Honestly, if you looked at the headlines back in early 2024, you’d think Apple was just coasting. People were calling it an "incremental year." They were wrong.
By the time the dust settled in December, we didn't just have a few faster phones; we had the thinnest product Apple has ever engineered, a total overhaul of the iPad lineup, and the birth of Apple Intelligence. It was a weird, pivot-heavy year where the hardware often took a backseat to the silicon and the AI dreams living inside it.
If you bought a new Apple device in 2024, you've probably noticed that the "experience" changed more than the actual glass and aluminum.
The iPad Pro M4: Thinness as a Flex
In May, Apple did something kind of insane. They skipped the M3 chip for the iPad entirely and jumped straight to the M4.
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The 13-inch model arrived at a staggering 5.1mm thin. To put that in perspective, it’s thinner than the old iPod nano. You hold it and it feels like you're just holding a screen. But the real story isn't the thickness—it’s the Tandem OLED display. Apple literally stacked two OLED panels on top of each other to get 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness.
Most people don't realize how hard that is to do without melting the battery.
Then there was the iPad Air. For the first time, Apple gave us a 13-inch Air. It basically solved the "I want a big screen but don't want to spend $1,300" problem. It uses the M2 chip, which, let's be real, is still overkill for 90% of people using an iPad to watch Netflix or doodle in Procreate.
iPhone 16 and the "Camera Control" Gamble
September came around, and the iPhone 16 series dropped. The biggest talking point? That new sapphire-covered "Camera Control" button on the side.
It’s not just a button. It’s a pressure-sensitive, capacitive surface. You click it to launch the camera, light-press to zoom, and slide your finger to swap filters. Honestly, it has a learning curve. Some people love it; others find it a bit fiddly compared to just tapping the screen.
But here is the detail most people missed: the base iPhone 16 and 16 Plus got the A18 chip. Usually, the non-Pro models get last year's hand-me-down processor. Not this time. Apple needed every 2024 phone to have enough RAM and "neural" horsepower to run Apple Intelligence.
The Pro models (6.3-inch and 6.9-inch) grew slightly. The 16 Pro Max is now a literal giant. If you have small hands, good luck. But that extra internal space allowed for the 5x Telephoto lens to move down to the smaller Pro model too, which was a huge win for people who hate "Max" sized phones but want the best zoom.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is the Real Sleeper Hit
While everyone was obsessing over the Ultra 2 (which only got a new Satin Black finish and a Titanium Milanese Loop in 2024), the Series 10 quietly became the best watch in the lineup for most.
It’s thinner. The screen is actually larger than the Ultra's. Plus, it has a wide-angle OLED that stays bright even when you're looking at it from a weird angle—like when your hands are on a steering wheel or a keyboard.
Why the Watch Update Actually Mattered:
- Sleep Apnea Detection: This was the big health play. It uses the accelerometer to track "breathing disturbances" over 30 days.
- Fast Charging: You can get to 80% in 30 minutes. If you’re a sleep tracker, this is the only way to make the battery life work.
- Tides App: Great for surfers, though probably useless if you live in Nebraska.
AirPods 4: The End of the Pro Monopoly?
Apple released two versions of the AirPods 4. One has Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and one doesn't.
Adding ANC to an open-ear design (no silicone tips) is a massive engineering feat. It shouldn't work, yet it does. It’s not as quiet as the AirPods Pro 2, but for people who hate the feeling of something "plugging" their ears, it’s a godsend.
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Oh, and the AirPods Max finally got USB-C. That was literally it. New colors and a port. No H2 chip, no improved noise cancellation. It was a bit of a letdown for the audiophiles, but at least the Lightning cable is officially dying.
The Mac Mini’s Tiny Revolution
Late October gave us the M4 Mac mini. It’s tiny. Like, 5x5 inches tiny.
They finally moved the base RAM to 16GB. Praise be. For years, 8GB was the "standard," and it was frankly insulting. With the M4 and M4 Pro options, this little box is now more powerful than most full-sized towers from three years ago. The only catch? The power button is on the bottom. You have to tilt the computer to turn it on. It’s a classic "Apple being weird" design choice, but since most people never turn their Macs off, it's mostly a meme.
Apple Intelligence: The Invisible Product
You can't talk about new Apple products 2024 without talking about the software that defined them. Apple Intelligence started rolling out in October with iOS 18.1.
It wasn't a "Skynet" moment. It was subtler.
- Notification Summaries: Instead of a wall of 50 texts from a group chat, you get a one-sentence summary.
- Clean Up in Photos: Finally, you can tap a stranger in the background of your vacation photo and they vanish.
- Writing Tools: It’s great for proofreading an email when you’re tired, but it’s not going to write a novel for you.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Purchase
If you're looking at the 2024 lineup right now, don't just buy the newest thing because it's new.
- Check your RAM. If you're buying a used or older Mac/iPhone, ensure it supports Apple Intelligence. For iPhones, that means a 15 Pro or any iPhone 16. For Macs, anything with an M-series chip.
- The "Air" is the sweet spot. The 13-inch iPad Air and the M3 MacBook Air (which got a RAM bump to 16GB base in late 2024) are the best value-for-money devices Apple sells right now.
- Wait on the AirPods Max. Unless you absolutely need that Starlight color or USB-C, the older Lightning version (often on sale) is functionally almost identical.
The reality of new Apple products 2024 is that Apple is no longer just a hardware company. They are an AI company that happens to make very pretty, very thin boxes to hold that AI.