Why Apple is bouncing back in '26?
All we needed was some patience - we knew Apple would be back
It’s fair to say that Apple has had a rough eighteen months, but it only goes to prove that we should have believed in them all along.
I was not alone in doubting them, but I was wrong to ever doubt them.
It brings to mind that age-old adage that form is temporary but class is permanent. I think the signs are there that Apple are bouncing back and will possibly be better than ever.
I think we could say pretty safely that WWDC 2024 was a low-tide point for Apple. From what I can remember about it, one of the few good things to come out of it was the Tandem OLED display on the iPad Pro.
Most memorable, of course, was the fact that they kind of led us a merry old dance about Apple Intelligence and what we could expect from it. The way that they sent Craig and the team out in front of a camera, knowing, or more than likely knowing, that they were telling us at best a far-reaching yarn, is hard to forgive.
We deserve and should expect better from Apple.
And as if that weren’t enough bad news, over the past year, Apple has also been called to task in the courtroom as well. Apple seemed to have only one playbook, and they seemed to think they could bully judges, the law and courtrooms to see sense and come round to their point of view.
Apple has never been used to not winning, but the world is a changing place. Apple, Google, and Meta have all, in one way or another, felt the heat. The tech gatekeepers out there have all been brought to task and are very much the focus of government attention in the US.
Apple and avoidable mistakes
I’ve wondered if Apple has ever wished it had played it differently when it came to Artificial Intelligence.
There have been many columns written about why they missed the AI wave, and I’m not going to rake over cold coals in this story. The company that was one of the first to come out with a voice assistant in the form of Siri were suddenly not only on the back foot, but so far behind the front runners it was both baffling and embarrassing.
I’ve questioned whether Tim Cook remained the right man for the job through these past months. Had he passed his prime? Had his fight run out of steam? Was he ready to sail off into the sunset and live a happy life in retirement? Names were already being lined up as possible replacements - the obituaries, it seemed, were half-written.
But that term that I used a moment ago about form being temporary but class permanent is equally true when it comes to Cook and the Apple leadership team. Sure, they have had a shocking year and one that has hurt them and left them bruised, I’m sure, but they’ve done something I wasn’t certain if they were capable of or not.
They listened. That’s right, they ate humble pie & listened!
Mistakes have been made, but it seems to me as if they’ve privately licked some wounds, and the signs are there that they are finally on the upward curve again, and that makes me happy on so many levels.
I know Cook doesn’t have that X factor or charisma that Jobs had, but that’s not to take away from the fact that under his tenure, Apple has actually become a financial juggernaut, a company that pensions are now linked to and a company to which Wall Street listens to and watches.
When this company sneezes, the financial world listens and pays attention. Under Cook’s time at the top, AirPods, Apple Watch and the Vision Pro have come to life.
I wish my legacy were going to be that shabby.
I’m sure everyone at Apple knew that Vision Pro wouldn’t be an immediate hit, but that doesn’t stop it from being quite a piece of engineering. The AR/VR world needed Apple to have some flesh in their game for the rest of the world to start to pay attention. The tide will rise because of what Apple did with the Vision Pro.
Although I don’t have a headset, I’ve had a demo, and I’m convinced that from the Vision Pro, something seismic will eventually spawn. I think it’s a case of we, the world, are not quite ready for it yet, but Apple is helping to create the future.
Without today, there is no history.
Apple Watch is now the most popular watch in the world - not just smart watch, but watch full stop, and AirPods again created an entirely new category. Without AirPods, there would be no earbuds market to speak of. Last year, AirPod revenue alone was around $24 billion. And Apple Services is expected to pull in another $100 billion for the company, too. And don’t forget this was a bad year.
Under Cook, Apple is now in the movie game as well, and although right now it’s a venture that’s losing money, Apple can afford to ride the storm.
Apple TV is another winner. I’m hooked on it.
I’d say that 95% of what I watch is via Apple TV. Three or four nights a week, I’ll rent a movie from Apple, all my YouTube content is consumed via the app on Apple TV, and then there are the Apple Originals like BlackBird, Shrinking, The Morning Show and Bad Sisters. Hit after hit. Gem after gem.
Highest 2 Lowest, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington, is out any day now (first in cinemas and later on Apple TV), and you would have been living under a stone if you hadn’t noticed the F1 movie that came out earlier in the summer.
And all this has happened with Cook at the top.
Forgive and forget
With a track record like that, I think we can all give Cook a swerve on one dodgy year. He’s had a pretty bloody good run, hasn’t he?
But it’s not all the numbers.
This year, I think they've shown they’ve learned from their mistakes. Accused of being dull and uninspired, they have hit back hard with OS 26 and even took the chance to rename all their OS. A graphic line in the sand, if ever there were one.
I haven’t yet played around that much with Tahoe, but iPadOS 26 and iOS 26 are some of the best updates I can remember. Although Liquid Glass was the headline they wanted us to hear, to my mind, that is almost the lost leader. It’s neat for sure, but it is all the under-the-hood improvements and quality of life improvements that make the difference.
The improvements to AirPods alone are big enough, but then there are updates to Screenshots, changes to the Control Centre, Music and the Camera app that show Apple has been listening.
And then, the cherry on the cake must be iPadOS 26. Oh my - what a blinder they’ve played there. Suddenly, the iPad has come of age. Have we just seen the iPads graduation party?
The traffic lights in the top right corner of apps, multitasking, the menus that are now just like a Mac, Preview and the Files app. Hell, it’s as if the iPad has been plugged into a hefty course of steroids!
Now we have an iPad that we’ve all been wanting and waiting for. This hasn’t come about by mistake either. This has come about because they knew they’d dropped a massive ball. They are basically flexing at this point!
And all the while, quietly iterating and getting better is Apple’s take on AI. It is there now and is like the glue that is starting to hold everything together in the latest OS.
It’s subtle, but it’s there. Now we’re not talking about some new emojis and pointless gadgets we’ll never use. No, we are getting a grown-up version of Artificial Intelligence, the one that Apple users want. Yup, they were late, sure enough, but who is to say that eventually it won’t be Apple who ends up being the winner?
We are getting an Apple’ified version of AI. Apple Intelligence done their way
They needed to win back the confidence of users, consumers and Wall Street alike, and I’d say they are well on the way to doing just that.
The problem has never been Apple’s current array of hardware. Since the first Macs shipped with Apple silicon, with have been in a golden period. The MacBooks are rejuvenated with a good keyboard and ports galore. The iPad Pro, as I mentioned earlier, has the best display out there, and then there’s the M4 Mac mini, which was redesigned from the ground up and took us all by surprise.
September looms
And the good news doesn’t stop there.
We are just a few weeks away from Apple’s annual September iPhone event, and we are about to get a brand new iPhone.
The iPhone Air is about to make its debut, plus meaningful changes to the iPhone Pro range as well. New AirPods Pro and a new Watch Ultra might be on show in a few weeks as well.
Every great company, leader or even sportsman or team hits the rocks from time to time. That is an inevitability.
The true test of greatness is turning it around, and I think the seeds of a brighter future have been sewn.
I hate being wrong with a passion. But when it comes to Cook and his leadership of Apple, I’m happy to eat humble pie. We want Apple to be great once again and take its place as the tech company that everyone follows.
When Apple is blossoming, the tech world is a better place. As much as I was wrong about Cook and Apple’s woes, I was right about something else.
Form is temporary, but class is permanent! It’s never felt this good to be wrong.