We begin this week’s episode of the In the News podcast with a discussion of the latest news relating to Siri: a new example of it not working as expected and why we now have new hope that it will improve in the future. Next, we discuss the state of the art in streaming video devices and why an Apple TV is still your best bet. We also discuss improvements to Maps and Messages, my review of the fantastic Anker Laptop Power Bank (and the news that you can once again get it on Amazon for under $100, the end of the current season of Severance and the confirmation of a new season of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+, confirmation that Texas attorney Rod Ponton is still not a cat, and Apple’s latest video for the AirPods Pro.
In our In the Know segment, Brett describes “Safe Driving Mode” in the Zoom app on iPhone, and I explain why the built-in Compass App on the iPhone and Apple Watch is more useful than you might think.
I have been using an Apple TV since the first model was released in early 2007. That doesn’t just predate the launch of this website in 2008; it predates the iPhone. I’ve upgraded to different models over the years and have been using the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) since 2021. As a result, I haven’t paid close attention to the competition in a long time. Thus, I was curious to read the comparison of the latest TV streaming devices by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Even though the current generation Apple TV hardware hasn’t been updated in four years, Snell explains that it is still the best of the pack. One huge advantage is the lack of ads, which he notes are especially obnoxious with the Fire TV. (Snell writes: “I wouldn’t use the Fire TV if Amazon gave me one for free, and given the amount of advertising on the box, they should be paying people to use them.”) But Snell also identifies some software features used by other devices that he thinks Apple should implement, such as listing streaming live TV channels. If you use an Apple TV like I do, this is an interesting article that helps you to appreciate what is good about what you already have while also showing how others have taken some interesting different approaches. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Last week, I discussed Apple’s acknowledgment that it was behind in AI, and Siri got even more bad press this week when folks realized that Siri doesn’t even know what month it is, as noted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball. But maybe there is hope in the future. Gruber also discusses a report by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg that Apple is changing its AI leadership, replacing John Giannandrea (formerly of Google) with Mike Rockwell (who had been in charge of the Apple Vision Pro). It will be a while before we see the impact of this change, but hopefully, the change will pay dividends for us users.
Esther Fung of the Wall Street Journal reports that 13 people were arrested in an international crime ring targeting FedEx deliveries of iPhones and other Apple products. An AT&T store employee was bribed to leak order details, and theives would track the deliveries and then pick up packages from doorsteps immediately after items were delivered.
If you want a new watch band for your Apple Watch at a huge discount, Woot is once again selling Apple Watch bands at an extreme discount: Apple Solo Loops for $20 and Apple Braided Solo Loops for $30. I took advantage of a similar sale in the past. These are original Apple products from prior seasons, and I loved gaining two new Solo Loop colors for only $40.
Christoffel also discusses a recent study of Apple’s new C1 modem in the iPhone 16e by Ookla—maker of the popular Speedtest app—and the conclusions are quite promissing. Qualcomm modems can outperform the C1 when the network connection is good, but when you have a good connection, you are less likely to notice slight improvements. What really matters more is how the modems perform when the network performance is poor, and Apple’s C1 modem beat Qualcomm’s modems in those tests. Considering that this is Apple’s first effort, these findings make me think that future C2, C3, etc. modems from Apple could be quite impressive.
Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac reviews the PNY Pro Elite V3, a flash drive with a huge capacity, including a 2TB version fo $145 on Amazon. That’s a ton of storage in a very small package. I could see it being useful with an iPad if you want to carry around a ton of files that won’t fit on your internal storage.
If you don’t use a password manager, you should. The one that I use and highly recommend is 1Password, which is especially useful if you get 1Password for Families so that you can easily share certain passwords and other important information with others. Mitchel Broussard of MacRumors reports that 1Password Families is currently 50% off (and the individual version is 25% off).
I heard from a lot of you who purchased an Anker Laptop Power Bank after reading my review earlier this week. That device is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. After I first published that post, Anker (or Amazon?) added a coupon so that you can get it for about $100 on Amazon. If you ever have a need for portable power when you lack convenient access to an outlet, you should check it out. Of course, Anker makes many other products too, and Eric Slivka of MacRumors reviews some other new interesting charging accessories from Anker.
Joe Rossignol of MacRumors identifies the nine states, plus Puerto Rico, where you can currently add a driver’s license to the iPhone’s Wallet app and identifies eight more states that are working to add this feature: Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah, and Oklahoma.
Who is that actor, and what else were they in? Callsheet is a great app from Casey Liss that can answer those types of questions. Devon Dundee discusses an update to that app that allows you to create multiple pinned item lists.
Speaking of TV, I stayed up late last night to watch the Season 2 finale of Severance. No spoilers, but OMG it is so good! An incredible episode of television. The only thing I don’t like is that now I’ll have to wait until Season 3 to get more. Fortunately, Armando Tinoco of Deadline reports that we won’t have to wait as long for Season 3 as we did for Season 2.
If you are a fan of Severance, do a Google search for the word “Severance” and then tap the blue button at the bottom. And feel free to keep tapping it repeatedly. Nicely done, Google!
Speaking of great shows on Apple TV+, Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports that Season 4 of Ted Lasso is confirmed and will feature Lasso coaching a women’s team.
Mitchel Broussard of MacRumors reports that you can currently get a bundle of Disney+ and Hulu (both with ads, unfortunately) for only $2.99/month for four months. I’m currently watching Paradise on Hulu, and it is really good.
The very best content for the Apple Vision Pro comes from Apple: the almost two dozen Apple Immersive Videos that I identified in this post (a post that I continue to update as new content is released and announced). But third parties are also doing interesting things with immersive video, and the very best one right now is the Prima Immersive app, which premiered on February 10, 2025, with the first episode of the Sessions immersive video series from The Spatialists, featuring bluegrass band AJ Lee & Blue Summit. Tim Chaten of the Vision Pros podcast interviewed Tom Rettig, the founder and Executive Producer of The Spacialists, in the latest episode of the Vision Pros podcast. I thought it was a fascinating interview, and it provides some great insight into additional great third-party content that we should see in 2025 and beyond.
One of the funniest viral videos that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic featured Texas attorney Rod “I’m not a cat” Ponton. Claire Moses of the New York Times caught up with Ponton to discuss it, and he has a great sense of humor about the incident. That video still brings a smile to my face when I watch it.
And finally, for a very long time, Apple has released ads for the iPod and iPhone featuring people listening to music as they walk down the street. But the one that Apple released this week called Someday is particularly impressive. It was created by Spike Jonze, it stars Pedro Pascal, and it is a feast for the eyes:
One of the very first accessories that I ever reviewed on this website was a portable battery. I actually reviewed two of them at once back in 2008, two different models made by the now-defunct Richard|Solo, a company started by Richard Thalheimer, who started as a lawyer and then turned into an incredibly successful businessman. Most famously, Thalheimer founded The Sharper Image, which he shut down in 2008 but was resurrected in 2010 when a new company bought the brand name. As I noted in my review, I found it incredibly useful to have external portable power for my iPhone, especially when I had long days in depositions or in court. Since that first review in 2008, I used and/or reviewed countless other external portable batteries for the iPhone, iPad, and other devices. As a result, I did not expect to come across a portable battery that seemed special. But I did. I recently purchased the Anker Laptop Power Bank, which is typically around $100 on Amazon (see below), and this thing is awesome. It gets my highest recommendation. In fact, I recently bought a second one as a gift for my brother. I love this battery because it packs a lot of power, cleverly includes two USB-C cords, and has a very helpful display.
Power
Let’s get the important but least interesting part out of the way first. This battery has a lot of power. It includes a huge 25,000 mAh capacity battery that can charge multiple devices multiple times. For example, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has one of the largest internal batteries of any iPhone at 4,685 mAh, so this device could charge it many times over. It also has no trouble recharging my iPad Pro M4 13-inch with its 10,340 mAh internal battery.
One of the main reasons that I purchased this device was to use it with my Apple Vision Pro. That headset comes with an external battery pack with a capacity of 3,166 mAh, and it can go for a little more than two hours before it runs out of power. That is not nearly enough when I sit at a table and use that device to get significant work done. But when I connect it to this Anker device, I essentially have all of the power that I would ever want.
Note that comparing the mAh of this power bank to the mAh of your device’s internal battery is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because energy is lost due to inefficiencies in battery cells and circuitry, so you will often see a 30% to 45% capacity reduction. Anker says that you can estimate the number of charges by using this formula: 25,000 (the capacity of this power bank) x 0.65 ÷ device battery capacity. So for my iPhone 16 Pro Max with a 4,685 mAh internal battery, I can expect to recharge it about three and a half times.
Having this much power means that you can also charge multiple devices. And you can do so simultaneously. When I attend a deposition, I typically use my iPad throughout the deposition (which can last all day) and I typically use my iPhone at the same time—including as a mobile hot spot to provide Wi-Fi for my iPad. I can connect both of those devices to this battery to make sure that they both can go all day long. With this device with me, I don’t have to worry about finding an outlet and a long cord that will reach up to my devices. I just put this battery right next to my iPhone and iPad. It works great. I haven’t been in trial since I purchased this battery, but I’m sure it would be great for that purpose as well.
The name of this Anker device—the Anker Laptop Power Bank—tells you that Anker had laptop charging in mind when it designed this thing. I virtually always use an iPad, not a laptop, when I am away from my office, so I haven’t tested this Anker device with a laptop, but I’m sure that the ample power it contains would be very useful for charging a laptop. Anker says that this product can get a 16-inch MacBook Pro (M3) to 50% in 33 minutes and an iPhone 16 to 50% in 25 minutes.
Even though this is a large and powerful battery, Anker says that it is approved for flight.
The only real downside of having a battery this big is that it makes this Anker device somewhat heavy at 21 ounces (just over 1.3 pounds). When I put this device in my bag, I can definitely notice that it is there. It weighs about the same as my iPad Pro M4 13-inch, which weighs 1.28 pounds.
When it comes time to recharge this power bank, it supports 100W ultra-fast recharging that can recharge the power bank to 30% in only 20 minutes and to 100% in about two hours. It even supports pass-through charging if you use a charger rated at 20W or higher and if the input power exceeds the output power.
Two built-in USB-C cords + two ports
One of the reasons that I was a big fan of that Richard|Solo battery that I reviewed back in 2008 was that it had a built-in 30-pin connector that could directly connect to the bottom of my iPhone. I could just carry the battery without worrying about carrying a cord. The same is true with this Anker power bank because it has not one but two built-in USB-C cords. (And reading that old review reminds me that we have come a long way from 30-pin to USB-C!)
The first built-in USB-C cord is on the very top of the power bank. It is retractable so that it stays out of the way when you don’t need it. It extends to up to 2.3 feet, but you can extend it less if you don’t need that much cord. Anker says that it is tested to withstand over 20,000 retractions.
The second built-in USB-C cord cleverly becomes a lanyard so you can use it to carry around the power bank. Anker says it is strong enough to support up to 44 pounds, so it can definitely support the 1.3 pounds of this power bank when used as a carrying strap. When you use it as a USB-C cord, it extends to almost one foot.
There is also a USB-C port on the side of the power bank. I typically use that to recharge this power bank at night, but you can also use it to charge another device. For example, this past Saturday, I realized that I had not charged my Apple Watch since Thursday night, so the battery was running low. I used the USB-C charging cord that came with my Apple Watch to recharge my watch using this battery while I was sitting on my couch and using my iPad. That saved me the trouble of walking upstairs to charge my watch on the regular charger on my nightstand.
Finally, there is a USB-A port, which is useful for recharging older devices that don’t support USB-C.
Each of the USB-C ports can send up to a 100W charge. The USB-A port can send up to a 33W charge. The maximum total output is 165W, and you can get that much if you are charging either one or two USB-C devices. (If you are charging one USB-C and one USB-A, you will get up to 100W on the USB-C and up to 33W on the USB-A.) If you are charging three or four devices, the maximum total output drops to 130W. The retractable cord on the top, which is designated USB-C1, will get up to 100W and the other ports will get up to 30W. If you are not using the USB-C1 cord, you will get up to 100W on the USB-C2 cord (the one that doubles as a carrying cord) and up to 30W each on the USB-C3 and USB-A ports on the side. If you are using all four ports at once, which I haven’t had a reason to do yet, you get up to 100W on USB-C1 and up to 30W on each of the other three ports. Note that the power bank has to have at least 25% of its power to achieve the 100W peak recharging rate for a single port.
There are a lot of numbers in that last paragraph, and it is good that Anker disclosed all of this, but when I have been using this power bank, I haven’t had a need to think about any of those numbers. I just know that it does a great job of keeping multiple devices powered.
Having one built-in cord would have been really nice. But having two of them built in is decadent. I love that this power bank is all that I need to have with me, and then when I need to charge one or two devices, which is virtually always all that I need, the cords are right there. I figured that this would be handy when I bought this power bank, but now that I have been using it for a while, I realize that this feature is even more valuable than I expected. And then having a regular USB-C port and a regular USB-A port means that I have everything that I might need.
Display
Every other external battery that I have ever used either doesn’t have an interface at all or perhaps has a few lights that roughly indicate things like the amount of battery power remaining. This Anker power bank has an awesome display that gives you precise information about everything that you might want to know.
Normally, the display is black. If you press a button on the left side of the power bank, the display comes on for a few seconds to tell you how much battery life you have left.
If you start charging a device, the circle on the display indicating battery life changes from green to blue and, just above the remaining battery life number, you see an indication of how much power is going out of the power bank.
While you are charging one or more devices, you can press the button on the side to see which ports are being used and how much power is going out of each port. After a few seconds, it returns to the main display.
If you are charging the power bank, the display shows you how much charge the battery is getting, how much charge the battery has, and how much longer it is estimated to take to fully recharge the power bank. I find that third number to be particularly helpful.
But that’s not all. Press the side button twice when you are looking at the main display and you will see the current battery temperature and whether it is a safe temperature. The reason for this is that when the power bank outputs high power, its temperature increases, so if the battery senses that it is getting too hot it will slow things down a bit to cool down. There are many batteries smart enough to regulate power for safety reasons, but I like that this Anker battery lets you see what is going on.
If you press the side button three times, you will see the battery health and the total number of times that power has been cycled. I’ve only had mine for a month so the battery health is still 100%. But if it doesn’t seem to be at top performance in a few years, it will be interesting to check out that number again.
I really like all of the information that this display provides.
Etc.
[Update on cost] The cost is $109.99 on the Anker website, but as noted above, you can often buy it for less on Amazon. When I bought mine, and at the time that this review was first posted, it was $94.99 on Amazon. However, a reader alerted me that the price on Amazon increased a few hours after this review was published. And yet another reader alerted me that on the afternoon of March 17, 2025, Amazon added a a coupon code to the listing that lets you get it for $99.99. According to Camel Camel Camel, the Amazon price for this product has fluctuated between $89.99 and $109.99. In my opinion, at any of those prices around $100, this product is worth it.
The height is just over six inches, and the sides are about two inches. Anker says that the size is comparable to a soda can, which I suppose is a fair comparison.
Although in most of the pictures in this post I show the Anker battery on its side, the bottom of the battery is rubber so you can stand it up straight on a desk and it stays in one place.
The model that I purchased is silver, but Anker also sells a space black one.
Conclusion
I am so glad that I purchased this Anker power bank. I have been using it frequently, and every time that I do so, it is a delight to use. Not only is this easily my all-time favorite external battery, it is such a useful and clever device that it is also currently one of my favorite accessories. As noted above, I was so impressed that when it was my brother’s birthday—he is a doctor who has always made good use of mobile technology—I bought him one too. The only downside is that at just over a pound, it is a little heavy, and it is larger than other batteries that I own. Thus, this is not a battery that you would want to carry around in a pants pocket. But the Anker Laptop Power Bank is so powerful, useful, and well-designed that it still gets my highest recommendation.
This week’s episode of the In the News podcast starts with a public service announcement: update to iOS 18.3.2 to fix a security flaw in the Safari browser. Next, we discuss the surprising recent announcement that the most interesting features of Apple Intelligence that we were told about last year are nowhere close to being ready. We also discuss some easy ways to transcribe audio, getting a weather forecast when you will be visiting different cities, a great list of Apple Watch tips, and more.
In our In the Vision segment, we discuss the amazing Immersive Video released by Apple this week that gives you the best seat in the house for a Metallica concert.
In our In the Show segment, we discuss Severance and some really interesting shows coming to Apple TV+ in the coming months.
In our In the Know segment, Brett provides a super helpful tip for using pins in the Notes app, and I recommend some background music to make it through your work day even if your Outie has to do the work.
Last year, when Apple previewed the AI tools that it was bringing to the iPhone and other platforms—which it called Apple Intelligence—one of the coolest featured announced by Apple was the ability to help you based on information on your device, including things in your emails, text messages, and even things displayed on your screen. For example, Apple said that you would be able to tell Siri to send an email or take something from your photo album and move it into a Note. Perhaps the coolest example is that Apple said you could ask Siri something like: “Siri, what’s the name of the guy I had a meeting with a couple of months ago at Cafe Grenel?” and it would answer you correctly because it knows what is on your calendar. In fact, Apple thought that last one was so cool that it hired actress Bella Ramsey—one of the stars of the HBO show The Last of Us and the actress who played Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones—to record a TV commercial. I linked to that commercial on September 13, 2024, and noted that I would love if it actually worked this easily. Well, it turns out that my skepticism was justified. Last Friday afternoon—the perfect time for a company to announce bad news that it hopes gets lost in the end-of-the-week news cycle—Apple issued a statement to a few people such as John Gruber of Daring Fireball that Apple would delay the ‘More Personalized Siri’ Apple Intelligence features until “the coming year,” whenever is. Gruber wrote a follow-up piece this week that is critical of Apple for not only announcing but also advertising a feature that was vaporware. Why the delay? Apple isn’t saying, but Federico Viticci of MacStories notes that it could be because of security concerns, and that explanation makes sense to me. Will Apple eventually be able to do what it promised? Perhaps, but there could be some long-term repercussions. Apple previously had a good reputation for not announcing products until they were close to being ready to ship. In light of this situation, how much can we trust Apple in the future when it announces a new feature but is cagey about showing it off? Now to be fair, we’ve all probably been in a situation in which we over-promised because we misjudged how long it would take to do something or we misjudged whether it was possible to do it at all. Apple can regain our trust by being more circummspect in the future about what it promises. And hopefully, that is exactly what Apple will do. And now, the news of note from the past week:
This has nothing to do with the iPhone, but I was proud to see that TimeOut magazine named New Orleans the best city in the world right now for food based on a survey of over 18,000 people. The number of amazing restaurants in this city is truly astonishing, whether it is a high-end (but very affordable compared to other cities) meal at a restaurant like Commander’s Palace in the Garden District or a delicious banh mi sandwich from the Vietnamese bakery Dong Phuong in New Orleans East, it’s no wonder that Homer Simpson found a thousand little things to love about this city. Kudos to all of the amazing chefs in the Crescent City whose talents earned this designation.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet reports that iOS 18.3.2, released this week, is an important update because it patches a serious security flaw in Safari that was already being exploited by hackers.
Jason Snell of Six Colors recommends the iPhone app Mercury Weather because of its ability to give you a forecast for different cities that you will be visiting in the future.
John Voorhees of MacStories tested the new iPhone 16e for 10 days and concludes that it is “an iPhone stripped to its core in a (mostly) uncompromising way that may not excite gadget nerds but exudes a quiet elegance for half the price of a flagship Pro Max” and is a particularly good camera for taking simple but great pictures.
I’m not a fan of heavy metal, but I just watched a heavy metal concert, and it was one of the most amazing concerts that I’ve ever seen. The band Metallica announced this week that it is featured in a new immersive video from Apple for the Apple Vision Pro, and the video was released today. The video was recorded in Mexico City, the band’s final stop of its 2024 tour, and Apple had numerous 3D cameras there. At times, you feel like you have a front-row ticket that you could never afford. At times, you feel like you have a ticket that doesn’t even exist—one that lets you stand next to the band members on stage as they perform. Other shots are from overhead cameras. Other shots provide close-ups of the crowds who are loving the concert. It is all very well done and incredibly immersive. The band performs three songs in this 25-minute show. Two of them are new to me (Whiplash and One) but they finish up with a song that almost everyone knows, Enter Sandman, and it is fantastic. Considering how much I enjoyed this concert video for a band that is almost totally outside of my zone of interest, I cannot wait to see something similar for a band that I love. If you are a fan of Metallica, you might want to buy an Apple Vision Pro just to watch this immersive video.
If you want to try out an Apple Vision Pro, you can go to your local Apple Store or you can go to Lowe’s. Lowe’s? Yes, Lowe’s.
Christoffel also discusses some of the shows coming to Apple TV+ that could be really good: Dope Thief, The Studio (which is getting some amazing early praise), Your Friends & Neighbors starring Jon Hamm, Murderbot starring Alexander Skarsgård, and Stick starring Owen Wilson.
And finally, I’m a big fan of the show Severance on Apple TV+, and I can’t wait to watch the penultimate episode of Season 2 tonight. At the recent SXSW 2025 conference, Ben Stiller (director and executive producer of the show) talked to Apple VP Eddie Cue to talk about Severance, Apple TV+, and more. It’s a great conversation that I enjoyed watching, and I hope that you do too:
There are two new iPads to choose from, and we begin this week’s episode of the podcast discussing who should consider each of the new models. We also discuss improvements in the iPhone 16e, new features to protect children, new emoji coming next month, location-based passwords in 1Password, hockey, ABA TECHSHOW, Severance, The Gorge, and much more.
In our In the Know segment, Brett and I share tips for getting the most out of the 1Password app.
Password manager apps have been around for a long time. I’ve been using 1Password since late 2012. Thus, I suspect that it is difficult to come up with new features for password manager apps that haven’t been thought of already, other than working with emerging technologies such as passkeys. Nevertheless, the latest update to 1Password managed to come up with a new feature that I think is quite clever and useful. As Julie Clover of MacRumors explains, the app now supports location-based passwords. Select a username/password and assign a location where you frequently use that password. When you are at that location—such as your work, your home, a coffee shop, etc.—passwords associated with that location will appear in the Nearby section of the Home screen. This is a nice new feature that makes it faster to get to the password you want without having to take the time to search for it. It’s nice to see that you can teach an old dog new tricks. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
If you are thinking of upgrading from an iPhone SE (3rd generation) to the new iPhone 16e, I suspect that you already know about the major changes: a larger device with a bigger screen, Face ID, Action button, faster processor, Apple Intelligence, much better camera, and USB-C instead of Lightning. But there are some smaller but still notable differences as well, and Michael Burkhardt of 9to5Mac discusses them in this article.
When iOS 18.4 is released next month, it will include new emoji. Jovana Naumovski of Gadget Hacks shows off the new characters, which include Face with Bags Under Eyes and Fingerprint.
I normally don’t use beta software on my devices like my iPhone and iPad because I depend upon them to get work done. I don’t want to worry about the bugs associated with software that is still being worked on. But I have installed beta software in the past on my Apple Vision Pro because everything about that device is already sort of a beta for the future of technology. Thus, I installed visionOS 2.4 beta 2 on my Apple Vision Pro a few days ago. As Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac explains, this beta includes Apple’s new Spatial Gallery app, an app that includes notable spatial photos, videos, and panoramic pictures. For now, there is only a small amount of content, but it is interesting, and it demonstrates that 3D content can be compelling even if it isn’t immersive spatial video that feels up your entire field of view and then some.
If you want a portable battery that is powerful enough to run a refrigerator but is portable enough for off-grid trips, Brian Patterson of Apple Insider reviews the Jackery 2000 Explorer. It is not cheap ($1,499 on Amazon) but for many uses it will provide all of the power that that you could need. If you want something less powerful but far cheaper, the Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 300 is currently on sale on Amazon for an all-time low price of $169.
I stopped using Twitter/X for obvious reasons and switched to Mastodon, and the primary reason that I enjoy using it is that the Ivory app from Tapbots is such an excellent client app. Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels reports that Tapbots is working on a similar client app for Bluesky that will be called Phoenix. I don’t use Bluesky right now, but with an excellent app, maybe I will start doing so.
Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac says that the Apple TV+ movie The Gorge is a perfect date-night film because it includes both action and romance. I watched it recently, and I thought it was great fun. I recommend it.
And finally, I understand that it can be difficult to explain what makes the iPhone 16e special other than saying that it is a modern but less expensive iPhone. But this new ad from Apple doesn’t really clear up anything for me. This one is just bizarre:
Less than a year ago, Apple introduced the high-end iPad Pro (M4) and the mid-range iPad Air (M2). They are both fantastic iPads. For most lawyers, the iPad Air gave them everything that they could want. For users who wanted a premium model that looked a little better and could do a little more, the iPad Pro was a nice upgrade. Yesterday, Apple narrowed the gap between those devices by replacing the iPad Air (M2) with the new iPad Air (M3). The name tells you what is different: the new model has a faster processor, so it is everything that you loved about last year’s iPad Air with a speed bump. This is a very capable device that will be perfect for most lawyers. Apple also updated its low-end iPad; more on that below.
The iPad Air (M3)
I love the iPad Air because it includes so many features that used to only be available in the high-end iPad Pro. I’m talking about features like thin bezels, flat sides, USB-C, a very nice screen, support for the Apple Pencil Pro, and an option to get a large 13-inch size. I love that larger size because I do so much reading on my iPad: pleadings, contracts, legal opinions, websites, etc. But if your eyesight is better than mine and you prefer the more traditional, lighter, and easier-to-carry 11-inch size, that is also available for the iPad Air.
If you were trying to decide between last year’s iPad Air (M2) and the iPad Pro (M4), you had to decide if it was worth the extra $400 for a nicer and brighter OLED screen, Face ID instead of Touch ID, four built-in speakers instead of two, and the speed of an M4 processor versus an M2. There were some other minor differences, such as the ability to pay more for a reduced glare non-texture display on the iPad Pro, but those were the main differences. For most attorneys, the iPad Air was the better choice, whereas the iPad Pro was better for attorneys who didn’t mind spending more for the top-of-the-line model with all of the best features.
This year, with the iPad Air (M3), the decision is essentially the same except for the speed. The M3 is about 15% to 20% faster than the M2, depending upon what tasks you are doing. The M4 is almost 25% faster than the M3. So by getting an M3 instead of an M2, you are closing that speed gap. That’s nice. To be fair, for many tasks that a lawyer is likely to do with an iPad, even the speed difference between the M2 and M4 was barely noticeable. But even so, it is nice to have a more responsive M3.
Thus, the elevator pitch for the new iPad Air (M3) is: it’s everything that you loved about last year’s mid-level iPad, but now it is a little faster for the same price.
The iPad Air (M3) starts at $549 for the 11-inch model and $749 for the 13-inch model. Those are both the 128GB versions. It is an extra $100 to go up to 256GB, an extra $300 to go up to 512GB, and an extra $450 to go up to 1TB. I think that 128GB is enough space for many lawyers, but if you want to store a large number of documents, photos, or videos, then going up to 256GB is a nice upgrade for only $100 extra, especially if you plan to use this iPad for many years to come.
Magic Keyboard for iPad Air
Apple sold a version of its Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air (M2), and yesterday, Apple introduced a new version that works with the iPad Air (M3). The new version adds a row of function keys at the top and a larger trackpad. But unlike the version of the Magic Keyboard that you can get with the iPad Pro, this version lacks haptics in the trackpad, lacks baclklit keys, and lacks an aluminum top, instead using one covered with silicone.
iPad (A16)
The other new iPad that Apple introduced yesterday is the iPad (A16).
I thought that the next version of the entry-level iPad would be called the iPad (11th generation), but instead, Apple is calling the new model it released yesterday the iPad (A16)—consistent with Apple’s modern naming convention of using a general product name along with an indication of what kind of Apple processor it uses.
The new iPad (A16) is the same size as the iPad (11th generation), but Apple used to call that size 10.9-inch and now Apple is rounding up and calling it the 11-inch size.
As the name tells you, the new model includes the A16 chip, which is a step up from the A14 of the iPad (11th generation). The A16 chip was first used in the iPhone 14 released in 2022, so it is certainly not the latest and greatest, and it is not even powerful enough to support Apple Intelligence. But people purchasing an entry-level iPad are looking for something good but relatively inexpensive; nobody expects to see the fastest processors. The other big improvement over the iPad (11th generation) is that it starts with 128GB instead of 64GB.
In the past, I have urged most lawyers to get an iPad Air and not the entry-level iPad. That remains true today. The iPad (A16) starts at $349 for the 128GB model, whereas the iPad Air 11-inch starts at $599 for the 128GB model. But the extra $250 gets you a device that is better and faster today and is more future-proof, an important feature in an iPad considering that most people continue to use them for many, many years before upgrading. For example, the M3 processor is faster than the A16, and it supports Apple Intelligence—which I think it going to become a bigger deal in the coming years. The iPad Air also has a better, more vibrant screen. The iPad Air also supports the Apple Pencil Pro. (The best version of the Apple Pencil for the iPad (A16) is the Apple Pencil (USB-C).) And the iPad Air supports the Magic Keyboard for iPad Air, a superior keyboard to the Magic Keyboard Folio supported by the iPad (A16).
Having said that, the new iPad (A16) is not just the iPad for your kids. If you want to use an iPad to get work done but have only simple needs and want to spend as little as possible, the iPad (A16) is a good device for 2025. But it is going to start showing its age even more every year.
Conclusion
Even though these two new models are essentially just speed bumps, not major new versions, there is nothing wrong with a speed bump. Who doesn’t like the idea of getting more without paying more? And while the iPad (A16) is a nice entry-level model for anyone with simple needs, the iPad Air (M3) is the sweet spot for most lawyers and other professionals who want to get work done with an iPad but also have a fantastic device for surfing the web, personal email, watching movies, etc.
Happy Mardi Gras from New Orleans! It will be an unusual Mardi Gras Day today because of the weather. As reported not only in our local news but even in the New York Times, the National Weather Service warned that strong winds today could bring gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. You don’t want to be standing next to a tall float with winds that high! As a result, the parade schedule in New Orleans for today has been trimmed back substantially. The parades will start earlier to try to beat the bad weather, the routes will be much shorter, the parades themselves will be shorter with no bands between the floats, and the late morning/afternoon parades are being rescheduled for this Sunday. At least we will have some parades today; all of the parades in neighboring Jefferson Parish are cancelled/postponed. As a result, today will be a Mardi Gras Day for the history books along with other notable ones including:
February 24, 1857: First Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, the Krewe of Comus
1862-1865: Parades cancelled due to the Civil War
February 25, 1879: Most parades cancelled due to yellow fever epidemic
February 14, 1899: Three inches of snow
February 20, 1917: Three-way tie for warmest Mardi Gras with high of 83º
1918-1919: Mardi Gras cancelled due to World War I
March 1, 1927: Wettest Mardi Gras with over two inches of rain
February 9, 1932: Three-way tie for warmest Mardi Gras with high of 83º
1942-1945: Mardi Gras cancelled due to World War II
February 16, 2021: Coldest Mardi Gras with high of 33º + cancelled due to COVID-19
February 21, 2023: Three-way tie for warmest Mardi Gras with high of 83º
Notwithstanding the changes for today, the biggest part of Mardi Gras season—the days leading up to Fat Tuesday—have been fantastic this year. The weather was amazing this past weekend, and I had so much fun spending time with lots of family and friends.
During the Iris parade this past Saturday, a crew member threw me a pair of beads with an iPhone on it. Of course, I have no idea who it was because riders have to wear masks, but I assume it was an iPhone J.D. reader who knew what I would love to catch:
Apple recently stopped selling any iPhone model with a home button, but that iconic design will live on in Mardi Gras beads and elsewhere.
Speaking of cool beads, I have to give credit to the marketing folks at my law firm. For the last few years, they have created beads to use at various firm events this time of year, and they are fantastic. Here are some recent ones:
Whatever you are doing today, I hope that at least a little bit of Mardi Gras spirit makes its way to you.
It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans! I had a great time watching parades with family and friends last night, and I look forward to doing it again on Saturday for reasons that I explain at the beginning of this week’s episode of the In the News podcast. Next, we talk about reviews of the iPhone 16e by people who have been using the device for a little while, the latest updates in the UK-Apple Advanced Data Protection saga, Photoshop on the iPhone, Apple News+ Food, the Apple Vision Pro, Steve Jobs, and more.
In our Where Y’at? Segment, we discuss the Apple Watch and AirTags.
In our In the Show Segment, we discuss Mr. Milchick.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for reducing motion sickness in your car and I explain why you should use a Live Photo on your iPhone Lock Screen.
