The start of the year has been one packed with new hardware for Apple’s community to enjoy. Yet, these new releases do not feature any hardware that fundamentally changes the various packages. Is Apple simply bumping up the numbers and relying on its brand name to keep selling competent yet uninspiring hardware for another twelve months?
The iPhone 16e has led the way, with the M4-powered MacBook Air and M3 iPad Air following. Joining the hardware champions was a mix of new and updated accessories and Apple’s regular color refresh for the ‘Spring Season’ release of new iPhone cases and Apple Watch straps.
Yet the three big hardware releases are all missing something. They are all competent and meet the broad expectations of what consumers expect, but they all lack the sparkle of a company that cannot escape its “think different” heritage. The updates to the hardware either are needed to keep pace with market expectations of power and performance but have little impact on the user experience.
Apple’s MacBook Air
The big news for Apple’s consumer laptop upgrade was the move to Apple Silicon M4. Some ten months after the advanced chipset was released at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2024, the Air was finally granted its benefits.
With the inclusion of the M4, the MacBook Air remains part of the current generation, but only just. Thanks to the delay, Apple has created a gap in the portfolio between the Air and Pro laptops. However, the benefits to the consumer, beyond the necessary upgrade to M4, are slight. The base level of RAM has been lifted to 16 GB, no doubt to support Apple Intelligence, and the resolution has been bumped up on the webcam.
In other words, there is nothing that consumers would regard as exciting reasons to upgrade.
Apple’s iPad Air
The iPad Air was sitting further back in the hardware stakes, with 2022’s Apple Silicon M2 at the heart of the tablet. The new model picks up 2023’s M3 chipset, which keeps it close to the rest of the portfolio, but that’s an upgrade to keep pace with the market. A new keyboard accessory is also available as an additional purchase (prices start at $269). Otherwise, this is a maintenance release with the improvements there stay in touch with the rest of the portfolio.
Apple’s iPhone 16e
Apple was widely expected to update the iPhone SE in Q1 2025 and maintain a presence in the mid-range space, potentially with a $479 price point. Instead, it decided to cede the mid-range to Android and leave the space altogether. The new iPhone 16e sits alongside the rest of the iPhone 16 family, stripping away features to make the $599 entry-level price.
The addition of the C1 modem—Apple’s first home-grown modem following its purchase of Intel’s Modem division—is essential for Apple and its plans to integrate its hardware ever tighter to get some real-world data. The associated increase in battery life is a bonus, but every generation of smartphone should offer more battery life than the previous model.
The same goes for Apple’s Fusion Camera, sold as being two lenses in one, which on paper offers equality with the vast range of Android smartphones at the $599 price point that comes with two physical lenses. Again, this is something that can benefit Apple on future models (the iPhone 17 Pro Max with six effective lenses would be a great tagline for the marketing team), but consumers are left with an iPhone that is “just an iPhone.”
Apple’s Average Approach Cannot Be Forever
There’s nothing wrong with this approach. It maintains the relative position of the hardware against the rest of Apple’s portfolio and the external competition. Consumers can be confident that they are not getting out-of-date hardware when they buy these products.
Neither are they getting any excitement.
Solid and competent hardware that stays relevant will generate sales for a long time, but at what cost? Apple’s ability to be “not first but best” has been holed below the waterline with the rise of generative AI and the failure to capitalise on it with the awkwardly backronymed Apple Intelligence. Its hardware designs take no risks and leave the radical designs to the competition. And the hardware that is being offered to consumers is effectively not the current generation.
Short- and medium-term sales should be guaranteed, but at some point, Apple needs to feed the community’s dreams to remind them, and itself, what it means to be an Apple product.
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