live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
This week: Our look ahead at what’s coming in 2026, the number one best Mac setup of 2025 — and we’ll bring some forgotten Apple products back from the dead.
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:03 Erfon & The CultCast
6:39 Apple in 2026
43:57 Dead Apple product draft
Follow us!
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cultofmac
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@cultofmac
Instagram: https://instagram.com/cultofmac/
X: https://x.com/cultofmac
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cultofmac
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Coming up, I'll look ahead to what's coming in 2026, and we'll bring some forgotten Apple products back from the
0:06
dead. Okay, welcome to the new ColorMac podcast. I'm your host, Leander Katy.
0:13
Join me today, we have D. Griffin Jones. Hey, Griffin. Good evening. This is a very special episode because, as you know, episode
0:20
one, uh, the number one is the, uh, zeroth power of two. Fun fact for you all.
0:25
I'm sorry. What? Yeah. What? Oh, did you want me to introduce Liz? Hello, Louis.
0:31
Hey. All right. Here we are off to a great start. Podcast number one. This So, this one's collectible. That's what you're saying.
0:38
Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Value. This is a rare episode. Hold on to it. It'll it'll it'll sell
0:43
for higher value than on eBay in 30 years. Keep it Keep it in its original packaging, please.
0:50
Yeah. It's like an NFT. A completely worthless NFT. No freaking time. I can't even remember
0:56
what NFT stands for. Leander. What does it mean now? Nonfgeable token. Nonfgeable token.
1:03
Let's jump to uh well, I guess let's jump to the big question everyone's been asking. The big question that everyone's been asking for the last seven months.
1:08
Where's uh and so we wanted to address what's been going on with the uh with the cult
1:14
cast and and now this new show, the cult of Mac show. So, uh last week we mistakenly announced that the cult cast
1:21
was going to come to an end. Uh and that's not true. It's uh Muron's going to continue doing the cult cast. um and
1:27
he's going to continue doing his YouTube channel uh but as a solemn uh show. This is not
1:33
a mistake. You know, we didn't think about um the implications for an because we'd had a to be honest a little bit
1:39
trouble um uh communicating with an getting an to come to a decision. If uh
1:45
you listen to what he put out yesterday, he explained that he had um a sudden death in his family and he took a break
1:52
to evaluate what he wanted to do, put out a couple of YouTube videos uh and wasn't really sure whether he was going
1:58
to continue with us with the cult cast. He was going to continue podcasting. Um it was very up in the air. Uh and so for
2:05
the last six or seven months we've been doing the show without um and been trying to get him to commit
2:12
to something to decide what he wants to do. Uh and we had been unable to come to
2:17
an accord and uh in with you know thanks to because there was no response from
2:24
because we couldn't get him to to decide we went ahead and launched this new cult
2:30
show without him. And we had to do this. I mean, you know, we were kind of put over a barrel uh for the last seven
2:37
months. UN has been um has, you know, has been collecting all the money for the from the advertising that we've been
2:42
doing and not contributing to the show. And unfortunately, that was uh not sustainable. And in fact, this goes to
2:48
the very heart of it. I mean, when we launched the cult god knows how many years ago, it was a 50/50 um enterprise.
2:54
You know, it was going to be joined uh between me and the two of us. It was going to be 50-50 split. But because
2:59
there was so little revenue and he was doing most of the work, we did a 7030 split or something like that. I forget
3:05
what the numbers were. Um, and as time has gone on, that's become unsustainable
3:11
for us. Uh, all the money is going to and we're getting very little of it, but
3:17
you know, putting in a lot of effort to produce the show and now having two two salaried
3:22
employees uh, spend over an entire day doing it in in terms of hours, right? And as I joked before, I mean
3:29
like this is you know how to drive a business into the ground. You I'm paying two salaried employees to you know to to
3:35
make money for somebody else for a third party. And you know I my conversations
3:41
with we did talk about a a different kind of split but again we couldn't come to a decision and unfortunately there's
3:46
kind of so there is so little money to be to to to go around that it just it's we could not afford to pay Uran couldn't
3:53
afford to do a split with him and I could not afford to pay him to be the host. Um, you know, uh, all three of us
3:59
are salaried employees of Cultter Media Corp. And for us, this is a very important part of our media mix. Um, you
4:07
know, this this show is, uh, is going to be an ever more important part of what, you know, cult of Mac does. Um, and it
4:16
was always another problem was always that it was a part-time endeavor for, you know, like he has a day job, he has
4:21
four kids, he has extremely busy life. There was almost no effort put into marketing the show to promoting it to
4:28
putting it out onto different channels. We had lots of ideas about what to do with the show, changes in format,
4:33
changes in monetizing the show, things like memberships, um Patreons, you know,
4:39
all kinds of stuff. Uh a lot of these some of these experiments, uh you know, some of these endeavors were were
4:45
launched, but they were never sort of really followed through or never we never really concentrated on them. But the biggest problem was like for the
4:51
last six, seven months was unable to get fun to commit to something to commit either to coming back to the show or to
4:57
doing something on his own. Um, you know, it was very difficult. So we had to make the difficult decision that that
5:03
this is an important part of our media mix and we had to do something. We had to move on. We had to, you know, and the good and the new year was a really good
5:10
time to be able to do that. So this is why we've we've launched a new show. You know, I hope that explains things a
5:16
little bit um from our point of view. And of course, I wish I the best of luck. He he has been a, you know, I
5:22
mean, he's a much better host than I am. So, we'll see how things shake out. If you're a fan of both and you're a fan
5:27
of us, I mean, you're getting twice as much show as you did before. So, you know, we'll continue promoting reminding
5:33
you that you can find him on the cult and uh he'll remind his listeners over there that uh the three of us are over
5:40
here. So, hooray. Two podcasts all for the same low price of zero dollars.
5:46
Yep. I'd also like to say for the record, uh, people on Twitter and or YouTube
5:52
comments calling you greedy. Uh, the greed implies a there's a much larger sum of money available than is actually
5:59
the case. Yeah, that's the thing. You know, there's a there's a there was a very very small pie to be cut up and and you
6:05
know, of course, money would be great if if money does ever come to the show. That would be fantastic. But
6:10
we're now in a position to collect 100% of the revenue of our zero ads we have booked. Right.
6:15
Wow. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So, that's a actually, you know, this is an ad free show. So,
6:22
yeah. Uh until we get some ads, please email [email protected]
6:28
if you would like to reach our uh growing audience of fresh listeners. That's right.
6:34
Well, I wish everyone the best of luck and um let's get on with the show. So, yeah, 2026 is going to be a really
6:41
exciting year for Apple. It's going to be a crazy year. There's like at least 15 new products and there's probably at least two brand new product categories,
6:48
right, Lewis? The most exciting one, affordable MacBook, uh, entry-level MacBook that
6:54
could, uh, really kind of start to put some pressure on Chromebooks and all these other, well, maybe not Chromebooks. What are those like 50
7:00
bucks now? But, uh, low-end laptops. Uh, this is one of the most exciting ones.
7:05
We, you know, low lowc cost MacBook that uh is supposedly going to have a A19 Pro
7:10
chipset, which is a iPhone, what is that? The iPhone, I can't I I cannot
7:16
keep track of which iPhone iPhone 17. So, that's what's in the iPhone. That's what's in my pocket right now. Uh, and a
7:23
13-inch display supposedly debut in an array of bright colors such as blue, pink, and yellow. very typical for Apple
7:29
to make these low-end things in in cool colors and make them, you know, get you
7:34
excited about them in some way. Uh supposedly, uh PC makers are freaking out. I mean, I would be I would be a a
7:42
great Apple MacBook. I think the price has been pegged at uh it was below $800
7:49
and I think some things even said $600. Was it below $600? I can't really remember.
7:54
My guess is maybe $6.99 retail and then $6.49 education
8:01
store price or you know bulk price which is the cheapest a Mac laptop has ever been. It'll be a very exciting you know
8:08
laptops are what everybody's buying. It'll open up the Mac to many more people like as Apple hasn't aggressively
8:14
tried to like raise their market share in a really long time. I mean when's the last time you've even
8:19
seen an ad for a MacBook on TV? It's all iPhones. You know they don't Yeah. Yeah, the Mac has been comfortable at like,
8:25
you know, 9 10% market share for a long time, but it seems like now they're going to try and aggressively g, you know, raise that again.
8:32
Um, this is the first, this will be the first time Apple has made a colorful laptop since like 2000 or 2001. You
8:39
know, the there was the original G3 clamshell eyebook. It was all colorful and then they just made it white and
8:44
then that's been it ever since. You know, if you count their non colors like barely gold and sky blue. So,
8:53
Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to see also, you know, how much work I can get on this. Like, yeah, it's an A series chip, but the A19
9:00
Pro is a very powerful processor. A lot of graphics power in it. Uh, and I'll see if it can handle, you know, an edit
9:08
of a full episode of this podcast with, you know, a bunch of 1080p videos layers. And this is maybe one of the
9:13
most exciting launches that I'm looking forward to. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it won't suck, actually. You know, that's a that's the
9:19
other good I mean, like, a lot of the the low-end um Chromebooks and low-end PCs really do suck. They're awful. Um,
9:25
this will be a nice nice machine more than likely. It's kind of funny that Apple's been doing great stuff at the low end, you know. Uh, I mean, the the
9:32
MacBook Air is kind of relatively um affordable compared, you know, these days you can get it for like 750 usually
9:39
when it's on sale below $1,000. Um, it and they've been taking off like
9:45
crazy, haven't they? I mean, I see MacBooks everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. And if you can get that for that, imagine how much cheap you can get
9:50
the uh affordable MacBook uh when it comes out. That'll be, you know, it's great. It's
9:56
like the Apple Watch SE, right? Uh just gets better and better every every time they uh release one. And and this year
10:03
is actually like very good product. Indeed. The SE is a very very good
10:09
product. I mean, it's you know, it doesn't do everything that the the more expensive watches do, but it's still a a very good solid smartwatch. A great
10:15
starter smartwatch. It does all of the stuff you would expect the Apple Watch to do. Like, you know, people don't know about the blood oxygen feature really
10:22
outside of our tech circles or the the the health care professionals. People don't know about like the sleep apnea
10:28
detection really. You know, these are these are new features that are a little bit niche. The Apple Watch I see does
10:33
all the big stuff. It does the heart rate tracking, the always on display, you know, all the stuff that's really obvious and visible that you can see.
10:39
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Apple's been killing it with a lot with the entry- level products in the last few years. Really killing it. So, talking about uh at the
10:45
opposite end of the scale, we have unaffordable MacBooks and there's going to be um new M5 Pro
10:53
and Max MacBook Pros coming out next year. Um they're going to be the among
10:58
the first major product launches of 2026. So, these probably going to be the first machines that come out. Um if the
11:04
M5 powered MacBook Pro and iPad Pro are anything to go by, the M5 Pro and the M5
11:09
Max chips should deliver amazing performance. Uh, more importantly, the high-end M5 processors will bring a major pus of AI processing and each with
11:17
a GPU core featuring a neural accelerator. So, they're going to do the same thing they did with the uh the M4s,
11:23
right? Um, so the M5 chip boosted AI performance by three to five times compared to the M4. Uh, and the M5 Pro
11:31
and Max should fare even better with their additional CPU and GPU cores. The neural accelerator is a really big deal
11:38
in in terms of like broader AI performance because it helps with all of the uh all of the code that needs like
11:44
those those neural cores that aren't optimized for Apple platforms and therefore don't take advantage of the
11:50
neural engine which is you know its own separate component. So putting those neural acceleries inside each GPU is
11:57
much more how the PC world handles these things. And so with the M5 Pro and M5 Max, like these are going to be really
12:04
popular, I imagine, among AI enthusiasts, you know, the the first the first Apple Silicon that's probably been
12:10
designed since the AI boom. You know, they designed these things years in advance. This is going to be a a big big
12:16
update for that. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. And even more so, the M5 Ultra Mac Studio. Uh Apple's most powerful Mac
12:22
should receive a muchdeserved upgrade in the first half of 2026. Besides an M5 Max variant of the Mac Studio, Apple
12:29
might launch an M5 Ultra version this year as well, sort of bringing them back in sync again, featuring an ungodly
12:35
number of CPU and GPU cores. Uh, the Ultra chip would make would exclusively make its way to the Mac Studio, as the
12:42
company has largely and sadly written off the Mac Pro. With its massive compute and neural capabilities, the M5
12:48
Ultra should place Apple's top tier Mac among the fastest personal computers available, especially for AI and machine
12:54
learning workflows. Right. as you wrote, I mean, the the the the the studio was Apple's accidental AI
13:00
powerhouse, and then with this new design, it's going to be really a crazy uh crazy machine.
13:05
Yeah, people are still raving about the M3 model, and Apple's going to come out with an M5 model next year.
13:10
Yeah, could be exciting. This will these be the fastest chips, desktop chips available because Qualcomm
13:16
is starting to catch. Depends on how you uh measure fastest. Yeah. Uh at the other end, they're going
13:21
to have a new M5 Mac Mini, which I think a lot of people be excited about. the the little wonder, the Mac Mini should get a minor spec bump to the M5 and M5
13:28
Pro chips this year. There's no clear release time frame, so no, who knows when they're going to come, but it
13:33
probably should be in the first half of 2026. Uh, with the M4 Mac Mini introducing a new design, the M5 refresh
13:39
should all be about the internal chip upgrade. But I I don't think anyone's going to sneeze at that. That's a really great um the the uh the value of the Mac
13:47
Mini is unprecedented. Um, it's going to be even cheaper than the the low-end. It'll still probably be
13:53
cheaper than the lowend Mac book that they're going to be coming out with. So, um that that'll be exciting. I know
13:59
people love those little things. Mhm. There was just a uh a release earlier this week where some company released a
14:05
uh a case for the new Mac Mini inspired by both the Power Mac G4 Cube because
14:11
it's like a cre acrylic thing that like elevates it and has like a little gap underneath it so it looks like your Mac
14:16
Mini is floating and it adds a touch of Bondi blue or uh tangerine much like the
14:21
G3 iMac. So, it's a cute little case for your Mac Mini. That's probably what I would get if I if I had that that design
14:28
of Mac Mini. Not the Mac Pro looking one, the the one with the cheese grater.
14:34
It'd be tough picking between the two, I'll be honest. Yeah, maybe get two and alternate them. It's kind of a shocking array of uh cool
14:41
cases for Mac Mini. Shocking how small it is. I mean, you can literally put that thing in your pocket. I I've always I was actually
14:46
investigating it as a as a as a laptop replacement. I started looking around and thinking, well, maybe I could get
14:51
myself, you know, like a a portable screen and and a key a Bluetooth keyboard and and trackpad
14:57
laptop. Yeah. This is completely idiotic, but it was an intriguing idea.
15:04
You could buy a MacBook Air, right? Exactly.
15:09
All right. So, on the on they're gonna have a new display, too, Le let's talk about that. Yeah. Very exciting for uh people who
15:15
like to spend money on displays. The uh Apple Studio display might get its first uh update.
15:21
Supposedly, this is going to bring uh and this is based on references in leaks
15:26
and and and rumors, whatever. Uh references to the uh nextG studio display point to major
15:34
upgrades, including high dynamic range support, a 120 Hz refresh I'm Yeah, 20
15:40
120 Hz refresh rate. Good god. And a faster A19 chip. There's that A19 chip again. I wish I had a
15:46
piece of every one of those that got sold. Um, should enhance the viewing experience of this 27 inch monitor which
15:53
I think lists for 1600. I I haven't heard anything about the pricing if that's going to change. Probably probably stay the same. LG just
15:59
announced a bunch of uh new displays in house, you know, LG branded displays, but a lot of people they, you know, they
16:05
announced a a 27in miniLEDD display, which with a 5K resolution, perfectly
16:11
matching, you know, what you might expect to be in an update to the studio display, and you know, people are people are getting excited about that. It, you
16:18
know, it'll have much higher brightness. Not quite as bright as um the 1600 nits
16:23
for the MacBook Pro. It's like 1250, but you know, on a much larger surface, you
16:29
know, they're they're saying this this could be the the the component that they use in the next studio display as well. There's a lot of competition now. I
16:35
mean, Apple was kind of alone, wasn't it? Uh when uh when they came out with the studio display uh having those like
16:40
n uh uh retina resolution 5K monitors. Um but uh now you can get I mean there's
16:46
Ben Q, Asus, who else are Vonic? I'm looking at theirs right now. It's an excellent display.
16:53
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never even used one of these studio displays. I don't know if I've even actually seen
16:59
one turned on anywhere. Get yourself down the Apple store, Louis. Yeah. Okay. Bring my credit card.
17:05
Yeah. Okay. iPhone 17A. Uh Apple is on track to unveil its
17:11
successor to the iPhone 16e, the most affordable member of the iPhone family. Beyond faster internals, likely driven
17:17
by an A19 chip upgrade. Once again, yeah, the 17e might ditch the notch in favor of a dynamic island that would
17:24
bring its design in line with other iPhones with soaring RAM and NAND prices and tariffs. Apple's biggest challenge
17:30
might be to maintain the same 599 price for the 17e as the current model. And
17:35
there's also rumors that they'll add, you know, Mag Safe to that one finally making it a useful purchase. Honestly,
17:42
that's like the biggest drawback of the 16e. Yeah, you can get a a case that adds like a MagSafe magnet into it, but it's
17:50
still it's not full MagSafe. It basically just makes it compatible with MagSafe chargers. You don't get the wallet. You don't get the batteries. You
17:57
don't get any of the fancy accessories on it. It's, you know, the 17E should make it a properly good iPhone.
18:03
Yeah. I wonder if the lack of mag is actually holding it back. I know for my mom, you know, that that was definitely one of the key features and the reason I
18:09
didn't buy it for her. Mhm. I was surprised by, you know, over the Christmas break, you see, you know, many more family and friends of the, you
18:15
know, extended people you don't see too often. I saw a bunch of iPhone 16. Really? Many more than I was expecting. Yeah. I
18:21
was surprised. I don't know if I've seen one of those in the wild. It's definitely I mean, I wonder how they sell I wonder what the the
18:27
breakdown is. I mean, I'm sure, you know, did they sell anywhere near the Because the the most popular model,
18:32
isn't it? The the large one, the big screen, the the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
18:38
Mhm. Um, it'll be interesting to see what the breakdown is. Of course, Apple doesn't release those numbers, but uh I
18:43
bet there's some third party estimates. I just never saw the 16e as like a viable alternative to the 17. Like, it's
18:51
almost I mean, I guess it's $200 difference, but it just especially if you're paying monthly. I mean, what is
18:57
that like the difference between $15 and $17 a month or something?
19:02
Come on. I pay $2 a month for MagSafe. Yeah. It also gets a little gray if you
19:08
compare a new iPhone 16 to like a, you know, two-year-old iPhone 15 entry-level
19:13
model. You know, that that's trade-off there, but which is what most people who want to buy, you know, a phone for as
19:18
cheap as they can, that's what they'll do. But, right, that's exactly what I did for my mom. I got a refurbished iPhone 15
19:25
with with MagSafe, which is really why I got it. And she's delighted with it, by
19:30
the way. She absolutely loves it. That's good. All right. All right. Well, there's another big uh this one's a kind of sort
19:35
of exciting maybe. I don't know. Um the Air Tag Air Tag 2. Apple launched the Air Tag way back in 2021. Uh and while
19:42
it took a while, this tracking tag is easily amongst the company's sleeper hits. Uh the fifth anniversary is coming
19:47
up and the Air Tags is long due for an upgrade. Uh so references have been found in internal iOS 26 builds
19:53
suggesting the Air Tag 2 will offer enhanced precision finding and improved tracking support when the tag is moving.
20:00
Um, an upgraded ultra wideband chip should bring other improvements, including better tracking accuracy in crowded places. Uh, other rumored tweaks
20:07
will focus on a smoother pairing process and more reliable reporting of the tracker's remaining battery level. Uh,
20:13
the rumor mill once pegged the Air Tag 2 for a 2025 launch, but that's that that's not going to happen unless it
20:19
happens tomorrow. Um, now all signs point to Apple introducing a second jacker sometime in the first half of
20:26
2026. Yeah, the you know I don't know that the the tracking the the precision tracking I think is kind of remarkable.
20:32
Uh I just use it to track down my uh my AirPods the other day and uh my iPhone
20:37
this morning. It leads you right to it. I mean if you know I've never done it with a with a moving one though. That
20:43
might be I did it last night with my cat. You did? Did it work?
20:48
Well uh found him. But, uh, yeah, it's kind of weird when you, uh, when you
20:54
you're pointing there and you've got it locked in and then it it starts going, "Oh, object is moving." You know, it's what I I mean, obviously that's not
21:01
going to pro Well, probably that's not going to happen to your car keys. Although, I did have that happen with my car keys one time when I left them in a
21:07
Well, I didn't leave. If your cat likes your car keys, yeah, then you're in a real bind. I think I told that story before on the show. I mean, I I used Find My to find
21:15
my car keys after somebody inadvertently picked them up at a bar one night. I went back and tracked it down to their
21:21
apartment and and I got I was standing standing outside
21:27
and and I I was standing right outside the garage and uh it's like one of those little
21:33
twostory things out in the avenues and uh it says it's like 10 ft away. I'm like
21:39
it's either in the garage or it's in that living room. And I and I press the button to make a sound and it's like instantly object is moving.
21:46
It was hilarious. sheepishly. People came to the door and uh you know said, "Oh, I'm sorry. They grabbed your coat.
21:52
My friends grabbed your coat by mistake." And no harm done. Got it back. It was very uh but it was you know would
21:59
have never ever found it without the Air Tag. So I'm 100% in on on Air Tags. And
22:04
if the new ones are even better. Oh my god. That's great. It's It's hard to believe that they've been around as long as they have without an update.
22:11
Yeah. I remember like the Air Tag had been so thoroughly leaked by the rumor mill in advance that when they actually
22:16
released people were like already over the news like yeah it's exactly what we expected I guess it cost $29. That's
22:22
neat. Well, you know they were I I had trackers before like with uh what were they called? Um
22:28
tile. Tile and there was another one too. Uh and they was played with so many problems that you know when I when you
22:34
go to use them the batteries had run out and you didn't get a notification. that might have been my fault like not
22:39
turning on not notifications but or they were out of range so they had no idea where they were and then Apple using
22:44
creating this find my network turning every Apple device into a a node in this network just makes it work so much
22:50
better. I mean, they are absolutely fantastic. And of course, all those stories about people tracking their iPhones to China whether if they get stolen or in fact there was a story a
22:57
couple of days ago in Texas um some some poor girl got kidnapped by uh some guy
23:04
and her dad tracked her down. Although they didn't say that was specifically Air Tag or Find My In fact, I think it
23:09
was Android because they said they used um family controls, which doesn't sound right, parental controls. Anyway,
23:17
uh yeah, you know, it's they've been they have been a great great hit, haven't they? And of course, I've got Air Tags on everything, you know,
23:23
everything I own. Uh, and I even got my brother in on it, too. So, he's uh
23:28
he's very resistant, but he's into it now. They're super useful. I'm curious if the uh second generation Air Tag, they're
23:33
going to try and redo their whole privacy and security story because right after the you know, even though the Air
23:40
Tags aren't actually the best uh you know product that you to use if you're
23:45
trying to maliciously track somebody, it's Apple's version, so people are inevitably using them anyways and they're all the news stories being
23:51
written about the Air Tag being used for these malicious purposes. I wonder if uh maybe Apple's going to try and tweak
23:57
that or have a have a new message to to to put out, you know, in their marketing
24:02
of the the second generation Air Tag. Well, that was part of the the one of the rumors that they're going to make it harder to remove the speaker, right? I
24:08
believe I read. Okay. There's going to be a new I Yeah, a new iPad. Yeah. Uh iPad Air should receive its uh
24:14
usual yearly spec bump uh next year, ditching the M3 chip in favor of guess what? The M4. unlikely to pack any other
24:22
changes except for the switch to Apple's N1 networking chip for handling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Probably launch in the
24:28
first half of the year. Sounds like no big surprises there. 2027 is when they're rumored to switch
24:33
the iPad Air to an OLED display. So, this will be kind of a quiet one. Then comes the big story. Apple's long
24:40
rumored Smartome Hub might finally see the light of day in early 2026. It was
24:45
reportedly on track for a launch this year, but setbacks tied to the smarter series roll out forced Apple to delay
24:50
it. It'll feature Face ID and a 1080p FaceTime camera. There'll be two models,
24:56
a wall-mounted one and another that looks like a HomePod mini with a display mounted on top. Apple plans to price the
25:03
smart home display at around $350. Okay, that's new information to me. It looks kind of like a HomePod mini with a
25:10
display on top. Wouldn't that be a little bit topheavy? you. I mean, you know, I think Apple
25:15
could probably figure that part out. Let's hope. Maybe it'll come with some suckers or something like that so you
25:21
can suck it to stick it to the desk. I'm kind of excited for this one. This is the this is the most for me this is
25:26
the most exciting thing to see next year that you know that that they're getting into the smart home and space. I love my
25:33
HomePods. Use them all the time. One with a screen. What can go wrong? I mean, yeah, I know most of your kids are
25:39
out the house, but I I presume that like wrangling all your calendars together is a maddening task.
25:44
No one uses them, so including myself. Okay. So, not really. Oh, there you go. But I'm, you know, my wife, I guess, is
25:50
our human calendar. She's the one who who who who coordinates all this stuff. Maybe she'll like it.
25:56
I'm really curious to see these devices and see what Apple can do to make them different than existing things. I just
26:02
wonder like are they going to have an event like a Siri centered event like if they actually get Siri figured out and
26:09
they actually make it you know a viable usable thing that's even half as good as
26:15
uh competing products. Um I think I like you know what the Apple tagline to that
26:20
event would be this time we're serious
26:26
seriously good. Yeah. You can imagine. Okay. I wonder though um this because this is this is a
26:33
a source point for everybody, right? I mean this the crappiness of Siri has delayed these products supposedly by
26:39
like a year and if they finally get it together and it finally does work. You think they're going to make a big deal
26:45
out of it? Cuz the problem is making a big deal out of it sort of admits how bad things were. I mean which they've kind of done. I mean they've said oh we
26:52
weren't able to uh you know get this together. But what they've never actually come out and say is like, well,
26:57
Syria as it exists now is barely functional and can't do like many basic
27:03
tasks. They they have not been that truthful about the situation. Forththcoming, that's the word I'm
27:08
looking for. So, I don't know. Oh, I mean if they have an event centered on Siri,
27:14
are they, you know, can they possibly turn it into a turn all this delay and nightmare last few years of bad
27:22
performance? Can they turn it into a good thing into a positive? I mean, if anybody can, Apple can. They're pretty good at uh spinning things.
27:30
Well, there's a lot of skepticism, too. They can actually going to make the smarter Siri, make it work properly. I mean,
27:35
um thing about AI is can you trust it still? I mean, there's still a trust issue, isn't there? Is it going to be
27:41
correct? Is it going to be right? I mean, it was supposed to when they show in 2024, dubdubdub DC, they showed off
27:46
doing some pretty remarkable stuff. Like it was going to uh it would look at all your notifications and emails and it
27:52
would say, "Oh, you know, your mom's arriving uh her her flight has been delayed or whatever, you know, and and give you a
27:58
warning about that, which I don't know, you know, that that's got to work 100% of the time for it to be trustworthy. If it doesn't work
28:05
100% of the time, you're not going to trust it. If you don't trust it, then it's going to be useless. And these are big technical hurdles that have to be
28:12
overcome uh on a very short timeline. Even though they promised this two years ago and they've been working on it for
28:17
two years, it's still kind of a high bar to to reach. You know, you have to wonder whether they can whether it's actually achievable given the current
28:24
state of the technology. I'm a little bit skeptical about it. the the further we get from that event, the more
28:29
ridiculous that whole section of the presentation was. But yeah, a lot of lot of wishful thinking
28:36
there. Uh well, Apple's also going to do an Apple new TV and a HomePod Mini 2. Uh
28:42
Apple should refresh the Apple TV settop box and the HomePod Mini in early 2026. The changes are going to be mostly
28:48
internal again, uh with both devices getting a faster chip and switching to the company's in-house N1 networking
28:54
chip. So, not super uh big changes that a lot of good things about the the
29:01
networking chip though. I mean, um there were some benchmarks saying it's a lot it's a lot better and a lot more power
29:06
efficient than previous chips. So, I have one item on my wish list for a
29:12
new Apple TV. I want the remote to have a built-in YouTube wireless chip in it.
29:19
Yeah. So, that I can just hit a button and say, "Oh, where's my remote? It's exactly right here." That's got to be part of the Find My Network. Totally. with precision.
29:25
Shocking that doesn't exist yet. I mean, yeah, you can get a big ugly
29:31
rubber case that lets you attach a air tag to the back of your remote, but I can't bear to do that.
29:37
Let's talk about the next another iPad that's coming out, iPad Palooa. iPad 12 like the upcoming Apple TV and
29:44
HomePod Mini 2. As just discussed, Apple's next budget iPad refresh will focus solely on internal improvements.
29:51
Uh, references in an internal iOS 26 build. Point to the tablet using an A19
29:56
chip. That's a popular chip. Uh, let's see. This should bring a noticeable leap in performance. And get
30:04
this, enable Apple intelligence support. Uh, similar to other upcoming devices,
30:10
iPad 12 will presumably use Apple's in-house in-1 chip to deliver better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth performance. Um,
30:17
this is this the fact that this chip is or this chip this iPad's going to come out and support Apple intelligence is
30:23
like the reason that you felt like a sucker for buying the iPad 11, right, Leander?
30:28
Well, I don't know about a sucker. I was quite happy with it. Um, I don't know if I miss Apple intelligence on the iPad.
30:34
It's mostly for consumption. I don't know if I'm missing that much, you know, like I'm not doing anything spectacular on it. It's, you know, my sort of
30:42
part-time iPad. And I thought it was fantastic really. Uh compared to
30:47
previous ones, I just vividly remember you saying like you Oh, well, it was in the newsletter. Your your comment was it's a great deal.
30:54
Although now I feel like I should have waited. Well, that's true enough. Yeah. I mean, of course, you would I would have got a
30:59
better one if I had waited for another year, but uh I was kind of happy with it. I'm quite I'm quite happy with it. You know, I I think compared to what it came what
31:06
it came from, you know, one with I can't remember what what it was, but with the horrible old home button, the large bezels, this has got a nice full screen
31:12
design. Um, it's, you know, you can uh Oh, you know what I don't like? I don't like the the Touch ID.
31:19
Touch ID and the home button. Yeah, I hate that thing. Um, yeah. So, that was actually that's the biggest
31:25
thing I don't like about it. Doesn't work with your lizard fingers. No. No. Exactly. Uh, but everything else
31:32
I thought was really kind of, you know, fantastic. And it's if you can get it for like$279, I thought it was a really
31:37
good deal, which is which is the price that it was often on sale for. It retails for 350. But
31:43
yeah, the honestly like I almost bought one of those even though I rarely use the iPads that I own. The one thing that
31:50
honestly even though I basically never use Apple intelligence, the fact that it doesn't support that made me hold off
31:57
made me feel like what if they add some really amazing feature and this thing
32:02
can't do it. I mean wouldn't that just feel like a bummer? Much better to wait for next year if if
32:08
you're in that if you're looking for a new iPad. It every once in a while there's the you know one particular chip generation and
32:15
that they just make that chip for years. it goes in every product like the you know the A12 chip that one lived
32:21
forever. Um it seems like that's that's going to be the life of the A19 and my guess is because this is the last
32:28
version of um you know the A series chips that'll be made on the 3nanmter
32:33
node. This is like their third generation 3nmter node, you know. So I I
32:39
I I think that because they're next moving on to two nanometers that they're going to stay on that third generation 3
32:45
nanometer process for a few years to come, you know, now that that manufacturing line and process has been settled. And so that's why the A92 chip
32:52
is going to, you know, live indefinitely. Yeah. And that's that's the interesting thing about doing this breakdown is
32:58
looking at all these products that coming up to see how frequently that that chip is going to be get used. It's going into a lot of products, isn't it?
33:04
Another top anticipated product for one D. Griffin Jones is the foldable iPhone.
33:10
The company's belated entry into the segment should reshape the product category, giving foldables a major push
33:15
towards mainstream consumer adoption. More importantly, it'll affirm that portables are here to stay. They're
33:21
finally ready to go mainstream and not just an experimental form factor. Rumors indicate it'll support a 7.5 in inner
33:28
screen. You know, probably 4x3, a little more square. So it's a lot of uh screen
33:34
space even though it might not sound like a big number and a 5.38 in cover display that'll you know actually be a
33:40
little bit smaller. So when folded the device could be smaller than a regular iPhone which I am that excites me a
33:46
great deal and unfolding it will unveil a display roughly the size of an iPad mini. I mean this is the best of both
33:52
worlds. All of these small phone afficionados like myself who've felt uh
33:57
saddened and abandoned by Apple for many years now. We both get a small phone and
34:02
a big phone in the same phone. Apple will use its learnings from the iPhone Air to make the foldable as slim as
34:08
possible. It'll use a new crease-free OLED screen supplied by Samsung. That
34:14
that's the biggest puzzle. How can they actually make it crease? I mean, I guess it will have to stretch the screen. I
34:21
guess when you open it up, will it it'll have to stretch it somewhat to make it flat?
34:26
My guess is Apple isn't going to claim it's crease free. You know, they're not going to be specific. They'll just say,
34:32
you know, other prior markets have these big ugly creases, but we have something you won't even notice. You know, they'll
34:39
say something like that. I think some of the newest ones, I think, uh uh Xiaomi, their newest one, I
34:44
think, is kind of creaseless, I believe. I think I saw some pictures that, you know, showed that you couldn't really see a crease at all. Yeah, I'll just say
34:51
like I I saw, you know, also at Christmas I saw somebody had it like the newest Samsung foldable or maybe it
34:58
might not not have been the newest because I know they just came out with one, but uh a pretty a pretty new Samsung foldable. And you know,
35:04
sitting a few feet away, I could still see the the the crease in the screen just by like the light reflecting and
35:10
highlighting the line right down the middle. And you know, he says he doesn't notice it, but
35:16
I can notice it from over here. So, we'll see. Yeah, perhaps when you're looking at it straight on, uh, it
35:21
doesn't make that much of a of a difference. Yeah, this is an exciting brightness down to the to the to the
35:27
minimum while you're wearing gloves. This is going to cost a small fortune, though, of course, isn't it?
35:32
Not looking forward to that. Yeah. No. Uh, at the same time, Apple's going to
35:39
be coming out with a new iPhone, of course, the iPhone 18 Pro and the Pro Max. Um, the first olding iPhone might
35:46
steal the show, but Apple's also going to debut the iPhone 18 Pro and the Pro Max in September alongside it. Uh, if
35:51
the rumors prove accurate, these Pro models are shaping up to be anything but incremental updates. Apple reportedly
35:56
move Face ID below the display, while the rear camera could gain a variable aperture lens to better control how much
36:02
light reaches the sensor. Uh, the A20 chip will seemingly use TSMC's new wafer
36:08
packing technology to deliver big gains of performance and efficiency. The iPhone 18 Pro lineup may also mark a
36:13
major milestone by becoming the first pro iPhones to ship with Apple's in-house C series modem. We saw a lot of
36:20
camera upgrades last year, so I don't know if that'll this year will be a little lighter on them. Although that variable aperture sensor,
36:27
you know, that um that's a big upgrade. A lot of people were saying that that that should make a big difference in the in the uh the photography, which is
36:34
already kind of amazing. Kind of hard to believe it could get keep getting better, but I suppose it will. Going back a little bit, the
36:40
rumors also say that the folding iPhone will have two lenses on the back. I think John Proer had a video recently
36:46
where he said, you know, it'll have two cameras. I guess we don't know which two cameras that's going to be, whether it's going to be the regular one and the
36:53
telephoto one or the regular one and the ultrawide one. Whenever Apple has done, you know, a phone with only two cameras
36:58
on it, they've typically gone for regular and ultra wide. But, uh, fingers crossed I still want that telephoto.
37:06
What about the iPhone 18 though? The regular iPhone 18.
37:11
Probably not coming in 2026. That's the first item on this list to uh
37:17
diverge, right? Uh this is and this is this is just a subsection of the the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. I mean, so
37:24
the idea is that Apple's got so many new products coming out and so many new iPhones that they're going to push the
37:30
regular iPhone 18 and the iPhone Air 2 to uh the spring of 2027 or the first
37:37
half of 2027. Um, this is not exactly new news. They've been talking about this for well the rumor mill has been
37:43
talking about this for a while now that because of the foldable and the pros,
37:48
they're going to move the regular ones the out. So,
37:54
uh, I don't know. I to Yes. First half 2027. Yeah.
38:00
And then every year after that, I guess, you know, the iPhone 19 will come in the spring. The iPhone 20 will come in the spring. Uh, the Pro models launching in
38:07
the fall. How they're going to market that is going to be interesting because, you know, they it's not like the the the
38:12
regular phones ever have something that the Pro phones don't. So, it'll really just be like, hey, this is the balance
38:18
of features that these phones have at this price and it's only ever going to It's only ever really going to
38:23
disappoint, right? Like, how many features does this new thing not have
38:29
six months later, right? Well, if you compare it to the Pro models. Yeah. I mean, if you're But if you're a pro buyer, you're already out
38:34
of the market, right? You've already got your phone, so it's going to be appealing to a different market altogether who probably don't care about those pro features. I mean, that was the
38:40
thing about the iPhone 17 Pros. They're too pro. They're too, you know, it's for me, it's way too pro. I don't need any
38:46
of those features really. I want I, you know, it's a waste of money. It's a waste of embarrassing.
38:51
Yeah, it is. And I guess as a counterpoint to myself, people actually were impressed by how much the regular iPhone 17 had this
38:57
year. So, it was uncompromised for the first time ever, right? It was like kind of, you know, this is a non-compromised phone.
39:04
The the weirdest thing is leaving it with the same number, but releasing it, you
39:09
know, half a year later. I mean, it's exact opposite of what they're doing with iOS 26, which is release it before
39:17
the year even arrives. Who knows? I mean, we don't know what Apple's going to do for sure. I mean, maybe what what
39:23
if they did release the 18 alongside the 18 Pro and then in the spring they had the Air 2. Who knows?
39:31
I mean, really, it's it's just adding even more numbers. like they said, "Oh yeah, you know, we're switching to all of the operating systems to the year to
39:37
make it more simple." But really, they're just introducing more numbers into the same generation because now we have iOS 26, the A20 chip, the iPhones
39:46
18, which release in 2026 and 2027. So, we're up to five numbers now.
39:51
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there's going to be a lot, isn't there going to be kind of like a lot of weird software, too? Because I mean will the I if if the if
39:58
there's no dynamic island or if there's no um if the if the Face ID goes under
40:03
the screen, I guess that means no dynamic island any longer on the Pro models, it can still have like the the software
40:09
features there. Like it'll it just doesn't have to be under like a a piece of black pixels,
40:14
right? Like you know there there's a dynamic island features in Mac OS Tahoe now with live activities in the in the menu bar.
40:20
Like they can still keep that around. Yeah. And they're very popular, isn't it? turned they turn really turned that lemon into lemonade. People love the uh
40:26
Dicon. But then what about there was some rumors as well with the with the folding iPhone that it would actually run iPad OS when it's folded out rather
40:34
than iOS. So you can get um you know uh uh window windowed apps on on this on
40:40
the little screen inside. I think that's more speculation at this point, but um yeah, I mean that'll be
40:46
exciting. That's what I'm hoping for. I I want to have full windowed apps when I unfold it. Geez. Maybe instead Apple will only
40:52
have, you know, split view side by side and with slide over. But I'm hoping for full windowed app mode. That would be
40:58
excellent. It would, but the iPad mini screen's kind of a little bit fiddly as it is. Uh,
41:03
so it it'll be interesting to see how that works on a tiny little screen if you've got a bunch of windows, whether that would be manageable or not.
41:11
Speaking of the iPad Mini, a new refresh is coming uh with bigger changes than expected. Reports suggest the uh for the
41:18
eighth generation model, they'll switch the iPad mini to an OLED display, delivering a significant upgrade in
41:23
contrast, brightness, and overall viewing quality. Uh on the performance side, the iPad mini could get a
41:28
substantial boost with Apple planning on using either the A19 Pro or the upcoming A20 chip. Uh however, don't expect it
41:36
before late 2026. This could be a, you know, October, November type release
41:42
schedule. October surprise. But yeah, uh the OLED displays, the next generation of
41:47
technology coming to the iPad mini first after the iPad Pro.
41:52
Well, that you know, it's already on your watch and it's on your iPhone. It's, you know, they're they're slowly building it up, aren't they? Bigger and
41:57
bigger bigger bigger devices getting that screen. So, it does kind of make sense. It would be the next If I had to if I had to guess, this
42:04
isn't specified in the rumor, but I'm going to guess this is going to be a regular OLED display, not a tandem OLED
42:09
as exactly in the iPad Pro. But right, that's just my my speculation there. I feel like for a for a lower
42:16
entry product, I don't I don't think they'll go tandem. And that's obviously twice as, you know,
42:22
twice as expensive. Maybe I think a lot more expensive than the iPad, but they want to keep those those prices down. I think that's going to be
42:27
a challenge next year as well, isn't it? Apple keeping its prices steady. All right, let's let's wrap this up. We uh
42:33
the last two things to talk about are the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Ultra 4. Uh this should come in as usual in
42:40
September 2026. Uh sticking to its yearly refresh cycle. Um changes the
42:45
rumors at this point don't indicate we should expect anything radical. Uh I have there been any rumors about new
42:51
senses? I mean the blood glucose monitoring has has been on the horizon for a long time. But I don't think
42:57
there's any solid rumors about that coming. Um and same is true for the Apple Ultra 4. If they do release a new
43:04
model next year, um it's probably not going to have any like big new sensors or transformative improvements. It's
43:10
probably going to be uh the same as it was uh this this year with the with the Ultra 3 that you know, sort of a more of
43:16
an incredible upgrade. Yeah. So, I mean, my god, what a crazy year. There's going to be a whole bunch of crazy products
43:21
coming out. Um very very exciting stuff. Of course, you know, I think the big thing is that people are still complaining about Apple's software. You
43:28
know, Apple's been delivering hardware improvements regular as clockwork. Um, but the software, Apple Intelligence,
43:34
all their stuff is lagging. Can they keep up? We'll see. I'm really looking forward to Mac OS 27.
43:39
I'll just say that. I still haven't upgraded. Too terrified.
43:47
It's still not safe, is it? U might as might as well just wait. You
43:52
You've got no reason to upgrade. Why Why would you Why would you risk it? Okay, we're going to do a fun uh new
43:59
game here. uh fun. It's called the dead Apple product draft. Griffin came up with this. We have a list of uh dead
44:06
Apple products and we're going to draft them. How does this work, Griffin? You know, this is this is a new podcast in in the in the interest of, you know,
44:13
reviving things, starting fresh. We've got a list of um Apple products that are
44:20
p categories that Apple has completely abandoned, no longer is interested in making. And so what we're going to do is
44:25
we'll go round robin style. you know, Leander, then Lewis, then myself, and
44:30
we're going to pick an Apple product that we would like to see revived, given given new life. We we might give an
44:37
indication of, you know, how we'd like to see it reimagined, new features we'd like to see. And oh, and because this is
44:43
a draft, once one of us picks one of these things, it's off the table. We've we've claimed it. Nobody else can pick
44:48
it again. So, bunch of great candidates here for revival. Um, the first thing that caught
44:54
my eye was a 12-in MacBook. That would be fantastic. Perhaps this is kind of is actually gonna get revived with that new
45:00
lowc cost MacBook which is gonna have a 13inch screen. Um, but I was also really uh I mean going
45:07
for two. Well, I was just discussing so I was just thinking out loud. Okay. All right. I'll just jump straight to the one um
45:13
that uh that I want which is the iPod Hi-Fi. I'd love to see the iPod Hi-Fi. Um although again I guess HomePods maybe
45:21
uh filling that but I've I've got an old iPod Hi-Fi. I picked it up at a garage sale for 10 bucks. I still use it.
45:27
Fantastic speaker. Do you still use the iPod Hi-Fi? Do you have like a Because I know people get adapters or they like plug things into
45:33
it so that they can still Bluetooth to it. Yeah, I got a Bluetooth adapter with a 30 pin. Um, and I I definitely I haven't
45:40
used it recently because it's down in the basement. I used to have it at my office and uh since I moved offices, it's been kind of stashed in the
45:46
basement in the giant huge pile of uh of junk down there. But uh I'm definitely
45:52
going to dig it out. Yeah, I love that thing. It sounds great and it's really good for like a small office, it really does feel, you know, it's it's room
45:57
filling sound and super easy to use, nice to look at, very very pleasing. I know among like the the HomePod
46:03
afficionados there, people always say, "Oh, the you know, the original HomePod is much better than the second generation one." How does the iPod Hi-Fi
46:09
compare? Is that even like better sound? Do do you like the sound of that compared to the HomePod? Uh, you know, I haven't done a a
46:16
head-to-head test, so I can't answer that. Um, yeah, I the HomePods I've got, I mean, I've got in in a stereo pair, so
46:22
that's not really fair anyway, you know, like that in in the kitchen here. And um, so you got that sort of room filling
46:28
sound. I mean, you can definitely sort of hear it coming from the source, so it doesn't really compare, but uh, I mean, it is a still a great
46:34
sounding speaker though. I mean, when it when you've got it on your own and I tend to have it at lower volumes because I'm sitting fairly close to it. Um, but
46:41
I think it's much more attractive than the HomePod. I'll I'll say it. You know, it's a it's a it's a nice It still looks shockingly modern. Nice clean white box.
46:49
It's actually portable, too. Like boxes more than spheres. Put some batteries in it and take it out. So,
46:54
has a little carrying handle. Lewis H.
46:59
There's some odd choices on here. Um, I don't even know what some of these are. I guess I would go for uh Airport
47:07
Extreme. I think it would be awesome if Apple would get back into Wi-Fi. Yeah. Yeah. the I think the last airport
47:13
was only I think Wi-Fi 4 or maybe Wi-Fi 5. They many many new versions since
47:20
then. Home networking is a mess. There's like two companies that make
47:25
good home networks. Everybody just gets their basic like $30 router from their internet provider and they all suck.
47:31
Uh this would certainly be a good good entry into the market. I like to see this return as well. Nice mesh networking system, built-in
47:38
time capsule. It could be a great product. Mhm. I am going to pick the Apple laser
47:46
writer printer. That was my second choice. Apple basically invented the market of,
47:52
you know, home laser printers. They, you know, they made printers, if you're not aware, they made printers all throughout
47:58
the uh, you know, Apple 1.0 pre-98 era really. Um, they stopped making them
48:04
when Steve Jobs came back and they never made printers again. They were really easy to use, super easy to set up. You
48:11
know, the latest writers especially were indestructible. Uh, you know, they're they're legendary.
48:16
I've still got one in terms of like, you know, old computer community. Yeah. Um, I I would love to see them enter the
48:23
the printer market because the printer market is also desperately broken. You know, there's the the one Brother printer
48:28
that, you know, us tech enthusiasts know to buy. Uh, but then you know there's a market of like cheap garbage Epson and
48:37
HPs and please Apple save us.
48:42
Yeah, I was going to say but who uses a printer anymore? But I just printed out a couple of things this morning. So
48:48
even the good printers like they still don't have reliable Wi-Fi, you know, they it's it's a mess. Sometimes you
48:54
have to like type in your network password using like three buttons, scroll through the entire alphabet. It's
49:01
I thought for sure you're going to choose a new knee, mate. Are we going to go round again? Do we do another round? Yeah, I've got another Let's do another
49:07
round or two. The camera maybe. I don't know. Although, you know, I The iPod touch was an interesting one. Uh for a kids
49:14
computer like this is sort of a very cheap low uh entry level computer for
49:20
kids. Um yeah, I don't think there's anything maybe uh that fulfills that right now, you know,
49:26
except an old hand-me-down iPhone. So, I'll go for the iPod Touch. I think that should be revived. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I know a lot of
49:33
people who like give their kids an old phone and just don't connect don't give it a cellular plan, but that's kind of
49:38
messy. You know, the iPod touch was a dedicated device exactly for that purpose. Super accessible for developers
49:44
to use as testing devices. you know, if you want to keep a large array of like, you know, five or six things and you don't want to pay for five or six phone
49:50
plans or buy, you know, five or six iPhones that you don't really need to be iPhones, you know, it's a good
49:58
has a lot of purposes, but uh I guess not according to Tim Cook. Oh dear. Looking at this list trying to
50:05
come up with one, uh boy oh boy, I guess uh I guess the
50:10
I guess the two of you are very satisfied with Apple's current lineup. Well, I I I think I would also go with
50:16
the 12-inch MacBook, the thing that Leander first mentioned, because uh a good entry level MacBook, and I hope
50:21
that's what the whatever the thing is called that. I mean, they probably will just call it a MacBook, won't they?
50:27
Uh the the affordable one that they release next year. I I think, you know, it's weird to have a high-end MacBook
50:35
and a mid-range MacBook. And I mean, how could it be mid-range if there's only two, right? So, it
50:42
definitely makes sense to have a it definitely makes sense to have an entry-level MacBook that is affordable,
50:48
approachable, uh, and, uh, you know, it's it's good for everybody. Every it brings people
50:54
into the Apple ecosystem. Uh, if if it's on par with the price of PCs or just a
50:59
smidgen more, you can make the case that people would would say, "Hey, maybe I'll give this a shot." I expect the the new
51:05
13-inch MacBook to probably be I mean honestly I bet Apple will probably just reuse the same case that they've had on
51:12
the previous outgoing M1 MacBook Air. So I don't really expect this to be like an ultra portable machine in the way that
51:18
the uh 12-in MacBook was. Like it had a smaller display and it was also like ultra light, ultra thin, much more than
51:24
the MacBook Air ever was. Yeah. Compared to the old one. I mean the Air is a bulky beast, isn't it? A chunky boy.
51:31
It certainly could be thinner if it only has an A series chip in it, but I'm not I'm not sure. It would be nice to have a bespoke ultra portable design again. For
51:38
my next pick, I am going to go for the Apple Watch
51:44
Edition. Oh my god, the ceramic one. Yeah, the ceramic was really cool. Um I
51:50
think I'd seen one ever, but you know, it's really striking having that like clean white look to it. the the current
51:58
mix of Apple watches I'm a little unhappy with because Apple has proven that when they want they can polish
52:04
aluminum to be just as shiny. So, it's like, well, what do the titanium Apple Watches really like the non ultra
52:10
titanium Apple watches really do? You're paying so much more money for something to be made out of a different material
52:16
that has the exact same like look and properties as the aluminum ones. Like
52:22
why would you buy a if if I want a shiny gold Apple Watch, I have to spend like a few extra hundred dollars when I know
52:28
that Apple could make a shiny gold aluminum Apple Watch and they just don't. You know, I I feel like the
52:34
mid-range of, you know, this is a bespoke nice high-end Apple Watch should go for something completely different
52:39
like the ceramic. The ceramic was really cool. Um you can't make aluminum look like
52:45
that. Well, the the new um the Series 11 that comes in shiny black aluminum. aluminum.
52:50
Doesn't look like aluminum at all. It it it it it's got that, you know, that piano black sheen on it. It looks like a
52:56
much uh it looks like a stainless steel uh watch, but of course, it's much lighter. So, yeah. I mean, maybe they
53:02
should do that in in uh in shiny white. Part of my frustration is because I'm kind of interested in the shiny gold
53:07
Apple Watch, but I don't want to spend five like $600 on a watch when I know they could just anodize aluminum to make
53:12
it look like that, but oh well. I I have never understood people buying the the super expensive regular Apple Watch. I
53:20
because it's, you know, you're going to want a new one in another year or so. It just it just always has seemed like a
53:26
Well, I'm just too cheap for it. That's all. I'm just too cheap. Yeah, me too. Me too. I'm also probably too cheap for it, but
53:32
I'm just also getting a little bored of like the silver thing on my wrist. A shiny gold one will look cool. But think how black Ultra 3 would look.
53:41
And I'm sure you can pick up a case that would give you that look as well. There was all kind of crazy cases. Uh I was doing some research. I mean, you can get
53:47
a case now that'll turn you a regular Apple Watch to make it look like a faux Ultra um with all the buttons and the
53:52
the larger um uh the body size as well. They look really kind of cool. Mhm.
53:57
Should we wrap it up? We have time for another pick or call it there. Okay.
54:03
Thank god he's gonna have to pick between a Newton EMate. Yeah, that was my surprise. I thought
54:09
for sure Griffin, you were going to choose that. I get my other sort of pick was uh that I was looking at was the
54:15
Apple 2. Yeah. What the They bring it back. They they bring it back as the Apple 4 and make it sort of
54:21
like the um sort of like a Raspberry Pi type device where it's like an A19 chip on a tiny little board and they sell it
54:27
for like 50 bucks as like a little hobby thing. Yeah. Was supercharged version of Unix.
54:33
That that could be neat. Cool. the Superdrive, you know, they they could they could modernize that as
54:39
like a USB Blu-ray player. Few few other ideas here,
54:44
right? I think uh if you if Tim Cook, if you're looking for a new product manager, Griffin Jill is right here. The
54:51
battery charger. I used to have one of those, I think, um somehow, but I got rid of it.
54:57
Or the Apple 2 extended keyboard. I think that would be very popular. I had never even heard of this Apple battery charger. that they made that in
55:04
like the late 2000s, early 2010s. It was like a tiny imagine like a MacBook charger except you just put in shiny
55:10
silver AA batteries in it. It came with like Apple designed batteries that were just regular like I think they were like
55:16
Energizer or whatever Duracell batteries, but they just came in like a shiny Apple packaging that was like just
55:22
said plus and minus on the top and bottom. Weird. It's one of one of those niche accessories that they put out for a few
55:28
years and then killed silently. Yeah, I'm surprised there's a lot of lot of stuff that Apple's put out the past
55:33
year. Okay, I think that's a wrap. Thanks so much everybody for listening. Um, please give us a rating or review on
55:39
Apple Podcast and please share the show with anybody you think'd like to listen. You can find Lewis at Twitter at Lewis
55:45
Wallace Griffins on Macedon Griffin Jars and I write every day for the Cult ofMac newsletter that you can get at
55:50
newsletters.cultmack.com. And of course, you can find back at the cult. So, thank you all for listening
55:57
and watching. We'll see you next time. Have a great new year. Goodbye. See you in 2026.
56:03
[Music]