EU developers don't pass on App Store fee savings to users
The main reason the Digital Markets Act exists according to the European Union is to lower costs for consumers. For App Store customers, developers didn't bother to cut prices.An EU flag with the App Store logoThe Digital Markets Act (DMA) is how the European Union (EU) and its European Commission (EC) were able to fine Apple $570 million over allegedly treating consumers unfairly. It's how the EU could fine the company $2 billion for purportedly abusing its monopoly position and again doing so to the detriment of European users.Now Apple is saying more specifically that the DMA is failing to achieve the price cuts for consumers that it set out to do. A new study examined App Store prices before and after Apple lower its fees to developers, and saw practically no difference. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

Apple says study proves the EU is wrong about lowering app prices
Apple’s opposition to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) antitrust legislation took a turn back in September when the company started arguing that the law should be repealed. It also suggested that more new features would be delayed for EU customers, and perhaps even new hardware. The company is now claiming a new study proves that the DMA fails to live up to one of its core promises: reducing app prices … more…

Read more »

Comedy Palm Royale season 2 brings new murder mystery [Now streaming!]
Set in tony Palm Beach, Florida, in the late 1960s, "Palm Royale" season 2 stars Kristen Wiig, Carol Burnett and Ricky Martin. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

Read more »

iOS 26.2 adds new way for your iPhone to make notifications pop
iOS 26.2 is coming next month, packed with changes for Apple’s system apps, and also a hidden new feature for notifications that can help ensure you don’t miss any alerts. more…

Read more »

The one thing Vision Pro is great at is basically guaranteed to fail
Macworld When Apple launched Vision Pro, reviewers were conflicted. Most acknowledged the very high standard of the headset’s technology, while wondering if there was a convincing use case. What are we supposed to do with this thing that justifies the enormous price tag? What’s the killer app? Even after the launch of the second-gen model, those questions remain. But one possible solution lies in the world of sports. With traditional broadcast technology, watching sports on TV is a pale 2D imitation of attending the event in person; even 3D TVs struggle to properly immerse you in the crowd and the atmosphere. The kind of immersion enabled by Vision Pro would, quite literally, be a game changer. Sadly, there remain many barriers in the way of this becoming a mainstream reality, as one startup appears to have discovered. In a detailed article, AppleInsider this week recounts the strange tale of OneEightyDegrees, a small firm seeking investment and media coverage of its Be There platform. This was designed to capture immersive video at sports events using specialist cameras located in or near the stands, and broadcast this live to VR users–initially Vision Pro, with other platforms to be added later. That sounds like a good plan, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out. OneEightyDegrees stopped responding to AppleInsider’s emails, and the site is now unsure whether it was a legitimate startup which simply didn’t manage to secure the funding it needed, or if the whole thing was just a fishing expedition “in an attempt to secure a one-in-a-million chance at funding and to become a real service.” Either way, I wouldn’t expect to hear much more about OneEightyDegrees or Be There. The sports conundrum There’s a wider point here, because this odd case study demonstrates the near-impossibility of any small company breaking into the live broadcast of VR sports video. As AppleInsider explains, OneEightyDegrees never stood a chance. The startup would have had to pay licensing fees to leagues and franchises, likely running into the tens or even hundreds of millions, obtain broadcast-grade cameras and other equipment and gear, then manage bandwidth-hungry data streams to viewers. And after all that expense, OneEightyDegrees would have run into the worst problem of all: the audience isn’t guaranteed, and will be very small at first, partly because hardly anyone can afford a Vision Pro and partly because the idea of watching a multi-hour sports event using a weighty headset is unappealing. The money you’d have to pump into the project simply wouldn’t be justified by the money you could draw out at the other end, which essentially rules the idea out as feasible for a startup. Or for any company that wants to actually make a profit. Sports could be Vision Pro’s killer feature, but it’s extremely expensive.Dall-E/Petter Ahrnstedt The only way this could work, in other words, is for a company to take it on as an initially loss-making enterprise that pays out in the long run. Create it in the knowledge that it won’t turn a profit, and hope that the existence of high-quality live sports broadcasts on Vision Pro will convince more people to buy one, thereby making the service commercially viable. Although we’d still need Apple to make a lighter version of the headset, and the bad news is that this project is believed to have been scrapped. Apple itself has dipped its toes into sports broadcasting on Vision Pro, but to a very limited extent: a few basketball games and a slam dunk contest, none of them live. Where it has much wider experience is traditional sports broadcasting, from soccer and F1 to Friday Night Baseball, so the company clearly has the coffers to stomach those franchise fees; the question is whether it would be willing to commit to the much greater costs and difficulties of broadcasting in VR on a wider basis. Perhaps it will do so for the sake of Vision Pro’s success. But I’m not convinced. Apple has plenty of money, but that doesn’t mean it’s willing to throw a chunk of it at a losing venture. And as the case of OneEightyDegrees demonstrates, there’s little profit to be had right now from broadcasting sports to Vision Pro users.

Read more »

PowerWash Simulator and more coming to Apple Arcade next month
Apple has announced its next round of Apple Arcade titles. In a press release today, the company revealed that games including PowerWash Simulator, SpongeBob Patty Pursuit 2, and more will launch on Apple Arcade on December 4. more…

Read more »

OWC StudioStack expands Mac Studio storage without a larger footprint
The new OWC StudioStack brings SSD speeds close to Apple's fastest to Macs, pairing a Thunderbolt 5 hub with up to 32TB of storage.OWC has a new Thunderbolt 5 enclosureThe OWC StudioStack is the latest in the line of storage that fits underneath a pre-M4 redesign Mac mini or Mac Studio, and expands the storage and port options of Apple's desktop Macs, especially the Mac Studio and Mac mini. It connects through Thunderbolt 5 but is backward compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 3 systems.According to OWC, the StudioStack can reach up to 6,302 MB/s when paired with a compatible NVMe SSD, approaching the speed of Apple's fastest internal drives and exceeding most. It supports one NVMe M.2 SSD and one 3.5-inch SATA drive for a combined capacity of up to 32TB. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

Hands-on: Smart glasses that finally look & feel normal – Even Realities G2
During the chaos of CES 2025, I came across one product that gave me the “I need to have that” feeling. It was at a small booth in the smart wearables area. They were the Even Realities G1 glasses. They were the first smart glasses I came across that I actually wanted to wear purely based on the look. When I finally got my hands on them, they mostly lived up to my internal hype. These G1 glasses were amazingly well made, had some great functionality that I used a lot, like the teleprompter feature, and seemed to be heading in the direction that I thought most smart glasses should take. However, it was still a first-generation product, so some kinks needed to be ironed out. Fast forward to today, and Even Realities introduced their new G2 glasses and the R1 bright ring, and now it feels like a whole different beast. Here is what you should know. more…

Read more »

Apple celebrates world premiere of ‘The Family Plan 2,’ starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, and many more
Apple Original Films hosted the world premiere of its family action comedy “The Family Plan 2,” premiering globally on Apple TV… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Read more »

iPhone 18 Pro Max may be the heaviest iPhone ever made
Apple's update to the iPhone 18 Pro Max could make it thicker and the heaviest iPhone ever, if a Weibo leaker is to be believed.iPhone 17 Pro MaxWhile Apple does prefer to make major design changes to products on a periodic basis, it does often make smaller tweaks to the design. If a Wednesday post by a well-known leaker is true, we could end up with the heaviest iPhone Apple has ever produced.According to Instant Digital on Weibo, Apple won't be making the next iteration of the iPhone 18 Pro Max any lighter, following its iPhone 17 Pro Max redesign. Instead, it will be going in the opposite direction. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

The clever story of ending Steve Jobs’ critiques of the Macintosh Calculator app
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was infamous for his harsh critiques of the work of his team. Hardware or software, if Steve wasn’t 100% happy, you would certainly know about it. Chris Espinosa, who wrote the first Macintosh calculator app and still works at Apple as its longest-serving employee, found a creative way around Steve’s never-ending critiques in what must be one of the best ever examples of managing upwards … more…

Read more »

When is the best time to buy an iPad? We investigate
Macworld We’ve all been there. You decide to pick up a shiny new device, so you head to the shops and return home with your expensive purchase; all is well with the world. Then a week later a newer, better version is released, and you’re left wondering whether you’ve wasted your money. In this article we show how to avoid this trauma by explaining when it’s the best time to buy an iPad. If you’re struggling to decide which one is the right device for you, incidentally, you should also take a look at our iPad buying guide. When is the best time to buy an iPad? It’s easier to say when the worst time to buy a new iPad is: just before a new version is launched. That’s when you find out you could have got more for your money and the retailer you brought from drops the price of the model you now own because they want to clear out the old stock. To avoid this you might want to check to see if Apple is about to update the range of iPads you are interested in. Unfortunately there is no clear schedule to when Apple will update any of the iPad models because Apple doesn’t tend to update iPads as regularly as it does iPhones. But you can be reasonably confident that if the iPad you want to buy is less than a year and a half old it probably isn’t about to be updated. However, buying an iPad just after it launches isn’t necessarily the best time to buy one either. This is the time when you will be paying the most for a new iPad, not because Apple might drop prices but because other resellers probably will. We see iPad deals from retailers throughout the year, but the best deals tend to happen during Amazon Prime Day (July and October) or Black Friday (November). For this reason we would recommend that those are good times to buy a new iPad. Apple doesn’t discount its products in its own stores, but it does offer vouchers with new purchases from time to time–and Black Friday is one of those times as is the Back to School deal that it runs throughout the summer months. So if you want to get vouchers from Apple those are good times to shop at the company’s stores. When was the iPad updated? Life would be a bit easier for the iPad fanbase if you could always rely on the latest update to your preferred model appearing in September, as is the case with the iPhone. Instead, Apple updates its iPads on a less predictable schedule, with new models tending to appear around September/October or April, and often with a gap of two or more years between updates. Here’s a list of the iPads on sale today and when they were last updated: iPad mini (A17 Pro): October 2024 iPad (A16): March 2025 iPad Air (M3): March 2025 iPad Pro (M5): October 2025 When will Apple launch new iPads? The next update is likely to be to the iPad mini (A17 Pro), we also hope that Apple will soon update the iPad A16 as that is incompatible with the Apple Intelligence features. As for when to expect these updates, spring 2026 is possible but we think we could be waiting until fall 2026. Is now a good time to buy an iPad? Here’s our breakdown of the four types of iPad that Apple currently sells, and in each case whether you should buy now or wait. Should I buy iPad (A16, 2025)? Price When Reviewed: $349 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $299 View Deal $299.99 View Deal $324.99 View Deal $329 View Deal $349 View Deal $349 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket BUY (but consider an alternative) Last updated: March 2025 Is now a good time to buy? Yes. But keep in mind that there are Apple Intelligence features you won’t be getting now, or in the future, so a different iPad might be a better choice. The current 10-inch iPad arrived in March 2025. This is the cheapest iPad, with a starting price of $349/£329, and as such it is an easy model to recommend for those who don’t care about the latest flashy innovations and instead want a reliable, mid-size tablet in fun colors, for general use. However, if size isn’t important, you may be better off with the smaller iPad mini, which starts at $499/£499. Another reason to choose the iPad mini or iPad Air is that the standard iPad doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, which could mean missing out on features coming to the iPad in the future. Read our full Apple iPad (A16) review Should I buy iPad mini (A17 Pro, 2024)? Price When Reviewed: $499 (128GB; Wi-Fi only) | $599 (256GB; Wi-Fi only) | $799 (512GB; Wi-Fi only) Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $399.99 View Deal $469.36 View Deal $489 View Deal $489 View Deal $499 View Deal $499 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket BUY Last updated: October 2024 Is now a good time to buy? Yes. We don’t expect an update until 2026 or later. The 2024 iPad mini offers 128GB storage at the entry level, rather than a measly 64GB. This is a definite point in its favor. In addition, the 2024 model features a chip compatible with Apple Intelligence features, so it will be nicely future-proofed for a while (and it’s likely to be a few years until Apple updates it). There is a choice of color options, as there are on the iPad and iPad Air. The iPad mini has pale blue, purple and starlight in contrast to the bolder color choices on the Air and standard iPad. Read our full Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro) review Should I buy iPad Air (M3, 2025)? Price When Reviewed: $599 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $542.17 View Deal $559 View Deal $559 View Deal $599 View Deal $599 View Deal $599.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket BUY Last updated: March 2025 Is now a good time to buy? Yes. We don’t expect an update until 2026 or later. The iPad Air with M3 chip is a stunning machine at a comparatively affordable price. It has some competition from the iPad Pro (which has a much more meaty M5 chip), and it’s no longer the thin, light offering it once was now that the iPad Pro is just as slim. Like the iPad Pro the iPad Air now comes in two sizes, so you can choose either a 11-inch or 13-inch display. It’s the iPad Air that has the fun color palette though, available in blue, pink, yellow or silver, while the Pro has a more professional color scheme. Read our full Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M3, 2025) review Should I buy iPad Pro (M5, 2025)? Price When Reviewed: $999 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $938 View Deal $946 View Deal $949 View Deal $999 View Deal $999 View Deal $999.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide View more prices Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket BUY Last updated: October 2025 Is now a good time to buy? Yes. The iPad Pro now has a M5 chip and we don’t think that it will be updated again for at least 12 months. As the flagships of Apple’s tablet range, the iPad Pro 11-inch and 13-inch are highly desirable devices that boast incredible levels of performance. These features don’t come cheap, though. The M5 iPad Pro which arrived in 2025 is already more powerful than it has any right to be, so we don’t think you need to wait for the M6 iPad Pro to launch. Read our full Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M5, 2025) review

Read more »

Build better ChatGPT prompts in seconds with this powerful AI tool
Create, optimize and manage prompts for all major AI tools with PromptBuilder, an AI prompt engineering tool for words, images and more. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

Read more »

iPhone 18 Pro Max will be thicker and heavier than ever, says leaker
Apple went all-in on the ‘Pro’ angle with its iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, making the models thicker and heavier than their predecessors. Now, one leaker says the same thing will happen against next year with the iPhone 18 Pro Max. more…

Read more »

Apple’s not canceling iPhone Air 2, it’s redesigning it to add a second rear camera
Apple's work is to allow time for a redesign that would add a second rear camera to the next iPhone Air — a feature that has been rumored… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Read more »

5 cool things you can do with Samsung SmartThings and Siri
When it comes to Samsung SmartThings and the Siri voice assistant, there are plenty of neat tricks to try in your smart home. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

Read more »

iPhone Fold: All the rumors about Apple's first foldable, and what it might look like
Signs of an iPhone Fold have been floating around for well over a decade, but the device could finally debut in 2026 or 2027. Here's what the rumor mill has to say about it, and what the phone might look like.Apple's foldable iPhone could debut in 2026 or 2027.While 2025 saw the release of the ultra-thin iPhone Air, the year ahead could prove even more interesting. Multiple sources and reports over the years have said that Apple was working on products with foldable displays, the first of which is slated to be an entirely new iPhone model.Though other smartphone manufacturers, such as Samsung, have outright embraced the concept of foldable displays, with the Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, Apple has yet to release such a device. The company has even refused to comment on the matter altogether. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

Kuxiu X40 Turbo: The best, fastest 3-in-1 charger money can buy [Review] ★★★★★
The Kuxiu X40 Turbo is a great 3-in-1 charger that supports the fastest MagSafe and Qi charging speeds possible on the latest iPhones. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

Read more »

Apple Intelligence website mistake wipes away M1 Mac support
An Apple website has been changed to say M1 Macs don't support Apple Intelligence, in what is almost certainly a mistake and not a sudden change in device support policy.The old Mac mini design used by the M1 model. Apple Intelligence is a software feature that works on all Apple Silicon chips, including all M-series variants that have been released so far. However, while Apple will eventually drop support for earlier chips, it appears on one Apple webpage to have happened far earlier than expected.Apple's website page promoting Apple Intelligence has a section that details all models of iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro that support it. The panel lists models by chip type, indicating the earliest release for each that has Apple Intelligence compatibility. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Read more »

Best early Black Friday Apple Watch deals: What’s live now and what to expect
Macworld Best Apple Watch Deals Available Now! Black Friday isn’t here yet but we are already seeing lots of deals, including these top deals on Apple Watch. $120 off the Apple Watch Series 10 at Amazon. $99 off Apple Watch Ultra 3 at Amazon. $49 off the Apple Watch SE at Amazon We also have U.K. deals below. The annual Black Friday extravaganza is always a fantastic time to buy an Apple Watch, with big savings from a wide variety of retailers. Technically, it lasts just four days, from Black Friday (November 28) to Cyber Monday (December 1), but you can expect to see some great deals on Apple Watches throughout November. In this article, we will share all the best Apple Watch deals for Black Friday 2025. We also share our advice about how to get the best deal on an Apple Watch, what to look out for, and what to avoid. If you want to know what other Apple products are discounted, check out our round up of the best Black Friday 2025 Apple deals. Best Apple Watch deals for Black Friday 2025 Want to get a bargain on a new Apple Watch? These are the best deals we’ve seen so far. Check out our advice below this section for tips on what to look out for. U.S. Amazon, Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm): $389 ($10 off, MSRP $399) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 11 (46mm): $419 ($10 off, MSRP $429) Amazon, Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm): $200 ($49 off, MSRP $249) Amazon, Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm): $230 ($49 off, MSRP $279) Amazon, Apple Watch Ultra 3: $700 ($99 off, MSRP $799) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm): $280 ($119 off, MSRP $399) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 10 (46mm): $309 ($120 off, MSRP $429) U.K. In the U.K., Apple cut the prices of the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 compared to the previous generation by £30 and £50, respectively. Keep this in mind when shopping, because some stores might make savings, especially on older models, appear to be larger than they actually are. KRCS, Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm): £215 (£4 off, RRP £219) Amazon, Apple Watch Ultra 2: £599 (£200 off, RRP was £799, Ultra 3 is £749) Currys, Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm) GPS: £279 (£120 off, was £399, Series 11 is £369) Currys, Apple Watch Series 10 (46mm) GPS: £299 (£130 off, was £429, Series 11 is £399) Amazon, Apple Watch SE 2 (44mm): £179 (£40 off, MSRP was £219) How to get the best Apple Watch deals for Black Friday 2025: Our advice Like always, Apple sells three watches, but for the first time in years, all three models were updated this year. Apple Watch Series 11: The standard Apple Watch Series 11 starts at the same price as previous watches ($399/£369) and is largely the same as the Series 10. The main upgrade is better battery life (24 hours vs 18 hours), 5G connectivity, and better scratch resistance. We’re spotlighting a deal on the Series 10 for $120 off and recommend grabbing it instead of paying more for the Series 11. Apple Watch Ultra 3: The Apple Watch Ultra 3 ($799/£749) has a slightly larger screen, 5G connectivity, Emergency SOS via satellite, and significantly longer battery life (42 hours vs 36 hours). With prices already dropping by $100, we recommend picking up the newer model if you’re looking for a large, rugged watch. Apple Watch SE 3: Apple updated the Apple Watch SE for the first time in years and gave it several overdue features, including an always-on display, skin temperature sensor, gestures, 5G, a faster chip, and fast charging. With the same $249/£219 starting price, an older SE 2 would need to be around $100 to be worth it. Early Black Friday sales are already pushing the price of the SE 3 under $200 and we think it’s a fantastic option for just about anyone. For detailed advice on selecting the best model for you, check out our Apple Watch buying guide. What to avoid It’s important to be aware that Black Friday brings bad deals as well as good ones. Retailers don’t want to give you a great deal; they want you to buy their unwanted stock at a high price and will use all sorts of tricks to persuade you to do so. Don’t let them get away with it. Always check the current MSRP/RRP for the watch you’re planning to buy (we include these with all of our recommended deals). In the U.K. Apple dropped prices on the new set of Watches when they were introduced, but retailers will conveniently forget to mention this and quote the old price instead. That makes their discount look bigger and the deal more appealing. Some retailers also raise their own prices ahead of Black Friday, then drop them back down and claim a large saving. Price tracker sites like CamelCamelCamel can help you to work out if this has happened. We will also flag it if we see it. It’s worth checking reviews and buying guides (such as ours, linked above) to assess the age and worth of the device. Make sure you’re not being fobbed off with antiquated stock. Also, watch out for deals on the cellular models; these can look like big savings, but in our experience, there is little point in owning a cellular Apple Watch. You might as well pay less and get the standard model. Finally, what actually constitutes a good deal? U.S. buyers should be looking at a benchmark of roughly $60 to $70 off the current models and $100 or more off discontinued ones, which is what we saw in 2024. But deals tend to be weaker in the U.K., where we struggled to find £30 off anything in 2024. Does Apple discount Apple Watches for Black Friday? Apple doesn’t drop prices for Black Friday. Rather, it gives away gift cards when you buy certain items. For Apple’s Black Friday deal in 2024, it gave away $50/£40 gift cards with Apple Watch SE purchases made on Apple’s U.S. site or Apple’s U.K. site. In 2023, Apple also offered gift cards with the Apple Watch Series 9, but the Series 10 wasn’t included in 2024’s sale. Now that Apple has updated all three watch models, we don’t know if any of them will be included in this year’s sale. Where to get Black Friday Apple Watch deals These retailers may offer Black Friday Apple Watch discounts: U.S. Apple Amazon U.S. Best Buy Costco Target Walmart U.K. Apple Amazon U.K. Argos Currys John Lewis KRCS Very Black Friday 2025: Best deals for Apple products Check out these roundups for the best Apple deals: Apple Black Friday sale details Best Black Friday Apple deals Best Black Friday MacBook & Mac deals Best Black Friday AirPods deals Best Black Friday Apple Watch deals Best Black Friday iPad deals Best Black Friday iPhone deals

Read more »