As always, Apple does its best work inside its walled garden

Apple on Monday took the wraps off a ton of new features coming to our devices this fall. The headline feature, of course, is Apple Intelligence, which brings the world of generative AI to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with writing tools, image and emoji creation, and a new era for Siri.

But once again, the features that will delight us the most when they arrive this fall are the ones that take advantage of how everything in the Apple ecosystem works together. The coolest feature by far is iPhone Mirroring, part of macOS 15 Sequoia. It’s another fantastic Continuity feature—like Universal Control and Sidecar—and it allows you to view what’s on your iPhone and control it too, without having to reach for it.

The demo was like watching one of Steve Jobs’s  “Boom!: moments, where something just works because, well, it’s Apple. You can literally access your iPhone wirelessly on your Mac and use it as if it was in your hand. Drag and drop photos and files between the two devices, launch iPhone apps on your Mac, and respond to notifications all while your iPhone stays locked in another room. It’s the perfect Apple feature and the reason why people willingly enter into the walled garden. No other company can deliver a feature so seamlessly—not Google, not Samsung, not Microsoft.

Or take the iPad’s new Calculator. Yes, it’s ridiculous that it took 14 years to get a Calculator app on the tablet, but there’s a lot more to it than just digital buttons. Using the power of the Apple Pencil, iPad users can jot down numbers and symbols in their own handwriting and Calculator will still recognize equations as if they were plugged in the old-fashioned way. Again, magic.

Where other tablets’ styluses are good, even great for writing and drawing, only Apple understands the relationship between its devices and how the relationship between them can be augmented through software. The iPad and Apple Pencil are already great, but Calculator and Math Notes take it to a new level only Apple can achieve. Take either out of the Apple ecosystem and the experience just isn’t the same.

It’s a different form of Apple Intelligence, one that’s at its smartest when every device is in sync. As Apple’s family of devices has evolved and matured, features like Math Notes and iPhone Mirroring haven’t just become possible, they become commonplace. Apple’s devices complement each other in a way that makes users want to stay in the garden, no matter how high the walls may get. 

iPad, MacOS