel a lot with your MacBook, whether on a short commute, a longer business trip, or a vacation, it’s wise to protect your laptop in a sleeve. Another member of the Journey LOC8 range of Find My-enabled accessories, this sleeve not only protects your MacBook from bumps and scratches but also helps you locate it or get alerts if it’s left behind. The sleeve is built from military-grade shock-absorbing materials and a cushioned interior, and its PU leather matte exterior can be used as a mousepad when the MacBook is out of its comfy confines. It features stretchable edges for a snug fit (choose between sizes for 13-14-inch and 15-16-inch laptops) with a neat magnetic closure keeping the laptop secure yet easily accessible. It charges via regular USB-C and works with both Apple Find My and Android Find Hub. ## Best Find My bike tracker You are less likely to misplace your bicycle than you are your house keys, but there are trackers built specially for bike owners that incorporate theft alarms. ## 1. Knog Scout Bike Alarm and Finder ### Pros * Alarm function * USB-C charging Price When Reviewed: $59.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $64.95 View Deal Knog $64.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket * **Connection Range** : Up to 30m * **Charging** : USB-C * **Battery capacity** : Data not supplied * **Speaker Volume** : 85dB * **Weight** : 25g * **Colors** : Black This Find My-enabled tracker and bike alarm securely mounts to a standard water cage using the supplied anti-tamper screws. Once armed, any movement of the Scout-fitted Bike triggers a motion-sensitive audio alarm that should discourage further movement and alert the bike’s owner—both by the alarm sound and via a notification to the owner’s iPhone (when in Bluetooth range). Knog claims that the battery can last two to six months between USB-C charges.

Macworld Think back to the end of 2024. It was a more innocent time. Sure, after unveiling Apple Intelligence with great fanfare at WWDC in June that year, it hadn’t actually shipped much (other than a raft of TV commercials featuring nonexistent features). But surely the company wouldn’t let us down. 2025 was truly going to be the year Siri got fixed, and Apple Intelligence took flight. Well, about that… March 2025 arrived, and Apple admitted that it just couldn’t make it all work, and the more personalized Siri promised in 2024 wouldn’t come until sometime “in the coming year,” which, for the record, is _next year_. Anyway, at the end of 2024, I made my usual predictions and wishcasting in public for Macworld–I’ve been doing this for, what, a decade now? And in those heady days, I trusted that Apple would deliver what it promised and that 2025 would be the “year of Apple Intelligence.” In 2024, Apple promised big AI things. Then 2025 came and went, without a peep from AI. Apple I actually said that. I don’t know if I’ve missed a prediction as badly in the entire time I’ve been doing this. Apple had such a track record of not promising what it couldn’t deliver that I really did believe it would not promise a feature it couldn’t ship. But you know the story, as Apple tells it–the feature couldn’t meet the company’s “quality bar” and was therefore kicked into the following year. Whatever else Apple did in 2025, and it actually did quite a lot, it will forever be remembered as the year that it admitted it had not lived up to its own quality bar when it came to shipping the features that it promised. And if failing to meet the AI moment ends up being an important data point in the long-term history of Apple, it will be easy to point directly at Apple’s 2025 rollback of 2024’s announcements. Apple is a company that generally has avoided the trap of overpromising and underdelivering. That it happened shows just how much pressure Apple felt it was under to show that it had AI well in hand. The success reaped in 2024 came back to haunt it in 2025. I thought the company would just power through and get where it needed to go… and it simply couldn’t get there. It’s one of the biggest admissions of mortality and limitation that Apple has offered in more than a decade. Still, by the end of last year, it was already clear that the Apple Intelligence rollout was more style than substance. In my predictions for the year, I said that Apple Intelligence would “continue to be the same mishmash of useful and useless features” that we had already seen, and that “by the end of 2025 Siri still won’t be as good as it should be.” The skepticism was right, but I certainly didn’t expect this level of failure. The Siri delay affected the products Apple planned to release in 2025. Apple Similarly, after Apple did all but declare Google Gemini as a future partner at WWDC 2024, we all expected Apple to announce that it was joining ChatGPT as an AI model connected with Siri on Apple devices. Apple executives would mention Gemini and essentially wink at the audience, again and again. And yet… it never happened. It _still_ hasn’t happened. ChatGPT integration is all there is, and even that integration is so far from the current state of the art for ChatGPT. What a mess. Apple’s failure to build a better Siri driven by AI had an effect on everything. I thought predicting Apple’s triumphant re-entry into the smart home market with a new product was almost a no-brainer. That turned out to be exactly the problem: Apple apparently designed a home-control device with smart Siri as its brain, and if there was no smart Siri, that product had to be put on hold. Nothing exposes the imbalance between Apple’s hardware designers and its software organization than multiple products reportedly being finished months or years in advance, forced to idle because their software isn’t up to snuff. Fortunately, most of the time you bank on Apple’s hardware delivering, you get it right. After numerous reports that the company would ship the thinnest iPhone ever, it did that. I predicted that it would be priced less than $1,000, and since it starts at $999 I think I can say that I nailed it. I also predicted the iPhone Air would offer “enough technical compromises to infuriate a whole bunch of tech nerds.” That’s a prediction that combines my decades of knowledge of Apple with my decades of knowledge of tech nerds, and I think I pretty much nailed it. Let’s face it: predicting the arrival of a bunch of M4 Macs and, eventually, the M5 was not so hard. I learned how to count when I was very young and I mostly don’t even need to use my fingers anymore. But nobody outside of Apple’s chip lab would’ve predicted that there would be a new _M3 Mac_ in 2025, and there was, courtesy of the M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio. The iPhone Air may be Apple’s thinnest iPhone, but customers laid it on pretty thick when it came to the phone’s compromises. Foundry Turning to Apple’s thriving services business, I expected continued growth–about as easy a bet as guessing that M5 would follow M4–as well as a big theatrical film and a bunch of prestigious TV shows. Between the arrival of _F1 The Movie_ and the rise of awards darlings _Severance_ and _The Studio_ , Apple’s film and TV division had a great year. But I also predicted that, despite all the buzz on the subject, Apple would end up _not_ buying major sports rights. Instead, the company went out and outbid ESPN for Formula 1 rights in the United States. Guess all that time spent working with the racing circuit for the Brad Pitt film rubbed off. Still, I correctly predicted that Apple _wouldn’t_ try to buy a movie studio. While Netflix and Paramount continue to joust over control of Warner Bros. Discovery, which follows the Skydance purchase of Paramount, Apple seems content to _not_ be involved with any of that. It’s got a pretty good thing going, I think. Where does that leave us? Apple’s biggest surprise in 2025 was actually its failure to deliver what it promised in 2024, forcing the company to kick a big portion of Apple Intelligence down the road into 2026. Apple continued to release impressive new hardware products like clockwork in 2025, but its ill-advised promises at WWDC 2024 lingered like a hangover, darkening the vibe of the entire year.

Macworld **TL;DR:** Get the PDF Expert Premium Lifetime Plan for $79.97 (MSRP $139.99) and unlock full PDF editing, conversion, annotation, signatures, OCR, and more on your Mac forever. Mac users who are tired of subscription fees just to open and edit a PDF now have a permanent solution. PDF Expert, a polished and fast Mac-native editor, is offering a lifetime plan for $79.97, giving you full access to professional-grade PDF tools without ever renewing anything. PDF Expert lets you handle nearly every PDF task in a clean, intuitive interface. You can revise text, update images, insert links, fill out forms, and sign documents in moments. The editing tools feel familiar and responsive, which makes it ideal for everyday tasks like fixing resumes or updating business documents. When it comes to reviewing or organizing files, you get highlights, comments, custom stamps, page rearranging, merging, and splitting. The conversion tools turn PDFs into Word files, Excel sheets, PowerPoint slides, images, or plain text with surprising accuracy. One standout is the built-in OCR engine. If you scan or import a non-searchable document, PDF Expert recognizes its text so you can search, copy, and edit it. It also improves scan quality, removes shadows, and cleans up margins. Because it runs natively on macOS, performance feels smooth even when working with large files. The lifetime plan includes ongoing support and bug fixes, so the app stays reliable long term. For anyone ready to ditch expensive Acrobat subscriptions, this gives you a straightforward, one-time alternative that covers everything you need. PDF Expert Premium Lifetime Plan for Mac is available now for $79.97. PDF Expert Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription (Mac)See Deal _StackSocial_ _prices subject to change._

Macworld According to reports, the foldable iPhone is going to arrive next year. Now, foldable phones have been around for a while, so the concept isn’t new, but Apple’s take on it certainly is. If you’ve been wondering what an iPhone Fold (or whatever Apple decides to call it) is going to look like, we might have an idea right now. A user who goes by Subsy posted on MakerWorld a physical, plastic model of the iPhone Fold, based on leaked CAD files reportedly leaked from Apple’s own production line. The model isn’t supposed to be an exact replica of what Apple will ship next year (for example, Subsy’s hinge isn’t based on any Apple design), but it’s “a physical reference you can actually hold.” And from what Subsy created, the iPhone Fold is going to have a very different design from what iPhone and folding phone users are accustomed to. > Based on the model, Apple has decided to prioritize the form factor of the iPhone Fold when it is unfolded, where the aspects closely resemble those of an iPad mini. That means that when folded, the iPhone Fold’s shape is a lot more square than a regular iPhone. That’s a different approach from Android folding phones, which often have tall, skinny outer displays to maintain the folded form as a more traditional rectangular shape. Thus, the inside of the folding iPhone will be more widescreen than foldable offerings from Samsung and Google. We could get a sense of how real this square-ish form is at WWDC in June. Though Apple won’t specifically address this new form factor, the company could introduce methods for developers to vary app UI designs so that their apps will be able to adjust and maintain usability. It could also go so far as to preview the folding phone months before it releases, as it did with the original iPhone back in 2007.

Macworld Okay, so it might be a little late to get a new Mac delivered in time for Christmas, but there’s no reason you can’t get yourself a gift now that your shopping is done. And if you’re going to buy one, you might as well take advantage of the deal from Amazon, which is selling a M4 Mac mini with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $479, a savings of $120 off the regular price and the best price we’ve ever seen. This model is the base configuration, which has a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, two front USB-C ports, three rear Thunderbolt 4/USB ports, gigabit ethernet, HDMI, and a headphone jack. You’ll need to provide your own display, as well as a keyboard and mouse, but you’ve probably got those already. In our review of the M4 Pro Mac mini, we marveled at its tiny design–it’s really, really, small. Don’t wait too long to pick up this Mac mini–with Christmas just around the corner, we don’t know how long these sales will last. Put in the order now, and before you know it, Santa will be gone but the Amazon truck will be just around the corner, too, ready to drop off your new Mac mini for $479. Saec 20% on an M4 Mac mini Buy now on Amazon

Macworld As 2025 comes to a close, Macworld is proud to present our Apple awards, a look back at the best and worst of everything released over the past 12 months. It was a busy year for Apple, with new products across its entire range of products, including iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Mac, and even Vision Pro. So join us as we recognize the products that made the most impact in 2025: ## iPhone/iOS Emma Rowley / Foundry ### iPhone of the Year: iPhone 17 The iPhone 17 isn’t just the best iPhone of 2025; it’s the best iPhone of the last five years. Apple finally stopped holding back features that should be table stakes for an $800 phone. You get double the storage, 120Hz ProMotion, 50 percent higher peak brightness, always-on display, better cameras, and speed and battery life that both exceed last year’s Pro model. All without raising the price. There’s never been a better year _not_ to go Pro._— Jason Cross_ Apple ### iOS feature of the year: Tackling Spam Call Screening will silently answer unknown numbers and ask them to say why they’re calling, and you can see it all right on screen. It’s a great way to eliminate spam calls without missing legit calls from numbers that just aren’t in your contacts. Couple that with new spam filtering in Messages, as well as in the Phone app and FaceTime, and Apple is finally doing something about one of the biggest pain points of using a smartphone. There’s still a long way to go, but since upgrading to iOS 26 and enabling these features, I’ve noticed a big drop in the number of times a day I pick up my phone only to immediately hang up on a solicitation message. _— Jason Cross_ Britta O’Boyle ### Color of the Year: Cosmic Orange For the company that ostracized beige as the default color in computing when it launched the out-there Bondi Blue iMac in 1998, Apple has been rather tame in terms of its recent color choices. The iPhone 17 Pro’s Cosmic Orange is therefore a refreshing shock to the system and a vibrant return to form. Orange is no longer restricted to traffic cones and dodgy Seventies furniture. The Apple Store should hand out sunglasses for the crowds picking up the vibrant new iPhone and ignoring the dark blue one. There’s even a growing range of orange accessories available for the new phone. _— Simon Jary_ Apple ### Oddity of the Year: iPhone Pocket Readers of a certain vintage who still fondly remember when Apple released a pair of socks for its iPod back in 2004, were rocked once again with the unexpected—and indeed unasked-for—iPhone Pocket, which the company described as “a singular 3D-knitted construction designed to fully enclose iPhone, while expanding to fit your everyday items”. Designed in conjunction with the Issey Miyake design studio famous for Steve Jobs’ trademark turtleneck, the iPhone Pocket comes in eight crazy colors, including Peacock, Sapphire, and Cinnamon. We all laughed until it sold out in mere minutes. _— Simon Jary_ Foundry ### Flop of the Year: Liquid Glass Liquid Glass was Apple’s bold new, all-encompassing design language that radically changed the look of Apple’s software across all of the OS 26 software updates. Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of Human Interface Design, tried to channel his inner Jony Ive by describing it as making “even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical.” We didn’t get that. Instead, Liquid Glass is the worst example of flamboyance over function, the opposite of Ive’s philosophy. _— Simon Jary_ ## Mac/macOS Foundry ### Mac of the Year: M3 Ultra Mac Studio Overall, 2025 was a quiet year for Mac hardware, but one Mac made a sizable impact on Apple’s lineup. The Mac Studio was a bit of a surprise because its M3 Ultra chip was released out of sequence with Apple’s usual cadence. Still, in the Mac Studio, it’s the fastest Mac available, leaving the M2 Ultra Mac Pro behind—way behind. At thousands less, it basically renders the Mac Pro irrelevant to everyone who doesn’t really need an expansion card. With its exhilarating CPU speed, powerful GPU performance, and robust expandability, the Mac Studio became King of the Macs in 2025. _— Roman Loyola_ Apple ### Chip of the Year: M5 To say, “Apple is on a roll,” undercuts how much momentum the company has with its chips. Apple silicon is downright killing it, and the M5 chip exemplifies why. Making its debut in the MacBook Pro, the M5 provides an ideal and unprecedented combination of processing speed, graphics power, and energy efficiency in a consumer-level chip. The M5 is so good that Apple felt that it could wait until next year to release the M5 Pro and Max variants. _— Roman Loyola_ Foundry ### Disappointment of the Year: Mac Pro While every other Mac has some version of the M4 and the 14-inch MacBook Pro has an M5, Apple’s most expensive Mac still has the same M2 Ultra chip it got back in June 2023. Meanwhile, the Mac Studio with a superior M3 Ultra costs a couple of thousand dollars less, and I’m left to wonder: How can Apple charge upwards of $10,000 for a Mac with a two-plus-generation-old chip? There were plenty of opportunities to update the Mac Pro in 2025, but instead, Apple let it languish another year with the same aging processor. _— Roman Loyola_ ## iPad/iPadOS Foundry ### iPad of the Year: iPad Pro M5 Apple updated three of its four iPads in 2025 (sorry iPad mini), but the M5 iPad Pro is really the only one that could be considered for this distinction. All three updates were essentially chip refreshes (A14 to A16 (iPad); M2 to M3 (iPad Air); M4 to M5 (iPad Pro), but only the iPad Pro delivered a noticeable boost over its predecessor. Add in 50 percent more entry-level RAM, faster Wi-Fi, and fast charging, and you’ve got an upgrade worthy of a pro. _— Michael Simon_ Apple ### Update of the year: iPadOS 26 This year’s WWDC keynote was jam-packed with features, from Liquid Glass to Live Translation and revamped app designs. But the star of the show was iPadOS 26, which introduced a new interface that incorporated many of the visual and productivity elements users have wanted for years, with resizable windows, macOS-like multitasking, and a new lease on life. _— Michael Simon_ ## Apple Watch David Price / Foundry ### Watch of the year: Apple Watch SE 3 Strictly speaking, the Series 11 was the best Apple Watch to come out this year (I find the Ultra models too bulky for everyday wear), but the SE 3 was without a doubt the one I’d recommend to a friend. It’s nearly as good and far better value. As part of the 2025 refresh, the SE gained an always-on display, a bigger and longer-lasting battery, improved scratch resistance, new health features and gestures, on-device Siri, and the option of 5G. And all that for $249! Forget the Series 11; this has everything you need from a smartwatch at an excellent price. _— David Price_ ## Services Apple ### Apple TV show of the year: ‘Pluribus’ There’s something nerve-wracking about recommending a TV show in the middle of a run–particularly one as unpredictable as _Pluribus_. Who knows where it will go from here? But just six episodes into the debut season of this frequently funny, occasionally harrowing sci-fi drama, and even against strong competition from the second season of _Severance_ , I feel (reasonably) confident naming this as the Apple TV show of the year. As you’d expect from a Vince Gilligan production, _Pluribus_ flips seamlessly between slow-burn beauty and sudden shocking action, between grief and humor and mystery. And Rhea Seehorn is superb as the last unhappy woman in the world. Maybe it’ll go downhill at some point, but let’s enjoy the ride while it lasts. _— David Price_ Foundry ### Service of the year: News + Apple TV and Music may get all the attention, but Apple News+ came into its own in 2025. Apple’s daily puzzles had long revolved around somewhat pedestrian offerings, such as crosswords and Sudoku, but a completely original concept, Emoji Game, quickly became a unique and highly entertaining option for users seeking original concepts. And for those of us who have grown sick of the fluff and intrusive ads we come across when Googling recipes, Apple News+ added a new search function that lets you find recipes and view the ingredients and directions in a clutter-free interface. Neat, right? It gets better. You can directly set timers based on the stated durations and add the listed ingredients to your Reminders app. _— Mahmoud Itani_ ###

Macworld Video editing today sits at a crossroads. Creators want professional results, but few have the time—or patience—for overly complex tools and fragmented workflows. Wondershare Filmora V15 is designed precisely for this moment, combining advanced AI-powered automation with professional-grade controls that remain approachable, intuitive, and fast. At its core, Filmora V15, from innovative creative solutions provider Wondershare, addresses two long-standing pain points: editing that feels slow and labor-intensive, and pro-level tools that are often inaccessible to non-experts. The solution is a smarter, more connected creative experience—one where AI handles the heavy lifting, while creators stay firmly in control. Wondershare ## AI Mate: your all-in-one creative editing partner The headline feature of Filmora V15 is **AI Mate** , an integrated AI assistant that fundamentally changes how users interact with the software. AI Mate offers four precise operating modes. AIGC Mode focuses on generating content assets—such as scripts and videos. Action Mode automatically break down multi-step tasks and execute the corresponding editing actions with a single click. In guide mode, instead of hunting through menus or tutorials, creators can simply ask for what they need using natural language. Auto Mode allows AI Mate to interpret the user’s intent and intelligently select and activate the most suitable mode from the above. For beginners, this feature dramatically lowers the learning curve. For experienced editors, it accelerates workflows and keeps creative momentum flowing. AI Mate turns Filmora into a collaborative editing partner—one that helps ideas move from concept to timeline without friction. Wondershare ## Foundational Algorithm Optimization: a new AI engine under the hood Filmora V15 also delivers major upgrades to its AI generation backbone through **foundational algorithm optimization**. The integration of **Nano Banana Pro** brings faster image generation, native lossless output, flexible aspect ratios, and significantly improved detail and text rendering for AI images. For AI video generation, Filmora V15 integrates **Sora 2** and**Veo 3.1,** pushing text-to-video and image-to-video creation to a new level. These models deliver smoother motion, stronger multimodal understanding, more complete audio, and coherent long-form storytelling—all generated from a single prompt. The result is AI content that feels less mechanical and more cinematic. ## AI Extend and Smart Cutout: fix problems before they break flow Two standout AI editing tools focus on solving real-world editing frustrations. **AI Extend** allows creators to extend clips with text prompts—up to five seconds forward or eight seconds backward—making it easy to smooth transitions or fix timing issues without reshoots. Meanwhile, **Smart Cutout** has been upgraded for more precise subject detection and cleaner edge refinement. With minimal manual input, users can isolate subjects, remove backgrounds, or even apply outlines to highlight key elements—perfect for social, marketing, and educational content. Wondershare ## Audio made professional, instantly Sound quality is often the difference between amateur and professional content, and Filmora V15 makes audio control far more accessible. **Loudness Normalization** automatically adjusts audio to meet platform-specific LUFS/LKFS standards with one click, ensuring consistent volume across YouTube, podcasts, and social platforms. **Audio Gain** complements this by allowing batch gain adjustments across multiple clips, with flexible modes for fixed gain, relative changes, or peak normalization. Together, these tools remove guesswork from audio mixing and help creators sound polished without technical headaches. ## Precision tools that feel effortless Filmora V15 doesn’t rely on AI alone. It introduces professional tools designed to feel natural and visual rather than intimidating. The new **Pen Tool** lets editors draw motion paths directly in the frame, shaping curves, controlling speed, and designing custom transitions with precision. For data-driven storytelling, **Animated Charts** transform raw numbers into clear, animated visuals with one-click imports and customizable styles—ideal for business videos, explainers, and presentations. Wondershare ## A professional workflow without the complexity Underneath the surface, Filmora V15 supports advanced workflows with features like dual timelines, source and timeline previews, subprojects, and multi-track audio exports. Yet everything remains anchored in Filmora’s signature ease of use, supported by millions of built-in creative assets and AI-powered automation. ## Editing that moves with you Wondershare Filmora V15 represents a clear evolution in video editing: AI that accelerates creativity, professional tools that don’t overwhelm, and workflows designed around how creators actually work. The Premium version of Wondershare Filmora Video Editor costs just $6.67 a month or $79.99 a year, including 2,000 AI Credits, 100GB of Filmora Cloud Storage and much more. It’s not about replacing creativity with automation—it’s about removing friction, so ideas can move faster, stories can flow naturally, and professional results feel within reach for everyone. Watch how you can create engaging content with minimal effort on the **Wondershare Filmora Video Editor YouTube channel**. Wondershare

Macworld CarPlay is still giving some automotive CEO a bad case of road rage. Take, for example, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who was interviewed over on Stratechery (subscription required). As with most discussions with CEOs in literally any industry in the Year of Our Lord 2025, most of it revolves around AI. Eventually, however, they get around to the question the Macalope wanted answered, which is what, exactly, is your problem? Specifically with CarPlay, which Rivian, like several other auto manufacturers, does not allow to sully its beautiful automobiles. > It is a good question; we get asked that a lot. Oh, really? You don’t say. Probably because CarPlay is so freaking popular. Not to hear Rivian talk about, though. In Rivian’s eyes, everyone’s crying out for that hot Rivian UI. > We’re very convicted on this point. Interesting word choice because there’s “convinced” which means sure about it, there’s “conflicted” which means not sure about it, and then there’s “convicted” which means guilty. _Paging Dr. Freud. Dr. Freud, meet your party in women’s lingerie._ Because that’s where the slips are, you see. Yeah, you got it. > Our view is a lot of the applications will start to go away and you’ll have your AI assistant. [Screech of tires, sound of a guardrail being broken, sound of car exploding over Take The Wheel AI Jesus Gulch] > …when you say, “Rivian, tell me what’s on my schedule for later today”, you don’t care that it has to go agent to agent to Google Calendar to pull that out, you just want the information… And while you already trust Apple with that information, you definitely want to expand that circle of sharing to include… [checks notes]… your car manufacturer. [Picks up sheet of paper again] Seriously? Is that what it says? > So as we’ve thought about this, inserting any sort of abstraction layer or aggregation layer that’s not our own just is extremely risky… As opposed to just using the aggregation layer that the driver is used to in _literally every other moment of their lives_. The fundamental problem with the argument from these auto manufacturers is they imagine you are in your car all day, every day. You have a house, but why go in it? It’s full of screaming children! Your children! And they make the car so nice! Why would you want to be anyplace but this wonderful car?! > …our goal is to make it such that… …if they were to go back to CarPlay, they’d miss having the integrated holistic experience that we can create. Sure, sure, they use an iPhone all day long, they’ve used one for 18 years, but that 15 minutes in the car when they went to the Piggly Wiggly was so magical, they want that experience so much they’ll sit in the garage with the motor running. Good thing it’s electric! **If you’d like to receive regular news and updates to your inbox, sign up for****our newsletters****, including The Macalope and****Apple Breakfast****, David Price’s weekly, bite-sized roundup of all the latest Apple news and rumors.** Foundry This would seem delusional except for the fact that these auto manufacturers don’t really believe this themselves. These are just fantastical arguments they offer in order to sell their idea, which is really just about getting more user data in order to make more money. Once again, a car manufacturer is here to tell us they’re just doing what Apple does! > [Apple] would never have a screen in a screen on their own devices. Note to self: Photoshop that [awkward monkey look meme with a picture of iPhone Mirroring and insert it here, it’ll be hilarious.] > It’s like you have two different UIs playing out and I just think it’s poor UI, it’s a poor user experience. Yes, but no. First of all, this happens all the time. Anyone who owns a television knows the pleasure of navigating the TV operating system UI and any number of different UIs from streaming services. Second of all, instead of providing a window to a user experience the driver is used to _all day long_ , you’re forcing them to use one they are less familiar with for the relatively smaller portion of the day they’re in the car. > So we brought Google Maps in, which was a big one… Recall that the big reason Apple Maps even exists is because Google wanted more user data than Apple was comfortable giving them. Scaringe claims that once they get a Rivian, customers forget all about CarPlay because Rivian’s experience is so good. Either that or they just get CarPlay head units. We will never agree on this issue, but the main reason we will never agree on it is that the Macalope wants a particular user experience, and Rivian and other car manufacturers who eschew CarPlay want user data so they can sell it. _[Programming note: The Macalope will be off next week for the holidays.]_

Macworld 2025 has been a pretty momentous year in terms of the apps I used on my iPhone. Whether it was a new discovery that changed the way I work, or an old favorite that kept delivering, iOS apps helped improve my life in multiple ways. Hopefully, you experienced something similar. Here, I highlight those apps and explain why I’ve chosen them as my top picks over the last 12 months. Perhaps they could help you in similar ways throughout 2026. ## AI: ChatGPT Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the world in unbelievable ways, with ChatGPT undoubtedly leading the charge. While Apple Intelligence struggled and floundered, OpenAI’s model went from strength to strength, and its ChatGPT iOS app showed how an AI app should work on iOS. I’ve found that ChatGPT is most valuable when it’s used in a targeted way or when you’re looking for a specific solution. Asking it vague, general questions is fine, but not where its real strength lies. No, ChatGPT was incredibly valuable to me in 2025 when I used it to find information that traditional methods just couldn’t locate. Using ChatGPT to resolve an Excel formula. Foundry For example, ChatGPT came in clutch time and time again with Microsoft Excel, of all things. I use Excel most days, and I often want to achieve a specific outcome using a formula, without knowing how to structure the actual formula that I need. But if I try to find the answer using Google, I get nowhere; the search engine is absolutely useless at understanding what I want. Ask ChatGPT, though, and it instantly has the correct answer drawn up in seconds. Better yet, I can ask it to adjust the formula, and it’ll tweak its solution, ready to go. It’s a glaring example of the deficiencies of modern search engines compared to AI. ChatGPT has helped me in countless other ways, big and small, where I’ve been left frustrated after searching forums or trying Google. If these methods get you nowhere, give ChatGPT a try. Just be sure to double-check the solution somewhere else, as OpenAI’s chatbot is still capable of the odd hallucination. ## Reading: Matter The most frequent way I use my iPhone is to read online content. Sometimes that means ceaselessly scrolling Reddit, while other times it means saving articles for later. Pocket used to be my read-it-later app of choice, but when Mozilla shut it down, I went searching for alternatives. The app I settled on was Matter. Like Pocket, Matter makes it incredibly easy to save articles from around the web thanks to its share sheet integration, web browser extension, and more. It’s even set up to import your saves from other like-minded apps in just a few taps, which made switching from Pocket utterly effortless. Matter for iPhone Foundry It’s stuffed with handy extras, like a tool that will transcribe your podcasts so you can read along (with a built-in AirPods gesture for highlighting paragraphs), or a discovery feed of fresh articles you might like. It looks great and is plenty customizable, and it can speak your articles aloud in a convincingly natural AI voice if you don’t fancy reading. It’s ramped up my learning this year and has filled a Pocket-shaped hole in my digital life. ## Meditation: Down Dog Self-improvement and self-understanding are trending ideas these days, but you don’t have to go looking for some modish fad to improve your life–try out the ancient practice of meditation instead. It can leave you feeling calmer and with a better knowledge of yourself and your foibles, and there’s no better app I’ve found to help you do that than Down Dog’s Meditation. Down Dog for iPhone Foundry While many alternatives offer you a pre-made meditation curriculum that you must follow to the letter, Down Dog takes the opposite approach by making almost everything customizable. You can change the meditation topic, the background music, the session’s theme, whether it’s guided or not–if it is, you can change the voice of the person leading the practice. Better yet, all the voices are recorded by real people without a trace of AI. Its wide range of adjustments means I can fine-tune each meditation session to my liking. However, I’m feeling on any given day, I know I’ll get something valuable out of the app because it adapts to me, not the other way around. ## Calendar: Fantastical Apple’s Calendar was my planning app of choice for years, although it was largely an unthinking choice. It was just there, ready to go. When I _did_ start thinking about it, I realized I could do so much better. Enter Fantastical. Long a favorite of Apple fans, this app adds a wealth of features that Apple’s default app lacks, from a variety of views and customization options to natural language input and quick weather indicators for each day. You can set your day-to-day availability and let people make appointments with you, too. Fantasical for iPhone Foundry I’m someone who regularly switches between the Apple ecosystem and my Windows PC, so Apple’s Calendar was never the ideal app for me because it doesn’t exist on Microsoft’s operating system. Fantastical, though, has a Windows app, letting me finally make the switch on all my devices. It’s never been easier for me to organize my day and stay on top of my schedule. ## Podcasts: Overcast I listen to a lot of podcasts, so it’s important that the app I use is up to scratch. The choice I’ve settled on is Overcast, and it ticks all the boxes for the kind of platform I’m after. Overcast for iPhone Foundry Spend a little time with it, and it becomes obvious that this is an app made by someone who cares about podcasts. There’s a huge array of clever little touches and adjustable features that can make the app your own: you can change how far the back and forward buttons skip, for example, or enable the Smart Speed feature to cut down on silent moments without impacting sound quality. It’s all wrapped up in a clean, intuitive interface that’s easy on the eye (in both light and dark modes) and features many changeable options and elements. That makes it enjoyable to use and simple for anyone to pick up. ## Travel: Hopper There’s nothing quite like booking a vacation abroad to give you something to look forward to, but actually making it happen can be an exercise in frustration. That’s why I started using Hopper, and it’s helped make the process a whole lot smoother. Hopper can do a lot of things: offer up deals on hotels, for example, or give you a place to find a rental car. That’s all well and good, but it truly comes into its own when it comes to booking a flight. This is the app’s feature that I used the most. Hopper for iPhone Foundry Search for a flight and Hopper presents a color-coded calendar showing the best (that is, cheapest) days on which to book a flight. This is often the difference between getting a bargain and spending a few hundred more dollars than you need to. Hopper combines this with price predictions, so if now’s not the right time to pull the trigger, it’ll let you know. If you’re not quite ready to book, you can also pay a little to freeze the price and protect against it rising–I never needed that feature, but it’s nice to know it’s there. Now, I never check flight prices without going through Hopper first. It’s a handy weapon in your arsenal if you love traveling and hate overpaying. ## Sports organization: Spond I’m a soccer fanatic: I love watching it, but most of all I love playing it. But trying to get everyone organized before practice or a game sucks when you’re trying to do it over Messages or email. Instead, I ditched those methods and switched to the Spond app this year, and it’s made a world of difference. This app is all about helping people manage sports groups and ensuring everyone shows up week after week. Club members can say whether they’ll be playing each match and pay their subs through their phone, while organizers can set the location and remind people to respond if they haven’t already. There’s handy contextual information, too, like directions to the pitch and a weather forecast for kick-off time. Spond for iPhone Foundry Now, I don’t worry about haphazard communication and chaotic game days. Instead, I just handle everything in one place on my iPhone. I can’t say it’s made me _play_ any better, but I’m working on that.

Macworld #### At a glance ### Expert's Rating ### Pros * Two 25W wireless charging modules * Raised charging pad is adjustable ### Cons * Requires USB-C wall charger ### Our Verdict The Aukey MagFusion 2X is superior to standard 2-in-1 wireless chargers by being able to wirelessly 25W fast-charge two iPhones simultaneously, as well as swapping one for a wireless-charging AirPods case as you require. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today ### Price When Reviewed $66.99 ### Best Prices Today: Aukey Qi2.2 MagFusion 2X 2-in-1 Wireless Charging Station Retailer Price Aukey $66.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket One of the hits of the 2025 IFA technology tradeshow in Berlin was Aukey’s range of 25W MagFusion chargers for iPhone and Apple’s other devices. The first 25W MagFusion product to hit the shelves is the MagFusion 2X Wireless Charging Station 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charger (or LC-MC213 if you want to be formal). This stands apart from most 2-in-1 wireless chargers, not just because of the 25W charging speed, but also because it can charge two iPhones at that speed. ## Aukey MagFusion 2X: Double the power Most 2-in-1 wireless chargers can power up an iPhone and a pair of AirPods or maybe an Apple Watch. Those standard 2-in-1 chargers usually employ a 5W or 7.5W area for the AirPods or Apple Watch, which don’t require a great deal of power to charge. The Aukey MagFusion 2X, on the other hand, boasts two Qi 2.2-supporting 25W charging pads: one on a 6-inch (15.2cm) arm and the other flat on the stand’s base. Simon Jary Of course, you can certainly use it to charge an iPhone and an AirPods case, just as with other 2-in-1 chargers, but the ability to fast-charge two iPhones is the real selling point. Even if you don’t have two iPhones, surely someone in your house or office needs to charge their phone at the same time as you. Either way, the Aukey MagFusion 2X is unique in its ability to simultaneously wirelessly service two iPhones at such a speed. Simon Jary ## Aukey MagFusion 2X: Performance A Qi2.2-certified 25W charger should wirelessly power up an iPhone from 0 to 50 percent in just over 30 minutes, where a 15W charger will take more like 45 minutes to do the same. To get the iPhone to 100 percent takes more than twice that time, as iPhones (and any other device) will charge more slowly as they get nearer to full capacity, which is why we compare chargers at their speed to 50% percent rather than 100 percent. That said, a 25W charger should beat a 15W charger by about 25 minutes from 0-100%. Note that only the iPhone 16 and 17 series support 25W wireless charging, with the iPhone Air limited to 20W due to the size of its battery. Older iPhones will charge at Qi2’s standard 15W. Check out which wireless charging speed your iPhone supports. In our tests, the Aukey MagFusion 2X took 31 minutes to get an iPhone 16 Pro from 0 to 50 percent. Older 15W Qi2 versions of the Aukey MagFusion range an active cooling system (called Omnia-Frez Cooling Technology) to ensure efficient and safe charging. The 15W MagFusion 2X doesn’t feature such a fan or cooling fins despite the higher power. That might result in lower charging times in some situations, but we didn’t experience any slowdowns in our real-world tests. The Aukey MagFusion 2X doesn’t ship with a wall charger, and the company recommends you use one with an output power of 67W or higher. If you can’t use your MacBook’s charger or need a spare, check out our reviews of the best USB-C chargers for options. Simon Jary ## Aukey MagFusion 2X: Design The Aukey MagFusion 2X looks suitably futuristic in gunmetal gray. Its raised charging pad is adjustable, with a 30-degree vertical rotation. Of course, the iPhone can be placed in either a portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation. At 6 x 5.3 x 2.4 inches (15.2 x 13.5 x 6cm), it’s a small desk footprint, and it’s pretty light too at 11.2oz (318g). The arm feels robust and stable, and the magnetic connection to both charging pads is strong. The charging port attaches to your wall charger via the supplied 6ft USB-C cable, neatly positioned at the back of the base. Simon Jary ## Aukey MagFusion 2X: Price The Aukey MagFusion 2X is available only in the U.S. and E.U. at the time of writing, with a price of $67 or €70. While this is a more than reasonable price tag, just keep in mind that you need to provide your own USB-C wall charger (67W or higher for maximum charging speeds) if you don’t own a spare already. Check out alternative options in our reviews of the best magnetic wireless chargers. ## Should you buy the Aukey MagFusion 2X? The Aukey MagFusion 2X is superior to standard 2-in-1 wireless chargers by being able to wirelessly 25W fast-charge two iPhones simultaneously, as well as swapping one for a wireless-charging AirPods case as you require.

Macworld #### At a glance ### Expert's Rating ### Pros * Comfortable to use * Robust and accurate controls * Works with and without a phone case ### Cons * No rumble * ALPS rather than Hall-effect joysticks * High price ### Our Verdict The lack of vibration and Hall-effect joysticks may be off-putting, and that price tag is no joke. But I love the attractive design, comfortable and reliable controls, and easy-switching, device-agnostic versatility. This gets my recommendation. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today ### Price When Reviewed $169.99 ### Best Prices Today: Backbone Pro Retailer Price Backbone $169.99 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket As a gaming device, the iPhone has much to recommend it: it’s highly portable, you’re probably carrying one anyway, and you’ve got a million compatible games to choose from. The main problem is that many of the best iOS games (such as _Fortnite_ , which finally returned to iOS this year) were designed with other platforms in mind, and don’t suit touchscreen controls. That’s when you need to buy yourself a gamepad. As iPhone gamepads go, the Backbone Pro sits right at the top end. It costs a whopping $169.99/£159.99, more than three times what you’d pay for an official Xbox controller (which iPhones are compatible with), so it needs to perform miracles to justify that price. Does it? Well, let’s find out. ## Design and workmanship The Backbone Pro looks like a gamepad or gaming handheld with the middle part missing. There’s a reason for that: the gap is designed to accommodate an iPhone, although this isn’t compulsory. More on this in the next section. There are _lots_ of hardware controls. On the left side you get an ALPS thumb joystick, a D-pad, and two option buttons; on the right there are X/Y/A/B buttons (in the traditional Xbox configuration rather than the heretical Switch style), another thumb joystick, another option button, and a dedicated button for the Backbone app. Then there are four shoulder buttons–L1 and L2, and R1 and R2–and even two lower rear M1 and M2 buttons which sit under your ring fingers. There are also two ports on the bottom, a female USB-C for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack, together with a final button for wireless pairing. The Backbone Pro feels great in the hand. David Price / Foundry Aside from being astonishingly numerous, these controls are robust, accurate in use, and mostly very comfortable. (The one exception is that I wouldn’t want to use the M1 and M2 buttons very much, because the ring fingers are naturally weaker than the rest, and with my hand size it wasn’t possible to use middle fingers while still being able to reach L1 and R1. But for occasional functions, they’re fine.) Serious gamers will quibble about some choices, such as the joysticks being ALPS rather than Hall effect, which is more precise and has a longer lifespan. The lack of rumble/vibration may also cause some raised eyebrows at this price point. But using the Backbone Pro is a delight, and thanks to the ergonomic design, weight in the hand, and pleasingly textured finish, it feels like the premium gaming accessory it is. ## What’s the Backbone Pro like to use? Setting up the Backbone Pro is relatively easy. Tuck the top edge of your phone into the slot on the left, push the gamepad’s two halves apart, then attach your iPhone to the male USB-C connector on the right. (This is the method illustrated in the marketing video, and I find it much easier than opening the halves before fitting the phone into the slot, which was my misguided first instinct.) Your iPhone is thus held securely in landscape orientation, and you can use the D pad, thumb controllers, and X/Y/A/B buttons to play games on a super-sharp display without having to waste screen space on sub-optimal touch controls. I tested the Backbone Pro with an iPhone 17, and this fit just fine with or without a standard silicone MagSafe case. That’s an important consideration, because having to uncase your iPhone and then recase it after adds an element of friction that will put you off using the product. It’s also compatible with the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, the iPhone Air, all five 16-series iPhones, and all four 15-series iPhones. Note that you can also use the device as a standalone controller by connecting wirelessly to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, smart TV, VR headset, or other device (even a PC!). This adds the complications of Bluetooth–you may notice some slight lag on very speed-intensive games, although I didn’t–and of course you will need to keep track separately of the Backbone’s battery as well as that of whatever device you’re playing on. The simplicity of plugging a single USB-C cable into the Backbone’s port and charging both the gamepad and its docked phone can be a pleasing convenience for the forgetful. The Backbone Pro works with an iPad just as happily as an iPhone. David Price / Foundry There is, however, one minor point in favor of playing wirelessly: the first few times you use the gamepad in docked mode, you may find it fiddly navigating to your desired game. iOS home screens don’t have a landscape orientation, so you end up awkwardly holding the docked phone at 90 degrees until you’ve found the app and launched it, before returning to a normal position in the game. The slot covers on either side also block access to the short edges of your phone’s screen, which makes it difficult to access the home indicator when you’re in a portrait-orientation app–which you shouldn’t be, but this may still catch you out if you dock your phone before thinking to close down the previous app. But these are just teething pains. You’ll quickly realise that the best approach is to open your game of choice, _then_ put the phone in the gamepad. ## Testing out the app There’s another option which you may find easier still, and that’s to use the Backbone app. This can be accessed at any time by pressing the bright orange button assigned to that purpose. The makers would clearly like you to treat the Backbone app as your central gaming hub, and it serves moderately well in that role. The “Your games” library is a convenient way to jump straight to your favorite titles without having to navigate your phone. Sensibly, this list is compiled manually rather than simply auto-populating with all the compatible titles on your device, and while the in-app search function isn’t always intuitive (insisting I need to download games that are already on the device, for example, or serving ads encouraging me to sign up for the Apple Arcade service I already get through Apple One) you can simply press the orange button while in a game to add it to the library. The Backbone app is a useful starting point for your gaming sessions. David Price / Foundry The app also contains a rather endearing selection of “Instant games,” quick and cheap retro browser games that are good for a laugh. It’s a shame that, here again, the interface proves less than helpful; the app initially offered a selection I could add to my library, but once I’d done so, that option was no longer easy to find. (Eventually, I found the remaining games by going to the main search and selecting _Edit filters_ > _HTML5 Games_.) But the most useful functions of the Backbone app are more utilitarian. Under Settings, you’ll find recording modes (together with Twitch integration), and the ability to create controller profiles with assigned buttons. And under Controller Center, you can pair with, manage, or forget known devices. This is important because the gamepad will, by default, try to connect with the most recently connected device. But to be honest, my experience of device switching was very impressive; almost Apple-esque in its ability to second-guess what I wanted it to do without needing to be prompted. Thanks to a clever feature called FlowState, you don’t need to keep re-pairing each time you want to switch devices, and that’s a big plus point. ## Should you buy the Backbone Pro? There are certainly issues with this product. If you’re a serious gamer, the lack of vibration and Hall-effect joysticks may be off-putting; if you’re not, there’s that $169.99/£159.99 price tag. So the head says no, but the heart says yes. I love the attractive design, comfortable and reliable controls, and easy-switching, device-agnostic versatility. Against my better judgment, and with several caveats, this extremely premium gamepad gets my recommendation.