Mark Gurman, in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg over the weekend:
Though the Mac software introduced the same Liquid Glass
interface seen in iOS 26, the design language hasn’t translated
as smoothly to the larger displays and different input methods of
desktops and laptops. Part of the reason is that Liquid Glass was
created with more modern hardware in mind: the crisp OLED
displays that are used on iPhones, some iPads and Apple Watches.
The software also will be well-suited to the more glass-centric
iPhone 20 coming in 2027.Most Macs, in contrast, still rely on industrial designs
introduced several years ago. The current look of the MacBook Air
debuted in 2022, while the latest MacBook Pro and iMac designs
date back to 2021. Macs also continue to use LCD displays, which
don’t render translucency, shadows and glass effects as
effectively as OLED screens.If you’ve used Tahoe, you’re likely familiar with some of the
quirks — particularly the transparency effects and shadows that
can make lists and other text-heavy areas harder to read.
Trying to argue that the differences between LCD an OLED displays has anything to do with MacOS 26 Tahoe’s UI problems is like arguing that the reason your undercooked poorly prepared food tastes like shit is that it was designed to be served on higher-quality dinnerware. A nicer display is just a nicer display. A bad UI is a bad UI. Shitty undercooked poorly prepared food is shitty undercooked poorly prepared food.
You can actually see MacOS 26 Tahoe on an OLED display using Sidecar with a recent iPad Pro. It doesn’t help. You can also see iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 on devices that don’t have OLED displays. It looks fine. The notion that anything on MacOS 26 Tahoe was optimized for OLED displays makes no sense — there are no MacBooks or Apple desktop displays that use OLED. OLED MacBooks are purportedly coming at the end of this year or next year, but by the time that happens we’ll be mid-cycle for MacOS 27. Lastly, Apple just came out with the new $3,300 Studio Display XDR, using Mini-LED not OLED technology, in March. Even the future of Mac display technology is only partially OLED.
Last year’s Liquid Glass UI redesigns for iOS and iPadOS 26 were pretty good. The Liquid Glass redesign for MacOS 26 was pretty bad. That’s it. It has nothing to do with display technologies.
I’m happy to see Gurman report that the upcoming MacOS 27 release sports a revised UI, but you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Apple revises their UIs almost every year. Given the obvious problems with Tahoe and the pervasive criticisms from UI critics this year, it’d be absolutely flabbergasting if MacOS 27 did not reflect some noticeable changes.
Elsewhere in this week’s column, Gurman writes:
If a new Vision Pro-like device does end up coming together, I
wouldn’t expect it for around two more years at least given the
hardware resources are so concentrated elsewhere.
I suggest taking Vision headset product timelines from Gurman with a few grains of salt. In mid-October 2025 Apple announced and began shipping the second-gen Vision Pro, with a speed bump from the M2 to M5 chip. But in January 2025, Gurman wrote:
One thing missing from this 2025 road map is the Vision Pro. As of
now, I don’t believe there will be a new headset from Apple
shipping this year, though there theoretically could be an
unveiling ahead of a release later. Signs point to a
second-generation model coming in 2026 with an M5 chip.
Worse, in April last year, Gurman not only whiffed again on the second-gen model with M5 being released later in the year, he actually suggested that the M5 speed bump revision was cancelled:
So the company is pushing forward and is currently working on two
new models, I’m told. Though Apple had previously considered doing
a more basic refresh of the current hardware (changing the chip
from the M2 to upcoming M5), it’s now looking to go further.
That exact “previously considered” product shipped just six months after Gurman wrote that. Signs point to Gurman having terrible sources — or just making shit up — regarding Apple’s Vision Pro hardware roadmap.
