Apple’s largest wins and misses of 2025

As 2025 involves a detailed, Macworld is proud to current our Apple awards, a glance again at the most effective and worst of every little thing launched over the previous 12 months. It was a busy 12 months for Apple, with new merchandise throughout its complete vary of merchandise, together with iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Mac, and even Imaginative and prescient Professional. So be a part of us as we acknowledge the merchandise that made essentially the most influence in 2025:

iPhone/iOS

Emma Rowley / Foundry

iPhone of the 12 months:  iPhone 17

The iPhone 17 isn’t simply the most effective iPhone of 2025; it’s the most effective iPhone of the final 5 years. Apple lastly stopped holding again options that ought to be desk stakes for an $800 cellphone. You get double the storage, 120Hz ProMotion, 50 % greater peak brightness, always-on show, higher cameras, and velocity and battery life that each exceed final 12 months’s Professional mannequin. All with out elevating the worth. There’s by no means been a greater 12 months not to go Professional. — Jason Cross

Apple

iOS characteristic of the 12 months:  Tackling Spam

Name Screening will silently reply unknown numbers and ask them to say why they’re calling, and you may see all of it proper on display. It’s an effective way to get rid of spam calls with out lacking legit calls from numbers that simply aren’t in your contacts. Couple that with new spam filtering in Messages, in addition to within the Cellphone app and FaceTime, and Apple is lastly doing one thing about one of many largest ache factors of utilizing a smartphone. There’s nonetheless an extended approach to go, however since upgrading to iOS 26 and enabling these options, I’ve observed a giant drop within the variety of instances a day I choose up my cellphone solely to right away dangle up on a solicitation message. — Jason Cross

Britta O’Boyle

Shade of the 12 months: Cosmic Orange

For the corporate that ostracized beige because the default colour in computing when it launched the out-there Bondi Blue iMac in 1998, Apple has been quite tame by way of its latest colour selections. The iPhone 17 Professional’s Cosmic Orange is due to this fact a refreshing shock to the system and a vibrant return to kind. Orange is now not restricted to visitors cones and dodgy Seventies furnishings. The Apple Retailer ought to hand out sun shades for the crowds choosing up the colourful new iPhone and ignoring the darkish blue one. There’s even a rising vary of orange equipment out there for the brand new cellphone. — Simon Jary

Apple

Oddity of the 12 months: iPhone Pocket

Readers of a sure classic who nonetheless fondly keep in mind when Apple launched a pair of socks for its iPod again in 2004, have been rocked as soon as once more with the sudden—and certainly unasked-for—iPhone Pocket, which the corporate described as “a singular 3D-knitted building designed to completely enclose iPhone, whereas increasing to suit your on a regular basis objects”. Designed along with the Issey Miyake design studio well-known for Steve Jobs’ trademark turtleneck, the iPhone Pocket is available in eight loopy colours, together with Peacock, Sapphire, and Cinnamon. All of us laughed till it bought out in mere minutes. — Simon Jary

Foundry

Flop of the 12 months: Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass was Apple’s daring new, all-encompassing design language that radically modified the look of Apple’s software program throughout the entire OS 26 software program updates. Alan Dye, Apple’s vice chairman of Human Interface Design, tried to channel his inside Jony Ive by describing it as making “even the only of interactions extra enjoyable and magical.” We didn’t get that. As an alternative, Liquid Glass is the worst instance of flamboyance over operate, the alternative of Ive’s philosophy. — Simon Jary

Mac/macOS

Foundry

Mac of the 12 months: M3 Extremely Mac Studio

General, 2025 was a quiet 12 months for Mac {hardware}, however one Mac made a large influence on Apple’s lineup. The Mac Studio was a little bit of a shock as a result of its M3 Extremely chip was launched out of sequence with  Apple’s traditional cadence. Nonetheless, within the Mac Studio, it’s the quickest Mac out there, leaving the M2 Extremely Mac Professional behind—manner behind. At 1000’s much less, it mainly renders the Mac Professional irrelevant to everybody who doesn’t really want an enlargement card. With its exnihilating CPU velocity, highly effective GPU efficiency, and sturdy expandability, the Mac Studio turned King of the Macs in 2025. — Roman Loyola

Apple

Chip of the 12 months: M5

To say, “Apple is on a roll,” undercuts how a lot momentum the corporate has with its chips. Apple silicon is downright killing it, and the M5 chip exemplifies why. Making its debut within the MacBook Professional, the M5 gives a super and unprecedented mixture of processing velocity, graphics energy, and vitality effectivity in a consumer-level chip. The M5 is so good that Apple felt that it might wait till subsequent 12 months to launch the M5 Professional and Max variants. — Roman Loyola

Foundry

Disappointment of the 12 months: Mac Professional

Whereas each different Mac has some model of the M4 and the 14-inch MacBook Professional has an M5, Apple’s costliest Mac nonetheless has the identical M2 Extremely chip it acquired again in June 2023. In the meantime, the Mac Studio with a superior M3 Extremely prices a few thousand {dollars} much less, and I’m left to marvel: How can Apple cost upwards of $10,000 for a Mac with a two-plus-generation-old chip? There have been loads of alternatives to replace the Mac Professional in 2025, however as a substitute, Apple let it languish one other 12 months with the identical growing older processor.

iPad/iPadOS

Foundry

iPad of the 12 months: iPad Professional M5

Apple up to date three of its 4 iPads in 2025 (sorry iPad mini), however the M5 iPad Professional is de facto the one one which might be thought of for this distinction. All three updates have been primarily chip refreshes (A14 to A16 (iPad); M2 to M3 (iPad Air); M4 to M5 (iPad Professional), however solely the iPad Professional delivered a noticeable increase over its predecessor. Add in 50 % extra entry-level RAM, quicker Wi-Fi, and quick charging, and also you’ve acquired an improve worthy of a professional. — Michael Simon

Apple

Replace of the 12 months: iPadOS 26

This 12 months’s WWDC keynote was jam-packed with options, from Liquid Glass to Dwell Translation and revamped app designs. However the star of the present was iPadOS 26, which launched a brand new interface that integrated lots of the visible and productiveness components customers have needed for years, with resizable home windows, macOS-like multitasking, and a brand new lease on life. — Michael Simon

Apple Watch

David Value / Foundry

Watch of the 12 months: Apple Watch SE 3

Strictly talking, the Collection 11 was the most effective Apple Watch to come back out this 12 months (I discover the Extremely fashions too cumbersome for on a regular basis put on), however the SE 3 was certainly the one I’d suggest to a pal. It’s almost pretty much as good and much better worth. As a part of the 2025 refresh, the SE gained an always-on show, a much bigger and longer-lasting battery, improved scratch resistance, new well being options and gestures, on-device Siri, and the choice of 5G. And all that for $249! Overlook the Collection 11; this has every little thing you want from a smartwatch at a wonderful worth. — David Value

Companies

Apple

Apple TV present of the 12 months: ‘Pluribus’

There’s one thing nerve-wracking about recommending a TV present in the midst of a run–significantly one as unpredictable as *Pluribus*. Who is aware of the place it should go from right here? However simply six episodes into the debut season of this regularly humorous, often harrowing sci-fi drama, and even towards robust competitors from the second season of *Severance*, I really feel (fairly) assured naming this because the Apple TV present of the 12 months. As you’d anticipate from a Vince Gilligan manufacturing, *Pluribus* flips seamlessly between slow-burn magnificence and sudden surprising motion, between grief and humor and thriller. And Rhea Seehorn is excellent because the final sad lady on the earth. Possibly it’ll go downhill sooner or later, however let’s benefit from the experience whereas it lasts — David Value

Foundry

Service of the 12 months: Information +

Apple TV and Music could get all the eye, however Apple Information+ got here into its personal in 2025. Apple’s every day puzzles had lengthy revolved round considerably pedestrian choices, resembling crosswords and Sudoku, however a very unique idea, Emoji Sport, rapidly turned a singular and extremely entertaining choice for customers looking for unique ideas. And for these of us who’ve grown sick of the fluff and intrusive advertisements we come throughout when Googling recipes, Apple Information+ added a brand new search operate that allows you to discover recipes and think about the components and instructions in a clutter-free interface. Neat, proper? It will get higher. You’ll be able to instantly set timers based mostly on the said durations and add the listed components to your Reminders app. — Mahmoud Itani