In an ideal world , at least as far as Apple is touch , we ’d all be using Apple Intelligence all the clip . Cupertino come late to the AI party and desperately want to catch up on both preparation data and mindshare . AI is in that mad foolhardy amber - rush phase angle right now and the large technical school company are all do-or-die to stake their claim before it ’s too late and ChatGPT becomes a verb synonymous with AI searching .
AI is such a precedency for Apple that it ’s feign everything else it does . When it establish the iPhone 16e last month , the waiting existence was shocked by the price tag : a decisively mid - market $ 599 , while the iPhone SE it supervene upon cost $ 429 . ( you’re able to fence that itactuallyreplaced the iPhone 14 , but either way , the SE is gone and the range now starts at that higher point . ) The 16e costs as much as it does because of the in high spirits - end central processing unit Apple was set to include so it can melt Apple Intelligence . In other words , Apple abandoned the massive budget phone market place for at least a year strictly so it could get more the great unwashed on its AI political platform .
Last week it was thecheapest iPad’sturn to be phased out , and I was worried that it would get the same AI - first treatment as the iPhone 16e . After all , Apple ca n’t have people using iPads that are n’t powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence , can it ? well shove in a preposterously overpowered A18 check and zigzag up the price . ( Yes , I will admit that I was getting mad in onward motion about something that had n’t even bump yet . )
In the ending , that did n’t happen . Rather than construct the ruinously expensive leap from the A14 to an A18 , the new iPad hopped more cautiously from an A14 to the A16 from 2022 . Surprisingly — no , shockingly — the 11th - gen iPad does not support Apple Intelligence , and as amazingly it still costs a very fairish $ 349 .
This might not be what we expected , but I think it ’s absolutely the right decision . Tablets are n’t like smartphones . They ’re bought for dissimilar purposes , with far less emphasis on specs and features and far more on looks , strong-arm dimensions , bombardment aliveness , and above all , price . in fact , when this iPad set up in 2022 , it was poorly received due to its $ 449 terms tatter . After a $ 100 terms cut last year , it became the consensus woof for basically anyone involve a new pill .
Beyond the small niche marketplace for the high - end iPad Pro , the vast legal age of iPads are go to be used for commodious , portable , blink of an eye - booting admission to light computing chore like email and surfing the web . If Apple pushed up the iPad image by $ 100 again and started marketing it on the basis of high-pitched processing speeds and AI , it might as well wave a snowy flag and give the biggest marketplace to … er … Samsung ? I guess ?
I ’m sure it ’s a source of foiling for Apple that a clustering of client are going to grease one’s palms A16 iPads and overlook out on Apple Intelligence ( though presumably quite a lot of them can habituate it on their iPhones or Macs ) . As iPad buyers run to upgrade quite rarely , it might be four or five old age before this propagation of iPads gets replaced . But it ’s worth bearing in brain that Apple Intelligence is n’t actually that dandy just yet and might not be for a while .
I ’ve been using it a mess while look back the iPhone 16e and at this stage , it ’s more of a proof of construct than a useful set of tools . Every individual lineament I tested did at least one nerveless matter ( such as identifying aBichon ) and at least one stunned matter ( such as removing a railway car from a photo and leaving behind its trace ) , and the port are some of the least intuitive I ’ve ever used from Apple .
If it ’s not obvious that Apple Intelligence was rushed out the door before being properly polished , consider the news show that dropped on Friday : Apple has officiallydelayed the anticipated next - gen Sirithat was already delayed to iOS 18.5 . Now it looks like it will launch with iOS 19 , mayhap even in 2026 . So , it ’s probably not the death of the public that this year ’s budget iPad buyersdon’tget a blemished AI system shove in their aspect . And it ’s certainly preferable to a price hike .
Apple is trying , understandably and sensibly , to think about the future tense : skating to where the Robin Goodfellow is go to be and all that . People wo n’t buy iPhones forever , so a big priority is work out what number next and micturate certain Apple is part of whatever that is . But you have to collide with a counterpoise between the time to come and the nowadays , and it ’s better to sell tablets that do n’t run Apple Intelligence than a tablet no one wants to buy .
metalworks
receive to our hebdomadary Apple Breakfast column , which includes all the Apple newsworthiness you missed last workweek in a ready to hand morsel - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it move outstanding with a Monday morning cup of umber or tea , but it ’s nerveless if you desire to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
Have your say
We got too many email to impress following last workweek ’s discussion of the iPhone 16enot supporting MagSafe . So I ’ll confine myself to summarizing a useful point made by multiple readers : that MagSafe may be a germ of concern for those with a pacemaker or link up medical gimmick .
Back in 2021 the American Heart Association enunciate the engineering get a“clinically identifiable”risk to cardiac devices , and Apple itself was move toissue a warning . The arcdegree of risk is disputed , and Applenow saysmostconsumer electronics , from laptop computer to wearables , contain components which could interfere with medical devices . But with the stakes so high , it ’s belike right to wager it secure .
Thanks to those who raise this of import point in time .
There’s something in the air
Like theweek of Mac announcementsat the terminal of October 2024 , last week was dedicated toair - theme reveals . No actual event , just a serial of insistency releases and new products appearing restfully on the website .
In fact the air melodic theme end up looking a small slight . We got anew MacBook Airin a sorcerous newfangled colouring , and arather less impressivenew iPad Air . But thepowerful raw Mac Studioand theodd A16 iPad(which does n’t fend for Apple Intelligence , curiously ) conspicuously do not have the word melodic phrase in their names . Very wretched , Apple . Very misfortunate .
Go home , Apple , you ’re drunk:5 recent decisionsthatmake no sense .
Apple ’s newentry - grade devicesarethe best possible trap , says Dan Moren .
Why do analyst even bother topredict iPhone sale , the Macalope wonders .
block theM4 Air , I want Apple to bring backthe plain ol’ MacBook , say Roman Loyola .
Applebegins legal battleto resist ‘ egregious’iCloud back door requirement .
How Oscar - winning‘Anora ’ director got his startshooting on an iPhone 5s .
TheiPhone 16eDOESwork with MagSafe battery charger … kind of .
Podcast of the week
orchard apple tree bring out newfangled edition of theMacBook Air , iPad Air , Mac Studio and iPadthis calendar week , and on the latest episode of the Macworld Podcast , we blab out about what ’s novel , what ’s not new , and what ’s totally perplexing !
you may get every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own site .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
Report : fold iPhonewill be radical - lean , crease - free , andcost over $ 2,000 .
Apple’snext - gen Sirimight bedelayed until 2027 .
TheM4 MacBook Airand Severance finale topApple ’s lean of March release .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
iPhone 16ecriticizedfor‘terrible design’of USB - C larboard .
Forget Siri , iOS 18.4brings theiPhone emoji updateeveryone wants .
iOS 18.4 beta 2is out , supporting iPhone 16e and addingVisual Intelligence choice .
And with that , we ’re done for this hebdomad ’s Apple Breakfast . If you ’d wish to get regular roundups , signalize up forour newssheet , including our fresh email from The Macalope – an pert , humourous take on the late news and rumour from a half - man , half - mythical Mac beast . you may also follow us onFacebook , Threads , Bluesky , orXfor treatment of breaking Apple news stories . See you next Monday , and stay Appley .
