As team Stuff emerges from a mountain of wrapping paper, tinsel and cranberry sauce, it realises 2026 is waiting to get started. And that means a new year for Apple – one that could be its most crucial yet. Because while Apple made serious piles of cash in 2025, the coming year brings with it major opportunity paired with serious risk.
Here’s my take on what Apple needs to get right. It’s a mix of expectation, rumour, analysis, wishful thinking, barely suppressed impatience and, mercifully, no turkey. If someone could load this directly into Tim Cook’s Vision Pro, that’d be lovely.
The next Apple CEO
Tim Cook won’t be around forever. Unless he uploads his entire consciousness into Siri, in which case he will be around forever, and yet still won’t be able to play the album you asked for. Either way, Siri-Cook should not run Apple. So: succession! Cook’s now been CEO longer than Steve Jobs and Apple must figure out what’s next. The snag: Cook was the obvious successor to Jobs, but is there an obvious successor to Cook? I don’t know. I hope Apple does.
Apple Intelligence
At WWDC 2024, Apple envisioned an amazing future for Siri, where your iPhone understands personal context, anticipates your needs, and behaves like a personal assistant rather than a voice-operated search box. WWDC 2025 came around and… nothing. Apple can’t afford another year where it fails to deliver on its key Apple Intelligence promise, not least when rivals are blazing ahead. Apple’s stance on caution and privacy regarding AI is admirable, but caution only works if it leads somewhere.
iPhone Fold
The rumour mill seems convinced an iPhone Fold will arrive in 2026. With Android manufacturers rapidly honing their transforming phones, Apple has one shot at making a real impression. The Fold must offer flexibility, durability and power, not just function as a plaything for the rich. I doubt we’ll get an Apple take on the Galaxy Z TriFold, but Apple still needs to offer more than an iPhone that becomes a bigger iPhone when unfolded. Which neatly brings me on to…
Desktop mode for iPhone
I bang on about desktop mode for iPhone. But we now know your iPhone effectively has iPadOS inside – and Apple won’t let you use it. Partly, that’s about optimisation. Mostly, it’s philosophical. If an iPhone can replace an iPad or Mac, you’ll buy less gear. But such logic collapses when an iPhone unfolds to resemble an iPad mini. Two-up app views won’t cut it. The Fold needs iPadOS 26-style windowing. Apple cannot dodge that just to protect Mac and iPad sales.
iPhone Air 2
The iPhone Air has reportedly sold poorly. And although Stuff’s editor liked it, he wasn’t blind to its flaws. And there were many flaws. Fortunately, they’re all fixable. At least in theory. Give the Air a second camera, stereo sound and a beefed-up battery and it’ll look like a compelling alternative rather than a compromised curiosity. Fail and it risks joining the Plus and the mini in Apple’s graveyard of ‘other’ iPhones that never quite worked.
All the other iPhones
Apple must also nail those phones that shift in volume and Pro models fretting that the Fold will steal their flagship thunder. The 17e probably won’t get a better display but does need MagSafe. The Pro will double down on power and photography, with variable apertures that reel in enthusiasts. Curiously, the iPhone 18 may be held back until 2027. Having the standard iPhone lag months behind pricier models feels exclusionary, but maybe Apple’s annoyed its affordable vanilla iPhone regularly outsells more expensive ones.
Liquid Glass
You can now tone down Liquid Glass, but major issues remain. A lack of clarity. Interface elements ‘flashing’ as they struggle to keep up with content scrolling beneath. Hidden UI. Comically massive window corners and drop shadows. It’s like Apple shredded its Human Interface Guidelines and copy-pasted a cheap knock-off skin. In 2026, Apple must make amends and remember: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Keep pro apps alive
Apple’s relationship with pro apps is odd. They don’t need a Photoshop-level conveyor belt of new features, but they do need some signs of life. Yet Apple’s creative tools too often feel like they’ve been abandoned, despite being aimed squarely at high-end users. At the very least, I’d like to see Apple do something – anything beyond bolting on Apple Intelligence – with Pixelmator Pro and Photomator, to reassure users these apps still matter.
iPad momentum
Apple finally got iPad multitasking right in 2025. Then it got it even, er, ‘righter’. The same iPad can now be a usable, simple tablet for media consumption and something approaching a Mac. But we’ve been here before. Apple gives the iPad a huge boost and then ignores it for two years. I want iPadOS 27 to build on 2025’s success, not quietly stall while attention wanders elsewhere.
The ‘cheap’ MacBook
A truly cheap MacBook feels unlikely. But a more affordable one – the laptop equivalent of the original Mac mini? That feels plausible. Rumours suggest a device powered by an iPhone chip and that has a merely OK display. The risk is brand dilution and Apple’s habit of kneecapping cheaper devices with stingy RAM and storage. Apple needs to tread carefully because a budget MacBook that ages badly isn’t a bargain – it’s a false economy.
Pro Macs
Today’s Apple is as much a lifestyle brand as a tech one. But it shouldn’t forget the pro users who stuck around when Macs were niche and weird. That doesn’t necessarily mean a new Mac Pro but it does mean clarity. If the Mac Pro is done, put it out of its misery. If the Mac Studio is the future of high-end Macs, make that clear. Heck, I’d even be happy if Apple distracts everyone with a shiny new iMac Pro while quietly dragging the Mac Pro to the trash.
Apple Glasses
Apple Smart Glasses remain a rumour despite rumblings that Liquid Glass was laying groundwork for an imminent eyewear takeover. I’m sceptical and similarly doubt Apple Smart Glasses will arrive in 2026. But if Apple is to build a solid foundation for them, it needs to offer more than cursory attention to Vision Pro and especially game-changing spatial computing apps that fully justify the hardware and how you actually use it – and those remain in short supply.
- Now read: Apple in 2025: the good, the bad and the sockly
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