Remembering A Great Year For Apple: January - June 2018

With just several short laps of the clock-face to go in 2018, we can finally draw a little breath and reflect on the last 12 months of incredible innovation in consumer tech by Apple.

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

12 MONTHS OF TRIUMPH FOR THE CUPERTINO GIANT

With just several short laps of the clock-face to go in 2018, we can finally draw a little breath and reflect on the last 12 months of incredible innovation in consumer tech by Apple. We’ve had new products, revolutionary upgrades and another year of record-breaking sales and mindblowing ideas coming to life.

It’s impossible to cram in-depth coverage of all of these developments into one article, of course, so we’ve instead put together a two-part piece containing this year’s highlights in highimpact Apple tech and notable news.

JANUARY – FEBRUARY

It really doesn’t seem long since last year’s holiday season, does it? As always seems to be the case as one year passes into the next, the end of 2017 and the start of 2018 was a relatively quiet time for Apple, although we could understand why even the Cupertino giant needed a break!

Three quick-fire iOS updates were launched during the January to February period, the most notable being iOS 11.2.5, which allowed Siri to read news articles. If you haven’t experienced this useful feature yet, here’s how you can set up your device to use it.

Another new feature in iOS 11.2.5 was support for Apple’s first major launch of the year, the HomePod. Apple’s ‘new sound of home’ is a breakthrough in music technology, and actually adapts to its location with an innovative spatial awareness feature, which delivers high-fidelity audio wherever it happens to be playing. With Siri on board, its launch created an entirely new way for consumers to interact with music at home, while genuinely feeling the benefit of a richer bass sound than other products on the market.