After the event, Apple confirmed that iOS 27, watchOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27 will ship on September 14. As always, we recommend waiting a week or two before upgrading essential devices and holding off on Golden Gate for a few months until you’re confident your necessary Mac apps are compatible. Always make a backup before upgrading.

Let’s examine the new products.

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max boast improvements to the camera system, performance, and battery life. Apple did not announce a plain iPhone 18—rumors suggest it will arrive in early 2027.

The headline feature is the new 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera with a variable aperture. For the first time on the iPhone, the camera offers four aperture settings: ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4.0. The Camera app automatically adjusts the aperture based on lighting conditions, but photographers can also take manual control through new Pro controls. The wider ƒ/1.48 maximum aperture should improve low-light performance and provide shallower depth of field for better bokeh. The Ultra Wide and Telephoto cameras remain unchanged from the iPhone 17 Pro.

Performance should be noticeably better. The A20 Pro chip delivers up to 20% faster CPU performance and 40% faster GPU performance compared to last year’s A19 Pro. The chip also features a Dual 16-core Neural Engine with double the AI processing power.

Apple redesigned the Dynamic Island—where the Face ID sensor lives—to be smaller while displaying more information, now showing up to three Live Activities simultaneously.

Battery life is also better. In Apple’s new “typical use” battery metric, the iPhone 18 Pro offers up to 24 hours, while the Pro Max delivers up to 30 hours. Fast charging has improved as well—the iPhone 18 Pro can add 50% in just 15 minutes with a 60W or higher adapter.

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299—$100 increases over last year’s models due to the ongoing memory shortage. Storage upgrade prices have also jumped significantly. Available colors include black, silver, glacier, and burgundy. Pre-orders open at 5 AM Pacific on September 12, with availability beginning on September 18.

If those prices are too steep for your budget, the iPhone 17e ($699), iPhone 16 ($799), iPhone 17 ($899), and iPhone Air ($1,099) remain available, all $100 more than before the event.

Should you upgrade? The iPhone 18 Pro models look great, but unless you want the best possible camera, highest possible performance, and longest battery life, we recommend holding off. An iPhone 15 Pro or newer model that supports Apple Intelligence, which Apple is emphasizing in iOS 27, will likely still meet your needs.

iPhone Duo

The most surprising announcement was the iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable iPhone. While foldable Android phones have been interesting but often flawed, the iPhone Duo showcases Apple’s attention to industrial design and software integration.

Closed, the iPhone Duo is about the size of a passport book, with a 5.4-inch outer display that provides 90% of the screen area of the iPhone 18 Pro. When opened, the 7.6-inch inner display is 50% larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max, offering more screen space for media, gaming, and productivity apps. A nano-texture finish on the inner display reduces glare and minimizes the visibility of the crease.

Apple says that the iPhone Duo’s hinge and integrated magnet array deliver a smooth, secure feel. Despite the hinge, it’s still rated IP68 for water resistance (up to 6 meters for 30 minutes), the same as the iPhone 18 Pro. Ceramic Shield and Ceramic Shield 2 protect from scratches on the back and front, respectively.

Unlike other current iPhones, the iPhone Duo uses Touch ID in the side button rather than Face ID. It’s powered by the same A20 Pro chip as the iPhone 18 Pro models, and Apple claims 24 hours of battery life in typical use.

Apple has reimagined iOS 27 for the iPhone Duo. Lock Screen controls, the Dock, the Dynamic Island, and app navigation appear on the side to maximize vertical content space. When open, the display shows two Home Screen pages with Today View—a scrolling list of widgets—on the left. Content reacts as the iPhone Duo folds, reorients when turned sideways, and switches to the appropriate display when flipped over. iOS on the iPhone Duo even borrows from iPadOS—Split View lets two apps run side by side. StandBy can kick in whenever the iPhone Duo is set down, even if it’s not charging.

The camera system includes a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera and a 48-megapixel Fusion Ultra Wide, but no variable aperture or Telephoto camera. The folding design enables different camera experiences: Smart Take uses on-device AI to capture photos automatically while subjects are posing, Duo Preview shows a live preview on the outer display so subjects can guide the shot, and Kid Cue plays Peanuts animations to grab children’s attention. Duo FaceTime lets people who are with the user join a video call on the outer display.

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in star white and night sky colors, with pre-orders opening October 16 and availability starting October 23. Apple Pencil support is coming later this year.

The iPhone Duo is clearly aimed at early adopters and those who want a larger display in a pocketable form factor. At $1,999, it costs more than an iPhone 18 Pro and an iPad mini combined, but for those waiting for Apple to enter the foldable market, the iPhone Duo is worth checking out.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 focus on health sensing accuracy and introduce Audio Intelligence features powered by the new S11 chip.

The new Health Sensing System delivers what Apple calls “the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable.” Larger, more power-efficient green LEDs now measure heart rate every 5 seconds throughout the day—60 times more frequently than before. Heart rate variability is measured up to 24 times more often.

These improvements power a new Readiness feature that analyzes recent activity, training load, vitals, and sleep score to provide a 0-10 score with recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. The score updates throughout the day as new data arrives.

Audio Intelligence represents a new category of Apple Watch features. Sound Recognition alerts Deaf users or those who are hard of hearing to sounds like doorbells, sirens, or crying babies. Shazam now automatically identifies nearby music and displays it in the Smart Stack. Live Rewind shows the previous 15 seconds of conversation as text when you double-press the Digital Crown. Siri Recap creates high-level summaries of conversations for later review. Live Rewind and Siri Recap will arrive in beta later this year and require an iPhone 16 or later, excluding the iPhone 16e.

Although the prospect of an always-listening watch has already raised privacy concerns, Apple emphasizes that Audio Intelligence features don’t create or store audio recordings: raw audio is processed in a hardware-isolated Secure Exclave and immediately deleted, while Live Rewind snippets and Siri Recap summaries synced via iCloud are end-to-end encrypted. We’ll see whether the features prompt the same kind of privacy backlash as Meta’s controversial AI glasses.

The Series 12 now offers up to 10 hours of workout battery life—25% more than the Series 11—while maintaining 24 hours of everyday battery life. Charging is faster: 15 minutes provides up to 12 hours of battery life.

Aluminum models gain Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple says is 60% tougher than the previous Ion-X glass. A new ceramic case option is available in pearl white and night blue. Other finishes include dark bronze, black, light gold, and space gray aluminum, plus radiant gold and natural titanium.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 gains the same Health Sensing System and Audio Intelligence features, plus improved battery life: up to 50 hours of everyday use, up to 25 hours in Extended Workout mode with full GPS and heart rate, and up to 45 hours in Max Extended Workout mode. It also shares the new fast charging.

Pricing remains unchanged: the Series 12 starts at $399, and the Ultra 4 at $799. Pre-orders are available now, with availability on September 18. The Apple Watch SE 3 remains available, starting at $249.

For most people with an Apple Watch Series 10 or 11, the upgrade may be hard to justify unless Audio Intelligence features are particularly compelling. Those with older models may be considering an upgrade for refreshed battery life, and remember that watchOS 27 requires a Series 9 or later, SE 3, or Ultra 2 or later.

AirPods 5

The AirPods 5 bring Active Noise Cancellation to Apple’s entire open-ear AirPods lineup for the first time. Both the base model and the model with wireless charging case now include ANC, along with Transparency mode, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, Personalized Spatial Audio, and Live Translation.

The AirPods 4 were rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, while the AirPods 5 improve that to IP57, meaning they should survive temporary immersion for up to 30 minutes.

The wireless charging case model retains a few exclusive features: volume swipe on the stems, longer battery life (5 hours with ANC versus 4 hours on the base model), support for Apple Watch and Qi chargers, and a speaker in the case for Find My.

The AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case costs $149, $30 less than the $179 AirPods 4 with ANC it replaces, while the base model remains at $129. This makes Active Noise Cancellation more accessible than ever, though those who need maximum noise cancellation should still consider the AirPods Pro 3. It’s probably not worth upgrading from working AirPods unless you need better ANC, but the AirPods 5 will be waiting the next time you need a pair.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple has introduced the iPhone 18 Pro with a variable-aperture camera, the foldable iPhone Duo, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 with advanced health sensing, and AirPods 5 with noise cancellation. Here’s what’s new and whether you should upgrade.

Mac mini Gets M6 and M5 Pro

Skipping the M5 at the base level, the Mac mini debuts Apple’s new M6 chip, which is the first to use a 2-nanometer manufacturing process that promises increased performance and power efficiency. The M6 features a 12-core CPU (two more than before) and a 12-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in each core—a first for the Mac mini. Apple claims up to 4x faster AI performance compared to the M4 model, along with 2x faster graphics and storage. 16 GB of unified memory is standard, with 24 GB and 32 GB options.

For users who need more power, the Mac mini with M5 Pro offers a 15-core or 18-core CPU and a 16-core or 20-core GPU, with 24 GB of memory standard and support for up to 64 GB. The M5 Pro model also includes Thunderbolt 5 ports instead of the M6’s Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Both models gain Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread, and upgraded 2.5Gb Ethernet (with 10Gb available as an option). New genlock support through USB-C enables precise synchronization between a display and camera—including iPhone 17 Pro—for video professionals who need frame-accurate capture. The front panel retains two USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

Pricing continues to climb. The M6 Mac mini starts at $899—$100 more than the post-June M4 pricing and $300 more than the original M4 launch price. The M5 Pro model starts at $1,699, up $100 from the June adjustment.

Mac Studio Adds M5 Max and M5 Ultra

The Mac Studio receives the M5 Max and the new M5 Ultra, Apple’s most powerful chip ever. The M5 Ultra uses a quad-die architecture—combining four smaller dies rather than two larger ones—which improves manufacturing yields while delivering extraordinary performance.

The M5 Max model offers an 18-core CPU, a 32-core or 40-core GPU, and 36 GB to 128 GB of unified memory—plenty for most professional workflows.

When that’s not enough, the M5 Ultra features a 30-core or 36-core CPU, a 64-core or 80-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and 96 GB to 512 GB of unified memory with 1.2 TB/s of bandwidth. Apple claims up to 4.3x faster AI performance compared to the M3 Ultra and 1.8x faster graphics. For teams running large AI models locally, multiple Mac Studio systems can be clustered via Thunderbolt 5 and RDMA (remote direct memory access) to create a shared memory pool.

Both Mac Studio models gain Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread via Apple’s N1 wireless chip. Storage performance doubles thanks to a new SSD architecture. As with the Mac mini, genlock support through USB-C enables frame-accurate synchronization between displays and cameras.

The M5 Max Mac Studio starts at $2,499—unchanged from the June price hike. The M5 Ultra model starts at $5,499, up $200 from June (and $1,500 more than the pre-June price). The 512 GB memory configuration won’t ship until October.

Should You Upgrade?

For users with M1 or M2 Mac mini models, the performance gains may be substantial enough to justify an upgrade. Those with M4 Mac mini models can probably wait unless they specifically need the M6’s improved AI capabilities or the M5 Pro’s additional memory and Thunderbolt 5. And if you’re still using an Intel-based Mac mini for anything where performance matters, upgrade immediately—the difference is like night and day.

Mac Studio users face a different equation. The M5 Max and M5 Ultra deliver meaningful improvements for performance-driven professionals whose work involves large-scale video projects, complex 3D rendering, or AI inference. For such users, the speed improvements may justify upgrading even from M4 Max or M3 Ultra machines.

The memory crisis shows no signs of abating, so don’t assume prices will drop. If you need a new desktop Mac and one of these new models fits in your budget, they’re all excellent choices.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: New M-series chips! Apple’s refreshed Mac mini debuts the M6 chip, while the Mac Studio gets the speedy M5 Ultra with up to 512 GB of unified memory. Performance soars—but so do prices amid the memory shortage.

This sounds like science fiction—it’s not far off the fictional Kobayashi Maru test in the Star Trek universe, where Captain Kirk beats an unwinnable simulation by secretly reprogramming it—but it’s really a wake-up call about how sophisticated cyber threats have become and why it’s more important than ever before to keep apps, operating systems, and networked devices updated.

OpenAI Models Hack Hugging Face

OpenAI was running internal tests to measure how well its latest models—GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased system—performed on cybersecurity tasks. The models were placed in an isolated sandbox environment with their safety guardrails deliberately turned off so researchers could assess their raw capabilities.

The test presented security challenges that the models were supposed to solve. Instead, they decided it would be easier to find the answers—an approach called “reward hacking.” The models spent substantial computing resources searching for a way out of the sandbox, eventually discovering a previously unknown vulnerability in a software proxy that was only supposed to let them download code packages. From there, they worked their way through OpenAI’s internal network until they reached a system with Internet access. (Yes, this level of sandboxing was a mistake on OpenAI’s part.)

Once online, the models reasoned that Hugging Face—a popular platform for AI research—might host the test answers. So they hacked it. They chained together multiple exploits, including stolen credentials and more zero-day vulnerabilities, to breach Hugging Face’s servers. Hugging Face’s security team logged approximately 17,000 hostile events before containing the intrusion.

To defend itself, Hugging Face relied on another AI—ironically, a Chinese open source model, since when Hugging Face tried to work with Claude, its safety guardrails blocked the security-related requests. The open source model was able to analyze the attack, processing the massive event logs quickly so the company’s security team could understand what was happening, stop the attack, scrub systems of the attack code, and deploy additional safeguards.

AI Capabilities Cut Both Ways

Just as human hackers fall into “black hat” and “white hat” camps based on whether they’re attacking or defending, the capabilities that enable AI models to hack their way to a test answer are also what make them increasingly useful for finding and fixing security vulnerabilities.

Right now, defenders can use the most capable models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI to find and fix vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them. But attackers have access to AI models with similar capabilities. Security researchers track what’s called the Zero Day Clock: the time between a vulnerability being discovered and being exploited in the wild. That window has collapsed from months to less than a day, and some predict it will shrink to minutes by 2027.

You can see the defenders at work in the macOS security release notes. In the security release notes for macOS 26.5 and 26.6, the identification of several vulnerabilities was credited to “with Claude, Anthropic” or “Calif.io in collaboration with Claude and Anthropic Research.”

OpenAI’s inadvertent attack wasn’t malicious—its models were simply pursuing the goal of getting a high score on a benchmark without any sense of appropriate boundaries. (In fact, in the short time since the initial OpenAI attack, additional reports of cybersecurity evaluation models hacking into real companies have surfaced from Anthropic, the UK AI Security Institute, Meta, and OpenAI again.) But the technical capabilities these attacks have demonstrated are now part of the threat landscape, available to actors with far worse intentions. It’s only a matter of time before a hostile nation-state gives a capable open source model unlimited computing resources and tasks it with gaining access to secure systems. It’s probably already happening in the cyberdark.

Protect Yourself with Updates

The single most important thing you can do is keep your devices and software up to date. All those security patches from Apple, Microsoft, and app developers address vulnerabilities that AI-powered tools can find and exploit. Worse, once these vulnerabilities have been disclosed, hackers may be able to quickly leverage general knowledge of them to fabricate and deploy attacks against those who haven’t yet updated.

Our advice continues to be:

• Enable automatic updates: Don’t allow yourself to forget to install updates. On iPhones and iPads, go to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates. On Macs, go to System Settings > General > Software Update, click the ⓘ button next to Automatic Updates, and turn on all the switches. (If you’re working in an organization with an update policy, check with IT first.)
• Keep apps updated: Your apps need updates too, including your Web browser, email client, messaging client, and any software that touches the Internet. Attackers often target the weakest link—an outdated app can provide an entry point even if your operating system is current.
• Update device firmware: It’s equally important to update the firmware on routers, switches, printers, and other networked devices that could serve as entry points for attacks or be recruited into a botnet.
• Consider security in hardware upgrades: Although the main reason to upgrade Apple hardware should be functional, keep in mind that a newer device will likely be more secure thanks to improved hardware protections.
• Replace unsupported devices: Older hardware that no longer receives security updates should be upgraded, whether it’s a Mac or iPhone, network hardware, or a device like a printer, security camera, or Internet-connected doorbell.

With sufficient attention from developers, security may eventually become less important for us to watch than it is today. But things will get worse before they get better, so please excuse us as we keep trying to get everyone to install updates regularly.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Thinkhubstudio)

Social Media: AI models hacked a real company while trying to cheat on a test—escaping their sandbox, finding unknown vulnerabilities, and breaching production servers. It’s a reminder of why keeping your devices and software updated is more important than ever.

The price hikes took effect on June 25. In a statement to the press, Apple blamed the AI industry’s insatiable appetite for memory chips, which has caused prices for memory and storage to increase up to sixfold:

The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.

Apple’s price increases vary widely. The base model of the Apple TV 4K took the biggest percentage hit, jumping from $129 to $199—a 54% increase that’s particularly puzzling given the device has only 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of memory. It may be setting a new price floor for the next-generation Apple TV. At the other end of the percentage increase spectrum, the Vision Pro rose just 6%, from $3,499 to $3,699.

Mac and iPad Price Changes

The Mac lineup saw significant increases at both the low and high ends:

• MacBook Neo: $599 → $699 (+17%)
• MacBook Air (13-inch): $1,099 → $1,299 (+18%)
• MacBook Pro (14-inch base): $1,699 → $1,999 (+18%)
• Mac mini (M4): $599 → $799 (+33%)
• Mac Studio (M3 Ultra): $3,999 → $5,299 (+33%)

The $1,300 increase for the M3 Ultra model of the Mac Studio is the largest absolute dollar jump in the lineup—a reflection of just how much high-memory configurations are affected by the shortage.

iPads saw increases of 15–30%, with the base iPad hit hardest:

• iPad: $349 → $449 (+29%)
• iPad mini: $499 → $599 (+20%)
• iPad Air (11-inch): $599 → $749 (+25%)
• iPad Air (13-inch): $799 → $949 (+19%)
• iPad Pro (11-inch): $999 → $1,199 (+20%)
• iPad Pro (13-inch): $1,299 → $1,499 (+15%)

Base prices tell only part of the story. Memory and storage upgrade prices also jumped dramatically, with the 64 GB and 128 GB memory upgrades for M5 Max models of the MacBook Pro doubling in price.

Why iPhones and Apple Watches Were Spared

Apple left the prices for the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and Studio Display unchanged. The Studio Displays and AirPods likely escaped because they use minimal memory. The iPhone and Apple Watch are a different story—Apple may be willing to accept lower margins on its flagship products, betting that stable prices will drive enough additional sales to offset reduced profit per unit.

There’s also the timing factor. New iPhone and Apple Watch models are expected in September, and rumors suggest Apple will introduce only high-end (and higher margin) iPhone 18 models then, with more affordable models held until early 2027. That makes buying a current-generation iPhone now potentially the better deal—new models will almost certainly debut at higher prices.

Apple Isn’t Alone

The memory crisis has hit the entire consumer electronics industry. Microsoft raised prices on all Surface PCs. Samsung is raising prices on its Galaxy smartphones. Lenovo, HP, and Dell have all raised laptop prices.

The culprit is the industry’s rapid expansion into AI. Data centers are consuming memory and storage at a pace the industry wasn’t equipped to handle. Memory chip suppliers like Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix have directed production toward AI chipmakers like Nvidia, who are willing to pay top dollar, leaving consumer electronics to compete for whatever remains. Industry observers expect the shortage to persist through at least 2027 due to the time required to build manufacturing capacity.

What Should You Do?

If you need a Mac or iPad, some retailers may not have updated prices yet, but that won’t last. Similarly, you could look for a refurbished Mac from Apple or a certified pre-owned Mac from retailers like OWC, but those prices have largely increased as well.

For the iPhone and Apple Watch, the calculus is unusual: normally, we’d encourage waiting for September’s new models, but this year, buying now at current prices may save you some money.

Ultimately, the only options may be to bite the bullet and pay current prices, buy a less-expensive model or configuration, or hold on to your existing hardware in the hopes that prices come back down.

(Featured image generated by Adam Engst with ChatGPT)

Social Media: Apple just raised Mac and iPad prices by 15–33%, blaming the AI industry’s hunger for memory and storage chips. The iPhone and Apple Watch were spared, but the next new models may be more expensive. Here’s what you need to know.

Apple previewed numerous features during the keynote and listed even more on its website afterward. Below, we’ll focus on those we think are most likely to entice you to upgrade your Apple devices, but we encourage you to read Apple’s pages for each platform to learn more about what’s coming. Those are linked here, along with hardware requirements, so you can determine if your devices can upgrade this fall:

• macOS 27 Golden Gate: Only Macs with Apple silicon, including the MacBook Neo (2026), MacBook Air (2020 and later), MacBook Pro (2020 and later), iMac (2021 and later), Mac mini (2020 and later), Mac Studio (2022 and later), and Mac Pro (2023)
• iOS 27: iPhone SE (2nd generation and later) and iPhone 11 and later (unchanged from iOS 26)
• iPadOS 27: iPad (9th generation and later and A16), iPad mini (6th generation and later and A17 Pro), iPad Air 11-inch (4th generation and later, M2, M3, and M4), iPad Air 13-inch (M2 and later), iPad Pro 11‑inch (2nd generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (4th generation and later), and iPad Pro (M4 and later)
• watchOS 27: Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 9 and later, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later
• visionOS 27: All Vision Pro headsets

Siri AI Everywhere

The long‑promised “more personalized” Siri, now called Siri AI, is slated to ship later this year as a dedicated app that lets you carry on conversations much like with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Apple is integrating Siri AI deeply into its platforms, so you can invoke it by swiping down from the Dynamic Island on an iPhone or via Spotlight on the Mac. Contextual menu commands on the Mac will let you focus Siri AI on images, files, and text. You’ll even be able to use Siri AI with AirPods and in CarPlay.

Personal context enables Siri AI to tailor its responses and actions based on your messages, emails, calendar events, photos, and other data. It will also be aware of what’s showing on screen, so you can ask Siri about what you’re looking at or direct it to take actions based on what’s showing. Siri AI will be able to work directly with compatible apps, creating contacts, sending email, calling people, and much more, depending on developer support. Finally, Siri AI will be able to respond with broad-based world knowledge gleaned from Web searches.

On sufficiently powerful devices, Siri AI provides more expressive voices and more advanced dictation. For that, you’ll need an iPhone Air or iPhone 17 Pro, an iPad with M4 or later, or a Mac with M3 or later.

Better Performance

Although we don’t think of our Apple devices as slow, Apple has improved performance across many areas. iPhone and iPad apps launch up to 30% faster, new photos appear in the Photo Library up to 70% faster, files transfer via AirDrop up to 80% faster, and files can be copied from an iPad to an external drive up to 5x faster, matching macOS transfer speeds. People with older iPhones will particularly appreciate the effort Apple put into improving general performance with a new CPU scheduler.

More Reliable Spotlight

We’ve all encountered the frustration of Spotlight failing to find a file we know exists. In response, Apple has rearchitected Spotlight’s search index to make it faster and more comprehensive. Searching in Mail and Photos also benefits from the new search index.

Liquid Glass Refinements

Apple showed several refinements to the Liquid Glass interface that debuted last year, addressing common requests for more control and legibility. Most notably, a transparency slider lets you adjust Liquid Glass from ultra-clear to fully tinted. macOS apps get a new uniform toolbar to improve legibility, and macOS sidebars will extend to the edges of windows and regain colored icons.

Visual Intelligence on More Devices

So far, Visual Intelligence, which can tell you about anything in the camera viewfinder, has been limited to iPhones with the Camera Control. Apple is moving it to a dedicated Siri mode in the Camera app, which brings it to the iPad; on the Mac, you’ll be able to select on-screen items and ask about them.

Automatic Updates to Weak or Compromised Passwords

We all have old accounts with weak or compromised passwords that we’ll get to changing real soon now. Apple recognizes this, so it’s adding Apple Intelligence to the Passwords app, enabling it to log in to eligible websites and change your password to something strong and unique.

More Comprehensive Parental Controls

To address parental criticism and potentially head off governmental regulation, Apple beefed up its parental controls. A new setup assistant helps parents configure child accounts, which now feature Ask to Browse (parental permission to visit specific websites) and communication controls (permission to communicate with people outside the family). Communication Safety now warns about gore and violence along with nudity, and a redesigned Screen Time app provides an at-a-glance view of a child’s device usage.

New Photos Features

The Clean Up tool that debuted with Apple Intelligence has been popular, and Apple says it now does an even better job of removing distractions and filling backgrounds realistically. A new Extend feature expands images outward, adding a realistically generated background around the photo’s subject. Even more impressive is the new Reframe feature, which lets you reposition the virtual camera after taking a photo. You can use it to shift perspective or change the zoom, generating new content only for the shifted areas.

Build Shortcuts with Natural Language

It’s often useful to automate tasks in Shortcuts—say, notifying your spouse when you leave the office—but many people have found it too hard to create those automations. Thanks to Apple Intelligence, you’ll now be able to describe what you want a shortcut to do, and it will be created for you. If it doesn’t work quite right the first time, you can keep iterating until it’s what you want.

Image Playground Gets More Productive

The images Image Playground has been able to create so far have been on the childish side. Apple says that Image Playground will now be able to create photorealistic images, incorporate multiple people from Photos, transform images with natural language descriptions, and generate images in multiple dimensions. It won’t replace a professional illustrator, but it might help you generate quick images for a presentation, website, or invitation.

Apart from Siri AI, these aren’t earth-shaking features, and that’s the point. Apple wants to keep improving the user experience, but part of that is not changing too much too fast. We’ll write more about when we recommend upgrading each of your devices after the beta this summer.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: From a smarter Siri AI to faster app launches and better parental controls, here are 10 reasons Apple’s version 27 updates may entice you to upgrade when they ship this fall.

Despite its low price, the MacBook Neo is a Mac, so it works like any other modern Mac, complete with support for Apple Intelligence. A key question is how it compares to the MacBook Air, which Apple just updated with the M5 processor. Unsurprisingly, Apple made numerous compromises to hit the lower price point compared to the $1,099 13-inch MacBook Air. Those compromises may or may not make a difference for your intended usage.

Comparing the Specs

Let’s run through the MacBook Neo’s specs and see how it matches up to the MacBook Air:

• A18 Pro chip: One of the main places Apple cut costs is by relying on an A18 Pro chip with 6 CPU cores and 5 GPU cores, previously used in 2024’s iPhone 16 Pro models. This is the first time Apple has used an iPhone-class chip in a Mac. For everyday tasks in a single app, performance is nearly comparable to the MacBook Air’s M5, which has 10 CPU cores and 8 or 10 GPU cores. However, the MacBook Neo will be significantly slower for multi-threaded tasks such as video editing, code compilation, or heavy multitasking.
• 8 GB unified memory: Another notable difference is that the MacBook Neo has only 8 GB of unified memory, whereas the MacBook Air starts at 16 GB and can be configured with 24 GB or 32 GB. Being limited to 8 GB means the MacBook Neo will struggle with memory-intensive tasks or running many apps at once, but that isn’t likely to be an issue with everyday Web browsing, email, and messaging.
• 256 GB or 512 GB storage: The base MacBook Neo has only 256 GB of storage, which may fill up quickly with photos, videos, and games. For $100 more, you can get 512 GB. In comparison, the MacBook Air starts with 512 GB and can be configured with 1 TB, 2 TB, or 4 TB. You can always buy an external SSD to offload little-used data.
• 13.0-inch Liquid Retina display: The display is another significant difference. The MacBook Neo has a 13.0-inch display that shows slightly less content on screen than the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch display—imagine losing about a half-inch of space vertically and horizontally. The MacBook Neo also lacks True Tone, which adjusts the display for ambient light conditions, and supports only sRGB color rather than Wide color (P3), so colors will be slightly less vibrant when viewing photos or videos, though this will be unnoticeable in most apps.
• 1080p FaceTime camera: The MacBook Neo’s webcam is several years behind the current 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that debuted with the M4 MacBook Air in 2025. It’s fine, but it is noticeably lower quality and lacks the Center Stage feature that keeps you in the frame as you move around. The MacBook Air’s camera also supports Desk View, which shows items underneath it, but that’s not a commonly used feature.
• Two USB-C ports: Connectivity is another place where the MacBook Neo makes compromises. It offers two USB-C ports, but only the left one supports USB 3 at 10 gigabits per second; the right one supports only USB 2 at 480 megabits per second. You can use the left one for an external drive or a single 4K display; the right one is primarily useful for a keyboard, mouse, or printer. The MacBook Air, in comparison, has two 40 gigabits-per-second Thunderbolt 4 ports and supports up to two 6K displays. The MacBook Neo has to use one of its ports to charge, since it lacks the MagSafe charging port found on the MacBook Air.
  
• Magic Keyboard: The $599 MacBook Neo has the same Magic Keyboard as the MacBook Air, but lacks keyboard backlighting for typing in the dark and Touch ID for authentication and Apple Pay support. Moving to the $699 model gets you Touch ID along with 512 GB of storage. All MacBook Air models have Touch ID, which is a convenience.
• Multi-Touch Trackpad: The MacBook Neo uses Apple’s much older Multi-Touch trackpad with a physical click mechanism rather than pressure sensors and haptic click simulation in the MacBook Air’s Force Touch trackpad. Few people will miss Force Touch features like pressing deeply on a file in the Finder to open it in Quick Look.
• Dual mics, dual speakers: For audio input and output, the MacBook Neo relies on a dual-mic array and a dual-speaker sound system. It will undoubtedly be fine, but it doesn’t match up to the MacBook Air’s three-mic array and four-speaker sound system. Both have 3.5 mm headphone jacks, or you can just use AirPods.
• Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6: Although the MacBook Air has slightly newer Wi-Fi 7 support (both have Bluetooth 6), no one in the MacBook Neo’s target audience will notice the difference with Wi-Fi 6E. Few people have Wi-Fi 7 base stations yet anyway.
• Battery life: Apple rates the MacBook Neo at 16 hours of video streaming and 11 hours of “wireless web” use, which qualifies it for “all-day” battery life. It’s respectable and probably sufficient for most situations, but well below the MacBook Air’s 18 and 15 hours on those benchmarks.
• Size and weight: In terms of raw numbers, the MacBook Neo is slightly narrower and shallower than the MacBook Air—about a quarter of an inch— but essentially the same thickness (about half an inch) and weight (2.7 pounds). You wouldn’t notice the difference.

Who Should Consider the MacBook Neo

Apple is clearly aiming the MacBook Neo at specific audiences. Anyone working with a lot of apps at once, doing photo or video editing, playing high-end games, or using a bunch of peripherals will be better suited with the additional processing power, memory, and connectivity of the MacBook Air. And those with even more intensive workflows will gravitate to the MacBook Pro line.

But the MacBook Neo is meant to be a small, cute, and inexpensive laptop. It’s entirely adequate for the kind of schoolwork that most K–12 students do: educational apps, online lessons, writing assignments, creating presentations, and conducting research. Its aluminum enclosure will withstand the rigors of daily student use, and the battery life should be sufficient for a full school day.

It would also be appropriate for budget-conscious adults with minimal computing needs. Many people do little more than browse the Web, check email, stream video, and use basic productivity apps. Those who spend most of their time in a handful of bundled Apple apps don’t need the performance of the MacBook Air.

However, we can’t recommend the MacBook Neo for most college students. Although it could handle basic word processing, Web browsing, and video streaming, college students can’t predict what they may need to do during their time in school, and it’s easy to imagine them needing to edit video, do data analysis, or work with 3D graphics. Plus, the limited port selection may be problematic for students needing to connect to external displays, storage drives, and other peripherals.

Although the same concerns apply to creative and business professionals, the MacBook Neo may be an economical travel laptop for someone who does most of their real work on a Mac mini or Mac Studio at the office. For keeping up with email, managing travel details on websites, and giving presentations, it should be more than sufficient and cheaper than most iPads with keyboards.

Pricing and Availability

The MacBook Neo costs $599 for the 256 GB model with Magic Keyboard (no Touch ID) or $699 for the 512 GB model with Touch ID. For the education market, pricing starts at $499. Both configurations are limited to 8 GB unified memory, and there are no other build-to-order options. It comes in four colors—silver, blush, citrus, and indigo—with color-coordinated keyboards.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s new $599 MacBook Neo offers an affordable entry into the Mac ecosystem, but its compromises mean it’s best suited for K–12 students and users with basic computing needs. Here’s how it compares to the MacBook Air.

iPhone 17e Adds MagSafe

The iPhone 17e replaces last year’s iPhone 16e and maintains its $599 entry-level price. The most notable addition is MagSafe support—something conspicuously absent from its predecessor. The iPhone 17e now supports 15-watt MagSafe and Qi wireless charging, opening it up to the full ecosystem of MagSafe accessories.

Apple doubled the base storage to 256 GB and dropped the 512 GB price from $899 to $799. The new model runs on the A19 chip—the same processor powering the iPhone 17, though with one fewer GPU core. Apple’s C1X cellular modem promises up to twice the speed of the iPhone 16e’s C1 chip while using 30% less energy.

Other improvements include Ceramic Shield 2 for better scratch resistance, the next-generation portrait mode with post-capture focus and depth adjustments, and a new pink color option alongside black and white.

For users seeking the most affordable iPhone, the iPhone 17e is a solid value at $599 and a real improvement over the iPhone 16e. However, for $200 more, the base iPhone 17 offers a larger, brighter 6.3-inch screen, Camera Control, an additional Ultra Wide camera, better battery life, Always-On display with ProMotion, and Dynamic Island—making it the better choice for users who can stretch their budget.

iPad Air Gets M4 and More Memory

The updated iPad Air brings the M4 chip to Apple’s mid-range tablet while maintaining prices at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch version.

The M4 features an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU, delivering up to 30% faster performance than the M3 version and up to 2.3x faster than M1 models. More significant is the increase in unified memory—the iPad Air now comes with 12 GB of RAM, 50% more than the previous generation’s 8 GB, and memory bandwidth has increased to 120 GB/s. These improvements particularly benefit AI workloads and demanding apps like Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro.

Connectivity receives an upgrade with Apple’s N1 and C1X chips. The N1 wireless networking chip enables Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, while the C1X cellular modem in the Wi-Fi + Cellular models delivers up to 50% faster data performance with 30% lower energy consumption than the M3 model’s modem.

Starting storage remains at 128 GB, with options up to 1 TB. The iPad Air continues to be available in two sizes and four colors: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray.

The M4 iPad Air makes sense for users upgrading from pre-M1 iPads or anyone wanting a capable tablet without the premium price of the M5-based iPad Pro models, which start at $999 and $1,299.

MacBook Air Gains M5 and Doubles Storage

The MacBook Air receives the M5 chip along with doubled starting storage of 512 GB. The 13-inch model now starts at $1,099, and the 15-inch model at $1,299. Although those prices are the same as the previous generation’s 512 GB configurations, they’re $100 higher than the previous entry-level pricing to create a little more room between the MacBook Air and Apple’s new entry-level $599 MacBook Neo laptop.

The M5 chip features a 10-core CPU and 8-core or 10-core GPU, delivering 1.5x to 4x improvements over the M4 depending on the task. Memory bandwidth increases to 153 GB/s, enabling smoother multitasking and faster app launches. Storage configurations now include a 4 TB option for the first time in a MacBook Air, and the new SSDs deliver up to 2x the read/write performance of the M4 generation.

Apple has integrated its N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The MacBook Air continues to feature the 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe 3 charging, and up to 18 hours of battery life. It’s available in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver.

The MacBook Air remains compelling for most laptop users. If you configure it comparably to the M5 14-inch MacBook Pro, it’s $400 cheaper, slightly smaller, and 26% lighter. Anyone limping along with an Intel-based Mac laptop will experience dramatic improvements if they upgrade to the M5 MacBook Air, and it’s also well worth considering an upgrade if an older M1 or M2 MacBook Air has started to feel slow.

MacBook Pro Introduces M5 Pro and M5 Max

The MacBook Pro gains significant performance upgrades with the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, along with doubled starting storage. For models with the M5 Pro chip, pricing starts at $2,199 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and $2,699 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The M5 Max models start at $3,599 (14-inch) and $3,899 (16-inch).

The M5 Pro offers either a 15-core or 18-core CPU and up to a 20-core GPU, now supporting up to 64 GB of unified memory with 307 GB/s bandwidth (up from the M4 Pro’s 48 GB ceiling). The M5 Max comes with an 18-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and supports up to 128 GB of unified memory with 614 GB/s bandwidth. Compared with the previous M4 Pro and M4 Max, Apple claims up to 30% faster multithreaded CPU performance for the M5 Pro and 15% faster for the M5 Max. Both chips also deliver 4x faster peak GPU performance, in part thanks to new Neural Accelerators built into every GPU core. Ray tracing performance improves by up to 35% compared to the previous generation of chips.

As with the other product refreshes, Apple doubled starting storage: M5 Pro models now start at 1 TB, while M5 Max models start at 2 TB. The new SSDs also deliver up to 2x faster read/write performance. Like the MacBook Air, all models gain the N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Otherwise, the MacBook Pro retains its premium hardware from the previous generation, including the Liquid Retina XDR display, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI with 8K support, SDXC card slot, 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, and MagSafe 3 charging. Battery life remains up to 24 hours, and both sizes continue to be available in space black and silver.

For professionals pushing boundaries in motion design, visual effects, video editing, machine learning, and data-intensive workflows, these new MacBook Pro models offer real-world improvements that may justify an immediate upgrade from recent generations. Others with M3 or M4 Pro/Max machines may not see enough benefit to justify upgrading, but anyone on older hardware will appreciate the leap.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s March 2026 refresh brings MagSafe to the iPhone 17e, the M4 chip to the iPad Air, the M5 to the MacBook Air, and the new M5 Pro and M5 Max to the MacBook Pro—plus doubled storage on most models. Here’s what’s new and who should upgrade.

Tinted Option for Liquid Glass

For many people, Liquid Glass’s aggressive transparency can make some interface elements, especially notifications, difficult to read. Until now, your best bet for improving readability was to turn on Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency. In iOS 26.1, Apple bowed to user feedback and added a new Tinted view in Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, which adds a subtle tint and increases the opacity of many Liquid Glass interface elements. In the screenshot below, the left image uses the default Liquid Glass Clear view, the middle one uses the Tinted view, and the right one uses Clear with Reduce Transparency. You can decide which you like best.

Disable Lock Screen Camera Swipe

For many years, a fast way to get to the Camera app has been to swipe left on the Lock Screen. With new iPhones featuring the Camera Control button for quick access to the Camera app, Apple has given us the option to disable the Lock Screen left swipe. If you find yourself accidentally opening the Camera app from the Lock Screen, you can now prevent that from happening by turning off Settings > Camera > Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera.

Background Security Improvements

Several years ago, Apple introduced Rapid Security Responses, focused security updates that aimed to reduce update hesitancy with small downloads, automatic installation, and easy reversal. For unknown reasons, Apple used them only a couple of times before reverting to traditional operating system updates. Now, Rapid Security Responses seem to have returned under a new name: Background Security Improvements. They’re enabled by default in Settings > Privacy & Security > Background Security Improvements > Automatically Install. If you prefer to approve these updates in advance, you can turn that off. (A similar setting is available for macOS 26.1.)

Slide to Stop Alarms and Timers

In iOS 26, Apple increased the size of the buttons that appear when alarms or timers go off, but the large Stop button was easy to hit when you meant to tap Snooze (for alarms) or Repeat (for timers). Apple made that mistake much less likely in iOS 26.1 by requiring you to slide the on‑screen control to stop the alarm or timer.

Swipe Between Songs in Music

Sure, you could just tap a song in the album or playlist you’re viewing, but iOS 26.1 adds a subtle way to move to the next or previous track: swipe left (next) or right (previous) on the MiniPlayer at the bottom of the screen.

More Languages for Live Translation

iOS 26 introduced Live Translation with the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3. Initially, it supported English (US and UK), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain). In iOS 26.1, Apple added Chinese (Mandarin, simplified and traditional), Italian, Japanese, and Korean. To avoid delays in getting new languages when you are out and about, download the languages you expect to need ahead of time, when you have a fast Internet connection. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap the ⓘ next to your AirPods. Scroll to and tap Languages, then select the desired language. For actual use, open the Translate app, tap Live, and select the two languages you want to translate between.

There are a few other tweaks that most people won’t notice, such as support for the new AutoMix transitions between songs in Music when playing over AirPlay, better FaceTime audio quality in low-bandwidth conditions, manual logging of workouts in the Fitness app, and improvements when recording audio with external USB mics.

If you’re already running iOS 26, we recommend updating to iOS 26.1—the changes (and numerous security fixes) are worthwhile. If you haven’t upgraded from iOS 18 yet, now’s a fine time to make the jump.

(Featured image based on an original by Apple)

Social Media: Struggling with Liquid Glass transparency or accidental camera launches? iOS 26.1 addresses both and adds a safer slide‑to‑stop alarm control, swiping to switch songs in Music, Background Security Improvements, and more Live Translation languages.

With the M5 chip, Apple continues to focus on boosting AI performance. Its new 10-core GPU promises up to four times the peak GPU compute performance of the previous M4 chip—an impressive leap. The GPU also provides enhanced graphics capabilities and ray tracing that deliver results up to 45% faster than the M4. The 10-core CPU, with six efficiency cores and four performance cores, provides up to 15% faster multithreaded performance than the M4, a more typical performance increase between chip generations. Additionally, Apple increased unified memory bandwidth from 120 GBps to 153 GBps, which speeds up many different operations.

14-inch MacBook Pro

The most mainstream of the updated devices is the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro, which benefits from the improved performance of the M5 chip. Apple claims improvements in various tasks ranging from 20% to 80% compared to the M4 model it replaces. Even more compelling is the comparison with the M1-based 13-inch MacBook Pro, where the M5 MacBook Pro is 2 to 7 times faster.

Apple also increased SSD performance by up to 2x, which we suspect should give the new M5 model read/write speeds comparable to those of the M4 Pro and M4 Max models of the MacBook Pro.

The final update is that the M5 MacBook Pro can now be equipped with 4 TB of storage, a $1,200 option previously reserved for the M4 Pro and M4 Max models. They remain for sale, and although Apple didn’t share any benchmarks, we suspect they will continue to outperform the M5 model at most tasks.

Otherwise, the new M5 MacBook Pro continues to feature three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, and MagSafe 3 charging. Its 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion remains unchanged, as does the physical design. Pricing is also the same, starting at $1,599 for 16 GB of unified memory and 512 GB of storage.

For now, the M5 model of the 14-inch MacBook Pro is notably more capable than the M4 models of the MacBook Air, which was less true of the M4 MacBook Pro it replaces. That said, you won’t go wrong with the more affordable MacBook Air or the higher performance of the M4 Pro and M4 Max models of the MacBook Pro.

11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro

The M5 models of the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro deliver similar performance improvements over the previous M4 models, with Apple highlighting up to 2x faster AI image generation and up to 2.3x faster AI video upscaling. The enhancements are even more pronounced when compared to the M1 iPad Pro models, where benchmarked tasks are 2x to 7x faster. Additionally, the M5 iPad Pro models feature up to 2x faster storage, although they are limited to 2 TB.

Apple didn’t stop there. The 256 GB and 512 GB configurations have 50% more unified memory, increasing from 8 GB to 12 GB, while the 1 TB and 2 TB configurations have 16 GB. The new models also feature enhanced external display support, enabling them to drive external 4K displays at up to 120 Hz with Adaptive Sync, which reduces latency and enhances gaming performance. Lastly, Apple introduced fast charging that provides 50% power in 30 minutes with an appropriate charger.

Two other notable changes probably won’t be evident to most users. The M5 models of the iPad Pro utilize Apple’s new C1X cellular modem and N1 wireless network chip, which enable Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking. Apple claims faster cellular and Wi-Fi performance, along with lower power consumption, but official battery life estimates remain unchanged.

Otherwise, the new iPad Pro models remain nearly identical to their predecessors. They retain the same Ultra Retina XDR display, cameras, ports, and accessory ecosystem (Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil). The case and industrial design are the same.

Pricing for the 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 for Wi-Fi models and $1,199 for Wi-Fi + Cellular models. The 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299 with Wi-Fi and $1,499 for Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity.

Creative professionals already using a previous generation of the iPad Pro may consider upgrading, but for most people, we recommend either the low-cost iPad or the mid-range iPad Air.

Vision Pro

In the first hardware update to its Vision Pro “spatial computer,” Apple replaced the M2 chip with the more powerful M5. This upgrade boosts performance, allowing the Vision Pro to render 10% more pixels, resulting in a sharper image with crisper text and more detailed visuals. The M5 also increases the Vision Pro’s maximum refresh rate to 120 Hz from 100 Hz, helping to reduce motion blur. Battery life receives a slight boost, providing an additional 30 minutes of general use (up to 2.5 hours) and video playback (up to 3 hours). The only other change is a new Dual Knit Band, which Apple says is more comfortable.

Apart from the M5 and Dual Knit Band, the Vision Pro remains unchanged in form, function, and philosophy. Nor did Apple lower the Vision Pro’s price, which is still $3,499. Although these changes undoubtedly improve the Vision Pro experience a bit, they won’t change anyone’s purchasing decision.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple has brought its new M5 chip to the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro, boosting performance but changing little else. The updates maintain existing designs and price points.

These are updates to mature product lines, so the changes from last year’s versions may not be enough to persuade you to upgrade. However, this year’s releases are attractive for anyone wanting to replace an old iPhone, Apple Watch, or set of AirPods that is showing its age or suffering from weak battery life. Pre-ordered products will be delivered and become available in stores on September 19.

After the announcement, Apple revealed on its website that all its next-generation operating systems—macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, and likely tvOS 26 and HomePod Software 26—will ship on September 15. Wait a week or two before upgrading essential devices to avoid any last-minute bugs, and hold off on Tahoe for a few months or until you’re confident your necessary Mac apps are compatible. Regardless of when you upgrade, make a backup right before, in case an unexpected problem forces you to erase and restore.

Let’s look at the new products.

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Lineup

As with the last few years, the best bang for your iPhone buck comes from the new iPhone 17, which gains even more features previously exclusive to the Pro models and is available in black, white, mist blue, sage, and lavender. Apple replaced the Plus model with the ultra-thin iPhone Air, available in space black, cloud white, light gold, and sky blue. Lastly, the company enhanced the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max to make them even more compelling to professional photographers and videographers. These models come in three anodized aluminum colors: silver, deep blue, and cosmic orange.

Notable features shared by all the new models include:

• Center Stage front camera: Powered by a new square sensor, the new selfie camera automatically reframes shots to keep multiple people in view without rotating the phone. The 18-megapixel sensor also promises higher-resolution photos and stabilized video. You can even now record video using both the front and rear cameras at the same time.
• A19 and A19 Pro: The latest generation of Apple silicon boosts CPU and GPU performance, with the A19 Pro adding neural accelerators to each GPU core for faster AI processing. The A19 powers the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air; the iPhone 17 Pro models rely on the A19 Pro.
• Enhanced scratch and crack resistance: Apple made much of its new Ceramic Shield 2 coating, which reportedly provides three times better scratch resistance for the front glass. The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models also feature Ceramic Shield 2 for the back glass, where Apple says it’s four times more resistant to cracks.
• Better battery life: All the iPhone 17 models have improved battery life compared to last year’s models, and although the iPhone Air has less internal space for the battery, it still offers the same battery life as last year’s iPhone 16 Plus.
• Brighter displays: All models now support 3000 nits of brightness outdoors, making them easier to read in sunlight.
• More storage: 256 GB has become the new standard in storage levels. You can upgrade to 512 GB on the iPhone 17, choose 512 GB or 1 TB on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models, and go up to 2 TB on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
• N1 wireless chip: All new models now rely on an Apple-designed N1 chip that provides Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking. You won’t notice this—wireless should just work.

More specifically, the iPhone 17 gains a new 6.3-inch display, up from the 6.1-inch screen in the iPhone 16. The display also supports ProMotion adaptive refresh rates up to 120 Hz and includes always-on functionality. Additionally, the display can scale its refresh rate down to 1 Hz to preserve battery life. The iPhone 17’s Dual Fusion camera system is also a significant upgrade from the previous generation, moving from a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera to a 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera that delivers more detail in landscapes and macro photos.

Thanks to a titanium frame, the iPhone Air measures just 5.6 mm thick, making it the thinnest iPhone ever. However, its 6.5-inch screen places it between the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro (6.3-inch) and the iPhone 17 Pro Max (6.9-inch) — it’s slim but not small. To make space for the internal components and battery, Apple replaced the traditional asymmetrical camera bump with a wider “plateau” that runs across the entire back of the iPhone Air. The biggest compromise in the iPhone Air, which may drive many potential buyers toward the iPhone 17 or 17 Pro, is the single 48-megapixel Fusion camera system, which lacks the Ultra Wide camera found in other models or the Telephoto camera in the iPhone 17 Pro. Its photos are likely fine, but they won’t match the quality of those taken with other iPhones if you want to zoom in or out. Lastly, the iPhone Air uses Apple’s new C1X cellular modem chip, which improves upon the C1 introduced in the iPhone 16e. We still don’t know how it compares to the Qualcomm chips in the iPhone 17 models.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max trade last year’s titanium frames for aluminum that provides better thermal conductivity with only a 7-gram weight gain. Heat dissipation was a focus this year, with Apple also adding a vapor chamber—that’s right, there’s water inside. All three of the iPhone 17 Pro’s Fusion cameras are now 48 megapixels, up from 12 megapixels for the Telephoto camera in last year’s models. You can now enjoy 4x optical-quality zoom with 48-megapixel shots and 8x optical-quality zoom with 12-megapixel images. Professionals will also appreciate ProRes RAW capture and Genlock synchronization support.

In terms of prices, the iPhone 17 starts at $799, the iPhone Air at $999, the iPhone 17 Pro at $1099, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1199. If those prices are too steep for your budget, the iPhone 16e ($599), iPhone 16 ($699), and iPhone 16 Plus ($799) remain for sale.

Should you upgrade? Probably not from one of last year’s models or an iPhone 15 Pro, all of which support Apple Intelligence. With an older iPhone, the decision largely depends on whether you want a larger screen and a better camera (all three have the helpful Camera Control that debuted last year). Also consider how weak your current battery is—that’s often what prompts people to upgrade. You can’t go wrong with an iPhone 17, and even though the iPhone 17 Pro is pricey, you’ll get the best cameras and top performance. Even if it sacrifices some photo quality, the iPhone Air certainly makes a design statement.

Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3

Last year saw only the release of the Apple Watch Series 10, featuring a thinner case and larger screen, while this year brings new models across all three Apple Watch lines: the Apple Watch SE 3, the Apple Watch Series 11, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

• Apple Watch SE 3: The new entry-level model improves on its predecessor with a welcome always-on display. Its new S10 chip enables features like double-tap and wrist flick gestures, along with on-device Siri processing. It provides sleep apnea notifications, and the addition of temperature sensing allows cycle tracking. Fast charging and the ability to play media through the built-in speaker round out the major upgrades, along with 5G cellular capabilities for better connectivity. It’s available in midnight and starlight colors, starting at $249 (cellular adds $50). The Apple Watch SE 3 is a solid option with many fewer compromises than in the past, though it still lacks the ECG app, blood oxygen monitoring, and hypertension detection. It also has a smaller, less-bright display and a shorter battery life (18 versus 24 hours).
  
• Apple Watch Series 11: There are few changes from last year’s Series 10. A new ceramic coating improves scratch resistance, and 5G connectivity for cellular-enabled models may provide better wireless performance with less battery drain. The battery life is now rated at up to 24 hours. Apple also touted the new hypertension detection and sleep score, but both are features of watchOS 26 and will be available on some earlier models as well. The Apple Watch Series 11 is available in aluminum (jet black, silver, rose gold, and space gray) and titanium (natural, gold, and slate) finishes starting at $399 (cellular adds $100).
  
• Apple Watch Ultra 3: The most technologically impressive change is support for Messages, Find My, and Emergency SOS via satellite, much like the iPhone 14 and later. There are caveats—you’ll need a cellular plan for Messages and Find My via satellite to work, and sending and receiving SMS/MMS messages requires a powered-on iPhone connected to the Internet, though it doesn’t need to be nearby. It also supports 5G cellular. Another enhancement is a larger display that’s easier to see at off angles and can refresh once per second to show a ticking seconds hand. It also offers up to 42 hours of battery life and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available in natural or black titanium, starting at $799.
  

It’s difficult to recommend upgrading from an Apple Watch Series 9 or Series 10—the Series 11 is just too similar. However, the Apple Watch SE 3 offers real-world improvements over previous Apple Watch SE models and may also be sufficient for many users upgrading from an old Series 4 or similar. The main reason to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is for satellite connectivity; if you frequently go off-grid, it might be worth trading in an older Apple Watch Ultra.

AirPods Pro 3

The smallest new product Apple announced might be one of the most popular: the upgraded AirPods Pro 3. Apple’s premium earbuds have gained many fans due to their excellent noise cancellation, which effectively blocks out sounds like airplane engines, construction machines, and more—they even let you enjoy loud concerts without worrying about your hearing.

The new AirPods Pro 3 feature an internal redesign and new foam-infused eartips to provide twice the noise cancellation of the AirPods Pro 2 and four times that of the original AirPods Pro. Apple also slightly reduced their size, improved stability, and now offers five sizes of eartips, all designed to make the AirPods Pro 3 more comfortable. Those who exercise with AirPods will appreciate the new IP57 sweat and water resistance, along with heart rate tracking during workouts. The AirPods Pro 3 can even detect your movements and automatically start up to 50 workout types in the Fitness app on your iPhone. Finally, Apple boosted battery life to 8 hours with noise cancellation active (up from 6 hours) and up to 10 hours in Transparency mode.

The most impressive AirPods demo during Apple’s event was Live Translation, which enables real-time translation of face-to-face conversations in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish initially, with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese coming later this year. If the other person isn’t wearing supported AirPods, you can use your iPhone as a horizontal display to show your speech in their language. Live Translation is powered by computational audio on an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone running iOS 26, and it also works on the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation.

The AirPods Pro 3 remain priced at $249 with a wireless charging case. If noise cancellation is important to you, they’re an easy upgrade, especially if you’re coming from regular AirPods or the original AirPods Pro.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s September harvest brings the new iPhone 17 lineup and the iPhone Air, three new Apple Watch models, and the AirPods Pro 3, plus release dates for iOS 26 and macOS 26 Tahoe. Get the details and our upgrade advice.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference keynote was a lightning-fast 92-minute tour of Apple’s vision for how we’ll use its products in the next year. Apple wove two themes through the presentation: the new Liquid Glass design language will provide a consistent look and feel across all its platforms, and Apple Intelligence-powered features will continue to appear throughout the ecosystem. The other overarching news is that Apple is adopting a new annual versioning approach, similar to car model years, so the version number for each operating system will be 26.

Apple previewed numerous features during the keynote and listed even more on its website afterward. Below, we’ll focus on those we think will make the most difference to your Apple experience, but we also encourage you to read Apple’s pages for each platform to learn more about what’s coming. Those are linked here, along with basic hardware requirements, so you can determine if your devices will be eligible to upgrade this fall:

• macOS 26 Tahoe: MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later), MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later), MacBook Pro (16‑inch, 2019), MacBook Pro (13‑inch, 2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports), iMac (2020 and later), Mac mini (2020 and later), Mac Studio (2022 and later), Mac Pro (2019 and later)
• iOS 26: iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 11, and later
• iPadOS 26: iPad (8th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad Pro 11‑inch (1st generation and later), iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (3rd generation and later), and iPad Pro (M4)
• watchOS 26: Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), Apple Watch Series 6 and later, and Apple Watch Ultra and later
• visionOS 26: All Vision Pro headsets
• tvOS 26: Apple TV 4K

First, let’s look at Liquid Glass, after which we’ll examine a handful of changes we think Apple users will find most interesting.

Liquid Glass Gives Apple’s Platforms a Fresh Look

Apple’s last major interface redesign occurred in 2013 with the release of iOS 7. Since then, the company’s hardware and graphics technologies have advanced significantly, enabling the new Liquid Glass interface design. It brings to life a new glass-like “material” for interface elements that blurs the line between the physical and the virtual. Liquid Glass is both translucent and malleable, allowing background content to refract through the controls, which can morph, flex, and illuminate in response to user interaction.

Liquid Glass encompasses all of Apple’s platforms and extends to every aspect of the interface, including controls, navigation bars, tabs and sidebars, alerts, widgets, icons, the menu bar, and the Dock. Functionally, Apple has taken the opportunity to improve some interactions, so alerts appear from where you tap rather than taking over the entire display, and context menus expand into scannable lists rather than requiring awkward horizontal scrolling. When you interact with toolbars or other controls, they expand and become more prominent, but as soon as you’re done, they minimize themselves to let you focus on the content. Watch Apple’s intro video to get a feel for it.

The main concern with Liquid Glass is that it may lack contrast and be difficult to read for those whose vision isn’t perfect. In the past, Apple has provided a Reduce Transparency option in the Accessibility settings for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS to eliminate any color bleeding through translucent menus and dialogs; we’ll see if such an option proves necessary for some.

iPadOS 26 Takes Lessons from macOS

Ever since the introduction of the iPad, people have been frustrated by the extent to which it was a larger iPhone rather than a smaller, touch-sensitive Mac. Apple took small steps toward enhancing productivity by adding features like Slide Over and Split View, but they were fussy to use and never achieved widespread acceptance. With iPadOS 26, Apple has finally acknowledged that the iPad should just work more like a Mac. To that end, iPadOS 26 will offer Mac-like features in the following areas:

• Window management: Every app can now be transformed into a standalone window that you can move and resize freely. Windows remember their size and position, and you can tile them flexibly, with options to split the screen into two, three, or four sections. The familiar traffic light window controls from the Mac reappear along with the macOS Move & Resize and Fill & Arrange options. Swiping up invokes Exposé, allowing you to view all windows and switch to your desired one easily.
  
• Menu bar and Dock: iPadOS gains a menu bar that looks and works like the one on the Mac, but it only appears when you swipe down from the top of the screen. You can also put folders in the Dock and access their contents in much the same way docked folders appear as a stack on the Mac.
  
• Filesystem access: The Files app resembles a Finder window much more now, thanks to the addition of collapsible folders and resizable columns. It allows you to select which apps will open specific document types and even modify the defaults. Additionally, you can customize folders with colors and icons.
  
• Preview makes the move: One of the core Mac apps, Preview, is coming to the iPad. Just as on the Mac, you can use Preview for viewing and editing images and PDFs, and it offers full support for the Apple Pencil.
  
• Background processing: Computationally intensive processes and other activities that take a long time, like exporting edited videos and downloading large files, can now run in the background while you engage in other tasks.
  

Apple Intelligence Expands Across the Ecosystem

Apple Intelligence has been far from a rousing success, with Apple’s failure to deliver last year’s promised update to Siri being the most prominent misstep. But Apple isn’t giving up and will be tapping into Apple Intelligence in many more places across all its operating systems and apps.

Even more important, the company announced that it is opening Apple Intelligence to developers, so we can expect to see features powered by Apple’s on-device large language models appearing in third-party apps this fall. That’s a big deal because Apple’s models provide fast response times, prioritize privacy, and incur no per-prompt costs.

Some of the new and expanded uses of Apple Intelligence include:

• Visual Intelligence: You can now use Visual Intelligence to learn more about and act on information displayed on your iPhone screen. You could research a piece of clothing you see while browsing, or create a calendar event based on a social media banner. You can also ask ChatGPT about anything you see on screen.
• Shortcuts gets Apple Intelligence: New intelligence actions in Shortcuts enable you to leverage Apple Intelligence to summarize text, create images, and more. Interestingly, shortcuts can even access Apple Intelligence’s Private Cloud Compute for more power-intensive tasks.
• Image Playground & ChatGPT: When using Image Playground, you can create images in a wider variety of styles with ChatGPT.
• Combine emoji for Genmoji: Previously, you could use text descriptions to create custom Genmoji; now, you can make them by combining existing emoji.
• Messages backgrounds: Chats in Messages will offer shared backgrounds, and users can create custom backgrounds with Image Playground.
• Messages polls: Group chats in Messages will gain polls—where should we go for dinner tonight?—and Apple Intelligence will automatically detect when a poll might be helpful and suggest one.
• Wallet order details: With Apple Intelligence, the Wallet app can identify and summarize order details, including tracking information.
• Workout Buddy: In the watchOS 26 Workout app, Apple Intelligence powers a virtual workout buddy that talks to you while you exercise, offering motivation, real-time stats, and post-workout feedback.

These new applications of Apple Intelligence may not rock your world, but together, they offer some appreciated enhancements. We also look forward to seeing how developers leverage Apple Intelligence models in innovative ways.

Live Translation Edges Toward the Universal Translator

Perhaps the most significant additional feature driven by Apple Intelligence in the new operating systems is Live Translation. It’s integrated into the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps. In the Phone app, you get spoken translations between supported languages. In FaceTime, you see the other person’s translated text as a caption, and Messages translates their text. Live Translations may prove to be a lifesaver on your next international trip.

Spotlight Gains Enhanced Capabilities

Whenever you do a search on the Mac, you’re using Spotlight. It can also search within apps like Contacts and Calendar, access various online sources, open documents, launch apps, and more. Despite that, Spotlight has paled in comparison to launchers like Alfred, LaunchBar, and Raycast. No more.

In Apple’s new operating systems, Spotlight will enable users to perform hundreds of actions across various apps. It will also be capable of understanding what you’re working on and suggesting relevant files, apps, or actions. For instance, you’ll be able to start a timer, create calendar events, generate a new email message with pre-filled fields, play a podcast episode, and more.

Spotlight also introduces the concept of “quick keys,” which are short, custom mnemonics for specific actions. For instance, you might type sm to trigger Spotlight to send a message or ar to add a reminder.

In addition, Spotlight becomes a clipboard manager, providing access to recently copied items, including text, images, and links. You can browse, search, and insert previous clipboard entries directly through Spotlight.

Phone App Introduces Call Screening and Hold Assist

Phone calls may not be the primary use of the iPhone for many people, but they remain a fact of life. With iOS 26, Apple has introduced two features that, if they work as promised, will alleviate two common pain points associated with calls.

Call Screening builds on the Live Voicemail feature by automatically answering calls from unknown numbers, without even alerting you. Once the caller provides their name and the reason for their call, the Phone app rings and presents information to help you decide whether to answer.

The other new feature is Hold Assist, which automatically detects hold music and asks if you want it to wait on hold for you, allowing you to attend to other tasks. When someone on the other end picks up, it informs them that you’ll be there shortly and notifies you that it’s time to return to the call.

Although we think of using the Phone app exclusively on the iPhone, Apple is also bringing it to macOS 26 and iPadOS 26, thanks to Continuity. Once you upgrade, you’ll be able to take advantage of these features—and Live Translation—on those platforms as well.

Dismiss Notifications with the Flick of a Wrist

Finally, watchOS 26 introduces a new gesture that we believe will be popular: the wrist flick. Whenever a notification appears on screen, you can quickly rotate your wrist away from you to dismiss it. This feature is a great little addition to the Apple Watch interaction model.

If none of these changes seem earthshaking to you, we agree. With six operating systems and billions of users, Apple can’t move as quickly as smaller companies. While Liquid Glass will dramatically change the look of our Apple devices, the other new features shouldn’t require us to learn completely new methods of interaction.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: At its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple unveiled the first major interface change to its operating systems in many years, along with a boatload of new features, many powered by Apple Intelligence. Here are a few of our favorites.

The primary change to the 11th-generation iPad ($349) is the move from the previous model’s A14 Bionic chip to the A16, which is nearly 30% faster but still won’t support Apple Intelligence or some recent games. Apple also increased the base storage from 64 GB to 128 GB, dropped the Nano-SIM slot from the cellular models, and updated the wireless capabilities to support current protocol versions. Although the screen remains the same 10.9-inch diagonal size, Apple now refers to it as the “11-inch iPad.” It remains an excellent and affordable entry-level device.

The 7th generation of Apple’s flagship 11-inch ($599) and 13-inch ($799) iPad Air sees only a single change—swapping the previous model’s M2 chip for the M3 to increase performance, particularly for gaming and video creation. Separately, Apple introduced a less expensive Magic Keyboard for iPad Air that adds a 14-key function row and sports a larger trackpad, though it lacks the previous model’s backlit keys and trackpad haptics. The keyboard costs $269 for the 11-inch iPad Air or $319 for the 13-inch model.

(Featured image by Apple)

(Featured image by Apple)

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Adding to that appeal is a $100 price drop that brings the starting price back to $999 after Apple raised it several years ago. In concert with the return to the lower starting price, the company dropped the M2 MacBook Air and M3 MacBook Air from the official price list, though refurbished units remain available temporarily for discounted prices.

The jump from the M3 to the M4 increases performance, though Apple doesn’t say by how much. Independent benchmarks suggest that it may be about 20% faster. What’s more important for those considering an upgrade is that the M4 MacBook Air is up to twice as fast as the M1 MacBook Air and a whopping 23 times faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air.

The base level of the M4 MacBook Air now comes with 16 GB of unified memory, up from 8 GB. This increase is partly aimed at enhancing Apple Intelligence performance. It also reduces the necessity for many users to consider upgrading, which we had previously recommended. For most people, 16 GB is sufficient, but for optimal multitasking performance and to future-proof your investment, consider upgrading to 24 GB. Only those with demanding workflows will need the new maximum of 32 GB, and in such cases, it may be worthwhile to consider a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple also significantly improved video calls by swapping the MacBook Air’s previous 1080p FaceTime HD camera for the 12-megapixel Center Stage camera. As you move around during a call, Center Stage zooms and pans to keep you in the frame. Not having to stay stationary during calls can make a day with too many virtual meetings less exhausting. The camera also supports Desk View, which lets you show off items below the camera, essentially on top of the keyboard. It’s a niche feature, but one that some people find useful.

The final improvement in the M4 MacBook Air is subtle but may be compelling for some users. The M1 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Air could drive a single external display in addition to the built-in screen, and the M3 MacBook Air supported two external displays at once, but only if you closed the lid and used an external keyboard and trackpad. With the M4 MacBook Air, you can now connect two external displays while keeping the lid open, which gives you three screens and lets you use the built-in keyboard and trackpad. Increasing screen space boosts productivity by allowing you to see more on-screen at once, so we recommend you give multiple displays a try.

The new M4 MacBook Air comes in four colors: silver, starlight, midnight, and a new sky blue that replaces the previous space gray. The 13-inch model starts at $999, and the 15-inch model at $1,199. Memory upgrades include 24 GB for $200 or 32 GB for $400, and storage options beyond the base 256 GB carry the usual price premiums: 512 GB for $200, 1 TB for $400, and 2 TB for $800.

Put simply, the M4 MacBook Air is impressive. It boasts serious power in a svelte, lightweight package that makes very few compromises. It’s equally at home on the road as a laptop or at a desk connected to external displays, making it the perfect Mac for nearly any student and many average Mac users. Only those who require significant processing power or prefer a desktop Mac need to look at the Mac mini or MacBook Pro.

(Featured image by Apple)

Physically, the iPhone 16e is a cross between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 16. Its case dimensions match those of the iPhone 14, and it has the older notch design instead of the iPhone 16’s Dynamic Island. However, the iPhone 16e incorporates the iPhone 16’s Action button and uses USB-C.

What the iPhone 16e doesn’t do is replace the third-generation iPhone SE in terms of price or size. At $599, it’s $170 more than the 64 GB iPhone SE and $120 more than the comparable 128 GB model. That’s a significant increase for the most affordable iPhone. Moreover, while the iPhone SE’s compact size made it popular among those with smaller hands and pockets, the iPhone 16e is significantly taller, wider, thicker, and heavier. Anyone moving from an iPhone SE will feel the difference.

In exchange for its higher price and larger size, the iPhone 16e delivers significantly more technology than the iPhone SE. It replaces Touch ID with Face ID, boasts a much larger, brighter screen, sports notably improved front and rear cameras, and is powered by an A18 chip that is 40% faster than the iPhone SE’s A15 Bionic and supports Apple Intelligence features. The Action button can be customized to perform nearly any function and will soon also provide access to Visual Intelligence. The iPhone 16e also offers satellite connectivity for Messages, Roadside Assistance, and Emergency SOS in areas without cellular coverage, and it can alert emergency services after a car crash. Finally, it’s even more water- and dust-resistant.

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However, it’s also worth comparing the iPhone 16e to the iPhone 16, which starts at $799. That $200 premium gets you a lot, including a brighter screen, the Dynamic Island instead of a notch, a Camera Control button, a more advanced dual-camera system featuring a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera, a slightly more powerful A18 chip, 25-watt MagSafe charging with support for MagSafe accessories, and Ultra Wideband for precise Find My locating. Additionally, the iPhone 16’s camera system provides macro and spatial photography, as well as video features like cinematic mode, action mode, spatial videos, and macro recording. It may also deliver better optical image stabilization.

The only area where the iPhone 16e outperforms the iPhone 16 is in battery life. In Apple’s benchmarks, the iPhone 16e provides 12% to 18% longer runtime. The enhanced endurance is partly due to the power efficiency of Apple’s new C1 wireless communications chip. Apple also said it redesigned the internals of the iPhone 16e to accommodate a larger battery. The longer battery life may be especially welcome for those who expect to keep their iPhones for years.

Apple’s new C1 chip is a big deal, and the company wants to use it in future iPhone models to improve battery life and wireless performance. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that the C1 may suffer teething pains that Apple will address in software updates. Although Apple undoubtedly believes the C1 will work well, there’s no telling what will happen in the real world, and the company’s engineers may need to tweak it to address performance or reliability issues.

If you’re in the market for a new iPhone, what should you choose? The iPhone 16e is the best option for those on a tight budget since it’s the most affordable. (Last year’s iPhone 15, which is still available, starts at $699 and doesn’t support Apple Intelligence.) However, if you can afford that extra $200, the iPhone 16 is significantly more capable thanks to its superior rear camera system, Camera Control button, MagSafe compatibility, and Dynamic Island. For all the differences, check Apple’s iPhone comparison tool.

Finally, those seeking a smaller, lighter iPhone are out of luck. Their best hope lies with the rumored iPhone 17 Air, which is expected to arrive in September and could be thinner and lighter while maintaining the same height and width.

For more information on all the great Apple products, features, and services, give us a call!  940-767-MACS (6227).  Or stop by MacTech Solutions, 4020 Rhea Rd, Suite 3B, Wichita Falls.  We’re open Monday thru Friday, 10am to 6pm

(Featured image by Apple)