Apple's Beats brand recently rolled out two new retailer-exclusive colors through Walmart in the U.S., debuting the Solo4 headphones in Drenched Gray and the Solo Buds earphones in Ivory.


The Ivory Solo Buds have been available for about a month through exclusive retail partners in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, but availability has now expanded to Walmart in the United States, where they are priced at $69.00 and are available for delivery within just a few days.

Notably, Walmart is also the retail partner in Canada and the earbuds are still listed with pre-order status and estimated availability of mid-November there even though the listing went live and they were supposed to be available a month ago.

The Drenched Gray Solo4 headphones have also been listed through Walmart in Canada since last month, and availability recently expanded to Walmart in the United States as well. It does not appear that this color will come to retail partners in other countries, and similar to the Solo Buds, the September listing in Canada still shows a pre-order status with mid-November availability, while the U.S. is showing quick delivery times.

Walmart is currently selling the Drenched Gray Solo4 headphones for $129.00, a significant discount from the full Solo4 retail price of $199.95 and even the $149.95 pricing Walmart, Amazon, and select other retailers are currently offering on other colors.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart and Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
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Apple’s M5 MacBook Pro arrives in stores this week, and the first reviews have just arrived. Here are the highlights of everything you should know about the M5 MacBook pro.

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OpenAI today introduced ChatGPT Atlas, a dedicated AI browser that includes ChatGPT integration. OpenAI says that the browser was designed around the question "What if you could chat with your web browser?"


There is a dedicated "Ask ChatGPT" sidebar, allowing users to ask the chatbot questions directly from the browser without having to go to the ChatGPT website or app. ChatGPT will be able to do things like provide page summaries, compare products, answer questions about content on a website, edit and check code, and more, because it can see what the user is looking at. Browser memory is included for personalization purposes, and Atlas will learn more about the user over time.

For searches, the browser opens with a ChatGPT-based response, but there are quick access tabs to get to traditional search results, images, and other options. The ChatGPT sidebar is meant to stay open while browsing takes place, providing a browsing companion.

The new browser includes OpenAI's Operator AI agent that can take actions and complete web-based tasks like booking restaurant reservations, ordering groceries, creating purchase lists from online recipes, and filling out online forms. There is a "Cursor Chat" tool for editing writing inline in the browser.

All of the standard browser features are also included, like tabs, bookmarks, history, and password integration. The design is simple and familiar, featuring a standard search window like Safari or Chrome.

ChatGPT Atlas is launching on the Mac to begin with, and versions for iOS, Android, and Windows will be coming in the near future.

OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas browser will compete with Apple's Safari browser and Google's Chrome browser. Safari does not have AI integration as of yet, but Chrome does. With OpenAI, Google, and also Perplexity offering AI browsers, Apple may need to integrate Siri and other AI tools into Safari in the future to keep up with the competition.

ChatGPT Atlas is available on macOS starting today, but agent mode is only available to Plus and Pro users at the current time.
This article, "OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT Atlas' Browser to Compete with Safari and Chrome" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple’s first Vision Pro hardware update is here, and it’s more than just a spec bump. Sure, there’s an M5 chip inside, but that doesn’t tell the full story.

I’ve been using the new Vision Pro (M5) for the last six days. Here’s everything you need to know.

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Nomad today announced the launch of its latest Apple Watch accessory, the Stratos Band. Priced at $179, the Stratos Band is a titanium and FKM hybrid band that combines the benefits of titanium with the comfort of fluoroelastomer.


The band has outer links made from metal injection molded Grade 4 titanium, with compression molded FKM on the interior. The FKM is used to link the titanium pieces together, providing flexibility that's not available with traditional metal bands. The FKM material peeks through the rounded titanium links, adding visual interest, plus it offers space for ventilation to help with moisture evaporation and breathability.

Nomad's Stratos Band is available in silver or carbide (black) titanium options, with black, volt, or ultra orange FKM inside. A custom magnetic clasp keeps the band secure on the wrist, and there is an included tool and two half-sized links to adjust the length for a custom fit.

While the band is designed for the Apple Watch Ultra models, it is also compatible with all other Apple Watch models, including those dating back to the original Apple Watch.

The Stratos Band can be ordered from the Nomad website for $179 starting today.
This article, "Nomad Launches 'Stratos' Hybrid Titanium Apple Watch Band" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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I’ve been using Nomad bands for years now, and they’ve become my go to recommendation for anyone looking for a non-Apple, Apple Watch band. Nomad’s lineup has something for every situation, from sporty FKM bands to premium titanium and leather options. Personally, I always gravitate toward two styles: their Sport Band for everyday use and their Titanium Band when I want something more elevated and classy. But Nomad just blew my mind with their newest release, the Stratos Band. This band somehow combines both styles and materials into one hybrid design. Something I did not know I wanted, but now I need! Here’s what you should know.

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Apple had a big surprise in store for yesterday’s iOS 26.1 beta 4 release: there’s a new setting that lets users tone down Liquid Glass substantially systemwide. Here’s why I see this as a win overall for Apple and its users.

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Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break deals are now ready to roll starting off with an even lower price on this 11-inch M4 iPad Pro config at a giant $444 off the list price. We also still have a new all-time low on the 512GB M3 iPad Air at $280 off, as well as the best Amazon prices to date on upgraded titanium Apple Watch Series 10 model with as much as $197 in savings. From there we have a rare discount on Apple Pencil Pro at $90, and a complete rundown of Best Buy’s month-long Black Friday deals – everything else awaits below. 

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Updated with additional details, including name and Mac-only status as well as availability.

OpenAI will make a new product announcement today at 10 am PT/1 pm ET, according to a teaser on social media. As for what’s coming, the six-second clip leaves little to the imagination. It shows what appear to be browser tabs.

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Apple's newly introduced M5 chip takes Apple silicon to the next level, delivering meaningful gains across CPU, GPU, and AI workloads, but how does it compare to the M4?


Compared to the M4 chip that Apple launched in May 2024, the M5 delivers:

• Up to 15% faster multithreaded CPU performance


• Up to 30% faster overall graphics performance


• Up to 45% faster ray tracing performance


• 27.5% higher unified memory bandwidth

In addition to general performance claims, Apple published a set of specific real-world workload results showing measurable gains in AI-driven applications:

• 4×+ peak GPU compute performance for AI


• 3.6× faster time to first token (LLM)


• 1.8× faster Topaz Video Enhance AI processing


• 1.7× faster Blender ray-traced rendering


• 2.9× faster AI speech enhancement in Premiere Pro

With the M5, Apple is heavily emphasizing an AI-centric design. The company says the new GPU architecture includes a dedicated Neural Accelerator within every GPU core, and that the chip delivers more than six times the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to the M1. Apple also cites improvements to the Neural Engine, memory bandwidth, and developer-facing APIs to support on-device AI models. Other hardware changes compared to the M4 include:

M4 Chip	M5 Chip
Made with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process (N3E)	Made TSMC's third-generation ‌3nm‌ process (N3P)
No integrated Neural Accelerators	Integrated Neural Accelerator in every GPU core
Metal 3 developer APIs	Metal 4 developer APIs with Tensor APIs to program GPU Neural Accelerators
Second-generation ray tracing engine	Third-generation ray tracing engine
First-generation dynamic caching	Second-generation dynamic caching
Shader cores	Enhanced shader cores
120 GB/s unified memory bandwidth	153 GB/s unified memory bandwidth
Support for up to 2TB storage	Support for up to 4TB storage

For users whose workloads include on-device AI inference, complex 3D rendering, or other GPU-bound or memory-intensive tasks, the jump from M4 to M5 is material. The combination of per-core Neural Accelerators, higher memory bandwidth, and new GPU architecture produces multi-fold speed-ups in certain AI operations. In environments where time-to-result directly affects workflow, such as local LLMs, diffusion models, video enhancement, or ray-traced production or gaming, the M5 represents a meaningful step-change rather than a minor iteration.

By contrast, for typical day-to-day usage, browsing, office work, media playback, basic editing, and general responsiveness, the difference is unlikely to be perceptible. The M4 was already a high-performance chip that routinely exceeded the demands of normal Mac and iPad workloads, leaving little visible headroom to exploit with the M5. In non-specialist scenarios, devices equipped with the M4 remain effectively indistinguishable in experience from those running with an M5.

As a result, average users should not be dissuaded from buying or keeping an M4 machine. That being said, if you plan to keep your device for many years, M5 devices will be more future-proof and better equipped to handle increasingly popular AI-based utilities.

The M5 chip is currently available only in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the latest iPad Pro, and the Apple Vision Pro. Higher-end M5 Pro and M5 Max variants are expected to follow in future Mac models.

This article, "M4 vs. M5 Chip Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M5?" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The first reviews of the iPad Pro with the M5 chip have been shared by selected publications and YouTube channels, ahead of the device launching this Wednesday.


The new iPad Pro has up to a 15% faster CPU, and up to a 35% faster GPU, compared to the previous generation. Models with 256GB and 512GB of storage have a 9-core CPU, while 1TB and 2TB configurations have a full 10-core CPU.

The Verge's David Pierce on the M5 chip's performance improvements:

If you're coming from, say, an M1-powered iPad Pro, you'll notice the performance improvement right away. Things that used to load and buffer now just render and save almost instantly. The leap from the M4, though, will only really appear if you're moving huge amounts of video or 3D renderings through the machine. For all but the most aggressive, creative-professional workflows, the M4 was and is more than enough processor.

Here are six other upgrades beyond a faster processor:

• An increased 12GB of RAM for models with 256GB or 512GB of storage. 1TB and 2TB configurations still have 16GB of RAM.


• Apple's custom N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. However, the chip only supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the standard's 320 MHz maximum. Apple says the chip also improves the overall performance and reliability of features like AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.


• Apple's custom C1X chip for cellular configurations. With this modem, Apple says the new iPad Pro achieves up to 50% faster cellular data performance than its predecessor, and power efficiency is also improved.


• Apple says the new iPad Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD read and write speeds compared to the previous generation.


• The new iPad Pro can drive external displays at up to a 120Hz refresh rate, and Adaptive Sync is now supported, resulting in smoother scrolling and gameplay with lower latency on the external display.


• The new iPad Pro supports fast charging. Apple says up to a 50% charge can be reached in around 30 minutes for the 11-inch model, and in around 35 minutes for the 13-inch model. Apple has not shared similar figures for previous iPad Pro models, so it is unclear how much of an improvement this is.

Six Colors editor-in-chief Jason Snell said the N1 chip's Wi-Fi 7 support resulted in faster Wi-Fi speeds compared to the previous iPad Pro with Wi-Fi 6E support.

As for the C1X chip, Snell said he saw slightly slower 5G download speeds on the AT&T network in the U.S., but significantly faster upload speeds:

I did my testing across two days on AT&T's 5G network, and while speeds were all over the place, on average, the M5 iPad Pro was a little slower at download and a whole lot faster at upload. Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on your carrier and geography. It's certainly a viable chip, and that 6.8× improvement in upstream speed was especially surprising.

The results of his N1 and C1X chip tests:



MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci on support for 120Hz external displays:

I own a 27" 4K OLED monitor that refreshes at 240Hz and is G-Sync compatible, so I was keen to see if this change would be supported (a) on non-Apple displays and (b) with USB-C cables instead of Thunderbolt ones. […]

As soon as I connected the iPad Pro to my ASUS monitor, the resolution stayed at 4K, and the refresh rate was immediately bumped to 120Hz, resulting in faster and smoother animations out of the box with my existing USB4-certified cable. This is an excellent change; when I connect the M5 iPad Pro to my desk setup, I no longer have to sacrifice the quality of the iPad’s internal ProMotion display, and I can enjoy the same, smooth iPadOS animations on the ASUS monitor as well.

Viticci on fast charging:

I tested fast charging with this 160W UGreen power adapter and a 100W-certified USB4 cable, and I could indeed charge up to 50% in 30 minutes with the iPad’s display turned off on the Lock Screen.

While multiple reviews confirmed the new iPad Pro uses the latest PCIe 5.0 storage technology, we could not find any that tested SSD speeds.

Video Reviews

This article, "2025 iPad Pro Reviews: A Few Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has announced the return of one of its most beloved series: Shrinking season 3 just got an Apple TV release date and first official images.

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With Halloween just around the corner, Best Buy this week is detailing its sale plans for the holiday, as well as the rest of the year. This includes a special event on Friday, October 31, and the usual month-long discounts leading up to Black Friday on Friday, November 28.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Best Buy will kick off its holiday sales with "DoorBOOsters" on Halloween day, with additional doorbusters dropping on select tech products every Friday of the holiday season. My Best Buy Plus and Total members can expect to get up to $25 in bonus rewards on select doorbusters this season as well.



Afterwards, Best Buy's Black Friday sale will officially start on Thursday, November 20 and run through Saturday, November 29. Cyber Monday deals will then appear on Sunday, November 30 and run through Monday, December 1. There will also be a week of last-minute savings from December 15 through December 24.

Deals Available Now

Ahead of these events, there are also a few notable discounts happening at Best Buy this week, including great deals on TVs, Apple products, and more. This event is available to all customers and doesn't require a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership.

• 65-inch Samsung 4K Smart TV - $399.99 ($70 off)


• 75-inch Insignia QLED Smart Fire TV - $449.99 ($200 off)


• 75-inch Samsung 4K Smart TV - $599.99 ($100 off)


• 55-inch TCL 4K Smart TV - $699.99 ($600 off)


• 86-inch LG 4K Smart TV - $799.99 ($300 off)


• 65-inch Samsung The Frame 4K Smart TV - $1,599.99 ($200 off)

If you're shopping for the M5 iPad Pro and you're a My Best Buy Plus or Total member, you can get $50 off the new tablet at Best Buy this week. The retailer also has special trade-in offers on the M5 14-inch MacBook Pro, with Plus/Total members getting an extra 10 percent trade-in value.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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This article, "Best Buy Details Black Friday Plans With Early Deals Available on Halloween" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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If you like your HBO Max, you’ll be paying more starting today. The streaming TV service has increased prices on all three of its plans, effective immediately. This prices standard HBO Max above standard Netflix.

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Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Sponsored by Backblaze: Never lose a file again. Use code “9to5daily” at checkout for 20% off or try for free. 

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Apple’s M5 iPad Pro arrives in users’ hands tomorrow, and the first reviews have been published this morning. Here’s what reviewers are saying about Apple’s latest hardware.

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A tactic used by a growing number of scammers is to impersonate help centres in order to trick victims into sharing their screens via WhatsApp. By doing so, they can obtain sensitive information like bank account details and verification codes.

Meta says WhatsApp will now intervene when someone attempts to use screen sharing with an unknown contact during a video call. The company will also proactively flag suspicious-looking chats in Facebook Messenger …

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Just days after Apple accused Epic Games of seeking a free ride in one antitrust case, the company is continuing to engage in a war of words with the EU over another.

In a court hearing on the legality of the Digital Markets Act, Apple’s lawyer said that it “imposes hugely onerous and intrusive burdens” on the company, while the EU says the iPhone maker wants “absolute control” in order to lock-in users to achieve “supernormal profits” …

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Apple today opened its broadest legal attack yet on the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), telling the EU's second-highest court that the new competition regime unlawfully compels changes to the iPhone, the App Store, and iMessage (via Bloomberg).


Apple's arguments were delivered by before the General Court in Luxembourg. The company claims that the DMA, which came into effect in 2023, imposes obligations that are incompatible with protections of security, privacy, and property rights under EU law. Apple told the court that the law places "hugely onerous and intrusive burdens" on designated gatekeepers, which include Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, ByteDance, and Booking. Apple is the first U.S. company to mount a full-scale merits challenge to the framework after TikTok's earlier defeat.

The DMA requires big tech companies like Apple to make core services interoperable with rivals and to loosen business model restrictions, with the aim of preventing firms from leveraging dominance in one market to entrench power in another. In its filing, Apple contests three designations or decisions linked to that law.

Firstly, it challenges obligations that would require ‌iPhone‌ hardware and services to interoperate with competing devices such as earbuds or smartwatches. Apple argues that mandated interoperability with unknown or unvetted hardware classes could undermine user security safeguards, violate intellectual property protections, and diminish privacy controls that are central to iOS's security architecture.

Secondly, Apple disputes the inclusion of the ‌App Store‌ as a covered service under the DMA. EU regulators previously found that Apple's control over app distribution confers structural gatekeeper power, and in April they issued a €500 million fine for violating anti-steering provisions relating to purchases outside Apple's system. Apple is challenging both the designation and the penalty in separate cases. The company says that the ‌App Store‌ should not be treated as a single unified service for the purposes of the DMA and therefore should fall outside the statute's scope.

Thirdly, Apple challenges the Commission's move to probe whether iMessage should have been deemed a covered service. The Commission ultimately decided not to subject iMessage to full DMA obligations because the service does not directly produce revenue for Apple. Apple maintains that initiating that inquiry was itself procedurally improper.

Commission lawyer Paul-John Loewenthal argued that Apple has constructed an exclusionary position by maintaining unilateral control over the ‌iPhone‌ platform. He told judges that Apple's "absolute control" allows it to extract "supernormal profits in complimentary markets where its competitors are handicapped," adding:

Only Apple has the keys to that walled garden. It decides who gets it and who can offer their products and services to iPhone users. And through such control, Apple has locked in more than a third of European smartphone users.

Apple's latest case marks the first time the company has asked EU judges to limit the legal reach of the DMA before the law is fully implemented at scale across its ecosystem. A final ruling could determine the extent to which the EU may compel Apple to unlock technical layers of the ‌iPhone‌, restructure ‌App Store‌ rules, or subject iMessage to regulatory requirements.
This article, "Apple Hits Back at EU Law in Court" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The latest version of the Oura smart ring app provides an improved and simplified view of key health information.

I’ve argued before that Apple could learn some lessons from Oura, and I think this is even more true today – here’s why …

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Samsung officially reveals Project Moohan, its Vision Pro competitor, at its Galaxy Event later today. The company has so far allowed tech writers to try a prototype, but there is still a great deal we don’t yet know – including the official name of the device.

Our sister site 9to5Google got a chance to try the prototype in December of last year and Abner Li was impressed. MKBHD was too, saying the key difference from Vision Pro was the onboard AI capabilities …

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Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, Dan Jaenicke, Director of B2B Product Strategy for MacPaw, joins the show to talk about CleanMyMac for business, device management integration, and more.

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If you’re trying to buy a new iPhone but don’t quite want an iPhone 17, it can often be hard to find something on a tighter budget. Sure, Apple offers the iPhone 16e at $599 – but not everyone finds that to be a compelling phone. Luckily, there’s plenty of great options if you want to buy used, and I’ll be delving into five great picks for varying needs.

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Recently, Anker announced a new collaboration with Black Myth, and they’re slowly rolling out a number of limited-edition themed products around that. First of which is their 14-in-1 DL7400 desktop dock, which I’ll be going hands on with.

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