The past year was a weird one for Apple, as it primarily focused on maintaining its smartphone market dominance while dipping its toes in XR and AI. Regulators from around the world came knocking on the doors of Cupertino’s walled garden and we saw the first cracks with iOS 18’s release. The iPhone 16 series brought more refinements that garnered enough interest from consumers but fell short of initial expectations.
The M4 series chips continued to offer blazing-fast performance for Macs and iPads, while the new AirPods 4 delivered great audio and active noise cancellation without silicone ear tips. It wasn’t all sunshine in Cupertino’s world as Apple Intelligence and Vision Pro can safely be categorized as flops. Let’s take a deeper dive into the best and not-so-best from Apple in 2024.
Winner: iOS 18
Third-party app stores? Alternative default apps? RCS messaging? All of those are now part of iOS, at least in some regions. Features that once seemed a distant mirage to iPhone users are here whether Apple likes it or not. The European Commission has been a driving force for change, as are regulators in other parts of the world, and 2024 marked a big turnaround for Apple’s most popular operating system.
The features gap between iOS and Android is slimmer in 2024 than it was a few years ago. You can even rearrange the icons without any grid limitations, something that should have been a feature on iPhones from the start.
You’re free to set alternative default apps in for your browser, camera, gallery and messages apps, which is a big win for those opposing Apple’s walled garden. We’re glad to see iOS is now a freer and more customizable operating system, and we’re looking forward to what comes next.
Loser: Apple Intelligence
You’ve probably seen those hilarious Apple intelligence notification summaries, and they’re kind of indicative of the feature as a whole: it’s half-baked. In a surprisingly un-Apple manner, Apple intelligence was marketed as a key feature for the iPhone 16 series without being there on day one.
At the time of writing, over three months since its official launch and with iOS 18.2 now out, Apple Intelligence is still missing several key features. Perhaps the more pressing matter is that the AI features remain exclusive to a handful of English-speaking countries. Users in Europe and China will have to wait until April 2025, which is a major letdown. Mass deployment struggles aside, Apple’s AI features feel rudimentary and behind those of competitors like OpenAI and Google.
Winner: iPhone 16
The baseline iPhones have been some of Apple’s best sellers for years, and it’s no different this year. The iPhone 16 is arguably the best non-Pro iPhone ever with a more capable A18 chipset, 8GB RAM, an autofocusing ultrawide camera and the new Camera Control button.
Add in the longer-lasting battery, and you’re left with a great premium and (sort-of) compact device that’s only missing one thing – a high refresh rate screen. But hey, Apple calls those ProMotion displays, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
Loser: Apple Vision Pro
For all the hype surrounding its US launch back in February, the Vision Pro seemed to drop off a cliff just shortly after. Despite the expanded rollout to a few Asian and European markets later on, Apple’s $3,500/€4,000 spatial computer is just an expensive first-gen niche product with limited use cases, which means most consumers just aren’t interested in it. Apart from being absurdly expensive, Apple’s XR headset is heavy, clunky, and isolating, and it has no real game-changing applications for now.
As per the latest rumors, a more affordable Vision Pro is at least two years away so Apple will likely take its time before we see a more polished headset ready for prime-time.
Winner: M4 chips/Mac mini 2024
The M1 series chips laid the foundation of the ARM revolution in personal computers, and the M4 generation brought tangible CPU and GPU gains compared to the previous chips.
The M4 Max chip is configurable with up to 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores and a staggering 128GB of unified memory with 546GB/s of bandwidth. Those numbers are ludicrous, but provided you have the right workflow and are capable of living with macOS, then Apple is offering some crazy potential for creative work.
Alongside the M4 chips, Apple also announced its smallest desktop to date with the new Mac mini with the M4 and M4 Pro chips. At just 12.7cm (5 inches) per side and 670 grams, the new Mac mini fully lives up to its name. And as we saw in our M4 Mac mini review, the device is a capable workhorse with silent operation and a decent port selection while costing a reasonable $599 in its base configuration.
Winner: AirPods 4
One of the biggest problems with in-ear headphones is their fit. Many people simply can’t live with silicone tips jammed into their ears for more than a few hours but not having a good seal around your ear is a recipe for bad noise cancellation.
Apple managed to solve that issue with its AirPods 4 with ANC, which were developed with special ear-mapping technology that ensures optimal fit for various ear types while somehow managing to add capable noise cancellation. The new drivers also ensure the improved sound quality, which, coupled with the longer battery life and USB-C charging case, make these one of Apple’s best AirPods to date.
