As at all times, Apple does its finest work inside its walled backyard

Apple on Monday took the wraps off a ton of latest options coming to our gadgets this fall. The headline function, in fact, is Apple Intelligence, which brings the world of generative AI to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with writing instruments, picture and emoji creation, and a brand new period for Siri.

However as soon as once more, the options that can delight us essentially the most once they arrive this fall are those that benefit from how the whole lot within the Apple ecosystem works collectively. The good function by far is iPhone Mirroring, a part of macOS 15 Sequoia. It’s one other improbable Continuity function—like Common Management and Sidecar—and it permits you to view what’s in your iPhone and management it too, with out having to succeed in for it.

The demo was like watching one in all Steve Jobs’s  “Growth!: moments, the place one thing simply works as a result of, effectively, it’s Apple. You’ll be able to actually entry your iPhone wirelessly in your Mac and use it as if it was in your hand. Drag and drop pictures and recordsdata between the 2 gadgets, launch iPhone apps in your Mac, and reply to notifications all whereas your iPhone stays locked in one other room. It’s the proper Apple function and the explanation why individuals willingly enter into the walled backyard. No different firm can ship a function so seamlessly—not Google, not Samsung, not Microsoft.

Or take the iPad’s new Calculator. Sure, it’s ridiculous that it took 14 years to get a Calculator app on the pill, however there’s much more to it than simply digital buttons. Utilizing the ability of the Apple Pencil, iPad customers can jot down numbers and symbols in their very own handwriting and Calculator will nonetheless acknowledge equations as in the event that they had been plugged within the old style means. Once more, magic.

The place different tablets’ styluses are good, even nice for writing and drawing, solely Apple understands the connection between its gadgets and the way the connection between them will be augmented by software program. The iPad and Apple Pencil are already nice, however Calculator and Math Notes take it to a brand new stage solely Apple can obtain. Take both out of the Apple ecosystem and the expertise simply isn’t the identical.

It’s a unique type of Apple Intelligence, one which’s at its smartest when each gadget is in sync. As Apple’s household of gadgets has advanced and matured, options like Math Notes and iPhone Mirroring haven’t simply turn into doable, they turn into commonplace. Apple’s gadgets complement one another in a means that makes customers need to keep within the backyard, regardless of how excessive the partitions could get.