Accessibility, As Ever, Sprung Forth In New Products Announced At Apple’s ‘Spring Loaded’ Event
Summary
To critique these products and tell their stories, accessibility is a crucial part of the equation that contextualizes them far beyond marketing strategy or workflow or raw compute power. Anecdotally, family and friends who have seen mine have remarked on what a looker it is; my girlfriend was particularly enthused by the color and size of the 12 Mini, saying “Oh my gosh, I want this phone!” It’s a lovely way to revitalize sales mid-cycle. One of the major considerations of last year’s iPhone 12 line was how the phone’s new industrial design could affect those with fine-motor delays—how it feels to pick up the device, hold it, and carry it around. Several months later, what I wrote last fall remains true this spring: the 12 Mini is most interesting from an accessibility perspective, the iPhone Goldilocks might choose if she wanted one that fit just right. In their first look coverage of AirTag, some reviewers have taken jabs at Apple for making the puck-shaped Bluetooth tracker yet another way to trap people into the company’s sticky web of an ecosystem.
