Apple in 2025: The Six Colors report card

It’s time for our annual look back on Apple’s performance during the past year, as seen through the eyes of writers, editors, developers, podcasters, and other people who spend an awful lot of time thinking about Apple. The whole idea here is to get a broad sense of sentiment—the “vibe in the room”—regarding the past year. (And by looking at previous survey results, we can even see how that sentiment has drifted over the course of an entire decade.)

This is the eleventh year that I’ve presented this survey to my hand-selected group. They were prompted with 14 different Apple-related subjects, and asked to rate them on a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) and optionally provide text commentary per category.

I received 56 replies, with the average results as shown below:

Since most of the survey categories are the same as in previous years, I was able to track the change in my panel’s consensus opinion. The net changes between 2024 and 2025 are displayed below—you’ll note that scores were down in 11 of the 14 categories:

Read on for category-by-category grades, trends, and select commentary from the panelists. (You can also read the entirety of panelist commentary—all 32,000 words—if you are so inclined. I discuss the results and give some of my own opinions on today’s episode of Upgrade.)

Mac

Grade: B- (average score: 3.5, median score 4, last year: 4.2)

After a few years of relative stability, the Mac has now given back all the goodwill it earned from our panel with the release of Apple silicon Macs. The issue wasn’t on the hardware side: There was wide agreement that Apple is at the top of its Mac hardware game. But macOS 26 Tahoe was condemned as a disastrous OS release, due to its half-baked visual design that hurt the Mac’s usability. The panel lauded Apple silicon’s continued combination of performance and energy efficiency, but cautioned that the chip landscape and product lineup have gotten a bit more messy.

Hardware excellence

“The biggest compliment I can pay my M4 Pro MacBook Pro is that, apart from the unwieldy name, it’s boring. It’s boring that, unlike my high-powered PC laptop, I don’t need to worry about having a charger on hand. It’s boring that I almost never hear obtrusive fan noise. It’s boring that the screen is beautiful, a perfect size, perfect clarity, perfect contrast, perfect colours, perfect brightness and perfect smoothness.” — Shahid Kamal Ahmad

“Mac hardware is better than ever, with nearly every current Mac (except the Mac Pro) being a strong performer with no major drawbacks or compromises.” — Marco Arment

“I feel that [the MacBook Air has] become transparent. They work perfectly, do what I need, don’t complain, I rarely hear the fan on my iMac, and they are both sufficient for all the tasks I do.” — Kirk McElhearn

“Apple kept the MacBook Air at a pleasing $999, with a base config of 16 GB RAM. All’s right, if not exciting.” — Shelly Brisbin

“Hardware? Great, steaming ahead. Software? Terrible, steaming pile.” — Charles Arthur

macOS Tahoe controversy

“Tahoe is the worst user interface update in the history of the Mac. Every change is either wrongheaded, poorly executed, or both. The Mac remains usable only because of Tahoe’s lack of ambition: it mostly alters the appearance and metrics of interface elements rather than making fundamental changes to the structure of the Mac UI. Thank goodness for that. The bad ideas embodied in Tahoe reveal an Apple design team that has abandoned the most basic principles of human-computer interaction.” — John Siracusa

“Tahoe is the worst regression in the entire history of MacOS. There are many reasons to prefer MacOS to any of its competition, but the one that has been the most consistent since System 1 in 1984 is the superiority of its user interface. There is nothing about Tahoe’s new UI that is better than its predecessor…. Fundamental principles of computer-human interaction — principles that Apple itself forged over decades — have been completely ignored.” — John Gruber

“Mac hardware: stunning in a good way. macOS Tahoe: stunning in a bad way.” — Craig Hockenberry

“I am forced to use macOS Tahoe for work, otherwise there is no universe in which I would have it running on even one of my machines.” — Christina Warren

“The hardware is great. I have a 2025 M4 MacBook Air, and it’s great. But it’s running Sequoia and will be for the foreseeable future. It’s not that Tahoe doesn’t provide some great new features, it’s that as a long-time Mac user, I can’t bear to look at it.” — John Moltz

“Liquid Glass doesn’t shine on the Mac, but there’s more to macOS Tahoe to make it worth the upgrade. Spotlight is a lot more powerful, Live Activities are useful, and Shortcuts are more capable.” — Chance Miller

Some loose threads in terms of hardware

“The M3 Ultra is the latest in a long line of failures when it comes to high-end desktop Mac hardware: late, underwhelming, and fully two generations behind the rest of the Mac line. Meanwhile, the Mac Pro, with its M2 Ultra chip that has lower single-core performance than the two-year-old iPhone 15 Pro, seems well and truly dead.” — John Siracusa

“Mac Pro looks to be abandoned, iMac is getting long in the tooth, and I would love to see a bigger iMac Pro make an appearance.” — Eric Slivka

“Apple’s external displays continue to age, rather ungracefully. Mac users shopping for a display have more options than ever beyond the Apple Store. The Studio Display is too expensive, and the XDR is just… well, there’s a lot going on there. I hope Apple has some new products ready sooner rather than later.” — Stephen Hackett

iPhone

Grade: B+ (average score: 3.9, median score 4, last year: 3.7)

It was a very good year for iPhone hardware, which helped drive this score up from last year. The iPhone 17 line-up earned a lot of praise, including the base iPhone 17, for adding a bunch of features previously seen only on pro iPhones. The iPhone 17 Pro got a lot of love, too, while the response to the iPhone Air was more polarizing. Of course, the new Liquid Glass design on iOS 26 also came in for a lot of criticism, though many panelists praised it. Generally, iOS is considered the place where Liquid Glass shines best, even if some panelists felt that was damning with the faintest of praise.

The iPhone 17 lineup

“This is probably the best year for the iPhone that I can recall. The hardware is basically perfect across the lineup. There’s no duds.” — Casey Liss

“The iPhone 17 line is yet another strong showing from Apple. The vapor chamber in the Pro models addresses one of the few persistent hardware weaknesses of the high-end iPhones. The plain iPhone 17 is one of the best values in years, adopting many formerly Pro-only features.” — John Siracusa

“2025 brought more iPhones than ever, as Apple leaned into differentiation between models. The iPhone Pro and Pro Max were redesigned to maximize the performance of the camera and the silicon inside. The iPhone 17 gained ProMotion and the always-on display, making it the best base iPhone ever.” — Stephen Hackett

The iPhone Air

“The iPhone Air, with all its compromises, is the best iPhone I’ve used in a long time. And by ‘best’, I don’t mean technically the best, because it’s not. I mean it in the sense that the iPhone Air is the sort of futuristic, forward-looking, almost impossible product that elicits the same sense of joy and wonder that the iPhone X made me feel in 2017.” — Federico Viticci

“Apple missed the mark with the iPhone Air — too many compromises at too high a starting price made it easy for people to ignore.” — Peter Cohen

“The iPhone Air is the most ambitious iPhone redesign since the iPhone X, and it’s what I use every day.” — Chance Miller

Liquid Glass on iOS

“Liquid Glass works best on the iPhone by a mile. The pearl-clutching about legibility is justified — most of it anyway — but I do love the way things look, and especially, the way they move.” — Casey Liss

“Liquid Glass is not as bad on the iPhone as on the Mac, but it’s still terrible.” — Brent Simmons

“iOS 26 feels like a step backward in terms of design and legibility. I’m annoyed daily by it still after several months of use.” — Matthew Haughey

“I know people are attracted to the ‘fresh’ look, but it’s poorly considered and will age like milk.” — Joe Rosensteel

iPhone 17 value

“The best iPhone for almost anyone this year is the base iPhone — which is an amazing value…. You’re honestly making very few compromises for the cheaper phone.” — Christina Warren

“[The iPhone 17] stands out to me as the best overall iPhone in years, finally with ProMotion and Always-On.” — Chance Miller

The iPhone 16e

“The 16e, I contend, costs too much. If this were $499, I think I would have an easier time defending it.” — Christina Warren

“The 16e seems very expensive for what you get — not really a budget phone, not a particularly small phone, and far less capable than the still-available 16.” — Nick Heer

“The 16e is an excellent platform to allow the cutting of the kinds of corners that pro users hate, while the value-conscious get a very recommendable device.” — Shelly Brisbin

iPad

Grade: B (average score: 3.7, median score 4, last year: 3.5)

It’s a new era of good feelings for the iPad, which posted gains on last year’s huge improvement over the no-new-iPads year of 2023. A lot of praise was for iPadOS 26’s new windowing system, in which Apple seems to have figured out how to balance the iPad with a desire among some users for Mac-style window management. Some panelists who said they had drifted away from the iPad reported coming back into its gravitational pull. But as always, some skepticism remains about the iPad’s very reason for being.

iPadOS 26 windowing

“iPadOS 26 is a leap forward in multitasking, finally delivering what iPad power users have wanted for many years: the radical concept of windows.” — Marco Arment

“iPadOS 26 has brought me back to the iPad in a big way. I feel like Apple has finally taken off the training wheels from the OS and let it be the best that it can be.” — Myke Hurley

“They did it! Multitasking the way it should be! iPadOS is as good as it’s ever been, and the hardware continues to be fantastic. But the main question of the iPad remains existential: what and who is it for?” — Dan Moren

“Windows on iPad still have a lot of rough edges, but it’s a change that I’m so glad Apple made.” — Craig Hockenberry

“The course reversal Apple has made for advanced users, from eschewing (often to the point of frustration, sometimes to the point of absurdity) the desktop GUI concept of overlapping windows, to embracing regular old-fashioned GUI windows, was the right call, and a welcome sign of humility. It’s a new start for iPadOS, and I look forward to seeing where it goes.” — John Gruber

“It’s the first time in years where iPadOS doesn’t feel like an afterthought.” — Quinn Nelson

The iPad’s identity crisis

“More than 99% of what I do is better on my Mac, my iPhone, or my Kindle. But if you like iPad, this was a good year.” — Michael Tsai

“I still can’t shake the feeling that, in spite of the outstanding improvements to the platform, the iPad’s app ecosystem ship has sailed, and it’s not coming back.” — Federico Viticci

“Even though multitasking has improved, the app model inherited from iOS is not conducive to power user applications.” — Gui Rambo

“This is the year that Apple finally called our bluff on making iPadOS more useful. My only concern is whether they waited too long. Are users and developers ready to embrace the iPad for more serious work and software?” — David Sparks

“The iPad remains incredible hardware that is, still, let down by its software. Now, far less egregiously so, but let down nonetheless.” — Casey Liss

The hardware lineup

“The iPad mostly took the year off, with only minor spec-bump updates. But the new iPad Pro still has the best screen on any Apple device of any size, and the M5 continues Apple’s history of over-delivery on iPad performance.” — John Siracusa

“What can you say other than ‘confusing?’ The 2025 iPad Pro is the previous model with an M5 chip and Wi-Fi 7. The iPad uses the A16 chip, but the iPad Mini uses the A17 Pro? iPad Air is on the two-year-old M3 chip.” — Matt Deatherage

“$600 for a 128GB iPad in 2025 … just feels unreasonably high. Especially when the stuff that most people do with an iPad can be found in a package that is $350.” — Christina Warren

Wearables

Overall: Grade: B- (average score: 3.5, median score 4, last year: 3.6)

Apple Watch: Grade: B- (average score: 3.4, median score 3, last year: 3.7)

Vision Pro: Grade: D- (average score: 2.2, median score 2, last year: 2.4)

Just as Apple’s Wearables, Home, and Accessories category has stalled out financially, it’s also lost its luster in our panel’s eyes. Apple Watch updates were deemed incremental, and what should’ve been a slam dunk—the new AirPods Pro 3—ended up being surprisingly polarizing. And then there’s the Vision Pro, which was acknowledged as a piece of impressive technology… but without much of a purpose, no developer momentum, and no consumer demand.

Apple Watch stagnation

“Like the iPad, the Apple Watch seemed to mostly take the year off, with limited, mostly internal changes. Unlike the iPad, the Watch could use a good kick in the pants. It’s become stagnant.” — John Siracusa

“The Apple Watch has become very boring to me as a product line. I am desperately hoping for them to do something new.” — Myke Hurley

“Innovation in Apple’s wearables has plateaued. There are no must-have upgrades, and the most compelling reason to update Apple wearables is that the battery life on the previous, nearly-identical, Apple wearable has degraded.” — Joe Rosensteel

AirPods Pro 3

“AirPods Pro 3 are just amazing. I use them every day for several hours. They’re an accessibility aid for me because I’m hypersensitive to noise, so I need noise cancellation to be able to work with full concentration.” — Gui Rambo

“The AirPods Pro 3 were a bit of a side-step, with nicer sound and noise cancellation, but significantly worse comfort for many people.” — Marco Arment

“AirPods Pro 3 are the rare misstep. On the one hand, I love the better battery life and the new fit. On the other hand, they do sound demonstrably worse than the AirPods Pro 2s.” — Christina Warren

Vision Pro

“The Vision Pro remains an expensive tech demo, with promises of future content and apps that still haven’t materialized, minimal investment from Apple, and virtually nonexistent demand from customers or developers.” — Marco Arment

“I own the Vision Pro and regret the purchase every day. While I’ve had about 45 minutes of breathtaking VR experiences, the overall software availability and media selection are not worth the high price tag.” — Gabe Weatherhead

“Every time I strap the face computer to my head, I’m absolutely gobsmacked at how cool it is. Still, almost two years on.” — Casey Liss

“Vision Pro made few visible advancements this year and seems like it needs to be rethought or cancelled.” — Michael Tsai

Home

Grade: D+ (average score: 2.6, median score: 3, last year: 2.7)

Apple’s home strategy appears to be stalled, as has its score in this survey for the last five years. Nothing really changed. The Home app is still not great. And all the rumored new home hardware appears to have been delayed due to Apple’s inability to upgrade Siri.

Stagnation and neglect

“Does Apple know they make HomeKit?” — Marco Arment

“Has Apple done anything meaningful here in a long time? It’s preposterous to me how little Apple seems to care about this.” — Casey Liss

“Why isn’t this platform improving, in drastic, groundbreaking ways, with any urgency? I really thought 2025 might be the year, but nope. I can’t think of any area where Apple’s attitude more clearly seems to be that ‘good enough’ is good enough.” — John Gruber

“Is Apple still working on HomeKit? The past few years would suggest otherwise.” — Federico Viticci

“They basically did nothing at all across the entire year for their Home line.” — Benjamin Mayo

The Home app

“I can’t give Apple high marks for Home until they rewrite the Home app entirely. I’m pretty clever, and I’m continually baffled by it.” — Allison Sheridan

“The Home app is still frustrating. You have to go to Shortcuts to make things that will properly control it, and the lack of if statements and proper logic within the app makes it frustrating if you have bigger visions than turning lights on and off.” — Charles Arthur

Siri troubles

“When I say ‘Turn off the lights’, and the Watch shows what I said, then spins, then says ‘Sorry, could you say that again?’ I want to scream. But it’s just good enough to keep using it, and keep hoping it will get better.” — Paul Kafasis

“Siri continues to decline, and has become the albatross around the neck of a largely stagnant Home system.” — Adam Engst

Matter might matter?

“Matter continues to grow in both capability and availability. Having moved in 2025, I’ve been slowly building a new HomeKit setup, and it’s been very, very smooth. Things aren’t perfect, but putting something together with products from various vendors is way easier than it used to be.” — Stephen Hackett

“My old 2012-era Nest 2nd Gen got deprecated, and despite being annoyed with Google, I went with Nest 4th gens. They’re Matter-compatible, which means I no longer need a HomeControl server to make them work with the Apple Home app. Hooray! The future of cross-compatibility is finally here, a little bit.” — Paul Kafasis

Apple TV

Grade: C- (average score: 2.8, median score 3, last year: 3.2)

Panelists wonder why the Apple TV is the best there is at what it does, yet still feels stagnant. There’s still no new hardware, tvOS got minimal updates, and Apple’s TV app overpromotes Apple’s own content over the needs of its users. Even its most ardent fans feel like the platform is overdue for a rethink, but it’s unclear if Apple wants to bother.

Stagnation

“The Apple TV trudges along like an old, reliable, yet strangely expensive, horse.” — James Thomson

“The only way I watch media is through an Apple TV. … Apple pays nowhere near enough attention to this. The last new hardware was October 2022 for Chrissakes!” — Casey Liss

“Did anything happen? It did not… It’s been a big nothing of a year for Apple TV.” — Dan Moren

“Apple TV continues to be a product in Apple’s ecosystem.” — Christina Warren

Best by default

“The Apple TV continues to be the best product in its category, but mostly because everything else is so awful. It could be so much more with even a modicum of effort.” — Marco Arment

“Meh, but arguably the best in the category? The hardware is long in the tooth, tvOS seems to be in compatibility mode with new OSes, and no streamers use the tvOS profiles.” — Andrew Laurence

“The Apple TV does exactly what I want it to do. tvOS and the TV app could use a rethink, but it’s still the best set-top box experience out there. Perhaps that’s more of an indictment of the competition than praise for Apple.” — Chance Miller

Discovery in the apps

“TV apps everywhere continue to prioritize the needs of the streaming service over my needs as a viewer. I want to continue watching my show. They want to shove a bunch of new content in my face while making the show I was just watching as difficult as possible to find.” — John Siracusa

“The TV app won’t let you see what you might like until Apple has shoved what it wants you to see down your eyeballs first, a dark pattern of the first order.” — Matt Deatherage

Services

Grade: B (average score: 3.6, median score: 4, last year: 3.5)

Like its financial counterpart, the Services score in our survey just keeps going up (or at least, has done so for two years straight). Our panelists appreciated the Apple TV streaming service (formerly Apple TV+), calling out hit shows and movies. Other services like Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple Pay were generally described as solid. But there were also complaints about Apple over-marketing its own products, that pesky free iCloud tier remains unchanged, and ads in Apple News are lousy. Most damning, perhaps, is the sentiment that Apple’s services are good, but none of them are the best in their class.

Apple TV programming

“Apple TV has really grown since its pretty low-key launch years ago. I think 2025 was the year it finally had not just one mainstream hit, but a few. Severance season 2, The Studio, and Pluribus were all genuine cultural events this year.” — Matt Birchler

“For me, Apple TV+ props up this entire category. … The majority of my favorite TV shows in 2025 came from Apple, and they had a veritable hit with F1.” — Myke Hurley

“I’d really like whoever’s picking the shows for Apple TV to keep doing what they’re doing: it’s a great collection, and keeps getting better.” — Craig Hockenberry

Upselling fatigue

“I’d really like Apple Fitness+ to stop constantly trying to upsell me in the Workouts app. I’d really like Apple News+ to stop constantly trying to upsell me in the Stocks app. I’d really like iCloud and AppleCare to stop constantly trying to upsell me in the Settings app.” — Craig Hockenberry

“The nags for upsells… feel so personally disrespectful and infuriating to someone who so passionately evangelized the little fruit company from its pre-iPod days.” — Joe Macirowski

“Holy fucking shit, enough with the upsells. My God.” — Casey Liss

“Apple’s focus on subscription revenue has led to many nagging pleas to subscribe and spend money with Apple.” — Joe Rosensteel

iCloud and the 5GB Tier

“Once again, the free tier of iCloud storage remains at 5GB. It has been so since 2011, when announced by Steve Jobs. It’s been 14 years. The Apollo moon program, the Beatles, and the entire run of ‘Friends’ were all shorter than the amount of time Apple has kept the free iCloud tier at 5GB.” — David Sparks

“I see iCloud syncing for apps to be an unsung hero. We complained about it for so long, we’ve forgotten to herald the fact that it works superbly now.” — Allison Sheridan

Apple News pros and cons

“In Apple News, the ads I see should make Apple embarrassed. Choosing Taboola to serve ads was a mistake.” — Kirk McElhearn

“Apple News+ is still filled with low-quality ads.” — Stephen Hackett

“The puzzles in Apple News+ have become part of my morning routine.” — Chance Miller

“I only have a couple of friends who play [Apple News puzzles], but they’re really fun. I particularly like Emoji Game, in part because it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen.” — Casey Liss

Hardware reliability

Grade: A (average score: 4.5, median score 5, last year: 4.6)

If there’s an area where Apple’s firing on all cylinders, it’s hardware. Panelists reported no significant hardware failures, with many noting they couldn’t remember the last time an Apple product failed them. (Several panelists joked that the person in charge of hardware would make a great CEO. If you know, you know.)

Solid reliability

“Apple is on an epic run of great hardware.” — Brent Simmons

“I can’t remember the last time one of my Apple products broke that wasn’t my fault.” — Casey Liss

“Tim Cook’s legacy will be unbeatable hardware anchored by mediocre software and design. Every piece of Apple hardware feels like it’s from the future.” — Gabe Weatherhead

“17 years into writing for MacStories, and I still haven’t had any major issue with Apple hardware in my life. They should promote the guy in charge.” — Federico Viticci

“I bet the guy in charge of hardware would be a great CEO in the future.” — Stephen Hackett

“Apple’s hardware is rock-solid. Maybe their hardware chief deserves a promotion.” — Marco Arment

Longevity

“All of my Apple devices are solid. They perform well, and I have confidence they will for several years to come. I don’t have to buy new hardware nearly as often as I might have, several years ago.” — Shelly Brisbin

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a hardware issue with an Apple device.” — Kirk McElhearn

Apple software

Apple OS quality

Grade: D+ (average score: 2.7, median score: 3, last year: 3.4)

Apple app quality

Grade: C (average score: 3.1, median score 3, last year: 3.5)

So, yeah, about that… Suffice it to say that after several years of increasing discomfort about Apple’s approach to software design and usability, the introduction of Liquid Glass caused our panel to boil over. Liquid Glass was criticized on all platforms, though the macOS Tahoe implementation was probably judged the harshest. Beyond the aesthetics, there were complaints about bugginess, glitchiness, and usability regressions. Several panelists suggested that next year’s OS cycle should focus on refinement, usability, and stability rather than new features. However, several panelists acknowledged that some new features in macOS Tahoe were actually useful—but were largely overshadowed by the new design.

Liquid Glass criticism

“Yearslong growing concerns over the direction of Apple’s software design reached a breaking point with MacOS 26 Tahoe. It’s so bad — or at least, so much worse than MacOS 15 Sequoia — that I’m refusing to install it.” — John Gruber

“Liquid Glass is so bad that it makes everything else look bad.” — Brent Simmons

“I’ve gotten more unsolicited negative comments and queries about the 26 releases from friends and family than any other OS release in recent memory, and that’s almost all Liquid Glass complaints.” — Jeff Carlson

“Usually, big design trends last for five to 10 years. But after just a couple months of using Liquid Glass, I’m already craving the next trend.” — Matt Birchler

“Did I mention that I do not care for Liquid Glass?” — James Thomson

“I don’t hate Liquid Glass as much as others in our community do, but let’s face it: it hasn’t been a smooth rollout, especially on macOS.” — Federico Viticci

A new focus on quality is needed

“I’d love to see Apple take a release cycle to focus on quality, but with the catch-up they’re currently doing for Apple Intelligence, that seems unlikely.” — Craig Hockenberry

“Liquid Glass really drags down the average this year. It also completely wiped out Apple’s ability to make improvements to existing features, which is at the core of Apple’s longstanding software quality crisis. Apple really needs to shift the balance between new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements. The process of polishing existing features is vastly undervalued by today’s Apple.” — John Siracusa

“I’d love to see a Snow Leopard-style shift focusing on ironing out what went wrong with this 26 strategy.” — Peter Cohen

“Sometimes you need to take a moment to reset and to clean up around the house. Apple needs that.” — Casey Liss

“It has been a supreme disappointment to watch Apple bumble the Shortcuts app. This is an app that felt like it was designed by true Apple fans, back when Apple acquired it. But in the years since then, Apple has abdicated its responsibility to us, and Shortcuts is now too unreliable to invest our attention and time any further.” — Gabe Weatherhead

“Certain features like Screen Time, touted as a very important feature when it debuted, just withers on the vine without any updates or bug fixes.” — Todd Vaziri

Developer relations

Grade: D- (average score: 2.3, median score 2, last year: 2.4)

When this survey began, Apple’s relationship with third-party developers was so rocky that I made sure the topic was covered in the Report Card—and, as expected, it received a terrible score. Soon after, Apple made some major changes to its App Store policies, and the scores in this category shot up. However, for the last eight years, it’s been mostly on a downward slide, and this year it’s almost returned to the low point of 2015.

It’s because of what you probably expect: Apple’s aggressive defense of App Store revenue and control, the global regulatory patchwork that creates confusion for developers, the burden of adapting to the Liquid Glass redesign, and a general sense that Apple treats developers as means to an end rather than partners. Swift and SwiftUI continued to draw mixed reactions, with concerns about maturity and complexity. A few panelists noted that Apple’s developer tools and APIs remain strong even as the relationship sours.

App Store

“The quote ‘it’s our FUCKING STORE‘, from Apple’s Marni Goldberg that came out during the Epic vs Apple trial, is permanently burned into my mind as the perfect encapsulation of Apple’s attitude towards developers.” — James Thomson

“Business as usual. But business is not good. The company keeps fighting to control the App Store as it has, without ever stopping to ask whether or not it actually needs to.” — Dan Moren

“Apple touts it, but the App Store continues to be awful for developers. Apple refuses to stop trying to squeeze every unearned cent out of developers. The greed is astounding, and compromise is absent.” — Paul Kafasis

“I publish two apps. The process of getting new releases approved is still too painful. The tools Apple offers developers are great. The lawsuits Apple fights to avoid giving developers (and their users) what they should… are not great.” — Lex Friedman

Making life hard for developers

“Apple gave developers great new APIs to use in the 26 OSes, but burdened them with half-baked redesigns that make it extremely challenging to create good UIs and reliable apps.” — Marco Arment

“I feel like I could copy and paste my comments from several past years on the topic of developer relations. We are not making progress. It seems like new leadership at Apple is our only hope.” — John Siracusa

“Apple consistently and regularly shows developers that it does not care about them… Without developers, Apple wouldn’t have an ecosystem. They’d have an iPhone. One that nobody would buy, because it’d be damned near useless.” — Casey Liss

Regulatory challenges

“The hodgepodge of regulations around the world is only getting more complicated for both Apple and developers. Apple might have been able to head this off by making some voluntary changes sooner.” — Eric Slivka

“Everything we’ve said before about fighting a war on all fronts with every single regulatory body around the world is still true from last year.” — James Thomson

Apple’s Impact on the World

Grade: F (average score: 2.1, median score: 2, last year: 3.1)

This category (formerly Environmental/Social Impact) was designed so panelists could judge Apple’s frequent claims that it’s trying to leave the world better than it found it, most notably with its championing of various social and environmental policies and causes. This year, the bottom fell out. Tim Cook’s relationship with the Trump administration dominated the discussion. Panelists overwhelmingly condemned what they described as obsequious behavior — the gold-plated plaque, the Mar-a-Lago dinners, the inaugural donation — as a betrayal of Apple’s stated values on human rights, the environment, and social responsibility. Several panelists noted that Apple had quietly deprioritized environmental commitments and removed the ICEBlock app from the App Store. A few acknowledged the difficulty of Apple’s position as a multi-trillion-dollar company navigating an unpredictable administration, but most argued that Apple was obliged to take a stronger stand.

Tim Cook and the Trump administration

“As has often been said this year, what good is having fuck-you money if you never say fuck you?” — John Siracusa

“‘Awarding’ Donald Trump a 24-karat gold trophy emblazoned with the Apple logo in August 2025, after seeing eight months of Trump 2.0 in action, wasn’t ‘engagement’ or ‘getting off the sideline.’ It was obsequious complicity with a regime that is clearly destined for historical infamy. Cook’s continued strategy of ‘engagement’ risks not only his personal legacy, but the reputation of the company itself.” — John Gruber

“Tim Cook presenting an award to Donald Trump is one of the single most awful things Apple has ever done.” — Paul Kafasis

“Tim Cook’s actions supporting Trump and China betray Apple, democracy, and human rights to ensure favorable treatment, reduced competition, and minimal judicial and regulatory interference.” — Marco Arment

“Watching Tim Cook bend a knee to Trump for the past year has been downright embarrassing.” — Matthew Haughey

“Can we give Apple a gold-plated award for obsequiousness?” — Adam Engst

Loss of moral authority

“Apple once had a reputation as an ethical and humane big tech company — and that reputation helped the world by showing that it was possible to be that and to be successful. That reputation is gone, and that example is now gone too.” — Brent Simmons

“I don’t have a lot of patience for the ‘What are they going to do, stand up to the bad guys?’ arguments defending the company’s fawning over everything the new U.S. President says and does.” — Matt Birchler

“How can a company tout its own diversity, while at the same time handing out golden awards to a person that’s trying to destroy our country’s diversity? You either believe in it, or you don’t: there’s no gray area here.” — Craig Hockenberry

“I’ve been buying Apple products since my first Apple II in 1979. This is the year they lost me. Giving into Trump’s demand for a monetary tribute has left me unwilling to buy any new Apple products until I’m assured that they will not be donating to the executive branch.” — Ben Long

“I don’t care what Tim’s personal feelings on the matter are, and I don’t care what his fiduciary responsibility is, Apple simply can not claim they are serving the greater good in any way, shape, or form.” — Joe Rosensteel

“They stopped Product (RED) products … They don’t even pretend any more to be environmentally positive, other than when they present new products.” — Kirk McElhearn

“I’m no longer surprised by Apple’s political decision-making and maneuvering. A multi-trillion-dollar company is going to prioritize capitalism every time, even if it means cozying up to the worst people. Apple did, however, resist outside pressure to abandon its DEI policies. It continues to put an admirable focus on Accessibility. Apple 2030 is still a goal on Apple’s roadmap.” — Chance Miller

Notes

Every year, I tell people they don’t need to write a lot, but many just can’t help themselves. Their complete 32,000 words of commentary are also available, and I’ve encouraged them to also post them elsewhere if they desire. I didn’t vote in the survey, though you can hear me provide my own thoughts on Upgrade 604, released today.

Thanks to all of those who participated: Shahid Kamal Ahmad, Steven Aquino, Marco Arment, Charles Arthur, Matt Birchler, Shelly Brisbin, Jeff Carlson, Robert Carter, Peter Cohen, Matt Deatherage, Jessica Dennis, David Dozoretz, Adam Engst, Lex Friedman, Rob Griffiths, John Gruber, Stephen Hackett, Zac Hall, Matthew Haughey, Nick Heer, Craig Hockenberry, Myke Hurley, Paul Kafasis, Joe Kissell, Andrew Laurence, Casey Liss, Ben Long, Joe Macirowski, Brian Mattucci, Benjamin Mayo, Kirk McElhearn, Philip Michaels, Carolina Milanesi, Chance Miller, John Moltz, Dan Moren, Quinn Nelson, Howard Oakley, Rosemary Orchard, Gui Rambo, Stephen Robles, Joe Rosensteel, Allison Sheridan, Rich Siegel, Brent Simmons, Aleen Simms, John Siracusa, Eric Slivka, David Sparks, Brett Terpstra, James Thomson, Michael Tsai, Todd Vaziri, Federico Viticci, Christina Warren, and Gabe Weatherhead. And thanks to Khoi Vinh for suggesting this concept way back in October of 2015.

All our previous surveys are available via our Apple Report Card archive page.