Welcome to our hebdomadary Apple Breakfast column , which include all the Apple news you miss last week in a ready to hand chomp - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we call back it blend in great with a Monday morning loving cup of coffee or tea leaf , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
Risky business
For a tummy that ’s have sex for caution , Apple sure has been fond of gaming this class .
Vision Pro finally die on sale in January , as Cupertino got to grip with a product category that is n’t merely new to the company , but untested across the industry as a whole : nobody know yet if augmented reality devices will sack the smartphone subsequently this decade or stay a niche hobbyhorse . And at WWDC next week Apple will postdate up with its first public whole tone into the world of AI , another intemperately hype tech category whose long - term profitability ( not to remark its impact on lodge as a whole ) has yet to be truly understood . This is a very big year for Apple , but we wo n’t know for a while if that ’s a in effect or bad thing .
This is all exhaustively out of character for Apple , which under Tim Cook ’s government activity has been all about safe bets and safe hands . Since the Apple Watch ( the last significant undertaking of the Jobs earned run average ) came out in 2015 , the party has retell vigorously and cautiously , avoided major missteps , cut costs , watched its net income margins , and consolidate its dominance of the food market . When enter a new category , such as when launching its HomePod smart speaker , it ’s been something peripheral and comparatively down - hazard — and a family shown to be profitable by other company . Hail Mary plays have been few and far between .
But you ca n’t play it safe forever , and at some head , Apple was always run short to face a choice : gradually subside into irrelevancy , or bet the farm on something bighearted . I ’m beaming it ’s pass for the second pick .
At WWDC we expect Apple to talk about the AI features it ’s bringing to the iPhone and Mac via iOS and macOS updates . Project Greymatter , which sounds like a sinister brainwashing scheme from a Jason Bourne moving picture , will use AI to lend “ practical welfare ” to Apple users , such as enable Siri to summarize recent notifications . Goodness knows Siri needs to get smarter , and I ’ll be the last to sound off if the help becomes less well confound by birdsong claim or introductory English , but make no mistake : this is a bragging footfall .
AI is n’t a good theme — it ’s controversial and divisive . On a grand scale , it may well reconstruct society as we acknowledge it , eliminating or drastically reducing human part in numerous administrative and originative industries . But on a smaller one , it represents two factors that go against the Apple ethos : wide - scale data collection , and potentially chaotic outcomes . If it want to develop large language role model at the same pace as its rivals , Apple is going to have to persuade exploiter to chip in their datum to the common store . And if it wants to use AI to a significant degree , it ’s go to have to take over that it wo n’t have consummate mastery over the user experience all of the time . AI models sometimes do thing their creators do n’t gestate . I ’m not saying an AI - power Siri is going to hurl racial epithets at iPhone owner , but it might not always do in completely predictable way .
It ’s possible , indeed , that Appleisn’tprepared to make these compromises , and that it will continue to cling to its previous secure path : reject to collect data ( an admirable place , in my view ) , and refusing to allow its AI feature to do anything that is n’t predictable and thoroughly explored by other companies . But if that ’s the case , Apple will risk something uncollectible , which is fall further behind the phlebotomize edge of technical school developing . Getting leave behind while the industriousness moves on .
Whichever path it train , this will be a speculative yr for Apple , and the outcome of its experimentation with augmented reality and AI could go a long way to determine its foresighted - term success … or bankruptcy . I ca n’t imagine Tim Cook is enjoying the doubtfulness . But it ’s a lot more play than just release slightly different versions of existing intersection .
metalworks
The Macalope reckonsathinner iPhoneis the right pace in the wrong direction .
call back aboutbuying an iPhone?Don’t .
Apple’sinvisible breakthroughsarejust as beautifulas the ones you may see .
Podcast of the week
We ’ve see rumors and reputation about what Apple may do at itsWorldwide Developers Conference , and we were wondering … what do you , the readers of Macworld and the listeners of this podcast , recollect is on its elbow room ?
you may catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own land site .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
Wespill the beanson iOS 18 , macOS 15 and everything elsecoming from Apple in June .
We could beless than two yearsaway from the firstlarge - concealment folding MacBook .
Apple is‘thinking about ’ changingthe iPad ’s mostunique design feature .
OLED displaysmay becoming to the MacBook Prosooner rather than later .
Apple is work on anAI iMessage featurethat willforever change our chats .
Report : An iOS 18 update will enable Siri tocontrol any app .
Based on anew job itemisation , Apple may finally letAndroid drug user look on TV+ showsin an app .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
Relax , thatiOS 17.5 Photos bugdoesn’t mean value Applekeeps your deleted photograph .
There ’s a newAirPods Pro firmware updatethat’sprobably important .
And with that , we ’re done for this week ’s Apple Breakfast . If you ’d like to get even roundup , sign up forour newssheet . you may also observe us onFacebook , Threads , orTwitterfor discussion of come apart Apple news narrative . See you next Monday , and stay Appley .
