Apple's week Oct 17: M5 & F1

Apple's new M5 lineup offers upgrades to both futures of computing

There's a lot going on in the world of Apple in spite of being post-iPhone launch. The M5 is an impressive chipset, Apple TV dropped the Plus, and Apple now owns the rights to stream F1 in the US.

Oh, and I'm getting married tomorrow.

What am I doing here? Shouldn't I be getting ready? Don't worry, we're all set up and ready to go, and I've got a moment to spare for you all. Here's the news for the week.

Apple TV is evolving

There has been a lot of speculation around Apple TV's existence in the streaming space. Whether it was worth it for Apple to be dumping money into something that likely isn't making that money back and has questionable viewer numbers.

I've not been so harsh on Apple TV (now without the Plus). From the start, I felt like the low barrier to entry, lack of ads, and excellent selection of original programming put it a notch above the bloated industry.

There is now more content available than there are hours in the day. I can't watch everything I want to even if I took time off work to dedicate to Apple TV viewing. If you're an adult with a full-time job, family, and other social commitments, there's just not enough time to watch it all.

My household made the decision to reduce the number of subscriptions we have to near nothing early in 2025, and so far, it's proven to be the smart move. We have Apple TV, Crunchyroll, and the purchase library from the Apple TV Store (formerly iTunes). Those subscriptions alone are more than enough to saturate our free time.

It's saved us a ton of money too.

Eddy Cue says that the subscriber base is much higher than 45 million, with some estimates placing it closer to 75 million, which makes Apple TV quite competitive. It's about to become even more popular thanks to Apple acquiring the rights to F1.

There's no word yet on if it'll cost additional money to view races, but at least for now, it seems all you need is an Apple TV subscription. Perhaps the price hike to $13 a month already accounts for F1 streaming.

Cue says Apple targets content it believes will elevate the platform, and they don't feel the need to tackle every genre under the sun. Though I'd love to see Apple get an anime under its belt, even if it's something cheesy or obscure.

The future of Apple TV is looking bright. It's curious seeing Apple push further into the space, and it isn't something I could have predicted in 2014 when I took interest in the company. Excited to see where it goes from here.

Apple's M5 lineup

William and I already dove into what Apple released this week, so there's not much need to repeat all of the details here. The M5 is a welcome, if iterative, chip upgrade.

If you need a MacBook Pro, there's an M5 model now. Same goes for the iPad Pro. Neither are particularly worth getting if you've already got an M4 device, but some specs may be tempting – namely the iPad Pro 120Hz VRR external display support.

The most interesting update is the Apple Vision Pro. The leap from M2 to M5 isn't just a performance boost – it enhances every interaction with the spatial computer in noticeable ways.

The M5 is powerful enough to drive all of the pixels in the display, 10% more than the scaled resolution used previously. And the displays are now able to refresh at up to 120Hz to ensure movement and software are shown with less jarring shifts during rendering.

Even the Mac Virtual Display is improved with a higher refresh rate for the floating display.

I've ordered the Apple Vision Pro with M5 to test out these new features. While my primary work device remains to be the iPad Pro, I won't be getting the M5 because it isn't differentiated enough from the M4 iPad Pro I use today.

It'll be exciting to see all of these improvements in action. It's easy enough to list specs, but I want to see how these changes affect how Apple Vision Pro is used and if it makes a material difference.

RIP iPhone Fold

OK, that header is a bit misleading. Apple hasn't ceased development of a foldable, but a new rumor suggests the device, expected in 2026, will be delayed to at least 2027.

iPhone Air on a dark surface with a dim reflection next to it — Apple can't just slap two iPhones together and call it iPhone Fold

Stop me if you've heard this before.

We've seen rumors of an iPhone Fold and a supposed imminent launch since at least 2018. I've remained skeptical of the utility of such a device, and doubt it'll ever coalesce into something tangible.

While undoubtedly a cool concept, I don't foresee Apple ever actually releasing a foldable iPhone or iPad. I've said it many times before, but it bears repeating, the foldable form factor may be interesting but it's solving a problem we had in 2015, not 2025.

The desire is to have a device that can offer a larger display when desired, but is more portable when not in use. Foldables would have been interesting and welcome in the late 2010s, but today we've got the emergence of spatial computing and AR, which offers an infinite canvas viewed through a wearable display.

There's just no reason to continue to pursue these fragile foldables.

There's a chance Apple could release such a device eventually, and that's fine. I'm happy to be wrong on this one. It just doesn't feel like a product that needs to exist.

Wedding bells

That's enough from me this week. I'll try to be back next week after the honeymoon to catch up on what happened while I was away. Can't wait to share my experience with the new Apple Vision Pro.

In the meantime, I've got a wedding to participate in. If you'd like to contribute to our honeymoon fund so we can pay for a nice hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, please share what you can via the Buy Me a Coffee link.

Thanks as always for reading. I'll see you all soon as a married man.

A Maine coon mix cat lays on a lap, dozing, a bright TV in the background — Marble is less interested in Pokemon Z-A and more worried about naps