Why Apple needs to get 2026 right

A few years ago, I wouldn't believe you if you told me I'd be writing about what Apple needs to do to save its reputation. But the last few years haven't been particularly kind to the brand. Sure, sales are stronger than ever, and the company still produces some of the best laptops for graphic design. But in terms of creativity and innovation, something is rotten in the state of Cupertino.

From its disastrous AI rollout to stagnating iPhone progress, Apple hasn't exactly felt at the cutting edge of technical (or at least design) progress for the last couple of years. And with its AI rivals circling to take a bite out of the Apple, the company needs to turn things around in 2026.

Apple's first product launches of the year are upon us, and we're expecting to see new MacBooks, iPads, and perhaps even a new low-cost iPhone 17e. But this year Apple needs to do more than drop some decent products. It needs to convince us it's the same brand that used to 'Think Different'. Here's what I think it needs to do.

01. FINALLY release the improved Siri

The botched Apple Intelligence rollout has to be one of Apple's most embarrassing debacles of the last decade. The company was already perceived as lagging behind in the AI era, but when it announced its own take on artificial intelligence in October 2024, it looked, for a moment, like the company could end up changing the meaning of AI – quite literally, given the audacious name.

Alas, it wasn't to be. The launch of Apple Intelligence was a litany of missteps, one which hasn't even finished yet. Despite Apple promising a new and improved Siri, the virtual assistant remains missing in action – and in the intervening years, Apple has seen itself become the butt of many jokes about AI. From an unkind internal nickname for the AI team to the pulling of its Siri ads, the whole thing has been uncharacteristically inelegant for the Cupertino company.

If there's one thing Apple needs to do for damage control this year, it's release that improved Siri assistant – and if the company wants us to forget about the whole sorry saga, she'd better be good. Apple says the new Siri is still coming in 2026, but based on previous form, I'll believe it when I see it.

02. Give us a truly revolutionary iPhone

Tech commentators often talk about the 'iPhone moment' – a product release that changes the face of tech, and indeed the world, forever. Companies have been scrambling to produce the next iPhone moment in the age of AI – many without success. But with Jony Ive's OpenAI gadget on the horizon, could the next iPhone moment be upon us?

Which brings us to the iPhone itself. It's certainly looking stale. I argued after the launch of the iPhone 16 that the tech world was floundering, and while we got some nice new designs for the iPhone 17 line up, sales for the iPhone Air suggest it wasn't enough. Updates have felt increasingly incremental for several years now.

Next year, the iPhone will be 20 years old. And if Apple wants to convince us that the device deserves a third decade, it needs to do something spectacular. From the folding iPhone to a rumoured curved glass design for the product's 20th anniversary, it sounds like some bold new ideas could be coming. But one thing's for sure, if anything needs an 'iPhone moment' right now, it's the iPhone.

03. Drop some fun product designs

Please let those rumours of a noughties throwback MacBook be true. I've argued that Apple design was unbeatable in the noughties, with fun and personality taking just as much precedent as functionality. Somewhere along the way, we've switched to world of glass rectangles and aluminium slabs.

Now, Apple isn't normally one to follow trends. The company would be far too proud to, I don't know, re-release the iPod because an online chorus is asking for it. But with Gen Z firmly into Y2K tech and bold colour everywhere in graphic design right now, Apple's silvery-grey metallic vibes are starting to look a little, whisper it, dated. Give us some colour, Apple. Give us some translucent plastic. And give us a new iPod!

04. Sort out its advertising

Remember the days when Apple was responsible for some of the best ads of all time? Its dystopian '1984' ad often tops lists of the most iconic TV spots ever. But over the last couple of years, the company seems to have run into hot water with several ads. Since last May, Apple has released then promptly pulled not one, not two, but four (!) ads. I'll never forget the weird vibe in the auditorium of Apple's London headquarters when that ill-judged clip of creative objects getting crushed was first broadcast.

As for print ads, the company's recent Genmoji ads look positively juvenile compared with its ads of yore. Apple's elegant black-and-white 'Think Different' ads are timeless, but its recent crude images of the likes of an egg with limbs look positively juvenile in comparison. If this is how the company is trying to bait Gen Z, it arguably isn't working.