‘Meh’ of 2021
Apple released some incredible products in 2021, but not all stars shine as brightly as others. These are the others.
Apple dazzled with many of the products it released throughout 2021. The M1-based iMac & MacBook Pros are phenomenal computers and helped make the Mac the most exciting it's been in decades. HomePods are a hit (finally!). The iPad mini 6 is one of my favourite iPads to date. And the iPhone 13 delivers battery life, camera performance, and display upgrades that make it a worthy upgrade, even coming from the iPhone 12.
But not all stars shine as brightly as others, and while many of Apple products had banner years, a few felt a little wanting. Here's my list of a few of Apple's products from 2021 that didn't cut the mustard.
Apple TV
How Apple can sleep at night knowing it still sells an Apple TV HD for $149 is beyond me.
After 1,323 days, Apple finally released an update to the Apple TV, which hasn't been updated since September 2017. We got an A12 (up from the A10X), higher frame rate HDR support, and HDMI support for ARC. But at $179, Apple TV feels more out of place than ever in a market dominated by the services readily installed on many SmartTVs, streaming sticks that are cheaper than cereal prizes, and game consoles with multimedia support. And with AppleTV+ expanding to more third-party platforms by the day, you have to be deeply embedded in Apple's service ecosystem to appreciate the nearly $200 price tag for this device. And even though I am one of those deeply embedded folks in Apple's service ecosystem, I couldn't justify upgrading from my 2017 Apple TV.
In saying all that, I really value the Apple TV & certainly don't want Apple to abandon work on its hardware as the integration of services and tvOS software is the most enjoyable and well thought out TV platform I've used to date. But in an effort to develop the most all-in-one package, Apple appears to be alienating most customers by offering a box that's too expensive for most and not powerful enough for others. Perhaps a bifurcated Apple TV mini, which is more streaming & services focused, and an Apple TV Pro, which integrated HomePod calibre audio, the lineup might better appease the customer base.
At least the updated Siri Remote is an absolute slam dunk, one of those cases when taking two steps back helps you take a giant leap forward.
iPad Pro
Like the reputation of a successful older sibling, the 2018 iPad Pro still casts a shadow over an otherwise attractive 2021 offering.
I feel rotten adding the iPad Pro to the ‘Meh of 2021’ list because I genuinely feel it's a fantastic product. But so is the 2018 iPad Pro, and right there is the problem.
I'll admit it's stupid to be wagging a stick at a company whose 3-year-old product is so good that it affects my perception of the latest model, but here we are. On Geekbench, the A12X of the 2018 iPad Pro ranks in the Top 3 for Multi-Core performance and among the top 10 for Metal performance, even beating out the iPhone 13. So while Apple's move to give the 2021 iPad an M1 provides it with a tremendous boost in performance, iPadOS doesn't seem to be fully leveraging the capabilities of this chip. M1 on the iPad Pro feels negligible in day-to-day use, and even some of the more intensive apps and games don't feel appreciatively different on an M1 Pro. I imagine some use cases exist that harness the full breadth of what M1 offers, but these scenarios feel few and far between for those the iPad Pro intends to appeal to. I have a similar criticism about the 16GB of RAM on the 1/2TB models. Unlike the Mac, it's hard to decipher what more RAM on an iOS means for most tasks, and it was only in September that Apple finally upped the RAM limit apps can utilize from 5GB to 12GB. The addition of 5G and Thunderbolt are welcome additions but don't improve my day-to-day use of the iPad personally. That's not the iPad Pro's fault, my carrier has refused to support 5G on the iPad, and I don't move enough data to & from the device to benefit from Thunderbolt.
About the most compelling feature was Apple's first foray into miniLED displays on the 12.9" iPad, which is undoubtedly impressive. Still, depending on your visual eccentricities, that display alone might not be enough to justify an iPad whose cost crosses into MacBook Pro territory. And with significant improvements made to reduce blooming when the MacBook Pro launched, the need to update your iPad certainly merits waiting a bit longer for the next model to drop.
I had high hopes and lofty expectations for what M1 might mean on an iPad. I pictured pro apps, native external display support, better battery (apparently forgetting that A12 to M1 is different than going from Intel to M1). What we got were nice refinements on the already best-in-class tablet, but with a processor that feels far more capable than iPadOS lets it be.
Apple Watch Series 7
The Apple Watch is forcing the issue of having an annual update cycle.
No, my reason for putting the Series 7 on this list has nothing to do with the lack of the fabled squared-off redesign. I was relieved that the rumoured redesign didn't come to pass as I love the rounded borders and was afraid that any squaring off would result in a watch that veered dangerously into looking even more like a utilitarian computer strapped onto your wrist. Additionally, I've also amassed a small fortune of Apple Watch bands and was terrified that a redesign would end compatibility with bands accumulated over the past six years.
Fortunately, neither came to pass. What we got instead was a watch with a 20% larger display, 40% smaller borders, the ability to fast charge, IP6X dust resistance, and a more crack-resistant display. These might be welcome changes to some, but because I haven't had issues with dust, nor have I ever cracked my display since getting my Series 0 in 2015, half the banner features of the Series 7 mean little for my day-to-day use.
The slow evolution of the Apple Watch Series, particularly versions 4-7, has highlighted that the Apple Watch is a far cry from being a product needing an annual update cycle. Each year we see a 10% improvement - a new sensor here, a brighter display there - that compounds over time but looks modest when comparing adjacent generations. Again, if being a 'meh' product in 2021 means that Apple has created devices that are so good they competitively perform and look good 2, 3, 4+ years after their introduction, then consider the title a glowing compliment in an industry that moves as quickly as tech.
In Sum
This reflection has highlighted for me the maturity of these platforms. Each of them has hit their cruising altitude, and it might not be realistic or plausible to expect radical features and redesigns on an annual basis. These products might not get the pomp and circumstance new product categories and dramatic updates receive, but that doesn't mean they aren't exceptional products in their own right.
I think all of three products mentioned suffer from the same cursed blessing; they are all products whose previous generations exceeded their expectations at the time, resulting in current generations who struggle to be measurably different. They look similar and perform similarly, so unless there's a compelling feature that draws you to the latest generation, you can comfortably enjoy using a product several generations old and still get nearly all the fantastic performance and features.
