Apple's "Focus" feature is a powerful tool for cutting down on distractions and interruptions on a per-task basis, but setting up different Focus options takes some time investment and tinkering because there are a lot of features available. We've rounded up a handful of suggestions that may help you get more out of Focus.

Managing Focus Modes

You'll find the Focus section in the Settings app. Apple has some pre-made Focus options, but you can create custom modes by tapping on the "+" button in the upper right corner. Custom Focus modes are a blank slate, so you can choose your own name, icon, and capabilities.


We'll go through some of the useful options below, but it is worth tapping through each section to see which functions will work best for your needs.

Silence or Unsilence Specific People

If you're at work and want to silence personal text messages and calls to cut down on distractions, or if you're at home and want to shut out work messages, the best way to do so is to use the people muting feature.

There are two options. You can silence notifications from a list of people that you select, allowing all others, or you can allow notifications from everyone except for the people that you pick.

With either option, you have to add people one by one, and there's no intelligent grouping option that will do it for you. It can take some time, depending on what you want to set up. It's best to choose the option that has the least amount of tapping, so if you're at work, you may want to select colleagues, important family members, and your boss, while turning off notifications from everyone else.

At home, it might make sense to allow all of your notifications to come through except for people from work.

When you "silence" a person with Focus, you still receive the text message, it's just tucked away in a specific section on your Lock Screen and you don't get an audible or haptic ping when the notification comes in.

Select Apps

Similar to silencing people, you can silence or allow notifications from apps for specific Focus modes. You have the same options as you do with people, and Apple will suggest some of your most used apps.

Given that most of us have a whole ton of apps installed, it's almost always best to use the "Allow Notifications From" feature to choose apps that you want to hear from, but there are exceptions. For a home-based Focus mode, if you have a few apps like Mail and Slack that are noisy, you can mute just those while allowing all other apps.

Carefully choosing the apps that can ping you in each Focus mode is one of the best ways to manage distractions.

Apple's pre-configured Do Not Disturb mode silences all apps and people by default if you just want to turn off everything with no hassle.

Using Reduce Interruptions

If you have a device that supports Apple Intelligence, you can turn on a pre-configured "Reduce Interruptions" Focus. It blocks all notifications except for those that ‌Apple Intelligence‌ determines are "priority notifications."

Reduce Interruptions can be customized to expressly allow or silence specific apps and people, and using this feature will override AI-based sorting for those selections. Reduce Interruptions can be a good compromise between all notifications on and Do Not Disturb.

Intelligent Breakthrough and Silencing

The main feature in Reduce Interruptions, Intelligent Breakthrough and Silencing, can actually be applied to any of your custom Focus modes.

Limit App Access with Custom Home Screens

It takes a few extra steps, but Focus modes can be set up to only show you specific apps. Under the Customize Screens option, you can choose a Home Screen page to show when a Focus mode is active.

If you want to only see work apps while at work, you can set up a page with your work apps and then choose that as your main screen for the Focus mode. You can select all of the apps that you want to see, and others will be hidden from view while the Focus is active. Note that the dock stays available regardless with your selected apps, and you can also edit your custom ‌Home Screen‌ later while the Focus is on if you need to make tweaks.

While in a Focus mode, you can still open other apps by swiping over to the App Library, but by default, distractions are hidden from view.

This can be a good way to shut out distracting games and social media apps at certain times of the day as an alternative to Screen Time.

Add Focus Filters

With Focus Filters, you can really drill down into what's available in each of your Focus modes. If you have a work email inbox and a personal email inbox in Mail, you can use filters to block out your personal inbox when you're at work, or your work inbox when you're at home.

There are filters for apps where you might want to split out different accounts, like Safari, Calendar, and Messages. You can filter for specific conversations in Messages, a specific Calendar, or a Tab Group. There are filters for third-party apps, too.

Focus Modes can be linked to system settings that include Always On Display, Dark Mode, Low Power Mode, and Silent Mode, so you can do things like set up a work focus that always activates Silent Mode, or set up a Focus that blocks out all notifications and turns on Low Power Mode.

Scheduling

All Focus modes can be set to activate automatically, so that once you configure them, you don't need to manually turn them on and off. You can activate Focus modes by time of day, your location, or when an app is opened up.

If you want your Work focus on from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., that's an option, but you could also set it up to turn on when you arrive at a specific location or when you open up an app like Slack.

When manually activating a Focus from Control Center, you can select options that will turn it on for an hour, until the evening (or morning), or until you leave a specific location.

Special Focus Modes

Apple has several pre-configured Focus modes that you can't replicate with custom modes because there are unique activation features included.

Sleep

The Sleep Focus is a unique one, because it is tied to Apple Watch sleep tracking. The schedule that you set up for the Sleep Focus determines when your watch tracks your sleep, when your alarm goes off in the morning, and when you get a "Wind Down" notification to prepare for bed.

This is a Focus that's set up when you enable sleep tracking features and set a schedule, but you can edit it like any other Focus to select people and apps that can deliver breakthrough notifications.

Driving

The Driving Focus blocks out all communications by default, and it activates automatically when driving is detected, when your iPhone connects to your car's Bluetooth, or when CarPlay is activated. It can also be set up to turn on manually, and it can be configured to allow notifications from specific people, but not from apps.

Fitness

The Fitness Focus can be set up to activate automatically when a Workout is started on the Apple Watch.

Mindfulness

The Mindfulness Focus turns on when you start a Mindfulness session on the Apple Watch.

Gaming

The Gaming Focus activates when you connect a Bluetooth-based gaming controller to your ‌iPhone‌ or another device.

Reading and Work

The pre-configured Reading and Work Focus modes have a feature called "Smart Activation" that allows them to turn on at specific times of the day based on your location and app usage.

Both of these modes have no apps or people set up to allow by default, so they still need to be further configured or they will work like Do Not Disturb, shutting out everything. These Focus modes can activate based on your location, so if you're at work, you can get the Work Focus to come on automatically when you arrive and turn off when you leave.

Alternatively, you can have these modes activate when you open a specific app, like Books.

Unlink Devices

By default, Focuses are shared across all devices where you are signed in to your Apple Account. If you turn on Do Not Disturb on your ‌iPhone‌, for example, you are also turning it on for your Mac and your Apple Watch.

If you simply want to silence Focus modes on a single device like your ‌iPhone‌ and not your Mac, you need to turn off the Share Across Devices toggle when setting up the Focus.

Unlink iPhone and Apple Watch

On Apple Watch, if you don't want it to mirror your ‌iPhone‌ Focus mode, you can go to General > Focus > and toggle off "Mirror my ‌iPhone‌."

Conclusion

Focus can save you a lot of hassle in the long run, but only if you take the time to set it up properly. It's definitely worth doing if you want to be able to better compartmentalize your digital experiences, shutting out work at home and removing distractions while working.

If you have tips on getting the most out of the Focus feature, make sure to share them in the comments below.
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For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Lululook to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and a Lululook Qi2 3-in-1 Wireless Travel Charger.


Lululook makes a wide range of affordable accessories for all of Apple's devices, including the Apple Watch. The 3-in-1 Wireless Travel Charger, available for $60, has a convenient, folding design and is able to charge the iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once.

The charger supports Qi2 so it is able to charge a compatible MagSafe ‌iPhone‌ at up to 15W, while also fast charging the Apple Watch and charging the AirPods. The charger is able to fold up in thirds and tuck into an included case with a power adapter and cable, all of which fits well into a bag or backpack.

For home use, Lululook offers the $75 Qi2 3-in-1 Charging Station, which has a sleek upright design that doesn't take up too much space on a desk. There's a Qi2 magnetic charger for the ‌iPhone‌, an Apple Watch charger at the back, and an AirPods charging space on the base of the accessory.


The charger is made from aluminum for a modern look that matches with most home decor, and it comes with a 30W USB-C power adapter and USB-C to USB-C cable.

If you're looking for an Apple Watch band for your Apple Watch Ultra, Lululook has an attractive black titanium band that's available for $100. It's was designed with the ‌Apple Watch Ultra 2‌ in mind, and it is made from 99 percent pure titanium.


Lululook says the band provides aviation-grade durability and comfort, with a diamond-like carbon coating for the black color that is scratch resistant and will hold up well during day-to-day use.

We have an ‌Apple Watch Ultra 2‌ and a 3-in-1 Travel Charger for one lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner(s) and send the prize(s). You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, following us on Threads, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older, UK residents who are 18 years or older, and Canadian residents who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. All federal, state, provincial, and/or local taxes, fees, and surcharges are the sole responsibility of the prize winner. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.


The contest will run from today (March 14) at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time through 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time on March 21. The winner will be chosen randomly on or shortly after March 21 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.
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The low-cost iPad that Apple released this week with an A16 chip is able to run Final Cut Pro for ‌iPad‌, according to the Final Cut Pro App Store page.


Under compatibility, Final Cut Pro for ‌iPad‌ has been updated to say that it requires iPadOS 17.6 or later "and a device with an M-series or A16 or later chip."

Prior to the release of the ‌iPad‌, the most affordable device that was able to run Final Cut Pro for ‌iPad‌ was the iPad mini with A17 Pro chip, which is priced at $499. The 11th-generation ‌iPad‌ is cheaper, and it provides more screen space for video editing purposes.

With Final Cut Pro available on the ‌iPad‌, there is a much more affordable way for people to access professional video editing software. Affordability is increased thanks to the option to pay for Final Cut Pro on a monthly basis, with Apple charging $4.99 per month for access.

While Final Cut Pro runs on the ‌iPad‌, there are some features that are limited to iPads with more powerful chips and more advanced functions, such as recording in ProRes and editing video timelines with Apple Pencil hover.
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Repair site iFixit today disassembled the M4 MacBook Air for one of its traditional teardown videos, providing us with a look inside of the machine and giving some insight into its repairability.


There have been no changes to the design and opening process this year, and Apple is continuing to use the same chassis as the M2 model that was introduced in 2022. While Apple implemented iPhone battery adhesive that releases with electricity, the same change hasn't been brought to the Mac lineup yet. The ‌MacBook Air‌'s battery is held in place with traditional adhesive strips that need to be carefully removed.

The USB-C ports, a frequent point of failure, are still easy to access with not too much effort or danger of damaging other internal components. The display, the keyboard, and the Touch ID button remain difficult to access.

iFixit didn't note any changes to the arrangement of internal components, which is not surprising given that the only updates were to the webcam and the Apple silicon chip.

The site said that the ‌MacBook Air‌ has the potential to earn a good repairability score thanks to Apple's extensive product manuals and parts option, but there continue to be issues with parts pairing and calibration when using components not bought directly from Apple. Overall, iFixit gave the ‌MacBook Air‌ a repairability score of 5 out of 10.
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Apple is reassuring employees on the Siri team who may be feeling demotivated by the recent ‌Siri‌ delays and the bad press surrounding the company's decisions, reports Bloomberg.


In a ‌Siri‌ team meeting, Apple senior director Robby Walker acknowledged that employees might be feeling "angry, disappointed, burned out and embarrassed" following the ‌Siri‌ delay, but he praised the hard work of employees and the "incredibly impressive" features they developed, saying that Apple would continue to work to "ship the world's greatest virtual assistant" to Apple users. "I saw so many people giving everything they had in order to make this happen and to make incredible progress together," he said.

The situation was described as "ugly" because the ‌Siri‌ features were shown off in public with marketing campaigns and TV commercials before there was a fully functional product. ‌Siri‌'s new functionality was also tied to the iPhone 16 launch in advertising, and it was a feature that Apple used to promote its ‌iPhone 16‌ models.

Apple decided to delay the functionality because of quality issues, with Walker telling employees that ‌Siri‌'s new features were only working properly 60 to 80 percent of the time.

To encourage employees, Walker demonstrated ‌Siri‌ locating his driver's license number, manipulating apps by embedding content in an email and adding recipients, and finding specific photos of a child. Employees on the ‌Siri‌ team will be able to use time away to recharge and prepare for "hard work ahead."

Walker told employees that it is not yet clear when the new ‌Siri‌ features will be ready for launch, but Apple's statement about the delay mentioned "in the coming year." That has been interpreted as 2026, or in an update to the iOS 19 operating system launching this fall.

Walker said that Apple is aiming for ‌iOS 19‌, but that the timeline "doesn't mean that we're shipping then." Apple will ship the ‌Siri‌ functions when they're ready to launch, and the company does not want to provide the public with unfinished features, even if "competitors might have launched them in this state or worse."

"We have other commitments across Apple to other projects," Walker said, citing new software and hardware initiatives. "We want to keep our commitments to those, and we understand those are now potentially more timeline-urgent than the features that have been deferred." He said decisions on timing will be made on a "case-by-case basis" as work progresses on products planned for next year.

"Customers are not expecting only these new features but they also want a more fully rounded-out Siri," he said. "We're going to ship these features and more as soon as they are ready."

According to Bloomberg, Apple does not have plans to fire ‌Siri‌ chief John Giannandrea or any other ‌Siri‌ executives at this time, though there have been discussions about moving additional senior executives under Giannandrea to speed up development.
This article, "Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today launched a new app called Surveyor, which is designed to allow users to collect data like images of street signs and roadside details to improve Apple Maps.


The app is not public facing and appears to be for use with companies that Apple partners with to assign mapping tasks. Downloading the app and opening it up directs users to "Open Partner App" to choose a task. Tapping on the option launches another app called Premise.

Premise is a company that lets people earn rewards by "completing simple tasks." The Premise app is described as a task marketplace that provides money for taking surveys, sharing local information like construction zones or grocery pricing, or taking pictures of city locations.

Strings in Apple's Surveyor app found by MacRumors suggest that once assigned a mapping task by the Premise app, Premise users will be instructed to attach an iPhone to a mount, rotate the ‌iPhone‌ to landscape orientation, and capture images along a route while driving using the Surveyor app.

The Surveyor app says that images are being captured of items along the road like signs and traffic lights, location and data about physical features sent to Apple to "precisely place objects on the map."

Premise is not listed as an ‌Apple Maps‌ partner in Apple's mapping data information, but the app suggests that Apple is using data collected by Premise users for the purpose of keeping small details in ‌Apple Maps‌ up to date.
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Apple's new 11th generation iPad, M3 iPad Air, and M4 MacBook Air launched this week, and discounts are already available for all of these products on Amazon. Additionally, we're tracking ongoing record low prices on the AirPods 4, M4 MacBook Pro, and Apple Pencil Pro.

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.

AirPods 4

• What's the deal? Take $30 off AirPods 4


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

AirPods 4 dropped to $99.99 this week on Amazon, and they are still available at this all-time low price. If you want the model with ANC, they're on sale for $148.99, down from $179.00.

M3 iPad Air and 11th Gen iPad

• What's the deal? Take up to $70 off new iPad Air and iPad


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

This week saw the launch of the new M3 iPad Air and 11th generation iPad, and Amazon introduced the first cash discounts on these tablets. You can get up to $50 off the iPad Air and up to $35 off the iPad on Amazon right now.

M4 MacBook Air

• What's the deal? Take $50 off M4 MacBook Air


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Similar to the new iPads, Amazon introduced launch discounts on the M4 MacBook Air this week, offering $50 off numerous models of the computer. You'll need to clip an on-page coupon in order to see the final deal price at checkout.

M4 MacBook Pro

• What's the deal? Take up to $450 off M4 MacBook Pro


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

In other MacBook deals, Amazon knocked the price of many M4 MacBook Pro models down to all-time low prices this week. Discounts reach up to $450 off, and prices start at $1,399.00 for the M4 10-Core/16GB RAM/512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple Pencil Pro

• What's the deal? Take $30 off Apple Pencil Pro


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Another all-time low price available on Amazon this week was on the Apple Pencil Pro, and it's still available for $99.00 today, down from $129.00.

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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This article, "Best Apple Deals of the Week: Launch Discounts Hit New iPad, iPad Air, and MacBook Air, Plus AirPods 4 for Just $99.99" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Along with introducing new MacBook Air and Mac Studio models, Apple this week launched a refreshed version of the iPad Air. Little has changed, but the M3 chip is a solid upgrade over the M2, and Apple also debuted a new keyboard option.


The 2025 iPad Air refresh isn't exactly exciting, and if you put an ‌M2‌ ‌iPad Air‌ and an M3 ‌iPad Air‌ next to one another, you're not going to be able to see much of a visual difference, though the back of the 2025 model no longer says "‌iPad Air‌." In fact, Apple made no updates at all except for the chip inside. The design is the same, the colors are the same, and all other internal components are the same, too.

Apple's upgraded M3 chip does bring some key improvements in performance that might matter to some users, though. The M3 isn't a new chip, and it was previously used in the ‌MacBook Air‌, iMac, and other machines, but it is the first 3-nanometer chip that's come to the ‌iPad Air‌. The ‌M2‌ was built on a 5nm process comparatively, and the newer 3nm process brings speed and efficiency improvements, though Apple is using a binned version with an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU.

In benchmarks, the M3 CPU is up to 21 percent faster than the ‌M2‌, and GPU performance is up to 15 percent faster. The M3 brings new graphics architecture with support for Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and mesh shading. Dynamic Caching improves performance for games and pro apps that need a lot of GPU power, while hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading make console quality gaming possible on the ‌iPad Air‌.

The ‌iPad Air‌ isn't Apple's most affordable tablet, nor is it the most powerful. It's akin to the ‌MacBook Air‌, providing a balance between price and performance. If you need something for web browsing, gaming, and watching videos, you can get away with the more affordable iPad. The ‌iPad Air‌, though, has the power to do a lot of what a computer can do. With the M3 chip, the ‌iPad Air‌ is basically as capable as the M4 iPad Pro, and differences come down to display technology, design, and authentication, as the ‌iPad Air‌ has Touch ID while the ‌iPad Pro‌ has Face ID.

You can get the ‌iPad Air‌ in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, like the ‌iPad Pro‌. The 11-inch model is more portable and is ideal for use on the couch or when traveling, while the 13-inch model is a better size for more work-oriented tasks.

Both models are compatible with Apple's new Magic Keyboard for the ‌iPad Air‌, which was updated this year. Compared to the prior version, it has a larger trackpad, function keys, a USB-C port for charging the ‌iPad‌, and the ‌iPad Pro‌ Magic Keyboard hinge design, but it doesn't have the same aluminum build. Apple's keyboards are expensive, starting at $269 for the ‌iPad Air‌, but the quality is generally worth it thanks to the super responsive Mac-like trackpad. If you have an ‌M2‌ ‌iPad Air‌, the new keyboard is compatible with it.

If you're looking for a tablet that can do more than the ‌iPad‌ but don't need the bells and whistles of the ‌iPad Pro‌, the ‌iPad Air‌ is a solid middle ground, and a $599 starting price is not a bad deal for the M3 chip.
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk about Apple's recent announcement that several of its most highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features are to be delayed.


Last week, Apple quietly announced that it is further delaying some of Siri's ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features that it expected to release in iOS 18. The functionality includes wide-reaching enhancements to ‌Siri‌ that leverage personal context and onscreen awareness to take complex actions in apps. It was unveiled as a key part of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ at WWDC in June last year, but has yet to be seen outside of Apple's pre-recorded demo videos and a series of now-pulled TV ads.

This week, Daring Fireball's John Gruber penned a blistering attack on the missing features and Apple's management decisions, triggering a wave of subsequent criticisms and calls for Apple CEO Tim Cook to directly acknowledge the situation. We reflect on the delay and the unusual circumstances surrounding the features, pondering how this happened and what it means for Apple going forward. The MacRumors Show also has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player.


If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about all of Apple's latest announcements for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineups.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kevin Nether, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
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If you've been following iPhone rumors over the last few years, you may remember reading reports that Apple flirted with the idea of introducing a super high-end "Ultra" model that would either replace its Pro Max device or sit above it in Apple's smartphone hirearchy. These reports appeared in the pre-launch iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 rumor cycles, but ultimately came to nothing. Now though, the rumor is back.


Citing sources from Weibo, Taiwan, "US investment report content," and supply chain trends, the Korean news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog has summarized "rumors regarding Apple's iPhone 17 Ultra name change."

The blog begins by highlighting the following rumored changes that have so far been attributed to various models in the upcoming iPhone 17 series:

• Smaller Dynamic Island


• Vapor chamber cooling system


• Larger battery

Analyst Jeff Pu in October said that the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max will have a narrower Dynamic Island, but the claim has since been disputed by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Nevertheless, the Naver blog claims that, based on component orders for a smaller Dynamic Island, the supply volume is "insufficient" to cover both iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models, intimating that only the larger "Ultra" device will feature one.

The Naver blog also asserts that only the "Ultra" device will feature a vapor chamber cooling system, despite competing rumors claiming that it will come either to both Pro models or all iPhone 17 models.

Lastly, the blog claims that the "Ultra" model will be thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro, owing to a larger battery. This rumor is the only one that we know of that has only been tied to the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

If it was exhaustive, the blog could have also pointed to the 12GB of RAM that Kuo in August said would be coming to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. However, Pu has pushed back on this prediction and believes that both Pro models will get 12GB, up from 8GB in the iPhone 16 Pro models. It could also have included Kuo's prediction last year that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be the first iPhone to feature three 48MP cameras, although that claim has since been challenged by a Chinese leaker.

Apple's New-Look iPhone 17 Lineup?

As a result of changes allegedly destined for Apple's largest high-end model, the blog claims that this year's iPhone 17 lineup will look like so:

• iPhone 17


• iPhone 17 Air


• iPhone 17 Pro


• iPhone 17 Ultra

This differentiation strategy would arguably help Apple justify a higher price point for an "Ultra" iPhone model with more advanced features. And let's not forget that Apple already has an established naming convention where "Air," "Pro," and "Ultra" denote distinct tiers across various product categories. For instance, the MacBook Air and iPad Air represent lightweight, consumer-friendly options, while "Pro" models cater to professional users seeking enhanced performance. The "Ultra" designation introduced with products like the Apple Watch Ultra signifies a top-tier offering with better capabilities. And then there's the most powerful Apple silicon chip to date – the M3 Ultra.

Whether Apple adopts the Ultra moniker for its most premium iPhone 17 model remains to be seen, but we do know that Apple has internally discussed the possibility for previous generations. Barring further corroboration from trusted sources, we'll have to wait and see when the iPhone 17 lineup launches later this year around Apple's usual mid-September time frame.
This article, "iPhone 17 Pro Max Rumors Allegedly Refer to 'iPhone 17 Ultra' Model" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Ted Lasso is returning to Apple TV+ for a fourth season, series star Jason Sudeikis has confirmed (via The Radio Times).


In an interview on the New Heights podcast, Sudeikis admitted that he will be reprising his role once again as the show's titular character, and said that the fourth instalment is currently being written.

It's not yet known when the new season will be ready. As for where the storyline is going, Sudeikis revealed: "Ted's coaching a women's team, so there, that's it."

It's been two years since Apple released season three of the show, and there have been a fair few rumors about the possibility of a fourth round of episodes in the interim, but this is the first time that someone on the cast has explicitly confirmed that it's in the works.


For those unfamiliar with the show, Ted Lasso is a Kansas-based football coach who, despite lacking any soccer coaching experience, is unexpectedly hired to lead a professional team in England. Since its 2020 debut, the series has earned multiple prestigious awards, with its uplifting tone resonating strongly, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Apple Original Films this week released a trailer for its upcoming "F1" racing film, which will have a theatrical release via Warner Bros. Pictures.


In the film, Brad Pitt stars as an F1 driver who was an up-and-coming talent in the 1990s, until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, Pitt is invited to join a former teammate's struggling F1 team, in a last-shot bid to save the team and become the best in the world. It looks to be a classic underdog story.


The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who is known for other popular action films, including "Tron: Legacy" and "Top Gun: Maverick."

"F1" debuts in theaters on Friday, June 27, and it has the potential to be a summer blockbuster. It will be available to stream on Apple TV+ at a later date.

In the U.S., Apple TV+ costs $9.99 per month, or $99 per year. A free seven-day trial is available. The streaming service is also included in all Apple One bundles, and going that route can get you up to a one-month free trial.

In related news, the Apple Sports app gained support for F1 racing this week.
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It would have been really easy to miss it, but Apple last year briefly mentioned a new PayPal feature coming to the Wallet app on the iPhone.


In the final sentence of an October 2024 press release, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Apple Pay, Apple said iPhone users in the U.S. would be able to see their PayPal balance when using their PayPal debit card in the Wallet app. Apple said this feature would launch in 2025, so it should arrive in a future iOS 18 or iOS 19 update.

Here is exactly what Apple said in the press release last year:

Next year, customers in the U.S. will also be able to see their PayPal balance when using their PayPal debit card in Apple Wallet, giving them greater visibility and confidence when shopping.

This will be an expansion of the Connected Cards feature in the Wallet app. This feature lets you view a supported credit card or debit card's balance, along with up to two years of your full transaction history, including purchases that were not made with Apple Pay. The feature is currently available for select bank cards in the U.K. and Discover credit cards in the U.S., and it will expand to the PayPal debit card this year.


PayPal's debit card can already be added to the Apple Wallet app, but the balance feature is still not live as of the iOS 18.4 beta, as far as we can tell.
This article, "Apple Wallet Gets Deeper Integration With PayPal's Debit Card This Year" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Two human rights groups have filed a legal complaint with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in an attempt to quash the UK government's demand for Apple to allow backdoor access to its encrypted data (via Financial Times).


Earlier this year, the UK government invoked the Investigatory Powers Act to demand that Apple create a backdoor granting secret access to encrypted user data stored in iCloud globally. However, Apple refused to comply.

In response, rather than granting the requested access, Apple withdrew Advanced Data Protection from the UK, ensuring it would not be required to provide decryption capabilities. Advanced Data Protection offers end-to-end encryption for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users' data stored in iCloud.

Apple subsequently lodged a legal complaint to the IPT. "We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products, and we never will," Apple said at the time.

Now Privacy International and Liberty have done the same. The groups argue that Apple's appeal should be heard in public, and that ordering Apple to compromise the security of its products breaches its customers' free expression and privacy rights.

"The UK's use of a secret order to undermine security for people worldwide is unacceptable and disproportionate," said Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director at Privacy International. "People the world over rely on end-to-end encryption to protect themselves from harassment and oppression. No country should have the power to undermine that protection for everyone."

"It would be an entirely reckless and unprecedented move from the UK government to open up a back door to this data, and one that will have global consequences," said Akiko Hart, Liberty’s director. "We need concrete guarantees from the UK government that they won’t proceed with these plans."

The matter is being considered at a closed hearing of the tribunal at the High Court on Friday. Apple is not able to discuss the order made by the UK in public due to the terms of the law.

Several UK media organizations, including the BBC, Reuters, Sky News and the publishers of The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, Computer Weekly and Financial Times, have also made a submission to the IPT arguing that the Apple case should not be heard in private.

The US government is also looking into whether the UK's demand has violated the CLOUD act, which keeps the UK from asking for data from US citizens, and vice versa.

In a February interview with The Spectator, US president Donald Trump said he confronted UK prime minister Keir Starmer over the move and compared it with Chinese government surveillance.

"We told them you can't do this," Trump said. "We actually told [Starmer]... that's incredible. That's something, you know, that you hear about with China."
This article, "Activist Groups Challenge UK Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple says it will add support for a new Rich Communication Services (RCS) specification that includes end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for messages sent over the protocol in future software updates.

"End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA," said an Apple spokesperson. "We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates."

The GSM Association (GSMA), the organization responsible for developing the RCS standard, started working to enable E2EE on messages sent between Android and iPhone in September last year. It only announced the new RCS specification with E2EE support today, so it's not clear how long it will take Apple to incorporate the updated profile into its software. But at least it's coming.

Apple adopted RCS with last year's release of iOS 18.1, which replaced SMS with ‌RCS‌ messaging for texts sent to Android users. While the update brings improvements such as high-resolution media sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators, it notably lacks E2EE – something Apple's proprietary iMessage system already supports.

The implementation of E2EE for cross-platform ‌RCS‌ messages would prevent third parties, such as messaging services or cell carriers, from viewing the content of texts. This added layer of security would also prevent state surveillance of citizens' ‌RCS‌ communications.

Google Messages already supports E2EE by default for RCS texts, but this applies only to conversations between Google Messages users. Messages exchanged with iPhone users or those using other RCS clients on Android are not encrypted.
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Apple made a major misstep with the way that it handled the delay of Apple Intelligence features for Siri, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. Announcing the delay through a press statement was a bad decision, and Apple should instead have gone through official channels.


Kuo referenced the well-known "Antennagate" PR crisis when the iPhone 4 launched in 2010, and the way that then Apple CEO Steve Jobs handled it. Jobs personally responded to multiple customer emails, and then Apple held a press conference to address concerns about the ‌iPhone‌ 4's cellular signal. Jobs ended up announcing that Apple would provide free bumpers for all ‌iPhone‌ 4 uses to mitigate the issue, and allow customers who were still unhappy to return their iPhones.

The implication in Kuo's statement is that Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives should follow Jobs' example, giving customers more insight into what's going wrong with ‌Siri‌ development.

I think the worst part is that when it came time to admit that Apple Intelligence (Siri) development wasn't going as planned, Apple chose to break the news to the world through an unofficial channel. This is how the world's most valuable company handles a PR crisis.

What should Apple have done? The way Steve Jobs personally addressed the iPhone 4 antennagate PR crisis back in the day provides a great example.

Kuo acknowledges that it takes time to develop artificial intelligence services, and that Apple's early announcement of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ ‌Siri‌ features at WWDC 2024 is understandable "given the pressure from the board and shareholders." With the company unable to deliver the feature set in the promised timeline, Apple needs to provide a more concrete response.

In the midst of Antennagate, Jobs was transparent about Apple's position and offered a concrete solution. Jobs said that Apple did not "fully understand if there were problems" when the ‌iPhone‌ 4 first came out, but that the company had a responsibility to educate as a "leader in the smartphone world." "We're not perfect, and we're working our asses off," Jobs said.

Back in 2012, Cook did personally address Apple Maps shortcomings in iOS 6, penning an apology letter to customers. He told customers that he was sorry, and he provided insight into Apple's work to make the Maps app better. Given the uproar over the delayed ‌Siri‌ overhaul, it could make sense for Cook to again speak to customers directly.
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Apple is working on q feature that will let the AirPods translate in-person conversations from one language to another, reports Bloomberg. The functionality will be linked to iOS 19, and it will be introduced in an AirPods software update planned for later this year.


The AirPods will be able to provide a simpler translation process for people who are speaking different languages, though the process will rely on the Translate app on the iPhone.

If an English speaker with AirPods is talking to someone who is speaking Spanish, the ‌iPhone‌ will detect the audio, translate the speech, and relay it back in English to the person wearing AirPods. The person speaking English will then be able to respond and have their response translated to Spanish and spoken aloud by the ‌iPhone‌. Apple's ‌iPhone‌ Translate app can already be used for conversations like this, but having the function included in the AirPods will streamline the exchange.

To go along with the new AirPods feature, Apple is also planning to improve the Translate app in ‌iOS 19‌, though no details are available at this time. While Apple is working on new AirPods Pro 3 earbuds that are set to launch in 2025, it sounds like Apple might bring the ‌iOS 19‌ Translate feature to existing models as well.

Apple has been tying AirPods updates to iOS updates in recent years. In iOS 18, for example, Apple added a suite of hearing health capabilities that test for hearing issues and allow the AirPods to be used as a hearing aid if problems are detected.
This article, "AirPods Getting Live Translation Feature Later This Year" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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In the two weeks since the iPhone 16e launched, some early adopters of the device have experienced a Bluetooth audio issue.


According to complaints from affected users across the Apple Support Community, Reddit, and X, audio being streamed from an iPhone 16e to a Bluetooth speaker periodically stutters or cuts out. It is unclear how widespread the problem is.

One affected user said the issue has persisted even after updating the iPhone 16e to iOS 18.3.2, released earlier this week. It is unclear if the issue is or will be resolved in iOS 18.4, which is currently in beta and will be released in April.

Some affected users said the issue appears to arise when the iPhone 16e is connected to multiple Bluetooth accessories simultaneously.

Given that some of the affected users have contacted Apple's support representatives about this issue, hopefully the company is aware of the problem and working on a fix, which should arrive in a future software update.
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Google's Gemini AI product is now able to absorb a user's search history in order to provide more personalized information, Google announced today. The Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking model is able to connect to Google apps and services to tailor responses based on past searches.


Google says that this feature will save time and will provide users with "more precise answers." For now, Gemini is only able to read search history, but in the future, it will be able to connect with other Google apps and services. Gemini's access to search history is opt-in, and it is experimental at this time.

In the Gemini app, users can use the model menu to select "Personalization" to connect their Google search history. When making a request, Gemini will then analyze search history to see if it is able to enhance a response.

Google says that search history will only be used when its reasoning models decide that it's helpful, and that early testers have found the feature useful for brainstorming and personalized recommendations.

Gemini with personalization is available to Gemini and Gemini Advanced subscribers on the web, and will be rolling out on mobile soon.
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OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT chatbot, today submitted AI recommendations to the Trump administration, calling for deregulation and policies that give AI companies free rein to train models on copyrighted material in order to compete with China on AI development.


AI companies cannot freely innovate while having to comply with "overly burdensome state laws," according to OpenAI. The company claims that laws regulating AI are "easier to enforce" with domestic companies, imposing compliance requirements that "weaken the quality and level of training data available to American entrepreneurs." OpenAI suggests that the government provide "private sector relief" from 781+ AI-related bills introduced in various states.

OpenAI outlines a "copyright strategy" that would preserve "American AI models' ability to learn from copyrighted material." OpenAI argues that AI models should be able to be trained freely on copyrighted data, because they are "trained not to replicate works for consumption by the public" and thus align with the fair use doctrine. With its AI copyright laws, OpenAI says that the European Union has repressed AI innovation and investment.

OpenAI claims that if AI models are not provided with fair use access to copyrighted data, the "race for AI is effectively over" and "America loses." OpenAI asks that the government prevent "less innovative countries" from "imposing their legal regimes on American AI firms."

For AI data sharing, OpenAI suggests a tiered system that would see AI tech shared with countries that follow "democratic AI principles," while blocking access to China and limiting access to countries that might leak data to China. The company also suggests government investment in utilizing AI technology and building out AI infrastructure.

The use of copyrighted material for AI training has angered artists, journalists, writers, and other creatives who have had their work absorbed by AI. The New York Times, for example, has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for training AI models on news articles. Many AI tools assimilate and summarize content from news sites, driving users away from primary sources and oftentimes providing incorrect information. Image generation engines like Dall-E and Midjourney have been trained on hundreds of millions images scraped from the internet, leading to lawsuits.

OpenAI has submitted its proposals to the Office of Science and Technology Policy for consideration during the development of a new AI Action Plan that is meant to "make people more productive, more prosperous, and more free." The full text is available on OpenAI's website.
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In 2025, Apple updated the Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips. Apple last year refreshed the Mac mini with the M4 and M4 Pro chips, meaning that the ‌Mac Studio‌ faces a formidable competitor that offers "Pro" capabilities at a substantially lower price point.


There are now two desktop Macs and four Apple silicon chip options for users who do not need the expandability of the Mac Pro. The ‌Mac Studio‌ starts at $1,999, overshadowing the $599 starting price of the M4 Mac mini and even the $1,399 starting price of the M4 Pro ‌Mac mini‌, so do you need the performance of the ‌Mac Studio‌, or is the humble ‌Mac mini‌ sufficient for your needs? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two desktop Macs is best for you.

The ‌Mac mini‌ and the ‌Mac Studio‌ share some fundamental features, including a familiar, boxy silver aluminum design, two front-facing USB-C ports along with HDMI and ethernet on the rear, and Apple silicon chipsets. That being said, the two machines have much more in contrast than they do in common, including different chip options, memory capacities, ports, and external display support capabilities.

‌Mac mini‌ (M4, 2024)	‌Mac mini‌ (M4 Pro, 2024)	‌Mac Studio‌ (M4 Max, 2025)	‌Mac Studio‌ (M3 Ultra, 2025)
M4 chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process)	M4 Pro chip (made with TSMC's enhanced ‌3nm‌ (N3E) process)	M4 Max chip (made with TSMC's ‌3nm‌ (N3E) process)	M3 Ultra chip (made with TSMC's enhanced 5nm (N3B) process)
4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed	4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed	4.30 GHz maximum CPU clock speed	4.05 GHz maximum CPU clock speed
10-core CPU (4 perform­ance cores + 6 efficiency cores)	12- or 14-core CPU (8 or 10 perform­ance cores + 4 efficiency cores)	14- or 16-core CPU (10 or 12 perform­ance cores + 4 efficiency cores)	28- or 32-core CPU (20 or 24 perform­ance cores + 8 efficiency cores)
10-core GPU	16- or 20‑core GPU	32- or 40-core GPU	60- or 80-core GPU
Improved ray-tracing engine	Improved ray-tracing engine	Improved ray-tracing engine	Ray-tracing engine
120GB/s memory bandwidth	273GB/s memory bandwidth	546GB/s memory bandwidth	819.2GB/s memory bandwidth
16GB, 24GB, or 32GB unified memory	24GB, 48GB, or 64GB unified memory	36GB, 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB unified memory	96GB, 256GB, or 512GB unified memory
LPDDR5X memory	LPDDR5X memory	LPDDR5X memory	LPDDR5 memory
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage	1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 16TB storage
16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second	16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second	16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second	32-core Neural Engine, 72 trillion operations per second
Video decode engine	Video decode engine	Video decode engine	Two video decode engines
Video encode engine	Video encode engine	Two video encode engines	Two video encode engines
ProRes encode and decode engine	ProRes encode and decode engine	Two ProRes encode and decode engines	Four ProRes encode and decode engines
Dedicated display engine	Dedicated display engine	Dedicated display engine
Support for up to three external displays	Support for up to three external displays	Support for up to five external displays	Support for up to eight external displays
Three rear Thunderbolt 4 ports	Three rear Thunderbolt 5 ports	Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports	Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
Two front USB-C ports	Two front USB-C ports	Two front USB-C ports	Two front Thunderbolt 5 ports
		Two rear USB-A ports	Two rear USB-A ports
Gigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port	Gigabit Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port	10Gb Ethernet port	10Gb Ethernet port
		SDXC card slot (UHS-II)	SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
Bottom power button	Bottom power button	Rear power button	Rear power button
Starts at $599	Starts at $1,399	Starts at $1,999	Starts at $3,999

Following the ‌Mac mini‌'s redesign last year, the dimensions of the two devices are now radically different, with the ‌Mac Studio‌ dwarfing the ‌Mac mini‌ in every way.

	‌Mac mini‌	‌Mac Studio‌
Height	2.0 inches (5.0 cm)	3.7 inches (9.5 cm)
Width	5.0 inches (12.7 cm)	7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Depth	5.0 inches (12.7 cm)	7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Weight	M4: 1.5 pounds (0.67 kg) M4 Pro: 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg)	M4 Max: 5.9 pounds (2.7 kg) M3 Ultra: 7.9 pounds (3.6 kg)

Most customers should choose the M4 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ over the M4 Max ‌Mac Studio‌, saving $700 when looking at the base models. There will likely still be substantial savings when it comes to custom configurations.

You should only consider the ‌Mac Studio‌ if you have an professional workflow that can leverage the extreme power of the M4 Max or M3 Ultra, as well as its additional ports and memory options. If you need the ‌Mac Studio‌, you will likely know that you are looking for a highly powerful machine that is capable of supporting specific intense workflows.

If considering the M4 Max or M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌, it's worth bearing in mind that the cheaper machine uses newer chip technology with faster memory, improved ray-tracing, and better single-core performance. For multi-core, graphics, and video processing tasks, the M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ will still be considerably more capable at tackling intense workloads.

To some extent, purchasing decisions should be driven by budget, but it is worth bearing in mind that any savings on the desktop computer itself can be put toward a good external display such as Apple's Studio Display, which starts from $1,599. For example, an M4 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ paired with a Studio Display comes to $2,898, which is just $899 more than a lone base model ‌Mac Studio‌ and $1,101 less than the M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ with no display.
This article, "Mac Mini vs. Mac Studio Buyer's Guide: 20+ Differences Compared" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The Apple Intelligence features that Apple introduced with iOS 18 are not pushing people to upgrade their iPhones, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated today. Apple's recent Siri failures are also going to have an impact on 2025 iPhone shipments, which the market is beginning to realize.


As early as last July, Kuo said expectations that ‌Apple Intelligence‌ could drive ‌iPhone‌ upgrades were likely "too optimistic," and in January, he was even more explicit and said that the appeal of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ had "significantly declined" because of the delay between when Apple showed off ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features in June and when they launched starting in October.

Kuo is maintaining his cautious view in light of Apple's Siri debacle, which has seen the company delay heavily advertised ‌Apple Intelligence‌ ‌Siri‌ features that it initially said would come in ‌iOS 18‌.

According to Kuo, Apple is already aware of ‌Apple Intelligence‌'s "underwhelming performance," and has provided suppliers with conservative ‌iPhone‌ shipment forecasts as a result.

Lately, the market consensus has shifted to a more cautious stance on iPhone shipments and Apple Intelligence (Siri), which supports my earlier predictions. Moreover, it's clear that when Apple shared conservative shipment forecasts with its key suppliers early this year, they had already factored in Apple Intelligence's underwhelming performance.

The negative public sentiment that Apple is facing due to the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ ‌Siri‌ delay could further impact sales of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models in the coming months. Apple last week said that ‌Siri‌ personal context and App Intents are being pushed back until the "coming year," and it doesn't seem like the company expected such a critical reaction from the tech community and its customers.

Longtime Apple reporter John Gruber, for example, recently published an in-depth report calling out Apple's ‌Siri‌ shortcomings, and his commentary has resonated with many who have the same feelings about Apple's longtime struggle with ‌Siri‌ improvements.

Many others have also spoken up on the very public demonstrations of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ ‌Siri‌ features that Apple provided over the course of the last year and the subsequent delay that has shaken public confidence in the company's ability to deliver AI features that can compete with OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others.
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Apple Music Classical is now available on the web at classical.music.apple.com.


Apple Music Classical launched in most countries in March 2023, allowing users with a standard Apple Music subscription to stream more than five million classical music tracks, at no additional cost. Apple Music Classical is based on Primephonic, a classical music streaming service that was acquired by Apple in 2021.

To celebrate Apple Music Classical becoming available on the web, an Apple spokesperson said a new recording of Julius Eastman's Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 from conductor Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra will be available exclusively on Apple Music Classical for the next six weeks.

Apple Music Classical is also available as an app on the iPhone, iPad, and Android, and it gained CarPlay support last year. There is still no Mac app.
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Today we're tracking a collection of discounts on Apple's M4 MacBook Pro at Amazon, including as much as $450 off select models of the computer. All of these deals have been applied automatically on Amazon and do not require an on-page coupon in order to see the final sale price.

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.

Deals include both 14-inch and 16-inch models, and the biggest savings will be found on the latter group. The steepest discount is on the 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Max 48GB RAM/1TB), available for $3,549.00, down from $3,999.00. At $450 off this is a new all-time low price on the high-end model.



For the 14-inch models, you'll find up to $350 off these computers on Amazon this week. You can get the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro (16GB RAM/512GB) for $1,399.00, down from $1,599.00, which is just a few dollars higher when compared to the all-time low price on the computer.

14-inch MacBook Pro

• M4 10-Core/16GB RAM/512GB - $1,399.00 ($200 off)


• M4 10-Core/16GB RAM/1TB - $1,579.00 ($220 off)


• M4 10-Core/24GB RAM/1TB - $1,779.00 ($220 off)


• M4 Pro 12-Core/24GB RAM/512GB - $1,779.00 ($220 off)


• M4 Pro 14-Core/24GB RAM/1TB - $2,129.00 ($270 off)


• M4 Max 14-Core/36GB RAM/1TB - $2,849.00 ($350 off)

16-inch MacBook Pro

• M4 Pro 14-Core/24GB RAM/512GB - $2,229.00 ($270 off)


• M4 Pro 14-Core/48GB RAM/512GB - $2,591.00 ($308 off)


• M4 Max 14-Core/36GB RAM/1TB - $3,129.00 ($370 off)


• M4 Max 16-Core/48GB RAM/1TB - $3,549.00 ($450 off)

Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

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This article, "Amazon Takes Up to $450 Off M4 MacBook Pro, Available From $1,399" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Amtrak on Wednesday announced that it has redesigned its iOS and Android apps to provide more convenient access to train status, tickets, and more.


Amtrak, the national passenger rail company in the U.S., operates more than 30 train routes throughout the country and into Canada.

Here is what is new in the app, according to Amtrak:

• A passenger can now view their train's status and schedule adjustments right on their reservation, within 24 hours of an active trip.


• A new station-to-station train tracker shows how a train is progressing along its route.


• A new "My Trips" tab allows passengers to view their active, upcoming, and past trips on a single screen, separate from promotional content.


• For train routes with assigned seating, the app now offers upfront seat selection during the booking process.

For more details, read Amtrak's press release.

Amtrak's app is available on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad.
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At WWDC 2024, Apple announced Swift Assist, an AI-powered coding companion integrated into Xcode 16 that's designed to assist developers by generating code from natural language prompts. At the time, Apple said Swift Assist would be coming "later this year."

We're now three months into 2025, and it's nowhere to be seen.


Unlike Apple Intelligence, Swift Assist never appeared in beta. Apple hasn't announced that it's been delayed or cancelled. The company has since released Xcode 16.3 beta 2, and as Michael Tsai points out, it's not even mentioned in the release notes.

Swift Assist is different from the new predictive code completion engine in Xcode 16 that can suggest the code developers need and runs locally on a developer's device. Here's how Apple described Swift Assist in its Platforms State of the Union:

Building an app is more than just typing code. It's about transforming entire ideas into code. And the easiest way to do that is with natural language. So we created a larger and more powerful model that runs in the cloud. And crafted a unique experience in Xcode that only Apple could deliver. Introducing Swift Assist, a companion for all your coding tasks. And whether you know exactly what you're after, or want help writing the best Swift code, Swift Assist can answer your coding questions and help with tasks like experimenting with new APIs.

Swift Assist knows Apple's latest SDKs and Swift language features, so you'll always get up-to-date and modern code that blend perfectly into your project. So now, tasks like exploring new frameworks and experimenting with new ideas are just one request away. Like all Apple developer services, Swift Assist is built with your privacy and security in mind. Your code is never stored on the server. It's only used for processing your request, and most importantly, Apple doesn't use it for training machine learning models. Swift Assist and the new predictive completions will turbo charge the way you work in Xcode. This marks the beginning of a journey to add extraordinary intelligence into our tools. What an exciting time to be developing for Apple platforms.

Unfortunately, any initial excitement has long been replaced by frustration. Check out some of the comments from the developer community:

Jbmaxwell:

I could really use Swift Assist to deal with some SwiftUI problems I'm having. None of the LLMs are particularly good at SwiftUI, and seem to be wasting more of my time than they're saving. When, Apple???? You're the only ones with the data and the incentive to build a really knowledgeable Swift coding LLM.... super frustrating.

Asteng88:

Unfortunately Apple are so far behind the AI curve right now. They spent so much time on the useless AR glasses that every other company has killed off. I think [Tim Cook] thought the AR was his iPhone moment. Should have spent the time and money on AI like everyone else. Code complete is a joke compared to VSCode with Copilot.

Rennarda:

It's feeling more and more like this is something that will get rolled back to Xcode 17 this summer. Has anybody heard anything about it? Maybe it'll be quietly pulled all together, in favour of better Xcode integration with Chat GPT and the like?

WWDC is starting to feel more and more like a preview of what Apple might release over the coming year - but normally the dev tools they show are shipped by the end of the summer.

It's a bad look for Apple, especially given the current controversy surrounding the company's delayed personalized Siri features. WWDC 2025 is less than three months away, and it seems that developers are beginning to wonder whether they'll ever see Swift Assist in Xcode 16 at all. We've reached out to Apple for comment.
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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Wednesday issued its final verdict on the state of the country's mobile browser market, and the regulator has concluded that Apple's policies are largely responsible for hampering competition and innovation.


The CMA's independent inquiry group's investigation found that Apple's requirement for all iOS browsers to use its WebKit engine is stifling competition, and effectively prevents rival browsers from introducing unique features or optimizations on iPhones and iPads, regardless of their capabilities on other platforms.

The full report outlines several problematic Apple practices beyond the WebKit requirement, including giving Safari preferential access to iOS features compared to competing browsers, imposing limitations on in-app browsing, and prominently displaying Safari as the pre-installed default browser on all iPhones.

Google also came under scrutiny for pre-installing Chrome on Android devices, but the investigation found that Apple's restrictions were more fundamental to market competition. The CMA also flagged the lucrative arrangement where Google pays Apple billions annually to remain the default search engine on iOS devices, noting this deal "significantly reduces their financial incentives to compete."

Both companies have made some concessions since the CMA published its preliminary findings last November. The report acknowledges these improvements have "addressed some, but not all, of the concerns relating to choice architecture," specifically mentioning Apple's December software update that modified how users can change default browsers.

However, to address the remaining issues, the regulator proposed several potential remedies including forcing Apple to allow alternative browser engines on iOS, implementing browser choice screens during device setup (similar to the one found in the EU), and restricting the revenue-sharing search deal between Apple and Google.

These recommendations aren't immediately enforceable, as the CMA is first proceeding with separate investigations to determine whether Apple and Google should be designated with "strategic market status" (SMS) under the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The designation is expected to be decided later this year, and would give the CMA authority to impose stricter regulations on the companies.

If granted SMS designation, Apple and Google could face legally binding conduct requirements and risk substantial penalties — up to 10% of their annual global turnover — for violations.

The cloud gaming portion of the investigation, which had previously raised concerns about Apple's App Store restrictions, concluded that "no further action is necessary" following policy changes Apple made during the course of the investigation.

The UK report follows similar scrutiny from other global regulators, including the European Commission and the United States Department of Justice, which are also examining mobile browser competition.
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Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to feature a significant design overhaul, and a new image apparently taken on an assembly line for the unreleased devices appears to confirm the biggest rumored change.


The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to adopt a horizontal camera bar reminiscent of Google's Pixel series, and this bar is expected to span the width of the device's back, housing the triangular triple-camera setup on the left, and the flash, microphone, and LiDAR sensor on the right. It is not clear why Apple would use this design, nor what the extra space would be used for, but it has shown up several times now.

The image below, shared on X (Twitter) by leaker Majin Bu, purports to show CNC-machined aluminum or titanium chassis components for the iPhone 17 Pro Max that mirror these expected changes, while the large circular openings likely correspond to areas for internal components like the MagSafe coil or battery. The stacked-together parts look precision-milled with visible CNC tool paths, suggesting they are freshly machined structural elements ready for further processing.

There have been reports that Apple may revert to using aluminum frames for the iPhone 17 Pro, moving away from the titanium used in the previous iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models.

Rumors suggest Apple plans to use a half glass, half aluminum build, which would increase durability. The glass would allow wireless charging to continue to be available, but a partial aluminum frame would be less prone to breakage.


There is said to be a glass section around the Apple logo that's integrated into an overall metal chassis, so the circular openings in the image could also be related to this change. Then again, the openings could be associated with a new wireless reverse charging feature.

Apple has apparently tested a 7.5W reverse wireless charging for the iPhone 17 Pro, which would allow the iPhone to provide wireless power to other Apple devices like AirPods and Apple Watch. Current iPhones are able to provide 4.5W of power to the Apple Watch and AirPods over USB-C, but there is no option for reverse wireless charging.

According to one rumor, the body thickness of the iPhone 17 Pro Max will increase to 8.725mm, up from the 8.25mm of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which may be to fit a bigger battery.


The camera module redesign extends to the new iPhone 17 Air model, which is set to replace the Plus variant in Apple's lineup. This thinner device will allegedly feature a similar horizontal camera bar design, though it will accommodate just a single camera lens.

In contrast, the base iPhone 17 is expected to maintain the current camera design language seen in the iPhone 16 series, helping to further differentiate Apple's premium and standard offerings. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series next September. Are you excited by the expected design changes? Let us know in the comments.
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Daring Fireball's John Gruber today shared some strongly-worded comments about Apple's delayed personalized Siri features. Gruber is a well-known Apple pundit who has been writing about the company for more than two decades.


In a blog post titled "Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino," Gruber said Apple's credibility has been "damaged" by the delay:

Keynote by keynote, product by product, feature by feature, year after year after year, Apple went from a company that you couldn't believe would even remain solvent, to, by far, the most credible company in tech. Apple remains at no risk of financial bankruptcy (and in fact remains the most profitable company in the world). But their credibility is now damaged. Careers will end before Apple might ever return to the level of "if they say it, you can believe it" credibility the company had earned at the start of June 2024.

This obviously isn't the first time that Apple has failed to deliver. However, Gruber said other examples like the canceled AirPower charging mat "tended to be around the edges," whereas he believes that generative AI is going to be "big" and "important."

It's not the delay by itself that bothers Gruber. He said the true "fiasco" here is that Apple "pitched a story" last year "that wasn't true":

The fiasco here is not that Apple is late on AI. It's also not that they had to announce an embarrassing delay on promised features last week. Those are problems, not fiascos, and problems happen. They're inevitable. Leaders prove their mettle and create their legacies not by how they deal with successes but by how they deal with — how they acknowledge, understand, adapt, and solve — problems. The fiasco is that Apple pitched a story that wasn't true, one that some people within the company surely understood wasn't true, and they set a course based on that.

Gruber said the personalized Siri features announced during the WWDC keynote last year were merely conceptual, and therefore "bullshit":

What Apple showed regarding the upcoming "personalized Siri" at WWDC was not a demo. It was a concept video. Concept videos are bullshit, and a sign of a company in disarray, if not crisis.

He was even more explicit here:

You can stretch the truth and maintain credibility, but you can't maintain credibility with bullshit. And the "more personalized Siri" features, it turns out, were bullshit.

Gruber said Apple's repeated unwillingness or inability to demo the personalized Siri features in action since WWDC last year "should have set off blinding red flashing lights and deafening klaxon alarms" in his head that something was wrong.

Gruber went as far as saying that Apple's culture of excellence could be at risk if this situation is not handled correctly within the company:

Tim Cook should have already held a meeting like that to address and rectify this Siri and Apple Intelligence debacle. If such a meeting hasn't yet occurred or doesn’t happen soon, then, I fear, that's all she wrote. The ride is over. When mediocrity, excuses, and bullshit take root, they take over. A culture of excellence, accountability, and integrity cannot abide the acceptance of any of those things, and will quickly collapse upon itself with the acceptance of all three.

The full post is worth a read.
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We're not going to get a first look at iOS 19 until the June Worldwide Developers Conference, but as work picks up on the operating system at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, rumors are starting to leak out. ‌iOS 19‌ promises to be a major update, with some changes that we haven't seen Apple make for at least 10 years.

Overhauled Design

Apple is apparently planning to overhaul the design of all of its operating systems this year, including ‌iOS 19‌, iPadOS 19, and macOS 16. The goal is a more unified design language and feature set that makes the transition from iPhone to Mac and vice versa feel like less of a shock.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says this will be the biggest update Apple has made to the ‌iPhone‌'s design since iOS 7 was released in 2013, and it's not just cosmetic, either.


Apple is planning to overhaul icons, menus, apps, windows, system buttons, and more, while also tweaking navigation and control.

The new look is based on the Apple Vision Pro interface, which features a lot of translucency and a design feel that causes the operating system to kind of fade into the background to put content front and center.

We've heard rumors of what the updated design will do to the Camera app, and it will supposedly have a look that provides more screen space for photo previews with translucent pop-out menus that can be swiped through to select different camera modes.

Apple Intelligence

Apple is going to expand Apple Intelligence features to more of its built-in apps, but we haven't heard a lot of rumors about what's to come. Prior to when iOS 18 came out, it was suggested Apple could use Apple Intelligence for things like generating Apple Music playlists, so that's an example of what we could see.

Siri Updates

We do know about some of the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features coming, and that's because Apple actually announced them for ‌iOS 18‌ and then had to delay them.


Apple planned to add new ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features to Siri in ‌iOS 18‌, making the personal assistant smarter and perhaps actually useful, but ‌Siri‌ changes are now being held until ‌iOS 19‌ or an update to ‌iOS 19‌.

We're waiting on personal context, onscreen awareness, and deeper app integration. Personal context will let ‌Siri‌ keep track of everything on your ‌iPhone‌, from emails and files to photos and messages, helping you complete tasks and find content that you're looking for without. ‌Siri‌ will be able to do things like find a specific photo someone sent you, locate files, or even find information like your passport number if you've written it down in notes.

With onscreen awareness, ‌Siri‌ will be able to see what's on your screen and complete actions involving what you're looking at. If someone sends you an address, for example, you can tell ‌Siri‌ to add it to their contact card.

Deeper app integration, or App Intents, should make a notable difference in what ‌Siri‌ is capable of. ‌Siri‌ will be able to do more in and across apps, performing actions and completing tasks that are just not possible right now. Apple says ‌Siri‌ will be able to do things like move files from one app to another, complete multi-step tasks like editing a photo and sending it to someone, and more.

Apple is also working on a full LLM version of ‌Siri‌ that would be similar to chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google Gemini, but with the ‌iOS 18‌ ‌Siri‌ features delayed, it's likely LLM ‌Siri‌ won't be coming until at least iOS 20.

A Staggered Rollout

With ‌iOS 18‌, not all features were in the update that we got in September. Key ‌Apple Intelligence‌ functions were held back until iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2, and that's a trend we could see continue with ‌iOS 19‌.

Apple is holding back features slated for ‌iOS 19‌ until spring 2026, at least in part due to the work on ‌Siri‌ ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features that were supposed to come in ‌iOS 18‌.

Compatibility

Rumors suggest that ‌iOS 19‌ will be compatible with all of the devices that can run ‌iOS 18‌, so if you have ‌iOS 18‌ installed, you should in theory be able to run ‌iOS 19‌. There are typically always features that require the processing power of a newer device, so it's quite possible that some new additions could be limited to the upcoming iPhone 17 models.

Release Date

‌iOS 19‌ will be previewed at WWDC in June, then beta tested for several months before launching in September alongside new iPhones.

Read More

For more on what's coming in ‌iOS 19‌, make sure to check out our iOS 19 roundup. If you want to keep up with rumors, you should bookmark the page, because we update it every time a new rumor comes out.
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When new iPhone models come out, Sebastiaan de With, the developer behind the popular Halide camera app, does a deep dive into the new camera technology. Last month, Apple released the iPhone 16e with an all-new standalone 48-megapixel camera, and de With checked it out to see how it compares to the cameras in Apple's flagship iPhone 16 models.


On paper, the ‌iPhone 16e‌, the ‌iPhone 16‌, and the iPhone 16 Pro seem to have the same main camera, described as a 48-megapixel Fusion camera that's able to take both 1x and 2x shots, but when you drill down into the specs, there's a difference. The ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ has a camera with an f/1.78 aperture, while the ‌iPhone 16‌ and 16e have a camera with an f/1.6 aperture. The ‌iPhone 16e‌ does not have sensor-shift optical image stabilization, while the ‌iPhone 16‌ does, so it's clear these are different cameras.

According to de With, what Apple has done with the ‌iPhone 16e‌ is pair current-generation image processing enabled by the A18 chip with a smaller, older camera component. With just a single Wide lens, there's no Macro mode, no spatial photo or video capture, no Night mode for Portrait images, and no Cinematic or Action mode options when capturing video. There also aren't pro features like ProRAW.

In an image test compared with the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌, the ‌iPhone 16e‌ trended toward warmer images and it had a narrower field of view. The smaller sensor captured less detail, which de With said was most noticeable in lower light. 2x photos with the smaller sensor were lower quality with unpleasant processing.

According to de With, the ‌iPhone 16e‌ isn't on par with the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ or even the ‌iPhone 16‌, but it is on par with prior non-Pro iPhones and the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro. The fact that it has no sensor-shift stabilization was the biggest limiting factor because it cuts down on image quality in low light and in night shots.

De With felt that the ‌iPhone 16e‌'s sensor has a grainy, moody sensor that he enjoyed as an alternative to the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌'s larger sensor. "As the kids would say today, it's a vibe," de With wrote.

De With's full review, complete with comparison images, can be read over on the Lux website.
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iPhones are finally getting a much-requested setting, but availability is limited.


The upcoming iOS 18.4 update introduces an option to set a default navigation app, other than Apple Maps, but unfortunately this new setting is limited to users in the EU. There, you can now set an app like Google Maps or Waze as your default navigation app on the iPhone by opening the Settings app and tapping Apps → Default Apps → Navigation.

Apple made this change in response to the EU's Digital Markets Act.

Apple, we would love to see this option made available worldwide.

Apple has at least made a small concession for U.S. users, allowing them to set a default translation app on iOS 18.4. For example, you can set Google Translate as your iPhone's default translation app, instead of Apple Translate.

iOS 18.4 is currently in beta testing. The update will be released to the general public in early April, according to Apple's website.
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Sonos has ended work on a high-end streaming set-top box that was expected to launch sometime in 2025, reports The Verge. Sonos informed employees of the streaming box's cancelation in a meeting today, and has reassigned those that were working on the product to other teams.


The set-top box was supposed to be Sonos' major product for the second half of 2025, and Sonos spent considerable resources on it. It was almost completed, and was even beta tested for months, but interim CEO Tom Conrad has decided to reprioritize Sonos' roadmap, and a push into video is no longer happening at the current time.

Sonos planned to compete with the Apple TV and other streaming boxes with its now-canceled "Pinewood" project, and the device would have been priced between $200 and $400. It was described as a simple black box with a "beautiful" Android interface that offered content from Netflix, Max, Disney Plus, and other streaming services.

Sonos wanted to reduce fragmentation in the streaming ecosystem, and to distinguish the streaming box from competing products, it would have doubled as an HDMI switch. Users would have been able to plug in gaming consoles, soundbars, and other devices using passthrough functionality, and it is said to have solved a latency problem that long annoyed Sonos.

Sonos plans to work on software improvements to continue to repair the damage done by last May's disastrous app update.
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The new Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips support Low Power Mode, according to an Apple support document updated today.


Apple says turning on Low Power Mode reduces the Mac Studio's fan noise, which is useful for tasks that require a quieter environment, and it also allows for reduced power consumption if the computer is left running continuously.

The reduced fan noise aspect of Low Power Mode requires macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later. The new Mac Studio ships with macOS Sequoia 15.3.

A few Reddit users said that macOS Sequoia 15.3 enabled Low Power Mode on the previous-generation 2023 Mac Studio with the M2 Max chip, and presumably on M2 Ultra configurations too. This is not reflected in Apple's support document. (Update: Following our report, Apple revised its support document to confirm that the 2023 Mac Studio indeed supports Low Power Mode, starting with macOS Sequoia 15.3).

In any case, Low Power Mode on the Mac Studio is fairly new.

As obvious as it may sound, Apple's support document also confirms that the Mac Studio still lacks High Power Mode for additional cooling.

Apple's document has a list of Macs that support Low Power Mode with reduced fan noise.
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Apple refreshed the MacBook Air lineup last week, and those new models are available starting today. We picked up one of the M4 ‌MacBook Air‌ models for a quick unboxing and first impressions overview.


If you've seen the M2 or M3 ‌MacBook Air‌ models, then you know exactly what the M4 version looks like. Apple didn't change the design one bit, though there is a new Sky Blue color that replaces Space Gray. It's a subtle blue that doesn't even look blue depending on the lighting, so it's not the most exciting update.

What's new is inside, and it's primarily the M4 chip. The M4 chip is Apple's latest, and you don't need us to tell you that it's fast. CPU performance is up to 30 percent faster, and GPU performance is up to 21 percent faster compared to the M3.

Both the M3 and the M4 are built on a 3-nanometer process, so there isn't a huge year-over-year improvement, but the new ‌MacBook Air‌ models weren't designed for people coming from M3. If you're upgrading from an Intel-based Mac, a Windows PC, or even the M1 ‌MacBook Air‌ from 2020, you're going to see a night and day leap in performance.

You can get the ‌MacBook Air‌ in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, and they're about identical except for the display size, the weight, the speaker system, and the cost. There aren't differences in battery life, and both last for up to 18 hours when streaming video or 15 hours when browsing the web, so you can work all day without needing a charge.

There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports for connecting peripherals, and this year, the ‌MacBook Air‌ can drive two external displays at 6K resolution at 60Hz with no compromises. Apple added a new 12-megapixel front-facing camera this year, and it's a huge improvement over the 1080p camera that's been in multiple generations of prior ‌MacBook Air‌ models. The camera supports the latest features like Center Stage for keeping you in frame and Desk View if you need to demonstrate something on your desk.

The 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ is priced at $999 and it comes with 16GB RAM, an 8-core GPU, and a 10-core CPU. If you want the larger screen size, the 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ starts with 16GB RAM, a 10-core GPU, and 10-core CPU. You can upgrade the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ to the 10-core GPU, and both models support up to 32GB RAM if you want to improve performance for tasks like video editing, gaming, and AI.

While the ‌MacBook Air‌ only got an incremental update this year, it's still the best Mac for most people. The $999 model is a solid deal with the M4 chip and the 16GB RAM. You can't get a cheaper current-generation notebook from Apple, but if you don't need portability, you can get a Mac mini with about the same specs for $599.

The main compromise between the ‌MacBook Air‌ and the more expensive MacBook Pro is essentially the display. The ‌MacBook Pro‌ has a much brighter mini-LED display that supports HDR and ProMotion. It also has more ports, a longer battery life, and the option to upgrade to faster M4 Pro or M4 Max chips for those who need even more performance.

It's probably going to be a few more years before Apple makes any notable design changes to the ‌MacBook Air‌, so it's not a bad time to upgrade from an older Intel or ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ model.
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Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reiterated his belief that a new HomePod with a screen will enter mass production in the third quarter of 2025.


Kuo is likely referring to Apple's rumored smart home hub, which is expected to have a square iPad-like screen that can be attached to a HomePod-like speaker base, or mounted on a wall. If his timeframe is accurate, it means that the device would enter mass production after Apple's annual developers conference WWDC in June.

Kuo originally predicted that the HomePod with a screen would enter mass production in the first quarter of 2025, but he said manufacturing was pushed back due to "software development issues," including Apple Intelligence. Last week, Apple said that the more personalized version of Siri that it previewed at WWDC 2024 last year is taking longer than it expected, and it now anticipates rolling out the new Siri features "in the coming year." It would make sense if Apple's smart home hub has been postponed too, as a result.

Kuo said another reason for the delay is ensuring that the device's interface aligns with software updates coming later this year, including iOS 19. Maybe (or maybe not) this relates to Apple's rumored visionOS-like software redesign plans, which could extend to the all-new homeOS operating system that is expected on the smart home hub.

Apple's smart home hub is rumored to feature a 6-inch or 7-inch display, and an A18 chip. It would allow users to control smart home accessories, make FaceTime video calls, use Apple's intercom feature between rooms in a house, and more. It might even double as a home security system with an Apple-designed camera.

It is unclear if the home hub will launch in late 2025, or if the delays will push it back until 2026.
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Today we're tracking a handful of Apple accessory discounts on Amazon, including all-time low prices for both the Apple Pencil Pro and AirTag 4-Pack. Neither deal requires a coupon code this time around, as both have been applied automatically by Amazon.

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.

Starting with the AirTag 4-Pack, you can get this accessory for $64.49, down from $99.00. This is an all-time low price, and you can find the 1-Pack on sale as well on Amazon, available for $22.99, down from $29.00.



Secondly, Amazon has the Apple Pencil Pro for $99.00, down from $129.00. This is a match for the record low price on the Apple Pencil Pro, and it's a deal that doesn't typically stick around long on Amazon, so if you've been waiting for it to return, be sure to check it out soon.



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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Money can buy an ultra-fast Mac, but it cannot buy ultra-fast delivery, apparently.


Apple's new Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options began arriving to customers today, but the highest-end model is facing delays.

If you order a maxed-out Mac Studio with a 32-core M3 Ultra chip, 512GB of unified RAM, and 16TB of SSD storage on Apple's online store today, the mind-boggling $14,099 configuration will not arrive until late March. Unsurprisingly, it is the massive 512GB of RAM upgrade option that seems to be causing the longer wait here.

If ordered today, that configuration is estimated for delivery between March 26 and March 31, so there is currently a two- to three-week wait.

Thanks, Paul!
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Apple plans to release a new Studio Display in late 2025 or early 2026, according to Ross Young, a display industry expert and VP at Counterpoint Research.


In a subscriber-only post shared on X last month, Young said the new Studio Display will feature the same 27-inch screen size as the current model, but add mini-LED backlighting. This upgrade would result in increased brightness and higher contrast ratio compared to the current model, which has traditional LED backlighting.

Young did not share any further details, so it is unclear if any other Studio Display specifications would change, such as the refresh rate.

Apple released the Studio Display in March 2022, alongside the first Mac Studio. The standalone display features a 27-inch LCD screen with a 5K resolution, a 60Hz refresh rate, up to 600 nits brightness, a built-in camera and speakers, one Thunderbolt 3 port, and three USB-C ports. In the U.S., the monitor starts at $1,599.

In November 2024, an anonymous listener of the Relay FM tech podcast "Upgrade" claimed that Apple was developing 90Hz display technology that could be used for the next Studio Display. This higher refresh rate would make content like videos and text while scrolling look smoother to the eye, but 90Hz would stop short of the 120Hz refresh rate that iPhones and Macs with ProMotion support can achieve. It is not clear to us if this individual has any established track record with Apple-related rumors, so keep that in mind.

A new Studio Display with mini-LED backlighting has been rumored by a few other sources, including Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The display will likely launch in 2026, according to Gurman.

Young has a pretty good track record with display-related information for future Apple products. For example, he was the first source to reveal the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max would feature 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, over a year before the devices launched. He is the founder and former CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, a research firm that was acquired by Counterpoint Research in late 2023.
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Apple's new M4 MacBook Air launches today, and Amazon has launch day discounts worth $50 across nearly every model. You'll need to clip an on-page coupon in order to see these deal prices at checkout, and Best Buy is matching many of these deals if you're a My Best Buy Plus/Total member.

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

13-Inch M4 MacBook Air

Starting with the 13-inch models, Amazon has $50 off all three of the new configurations of this notebook. Prices start at $949.00 for the 256GB model, then raise to $1,149.00 for the 16GB/256GB model and $1,349.00 for the 24GB/512GB model. Best Buy is matching these deals for members.

15-Inch M4 MacBook Air

Moving to the larger display models, Amazon has both 512GB versions of the 15-inch M4 MacBook Air on sale for launch day. The 16GB/512GB model is available for $1,349.00 and the 24GB/512GB model is on sale for $1,549.00, both $50 discounts.





The only new M4 MacBook Air that Amazon does not have a discount for is the 256GB 15-inch MacBook Air, so if that's the one you're shopping for you'll need to look at Best Buy. At that retailer, My Best Buy Plus/Total members can get the computer for $1,149.00, down from $1,199.00.

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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