Strap in Apple fans, 2026 is going to be a wild ride
A little over 12 months ago, I set out to assess Apple’s 2024, a year in which its successes were failures and its failures were successes. Then as now, the company’s pet projects were AI and mixed reality, but Apple Intelligence and Vision Pro failed; while a number of much more discreet products, including the 4th generation AirPods and the M4 Mac mini, have thrived by offering great features at an affordable price. It was a topsy-turvy year.
Looking to 2025, we have a similar idea of what could have been. Vision Pro remains an ultra-niche proof of concept with no commercial footprint to speak of, while Apple Intelligence clearly lags behind other companies’ AI offerings. At least one of them must be delivered in 2026.
Clearly, it’s critical that Apple finally delivers on its promise of an AI-powered, contextually relevant Siri. Fortunately, the latest code leaks indicate that Siri 2.0 will arrive in spring 2026. That’s about 18 months late, a delay that has dealt a major blow to Apple’s reputation, both due to empty promises that undermine confidence in the company’s vision and the lackluster performance users are experiencing with the current iteration of Siri. Whether your favorite cliché is “too little, too late” or “better late than never,” we can agree that the process of regaining our trust begins this year.
On the VR/AR side, there is little prospect of a redesigned and slimmed-down Vision Pro model in 2026, but the cancellation of this project could lead to the arrival, or at least the announcement, of something users have been waiting for even longer: smart glasses. These of course won’t rival the transformative experience you get with Vision Pro, since smart glasses can’t immerse or transport the user in the same way as a high-end mixed reality headset, but they offer much more everyday accessibility. Vision Pro has fundamental limitations in terms of weight, battery life and cost that mean it simply cannot become a mainstream mainstream computing device at this time. Apple Glasses might be another matter, and we might start to find out if that’s the case in 2026.
So much for Apple’s current obsessions. But the company’s real source of revenue remains the iPhone, and 2026 is also shaping up to be a sink-or-swim year for this line. Apple’s two big failures in 2025 were the iPhone Air and the iPhone 16e, but both have the opportunity to redeem themselves this year.
The iPhone 16e tripped because it was too high. Apple was determined to bring Apple Intelligence to its most accessible phone, which imposed minimum requirements for CPU and RAM allocation. This meant that what should have been a budget device ended up costing $599 while still missing a wide range of standard features, from multiple rear camera lenses to MagSafe. The iPhone 17e should learn from these mistakes, and it must, because this could be Apple’s last chance to remain a serious player in the budget phone market.
The iPhone Air, on the other hand, seems to me to be a product without much future in itself. We could have a 2nd generation model in 2026, but absent a fundamental overhaul of its design philosophy, I don’t see why it would sell better than the first. However, the technological advances Apple made in creating the Air are necessary for other reasons: namely, the launch of the first foldable iPhone. And the iPhone Fold, widely anticipated for release in the fall, holds the key to Apple’s future in smartphones.
I’m not convinced the Fold will be an overnight success. It’s surely going to cost too much for more than a handful of die-hard Cupertino loyalists to open their wallets, but then again, it doesn’t need to dominate the foldable market right away. All it needs to do is give Apple a foothold, create a little buzz and share the mind while Apple builds its expertise in a space it has avoided until now. Unlike the Air, an unconvincing first-generation iPhone Fold wouldn’t be a total disaster because the product has room to grow and a reason to exist. Compromises are in service of something people actually want.
And what about the Mac? This side of Apple’s business had a strong 2025, thanks to the power and efficiency of the M5 chip. The MacBook Pro is currently in a good place; Mac Studio is in a great place. But the Mac Pro lets it down with its extremely outdated M2 Ultra spec and is in dire need of some love or a quiet death in 2026. And that budget MacBook with an iPhone chip? It would be better not to repeat the same problems as the iPhone 16e.
So it’s going to be a busy year. The new Siri, Apple Glasses, the iPhone 17e and Fold as well as a new MacBook are making headlines, but the company will also have to juggle the usual new iPads and Apple Watches. We might even see the mysterious HomePad and, if we’re really lucky, some summer OS updates that don’t look like Windows Vista on a bad day. It’s a lot to do. But if anyone can do it, it’s Apple.
Good year !
Foundry
Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in one handy summary. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it pairs really well with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you also want to read it during lunch or dinner hours.
Overview 2026
iPhone: a year of big changes
Mac: This could be the biggest year since 1984
iPad: mostly minor updates (with one exception)
Apple Watch: hopes are higher than expectations
Smart home: Apple may be considering a massive effort
Trending: Featured News
Alex Blake explains why his favorite iPhone apps of 2025 belong to your home screen Also.
Car manufacturers take Apple fans for an incredible ride, says the Macalope.
Will Apple’s 2026 start with a bang or a whimper? Here’s what’s coming in January
Expert advice
9 Tweaks and Shortcuts Every New MacBook Needs
10 Settings to Change When You Get a New iPhone
10 Tips and Features You Need to Know About AirPods Pro
Podcast of the week
The Macworld Podcast took a week off for the holidays, but they’ll be back next week. You can watch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site.
Reviews corner
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