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Become a Six Colors member to read exclusive posts, get our weekly podcast, join our community, and more!By Jason Snell for Macworld
After a dramatic 2020, Apple’s 2021 was an anticlimax
Apple’s 2021 was one that was… good, but not surprising. After a dramatic 2020 where a global pandemic raged and yet Apple shipped a new iPhone redesign and entirely new processor architecture, 2021 was about settling in. The pandemic undoubtedly delayed some developments from 2021 into 2022, but Apple’s 2021 was always going to be a bit of an anticlimax after the drama of 2020.
The problem with making predictions is that there’s a difficult balance between wishcasting about what you’d like to happen, and approaching things with a steely eye and the discipline to know that just because you really want Apple to make an affordable external display, it’s probably not going to do that on your timeframe.
Last year, while 2020 was wrapping up and I looked forward to 2021, I largely read the room correctly—after a big year, things would settle down a bit in 2021. That was a good call, though it didn’t stop me from missing one of the most pleasant surprises of the year, or for predicting something that was entirely unlikely to happen just because I wanted to see it. Here’s a recap.