Applemuseum, Proostwetering 5d, Utrecht (2026)

15/06/2026

In June 2020, Apple announced one of the most significant transitions in its history: moving the Mac away from Intel processors and onto its own custom-designed chips, known as Apple Silicon.

Up until then, Macs relied on Intel, which meant Apple had to align its product roadmap with another company’s technology cycle. By designing its own chips, Apple gained complete control over the hardware and software experience, allowing it to optimize performance, efficiency, and features in ways that were previously impossible.

The M1 chip combined exceptional performance, industry-leading energy efficiency, and tightly integrated hardware and software into a single system-on-a-chip, delivering desktop-class power with unprecedented battery life. It changed expectations for what a laptop could do and reshaped the industry by showing that a laptop could be both incredibly powerful and remarkably efficient.

The arrival of the M1 chip accelerated a broader industry shift toward more power-efficient, highly integrated chip designs. Since then, Apple has continued to advance the architecture through the M2, M3, and M4 generations, setting new benchmarks for performance and energy efficiency.

11/06/2026

Last Monday, Apple hosted its WWDC 2026 keynote. Since 1983, WWDC has been the moment where Apple unveils new software and tools, giving developers early access to what’s next. What started as a small gathering for developers around the Apple Lisa and very first Macs has now grown into a global event with millions of viewers online. This year’s keynote was a little special, being the last keynote with Tim Cook as CEO, before John Ternus takes over later this year.

As expected, AI took center stage during the keynote. Apple announced Siri AI: an updated version of the assistent that can understand context, reason across multiple apps, and take action on a user’s behalf. Apple is also transforming Siri into its own chatbot app, allowing users to have ongoing conversations rather than issuing one-off commands. As for Apple Intelligence, Apple is embedding this throughout its ecosystem. New capabilities are integrated, making AI a built-in part of everyday workflows.

Further, Apple included various performance improvements, such as faster app launches, improved Mail performance, and significantly faster photo processing. The overall aim is to make devices feel faster and more responsive without requiring new hardware.

The final notable announcements was Apple's expansion of child safety tools. New controls for web access, communications, screen time, and harmful content give parents more visibility and control over their children's digital experiences.

Did you watch the keynote? What are your thoughts on the announcements?

08/06/2026

In 2004, Apple and the legendary rock band U2 launched one of the most iconic collaborations between technology and music industries.

Together, they introduced the U2 Special Edition iPod: an iPod Classic featuring a distinctive black front, red click wheel, and laser-engraved signatures of band members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. The device was sold with a coupon for the iTunes Music Store, to get $50 dollars off the purchase of “The Complete U2”, the first ‘digital box set’. It contained 446 U2 tracks, organized in 67 digital groupings corresponding to U2’s albums, singles and EPs. Besides the iPod, U2 also prominently featured in Apple’s marketing campaigns. The band’s hit single “Vertigo” became the soundtrack for a series of high-profile iPod advertisements, exposing both the iPod and U2 to new audiences around the world.

The U2 Special Edition iPod has since become highly sought-after collector’s item. Did you have one? At the Apple Museum, we have one on display in our iPod room.

04/06/2026

When Apple launched Apple TV+ in November 2019, it marked a new milestone in the company's evolution.

For decades, Apple had transformed industries through products such as the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. With Apple TV+, the company expanded beyond hardware, software, and digital services into the world of original entertainment.

Unlike many streaming platforms at the time, which relied on libraries of existing movies and series, Apple TV+ debuted with an exclusive catalogue of original productions featuring renowned creators and actors, including Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Jason Momoa. Flagship titles such as ‘The Morning Show’, ‘See’, and ‘For All Mankind’ helped establish the platform’s identity, while later successes like ‘Ted Lasso’ and the Oscar-winning film ‘CODA’ further strengthened its position in the streaming market.

Now known as just ‘Apple TV’, the streaming service remains an important chapter in the company's history. It illustrates how Apple evolved from a computer manufacturer into one of the world's most influential technology and media companies.

01/06/2026

Long before the iPhone changed the way we communicate, Apple was already experimenting with touchscreen communication devices.

In the early 1990s, Apple’s Mac-Like Things (MLT) group developed W.A.L.T.: the Wizzy Active Liquid Crystal Telephone. W.A.L.T. was a prototype that combined a telephone, a pen-based touchscreen interface and Macintosh-inspired usability principles. At that time, most phones were still purely analog, but Apple was already exploring concepts that would later become central to modern smartphones and connected devices.

The W.A.L.T. project was influenced by then-CEO John Sculley’s vision of ‘digital convergence’: the idea that computing, telecommunications, and consumer electronics would eventually merge into one ecosystem. Some of the technologies behind W.A.L.T. also overlapped with Apple’s work on the Newton MessagePad.

Although W.A.L.T. never became a commercial product, it explored the possibilities of technologies that are now part of our daily life.

28/05/2026

Apple’s Vision Pro has become one of the most talked-about innovations in the world of technology. With the Vision Pro, Apple introduced spatial computing: a blend of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), designed to integrate digital content into the physical world.

The Vision Pro allows users to interact with apps, media, and workspaces using eye tracking, hand gestures, and voice commands. This creates a highly immersive experience without using traditional controllers. Powered by Apple’s M2 chip and the new R1 processor, the Vision Pro delivers high-performance visuals, spatial audio, and seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem.

Some people highlight Vision Pro’s advanced technology, immersive entertainment capabilities, and its potential to transform industries such as productivity, education, healthcare, and remote collaboration, while others criticize its high price, battery limitations, and question whether mixed reality devices are ready for mainstream adoption.

Just as smartphones transformed communication and personal computing, spatial computing could reshape how humans interact with technology in the coming decade. Whether Vision Pro becomes mainstream or remains a niche product, it has already influenced discussions about the future of digital interaction.

What do you think? Does the Apple Vision Pro represent the future of computing, or is it still too early for this kind of technology to become mainstream?

25/05/2026

Apple’s design language has continuously evolved alongside technology itself. It shaped not only how devices look, but also how people interacted with them.

In the late 1990s, Apple introduced colorful and approachable hardware like the iMac G3, moving away from the beige, purely functional computers of the era. This human-centered philosophy continued with the launch of Mac OS X in 2000 and its iconic Aqua interface, known for glossy buttons, translucency, reflections, and fluid animations inspired by water.

During the 2000s, Apple embraced a so-called skeuomorphic design, using realistic textures such as brushed metal, leather, and glass to make digital interfaces feel more familiar and intuitive. Applications looked and behaved just like physical objects, helping users transition into the digital age.

A major shift came with iOS 7 in 2013. Under Jony Ive, Apple moved toward a cleaner and more minimalist visual language. Flat icons, thin typography, layered transparency, and motion replaced realism, reflecting a broader focus on simplicity and clarity.

Today, Apple’s latest design direction, which is often described as Liquid Glass, combines translucency, depth, adaptive lighting, and spatial layering. Across macOS, iPadOS, and visionOS, all interfaces feel increasingly fluid and immersive, blending hardware and software into a seamless experience.

From Aqua to Liquid Glass, Apple shows that design is more than appearance. It is a reflection of how people interact with technology in different eras.

21/05/2026

In the early 1990s, Apple’s Industrial Design Group explored a fascinating concept called the Exchanger: a handheld device designed for instant currency exchange. Created by designers Susanne Pierce and Mark Pruitt, the Exchanger imagined a future where travelers could simply insert U.S. dollars into one side of the device and instantly receive foreign currency from the other side.

The Exchanger wasn’t intended as a serious commercial product. It belonged to a collection of playful and futuristic internal concepts created by Apple’s Industrial Design Group. These “visual snacks” explored the possibilities of the Macintosh interface and emerging technologies in imaginative ways. Other concepts from the same period included, for example, a wearable instant language translation mask.

While an innovative and humorous concept, the Exchanger served as a subtle commentary on the limitless trust in technology. In hindsight, the Exchanger was well ahead of its time, foreshadowing today’s world of instant digital payments, currency apps, and seamless global technology.

18/05/2026

Over the past two decades, Apple has released products and features that became defining moments in consumer technology. Some changed the way people use smartphones, others transformed digital entertainment, software, and computing itself. Looking back, these are some of Apple’s most impactful innovations:

Multi-Touch on the iPhone: Multi-Touch on iPhone completely changed smartphones with its intuitive multi-touch gestures. Apple removed the physical keyboards and touchscreens became the global standard for mobile devices.

App Store: The App Store transformed phones into platforms. It created the modern app economy, opened opportunities for millions of developers, and fundamentally changed how people work, communicate, shop, and entertain themselves.

iPod + iTunes Ecosystem: Apple reinvented digital music consumption. The combination of iPod and iTunes changed the music industry forever and paved the way for today’s streaming-first digital ecosystem.

Touch ID & Face ID: Apple brought biometric authentication into everyday life. Fingerprint and facial recognition made security faster, safer, and mainstream, and is now adopted across nearly every smartphone and digital platform.

Apple Silicon M1 Chip: The M1 chip redefined laptop performance and efficiency. Apple proved ARM-based processors could outperform traditional desktop chips, influencing the future direction of computing across the entire industry.

These innovations show that Apple’s biggest strength has never been simply inventing something new first. It’s the company’s ability to refine technology into experiences that feel intuitive enough for mass adoption, often pushing entire industries to follow the same direction.

16/05/2026

Twenty years ago today, Apple introduced the MacBook. Since its debut in 2006, the MacBook has evolved into one of the most influential devices in modern technology.

The first MacBook replaced the iBook and PowerBook families, bringing Intel processors, a cleaner design, and improved portability to Apple users. Over the years, Apple pushed laptop innovation even further. In 2008, the MacBook Air introduced ultra-thin design that changed how people thought about portability. The Retina Display models raised expectations for screen quality, especially for creatives and professionals working with photo and video content. And Apple continued simplifying the MacBook experience with the move to USB-C in 2015, focussing on minimalism and wireless connectivity.

In 2020 came one of the biggest transitions in the product’s history: Apple Silicon. The launch of the M1 chip in 2020 delivered a major leap in speed, efficiency, and battery life, setting a new benchmark for laptops across the industry. Today, MacBooks powered by M-series chips are used everywhere, from classrooms and startups to film studios and software companies, showing how the product has grown far beyond its original audience.

The MacBook became more than just a device. It turned into a symbol of modern work and creativity, seen in classrooms, studios, startups, coffee shops, and offices around the world. For many people, it was their first introduction to video editing, coding, design, music production, or remote work. Twenty years later, the MacBook remains one of Apple’s most successful and recognizable products, proving that thoughtful design and continuous innovation can stand the test of time.

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