MacBreak Weekly #991: "The Naughty List"

Date: September 24, 2025
Host & Panel: Andy Ihnatko (hosting for Leo), Jason Snell (6colors.com), Alex Lindsay (Office Hours Global)

Episode Overview

This episode welcomes back Jason Snell from his charity and National Guard stints, for a wide-ranging deep dive into the latest Apple hardware, software, repairability, and ecosystem news. The group explores hands-on impressions of the new iPhones (with Jason literally having "all the iPhones"), evaluates design choices, durability, and repairability—particularly of the much-discussed iPhone Air—digs into new Apple case materials, speculates on the future of MacBooks, and has a lengthy, forward-looking conversation about Apple Vision Pro’s growing immersive content. There’s also nostalgic banter, practical buying advice, and critical commentary around “naughty” and “nice” lists of Apple press access.

Key Topics and Takeaways

1. St. Jude Fundraiser & Telethon Reflections

• Jason Snell returns after supporting the St. Jude marathon telethon, which raised $100K+.
  • [01:11] Jason: "More than $100,000... we're already pushing [the St. Jude staff] to work for 12 hours."
• Discussed challenges and “cop-outs” of a 12-hour vs. 24/48/72-hour telethons, plus charity livestream culture.
  • [02:23] Jason: "Any lengthy performance thing like that, you go through a series of ups and downs... The last hour or so, you're just completely loopy."

2. New iPhones, Hands-On Impressions, Repairability, and Materials

• iPhone Air: Main focus of hands-on discussion; notably light, thin, and surprisingly repairable.
  • [06:26] Andy: "He did the bend test... It did not break until 200 pounds of force... He [JerryRigEverything] was very impressed."
  • [07:02] Jason: "Titanium has a really remarkable amount of tensile strength... It bends, but it bends back."
  • [08:09] Jason: "In the early days, [Apple] prioritized functionality over repairability... In the long run, as that settles down, you, you know, you are the one fixing your phones, so you're going to want to make it as easy to do that."
• Ifixit’s Review:
  • [09:13] Andy: "7 out of 10 provisional repairability score... contingent on Apple providing parts."
• Ownership & Use Cases:
  • [11:50] Jason: "The Air is not for everybody, and you are going to make those compromises. It only has one camera, it has less battery life... You hold this thing in your hands and it's unbelievable."
  • [13:04] Jason: "Apple is pushing this technology to show where they're going... It's not going to be for everybody."
  • [14:53] Andy: "People who buy the first two weeks are not the same people who buy the other 50 weeks of the year... vast mass of people just don’t buy phones like that."
• iPhone 17 & Pent-up Demand:
  • [15:47] Andy: "Apple had basically put out a directive... increase output at the base level 17 by 40% because they got more preorders... That shows you something about what demand is."
• Camera Differences Prompt Returns:
  • [16:43] Alex: "Three different people got the Air, thought it was an amazing camera, and then... gave it to someone else because they wanted the Pro."
• Evolving iPhone Line
  • [17:06] Jason: "This is a product line now... we don't judge the 16e the same way we judge the 17 Pro Max. They are super different phones, and that's okay."

3. Apple Case Materials: Woven, Tech Woven, and Leather

• Durability Concerns with Tech Woven:
  • [04:35] Alex: "I've done a fair number of things that should scratch it, and haven't scratched it."
• Ifixit’s Destructive Testing:
  • [61:33] Andy, summarizing: Once the surface coating is breached on the tech woven case, it starts absorbing liquids; durable until scratched, then it degrades quickly.
• Material Feel:
  • [57:03] Jason: "It feels like the material you'd find on a soft-sided suitcase. Rugged... Leather's in the rearview for Apple, which I think is a little bit bizarre."
• Leather Case Preference:
  • [59:01] Andy: "I ordered a Nomad old Dublin Horween leather case... That's leather for you."
  • [60:25] Andy: "I buy leather belts because they last for 10 or 15 or 20 years."

4. Buying, Shipping, and Carrier Adventures

• Carrier Deals and Delivery Risks:
  • [21:34] Andy: Delivery theft is a real risk, especially for valuable Apple gear.
  • [22:06] Alex: "It's very clear that everyone at UPS knows exactly what all the Apple boxes look like."
  • [21:07] Alex: "I have one AT&T phone and one Verizon... cost almost nothing to get it. The subsidies are back."
• Retail Experience:
  • [22:59] Andy: "It's kind of fun to go to the store and wait in line."
• International Gray/Secondary Markets:
  • [64:45] Alex: "When you travel around to countries where the iPhone is not sold directly, how much people are willing to pay... 50-100% more."
  • [65:10] Jason: (re: China) "They roll up to the Apple store and say, give me 100... that's the creation of the gray market."
  • [66:09] Andy: "About a 50% markup... the base iPhone 17 for the equivalent of $1,437 in Russia."

5. Apple Vision Pro: New Immersive Content and Production Innovations

[33:54 – 53:30] Vision Pro Segment

• Immersive MotoGP Documentary:
  • [34:07] Jason: "This MotoGP thing felt like they had two or three [cameras] at least so that you could get different coverage from the same moment. Very interesting."
  • [35:56] Alex: "Sometimes you leave that [camera-bump shot] in there to remind people they're in the headset."
• Production Pipeline Improvements:
  • [37:09] Alex: "The Blackmagic pipeline just makes everything so much easier... we're going to see a lot more content."
• Distribution is Still Early:
  • [40:16] Alex: "We're still very, very early on where it's not comfortable to [publish]... Still figuring out content delivery."
• Low-Hanging Fruit: Music, Immersive Segments:
  • [41:47] Alex: "The lowest hanging fruit is music... a lot of us are shooting music because it's something you feel like you're in the audience."
  • [47:53+] Nostalgic exploration of early MacBreak and changing Apple events.
• Desire for 8K-per-eye, 4K60 in Spatial Video:
  • [53:05] Alex (jokingly to prompt "the drinking game"): "8K per eye... and hopefully if we see with the Vision Pro coming—the next one, a lot of us are hoping M5S will bring us 8K per eye, 120 fps."
• Safari and web support for immersive clips teased for VisionOS 26.
• Apple’s protraction in releasing immersive content:
  • [39:43] Jason: "The dam has not burst open... all Apple could announce for the rest of 2025 is... like two [immersive content] releases per month."

6. MacBook & macOS Rumors: Touchscreens, Cheap Models, & Liquid Glass UI

• Touchscreen MacBook?
  • [97:11] Andy: "Minchi Kuo is doubling down on the idea of Apple doing a touchscreen Mac next year or the year after."
  • [99:26] Jason: "I think it's going to happen, probably next fall. I mean, it's funny to say they missed the bus, because then they took their limo."
• Cheap MacBook (iPhone-based):
  • [104:26] Andy: "Ming Chi Kuo also says that mass production is about to begin on the cheap MacBook... might be $600-700."
  • [106:28] Alex: "One of the most exciting Macs... the lower they can make that price, the more havoc they cause in the industry."
  • [109:58] Andy: "Extra excitement—Kuo is mentioning 5G... first MacBooks with onboard mobile broadband... absolute luxury."
• Liquid Glass UI Reception:
  • [92:52] Andy: "I think it's fine... but I’m glad they're not using it more right now."
  • [95:50] Jason: "Redesigns happen and then they get tweaked over time... give it a little time, there will be a third-party app for that."
  • [98:39] Andy: "Liquid Glass is possibly a more appropriate language to put touch points into the Mac interface..."

7. Apple Lab Press Tour and Marketing Transparency

• Apple’s Press [Audio/Radio] Lab Tours:
  • [71:22] Andy: "Studios are all named after famous recording studios... Abbey Road Studio, etc."
  • [73:49] Jason: (re: anechoic chamber/marketing) "It's showing your work a little bit and saying, ‘Don’t just accept that what Apple does is easy. It's actually extremely hard...’"
  • [74:19] Alex: "I don't think anybody has any idea what a commercial product... the amount of work they go through..."
• The "Naughty List" & Press Access:
  • [76:37] Andy: "People on the nice list get interviews with Apple execs... None of us did. I might have been the naughty list."
  • [77:02] Jason: "The vast majority of people are just not on... there are the people that get invitations and then the vast bulk who just don’t get either."

8. Security: Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement

• [88:50] Andy (summarizing Steve Gibson): "Apple’s new MEG memory integrity enforcement on the A19... is a game changer... It is going to eliminate a huge category of flaws."
• [90:42] Alex: "Apple's marketing is that every version of the iPhone is going to be more secure than the last..."
• [91:30] Andy: (re: Security Now episode) “It is the biggest step forward in computer security... in history.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On iPhone Air’s Under-the-Hood Simplicity:
  • [07:57] Andy: "When it's open...[in] the iPhone Air, almost entirely the thin part is battery behind the screen, and then all the other stuff is up here in the camera bump."
• On the iPhone Release Cycle:
  • [14:53] Jason: "I would bet that the people who buy the first two weeks are not the same people who buy the other 50 weeks of the year."
• On Apple’s Emphasis on “Feeling” Different:
  • [14:53] Jason: "Some portion of the iPhone market just wants something that looks different."
• On Vision Pro Production:
  • [41:47] Alex: "The lowest hanging fruit... is music."
  • [53:07] Alex: "8K per eye again. And hopefully if we see with the Vision Pro coming, the next one, a lot of us are hoping M5S will bring us 8k per eye. 120 fps."
• On MacBook Touchscreen Transition:
  • [100:07] Jason: "Everything else has a touchscreen. As a result, all of us have built up muscle memory..."
• On Apple’s PR lists:
  • [77:02] Jason: "I refuse to be on the naughty list. I’m just not on the nice list."
  • [77:48] Andy: "It's actually a point of pride. I think I want to be on the naughty list."
• On Apple & the EU:
  • [113:33] Alex: "The EU is asking for different things than the United States is asking for..."
• On Cheap Macs Disrupting the Market:
  • [106:42] Alex: "The lower they can make that price and the more accessible they make that price, the more they cause havoc..."

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Segment | |-----------|--------------| | 00:00–02:56 | St. Jude telethon reflections and fundraising | | 04:14–07:57 | iPhone Air, materials, durability & scratchability | | 09:13–11:50 | iPhone Air repairability, ownership advice | | 13:04–15:47 | Product positioning and iPhone demand dynamics | | 22:06–23:43 | Retail experiences, carrier deals, & theft risks | | 33:54–53:30 | Vision Pro: New immersive content, Blackmagic cameras, distribution challenges, 8K/4K60 longings | | 57:03–61:33 | Tech woven case: durability, feel, Ifixit testing | | 64:45–66:51 | Int’l gray market/secondary market/pre-order markups | | 92:52–98:39 | Liquid Glass UI, developer burden, future proofing | | 104:26–109:58 | “Cheap MacBook” rumors, 5G, market disruption | | 112:41–116:02 | Apple vs. EU regulations, H1B rules, and workforce | | 122:09–130:33 | Picks of the Week: Final Cut Camera 2.0; Revo 3D scanner (metrology grade) | | 139:21–141:19 | Nostalgic Mac memories, MX80 printer fonts |

Picks of the Week

• Jason Snell:
  • Final Cut Camera 2.0: Multi-cam iPad/iPhone setup, seamless workflow, great for mobile content creators.
    • [122:16] “We did a three-camera shoot in a hotel room for basically...zero effort.”
• Alex Lindsay:
  • Revo Point 3D Scanner: Metrology grade, .02mm accuracy, fast, affordable; revolutionizes education and reverse engineering.
    • [132:22] “For... $1,200... ability to grab onto everything... accuracy is .02mm.”
• Andy Ihnatko:
  • Epson MX80/FX80 Dot Matrix Printer Fonts: For the full retro 1980s report-writing experience.
    • [137:21] “...a reproduction of the Epson MX80 printer fonts... the real thing and it’s a free font.”

Final Thoughts

• The panel is both optimistic and critical about Apple’s latest hardware and design trends.
• The iPhone Air divides opinion with its svelte, futuristic form but reduced feature set.
• Apple Vision Pro is awaiting its “boom” moment, but production tools and distribution are quickly advancing.
• There is anticipation—and skepticism—around affordable ARM-powered MacBooks and a potential touchscreen macOS revolution.
• The show underscores the ongoing tension between Apple’s carefully curated PR access and the independent press, humorously dubbing themselves “the naughty list.”
• Security improvements in Apple Silicon are seen as a true breakthrough.
• Amidst all the Apple talk, retro computing nostalgia is alive and well.

For those who missed the episode:
This episode offers a meticulously detailed, wide-angle lens on Apple’s evolving strategy, user needs, hardware trends, and the growing role of immersive content. The euphoria over Apple’s engineering feats, candid criticism of their marketing/friction points, and real-world product advice deliver classic MacBreak Weekly insight—with a heavy dose of self-aware nerdiness and podcast family banter.

Panelists:

• Andy Ihnatko
• Jason Snell
• Alex Lindsay

Find the full episode and video at:
TWiT.tv/MBW991
or follow MacBreak Weekly in your favorite podcast app.