Added mid-year: Must be able to order a Mac Pro by the end of 2019, they do not have to arrive in customer hands by the end of the year.
Ungraded: "I waffle on sticking with my iMac Pro"; he bought one almost immediately. Myke predicted that Stephen would buy a Mac Pro, exchange it for an iMac Pro, then buy another Mac Pro in 6 months.
"including any service being free with another, or some sort of content being added to the iPhone upgrade program"
Apple TV+ was announced as a free trial, but not as a bundle. And it doesn't really come with the upgrade program as such. Stephen threads the needle with this pick.
"No Intel Macs are available for sale without an Apple Silicon counterpart." Myke points out the iMac Pro as a potential spoiler.
(For pick complexity purposes, I'm counting this as 1 condition for each Mac line that still had no Apple Silicon counterpart at the beginning of 2021: The larger MacBook Pros, the iMac in both sizes, the iMac Pro, and the Mac Pro. The Mac mini is 1 line with a high end and low end, so it already had an "Apple Silicon counterpart" although the high end Mac mini was still Intel.)
The iMac Pro left the lineup entirely, but the Mac Pro remained on Intel for about a year and a half more.
This was originally just "faster charging", but the live chat pointed out a recent FCC filing by Apple which undercut the riskiness of the pick. Stephen added a specific wattage target and also had to decide whether the existing MagSafe puck will support the higher wattage.
This was originally "WWDC 2022 will be virtual", but that was very close to last year's pick, which was within the 365 day limit. It was a borderline judgement, but ultimately they decided they didn't like the precedent.
Was originally "By December 31, 2022, no Intel Macs will remain on sale as new machines", but this was also too close for comfort, although arguably the previous pick was more permissive than this would have been.
Federico, oddly, argues for this being correct, with the Dynamic Island allowing multiple app use. But the others agree that, while funny, that isn't it.
Stephen came to the table with two picks: "Apple announces a multi-device charger that looks a lot like AirPower" and "The 15 Pro Max weighs within 10% of the 14 Pro Max's weight". Myke believed that a 10% margin on either side is too wide to be risky and also that the AirPower one is just a better risky pick with less math. Once it's settled to go with the AirPower one, Federico asks to clarify "looks like" and the pick is modified to specify a lack of charging targets.
"The Mac Pro will go away, the Mac Mini also goes away, by the end of 2017 the iMac is all that remains."
While explaining, Myke got a little carried away with how complete this transition would be, but when challenged to make it part of the pick, he decided to go for it.
Myke says during grading that he originally expected 5G to get him this point but LIDAR did instead, but he actually focused on LIDAR when originally explaining this pick. (During the grading, Federico delivers his impromptu review of the 2020 iPad Pro.)
Grading for this was tricky, but Stephen discovered that the Apple Accessory Design Guidelines indicate that the notch got very slightly smaller, by millimeters, mostly due to the switch from LCD to OLED in the iPhone 12. The consensus is that it's a technical victory but not an honorable one.
Apple extended the existing free period for TV+, which does not count
Myke notes that, since this extension was announced via press release before the event, a differently-worded pick may have been ambiguous based on the rules at the time, so an explicit rule about the scoring window is added.
It was originally "Mac product", but there was some controversy over whether that includes accessories and displays. Ultimately, Myke upped the difficulty and removed the word "product".
"... smaller, not a cube shape, feature no support for the current MPX modules and/or will allow for some form of expandability outside of Thunderbolt. It will be only be available in one color."
Another "and/or" added to a pick, which happened a few times this episode. It applies to just the MPX modules and expandability clause.
"...It features a case design inspired by the 2019 Mac Pro. It features more ports than any other Apple Silicon Mac available today. It does not have support for third-party GPUs. It features a chip name that has not appeared in any other product. It has a starting price of at least $6,999. It is coming later this year."
Originally it said "same case design", but the change was accepted on air after Myke reconsidered. "Later this year" was also demoted from being an exact quote.
This Mac Pro will have to beat the Mac Studio in terms of ports: 2 USB-C, 2 USB-A, 4 Thunderbolt, SD card, Ethernet, HDMI, and headphone jack, for a total of 12.
Or, as Stephen so poetically put it, "AKA an island of black glass in an ocean of pixels." Little did he know that Apple would actually call it "the Dynamic Island".
Cleverly worded so that if the iMac isn't touched, the pick is still correct, but Federico's questioning of whether a change in hue counts causes Myke to water it down to just names. At the time of the pick, the colors were "Blue, Green, Pink, Silver, Yellow, Orange, Purple".
"(how do we decide major? — on stage at WWDC or we decide past that)"
Ungraded: "some features that Federico would like to see", the actual features that Federico talked about were not recorded in the document, but were: a new, more flexible design, easier and faster to add dates and notes, tags, saved searches, better Files integration
Federico cites parts of Slide Over's new multitasking interface, and when that doesn't seem to be working, says "If you don't give me this point, I will call the police." It escalates to the point of typing 911 into his phone.
"Some kind of" is vague enough to count this, and it definitely is not because of the threat.
He initially picked mini LED specifically. And after further discussion it was agreed that this meant a new display technology for the iPad, so for example OLED would also count.
Was originally just a pick about a new, as-yet-unannounced iOS 15 feature, but the hosts suspected that was another reuse.
In retrospect, this was a tricky pick to grade because how would we know the day after the event? Federico provides some insider information indicating that the setting does exist, but can it be said to have "come true", as the rule states, without proof? The meaning of truth itself is debated, perhaps a philosophical high point for the Rickies. The point is ultimately granted, with the understanding that in the future, the rules will be amended to clarify that picks must be publicly verifiable to earn points.
Apparently feeling humble, Federico admits that this is a "boring" pick. It was originally "release date", but when some questioning about whether just a month would count came up, he watered it down.
Federico originally had "Universal Control has been postponed to a future macOS Monterey update", but during the show a new macOS beta was released with the feature not available, but at least mentioned in an unselectable check box.
"... and "reverse wireless charging" for AirPods cases. MagSafe charging speed will also be raised from 15 watts."
Originally didn't include the last sentence.
The previous rumors of reverse wireless charging didn't disqualify this pick since it's in combination with Qi 2 as well. It's pointed out that Qi 2 is basically just standardized MagSafe as well, but it's still allowed as they'll have to be specific about Qi 2 to count it. Stephen still thinks it lacks passion. Later, Federico sprinkled some passion on it after all by adding a charging wattage increase after all.