We’re counting down 50 products from 50 years of Apple to celebrate the iconic company’s anniversary, with 10 products revealed each day. The top 10 will be revealed on the day of the anniversary itself: 1 April (tomorrow). Check out all our 50 years of Apple features so far.
In this article, we count from 20 to 11. In this piece, you’ll find some of the best-ever Mac laptops as well as the reinvention of iPhone, and our pick of today’s Apple Watch lineup. Enjoy the countdown!
50–41 | 40–31 | 30–21 | 20–11 | 10–1
20. AirPods – 1st generation (2016)
White earbuds had long been Apple’s signature style; the first AirPods carried that forward, resembling EarPods with the cable chopped off. But you soon realised these wireless buds were packed full of tech and delightful details. They sounded great and the case kept extra charge. They effortlessly paired with Apple gear, and pausing audio was simply a case of removing a bud. Even an early reliance on Siri was overturned with a firmware update that let you assign a double-tap action to each bud. AirPods were so good that Apple can almost be forgiven for eradicating the headphone port from its mobile products.
19. Macintosh Classic (1990)
When a company bolts ‘Classic’ on to the end of a product’s name, that doesn’t bode well for its longevity. Witness Mac OS Classic, iPod Classic and also… Macintosh Classic. This was, effectively, the last Mac to echo the original, with its tiny monochrome display and boxy design. Critics grumbled about it, recalling other aspects of older Macs, given its lack of speed and limited expansion options. But the Macintosh Classic squeaked in at under a grand in the US – a first for a Mac – allowing it to eke out an existence in homes and schools well into the 1990s.
18. iPhone X (2017)
By the late 2010s, flagship Android phones looked futuristic but the iPhone was stuck in the past with chunky bezels and a Home button. The iPhone X obliterated both – and your muscle memory – as it chased Apple’s all-screen dream.
As you wrestled with new gestures, you couldn’t help but notice the notch tainted the all-screen thing. But the OLED was gorgeous, cramming more pixels than you got on the much larger iPhone 8 Plus. The notch had a job too, blasting infrared dots at your face to prove you were really you while using Face ID. There was no fooling this phone with a photo.
17. iMac M1 (2021)
It’s hard to pinpoint precisely when the iMac stopped being fun. But by the end of the Intel era, it had morphed from a playful ‘computer for the rest of us’ into a sleek but cold all-in-one. The M1 fixed that, injecting personality back into the line. Colour returned: vibrant around back, yet subtler on the front, letting the chin sink back into the room. Ditching the Apple logo showed real confidence. And the display, zippy M1 chip, punchy speakers and decent webcam made it an ideal fit for homes and offices. A silver version remained for the terminally dull.
16. iBook G3 (1999)
Apple answered customer demands for an ‘iMac to go’ with a laptop that looked like an iMac someone had sat on. The iBook ditched the industry’s obsession with boring black portables – but those colourful parts had purpose, being double-shot moulded in rubber to increase durability. This Mac also debuted AirPort, Apple’s then-revolutionary wireless networking tech. Keen to prove the lack of cables, Apple concocted a keynote where Steve Jobs swiped a hoop across the laptop before exec Phil Schiller leapt off a high platform with one, to wirelessly send readouts from an accelerometer. 2026’s online press release for the MacBook Neo didn’t quite compare.
15. MacBook Air M2 (2022)
The MacBook Air M1 was a revolution on the inside, but wore its predecessor’s skin. The M2 changed all that. Along with a healthy speed boost from the new chip came a full redesign. The classic wedge was replaced by a flat, thin slab that resembled an impossibly sleek MacBook Pro. This MacBook Air borrowed other tricks from its expensive sibling too: better speakers, the return of MagSafe (freeing up a USB-C port when charging), slimmer screen bezels and the welcome removal of distracting branding below the display. Alas, the notch also made the jump, replacing one distraction with another.
14. Mac OS X (2001)
The original Mac OS was a revelation and made DOS feel prehistoric. But by the mid-1990s, Microsoft Windows had stolen Apple’s thunder, and Apple’s next-gen OS efforts were going nowhere. Meanwhile, current Mac OS was a mess, resulting in countless Macs crashing when users had the audacity to launch a web browser.
Then co-founder Steve Jobs returned, bringing NeXTSTEP software – made for machines no one bought but it actually worked – with him. This quickly evolved into Mac OS X with its ‘lickable’ Aqua interface, bouncy Dock icons and Unix guts that even attracted geeks. It was style over substance at first, but came good in the end. Let’s hope history repeats.
13. Apple Watch SE 3 (2025)
Tech products are often about compromises you’re willing to live with. But now and again, a gadget arrives that makes the expensive stuff hard to recommend. That’s the Apple Watch SE 3. While its predecessors packed quality tech into a more affordable package, the SE 3 was the first in the line with an always-on display. And for 60% of the price of a Series 11, you also got the latest chip and optional 5G. At the time of writing, it’s still the Apple Watch to buy, unless you desperately yearn for thinner bezels, ECG and Blood Oxygen apps, and a 6m depth gauge for finding Nemo while not getting too far out of your depth.
12. AirTag (2021)
AirTag wasn’t the first tracker but aimed to be best – and still is. It’s peak Apple too. Signals are anonymously detected by Apple’s vast Find My network, revealing lost items. AirTags only work with Apple gear (of course) and need accessories (which Apple sells) to attach to anything. Setup is effortless, and Precision Finding is idiot-proof, guiding you to lost items via a giant arrow on your iPhone screen, like a slow-motion real-world game of Crazy Taxi. One very un-Apple twist, though: you can pop off an AirTag’s cover and swap the battery in seconds. If only that applied to its other gear…
11. iPad Mini – 1st generation (2012)
During a 2010 earnings call, Steve Jobs trashed the idea of small tablets. Not big enough for great apps! Too big to compete with smartphones! He snarked that using a 7in tablet would require sandpapering your fingers to points. “We really understand this stuff,” he added. Yet over a year after his death, the iPad Mini arrived in a blaze of glory. Was Jobs wrong or had the market shifted? Either way, people bought the smaller, pocket-friendly iPad Mini in droves. It was superb and usable in one hand – although Retina display fans had to wait for the iPad Mini 2.
50–41 | 40–31 | 30–21 | 20–11 | 10–1
