Apple Macs in 2025: the best and worst moments of the year

Date:
Sun, 28 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
How did the Mac do in 2025? We look back on Apples past year of computing both good and bad.

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The year is almost over, and theres no doubt that 2025 was a significant one for all of Apples best Macs . From splitting up its chip launches to a
radical redesign for macOS, we werent short of talking points over the last twelve months. Yet for all the successes, there were several notable
failures, plus a host of disappointing absences with key products pushed to the back burner. Here, well recap it all, putting Apples Mac efforts under
the microscope and looking ahead to 2026. Fresh-faced Mac upgrades (Image credit: Future)

Apple began the year with the launch of a smattering of Macs, with one at the affordable end of the market and the other occupying flagship territory.

Starting with the former, Apple released the M4 MacBook Air in March 2025. This brought a few notable enhancements over the M3 MacBook Air from 2024 and was well-received when we reviewed it. Notable upgrades included the CPU core count rising from eight to 10, the front-facing camera being upgraded with a 12MP lens and Center Stage support, and the maximum memory increasing from 24GB to 32GB. Despite all that, the price actually dropped from $1,099 to $999. While it wasnt an earth-shattering update to the MacBook Air, it was certainly a positive one in almost every way.

At the other end of the spectrum was the Mac Studio , which also received a fresh coat of paint in March. The most notable change here came in the form
of two new chips, but the arrangement was not without its quirks.

In this case, Apple launched the Mac Studio with an M4 Max chip and an M3 Ultra option. Thats right, the high-end chip was actually from the previous generation compared to the chip below it in the hierarchy. That made for an awfully confusing decision for buyers: was the M4 Max better because it used
a newer architecture, or was the M3 Ultra more powerful because it was from a higher tier?

In the end, it was the M3 Ultra that won out, and it produced some pretty incredible performance numbers. It also showed itself to be an excellent gaming chip , although its hard to justify on this point alone compared to a Windows PC, given its price. But speaking of gaming, Cyberpunk 2077 landed on the Mac in July, signifying that the platform is finally holding its own as a gaming destination - or so Apple hopes, anyway. The M5 chip gets an unusual launch (Image credit: Future)

Apples Mac releases used to be simple: every instance of a new chip, from baseline entries to high-end monsters, came out at the same time. The M5 changed all that, though, with Apple pushing the M5 in October 2025 without any sign of the M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra, which presumably are coming later.

For now, we just have to judge the M5 lineup on its entry-level model. The eponymous M5 has a Neural Accelerator in each core, which means 4x the peak GPU compute of the M4, and thats really geared towards artificial
intelligence (AI) output. Elsewhere, theres 30% faster GPU performance and a 45% ray tracing improvement compared to the M4, while our review of the M5 MacBook Pro showed that its CPU got 20% faster multithreaded performance compared to the M4.

The only Mac that this chip found its way into in 2025 was the 14-inch
MacBook Pro. Aside from the performance uptick, this laptop also got improved battery life: Apple says youll get up to 24 hours and our analysis largely confirmed that, with the laptop even outperforming Apples numbers in our web browsing test.

That said, were still waiting for the elephant in the room: the long-rumored MacBook Pro with a touchscreen OLED display. This has been rumored for years and failed to show its face in 2025, but industry whispers suggest itll
arrive next year ; lets hope theyre right this time. M5 Vision Pro: did Apple do enough? (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Its no secret that Apples Vision Pro headset has struggled to establish
itself since it launched in 2023. No doubt the company was hoping to give it
a shot in the arm when it updated the device in October 2025 , but many will have been left a little underwhelmed at the changes that were made.

Why are we talking about it here in a piece about Apples Mac updates? Well, the Vision Pro was outfitted with the M5 chip that found its way into the MacBook Pro, giving it the same level of power as Apples most performant laptop. As well as that, its battery life was boosted, and it got a new headband to help distribute its weight more evenly. Thats got to be good, right?

Those changes might have been welcome, but they failed to address the biggest problems that have been plaguing the Vision Pro since its debut: its weight and price. Sure, the headband is designed to spread the weight more comfortably in use, but it doesnt address the fact that the Vision Pro is still a heavy headset. The heft wasnt reduced at all in the new version, making it just as bulky as ever.

As well as that, Apple didnt touch the Vision Pros price, something that has been a major sticking point for years now. At $3,499, the Vision Pro has essentially priced itself out of reach for all but the most profligate or enthusiastic of consumers, meaning its struggled to become a must-have device for most people. While a cheaper model has been talked about endlessly for years, there are murmurings that it might have been put on hold . Even if it does eventually launch, it could be too little, too late for Apples virtual reality gamble. The Liquid Glass revolution (Image credit: Apple / Future)

As you can see, there were plenty of changes to Mac hardware over the past twelve months. But the software didnt stand still either, with macOS
receiving its most significant design overhaul in years.

In macOS 26 , that took the form of Liquid Glass . Thats Apples name for its glassy, transparent interface that refracts light and imbues a water-like quality to moving objects. Its certainly eye-catching.

The problem is that many people have also found it very difficult to use . Text can be hard to read when two panels overlap each other, while Apples option for clear app icons makes them exceedingly difficult to differentiate at a glance. Theres no denying that Liquid Glass is pretty, but is it
actually all that usable? The jurys still out on that one.

It was perhaps telling that the departure of chief interface designer Alan
Dye from Apple -- the man largely seen as most responsible for Liquid Glass
-- was met with cheers and hearty approval from some quarters. Liquid Glass
is divisive, and itll likely continue to be so for some time to come.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/apple-macs-in-2025-the-best-and-worst-mome nts-of-the-year


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