Consider

Editor Matt Bolton says his farewells to Mac|Life.

This is my last issue as editor of Mac|Life. I’ve been running the magazine for a few years, since just before its 100th issue, and it’s been a really fun time to follow Apple. We’ve had the Apple Watch, the launch of Apple Music, the removal of the headphone port, iPad Pro, the Touch Bar, the 12-inch MacBook, and lots more. I’ve loved every second of it, and I want to thank every one of

Mac|Life’s readers for being here. But I’ve been thinking about the fact that the next time Apple makes an announcement (hopefully for new iPads in March, after I write this) I’ll be watching with a different perspective. I’ll be analyzing it differently. Maybe I’ve already started, because all this then triggered another thought: Aren’t we overdue a dent in the universe? The new releases I’ve listed above were all really cool in their own way, along with even more stuff like the AirPods, but it’s been too long since I was truly blown away by the newness and originality of an Apple release. I think the last thing with the kind of impact I’m talking about was the Mac Pro – and that’s still being sold in exactly the same form as it was in 2013.

What I really want is something with the wow factor of the iPhone 4. Remember how revolutionary that was? The metaland-glass design was stunning, the first Retina display was gorgeous, the new Apple A4 chip promised an amazing future, the camera was light years ahead of what Apple had made before… it was something of a revolution.

I’m hopeful that we’re going to see an iPhone 4-level event for the phone this year. There are some brilliant new possibilities in screen technology, camera sensors, and no doubt some Apple design magic going on. In fact, if we get only an iPhone 7s, I’m going to be pretty disappointed. I think 2017 is going to be a big year for Apple overall – I think almost everything will get an update – and I’m looking forward to watching along.