receive to our hebdomadal Apple Breakfast column , which include all the Apple news you missed last week in a ready to hand bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we conceive it goes outstanding with a Monday morn cup of burnt umber or tea , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during dejeuner or dinner hours too .
A very good year
It ’s been a baffling brace of age for Apple watchers , with dull iPhone and Apple Watch refreshes , uninspiring Mac launches , and little of distinction from the iPad and AirPods departments . The product pipeline decelerate down , and the matter coming out of it drop off their glister .
There was a understanding for this , of course , and that is the Vision Pro task . This moonshot Cartesian product launching suck in in developmental resource and marketing focus alike , and for some at Apple Park , it must have feel like the entire caller had turn into a mixed - realness specializer . Which made good sense , because Vision Pro represent the future tense like no other Apple product . Apple necessitate to plan for life after the iPhone and was wisely inclined to sacrifice some inflammation in 2023 to secure it in 2033 .
But Vision Pro is out now , indeed the hardware was fill in a foresighted while ago , and while piece of work on the line will proceed – engineers will now be focusing on that importantcheaper translation – it is unlikely ever again to dominate employees ’ metre and vitality the way it did last year . This frees things up for what now looks like a far more productive year for the company . Indeed 2024 could be remembered in years to get along as one of Apple ’s best , and not just because it take in the launch of the headset that would adjust up the companionship for the ten to come .
While we ’re still waiting on a major forcible redesign in the Mac space , for example , we ’ve already construe a reasonable rejig of the MacBook note . The arrival of the M3 MacBook this spring essentiallycompleted the Apple silicon passage , removing confusion and ensuring there is a auto for every motivation and budget . ( Well , within ground . ) Okay , this did n’t count as an exciting announcement , but it was for sure more meaningful than any of the M2 launch .
We have n’t ascertain any iPads yet ( although that could conceivably have changed depending on when you ’re reading this ) but here too Apple reportedly has a clever announcement to make — namely , that the landscape selfie camera , first rolled out on the 10th - gen iPad in 2022 and inexplicably held back from the rest of the line , is going tobecome the standard . This is both sensitive and wildly overdue : iPads are far more commonly used for video chats in landscape orientation course than for selfies in portrayal , and the only ground to keep the television camera on the short edge was to avoid component overlap with the Apple Pencil connecter . uncalled-for to say , that variety of cop - out was n’t very Jony I ve of Apple , and we ’ll be very beaming to see the terminal of such a via media .
But the real discovery for Apple in 2024 wo n’t be hardware . They will total in the package and specifically , AI distance , where the companionship has been lagging behind its rivals for yr . iOS 18 , which will be announced in June and roll out to iPhones around the world in the fall , is set tofocus on procreative AI . That means improvements in a broad form of apps , and indeed in the development of apps , but AI is most sorely involve in one area of Apple ’s portfolio : Siri .
Siri has been dire for as long as I can remember , and I ’ve drive myself madwritingarticlescomplainingabout this fact . If Apple ’s work in AI results in a fair to middling Siri in 2024 , that would n’t just be a good yr . It would be a miracle .
Foundry
New iPadsare coming . Does anyone wish ?
Apple’sEpic rollercoaster rideis trapped in afull - on freefall , the Macalope has noticed .
Jason Snell arguesthat anopen Appleisn’t good for anyone .
While Jason Cross hasthought up 9 waysApple canimprove Vision Proright now .
Theclock is tickingonad - free Apple TV+ , so enjoy it while you may .
Apple will allow iPhoneapp downloads on the webin the EU – butthere ’s a grab .
Podcast of the week
Apple ’s recent improver to its Mac lineup is theM3 MacBook Air , and on this episode of the Macworld Podcast , we talk about why the Air is probably the in force laptop for you !
you’re able to overtake every installment of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own situation .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
Apple to at last fix13 - year - honest-to-goodness errorin the iPad ’s aim , report title .
Apple ’s firstbig AI innovationin 2024 may be … smarter advertizing . Try not to be disappointed .
TheM3 MacBooksare already old newsworthiness as Applegets to do work on the M4 lineup .
Listen up : AirPods Pro to get‘hearing aid mode’iniOS 18 .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
Theremay be hopefor Apple Watches deal withdisabled blood - oxygen sensors .
If you useGarageBandon your Mac , there ’s a rare — and vital — security update .
If macOS Sonoma 14.4 has causedissues with USB twist , here ’s a possible hole .
