Last Updated on June 4, 2022 by srinivas
Welcome to our weekly roundup of all the Apple news you missed this week, in a handy bite-sized summary. We call it Apple Breakfast because we love it with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, but it’s also cool if you want to read it over lunch or dinner.
WWDC Profitable Freebies
With WWDC only days away — the keynote presentation kicks off Monday at 10 a.m. PT — we’re excited to see what Apple has in store for our iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs. And for once, our wallets need not worry. Apple is often accused of overpriced its products, but its annual operating system updates are glorious freebies, adding a range of new features to existing products without costing you a dime. There was a time when a new operating system came with a mid-range price tag ($20), but such practices would get a brief shift in today’s market.
Just look at what we got in the last batch of OS updates, or in point updates in the following months, without being asked to pay for the privilege. iOS 15 enabled iPhone handsets dating all the way back to the 6s to get SharePlay, Focus, text search, Live Text in images, and major updates to Maps, Weather, Wallet, and FaceTime. macOS Monterey, available on even some 2013 Macs, also brought SharePlay and Focus, plus Quick Note, Universal Control (eventually), and a plethora of other useful tweaks. And even the older Apple Watch Series 3 made it onto the list for watchOS 8 and its new faces and health features, redesigned apps, and (limited) on-device Siri commands.
Of course, Apple is not a charity and is not giving away these free upgrades out of the goodness of Craig Federighi’s heart. One way to look at it is that a constantly evolving and improving user experience means happy users who are likely to stick with the platform for the next generation of premium hardware. Another is that increasingly complex and demanding software means that you need to buy new hardware to make it run smoothly.
Sometimes it feels like Apple tends to add new features just for the sake of it. And it’s worth noting at this point that not all of the new features will be nearly as welcome for older hardware as I suggested above. For example, iOS 16’s always-on display is expected to be available only on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. Apple’s free OS updates are both carrot and stick to the hardware upgrade cycle and are a critical part of the company’s money machine.
Trending: Top Stories of the Week
Dan Moren rounds out three hardware features that Apple should hand over to the dustbin of history†
WWDC should be from Apple biggest Mac event of the year. But it probably won’t be.
Apple Music has betray his most loyal listenerssays Jason Snell.
apples pay increases are a nice smokescreen for much uglier fears.
Apple should completely steal the latest ChromeOS feature for the Mac.
WWDC and the Mac go together like caviar and micro horseradish. From transitions and towers to chips and changes, we’ve rounded up the 10 best Mac moments in WWDC history.
There are a slew of Mac announcements we want to see at WWDC.
The rumor mill
A redesigned MacBook Air could make its debut at WWDC:without an M2 chip†
Apple has a huge june drawn up. WWDC is just the start of a busy month.
Podcast of the week
You can watch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app or our own site.
Software updates, bugs and other issues
iOS 16 is coming, but Apple isn’t done updating iOS 15 yet.
Of WWDC in a few daysApple has released the second macOS Monterey 12.5 beta.
And with that, we’re done for this week. If you would like to receive regular round-ups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news stories. See you next Saturday (and Monday for WWDC too!), enjoy your weekend and stay Appley.