As 2025 involves an in depth, Macworld is proud to current our Apple awards, a glance again at the perfect and worst of all the things launched over the previous 12 months. It was a busy 12 months for Apple, with new merchandise throughout its complete vary of merchandise, together with iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Mac, and even Imaginative and prescient Professional. So be a part of us as we acknowledge the merchandise that made essentially the most affect in 2025:
iPhone/iOS
Emma Rowley / Foundry
iPhone of the Yr: iPhone 17
The iPhone 17 isn’t simply the perfect iPhone of 2025; it’s the perfect iPhone of the final 5 years. Apple lastly stopped holding again options that must be desk stakes for an $800 telephone. You get double the storage, 120Hz ProMotion, 50 % greater peak brightness, always-on show, higher cameras, and velocity and battery life that each exceed final 12 months’s Professional mannequin. All with out elevating the worth. There’s by no means been a greater 12 months not to go Professional. — Jason Cross
Apple
iOS characteristic of the 12 months: Tackling Spam
Name Screening will silently reply unknown numbers and ask them to say why they’re calling, and you’ll see all of it proper on display. It’s a good way to remove spam calls with out lacking legit calls from numbers that simply aren’t in your contacts. Couple that with new spam filtering in Messages, in addition to within the Cellphone app and FaceTime, and Apple is lastly doing one thing about one of many largest ache factors of utilizing a smartphone. There’s nonetheless a protracted solution to go, however since upgrading to iOS 26 and enabling these options, I’ve seen a giant drop within the variety of instances a day I decide up my telephone solely to instantly cling up on a solicitation message. — Jason Cross
Britta O’Boyle
Colour of the Yr: Cosmic Orange
For the corporate that ostracized beige because the default shade in computing when it launched the out-there Bondi Blue iMac in 1998, Apple has been relatively tame when it comes to its current shade decisions. The iPhone 17 Professional’s Cosmic Orange is due to this fact a refreshing shock to the system and a vibrant return to kind. Orange is not restricted to site visitors cones and dodgy Seventies furnishings. The Apple Retailer ought to hand out sun shades for the crowds choosing up the colourful new iPhone and ignoring the darkish blue one. There’s even a rising vary of orange equipment obtainable for the brand new telephone. — Simon Jary
Apple
Oddity of the Yr: iPhone Pocket
Readers of a sure classic who nonetheless fondly bear in mind when Apple launched a pair of socks for its iPod again in 2004, have been rocked as soon as once more with the surprising—and certainly unasked-for—iPhone Pocket, which the corporate described as “a singular 3D-knitted development designed to completely enclose iPhone, whereas increasing to suit your on a regular basis gadgets”. Designed along with the Issey Miyake design studio well-known for Steve Jobs’ trademark turtleneck, the iPhone Pocket is available in eight loopy colours, together with Peacock, Sapphire, and Cinnamon. All of us laughed till it bought out in mere minutes. — Simon Jary
Foundry
Flop of the Yr: Liquid Glass
Liquid Glass was Apple’s daring new, all-encompassing design language that radically modified the look of Apple’s software program throughout the entire OS 26 software program updates. Alan Dye, Apple’s vice chairman of Human Interface Design, tried to channel his interior Jony Ive by describing it as making “even the only of interactions extra enjoyable and magical.” We didn’t get that. As an alternative, Liquid Glass is the worst instance of flamboyance over perform, the other of Ive’s philosophy. — Simon Jary
Mac/macOS
Foundry
Mac of the Yr: M3 Extremely Mac Studio
Total, 2025 was a quiet 12 months for Mac {hardware}, however one Mac made a large affect on Apple’s lineup. The Mac Studio was a little bit of a shock as a result of its M3 Extremely chip was launched out of sequence with Apple’s regular cadence. Nonetheless, within the Mac Studio, it’s the quickest Mac obtainable, leaving the M2 Extremely Mac Professional behind—manner behind. At hundreds much less, it mainly renders the Mac Professional irrelevant to everybody who doesn’t really want an enlargement card. With its exhilarating CPU velocity, highly effective GPU efficiency, and strong expandability, the Mac Studio grew to become King of the Macs in 2025. — Roman Loyola
Apple
Chip of the Yr: M5
To say, “Apple is on a roll,” undercuts how a lot momentum the corporate has with its chips. Apple silicon is downright killing it, and the M5 chip exemplifies why. Making its debut within the MacBook Professional, the M5 gives a super and unprecedented mixture of processing velocity, graphics energy, and power effectivity in a consumer-level chip. The M5 is so good that Apple felt that it might wait till subsequent 12 months to launch the M5 Professional and Max variants. — Roman Loyola
Foundry
Disappointment of the Yr: Mac Professional
Whereas each different Mac has some model of the M4 and the 14-inch MacBook Professional has an M5, Apple’s costliest Mac nonetheless has the identical M2 Extremely chip it acquired again in June 2023. In the meantime, the Mac Studio with a superior M3 Extremely prices a few thousand {dollars} much less, and I’m left to marvel: How can Apple cost upwards of $10,000 for a Mac with a two-plus-generation-old chip? There have been loads of alternatives to replace the Mac Professional in 2025, however as a substitute, Apple let it languish one other 12 months with the identical ageing processor. — Roman Loyola
iPad/iPadOS
Foundry
iPad of the Yr: iPad Professional M5
Apple up to date three of its 4 iPads in 2025 (sorry iPad mini), however the M5 iPad Professional is absolutely the one one which could possibly be thought of for this distinction. All three updates have been basically chip refreshes (A14 to A16 (iPad); M2 to M3 (iPad Air); M4 to M5 (iPad Professional), however solely the iPad Professional delivered a noticeable enhance over its predecessor. Add in 50 % extra entry-level RAM, sooner Wi-Fi, and quick charging, and also you’ve acquired an improve worthy of a professional. — Michael Simon
Apple
Replace of the 12 months: iPadOS 26
This 12 months’s WWDC keynote was jam-packed with options, from Liquid Glass to Reside Translation and revamped app designs. However the star of the present was iPadOS 26, which launched a brand new interface that included most of the visible and productiveness parts customers have needed for years, with resizable home windows, macOS-like multitasking, and a brand new lease on life. — Michael Simon
Apple Watch
David Value / Foundry
Watch of the 12 months: Apple Watch SE 3
Strictly talking, the Collection 11 was the perfect Apple Watch to return out this 12 months (I discover the Extremely fashions too cumbersome for on a regular basis put on), however the SE 3 was no doubt the one I’d advocate to a pal. It’s almost nearly as good and much better worth. As a part of the 2025 refresh, the SE gained an always-on show, an even bigger and longer-lasting battery, improved scratch resistance, new well being options and gestures, on-device Siri, and the choice of 5G. And all that for $249! Overlook the Collection 11; this has all the things you want from a smartwatch at a wonderful worth. — David Value
Providers
Apple
Apple TV present of the 12 months: ‘Pluribus’
There’s one thing nerve-wracking about recommending a TV present in the course of a run–notably one as unpredictable as Pluribus. Who is aware of the place it would go from right here? However simply six episodes into the debut season of this continuously humorous, sometimes harrowing sci-fi drama, and even in opposition to sturdy competitors from the second season of Severance, I really feel (moderately) assured naming this because the Apple TV present of the 12 months. As you’d count on from a Vince Gilligan manufacturing, Pluribus flips seamlessly between slow-burn magnificence and sudden stunning motion, between grief and humor and thriller. And Rhea Seehorn is excellent because the final sad girl on the planet. Perhaps it’ll go downhill sooner or later, however let’s benefit from the journey whereas it lasts. — David Value
Foundry
Service of the 12 months: Information +
Apple TV and Music might get all the eye, however Apple Information+ got here into its personal in 2025. Apple’s every day puzzles had lengthy revolved round considerably pedestrian choices, similar to crosswords and Sudoku, however a very authentic idea, Emoji Recreation, shortly grew to become a novel and extremely entertaining possibility for customers searching for authentic ideas. And for these of us who’ve grown sick of the fluff and intrusive advertisements we come throughout when Googling recipes, Apple Information+ added a brand new search perform that allows you to discover recipes and think about the substances and instructions in a clutter-free interface. Neat, proper? It will get higher. You possibly can instantly set timers primarily based on the said durations and add the listed substances to your Reminders app. — Mahmoud Itani
