Apple 2023 Year in Review: Next Year will be Bigger
With 2023 nearing its conclusion, Apple Inc. is gearing up for a critical and hype-driven 2024. That’s not to say that Apple had a poor 2023, though perhaps it was not as successful as a typical calendar year. Next year appears to be a much bigger one for Apple with Apple Vision Pro, a fully refreshed iPad lineup, the 10th generation Apple Watch (which is rumored to feature a redesign), M3 chips being brought to the rest of the lineup, and of course the iPhone 16 in the fall. But this year was more of a management year for Apple. Let’s review the announcements they made this past calendar year and talk about the good, the bad, and the odd.
The Good
iPhone 15 and 15 Plus
The base iPhones get the nod in the “good” category over their Pro counterparts for a few reasons as I expanded on here. But the gist of it is that the 15’s got a big upgrade over their predecessor 14 and 14 Plus, where as the Pro models year over year did not receive as many improvements. Thats not to say the 15 Pro and Pro Max are bad devices, they are in fact excellent phones. But the 15 and 15 Plus are essentially light versions of the 14 Pro models from last year. They get the 48 megapixel camera, the Dynamic Island, USB-C, and the new and more refined design. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are excellent devices and worthy upgrades for anyone on even an iPhone 14 or older.
The 15-inch MacBook Air
When Apple announced the 15-inch MacBook Air at WWDC, it was immediately inaugurated as a new smash hit. While the sales figures don’t necessarily reflect that, I think there are other reasons as to why (mediocre specs, year-old M2 chip). In a vacuum, the 15-inch MacBook Air is the exact device that people have been waiting for — a larger screen MacBook that does not break the bank. In that regard, Apple delivered.
For nearly 90% of people, the new base model 15-inch MacBook Air will be fine. Those people are likely only surfing the web, doing some office work, consuming content, and light photo or video editing in low-intensity applications. The primary clientele don’t care about RAM, gigahertz, memory swap, or graphics cores. If you know these terms, and are aware of their impact on your productivity, then the base model 15-inch Air is not for you. For everyone else, pick up the MacBook Air, who at the time of this writing is on sale for a blistering $1,049. Pick it up as the best value MacBook this holiday season.
The M3 Chip
On Halloween night, Apple unveiled their new processor — the M3. This chip is landmark achievement for Apple, their first three nanometer silicon that promises better performance, efficiency, and power consumption on laptops. Apple even went a bit further by announcing that the M3 can do ray-tracing, which is a big deal for gaming and video work. Benchmarks back up the claims, as the M3 is essentially as powerful as an M2 Max — quite the feat. While the M3 is only in the controversial 14-inch MacBook “Pro” (please make note of the quotations), it will be an excellent upgrade to the rest of Apple’s lineup.
The Odd
The M3 Pro Chip
While the base M3 chip is great, the same cannot be said for the M3 Pro processor. Let me be clear: the M3 Pro is a very powerful processor, but it is not as big of an upgrade as people were expecting. In fact, it is roughly the same as the M2 Pro with only minor bumps across the board. That was disappointing for many reviewers, who opted to keep their M1 or M2 versions as opposed to upgrade to the M3 Pro. However, the M3 Max was deemed a clear winner as it is much more powerful than its predecessors. But for the M3 Pro, it is not as big of an upgrade over the M2 or even the M1 Pro versions.
The Entire iPad Lineup
As the title says, the entire iPad lineup is very weird and consumers should be extremely cautious with purchasing one right now. The 9th generation iPad is very cheap brand new from several retailers and is the best bang for your buck Apple tablet. The 10th generation iPad is bizarre and not a great use of money. The iPad Air and iPad mini are long due for upgrades, especially the mini which was last updated in 2021. And the iPad Pro has very specific use cases that apply to only certain people. To cap it all off, none of the iPads received updates in 2023 aside from one accessory which will fall in the “ugly” category. Proceed with caution when thinking about buying an iPad and, in my opinion, wait until next year.
Why Buy a Mac Pro?
On yeah, Apple makes a Mac Pro. You wouldn’t know it based on the fact that prior to WWDC it was the last Mac still sporting an Intel chip. But Apple changed all that by giving it the M2 Ultra, a blazing fast processor that is leaps and bounds better than any Intel chip one could get in it. But that doesn’t mean its a good purchase. In fact, it is one of the strangest products Apple is selling right now. The chassis is huge, fully capable of holding more graphics cards, hard drives, and other peripherals to make it the ultimate computational battle station. Yet, it really only has some fans and the M2 Ultra inside. What gives? Its a giant, empty shell of a chassis. Why purchase the Mac Pro when you can get the more compact Mac Studio which can get the exact same chip. The price tag is a whopping $7,000, while the Mac Studio with the same specs starts at $4,000. It is pretty clear that Apple had bigger plans for the Mac Pro and was forced to scrap them at the last minute — resulting in this Frankenstein tower that is overpriced.
The Ugly
Another Apple Pencil
Yes, you read that right. Apple announced another Apple Pencil, this time with USB-C. It essentially replaces the first generation Pencil, working with basically every iPad except for the 9th generation one. It magnetically charges to the top of the iPad, but doesn’t charge it. So Apple sells three different Apple Pencils, all with varying degrees of compatibility. I guess it makes sense to give the most confusing lineup equally confusing accessories.
FineWoven Accessories
In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, Apple ditched their leather phone cases and watch bands and announced a new material called FineWoven. Using recycled materials, this new material would be as soft and supportive as leather while being less harmful to the environment. And while that is certainly a noble gesture, the consensus is that the new material is not a good replacement. There are hundreds of reviewers and consumers openly complaining about how easy the material shows scratches and tears, similar to a car seat or cloth chair. And at $59, when thousands of options exist on the secondary market for a fraction of the price, there is zero reason to purchase a FineWoven product. Hopefully Apple is going back to the drawing board with their phone cases and watch bands.
The M3 MacBook Pro
I have been very openly critical of Apple’s new baseline MacBook Pro, the successor to the 13-inch variant. To keep this short and sweet, do not buy the $1,599 M3 MacBook Pro. It has 8GB or RAM (again, pathetic in such an expensive laptop), its missing a Thunderbolt 4 port, only has one fan, and is massively overpriced. I would much rather have a refurbished M2 Pro MacBook Pro (which Apple sells on their refurbished site) or a 13 or 15-inch MacBook Air with the 16GB RAM upgrade. Those are significantly better buys and save you a significant amount of money along the way. You aren’t losing a significant amount of performance choosing an M2 over the M3, and the latter is truly unlocked with more RAM at its disposal. There are several YouTubers who can back this up as well.
Wrap-Up
I certainly did not hit everything in this review. The software updates were, as usual, acceptable, but not without their bugs and security issues. Nothing new there. MacOS Sonoma’s introduction of widgets on the desktop and new wallpapers are certainly splashy and intuitive. It is hard to fully review any of the software upgrades because features seem to be getting pushed into the next year. Overall, Apple had a fine year. But 2024 is shaping up to be a much more critical year for the tech giant, entering the virtual reality foray with their first new product line since the Apple Watch. As always, all tech eyes will be on Apple.
