We’re only a couple weeks away from placing 2023 in our rearview mirror, so it’s time–because the pure order of issues dictates—to forged our eyes again during the last 12 months and try to form the occasions into some semblance of narrative.
The previous 12 months in Apple has definitely been eventful, starting from massive updates on the Mac line to completely absent iPads to a model new product class to challenges from rivals and governments alike. Even when the corporate hasn’t had its most blockbuster monetary outcomes of all time, you’d be hard-pressed to say it hasn’t had its nostril to the grindstone.
After all, the massive strikes aren’t at all times those which can be apparent from the skin. Typically, some traits solely develop into obvious when you will have the possibility to take a look at them on reflection.
Apple silicon steams ahead
2023 was one other nice 12 months for the Mac. Only a month shy of the product’s fortieth anniversary, it’s laborious to oversell simply how unimaginable a increase the enduring private pc has had–an enormous chunk of which could be attributed to Apple silicon.
Apple added a much bigger 15-inch MacBook Air to provide customers extra selections.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Curiously, the tempo of Apple’s chips appeared to speed up a bit this 12 months: the M2 Professional and M2 Max debuted in January within the MacBook Professional and Mac mini, paving the best way for updates to the Mac Studio and Mac Professional–together with the powerhouse M2 Extremely and new 15-inch MacBook Air–halfway by the 12 months. That may have appeared like loads for a single 12 months, however only a few months later, in October, the corporate rolled out not solely its M3 chip however concurrently the M3 Professional and M3 Max variants, leaving solely a putative M3 Extremely on the shelf.
The speedy price of chip improvement reveals simply how a lot Apple has invested on this side of its enterprise during the last decade–these sorts of issues don’t occur in a single day, a lot as it’d appear to be it to the skin observer. Apple is aware of silicon is core to its enterprise (all puns supposed) and the corporate isn’t about to drag again on it now. If nothing else, that instance is value conserving in thoughts in the case of different applied sciences that Apple may be serious about. The work isn’t at all times apparent, even when it’s occurring furiously.
The training machines
Synthetic intelligence is the buzziest of buzzwords, the one that everyone’s been speaking about throughout the tech business for the final 12 months or so (can we lastly bid a not-so-fond adieu to cryptocurrency and the blockchain?). On condition that prevalence, it’s not a shock that AI’s even began to simmer inside discussions about Apple: has the corporate missed the boat? Will it produce generative AI merchandise within the 12 months forward? Or is the dialog lacking all the machine learning-related tech that the corporate already has?
However even when AI options haven’t but come to the forefront, it’s clear that the corporate has spent a variety of time working behind the scenes in 2023. It did, the truth is, launch a generative AI accessibility function, Private Voice, as a part of iOS 17, and even produced a brief movie about it. Simply this previous week, Apple went a step additional and really quietly launched an open-source framework for constructing AI fashions optimized for Apple silicon, which feels very very similar to the corporate ramping up for giant developments.
And, naturally, CEO Tim Prepare dinner obtained the requisite questions on AI throughout quarterly monetary calls with analysts, who’re at all times digging for any tidbit on the corporate’s future plans. Throughout final month’s name, he responded by saying:
When it comes to generative AI, clearly, we’ve got work occurring. I’m not going to get into particulars about what it’s, as a result of as , we actually don’t do this. However you may guess that we’re investing. We’re investing fairly a bit.
Whereas this work appears largely nonetheless beneath the floor, the shift from the start of 2023 to the developments we’re seeing now, on the finish of the 12 months, says that Apple is aware of AI is not any passing fad.
Apple’s spatial computing platform made a splashy debut at WWDC this previous June.
Foundry
The Imaginative and prescient Professional factor
No listing of Apple’s largest strikes of 2023 could be full with out the Imaginative and prescient Professional–which is considerably difficult, because the machine isn’t anticipated to ship for one more month not less than. But when the AR headset was omnipresent as a rumor earlier than the announcement, its dominance over the Apple-related dialog has solely solidified within the again half of the 12 months. Given how a lot the Imaginative and prescient Professional has captured the eye of the Apple group, it’s laborious to think about that it hasn’t had an much more profound impact throughout the firm itself.
The Imaginative and prescient Professional is definitely essentially the most vital new Apple product since not less than the Apple Watch, which is itself closing in on a decade of life at this level. Even earlier than the discharge of the headset—or, as Apple would have it, “spatial pc”—it’s clear that the event of this product has been a significant focus of the corporate’s assets, from supplies and engineering to software program.
Whether or not it succeeds, nicely, that’s a query for 2024.
The place can we go from right here?
That’s not all that occurred in 2023, in fact: the 12 months additionally noticed Apple lastly launch a few of its professional apps for the iPad, proceed its march on safety and privateness options, and launch massive updates to all of its main software program platforms, all whereas contending with elevated scrutiny from regulators and governments all over the world.
With all of that behind us, it’s time to sit up for what 2024 would possibly maintain. Subsequent week, I’ll check out what is going to possible be the most important tales within the Apple world for the 12 months forward.
