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It looks like Apple’s got a new strategy for introducing new products.
In the past, Apple tended to put together a couple of big, blockbuster keynotes every year that would be packed to the gills with new gadgets — one in the spring and one in the fall.
The annual fall keynote, for example, would always introduce new iPhones, but often also new Apple Watches and AirPods.
That’s great for the iPhones, which would dominate the headlines, but the watches and AirPods would typically get short shrift.
Instead, it looks like Apple is going to start unveiling new products drip by drip, announcing each on a different day of the week, followed by a hands-on event for the press.
Apple did this in November 2024, when it unveiled the M4 Macs: the Mac mini, iMac and MacBook Pros. And also in March 2019, with the updated iMac, iPad mini 5, iPad Air and AirPods 2.
This seems to be the plan for the first week of March, when Apple is rumored to be unveiling new M5 MacBook Pros, the iPhone 17e, a brand-new low-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, and a new iPad.
Phew — that’s a lot of new stuff. But if Apple follows this plan, it will generate headlines all week, not for just one news cycle. Very smart!
One machine that may or may not get introduced is a new Mac Studio with an M5 Ultra chip.
Signs point to an imminent refresh, and this Mac is going to be an absolute beast.
I’ve got an M1 Mac Studio with the base chip, and it barely breaks a sweat no matter how many Chrome tabs I have open and how many apps I’m running. And it’s going to look like a toy compared to the M5 Ultra model.
Also in today’s newsletter:
I love power banks with built-in cables. Belkin’s got a new one, which we tested hands-on. We found it’s just about perfect — and reasonably priced, too.
A close family member with dementia was recently targeted by scammers, who swindled her out of thousands of dollars in untraceable gift cards. To reduce future attacks, we signed her up with Incogni, an automated service that scrubs personal data from the net. It’s working. The scams have stopped. Get an amazing 55% discount with code CULTOFMAC.
Do you remember Apple Music Connect, Apple’s failed attempt at adding social features to Apple Music? Yeah, I barely recall it either. Well, it’s back from the dead, with a twist.
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— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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One more thing ...
Manufacturing … demands just as much thought and strategy as the product. If you don't pay attention to your manufacturing, it will limit the kind of product you can build and engineer. Some companies view manufacturing as a necessary evil, and some view it as something more neutral. But we view it instead as a tremendous opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. [I've thought that] ever since I visited Japan in the early '80s.
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