Apple wasn’t wanting new merchandise in 2024, a 12 months which marked the 40th anniversary of the launch of the very first Mac. For starters, the corporate launched a brand new processor vary within the type of the M4 chip, though there was a curveball by way of the primary machine to get this CPU – a pill (gasp).
Finally, although, the M4 got here to a bunch of Macs – the place you’d have anticipated the chip to debut, actually – and we ended the 12 months with a clutch of latest PCs, and the discharge of Apple Intelligence, the agency’s inevitable tackle AI that was realized throughout the course of 2024. Learn on for a recap of all of the highlights – and certainly lowlights – of Apple’s 12 months.
Imaginative and prescient Professional proves a head-turning headset – however stupidly costly
Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional mixed-reality headset arrived in February 2024 (within the US) and early reaction was certainly excited about this all-in premium product, which was considered a daring transfer by Apple.
In our Vision Pro review, we famous that the principle drawbacks had been the load of the headset, and naturally, the truth that the value was weighty too – it’s a significantly costly piece of package. However we discovered the Imaginative and prescient Professional boasted a great deal of sturdy factors, together with highly effective {hardware}, a slick design, and wonderful eye and gesture monitoring.
Moreover, we noticed that ‘spatial computing’ was not only a advertising time period, however a really actual next-gen computing expertise which had arrived courtesy of Apple’s headset.
We heard tales of wobbly sales figures for the Vision Pro after the launch, though this was inevitably going to be one thing of a distinct segment product given the value tag. (There have been strong rumors of a cheaper model coming next year, although – effectively, comparatively extra reasonably priced, we must always say).
Shock M4 arrival on iPad
In March 2024, we had some laptops sprung on us, with the shock launch of new MacBook Air 13-inch and 15-inch models with M3 silicon inside. Whereas there was no M4 to be seen right here, the next-gen chip turned up shortly afterwards – in an iPad, as rumors had suggested.
This represented a serious shift for Apple, as a result of earlier than this, new M sequence processors had all the time arrived in Macs first, earlier than being dropped at the iPad pill vary.
The M4 came packing a second-gen (enhanced 3nm) architecture, and was upgraded to a 10-core CPU (with 4 efficiency cores and 6 effectivity cores) together with a 10-core GPU (for the top-tier M4 chip). That made for an enormous increase in efficiency over the M3, and particularly, Apple upgraded the NPU (neural engine) in a serious approach, pushing it to 38 TOPS – greater than double the M3.
The M4 initially landing in an iPad, the ‘thinpossible’ OLED-toting iPad Pro to be precise, induced fairly some waves when it occurred in Could 2024. Certainly, it wasn’t till a lot later within the 12 months that the M4 SoC got here to Macs – however when it did, Apple offered way more highly effective variants of the M4.
New M4 Macs energy onto the scene with Professional and Max variants
Early within the 12 months, there have been hints that 8GB of RAM wouldn’t be enough for the following era of M4-powered Macs, and rumors quickly abounded that Apple may equip these machines with 16GB at the entry-level across the board.
That hypothesis turned out to be true, fortunately, and when the iMac 24-inch, Mac mini and MacBook Professional fashions with the M4 chip had been revealed late in October, they carried 16GB on all the bottom fashions. We are able to assume this will likely be true for all Macs going ahead – even the present MacBook Air M3 and M2 fashions bought boosted to 16GB at the entry-level, with no price hike, in October – and the explanation for it’s Apple Intelligence (which we’ll come onto shortly – that is, after all, additionally the explanation for that vast NPU increase with the M4 silicon).
The primary new Macintosh (sure, don’t neglect, that’s what Mac stood for initially) to reach was the iMac 24-inch M4. Apple introduced the machines one after the other, throughout the days working as much as Halloween, and the revamped iMac took the crown of the very best all-in-one PC on the market (admittedly from its predecessor with the M3 chip). It’s a wonderful laptop and the 16GB of RAM at entry-level was a welcome boost, plus there have been some notable hidden upgrades here, too.
Subsequent up was the eco-friendly Mac mini M4 which may be summed up as a compelling evolution of the tiny field of computing methods that’s ‘smaller, faster, and better’ than its predecessor (which was already wonderful).
The Mac mini acquired a sizeable efficiency increase from the M4 – or the more powerful M4 Pro as a second choice – alongside a design that packed the whole lot right into a remarkably small dimension. It additionally benefited from a laudably repairable nature on the whole, whereas holding the identical worth because the earlier Mac mini, making the brand new machine nothing wanting excellent worth. Briefly, this was top-notch work from Apple (just don’t mention that power button).
Lastly, Apple saved the MacBook Professional because the final launch packing the brand new M4 Max CPU for top-of-the-range performance, together with the M4 Professional. We had been handled to MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch models, and whereas these new M4 chips had been undoubtedly a serious increase, these professional-targeted laptops didn’t change their design a lot in comparison with the earlier fashions.
Other than the M4, we bought quicker Thunderbolt 5 ports, and a few upgrades for the screen that may have handed you by (not OLED, after all) – however actually, a lot of the MacBook Professional remained the identical.
One key change, as we’ve already famous, was the transfer to 16GB of RAM all-round, which was lengthy overdue for the entry-level MacBook Professional 14-inch. The truth is, we will’t imagine it took this lengthy for Apple to unify the MacBook Professional vary with an absolute minimal of 16GB of system reminiscence throughout each single mannequin.
The brand new M4 silicon additionally helped push the power of Mac gaming, a subject usually discussed here at TechRadar, and as we famous in our MacBook Professional 14-inch M4 overview, AAA gaming on a Mac has become a reality – with video games trying nothing wanting jaw-dropping on that nano-texture display. No, the MacBook Professional shouldn’t be speculated to be a gaming laptop computer, however it’s good to have the ability to unwind with a session in your favourite shooter after a tough day’s rendering.
Whereas all these new M4 Macs just about went down a storm, there was some controversy round one of many new peripherals launched alongside them. The Magic Mouse (bundled with the iMac) nonetheless had the charging port on the underside, a design flaw that has lengthy been complained about, however one thing Apple evidently isn’t willing to budge on. One other oddity from Apple right here was the lack of Wi-Fi 7 support with these M4-packing cutting-edge PCs.
Mac gross sales slumped – and Apple was outgunned by Nvidia
Apple actually wanted that recent Mac M4 blood, as a result of gross sales of its PCs have been very a lot flagging in latest historical past. After poor gross sales figures in 2023, when April 2024 rolled round, it turned clear that Mac sales dropped by a precipitous 27% within the previous fiscal 12 months. And the image didn’t get any higher in Q3 2024 when a 17.5% year-on-year drop in Mac shipments was estimated by an analyst agency.
On the identical time, analyst predictions (sure, add seasoning) turned to forecasts of large development for Microsoft Copilot+ PCs that would ‘cause a crisis in Apple’s MacBook Pro sales’ sooner or later. After which Nvidia emphatically overtook Apple as essentially the most helpful firm on the earth in November 2024 (that truly occurred earlier within the 12 months, too, for a short time).
Briefly, Mac gross sales wanted kick up the Magic Mouse charging port, and likely Tim Cook hopes that the brand new M4 Macs will ship simply that after we get to listen to the gross sales figures for this ultimate quarter of 2024.
Additional potential monetary wobbles additionally loomed as threats on the authorized facet with that iCloud ‘lock in’ lawsuit and the iPhone monopoly lawsuit giving Apple a lot to fret about there.
macOS Sequioa launched with iPhone Mirroring
Yearly, we get a brand new macOS in addition to new Macs from Apple, and macOS Sequioa was announced at WWDC 24 (alongside Apple Intelligence) in June, adopted swiftly by its beta launch (it arrived in July for the general public). The completed model of macOS 15 turned up in September – with out Apple Intelligence to start out with (we’ll be onto that subject shortly) – packing quite a few new features, together with one main spotlight.
That was iPhone Mirroring which, because the identify suggests, helps you to use your Apple smartphone on the macOS desktop. You get a resizable window on your iPhone exercise, and thru this, you may obtain iPhone notifications, reply to texts, use your apps and so forth. For iPhone house owners, it’s a wonderful addition to macOS 15, and we were seriously impressed by the functionality on offer.
There have been different smart additions with macOS Sequioa, together with a brand new Password app, some nifty storage tweaks and interface sharpening, and work on Sport Mode for quicker body charges that helped make Macs a stronger gaming pressure alongside the brand new M4 silicon as already noticed.
Sequioa was effectively acquired in the principle, even when the adjustments weren’t precisely jaw-slackening for these not serious about iPhones. That mentioned, there have been loads of unlucky niggling bugs with macOS 15, and quite a fuss around overzealous app permission pop-ups.
Apple lastly joins the generative AI rat race
Apple lastly jumped on the generative AI bandwagon with all the opposite tech behemoths after being a notable absence from this house in 2023.
Early chatter about Apple’s tackle generative AI revolved round emphasizing privacy and tight security – within the face of concerns about other AI features, corresponding to Microsoft’s Recall performance in Windows 11 – which was a smart angle for Apple to take. A ‘customer comes first’ approach, as Tim Prepare dinner cleverly pitched it.
As we already talked about, Apple Intelligence wasn’t in macOS 15 (Sequioa) when it first launched, but came later in macOS 15.1 – on the finish of October, when these M4 Macs appeared on the scene, full with their peppier NPUs to speed up AI workloads. As Apple made clear, it was solely Macs that have Apple silicon which bought support for Apple Intelligence – so Intel-powered computer systems had been dominated out.
Apple Intelligence is generative AI in the identical broad mildew we see elsewhere. You may get the AI to write down for you, or edit content material, summarize textual content, create photographs from scratch and so forth. There are neat touches like an AI-powered focus (don’t disturb) mode, and summarized notifications selecting out, for instance, key factors from energetic group chats.
Nonetheless, Apple Intelligence is considerably restricted on this preliminary launch, and response has been fairly blended – with some underwhelmed notes – however that is nonetheless early days, and Apple has some massive plans for pushing the AI capabilities of macOS and iOS sooner or later, you may wager on that.
Concluding ideas
All in all, it was a fairly busy 12 months between the launch of Apple Intelligence, and the arrival of a number of wonderful new Macs with that M4 chip. True, these Macs had been extra iterative than revolutionary – though the Mac mini did transfer the improve dial significantly greater than Apple’s different launches – and it’s additionally true that the very best remains to be but to come back from Apple Intelligence.
With Apple’s Mac gross sales clearly flagging at this cut-off date – and the corporate struggling an analogous hunch final 12 months, too – we think about Apple will likely be eager to drive ahead with extra significant adjustments, by way of AI, and elsewhere for that matter.
Mac (and iPhone or iPad) house owners will likely be anticipating some severe enhancements with Apple Intelligence, and Apple will inevitably sustain the tempo with new silicon provided that M5 Macs are already rumored for subsequent 12 months (but not that OLED-packing MacBook Pro, sadly). Will M4, or certainly M5-packing Macs assist flip these flagging gross sales round? Apple higher hope so, as a 3rd 12 months of decline in 2025 received’t be take a look at all.
