Well, that’s 2025 almost done. I won’t miss it. Will Apple? Maybe. As ever, the company had a mixed year. So join me as I dig into Apple’s 2025 with Stuff’s annual year in review.
Apple in 2025: the good
Apple’s 2025 in review: all the things that made me very slightly nod in an approving manner, because I’m from the south of England and that, for me, is the height of unbridled enthusiasm.
The even Pro-ier iPhone 17
Last year, I was all “isn’t the iPhone 16 great?” Not anymore, because the iPhone 17 blew it out of the water. With its swanky new display, it’s more Pro than ever, bumping the actual Pro to “if you absolutely have to have a telephoto lens” territory. Or, you know, if you really like orange.
Apple Watch SE 3
This one’s about the display too. The SE 3’s is always-on – no more flicking your arm and almost whacking bystanders to activate the thing. Sure, the Series 11 has more health apps and a (slightly) larger display. But at $150/£150+ cheaper, the SE 3 earns its place here without breaking a sweat.
iPad multitasking
I always felt Apple was holding the iPad back, while whispering “you should buy a Mac too” in my ear. No more. This year’s multitasking revamp finally makes Apple’s tablet feel like a proper computer. And if you crave OG single-app purity, that’s still there as an option.
The return of Slide Over
Slide Over is part of iPad multitasking, but deserves its own shout-out because it shows Apple can (occasionally) listen. Apple ripped the feature out. People complained. Apple brought it back. Either that or Slide Over missed the iPadOS 26 cutoff and was planned all along. But I’ll give Apple the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Live Translation
Apple Intelligence got a kicking in 2025 when Apple’s much-vaunted advanced personalisation features again failed to materialise. But Live Translation did arrive, and it’s fab when Messages makes it easier to chat with someone who speaks a different language. Well, assuming it’s not quietly slipping in “buy a new iPad” to every third sentence.
M5 everywhere
As the number after ‘M’ ticked up in clockwork fashion, you’d have been forgiven for struggling to care. A more powerful chip! Again! And yet, anyone with an M5 iPad Pro or MacBook Pro isn’t exactly complaining about their insanely capable new gear. (About the lack of other meaningful updates, however…)
Vision Pro M5
Honestly, I remain unconvinced that most people want to spend their waking hours with a massive pair of goggles strapped to their face. But for those who do, the Vision Pro M5 deserves a nod, if only because it proves that the line isn’t dead. A low bar, sure, but at least Apple cleared it.
New selfie cameras
September’s new iPhones all got a new selfie cam in 2025. Apple called it a “frame changer”, seconds before the person responsible for that pun was presumably hurled into a ravine. Still, it is great, letting you switch between landscape and portrait without awkwardly contorting your arm and accidentally yeeting your phone into the same ravine.
Web apps on mobile
Are web apps exciting? No. But they are useful, given how much we now do in the browser. The Mac got full-fat web apps back in 2023. This year, iPhone and iPad caught up, letting you turn any website into an app-like experience. And, yes, this works with browser games too.
The death of Lightning
In February, Apple merrily consigned the iPhones 14, 14 Plus and SE to history. Or at least the second-hand market. The original Apple Pencil went with them. Which means Lightning finally met its maker. Although you’re still not throwing away all your cables, right? Just in case?
I also liked:
- Murderbot on Apple TV was fantastic, featuring a cyborg that hacks itself so it can watch TV soaps.
- The King made a playlist. No God Save the Queen, natch, but it did open with Bob Marley. Respect!
- The Home button quietly died as the iPhone SE 3 was shunted aside by the iPhone 16e.
- Call and message screening arrived, giving you even more ways to ignore people and mainline YouTube.
- Snooze duration settings showed up, allowing you to override Apple’s strange ‘nine minutes only’ obsession.
Apple in 2025: the bad
Apple’s 2025 in review: the times that half made me wish the macOS Shut Down command worked on parts of the company itself.
Liquid Glass
Liquid Glass is awful. It lacks clarity, has dreadful icons and tramples over decades of Apple interface design. With Alan Dye – the Apple VP who headed this deeply flawed refresh – quitting this month and being replaced by 26-year UI veteran Stephen Lemay, here’s hoping 2026 gives us more than the odd option to tone down Liquid Glass.
Apple Intelligence
WWDC 2024: Apple promises Siri will soon give you a second brain by bringing personal context to your iPhone. WWDC 2025: Apple says… it’s still working on that. Cue a frantic attempt to distract us with literally anything else. (*cough*Liquid Glass*cough*) Stuff writers were disappointed that Apple talked a big game and then failed to ship entirely.
iPhone (hot) Air
Stuff’s editor liked the iPhone Air. But I don’t think a phone that costs a grand should have just one camera, one speaker(!), thermal issues and merely OK battery life, just to make it thinner. Especially when that requires ignoring a camera bump that sticks out almost as much as the Pro’s.
iPhone not-so-sweet 16e
Apple’s SE 3 replacement is a solid phone, but it’s also Apple’s first since 2019 without MagSafe. Apple claims that’s because the target market uses cables to charge their phones. Hmm. That feels… patronising. Still, at least there’s a cable in the box, so we can all be thankful for that.
iPhone 16 pricing
Every year, Apple keeps the previous iPhone around at a discount. This year, the comparison got silly. If you could add $100/£100 to double the iPhone 16’s base storage so it matched the 17’s new 256GB floor, the 16 would cost the same as the equivalent (and far superior) 17. Apple wouldn’t let you, though, presumably because it didn’t want anyone noticing.
No more small iPhones
I wasn’t sad to see the SE 3’s chunky bezels and Home button go. But it was also the last gasp for small iPhones, with the mini having been vaporised in 2023. The smallest iPhone now has a 6.1in display and a 147×72mm (5.8×2.8in) frame. Got wee pockets? Dinky hands? Too bad.
Mac Pro stagnation
The Mac Pro was last updated in 2023. It still starts at $6,999/£7,199, and I genuinely wonder if Apple remembers it exists. Having done precisely nothing with the Pro in 2024, it continued with more nothing in 2025. The Mac Pro doesn’t even feel like an afterthought at this point.
Pixelmator limbo
In 2024, Apple bought the Pixelmator team and its fantastic apps. A year on, we still don’t know what’s happening to them. A Dark Sky-like death, with some features folded into Photos? Elevated to Apple’s pro-app pantheon? The silence is unsettling.
Fights with the EU
Look, I get it. Apple is a profit-hungry company that will fight anything it considers a threat. But the endless squaring up to the EU – and anyone else daring to suggest some of Apple’s business practices might not be in everyone’s best interests – followed by regular bouts of malicious compliance, is getting old.
The online App Store
This should have been a win. A properly online version of the App Store was long overdue. What we got beats App Store preview, but it’s buggy and you still can’t buy anything. Perhaps Apple can’t make that work. Maybe it should ask Google, which figured this out for the Play Store in 2012.
I also didn’t like:
- Clips was killed, despite being a really nice little app for putting together video shorts.
- Apple TV got rebranded and now the hardware, app and service share the same name.
- iPadOS removed the keyboard cheat sheet – holding Command now shows the menu bar. Bah.
- The Games app arrived, but felt bare minimum and lacked what was needed for it to shine.
- Tim Cook placated Donald Trump with a shiny plaque. I get it, but I don’t have to like it.
Apple in 2025: the sockly
Apple’s 2025 in review: don’t worry, it’s nearly over.
An expensive sock
Of all the comebacks I might have predicted in 2025, Apple sort of resurrecting iPod Socks – via Issey Miyake collab iPhone Pocket – was not one of them. The knitted crossbody accessory looks like a stretched echo of the original and cost an eye-watering amount. Mostly, though, its high-fashion ambitions felt starkly at odds with the charm, fun and whimsy of the originals. Modern Apple, it seems, would sooner dress well than be human.
- Now read: Every Apple iPhone ranked in order of greatness
