50 years of Apple: the greatest products ever, ranked – here are numbers 50–41 in our countdown

We’re counting down 50 products from 50 years of Apple to celebrate the iconic company’s anniversary, with 10 products revealed each day over this weekend and into next week. The top 10 will be revealed on the day of the anniversary itself: 1 April. Check out all our 50 years of Apple features so far.

So: is a Switch 2 better than an Atari 2600? Is Spotify better than a Sony Walkman? Is an iPhone better than a Mac? It depends. Objectively, it’s absurd to argue that ancient tech outclasses what we have today. That’s just as true for Apple gear.

As Apple turns 50, it would be a nightmare to definitely rank its top 50 products in order. So we’re not going to. Instead, everyone on the Stuff team each nominated their personal favourite Apple products from across the decades. Lists were gathered, points were tallied, and the results are below. So if your all-time favourite Apple product didn’t make the cut, you know who to blame!

Up first, then, we countdown from 50 to 41…

50–41 | 40–31 | 30–21 | 20–11 | 10–1

50. HomePod Mini (2020)

Apple’s track record in speakers is decidedly mixed, with the low point perhaps being the ungainly lump that was the iPod Hi-Fi – a massive cuboid into which you slotted an iPod while wondering why you’d spent so much cash on something so ugly. Apple improved with the HomePod, which was merely overpriced and saddled with Siri. The HomePod Mini, though, was different: a rotund nod to the much-loved Harman/Kardon Apple Pro Speakers from the early 2000s. Quality sound, colourful mesh and a price low enough that you could scatter several around the home ensured those little orbs were far more than background noise.

49. Apple TV HD (2015)

The original Apple TV – dubbed iTV, until British broadcaster ITV started catapulting lawyers Cupertino’s way – streamed media from a local computer. A decade later, everything you wanted to watch was piped from the internet. Apple TV had already begun that shift, supporting a raft of streaming services, but the 4th-gen model nailed it. Apple’s little black box introduced tvOS and apps, along with an interface that didn’t make you wince. Faint praise, perhaps, but it bettered Apple’s rivals. It still does, even if Apple often seems to forget Apple TV exists – and took six years to make a Siri Remote everyone didn’t actively hate.

48. FaceTime (2010)

It just works. FaceTime’s simplicity is why it quickly dominated Apple devices for video chats and audio calls. It’s built into over two billion Apple devices and absurdly easy to use. Only when needing to contact someone on Android will the average Apple user stray. Speaking of, FaceTime might have ranked higher – and be more widely used – had Apple made good on its 2010 promise to turn the protocol into an open industry standard. That it didn’t is probably (read: definitely) because letting just anyone use FaceTime would remove a key reason to buy an iPhone. And, no, joining FaceTime calls in browsers doesn’t count.

47. MagSafe (2020)

The MagSafe name was first used for a MacBook Pro power connector that stopped you catapulting your pride and joy across the room if you blundered into its charging cable. Good idea. But the MagSafe this entry is about – introduced with the iPhone 12 – is even better. Based on the Qi standard, it uses magnets to snap devices and accessories into perfect alignment. For charging, that means effortlessly plonking an iPhone on a pad. But it also sparked a mini ecosystem of clever add-ons, from battery packs to tripod stands that let you watch video in a more ergonomic fashion, thereby saving your neck in more ways than one.

46. iPad Pro 12.9in – 3rd generation (2018)

For years, Apple claimed its mobile devices – especially the iPad – were ‘all screen’. They weren’t, thanks to the giant bezels required to house the Home button and front-facing speaker. In 2018, that changed. The new design looked expensive, recalling the iPhone 5’s metal edges, and made every previous iPad look archaic. Suddenly, the iPad really did become the app or game you ran on it, framed by an even black bezel with no other distractions. The operating system took almost a decade to fully unleash the platform’s full potential; even so, this iPad was pure joy to use and redefined Apple tablets forever.

45. EarPods (2012)

No, this entry isn’t AirPods’ pronounced in a weird accent. It’s about the wired earphones that arrived with the iPhone 5. Unlike their predecessors, which assumed the inside of everyone’s lugs was perfectly round, EarPods had a more organic shape that actually fit human ears. They were comfier, didn’t create an unpleasantly tight seal and funnelled sound directly into your ear canal. iPhone users also got a swanky inline remote with volume and playback controls, along with an integrated mic. iPod users? No such luck, presumably because Apple decided they hadn’t spent enough to deserve such perks.

44. iPhone 16 Pro Max (2024)

This was a great phone, with cracking cameras (not least the macro getting a bump to 48MP), thinner bezels and ludicrously blazing performance. This was also the generation before Apple decreed its flagship should have a massive camera shelf welded to its rear, come in bright orange and be cursed with Liquid Glass. So all that might have something to do with it. Anyway, number 44 it is. Chances are this one won’t make the cut if Stuff does an Apple top 60 in a decade’s time.

43. GarageBand (2004)

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There was a time when recording studios were the size of a small house and cost as much as a large one. But tech barrelled along, until everything you needed to craft a chart hit could run on a laptop. Then Apple went one better and made such software free with new Macs. GarageBand was essentially Baby Logic Pro, but that description belies its power. The app expertly balanced usability, features, sounds and virtual stomp boxes. Eventually, GarageBand reached the iPhone and suddenly that recording studio was in your pocket. At least one Stuff contributor has released an entire album made in it.

42. Find My (2019)

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Buying a small mountain of Apple gear is no use if you’re the absent-minded type who keeps mislaying it all. Cue Find My iPhone, which in 2010 combined GPS, Wi-Fi and anonymously pinging Apple’s colossal network of devices to make spotting a missing iPhone on a live map refreshingly easy – and retrieving it seem vaguely plausible . The service was initially locked behind MobileMe, but later made free for everyone. The slightly stalkery-sounding Find My Friends was eventually bolted on, creating a central hub called FindMy to help you track what matters most. Well, assuming you haven’t lost all your devices. Or all your friends.

41. iPad Pro (2015)

Apple was making a statement with this tablet, trying to shake the idea an iPad was just a pricey slab for gawping at Netflix or faffing about online. The Pro targeted creatives with its huge 12.9in canvas and then-new Apple Pencil. And the combination of large display, intuitive input and sheer Apple A9X chip grunt attracted serious users. They were less thrilled the Pro cost a serious amount of cash, mind, especially once you added spendy accessories. And grumbles grew louder when, mere months later, a 9.7in model strolled in with better cameras and a swanky True Tone screen with P3 colour support.

50–41 | 40–31 | 30–21 | 20–11 | 10–1

• Check out all our 50 years of Apple features so far