Apple took some big swings this year with the Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence. It feels like early days for both of those, though I can’t say either have felt like a genuine success.
And yet, there were lots of Apple products peppered throughout the year that live up to the company’s high reputation of quality. As you’ll notice, these definitely fall in line with the more established products in Apple’s ecosystem. But that doesn’t take anything away from just how good these were and how much they impressed our team of reviewers here at Digital Trends.
Mac mini (M4)
The Mac mini has long been an ignored product in Apple’s lineup, despite being the most affordable Mac you can buy. It had used more or less the same design for over a decade, despite the bumps to performance in the Apple Silicon era.
But in 2024, the Mac mini became impossible to ignore. Not only did the redesign make it more compact, it also received the bump to 16GB as a starting RAM configuration without increasing the price. This is a huge deal for a mini PC that was already so affordable. There’s simply no value in the world of computers quite like the base configuration of the M4 Mac mini right now. It’s not perfect — the placement of the power button is silly and the storage configuration prices get a bit insane. But as a base, there’s just never been a mini PC or Mac of any kind quite like it.
AirPods 4 with ANC
Apple launched the AirPods 4 alongside its new iPhone, but also launched an interesting secondary model, eloquently named AirPods 4 with ANC (Active Noise Cancellation). Originally a feature exclusive to the AirPods Pro, you can now get ANC in AirPods for just $179 compared to the $249 of the AirPods Pro 2. The main difference, however, is that it doesn’t include ear tips. Though the sound quality won’t ever be immersive — especially for all ears — if ear tips bother you (or gross you out), this is a great way to go.
In our review of both pairs of wireless earbuds, we noted that the base AirPods 4 “do sound better than the previous generation,” and that the ANC model “sound even better by nature of the fact that they so successfully remove outside sounds from the sonic canvas.” And to sum things up: “There is no better ANC in an open-ear earbud.” That’s quite a ringing endorsement from our audio experts.
iPhone 16
Much has been said about the current status of the iPhone and its now very complicated and nuanced lineup. But among all the higher-end options available, our phone reviewers were most impressed by the base iPhone 16. It lacks all the bells and whistles of the Pro and Pro Max models, of course, but for a $799 phone, it’s probably the iPhone most people should be upgrading to this year. The tweaked design, punctuated by the new color options, really make this stand out compared to previous models, too.
Our reviewer, Joe Maring, was really taken aback by the new colors and redesigned camera module on the back, so much so that he says the following: “It still looks like an iPhone, but there’s enough new here that it feels fresh and exciting in a way the iPhone 16 Pro does not.” The 60Hz refresh rate feels a little old-school, as does the lack of an always-on display.
But it’s great to see Apple ensure that its most affordable iPhone (outside the iPhone SE) really feels like something new. In 2024, that’s really saying something.
iPad mini (7th-generation)
If there’s one product category that Apple unequivocally owns, it’s the small tablet. There are hardly any players left in the game, and that’s largely because of just how good the $499 iPad mini really is. It’s not trying to replace your MacBook, but it’s the perfect travel companion or couch device. In 2024, that hasn’t changed — it’s just gotten better.
In our review, we wrote about just how perfect the form factor is, paired with the silky smooth performance of the A17 Pro chip. Yes, Apple Intelligence features still feel half-baked, but that doesn’t change just how fantastic a device the iPad mini still is, now in its 7th generation.
It still has some of the problems with the older iPad design, whether that’s the awkward webcam placement, the lack of a headphone jack, and the not-quite-bright-enough display. And yet, it’s a great example of just how good Apple’s refinements to this under-appreciated product category really have become.
MacBook Pro (M4)
Bringing the M4 to the MacBook Pro didn’t feel like a revelation. We knew it would happen, and it played out very much how we assumed it would, adding a more powerful Neural Engine and significant boost to CPU and GPU performance over the M3.
What we didn’t expect, however, was the other changes Apple had up its sleeve. For the first time since its launch, the M4 MacBook Pro feels like a really good option, so much so that it successfully undercuts the 15-inch MacBook Air. The most important upgrade is the bump to 16GB of RAM, which finally makes this the “Pro” device it deserves to be. Add in the option for the really awesome nano-texture display that deflects glare, and you’ve got the makings of a very solid generational upgrade. The M4 Pro and M4 Max continue to startle with how much GPU performance they’re able to scale up, as always, but the improvement to the 14-inch M4 model really were the most impressive this time around.
iPad Pro (M4)
Set all the debates aside about the direction of the iPad Pro and the future of how it compares with MacBooks. Taken on its own, the M4 iPad Pro is just an immaculate tech product. Apple made a lot of small tweaks to improve the design this time around, whether it’s changing the position of the webcam for better video calls or just squeezing an insane amount of performance in with the M4.
Throw in the insanely bright and vivid tandem OLED display — a feature still missing from MacBook Pros — and you see how much Apple is able to juice up its iPads with breakthrough technology. According to our testing in the review, the new display tech not only improved image quality but also helped with battery life. Our reviewer boldly called it “the best tablet ever I’ve ever used.”
While it hasn’t quite arrived, it feels easier than ever to replace a basic laptop or MacBook Air with an iPad Pro, and that’s thanks to just how incredible the hardware is. We’ll keep waiting on the software to catch up, but that doesn’t take anything away from just how good this year’s iPad Pro update was.
