He hasn't covered iPhone 17's at all this past week, due to "personal stuff going on" which, hey, fair enough. Life happens.
But his most recent post* is of course politics and nothing to do with tech or Apple. I see he briefly talked about iOS 26 new popover before that, really a response to someone else's article -- just to check the box.
..Right on brand for a while sadly 🤦♂️
I still look forward to his rundown of the new hardware they're usually a pretty fun read but wish he could chill out just a little bit on his milquetoast 'activism', but to each his own that's his right.
I don't think he's 'moving the needle at all' quite frankly on changing hearts and minds, but he can certainly keep trying as he sees fit. I also thoroughly enjoy his unfounded resentment for Mark Gurman when he gets leaks right probably because Gurman unofficially has more under the table connections than him at this point in relation to Apple but you think on some level he'd respect a fellow media peer. Maybe he does secretly
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Apple likely distanced themselves from him for good reason not just his big blow to Apple Intelligence hype last year (which I commend him for saying as much, takes cajones with the pull he has at Apple to make such a grand statement that it's a nothing burger and to get heads turning with the headline 'Something is rotten in the state of Cupertino' -- myopic victory in the end)
The way you said he should “expect consequences” implied like those consequences were reasonable and he would be wrong for getting upset
Maybe he realized that there is more to life than opining on tech gadgets that fade into obscurity after a short tenure?
On dithering he noted he had two separate serious family emergencies, one on each side of his family. He didn’t get into what they are, and he deserves his privacy, but they are apparently serious enough that he hasn’t been in front of a computer most days. I expect the reviews of three different phones is a little more involved than posting links and the short commentaries he has since coming back.
I’m surprised you commented without reading previous comments that mention and link to his personal note (published after this thread was started on 9/18/25).
He confirmed that he received review units this year. I think he just decided to opt out of the iPhone launch hype cycle entirely because Apple shunned his show this year.
Um this is more or less exactly what I said. He received review units. He will still post reviews. The launch window is now long gone.
I don't his thoughts on Tim Cook have anything to do with it; I think it's much more likely that once his family emergencies happened and he realized he wasn't going to be anywhere close to meeting the release window that the urgency to get them out quickly went away. I suspect most who read are early adopters, and even coming out a week after the iPhones did is probably too late for 95% of his audience. I'd argue there's almost no value in him posting a "couple weeks late" version of the same review he would have posted had he not had the family emergencies, so he should do something different.
