AppleInsider · Kasper's Automated Slave

iPhones and Macs is only temporary, as tariffs aimed at semiconductor imports will be arriving within a few months.

Tim Cook and Donald Trump in a meeting at the White House in 2018

Late on Friday, Apple was granted a massive benefit from President Donald Trump, in the form of tariff exemptions applying against imports from China. However, it seems that those exemptions will only be temporary, as other tariffs are on the way.

According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaking to ABC News, it is only a temporary reprieve. While iPhone, iPad, and Mac imports won't be subject to the 145% reciprocal tariff that applies to Chinese imports, Lutnick says a "semiconductor tariff" will be applied instead.

All of the smartphones, computers, and other electronics that benefit from the reprieve will be hit by the semiconductor tariffs, Lutnick confirmed. However, while there is no word on what the actual tariff level will be, Lutnick insists it will arrive "in a month or two."

The commerce secretary explained that the semiconductor tariff is a way to try and make component producers and device manufacturers to set up factories in the United States. Lutnick insisted that the U.S. shouldn't be reliant on Southeast Asia for its electronics.

New tariffs for old

Though the new semiconductor tariffs will apply to Apple's products, it remains to be seen how much lower they will be compared to all other products affected by the reciprocal tariff.

At the moment, the U.S. reciprocal tariff on Chinese imports is at 145%, as part of Trump's tit-for-tat battle with China. China, meanwhile, has a tariff on U.S. goods imports of 125%, rising after each U.S. increase.

China also said it would not raise tariffs further, but warned other countermeasures may be adopted instead.

The battle has caused big problems for Apple investors, who have observed a very turbulent week for the share price. While the tariff break news late on Friday would've given some peace of mind to shareholders, the revelation that more tariffs of an unknown level brings even more uncertainty.



Read on AppleInsider

An example of a contextual query Siri will be able to answer, eventually. - Image Credit: Apple

In March, Apple admitted that its attempt to make Siri more personalized and up to date was far behind schedule. It confirmed that there were delays in getting Siri to the state where the company wanted it to be, and that it would be sorted out in the coming year.

Since that rare admittance from Apple, the company has done what it can to fix the situation. This included a managerial reshuffle, pushing John Giannandrea out of the top Siri role in favor of Mike Rockwell.

It was a major event in a situation that was extremely embarrassing to Apple. However, the entire affair is something that could have been avoided, reports The Information, had Siri not fallen victim to poor leadership choices.

Siri hot potato

Multiple people who worked in the AI and software engineering groups within Apple told the report that conflicting personalities were a problem. Some, who worked under the AI and machine learning group under Giannandrea said that poor leadership was at play.

The sources also identified Robby Walker, who worked under Giannandrea, as being one of the reasons for the issues, due to an apparent lack of ambition and willingness to take risks on future Siri designs.

The employees also referred to Siri as a "hot potato" within Apple, due to it being passed between the different teams over the years. With the latest reshuffle putting Siri under the oversight of software boss Craig Federighi, they have some hope that favorable changes will be made.

A lengthy Siri issue

The problems getting Siri modernized started years ago, in 2018, when Giannandrea moved from Google to work on Apple's new AI group. At a time when Siri was beginning to stagnate, Giannandrea took an interest in managing the digital assistant.

Before then, engineers working on Siri felt as if they were second-class citizens with Apple, with frustrations that the software engineering team's control over iOS updates failing to prioritize Siri fixes. Those software engineers also felt the Siri team weren't able to keep up with new features being developed in the group.

Giannandrea's plan was to make Apple's own AI-based voice assistant, using a playbook he gleaned from Google. He believed Apple had to get better training data, and to do better at web-scraping for answers.

However, when urged to shake up Siri's leadership, he declined to do so.

Walker's safe work

The lack of risk-taking by Walker was a problem, the group of sources added. It was believed that Walker downplayed efforts to swing for the fences, and instead worked on other less meaningful metrics.

This apparently included celebrations of small wins, like reducing the response time for user queries. His work to remove "Hey" from "Hey Siri" also took more than two years to pull off, with little actual real benefit in the end.

Walker also dismissed one attempt in 2023 for one team to use LLMs for Siri to gain emotional sensitivity, such as to detect if a user is in distress. He said he would rather focus on the next Siri release instead of committing resources to the effort.

That team still went away to work on the project via the software engineering group's safety and location team, without his knowledge.

Increased tension

The software engineering group and the AI team had a dysfunctional relationship, with respective leaders Federighi and Giannandrea having dramatically different managing styles.

Resentments also built up over difference in pay, the speed of promotions in the AI group, and vacation periods.

Eventually, Federighi's groups started to mass together hundreds of machine learning engineers to work on its own models, separate from the main AI team. This included building demos to voice-control apps without Siri, which the Siri team didn't appreciate.

An attempt to introduce voice control systems for apps on a headset that would become the Apple Vision Pro was also problem-filled. Hostility between Walker and others in the group, as well as the slowness of the Siri group in general, became a big point of friction once again.

When ChatGPT was released in 2022, the AI group didn't respond with any real urgency, the engineers claim. By contrast the software engineering group were far more interested, with demos presented to Federighi of what could be accomplished.

Eventually, Apple's managers said in 2023 that engineers couldn't include external models in Apple products. But, the responsibility to build the models was the responsibility of the AI group.

They also apparently didn't perform as well as OpenAI's offerings, employees explained.

The current shakeup

Despite years of issues, the current situation where the Federighi-controlled software engineering groups would oversee the AI work led by Rockwell should be a fruitful one for Siri's progress.

Federighi is viewed as having more knowledge of technical details than many under his control. He has also told Siri's machine learning engineers to do whatever they need to make the best AI features, even if it's using open-source models from other companies.

Meanwhile Rockwell, who has a good track record in the company, is viewed as someone with vision, which Walker certainly lacked.



Read on AppleInsider

Donald Trump's signed tariff plan - Photo credit CNBC

In February 2025, the Bank of America said that the impact of tariffs on Apple would be significant. Before the extent of the tariffs were announced, Bank of America estimated that they would mean Apple may have to raise iPhone prices by 10%.

Apple has yet to make any announcements about price changes. It might have attempted to swallow small increases in component costs, but it is unlikely to absorb these massive ones. The company has previously made a point of how it has kept the iPhone costs the same for years -- although only in the US.

That means it has borne at least some inflation costs mostly because of smart buys of commodities like DRAM and NAND, and also any added expense of new technologies being added to the iPhone. But those costs will continue to rise anyway, and the addition of tariffs may mean even Apple cannot avoid raising its prices.

Previously Apple was able to negotiate a tariff exemption during President Trump's first term, but as yet it has failed to do so again. So at present, Apple will have to pay the tariffs on everything it imports into the US.

And, there is some double-dipping involved, perhaps. An iPad assembled in Vietnam will also incur a cost for having a processor manufactured in Taiwan.

It should be clear that a TSMC processor made in Arizona would face no tariff, but materials imported to make those chips will be impacted. And, for now, it appears those chips are completed in TSMC's facilities in Taiwan, at least until the AMKOR finishing plant comes completely on line.

Taking each country's tariffs separately, though, this is what CNBC says Apple now has to pay for devices or components from each of its biggest supply regions.

China

China currently accounts for:

• 80% of Apple's whole production capacity


• Assembly of 90% of all iPhones


• Assembly of 55% of Macs


• Assembly of 80% of iPads

Overall, it's estimated that around 40% of all of Apple's suppliers are based in China. Tariffs that Apple will have to pay to import goods from these suppliers are immediately set to 34%.

India

Currently India assembles approximately 10% to 15% of iPhones, but has been expected to reach up to 20% by the end of 2025, helped by the country cutting import taxes for Apple and others.

Apple is now required to pay a tariff of 26% on imports from India.

Vietnam

Vietnam has benefited from an increase in investment from Apple, partly to avoid the expected tariffs, and partly to avoid overall US/China trade tensions. It has also been intended to reduce Apple's over-dependence on China as a single supply source.

Now, however, Apple will have to pay an import tariff of 46%. This will affect:

• Assembly of 20% of iPads


• Assembly of 90% of Apple Watch

Other major countries

Apple produces some Macs in Thailand, which now has a 36% tariff. Malaysia also manufacturers the Mac, and is facing a 25% tariff.

The vast majority of processors in all Apple devices, though, are manufactured by Taiwan's TSMC. And imports to the US from Taiwan now have a 32% tariff.

The impact on Apple, and market sentiment

Analysts are starting to chime in on what they expect to see from these tariffs. Krish Sankar from TD Cowen believes that US sales account for about 31% of total revenues with about 75% coming from hardware products. He estimates that every 10% of tariffs would impact Apple's net income by about 3.5% in FY25 and FY26 EPS.

He also estimates that Apple will raise prices to offset tariffs, and estimates that every 10% of tariffs levied can be offset by an about 6% increase in product average selling price. Samik Chatterjee from JP Morgan has also come up with the 6% figure.

Analyst Daniel Ives from Wedbush calls the tariff plan "illogical," and "economic Armageddon" for the global economy, and specifically, the American consumer. Ives reiterates that when other countries are hit with tariffs, it's ultimately the American consumer that bears the entire brunt of the bill.

He still considers Apple a focus to own in a stock portfolio, but is expecting to see at least in the short term a 10% hit.

Trump's new tariffs immediately caused stocks in technology firms to fall. Apple saw the largest drop of any technology firm.

Apple's stocks fell almost 7.5% in extended trading as of 8 AM Eastern Time on April 3. It's not clear what the market sentiment will be when the market opens.

In comparison, Nvidia's shares dropped 4%, while Tesla lost approximately 4.5%. Amazon, Meta, and Google parent company Alphabet all lost between 2.5% and 5%, while Microsoft is down almost 2%.

Unless Apple stocks rebound during regular trading, this fall is the company's worst since September 2020. That was when the iPhone 12 launch was delayed because of COVID disruption.



Read on AppleInsider

Renders of a possible iPhone fold

None of you are going to be surprised, but I am not just unenthusiastic about the iPhone Fold, but actively rolling my eyes at the mere premise.

People, and by that I mean real people and not journalists who had to buy the device to cover it will buy it. It will sell early, and fast, and then settle down as the non-folding non-high-end phones take over for the rest of the release year.

Obviously, if Apple makes it, there will be an audience for it. You know it, I know it, and Apple knows it. It's not going to fail.

But, we shouldn't be so sure that the iPhone Fold is going to knock any of Apple's devices off their respective thrones. Especially not any of the other iPhones, but certainly not an iPad or MacBook.

iPhone Fold will have some inherent issues

I do understand why people are excited about the iPhone Fold. Hell, at face value, I don't think the iPhone Fold is a bad device.

I'll even tell on myself. Years and years ago, I actually welcomed the idea of a foldable iPhone.

Back when I thought the iPad mini was Apple's gift to mankind, I adored the idea of a foldable iPhone. Of course, at this point, there weren't any foldable phones on the market, and the concept of foldable tech was pretty new.

Now, many years later, I've looped back around to appreciating the crowbar separation between Apple's devices. But, before we tackle that, let's discuss practical concerns.

Drop protection

I'm a disaster when it comes to coordination. I drop things -- kind of a lot. Humans drop things, and are careless. This is why the iPhone uses Gorilla Glass.

Some of this for me is due to some faulty wiring that I have no control over, but most of it is because I tend to be absentminded. A lot of the times I drop something, it's because I got distracted.

If you look at the screen protector of my iPhone 13 mini, there's a pretty notable crack running through the bottom left corner. The cause? It fell out of my pocket at 20mph while I was biking in 2023.

Not the crack in my iPhone's screen, but not that dissimilar, either.

Fortunately, I'm smarter than I was in 2015 when I shattered my iPhone 5c after it slipped from my hands on a walk. At least I keep a screen protector on my iPhone now, so there's no major damage.

In 2005, I rolled my ankle attempting to step over a roommate's pile of laundry and textbooks. The result? An eight-pound laptop, barely six months old, with a completely obliterated screen.

I shudder to think about what would happen with a $2000 iPhone Fold. If I'm walking around with it unfolded and trip over my own two feet -- which, let's be real, would happen -- that sucker is going to break.

Catastrophically, if I had to guess.

I imagine if I owned an iPhone Fold it would go something like this | Image generated with Bing Image Creator

I'm sure I'd smash the screen or do irreparable damage to the hinge. Either way, it would be an expensive day in the ol' Neely household as I waited for the cardboard coffin to show up and take my iPhone, only to have Apple send me a new one and tell me not to do it again.

All this to say, I'm not the audience for the iPhone Fold, and I'm fine with that. I have a fair amount of people in my life who can keep a smartphone in pristine condition for years without a case.

These people and their freakish ability to keep things from hitting the ground are the target audience. And good for them, because the iPhone Fold is coming.

Ingress protection

But, even ignoring my propensity for dropping everything you put in my hands, it doesn't change the fact that the iPhone Fold is still going to have problems. It will have problems that the tried-and-true fixed glass-and-metal rectangle form doesn't.

Right now, the current generation of iPhone is IP68 rated. If you're unfamiliar with the ingress protection (IP) rating, allow me to give you a brief explanation of the system.

The first number in the IP rating is the level of "Solid foreign object" protection the device has. It starts at 0 and goes through 6.

Occasionally, you'll run into an IP rating with an X in it. That means that the device in question hasn't been tested for ingress regarding that specific category.

A zero rating for solid foreign object ingress would be like a box fan missing its front guard. Six is considered dust-tight, with microscopic ingress not even happening under a vacuum.

So, a six is fantastic.

The second number refers to protection from liquid ingress. It ranges from 0 to 9.

Zero means if you get the device wet, it's fried. Nine means the device is protected from high-temperature, high-volume jets of liquid.

Liquid ingress protection is a little bit harder to measure because a lot of it depends on the type of liquid. For example, saltwater is different than freshwater, and oil is a whole different game altogether, never mind something like a solvent.

However, Apple defines its liquid ingress protection, which is rated at an eight, as: capable of being submerged in six meters, or roughly 20 feet of fresh water, for thirty minutes.

Great, that means your phone is safe from the accidental drop in the tub or sink or getting caught in the rain. This is fantastic because I think we've all known someone who fried their early 2010s smartphone by dropping it in the tub, toilet, or getting caught in a rainstorm.

The problem with IP ratings is that they assume the device is relatively new. Apple is aware of this and even mentions it in the footnotes on its iPhone tech specs page.

If you've got an older iPhone, this is actually a riskier activity than you'd think

"Splash, water, and dust resistance are not permanent conditions. Resistance might decrease as a result of normal wear."

So while my iPhone 13 mini may have been waterproof when I got it in 2022, I'm not comfortable saying it's waterproof now, three years later.

Apple doesn't have a foldable device yet, but Samsung does, so it's worth seeing what is currently on the market. As of right now, both the Galaxy Flip 6 and the Galaxy Fold 6 are rated at IP48.

That 4 in the foreign solid object ingress slot means that, when brand new, the Flip and Fold are capable of keeping out things that are larger than 1 millimeter. So safe against larger bugs and small rocks, safe against some sand, but not dustproof.

Sand in your pocket is likely smaller than 1 millimeter. And, with time, it's safe to assume that rating will go down.

Both the Flip and Fold are rated as being waterproof. But again, liquid ingress is highly dependent on the device. And for the Flip and Fold Samsung defines waterproof as being able to sit submerged in roughly 5 feet of fresh, non-moving water for 30 minutes.

Samsung cautions against using the Flip or Fold when they're wet, and instead opting to let it dry out completely before using it again. For its part, Apple says the same thing for the iPhone 16.

I imagine that even a month or two into owning a foldable device, opening and shutting it multiple times a day, that watertight rating decreases to well below a 6.

And of course, water damage isn't covered under warranty. It's the same for iPhone, too, by the way.

While water damage is covered under Apple Care+, it's subject to an additional fee. For an iPhone 16, it's $49 for each of the first two incidents, but I anticipate that would be higher for an iPhone Fold.

Current iPhones are pretty watertight, at least when they're new | Image generated with Microsoft Image Creator

Again, it'd be a pretty sad day to send in your iPhone Fold for repair or replacement just because you accidentally bumped it into the sink or got caught in a rainstorm.

But those are just my personal concerns when it comes to foldable tech. There's also the fact that the iPhone Fold doesn't need to replace an iPhone. It doesn't need to replace iPad, and it won't replace either.

It doesn't need to replace anything. The iPhone Fold, whenever it comes out, will be its own thing.

The iPhone Fold isn't going to replace any of Apple's other devices -- but it isn't going to be designed to

When the Apple Vision Pro came out in 2024, I was astounded at the amount of people who suggested it would somehow replace any other technology.

For the foreseeable future, I anticipate any sort of AR/VR tech is going to be prohibitively expensive. The Apple Vision Pro starts at $3499.

I know that even if I wanted one, which I don't, I couldn't afford one. I have a mortgage. I have educational debt. The Apple Vision Pro is a luxury item.

And, the iPhone Fold is going to be a luxury, too. The first model, yes, but I suspect every subsequent model will still be priced well above the iPhone Pro Max of its generation.

The iPhone Fold isn't going to replace the iPhone

A smartphone, at its core, is pretty utilitarian. Sure, we've crammed a lot into smartphones, but most of the tasks people do on the day-to-day are practical.

Making a phone call or starting up a FaceTime, snapping a picture, sending texts and emails, and browsing the internet. These are the core things that smartphones have been created to do.

And, incidentally, the job market has responded accordingly. There are almost zero jobs where you can get by without having a smartphone.

iPhone 16 & iPhone 16 Plus

This is the society we've created. We may not have flying cars, but we do have Slack.

Even if someone works a minimum-wage job at a fast food chain, most employees are going to be expected to use an app to access employee chat, scheduling requests, pay stubs, etc.

When I worked a barely-above-minimum-wage job at a bookstore, nearly all of my employee-employer interfacing was done through an app. There was, technically, the ability to do it via a website, but the online portal was prone to constant crashing.

I was directly told by management to use the app. Fortunately, I had a smartphone, so it wasn't an issue. However, if I didn't have one, or if my phone were to sustain an unfortunate accident, I would have been expected to replace it immediately.

My partner works at a gym. They're required to use a smartphone to view their schedule and participate in employee chat. There is no option to do this online.

I am fairly positive that if they did not have a smartphone, they would not have that job.

Expecting everyone to pay over a grand for a smartphone is ridiculous. But, frankly, Apple doesn't expect everyone to buy the iPhone Fold. Or the Apple Vision Pro. Or the iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max.

That's why the iPhone still exists. Apple is aware that there is a user base that doesn't want -- or can't afford -- to buy luxury products.

Why other people expect certain Apple products to replace its existing lineup is beyond me.

And it's not going to replace the iPad either

Amber a decade ago thought an iPhone Fold would be a great alternative to the iPad. Today, Amber just appreciates the iPad for what it is.

I see a lot of people trying to define what an iPad is by comparing it directly to other Apple products, and I think that does the iPad a disservice. It was never designed to replace the iPhone, nor was it designed to replace a MacBook. It is designed to function as either a standalone device or a supplementary device.

Somehow people seem to forget that the iPad market isn't just full of 20 to 50-year-olds who use it because it has a bigger screen than their iPhone and is a little more portable than their Mac.

I don't even know what percentage of the iPad market that accounts for. When I think iPad, I think of three specific audiences.

The iPad as an educational device

I know it happened a while ago, but I seem to vaguely recall some sort of global event happening in early 2020 that changed everyone's lives on a fundamental level. Whatever it was, it sure seemed to result in a lot of schools obtaining iPads.

Schools have long been a target audience for iPad. Students can use educational apps to help supplement lessons. And it's easier to update an iPad with a new PDF of a textbook than it is to discard outdated physical textbooks.

Students using iPads in elementary school

The average textbook goes out of date every three years. Putting aside the fact that elementary and secondary schools are often left using outdated textbooks for years, or decades in some cases, expecting the school to purchase, store, and then dispose of textbooks seems silly.

The iPad can help alleviate some of that burden -- though thanks to big publishers charging an arm and a leg for digital textbooks, I do understand that it isn't a perfect solution.

But in addition to replacing textbooks, the iPad can help replace the classroom. At least when it's absolutely needed.

I'm pretty critical of remote learning -- call me old fashioned, but I think in-person socialization is critical for young people -- but I also understand that there are times when it is unavoidable.

Thanks to companies like Jamf, schools can outfit their iPads with customized software. This helps students stay safe while using a device and keeps distractions minimal.

It's nice to know, should society come grinding to a halt for an extended time again, at least we've got some options.

I wouldn't give an elementary school student an iPhone fold. Hell, I wouldn't give an elementary school student an iPhone, either.

But, I might be inclined to give them an iPad. If a kid has to have a device, it may as well be one that makes sense for them.

Your grandma (or mom, or auntie) loves the iPad

I love senior citizens. I grew up around a lot of them -- way more than the average child, because of my mom's job. And while the seniors of my youth would probably reject the iPad for being too "new-fangled," today's seniors often have a much warmer opinion of them.

I understand not wanting to use a laptop for basic internet tasks. Reading on a computer screen can be annoying, and also somewhat limiting as to where you can do it.

Image credit: sabinevanerp at Pixabay

And, frankly, you don't need a computer to look at social media.

I also get that even if you get an iPhone Plus, the screen is pretty small -- I hate watching videos on smartphones. And, while I still have decent eyesight, I do find that reading on my iPhone for more than thirty minutes at a time can get pretty rough.

An iPad, however, is a nice middle ground. It's lightweight and, if sufficiently charged, wire-free. You can hold it in your hands as easily as you could hold a book.

There's a reason why seniors like the iPad. Whether for FaceTime or FaceBook, the iPad is an object of convenience.

And, when put in a nice case, it's also sturdy. Certainly a lot more sturdy than a laptop or foldable phone would be, at any rate.

Apple loves artists, and artists love a very flat iPad

Here's my personal favorite thing about the iPad: Apple has crafted a spectacular tool for artists with the iPad and Apple Pencil.

While I have less free time to create art than I used to, I prefer using the iPad over any other digital medium. Procreate is such a powerhouse and even Adobe has acknowledged that the iPad is a great place to get work done.

And, thanks to Apple's ability to discern a market, it's aware that the iPad, regardless of line, is a useful tool for artists of all abilities.

Tattoo artists, for example, love the iPad. Both of my tattoos, done by two incredible artists, were designed in Procreate on the iPad Air.

Tattoo design? There's an app for that.

Animators love the iPad, now, too. Procreate Dreams, while still new, has been used to make some incredible animations, such as this one by Aaron Blaise.

An iPhone Fold could, theoretically, similarly work for an artist. Yet, I suspect it isn't going to be the powerhouse that many professional artists are going to want.

Additionally, artists have already expressed quite a bit of concern over the potential effects of any creases that could appear. I know that I'd be devastated if the tool I used for my job suddenly became less effective because of an option that I didn't necessarily need in the first place.

An iPad Fold won't replace an iPad, either, for the record

An iPad Fold might be an exciting prospect. Maybe it would make the iPad more portable, make it easier to use in a laptop-like mode, or result in truly massive iPads that could be docked like multi-screen displays.

Sure, that's possible, but I think that's putting the cart before the horse. In fact, I think the cart might be a pile of lumber and the horse is still wet behind the ears.

Apple's going to release a foldable iPhone. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

The iPhone Fold development process is already teaching Apple a lot about foldable tech as a whole. And, it's probably going to teach a lot of people a lot of things about foldable tech after it ships.

We'll learn how durable it is, who uses it, what it's used for, and how it's used. And once Apple has nailed it down as an iPhone, they may decide to take on a foldable iPad.

Yeah, the iPad Fold looks pretty slick, at least until you see the price tag.Yeah, the iPad Fold looks pretty slick, at least until you see the price tag.

I think Apple has different headway to make on the iPad. And I think those developments have nothing to do with whether or not it is foldable.

And, personally, I would love it if Apple split the iPad into two categories. A base-level iPad that runs iPadOS and is geared towards current iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Air users, and a Pro-level iPad that runs a streamlined version of macOS.

I'd still argue, though, that a foldable iPad won't replace a standard, fixed iPad. The same way that the iPhone Fold won't kill off the fixed iPhone. And I'm positive that an iPad, no matter how foldy it may be, won't replace Mac, either.

Besides -- could you imagine how expensive a foldable iPad would be? We're already hearing reports that the iPhone Fold could cost more than the M4 Max Mac Studio -- which is about $2,300.

If that winds up being the case, I shudder to think what an iPad Fold would cost. Or a folding all-screen MacBook Pro.

A fourth audience

As I was writing this, I was reminded that there's an oft-overlooked audience for tablets. And I do not want to overlook them, especially because Apple hasn't.

The iPad is an amazing disability aid. Apple has put a lot of time and effort into making its products accessible to everyone, and that seems to go doubly for the iPad.

I don't have anyone in my personal life who uses an iPad as a disability aid, but there are countless stories, including some from AppleInsider staffers, that show the merits of the little tablet-that-could.

An iPhone fold, while pretty cool, would likely not meet the needs of those who have significant mobility-based limitations. At the very least, I'm fairly certain the folding mechanism wouldn't add anything to the experience, other than an inflated price tag in a challenging economic environment for consumers in Apple's two largest markets -- the US and China.

The iPhone Fold will be widely loved by its audience

Just because I don't want the iPhone Fold doesn't mean that it'll flop. I suspect that there is a substantial audience for the iPhone fold, and I'm glad that they'll get use out of what will be a pretty neat device.

Render of a possible iPhone fold

However, assuming that the iPhone Fold is a "killer" of any device is silly. The predictions that the iPad would kill the Mac or iPhone were wrong, and every single prediction that any given device by any other manufacturer would unseat the iPhone have been bafflingly off-base for the last 15 years.

The iPhone Fold should be celebrated for what it is going to be. It is going to be a new kind of device that will see plenty of love from those who want it for exactly what it is.

A foldable iPhone.



Read on AppleInsider

Automatic categorization comes to Apple Mail for the Mac

It's three months since Apple released its previous update, and over six months since the first version of macOS Sequoia came out. Usually by this stage, Apple would typically be looking to keep any major new features to the next macOS, due to be revealed at WWDC on June 9, 2025.

Doubtlessly that is still a factor, but for once each separate iteration of macOS Sequoia has been bringing new features and this latest edition is no different. The new features are not huge, though, and they are mostly not especially visual -- unless you're in the EU.

Apple Intelligence comes to Europe

Apple delayed launching Apple Intelligence in Europe while, it said, it was trying to figure out how to release it in compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act. The EU did not exactly take this well.

But now that's over, and as of macOS 15.4, users in the EU can see what the fuss is about. Expect another round of Image Playground-created images to appear online until people get bored of it again, unless they're Final Cut Pro users on the latest release of that.

There is also Apple Intelligence news in macOS 15.4 for other users. As of this release, Apple Intelligence is now localized in these further languages:

• Chinese


• French


• German


• Italian


• Brazilian Portuguese


• Spanish


• Japanese


• Korean


• Localized English for Singapore and India

Now Writing Tools thinks it can rewrite French, too.

These are major improvements for the worldwide use of Apple Intelligence. There is much less of an improvement for users in the States, but this release does bring one key Apple Intelligence feature from iOS to the Mac.

Apple Mail for the Mac gains categories

There is an argument that this may not actually be an improvement, but Apple Mail on the Mac now has the same automatic categorization as it has on the iPhone. Some people love that on iOS, and some think it should have been done years ago since Gmail has long had the same thing.

And some users positively dislike Apple Mail's categorization. That hasn't been helped by how there have been issues over the beta with, for instance, the red badge showing incorrect numbers, but otherwise the actual categorization is well done and it's worth sticking with.

Mail does very prominently promote the fact that it has these new categories, too, and also makes it clear how you can readily switch them off if you want to. The categories you get if you leave it switched on, though, are:

• Primary


• Transactions -- Receipts, Orders and Deliveries


• Updates -- News, Subscriptions and Social


• Promotions -- Special Offers, Deals and More

Primary is really just anything that doesn't fall into one of the other categories, so effectively it becomes everything you might actually be interested in.

You may never need it, but there is an option to correct what category Apple Mail has filed an email into

To switch between the categories, you click on an icon at the top of the inbox. If you click again on the same icon, it switches you instead to an All Mail view.

In months of testing macOS 15.4, I've not found a single reason to disagree with the automatic categorization. But if you do, if it gets one wrong, you can right-click on the email and tell Apple Mail what category it should now and forever be in.

Visual and audio improvements

There is now one extra feature in Apple Passwords that is particularly welcome. The app's support for verification codes has been expanded to include ones that are limited with a timer.

This is the kind of feature that is incredibly useful for people who need it, and of little interest to anyone else. Much the same can be said for emoji, but as ever, it wouldn't be a macOS update without more of them being added.

Apple Passwords can now have timed verification codes

Every year, the emoji standards body approves a new set of additions to this exciting art form, and firms such as Apple add support in their next significant release. This time out, there are seven new emoji, including a face with bags under the eyes.

There is also one audio improvement, which comes for users of AirPods Max -- and owners of Apple's new USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable. It's the addition of support for lossless audio.

Improved device setup

As of now, macOS Sequoia 15.4 is the official macOS and it is what will come pre-installed on all new Macs. Now, if it is great to get a new Mac, it is often also a chore setting one up and especially so if you are migrating from an older Mac.

The new macOS Sequoia 15.4 aims to make setting up a new Mac at least a little easier than before. And it does so by adopting a feature that is so familiar to iPhone users that few of them even realize it has a name, and none of them have to.

It's called Quick Start, and it means your core details like your Apple Account and other settings can be automatically transferred to your new Mac.

There is more

All of these features from verification timers and lossless audio, to mail categories and new Apple Intelligence languages, are the headline features of macOS Sequoia 15.4. But of course there are more.

The new release will bring with it general performance improvements, for instance, as well as bug fixes.

It will also be the best macOS to be on in terms of security -- but don't rush to install it immediately. Although it has been in beta testing for months, it is only now being rolled out worldwide.

No OS survives contact with the real world, not without at least some issues. Maybe there won't be anything that affects you, but still you're best off leaving it for at least a few days to see what problems arise -- and which ones Apple fixes -- before you accept your Mac's automatic prompt to upgrade.



Read on AppleInsider