Big discounts have appeared today on Apple's M3 MacBook Air, with both Amazon and Best Buy offering up to $250 off 13-inch and 15-inch models. At Best Buy, these deals are available to all shoppers with the exception of two 15-inch models, which are only available to My Best Buy Plus/Total members.

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

Prices start at $899.00 for the M3 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB SSD, down from $1,099.00, and also include both 512GB models at both Amazon and Best Buy. If you're shopping for the bigger MacBook Air, prices start at $1,099.00 for the M3 15-inch MacBook Air with 256GB SSD, down from $1,299.00, and reach up to $250 off for both 512GB models.

M3 13-inch

• 8-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $899.00 ($200 off) [matched at Best Buy]


• 10-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,099.00 ($200 off) [matched at Best Buy]


• 10-Core GPU, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,299.00 ($200 off) [matched at Best Buy]

M3 15-inch

• 10-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD - $1,099.00 ($200 off) [matched at Best Buy]


• 10-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,249.00 ($250 off) [matched at Best Buy for members]


• 10-Core GPU, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD - $1,449.00 ($250 off) [matched at Best Buy for members]

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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Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.


A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient payment technologies available in the Walmart app, including Walmart Pay and Mobile Scan & Go.

Walmart Pay allows customers to scan a QR code displayed at checkout to pay for their purchase with a payment card stored in the Walmart app. Scan & Go allows Walmart+ members to save time by scanning barcodes on items while they shop, rather than having to scan all of the items at a self-checkout register later.

The spokesperson said the following statement still stands:

We do not accept NFC and instead have implemented convenient solutions, such as Walmart Pay, that provide our customers easy, touchless payments on any smartphone. We have also invested in innovative technologies that go beyond payments, such as Scan & Go, which allow Sam's Club and Walmart+ members to bypass the checkout altogether, providing a truly touchless shopping experience.

Apple Pay launched more than 10 years ago, and it was accepted at more than 90 percent of U.S. retailers as of 2022, according to Apple. Some other major Apple Pay holdouts in the U.S. have reversed course and started accepting it over the past few years, including The Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, and Texas grocery store chain H-E-B, leaving Walmart as one of the country's only major retailers not to accept Apple Pay.

Walmart has accepted Apple Pay in Canada since 2020.
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Apple introduced the LaserWriter 40 years ago today, forming a cornerstone of what became known as the desktop publishing revolution.


The LaserWriter was Apple's first laser printer and among the first on the market to incorporate Adobe's PostScript technology, a page description language that allowed for precise and scalable rendering of text, layouts, and graphics. It was a significant departure from the dot-matrix printers of the time.

The LaserWriter was powered by a Motorola 68000 microprocessor—the same processor used in the Macintosh. With a built-in programming language, its own RAM, and a CPU that ran at a higher speed than the Macintosh, the LaserWriter printer had the most processing power of any Apple product of the time.

With a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi), the LaserWriter delivered print quality previously achievable only with expensive professional typesetting equipment. The printer was priced at $6,995 upon its release (almost $24,000 today).

Apple's introduction of the LaserWriter coincided with the launch of the AppleTalk networking protocol, which allowed multiple Macintosh computers to share a single printer, which was unprecedented at the time and revolutionized printing in offices.

Paired with the Macintosh and software such as Aldus PageMaker, the printer enabled users to design and print professional-quality materials, such as brochures, newsletters, and advertisements, directly from their desktops. This effectively democratized publishing by making tools that were once exclusive to large printing firms accessible to small businesses, educators, and independent creators.

Apple evolved the LaserWriter product line into a range of models, including the high-performance LaserWriter Pro series and the more affordable Personal LaserWriter. As competitors like HP and Canon introduced more cost-effective laser printers with comparable features, and third-party printers became increasingly compatible with Apple systems, the LaserWriter lost its competitive edge. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, peripheral products like printers were deemed non-essential and the LaserWriter was discontinued.
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iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.


Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.

Notification Summary Changes

Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news apps are temporarily unavailable on iOS 18.3, after the feature inaccurately summarized some news stories.

Starting with iOS 18.3, notifications that have been summarized have italicized text, which makes them stand out visually compared to regular notifications. Apple also promised that improvements to notification summaries are coming in a future iOS update.

Last, iOS 18.3 lets you easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen.

Visual Intelligence Upgrades

All four iPhone 16 models are equipped with a Camera Control button that enables Visual Intelligence, a new feature that can provide information about items or places in a person's surroundings. For example, Apple says users can click and hold the Camera Control to bring up the hours or ratings for a restaurant that they pass by.

iOS 18.3 includes a few Visual Intelligence upgrades for all iPhone 16 models. First, you can now add an event to the Calendar app from a poster or flyer. Second, Visual Intelligence can now identify animals and plants.

Visual Intelligence is not available on any other iPhone models.

Calculator App Enhancement

iOS 18.3 reintroduces a small but useful Calculator app function that had been removed in an earlier software update. Now, when you tap the equals sign a second time, the Calculator app repeats the last mathematical operation. This functionality is useful for calculating compound interest or other repeat operations.

Black Unity (Possibly)

In the tvOS 18.3 Release Candidate for the Apple TV, MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris uncovered a "UNITY25" reference in the update's code. In each of the past four years, Apple announced a Black Unity campaign, and this has typically included a new Apple Watch band, watch face, and a matching iPhone wallpaper.

It is unclear what Apple may be planning for Black Unity in 2025. While the tvOS 18.3 code suggests something might be coming, the iOS 18.3 Release Candidate notes did not mention anything. An announcement is likely by next week, if one is made.

More

iOS 18.3 fixes these two bugs related to Siri and Apple Music:

• Fixes an issue where the keyboard might disappear when initiating a typed Siri request


• Resolves an issue where audio playback continues until the song ends even after closing Apple Music

Apple also added references to robot vacuum support in the Home app to iOS 18.3's code, but it seems this functionality never went live. Apple's website says the feature is coming in a future update, so perhaps we will see it with iOS 18.4.

We previously shared Apple's full iOS 18.3 release notes.
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UK regulators on Thursday launched an investigation into Apple and Google's smartphone ecosystems to assess whether they have "strategic market status" (SMS), a designation that if imposed would subject the companies to specific conduct requirements set by the Competition and Markets authority (CMA) to improve competition.


The investigation will look at the companies' operating systems, app stores and browsers that operate on mobile devices, and the impact they have on users and on businesses developing content and services such as apps for iOS and Android devices. According to the CMA's press release, the issues that will form part of the CMA's investigations include:

• The extent of competition between and within Apple's and Google's mobile ecosystems. The CMA will assess how competition is working across Apple's and Google's mobile ecosystems and what barriers may be preventing other competitors from offering rival products and services on Apple's and Google's platforms.


• Possible leveraging of Apple's and Google's market power into other activities. This will include investigating whether Apple or Google are using their position in operating systems, app distribution or browsers to favour their own apps and services, which often come pre-installed and prominently placed on iOS and Android devices.


• Potential exploitative conduct. This will include investigating whether Apple or Google are requiring app developers to sign up to unfair terms and conditions as a condition of distributing their apps on Apple's and Google's app stores; and whether users may be presented with 'choice architecture' which makes it difficult to make active choices about which apps they are using on mobile devices.

If deemed to have SMS designation, the potential conduct requirements the companies would have to comply with could include, for example, requiring Apple or Google to open up access to key functionality needed by other apps to operate on mobile devices, or making it possible for users to download apps and pay for in-app content more easily outside of Apple's and Google's own app stores.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said:

"The operating systems, apps and browsers installed on our phones and tablet devices act as our gateway into the digital world – whether that is communicating with our friends and loved ones, buying from businesses or accessing creative content.

"More competitive mobile ecosystems could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services that millions of people use, be they app stores, browsers or operating systems. Better competition could also boost growth here in the UK, with businesses able to offer new and innovative types of products and services on Apple's and Google's platforms."

This is the second announced SMS investigation in as many weeks, the first of which is looking into Google Search's approximately 90% market share. The CMA said at the time that a second one would be coming this month, and now we have it. The CMA can impose significant fines for non-compliance, including up to 1% of a firm's annual worldwide turnover, with additional penalties for continued noncompliance. Individuals in senior management positions may also face fines or disqualification from serving as directors.

The probe will take no more than nine months, and the statutory deadline for both investigations is October 22, 2025. The investigations are separate to the CMA's ongoing market investigation into mobile browser and cloud gaming restrictions put in place by both Apple and Google.
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Apple and other smartphone makers are being pressed by India to pre-install government-developed apps on devices before sale, echoing a similar 2021 demand from Russia that Apple ultimately complied with.


The request came during a meeting last month where government officials outlined plans for expanding access to state digital services, according to Bloomberg.

The initiative would require manufacturers to include the government's GOV.in app store and related apps on smartphones sold in India. When Apple faced similar requirements in Russia, the company agreed to show users a prompt during device setup to install government-approved apps.

The move was a rare exception to Apple's strict control over pre-installed software, coming some years before a barrage of regulatory demands from the likes of the EU that have since forced Apple to open up its platforms.

Both Apple and Google are showing resistance to India's proposal, according to sources familiar with the matter cited by the media outlet. Google, whose Android operating system powers more than 90% of India's roughly 700 million smartphones, is actively pushing back against the initiative.

During the discussions, government officials explored implementing policy mandates or legal measures to ensure compliance. Beyond pre-installation, they also requested that their apps be available for download outside the company's app stores from third-party sources without triggering "untrusted source" warnings.

The push comes as India seeks greater regulatory control over global tech companies. The situation is particularly complex given India's growing importance to both companies. Apple has significantly expanded iPhone production in India, which now accounts for more than 14% of global output, while Google has plans for major investments in smartphone assembly in the country.
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Apple launched the original Mac mini 20 years ago today, kickstarting a trend of small but powerful computers.


The ‌Mac mini‌ was originally designed as a gateway for users to enter the Apple ecosystem without the expense associated with the company's higher-end offerings of the time, such as the Power Mac G5 and iMac G5, and costly peripherals. Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs described the ‌Mac mini‌ as "the most affordable Mac ever" during its unveiling at Macworld Expo 2005, noting that its $499 starting price was intended to appeal to PC users looking to switch to the Mac platform. Today's base model ‌Mac mini‌ with the M4 chip costs just $599.

The original ‌Mac mini‌ featured a PowerPC G4 processor available in 1.25 GHz and 1.42 GHz configurations, an ATI Radeon 9200 GPU, 256MB of DDR SDRAM (expandable to 1GB), and 40GB or 80GB of HDD storage. Connectivity included two USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400 port, and DVI output. It shipped with Mac OS X Panther and iLife '05. The ‌Mac mini‌'s aluminum and polycarbonate casing measured just 6.5 x 6.5 x 2 inches—far smaller than the bulky tower PCs and even many contemporary Macs of the time.

Today's ‌Mac mini‌ has evolved considerably from the model introduced in 2005, featuring an even smaller casing, recycled aluminum, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, and Apple's custom silicon for a massive leap in performance and efficiency. While the first-generation ‌Mac mini‌ was powered by the PowerPC architecture, Apple transitioned to Intel processors in 2006 and its own custom silicon in 2020. Today's high-end version can be equipped with the M4 Pro chip and up to 64GB of memory, offering a super-compact workstation that rivals even the Mac Studio.
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At its Unpacked event, Samsung showed off its upcoming "Project Moohan" AR/VR headset, which is designed to compete with the Vision Pro. Some users might even mistake the headset for a Vision Pro, given the design similarities.


Samsung is developing the headset in collaboration with Google, and it will run Google's Android XR operating system. Google introduced Android XR late last year. Android XR and Samsung's headset will support being immersed in a virtual environment or staying present in the real world, similar to how Apple allows ‌Apple Vision Pro‌ users to adjust the Vision Pro immersion level by activating or shutting out the real world passthrough view provided by cameras.


The headset from Samsung will support Google features like Gemini, Google's AI assistant, providing access to device controls and insight into what the wearer is seeing. Samsung has described Project Moohan as "lightweight" and "ergonomically optimized" for "maximum comfort," but no details on weight are available yet.

Project Moohan will be the first headset designed for Android XR, and it is set to launch later in 2025.
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When unveiling the new Galaxy S25 lineup today, Samsung did a "one more thing" announcement, introducing an additional Galaxy smartphone that's set to come out later this year. The Galaxy S25 Edge appears to be aimed at the iPhone 17 Air, a rumored ultra thin iPhone that's set to debut this September.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge will be thinner than the S25 pictured here

Samsung only teased the Galaxy S25 Edge, but the device is set to launch in the first half of 2025. With a debut date before September, Samsung will beat Apple and will be able to launch a super thin smartphone first.

The Samsung Galaxy Edge is on the right in this comparison photo

Little information is available on the Galaxy S25 Edge, but it appears to be a thinner variation of the Galaxy S25. Samsung plans to price it below the $1300 S25 Ultra, suggesting it will be a middle-tier device with lower specs due to thinness, which is exactly what we're expecting from the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air.


Rumors suggest that Apple's upcoming super thin ‌iPhone‌ will have a 6.6-inch display and a chassis that's somewhere between 5.5mm and 6mm, making it the thinnest ‌iPhone‌ to date. It will have lower battery capacity and a single-lens rear camera due to space constraints, but it will mark Apple's first major ‌iPhone‌ redesign in several years.
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The fourth-generation iPhone SE will be equipped with a chip that has an identifier of T8140, according to a private account on social media platform X. That identifier is used by both the A18 and A18 Pro chips, and given the iPhone SE is a lower-end device, it is very likely that the device will be equipped with the A18 chip out of those two options.


The account also said the next iPad Air models will have an M3 chip, and that the iPad 11 will have an A16 chip instead of the previously-rumored A17 Pro chip.

The account has a good track record of sharing iOS-related information, but it has had some occasional misses. We continue to respect the account owner's request to not link to its posts, as they wish to remain anonymous and maintain a low profile.

Back in October, 9to5Mac independently reported that the next iPhone SE would be equipped with an A18 chip, so there are now multiple sources claiming this.

Apple will likely announce the new iPhone SE by March or April. Rumored features for the device include a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, a USB-C port, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, and the first Apple-designed 5G modem. With the A18 chip, and a rumored 8GB of RAM, the device is also expected to support Apple Intelligence.

The current iPhone SE looks similar to the iPhone 8, with outdated features such as a Touch ID button, Lightning port, and thick bezels around the display. The current iPhone SE has an A15 Bionic chip, so the A18 would be a significant upgrade. Pricing starts at $429, but at least a slight price increase seems probable for the next model.
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Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the iPad 11 will support Apple Intelligence, but a new leak has added uncertainty to the rumor.


According to a private account on social media platform X, with a good track record of sharing iOS-related information, the iPad 11 will be equipped with a chip that has the identifier T8120. That identifier corresponds with the A16 chip, which does not support the Apple Intelligence suite of artificial intelligence features. Existing devices with the A16 chip include the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus.

We continue to respect the account owner's request to not link to its posts, as they wish to remain anonymous and maintain a low profile.

Gurman said to look for the iPad 11 to have the A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM, which are currently the minimum iPad specs for Apple Intelligence. The latest iPad mini also has the A17 Pro and 8GB of RAM. However, if the anonymous account is correct, the next entry-level iPad will actually use the A16 chip, which has 6GB of RAM. That means either no Apple Intelligence, or Apple curiously lowers the minimum iPad specs for it.

We don't know who is right here: Gurman, or the anonymous account. Both sources have good track records with Apple rumors, with the occasional miss.

Or, could both sources be right? We are purely speculating, but Apple could end up offering multiple iPad 11 configurations and price points.

Apple will likely announce the iPad 11 by March or April, and no major changes are expected for the device beyond the improved specs. According to Gurman, Apple is also planning to release an updated Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad 11.
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Samsung today announced the launch of its new Galaxy S25 smartphone lineup, debuting the Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25+, and its top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra. The new devices will directly compete with Apple's iPhone 16 lineup, and unsurprisingly, AI is a major focus.

Design

Samsung hasn't made major changes to the look of its Galaxy S25 devices, but the S25 Ultra has rounded edges for a more comfortable grip, and Samsung says that it is the slimmest, lightest, and most durable Ultra device to date. It continues to have a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Galaxy S25+ offers a 6.7-inch display and the Galaxy S25 offers a 6.2-inch display.


The smartphone has a titanium shell and Corning's Gorilla Armor 2 for the front display, which Samsung says is more durable than glass. Gorilla Armor 2 is like Apple's Ceramic Shield, and it is made from a glass-ceramic material that is meant to improve drop protection and cut down on scratches.

Updated Galaxy Chip

All three of the new smartphones are equipped with a customized Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that is built on a 3-nanometer process. There is a 37 percent improvement in CPU performance, a 30 percent improvement in GPU performance, and a 40 percent improvement in neural processing and image processing compared to the S24 lineup. Samsung says that the new chip makes it possible to process more AI experiences on-device, mirroring one of Apple's key artificial intelligence aims.

Samsung added a Vulkan Engine for improved ray tracing to compete with Apple devices on the mobile gaming front, and there is a 40 percent larger vapor chamber along with thermal improvements for better heat dissipation.

Camera Technology

There is a new 50-megapixel ultra wide lens for the S25 Ultra, which joins the 200-megapixel wide lens and the 50-megapixel 5x telephoto lens with 100x space zoom and 10x AI-powered "optical quality" zoom. The upgraded ultra wide lens is an S25 Ultra exclusive, and it makes a big improvement to macro shots.

10-bit HDR recording is a default option, which provides "four times richer color expression" for better detail in any lighting condition. Samsung says that the S25 devices are able to analyze movement and time to better reduce noise, providing clearer low-light videos.

Samsung mimicked an ‌iPhone 16‌ audio feature, adding Audio Eraser for video. Audio Eraser isolates categories of sounds like voices, music, wind, nature, and crowds to tone down or eliminate excess noise. Apple did something similar with Audio Mix for improving the sound captured in videos.

Samsung updated its built-in Filters feature to include new analog filters with a film-like aesthetic for photos and videos, which is akin to Apple's Photographic Styles feature for the ‌iPhone 16‌ models.

There is a new Virtual Aperture option for controlling depth-of-field, and Galaxy Log recording is available for precise color grading for professional video production.

AI Improvements

According to Samsung, the S25 series includes a "true AI companion" that understands the context of user needs and provides personalized AI experiences. Here are the new AI features:

• Personal Data Engine - Uses on-device learning to provide "highly tailored experiences" such as the Now Brief.


• Now Brief - There is a Dynamic Island-like "Now Bar" on the that contains a "Now Brief" that guides users through their day.


• Circle to Search - This existing AI option now supports phone numbers, email, and URLs. You can call, email, or visit a website with a tap.


• Quick GIFs - Circle to Search works in all kinds of new ways. If you circle a video in the YouTube app, for example, you can create a wallpaper or a GIF, adding the number of frames from the video that you want.


• Quicker Photo Editing - Samsung's generative editing features provide suggestions on what to remove from a photo, and the actual removal is an improvement over what's available on the iPhone.


• Actionable searches - The S25 supports interactive search with context-aware suggestions for next steps. When you highlight anything with an Circle to Search, you can get suggested actions.


• Natural language - Samsung says that the S25 series supports a "breakthrough in natural language understanding." Users can ask for things like a specific photo in the gallery, to adjust settings, and more.


• Third-party integration - Gemini, which can be activated by pressing the side button, can perform actions between Samsung apps, Google apps, and third-party apps like Spotify.


• Multi-step commands - Gemini and Galaxy AI work together to complete multiple tasks with a single command. For example, you can ask the S25 to find the next few games for your favorite sports team, and add them to your calendar while also sending a link to a contact.


• Portrait Studio - The Portrait Studio for the camera has been improved for creating personalized avatars that have more true-to-life facial expressions.

One of the main new features is the Now Brief, which can be found in the Now Bar. The Now Bar looks a lot like the ‌iPhone‌'s Dynamic Island, and it displays information from select apps throughout the day. In the morning, it displays a morning brief with sleep scores, top news headlines, weather, and more.


Later in the day, it can provide live sports scores, info from Google Maps, timers, and more. It's also interactive, like the ‌Dynamic Island‌.

Pricing and How to Buy

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is priced starting at $1,300 for 256GB of storage. The S25+ is more affordable at $1,000, and the S25 is priced to compete with the ‌iPhone 16‌ at $800. Samsung also has a new "Galaxy Club" early upgrade program that costs $8.33 per month and eligibility to get a new smartphone every 12 months.

Pre-orders are available for the Galaxy S25 smartphones starting today, with customers able to make a purchase from the Samsung website. Buyers who reserved a device already can apply a $50 discount, and Samsung is offering up to $1,250 in credit for an eligible trade-in plus 15 percent off Samsung Care+, a program that provides $0 screen repairs.

Note that pre-ordering the Galaxy S25 smartphones from the Samsung website offers customers the chance to get exclusive colors. The Samsung-only colors include Titanium Pinkgold, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Jadegreen for Ultra models, and Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold for the S25 and 25+.

The Galaxy S25 smartphones will see an official launch on February 7.
This article, "Samsung Launches Galaxy S25 Smartphones With New AI Features" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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New information has surfaced that indicates the rumored iPhone SE 4, iPad 11, and new iPad Air models are nearing launch.


A private account on social media platform X today revealed that iOS 18.3 or iPadOS 18.3 will be preinstalled on all of those upcoming devices when they are released. It is still unclear exactly when the devices will launch, but this information suggests that Apple will announce them by March or April, before the release of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4.

The account, which has a proven track record for iOS information, leaked the build numbers for these iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 versions. We continue to respect the account owner's request to not link to the account in our coverage of its posts.

The leaked builds:

• iOS 18.3 for iPhone SE (4th generation) (22D8062)


• iPadOS 18.3 for iPad 11 and iPad Air (2025) (22D2060)


• iPadOS 18.3 for iPad 11 and iPad Air (2025) (22D2062)

The final iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 betas were seeded this week, and the software updates are expected to be released next week for existing iPhone and iPad models.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M4 chip will be announced earlier than those other devices, so the new MacBook Air models could end up being Apple's first product announcement of 2025.

The new iPhone SE is said to have a similar design as the base iPhone 14 or iPhone 16. Rumored features for the device include a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, a USB-C port, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, a newer A-series chip and an increased 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, and the first Apple-designed 5G modem.

The entry-level iPad 11 is rumored to be equipped with the A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM, enabling support for Apple Intelligence features.

There have been conflicting rumors about whether the next iPad Air models will be equipped with the M3 chip, or the same M4 chip as the latest iPad Pro models. A recent leak pointed towards the device having an M3 chip.

There are also new Magic Keyboards expected for the iPad 11 and iPad Air.
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In November, Plex unveiled a redesigned iPhone app with improved navigation, larger artwork, a dedicated section for media libraries, and more. The redesigned app is still in beta, and as of today it can also be tested on the Apple TV.


Apple TV users can download TestFlight from the App Store, and then install the Plex beta. Step-by-step instructions are available on Plex's website.

Plex shared some screenshots of the redesigned Apple TV app, as seen below.


Plex previously said the redesigned app would be available in early 2025, following beta testing, but it has yet to provide a more specific timeframe.

Plex is a popular video player that lets you stream your own media library on a variety of devices, and it also offers ad-supported TV shows and movies.
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Amazon today has up to $175 off a collection of Apple's M4 iMac computers, and it's matching a few all-time low prices on the higher-end models. The cheapest M4 iMac available is the 8-core/16GB RAM/256GB 24-inch iMac at $1,194.00, down from $1,299.00.

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

You'll also find the 512GB models on sale, and each configuration has multiple colors available at these discounts. For the steepest markdown, Amazon has the 10-core/24GB RAM/512GB 24-inch iMac for $1,724.00 in two colors, down from $1,899.00.

• 8-core/16GB RAM/256GB - $1,194.00, down from $1,299.00


• 10-core/16GB RAM/256GB - $1,349.00, down from $1,499.00


• 10-core/16GB RAM/512GB - $1,549.00, down from $1,699.00


• 10-core/24GB RAM/512GB - $1,724.00, down from $1,899.00

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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Apple's iconic "1984" commercial, which introduced the Macintosh computer to the world, aired 41 years ago today during Super Bowl XVIII.


Directed by Ridley Scott, the advertisement was designed to highlight the Macintosh as a groundbreaking computer that offers freedom and individuality in a market dominated by corporate conformity. It drew inspiration from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, with Apple positioning itself as a liberator from the homogenized control represented by the fictional "Big Brother," a veiled allegory for IBM.

The ad concludes with the voiceover stating, "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'"



Despite its eventual acclaim, the commercial faced skepticism within Apple. The board of directors expressed concerns about its unconventional approach, and John Sculley, Apple's CEO at the time, even attempted to sell the purchased Super Bowl ad slots.

While the commercial aired nationally only once, the Macintosh reportedly achieved $3.5 million in sales within months of its launch.
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Apple today previewed its all-new retail store at the Miami Worldcenter complex. The store opens this Friday, January 24 at 10 a.m. local time.


Apple says the store was designed with the environment in mind, and to connect customers with the natural world. The store's rooftop is outfitted with a green space that seamlessly blends with the surrounding palm trees and shrubs.

"Apple Miami Worldcenter also features a biophilic design that helps connect customers to the beautiful green spaces surrounding the store," says Apple. "Upon entry, customers and the local community are welcomed by the grounds blooming with plants and flora inspired by the multicultural Latin American influence of Miami."


The use of regionally-sourced materials helped to reduce the carbon footprint of the store's construction, according to Apple.

The store features a combined Genius Bar and Apple Pickup area for technical support and collection of online orders in one place.


There is also an Apple Vision Pro demo area.

For accessibility, the store offers varied table and seating heights, wheelchair-friendly spaces, and a portable hearing loop for use with hearing aids.

Visitors can participate in free Today at Apple creative sessions, including special ones that highlight the store's environment-focused design.
This article, "Apple Previews New Store in Miami With a Unique Feature on the Roof" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Meta has announced that it's now possible to add WhatsApp to Accounts Center, the company's hub for managing how user information is used across its platforms.


The integration means that users can now adjust their settings from one place and share their status updates across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Meta says the option to link WhatsApp to Accounts Center is completely optional and disabled by default, and that WhatsApp messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted regardless of whether users choose to add the app or not. From the company's news blog:

Our approach for WhatsApp is simple: your account is separate from other apps and no one but you can change that. While adding your WhatsApp to Accounts Center is completely optional and off by default, it can help those who want features to work more seamlessly across apps. For example it’ll be easier to reshare updates from your WhatsApp Status to Facebook or Instagram Stories and show your friends what’s happening in your life without having to post multiple times. You’ll also be able to log back in to your WhatsApp account with a single sign-on, so you can get back into your accounts faster and with fewer steps.

The WhatsApp integration into Accounts Center is being rolled out globally over the next few months. Once available, users will find the option in their WhatsApp settings or when cross-posting content across Meta's platforms, such as re-sharing a Status to one of its other apps.
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Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed support for Elon Musk potentially acquiring TikTok, and also proposed a joint ownership structure with the U.S. government.


"I would be, if he wanted to buy it, yes," Trump told reporters at a White House event announcing a new AI infrastructure private sector partnership, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son were in attendance. The comments came just days after TikTok briefly went offline in the United States following Supreme Court action.

The social media platform, which boasts 170 million American users, temporarily shut down for about 12 hours on Saturday after the Supreme Court upheld legislation requiring Chinese company ByteDance to divest its US TikTok operations. Trump subsequently issued an executive order providing a 75-day pause on the ban's enforcement.

During the White House event, where Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison was also present, Trump floated the idea of a 50-50 ownership split between any acquiring company and the US government. "They'll have something that's actually more valuable because they have the ultimate partner," Trump explained.

Trump specifically mentioned both Musk and Ellison as potential buyers during the event. Oracle already plays a significant role in TikTok's operations, hosting most of the platform's servers.

Trump originally supported banning the short-form video app over national security concerns, but his thinking has U-turned since winning the US presidential election for a second time. "We won the young vote. I think I won it through TikTok," Trump told reporters. "So I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok."
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Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers.


Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update.

iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ Apps ➝ Phone, and selecting Call Blocking & Identification. Here, users should enable all Truecaller switches and open the Truecaller app again.

Truecaller told TechCrunch it built a new server architecture to enable the new feature, and created a separate, encrypted database for iOS, alongside its existing larger database for Android users:

Apple's Phone app makes encrypted requests to this database and gets encrypted responses that are only decrypted on the client (iPhone) to show the caller ID in real time. This process is called "homomorphic encryption," as the computations use encrypted data instead of decrypting them first, while decryption happens on the client to display caller information if it matches with the data stored on the server.

Truecaller has around 750,000 iPhone-using subscribers out of around 2.6 million subscribers in total, where the majority are Android users. However, 40% of Truecaller’s revenue is from iOS subscriptions, thanks to a 5x conversation rate to its premium tier on iOS compared to Android, and 80% higher revenue from iPhone subscribers.

In addition to the new feature support, Truecaller has updated its interface, with the caller's name appearing in bold over their number. The latest version also includes automatic blocking of spam calls, while other improvements include the ability to search for previously identified calls, going as far back as 2,000 previous numbers in the Recents list in the Phone app.

Prior to iOS 18, Truecaller had to rely on a locally saved dictionary of limited phone numbers on iOS. The Android app has offered real-time caller information for some time, so the latest iOS update is bringing feature parity across platforms. Truecaller says it is now working on support for images to show up in the caller ID for its iOS users.

Truecaller's premium tier for iOS users starts at $9.99 a month per person, or $74.99/year. The company also has a family plan on iOS starting at $14.99/month or $99.99/year and the highest tier Gold subscription at $249 a year.
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Apple is closing in on an investment plan deal with Indonesian authorities that would allow it to resume iPhone 16 sales in the country, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.


Indonesia banned sales of the device in October, claiming Apple had failed to comply with local manufacturing requirements of 35% domestic content for smartphones and tablets. Apple has offered a $1 billion investment in the country that includes building an AirTag factory. The offer is a significant increase from its previous offers of $10 million and $100 million, which were rejected by the government.

“I strongly believe it will resolve very, very soon,” the country's investment minister Rosan Roeslani said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos on Tuesday. "Hopefully within one or two weeks this issue can be resolved."

"The way they calculate it is different I think," he said, referring to the local content requirement. "Now they find a solution on that one, so hopefully they accept the discrepancies so we can have the iPhone 16 sold in Indonesia."

Indonesia represents a significant market for Apple, with the country's population of 280 million operating some 354 million active mobile phones. The company has maintained developer academies there since 2018, but the country currently hosts no Apple manufacturing facilities.
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Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.


The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all devices that support Apple Intelligence, and there are also bug fixes for Siri and Apple Music.

Visual intelligence with Camera Control (All iPhone 16 models)
- Add an event to Calendar from a poster or flyer
- Easily identify plants and animals

Notification summaries (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen
- Updated style for summarized notifications better distinguishes them from other notifications by using italicized text as well as the glyph
- Notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps are temporarily unavailable, and users who opt-in will see them again when the feature becomes available

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes: - Calculator repeats the last mathematical operation when you tap the equals sign again
- Fixes an issue where the keyboard might disappear when initiating a typed Siri request
- Resolves an issue where audio playback continues until the song ends even after closing Apple Music

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/100100

The release candidate version of iOS 18.3 represents the final version of the software that will be released to the public in the near future should no additional bugs be found;

We are expecting iOS 18.3 to see a launch alongside iPadOS 18.3, macOS Sequoia 15.3, tvOS 18.3, visionOS 2.3, and watchOS 11.3 next week.
This article, "Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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With iOS 18.3, Apple made a small but meaningful change to the way the Calculator app works, reintroducing repeating operations. When you tap the equals sign twice, the app will now repeat the last mathematical operation.


So, for example, if you type in 5x5 and tap the equals sign, you'll get 25 as a result. If you hit the equals sign again, it will multiply 25x5, and will continue multiplying by 5 every time you tap the equals symbol.

Repeating operations were an option in the Calculator app prior to iOS 18, but ‌iOS 18‌ removed the functionality. Users who have missed the feature will get it back after updating to iOS 18.3. Being able to repeat operations is useful for calculating compound interest.

Note that this feature has also been missing in macOS 15, but the macOS 15.3 update reinstates it.
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Netflix is raising its prices for all plans in several countries, including the United States, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina. The cheapest Standard with ads plan will be $1 more expensive in the U.S., going from $6.99 to $7.99 per month.


The Standard plan's price will increase from $15.49 to $17.99 per month, and the Premium plan will now cost $24.99 per month, up from $22.99 per month. The Standard plan offers 1080p HD video, and the Premium plan is the only plan that supports 4K streaming.

Netflix last increased prices in October 2023, and this is the first price increase the ad-supported plan has seen since its late 2022 launch.

The price hikes were announced during Netflix's Q4 2024 earnings results [PDF], which saw the company report 19 million new subscribers, a quarterly record, and 16 percent revenue growth. Netflix now has over 300 million paying subscribers worldwide, and the company forecasts continued growth in 2025.

On the price increase, Netflix said the following: "As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix."
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