Apple

If you are holding out for a new pair of AirPods Pro expected to arrive this fall, you might have to lower your expectations. While we had been hoping for an array of new features and a new design, it’s starting to sound like there may be precious few reasons to upgrade other than battery life.

The latest report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman tempers expectations for the new AirPods Pro, suggesting that Apple is so busy developing and producing the Mac chips that other areas of development have taken a back seat, the AirPods Pro being one of them. Just last week we read that next-gen AirPods Pro might not have the long-anticipated “stemless” design, and now they might not get the new health sensors that have been rumored as well.

There had been reports that the new AirPods Pro would get heart-rate monitoring and the ability to measure body temperature, but Gurman’s sources have indicated to him that “neither feature is likely to arrive in the 2022 upgrade.” Gurman does still think that these enhancements are in development and “could arrive one day.”

Among the expected new features for the next AirPods Pro are longer battery life and faster charging due to a new USB-C case. They could also gain lossless audio when listening to Apple Music tracks and other audio enhancements.

As well as Apple’s focus on Mac chip development, Gurman blames “supply bottlenecks” that have also contributed to “slower progress for the iPhone, Apple Watch and even cellular modems.” For example, while the Apple Watch Series 8 may gain the ability to detect if you have a fever, it’s expected to have the same processor as the Series 6.

After the Apple Watch Series 7 failed to bring any unique health or fitness advancements, a new rumor suggests this year’s watch could bring a new game-changing sensor that detects fevers.

The news comes via Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman, who back in April reported that Apple was planning to add body-temperature detection to the next generation of Apple Watch. Gurman shared some more information about the new feature in his weekend Power On newsletter, unfortunately, it seems, the capabilities may not live up to people’s expectations.

Gurman explains that the body-temperature detection won’t give on-demand readings as you would expect with a thermometer. Instead, it will alert you if it thinks your body temperature is too high. “The body-temperature feature won’t give you a specific reading—like with a forehead or wrist thermometer—but it should be able to tell if it believes you have a fever,” he wrote.

The new Apple Watch SE will lack this feature. Fever detection could be a major new feature after more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Gurman previously reported that the body-temperature sensor could also be used to help women with fertility planning

“Other than the body-temperature reader, other hardware changes will probably be minor,” Gurman states, indicating that the processing power of the chip will be no better than that of the Apple Watch Series 7 and Series 6. However, he does note that there may be a brighter display along with a previously rumored “rugged” version for extreme athletes.

Gurman details some of the reasons why this year’s Apple Watch will not offer any major new features. He notes that Apple’s chip development team has been focused on the Mac chips at the expense of other areas, he also suggests that using the same Watch processor will help Apple keep costs down at a time when the company is being affected by rising inflation, the ongoing chip shortage, and manufacturing delays. Gurman also discusses the lack of new features coming to the second generation AirPods Pro in the same newsletter, as discussed here: Don’t expect much from 2022 AirPods Pro – Gurman.

Read more about the upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 in our complete guide to the 2022 Apple Watch. We also have this guide to the Apple Watch SE 2.

There’s a new MacBook Air on the way that’s been completely revised, not just on the inside, but for the first time in years, also the outside. The 2022 MacBook Air has a better chip, bigger display and a brand new design. But if you look in the Apple Store you will notice you can still buy the predecessor. Is it worth spending more to get the new model? We look at how the M2 MacBook Air compares to the M1 MacBook Air from 2020, examining how much more powerful the new model is, and whether that extra oomph is worth the premium price.

M2 MacBook Air vs M1: Design

The new Macbook Air is certainly an eye-catcher and stands out clearly from its predecessor. Similar to the updated MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Air has gained a brand new design that includes a bigger screen as well as new color finishes. But it still has a similar footprint to the M1 model:

M2 MacBook Air dimensions

• 0.44in x 11.97in x 8.46in
• 1.13cm x 30.41cm x 21.5cm
• 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)

M1 MacBook Air dimensions

• 0.16–0.63in x 11.97in x 8.36in
• 0.41–1.61cm x 30.41cm x 21.24cm
• 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)

The width of the two laptops is the same, which makes sense because it allows for a full-size keyboard. The M2 model is a few millimeters deeper to allow for a larger screen and on average, this model is narrower than before – although it’s not tapered so the smallest edge isn’t as slim as it was.

While the tapered design allowed Apple to make a light laptop, it was also a disadvantage, as it meant less space for ports on the outside and limited space on the inside for heat dispersion. Despite the difference in design, however, both models are fanless, which could be a disadvantage to power users.

Rumors that the new MacBook Air was losing its tapered design proved correct, but any hopes that this would mean more ports have been scuppered. The M2 MacBook Air has the same two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports as its predecessor and doesn’t have an HDMI port like the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro. The new model adds MagSafe for charging to free up a Thunderbolt port, but otherwise, both models are the same: Touch ID, two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, 802.11ax, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0.

Another big difference is the color options. The M2 models have a choice of Midnight (bluish-black) and Starlight (pale gold), as well as space gray and silver (which looks slightly paler than the previous shade). The 2020 MacBook Air comes in space gray, silver, and gold.

The other eye-catching difference between the M1 and M2 models is the addition of a notch for the camera. Like the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, the M2 MacBook Air has very slim bezels that can’t quite fit the camera. When the notch arrived on the larger MacBook Pro models in 2021 there was some criticism, but if you consider that Apple has added screen space on either side of the notch and made the display taller, you’re not actually losing any space.

M2 MacBook Air vs M1: Display

The display size is the other key difference between the new M1 and M2 MacBook Air. The 2022 model has a 13.6-inch display, compared to the 13.3-inch display on the M1 model. The new model is also brighter:

• MacBook Air M2: 13.6 inches, 2560 x 1664, 500 nits brightness
• MacBook Air M1: 13.3 inches, 2560 x 1600, 400 nits brightness

The brighter screen brings it into line with the 13-inch MacBook Pro, but places it far below that of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with 1,000 nits of max brightness. It also lacks the ProMotion technology of those models.

Apple

The M2 MacBook Air has a Liquid Retina display, rather than the Retina display of the M1 model (and the M2 MacBook Pro). The main difference is that the Liquid Retina display has better contract ratios, support for more colors (a billion, rather than millions), and more pixels per inch. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro go a step further with the superior Liquid Retina XDR display.

Thanks to these changes the display of the M2 MacBook Air isn’t only better than its predecessor—it’s also better than the 13-inch MacBook Pro. In everyday life, however, these differences will rarely be noticeable, although the increased brightness is a plus. The better color representation, on the other hand, will be a benefit for professional design work.

M2 MacBook Air vs M1: Processor, RAM, and battery

Apple currently sells three MacBook Air models: one M1 model and two M2 models. There are also a number of build-to-order options.

• MacBook Air M1 with 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage: $1,199/£1,249

In terms of upgrade options, you can add 16GB RAM for $200, 512GB storage ($200), 1TB storage ($400), 2TB storage ($800). The 8-core GPU option is no longer available for this model.

• MacBook Air M2 with 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB memory, 256GB storage: $1,199/£1,249

In terms of upgrade options, you can add 16GB RAM for $200, 24GB ($400) 512GB storage ($200), 1TB storage ($400), 2TB storage ($800).

• MacBook Air M2 with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB memory, 512GB storage: $1,499/£1,549

In terms of upgrade options, you can add 16GB RAM for $200, 24GB ($400), 1TB storage ($200), 2TB storage ($600).

We’ll look into those components in more detail below:

CPU

Like the M1, the M2 has four performance cores and four efficiency cores, for a total of 8 CPU cores, but the efficiency cores have been enhanced and there is a larger cache (16MB rather than 12MB). As a result clock speeds can be faster and you can expect improved multithreaded performance compared to the M1. In our testing, the M2 has an 18 percent faster CPU than the M1.

The new chip doesn’t just mean that the new Macs can accomplish more though, they use less power doing so: Apple promises an increased CPU performance of 18 percent with the same energy consumption thanks to various optimizations.

GPU

The higher-end M2 with 10 GPU cores offers a 35 percent more powerful GPU than the M1, based on benchmarks. However, the base model of the M2 Air has a slightly lesser GPU with only 8 GPU cores, so we expect the gains to be less with the $1,199 model.

Another factor aiding the M2’s graphics prowess is the addition of engines specifically for video editing in the M2. Plus Apple claims that the Neural Engine is 40 percent faster than in the M1.

Memory and Storage

While the standard memory offered by both the M1 and M2 MacBook Pro is the same: 8GB Unified Memory, the performance is not the same. According to Apple, the M2 delivers 50 percent more memory bandwidth compared to M1 (100GB/s memory bandwidth) so there should be some noticeable improvements.

But the biggest difference is the amount of memory. Where the M1 MacBook Air tops off at 16GB memory, the M2 MacBook Air can take as much as 24GB. That’s still less than the 32GB of the M1 Pro models, but it’s an improvement and will no doubt please those who were concerned that 16GB wasn’t enough.

As for storage, both the M1 and M2 MacBook Air ship with 256GB as standard and max out at 2TB for up to $800 more.

Webcam and Speakers

The webcam in the M2 supports a resolution of 1080p, which is significantly better than the low-grade 720p FaceTime HD camera in the M1 MacBook Air. That leaves the M1 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Pro as the only laptops with the old camera.

The speakers have also been updated in the M2 MacBook Air. Instead of relying on a stereo system, the 2022 MacBook Air features four speakers with support for 3D audio, aka Spatial Audio. In addition, the 3.5mm headphone jack offers advanced support for high-impedance headphone.

Apple

Power and battery

With a new 67W power supply (sold separately for $20 with the 8-core GPU model, or a free option with the 10-core GPU model) you can quickly charge the M2 MacBook Air to 50 percent charge in 30 minutes. The M2 MacBook Air charges via the magnetically attached MagSafe port, so you no longer have to worry about pulling your MacBook off a desk when you stumble over the cable. There’s a 30W USB-C Power Adapter (included with the 8-core GPU M2 and the choice of a more compact 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter (with the 10-core GPU M2).

The M2 MacBook Air has a larger battery than its predecessor: a 52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery rather than the 49.9-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery of the previous generation. Coupled with Apple’s claims that the M2 means the 2022 MacBook Air is more power efficient might lead you to suppose that the new MacBook Air would have better battery life, but Apple states that battery life is the same 18 hours.

M2 MacBook Air vs M1: Price

If you are considering buying a MacBook Air right now there are three models to choose from: the original M1 MacBook Air with a 7-core GPU for $999/£999, a new M2 MacBook Air with an 8-core GPU for $1,199/£1,249, and a top-of-the-range M2 MacBook Air with 10-core GPU for $1,499/£1,549.

The new model offers a M2 processor with more GPU cores, a bigger screen, and a brand new design for just $200 more than the M1 model. This looks like a great deal. However, that viewpoint depends on where in the world you are based. Outside the US the price comparisons aren’t quite so favourable (in the UK there’s a £250 difference, in Europe a €300 difference, and in Australia a AU$400 difference).

In the US the new model also looks like an excellent deal in comparison to the one it replaces: at $1,199 it replaces a M1 MacBook Air model that previously cost $1,249. However, elsewhere in the world the price of the M2 model is either the same as before, or more than it was. In the UK the price remains at £1,249, in Europe the price is €100 more at €1,499, while in Australia it’s now up AU$50 at AU$1,899. Obviously currency-based price fluctuations are to be expected during these uncertain economic times, but it does mean that the decision of whether something is a good price or not is very much relative to where you live.

It should also be noted that where this M1 MacBook Air with 8-core GPU had a 512GB SSD, the M2 MacBook Air that has taken its place only offers a 256GB SSD, which may be reflected in Apple’s price reduction, at least in the US.

M1 vs M2 MacBook Air: Our recommendation

The MacBook Air with M2 is in many respects a significant improvement over its predecessor. It offers better performance, a more modern design, an improved display, and some smaller but notable improvements.

If you are one of those users who use the MacBook primarily for everyday tasks, such as surfing the web, reading emails or watching videos, you should consider whether the new design is worth it compared to the cheaper $999/£999 M1 MacBook Air. A M1 Macbook Air will be able to handle all these tasks without any problems.

But if you do more with your MacBook or use it for professional applications such as video editing or photo editing, the M2 MacBook Air is definitely worth the extra money compared to its predecessor. In fact, if your budget allows, we recommend jumping to the higher-end model with a 10-core GPU for the extra storage and better graphics. And as always, you should buy as much memory as you can afford

The M1 MacBook Air is definitely a good machine even at more than a year and a half old, but you’ll be much happier with the newer MacBook Air in a year or two.

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If your iPhone or iPad is misbehaving and initial solutions are not working, a full reset may be necessary. Taking your device back to how it was out of the box can often help resolve issues like constant crashing, freezing or other serious problems.

It’s something of a nuclear option, though, so before you take this route we’d recommend restarting or force-restarting your device as these will leave your data and settings intact. Another option is to ensure that the version of iOS or iPadOS on your device is up to date, as the problem might be caused by an issue that has since been patched by Apple. We explain how to do this in our how to update iOS guide.

Of course, if you’re selling your iPhone (or passing it down to a family member or friend) it’s absolutely vital that you delete all the sensitive data stored on it. If not, an unscrupulous buyer could gain access to your social media profiles, financial information and even your personal photos and videos.

As with any activity that deletes date, we’d recommend that you back up your iPhone or iPad before you attempt resetting the device. After your device has been wiped you will be able to download your data from your backup.

How to reset an iPhone

We’ll concentrate on iPhone for this tutorial, but the steps should be the same for iPad. There are two ways to erase your iPhone or iPad, one is useful if you just want to erase everything and then recover the data from a backup, the other is useful if you are moving to a new device and selling or passing on the one you are erasing.

To factory-reset an iPhone follow these steps (after backing up your device).

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on General.
3. Choose Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. The iPhone will alert you to what will be deleted, including Apps and Data, your Apple ID, Find My will no longer be connected to the device, and all your Apple Wallet details will be removed. This is your cue to back up any of this data (if you don’t have a back up we run though how to do that here: How to back up an iPhone or iPad.) You will also find options for backing up this information if you follow the Prepare for New iPhone steps below.
5. If you are happy that you have a backup, or don’t need the data being referred to, select Erase All Content and Settings.
6. Enter the Passcode for the iPhone and the process will begin.

If you want help backing your data up to iCloud and want to make sure you cover all the important steps that you should make when selling your old device, you can make use of the Prepare for New iPhone instructions, which will walk you through the process.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on General.
3. Choose Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Tap on Get Started.
5. Log in with your Apple ID if requested.
6. On the next page you’ll see all the data that will be deleted, with the options Continue or Not Now at the bottom.
7. Tap Continue to complete the process (after confirming your Apple ID again).

How to reset an iPhone if you’ve forgotten your password or passcode

During the process for resetting you iPhone your passcode will be requested, you may also need to use the password associated with your Apple ID. This is a problem if you have forgotten it.

There is a workaround if you have forgotten your passcode, but remember your Apple ID password:

1. On the Lock Screen, enter a passcode several times until you get a Security Lockout with a warning to try again later.
2. You’ll see Erase iPhone (or iPad) at the bottom of the screen. Tap on that.
3. Tap Erase iPhone/iPad and then tap it again to confirm.
4. You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID password to sign out of your Apple ID on this device. This will allow you to reset the device and turns off activation lock.
5. Tap Erase iPhone/iPad when prompted again to permanently delete all your apps and data and reset the device.

After a few minutes, your iPhone or iPad will restart and you’ll be at the setup screen, as if it was a new device you just took out of the box. For obvious security reasons, there’s no way to reset your iPhone after a lost passcode without erasing all your apps and data. It would provide an exploitable loop for bad actors to get around the passcode timeouts and such. But as long as you back up your iPhone regularly (either via iCloud or with a connection to your computer) it shouldn’t be too onerous to start over.

Resetting without a password used to require plugging into a computer via USB, entering recovery mode…it was a whole process. The good news is, Apple made this a lot easier as of iOS 15.2 (and iPadOS 15.2). So, if your device is running that version or later you can follow the steps below (otherwise click on the link above to reset via a computer). If you have forgotten your Apple ID password read this for help: How to reset Apple ID if you forgot the password.

How to restore an iPhone

If, having erased the content of the phone, you intend to keep using it, you can restore the content to your phone from your backup – assuming you have one, if not check out the section below. Here’s to recover your iPhone or iPad data:

…via iCloud backup

With the factory reset completed you’ll need to go through the setup of your iPhone again from the beginning:

1. Follow the onscreen instructions until you reach the page with the headings ‘Apps & Data’.
2. Here you’ll see four different options from which you should select Restore from iCloud Backup.Sign into your iCloud account then select the backup you want to restore.
3. You may be prompted to sign into various apps that you’ve already purchased, but other than that the process should now be pretty much automatic.
4. Obviously this could take a while if you have large backups or a slow internet connection, so don’t attempt this if you’re in a hurry. When the backup is completed your iPhone will reboot, and then it will start the larger job of downloading all of your apps.

…via Finder or iTunes backup

Depending on the version of macOS you’re running, you’ll either be able to use Finder (macOS Mojave and later) or iTunes (macOS Catalina or earlier) to restore a backup.

1. Connect your iPhone to the Mac or PC.
2. In the Finder window (or iTunes) you should see your device listed in the left column. Select it, then click on Restore Backup.
3. Choose the backup you want to use, then click Restore.
4. The process should now automatically install the backup on your device.

What to do if you didn’t back up your iPhone before you wiped it

If you didn’t backup your iPhone or iPad first, it’s likely that you won’t be able to retrieve data once you have deleted it.

The data on an iOS device is automatically encrypted, and wiping the device destroys the encryption key, making it more or less impossible to get anything back when it’s been fully erased and reset without access to a backup.

In an emergency you could try speaking to someone at an Apple Genius Bar, but it’s a long shot to say the least. (This applies to a full erase/reset, mind you – in other circumstances, such as data corruption, a malfunctioning device and so on, the experts may be able to help.) This also reinforces our frequent advice to back up regularly.

If you’re worried that your iPhone or iPad wasn’t backed up, don’t give up hope: there’s a chance there may be a backup of which you’re unaware.

To find out if you’re backing up to iCloud follow these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on your name at the top of the screen.
3. Choose iCloud.
4. Now tap on Manage Storage. Here you should see an entry called Backups with the amount of data it’s taking up displayed to the right of the name.
5. Tap this and you’ll see all of the various backups for your iOS/iPadOS devices.
6. Find the most recent back up you have and tap on it.

One of the backups should say that it is This iPhone or This iPad. Tap on that and you can see what is, and isn’t being backed up. You can basically turn things on and off so that they don’t take up your full free 5GB iCloud allocation, or you can pay a few dollars/pounds a month for more storage.

If you don’t see a backup from the device you were hoping to recover, but you do have backups of other devices (perhaps you have an iPad backup, but not an iPhone backup) you should be able to recover some of your data simply because once you link your iPhone to your iCloud account the shared data should be available on your iPhone.

If you weren’t backing you IiPhone up to iCloud we suggest you do! Read How to back up an iPhone or iPad or follow the steps below.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on iCloud.
3. Find iCloud Backup and tap on it.
4. Now switch the slider beside iCloud Backup to on (green).
5. Tap Back Up Now. It may take a while, so bear in mind that your iPhone needs to be plugged in for the whole time.

If the backup is going to take ages you can reduce the amount of data being backed up. For example, you may think that some of the apps don’t need to be backed up; after all, you will be able to download them again from the App Store as you already own them. But note that the data may include saved data for games, and other settings and preferences you would prefer not to lose.

There you have it. A quick guide on resetting your iPhone and then restoring it once more. Of course, if you’re moving on from that older device and fancy something newer, be sure to read our best iPhone deals roundup to see if you can save some money in the process.

A photo you want to upload or print for some purpose might be considered too “low resolution” to meet the needs of a site, printing, or online photo service. What options do you have? You can change an image’s resolution to solve the problem.

There are two aspects of a digital image that are often described as “resolution”:

• The dimensions of the image in pixels, such as 3,024 by 4,032 for a modern iPhone photo. Each pixel represents information captured, a sample of the hue and light intensity that passed through a lens onto a camera sensor element.
• The pixel density, or dots or pixels per inch (dpi, ppi), which maps pixels against a preferred display size. (You can also map per centimeter, of course.) Most images are captured at 72 ppi, which makes an iPhone image with the above dimensions 42 by 56 inches (107 by 142 cm) if printed or displayed at 72 ppi.

In many cases, the right amount of information is in the image and you don’t need to modify that. Instead, you need to modify the scale so that it maps in a way a website, printer driver, or service accepts it. For instance, printer software might recommend 300 ppi from an input image to produce a 6-color or 8-color 1,200 dpi ink-jet print. (Because screen pixels represent millions or even billions of colors, and because printer dots can only reproduce a few colors—as few as black plus cyan, magenta, and yellow on an inexpensive ink jet—higher printer-dot density is required to simulate the color of the original.)

You can change the density in the built-in Preview app in macOS:

1. Launch Preview.
2. Open your image.
3. Choose File > Duplicate or hold down Option and choose File > Save As to work on a copy of the image.
4. Choose Tools > Adjust Size.
5. Uncheck “Resample Image,” which changes the data of the file.
6. Enter the new Resolution figure, such as 300 ppi.
7. With inches (or cm or mm) selected for the popup menu in Width and Height, you can preview the revised unit dimensions after you enter the new resolution figure. Click OK.
8. Save the image.

If you need more image data than is present in a file, typically because you cropped an image, you can resize in Preview. The results will often look blurry when zoomed in at 100% because Preview can’t add new information where it doesn’t exist. It can only fill in new pixels that average adjoining ones.

To “upscale” an image, follow steps 1 to 4 above, and then:

1. Make sure Resample image is checked.
2. Either enter a new dimension in units (inches, cm, or mm) or a new pixel width or height. (With “Scale proportionally” checked, Preview automatically resizes the other dimension in proportion to the image ratio, avoiding you having to calculate that).
3. Click OK.
4. Save the image.

In step 2 above, you might change both resolution and unit dimensions if you know the output size and required resolution. For instance, change Resolution to 300 and Width to 12 inches for a 12-inch-wide print, and Preview calculates that it will need to upscale the image by 119 percent.

Higher-end photo-editing software includes more sophisticated upscaling routines. Adobe Photoshop offers several through a popup menu that lets you pick and preview based on the kind of image you’re resizing. You might choose one algorithm for a screen capture or high-contrast image and another for a well-lit outdoor shot.

You can also turn to software that incorporates machine-learning artificial-intelligence scaling that can intelligently take patterns in images to smooth and fill in enlargements to look more realistic. You can’t add information from a void, but algorithms can remove hard edges and pixelization while smoothing out tones, particularly on faces.

AI options include features found in newer versions of Adobe Lightroom (Enhance) and Photoshop (Neural Filters); both apps are part of an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. You can also look to standalone apps or Photoshop plug-ins, like ON1 Resize AI ($79.99) and Topaz Gigapixel AI ($99.99).

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Linda.

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