In this episode, we take a look back at the major Apple hardware releases. What made an impression? What was a disappointment? Tune in and find out more!

This is episode 964 with Michael Simon, Jason Cross,  and Roman Loyola.  

Get info

Click on the links below for more info on what was discussed on the show.

• iPhone 17 and Air superguide





• IPhone 16e superguide





• M4 MacBook Air superguide





• M5 MacBook Pro superguide





• 2025 Mac Studio superguide





• M3 iPad Air





• M5 iPad Pro





• Does Apple’s Dynamic Power Adapter really charge your iPhone faster? 





• AirPods Pro 3 superguide

This Week in Apple History 

On December 20, 1996, Apple announced that it would acquire Next Software for $400 million. 

Macworld Mailbag 

On a recent episode we talked about the Apple executive changes, and we broached the topic of the legacy of Apple CEO Tim Cook. People have plenty of thoughts on this. 

He’s already at a pretty low note with ios 26. 

johnnyfive_75 on TikTok

Releasing the Vision Pro flop, fumbling Al, releasing a meh OS reskin, and capitulating & cozying to fascists. That’s his legacy 

pattiestpower on TikTok

Tim Apple should have been replaced YEARS AGO. He may have kept the profits coming short term, but long term he did so much damage to the brand. 

chickenfriedsteak40 on TikTok

If you want to know what Tim Cook’s legacy is – continued growth and stability. Nothing more. 

Peter Windleon on FaceBook

Subscribe to the Macworld Podcast

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To find previous episodes, visit Macworld’s podcast page or our home on MegaPhone.

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Apple

Below is an AI-generated, uncorrected transcript of the podcast. The timecodes do not correspond to the published recording. Also, the text has not been edited or corrected, so it will contain improper grammar, misspellings, and other errors.

Roman Loyola (00:00 .548)
while recording but…

Jason Cross (00:00 .824)
Let me make sure I’ve got it. Okay, I’m good.

Michael Simon (00:05 .23)
All right.

Unscripted, unfiltered, unafraid, welcome to the Macworld Podcast. My name is Michael Simon and I am joined for the last episode of the year by Jason Cross.

Jason Cross (00:18 .008)
Good morning.

Michael Simon (00:19 .284)
And our producer, Roman Loyal.

Roman Loyola (00:21 .636)
Ahoy there.

Michael Simon (00:23 .694)
hold on, Roman. Did I miss? Did I update this?

Jason Cross (00:25 .207)
You

Roman Loyola (00:26 .384)
I was trying to get some energy up.

Jason Cross (00:28 .182)
I know, hey.

Roman Loyola (00:29 .978)
Hey, welcome to the podcast. Last one.

Michael Simon (00:33 .706)
Uh, so we just recorded one like 10 minutes ago and was like, it was like an hour and a half and now we have a second one, but we’re pretending like it’s the end of the year and we have lots of energy. This is episode number 964. That’s right. Including the one we just recorded. All right. Episode number 964. And if you listened to last week’s show, you know what this one is. We’re going to talk about hardware, all the

Roman Loyola (00:36 .752)
That’s I mean.

Roman Loyola (00:48 .452)
Yes. That is correct. Yes.

Michael Simon (01:00 .014)
stuff Apple released on the hardware side last year, last year, last week we talked about software. Everything, yeah, software and services. So everything Apple, everything Apple released on the hardware side of what we like, what we didn’t like, what it means, all that other stuff. Then we’re going to have a year-end version of the worst thing that happened this week, this week in Apple history and our reader mailbag. We’re going to zip through the show because the last one was like, was like three days long. So this was going to be quick.

Jason Cross (01:06 .904)
Software and Services.

Michael Simon (01:29 .848)
We’re not going to spend much time on the new iPhone, Speaking of reader mailbag, which I just said before I interrupted myself, you can contact us through Blue Sky, Facebook, threads, search for Macworld, look for the Blue Mouse logo, send an email to podcast.macworld.com, comment under video, tell us what you think about what Apple did this year. Tell us what you want Apple to do next year, whatever you want. We will get, look at those and we’ll get to them next year if…

First show will be on January 7th, 8th. We don’t have a show until January. Wow, we have like three or four weeks of no shows.

Jason Cross (02:06 .904)
Ha

Michael Simon (02:08 .846)
okay. Roman, forget three minutes. Give me a minute and a half to talk about. so, this is our last show before, 2026. So, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, happy new year, happy Hanukkah, happy whatever you celebrate. real quick, we’re off between Christmas and new years. Are you guys, doing anything fun?

Either