Jason Snell has released his annual Six Colors report card, which covers Apple's 2019 performance, and this year includes answers from me and my 9to5Mac colleague Benjamin Mayo. Go read now and come back!

The final notes are based on the ratings of 65 participants that Jason describes as "writers, publishers, developers, podcasters and other people who spend a lot of time thinking about Apple." Apple Wearables ranks highest (4.6 / 5), while software quality and Apple TV equals worst (2.7 / 5).

Check the report card results to see how all the other categories have been set up in the middle. The report book looks at how each category has been evaluated over the years, and this year there is a YOY comparison chart.

To understand the thinking behind how each category is classified, Jason includes comments from various contributors. Like 30,000 response words, they were reduced to 6500 consumable words.

I'll try to be a lot more concise Next year, but for now, I thought I would share the verbal responses with 9to5Mac readers. I didn't record my own ratings, but you can understand my feelings about each category.

HomeKit

I am absolutely passionate about HomeKit. Nothing broke in 2019 to change that, but it was also a year when HomeKit's biggest addition was HomeKit TVs.

I am very happy with my LG OLED TV from a few years ago and LG has not been as generous as Vizio with bringing HomeKit support to older TVs. For this reason, I have never experienced HomeKit on a TV (without reliable methods, such as HomeBridge), for me it was largely a status quo issue.

Some kind of door knob from HomeKit has become a thing, but Netatmo missed the 2019 launch goal, and Robin Telecom's hardware for several hundred dollars looks like a prototype.

Apple surprised us at the end of the year by including them in a new initiative to build a smart home standard with other major players, but it's too early to know how that effort will work.

Services

Apple TV + had a well-received launch (critics aside), which was enhanced by a free year of service promotion for our iPhone customers. I haven't tried the new shows since the end of the first round, but I'll probably pay to see the second season of the launch shows.

Apple Arcade is also a surprise success for the price and variety of games.

Apple News + needs a major two-year upgrade. Despite many minor improvements, it's not just a good deal for anyone.

Apple Music began the healthy year and ended with a surprise year with a review feature that didn't include only 2019.

ICloud storage is still a must-have for me, especially with iCloud and iCloud Drive photos. However, everyone wants to see that the free tier offers more storage space and can even plan for more than 2TB.

Fortunately for Apple, News + is not so mediocre as it ruins other excellent Apple services.

Apple TV

Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K are fine, but both are very expensive compared to comparable set-tops. No prizes for ignoring this problem.

tvOS 13 has improved with Apple Arcade games, but Apple's long-sought multi-user feature may not have been delivered. It is so limited and poorly implemented that I cannot reasonably ask my family to use it.

AirPlay 2 smart TVs and TV app coming to Samsung, Roku, Fire TV and other off-year platforms created for Apple TV and tvOS. We hope that next year more attention will be paid to Apple TV prices and hardware.

wearable

As for laptops, which was a year of 2019. The second-generation AirPods launched in time to replace the original AirPods struggling to get a charge, Beats Powerbeats Pro has shown how AirPods technology can be used. in fitness headphones, and AirPods Pro has revealed what the next-generation AirPods could do.

Beats also released Solo Pro headphones with Noise Canceling and Transparency, but bringing the same technology to AirPods Pro immediately shattered Solo Pro.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch Series 4 was such a big leap for the product that I was convinced we wouldn't see a 5. We didn't need one. We see someone who has an embedded ECG heart condition every week, and Apple has greatly expanded the number of ECG countries in 2019.

Anyway, we have the Series 5. It wasn't another giant leap. How could it be? There were three new functions: permanent display, built-in compass and international emergency calls.

The permanent display is a feature worthy of a new single series. It's not perfect and you have to accept more applications, but it's an important moment in Apple Watch history.

The 5 Series also retains the same great features of the 4 Series, introduces titanium models and restores the white ceramic model.

Greater independence for the iPhone remains an opportunity, but Apple Watch has not taken the year off, despite virtually no competition.

Also important: the Apple Watch Series 3 remained in the range of $ 199, which is less than the Fitbits price.

iPad

2019 was an important software year for iPad with iPadOS 13. The redesigned home screen really shines on the 12.9-inch model, and Sidecar from macOS Catalina was very useful to me.

We will have to wait and see if the name change is maintained in 2020 with iOS 14.

As for the hardware, we spent the entire year with the iPad Pro 2018 models at the end, and that was fine. Apple hit the park with the 2018 iPad Pro models.

I also won the 10.2-inch iPad $ 329, the 10.5-inch iPad Air and the updated iPad mini. Each iPad now works with a version of Apple Pencil or Logitech Pencil, and every non-mini iPad works with a smart keyboard.

For my family, the price range and hardware upgrades mean that everyone has their own iPad without relying on hand-me-downs.

Mac users always want to see that the iPad becomes more capable, even if the gap is smaller than ever.

iPhone

The year started with a major earnings guidance correction by Apple due to expected iPhone sales numbers. Creative commerce programs and upgrades to Apple stores followed.

Every change implemented would be welcome any year, but they were clearly provoked by the disappointing holiday quarter 2018. In the future, it will be easier to finance or upgrade to a new iPhone anytime. This can be the legacy of iPhone XR and iPhone XS.

New iPhones are released near the end of the year, and Apple has further corrected the iPhone issue with several fixes.

IPhone 11 replaced the iPhone XR, correctly marketing the entry-level model as the main iPhone and not the sub-level. It also started at a lower price, despite the fact that it was a better phone in every department.

iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max have been appropriately positioned as high-performance models (such as the original iPhone X). With the cost of 3D Touch loss, both models have seen major improvements in battery life. The most expensive iPhone now has the best battery life!

It was probably too soon to be worried about 5G in September 2019, even though some Android phones already supported it. However, September 2019 iPhones are sold for most of 2020 and we see 5G appearing in new markets at a surprising rate.

Also, people use their expensive iPhones for more than a year. It is certain that Apple relied on Intel for 5G chips while fighting Qualcomm in court. Fortunately, this was resolved before the end of the year. 5G is fast appearing in 2020, instead of 2021, but it would have been an impressive part of the 2019-2020 iPhone.

Mac

2019 was a major year of transition for the Mac, but there is still much to be done.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro and the new Mac Pro are great additions for professionals. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is easier to understand with the Touch Bar on each model, and Apple didn't let the 12-inch MacBook stay another year. The Mac mini is in a healthy place, and the iMac continues to mature.

Two big questions for 2020. How long will the new Magic Keyboard take to replace the remaining Butterfly keyboards on the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro? Will iMac Pro be updated or replaced with a higher end iMac?

For most consumers, the keyboard question is the biggest factor for Mac performance.

As for Catalina, the new 32-bit macOS may be sad, but Apple has signaled this move far in advance. It's not iOS 13.0!

Read Jason's Apple in 2019: the six-color report card for the final product.

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