Over the last several months, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I used to write about Apple.

Back during my time at MacRumors, it felt normal to treat every supply‑chain rumor or leak like the first chapter of a story we were all in on together. A sketchy panel order here, a vague analyst note there, and suddenly we were talking about “the next” iPad, Apple TV, or headset as if it already been presented by Tim Cook himself.

Somewhere in that process of analyzing rumors, leaks, and chatter from across the web, the rumors stopped feeling like rumors and started feeling like a promise.

The problem is what happens when that promise never gets cashed in. Over time, I realized how often we were closing those loops with language like “Apple has canceled” or “Apple has delayed” a product that Apple never actually committed to, never announced, and might never have been building in the way we imagined.

Now, in hindsight, I recognize I helped turn guesses into expectations, and then turned those unmet expectations into little stories of Apple “backing out.”

This new Cupertino Lens piece is my candid and blunt attempt to sit with that honestly. I write about the ritual behind those “canceled” and “delayed” headlines, what it felt like from the reporter’s side, and why I think it leaves both readers and Apple engineers and designers on the other end chasing ghosts. It’s not about blaming anyone. It’s about naming a feedback loop I helped keep alive, and deciding what I want my own standard to be going forward.

If that sounds familiar to the way you’ve experienced Apple news over the last decade, I think you’ll recognize a lot in it. Here’s the full essay on Cupertino Lens, if you’d like to read the whole thing.

You and I both live week to week in this ecosystem, so I want to start flagging what’s actually on my mind as we go.

This week, the big one is iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3. On paper, they’re “point” releases, but I’m much more interested in what 26.3 does for iPadOS than for the iPhone. iPadOS always feels one or two beats behind where the hardware wants to go, especially in the multitasking windowing system and the basic feel of animations. So while the release notes will talk about fixes and refinements, I’ll be watching for whether app switching, window resizing, and those small but constant transitions finally feel less brittle and more fluid on the iPad (specifically my M5 iPad Pro). If you notice anything there on your side, I’m genuinely curious, so please do share with me on X.

On the Mac front, the writing is on the wall for the current high‑end notebooks. Stock of the existing Pro/Max machines is tightening at retail, which usually only means one thing in Apple’s world: the next round is close. New M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models feel imminent in that very specific Apple sense, where everyone pretends nothing is happening right up until they appear on Apple’s newsroom.

I’ve wanted a space like this for a while. A place to slow the week down, pull the important threads together, and write about Apple without chasing the moment.

Until next time, catch up with me on X and check out the other latest posts on Cupertino Lens.