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- Thursday February 05
- 08:30 pmiFixIt tears down new AirTag, finds 50% louder speaker still 100% easy to disable
As is tradition with any new Apple product, iFixit has published a teardown of the new AirTag, released last week. Here’s what they found. more…08:30 pmAfter angry staff complaints, Tim Cook says he will push lawmakers on immigration policy | AppleInsiderAfter angry staff complaints, Tim Cook says he will push lawmakers on immigration policy
Apple employees complained after Tim Cook attended a screening of Melania Trump's biography on the night of Alex Pretti's shooting, so the Apple CEO has vowed to talk to lawmakers about immigration issues.Tim Cook vows to lobby lawmakers on immigrationIn late January, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out a memo to his company, saying that he was "heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis." Presumably, he was directly referencing the shooting of Alex Pretti by ICE agents. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums08:03 pmBrandon Sanderson’s ‘Cosmere’ plan for Apple TV: I’m making sure it’s done right’
Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson is sharing exclusive nsights into his major deal with Apple TV+ to bring his bestselling Cosmere universe… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.07:44 pmAirDrop-compatible Quick Share feature to roll out to more Android devices in 2026
Google is moving to take its Android-to-iPhone file sharing beyond Pixel, signaling a broader push to make Android and Apple devices work together.An iPhone and an Android deviceIn late 2025, Google released a new Android update that allowed Pixel 10 users to send files to iPhone through Quick Share. Quick Share is, essentially, Android's version of AirDrop.The move was considered pretty shocking for the time — Android and iPhone aren't known for playing well together. However, it was a feature that many smartphone users have clamored for — especially given that many households use a mix of Android and Apple products. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums07:43 pmA ‘deeply distraught’ Tim Cook pledges to lobby Washington on immigration: report
Bloomberg reports that Tim Cook held an all-hands meeting with Apple employees today to address fears about immigration and deportation. Here are the details. more…07:37 pmiPhone 17 leads Apple earnings record, new MacBooks near, and a mysterious $2B acquisition | 9 to 5 MaciPhone 17 leads Apple earnings record, new MacBooks near, and a mysterious $2B acquisition
Benjamin and Chance speculate on Apple’s mysterious acquisition of Q.ai, the company’s second biggest acquisition ever. The iPhone 17 is a veritable smash hit, leading to an all-time quarterly earnings record. And Apple redesigns the order flow for buying a new Mac, with new MacBooks just around the corner. And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin realizes he has some overdue spring-cleaning to do on his Desktop folder. Sponsored by Gusto: The online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. Get three months free when you run your first payroll at gusto.com/happyhour. Sponsored by Square: Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/happyhour. Sponsored by HelloFresh: America’s #1 meal kit! Get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box at HelloFresh.com/happyhour10fm. more…07:21 pmGift endless memories this Valentine’s Day with over 50% off pCloud Lifetime storage
In the digital age, memories are the most valuable thing we save and share. This year, pCloud is offering a way to secure those moments forever with a massive Valentine’s Day promotion for their Lifetime Cloud Storage plans. From February 5 through February 17, 2026, 9to5Mac readers can save over 50% on pCloud’s 1TB, 2TB, and 10TB Lifetime plans. It’s the perfect opportunity to pay once and protect your data for life. more…07:17 pmApple TV users get $2/month Peacock, including Super Bowl and Olympics
Peacock is about to air two of the biggest TV events of the year: the Super Bowl and the Olympics. And if you’re an Apple TV subscriber, you can add on Peacock for only $2/month. Here are the details. more…07:03 pmAnthropic reveals new Opus 4.6 model with more autonomy and better focus
Anthropic has announced its latest AI model with Claude Opus 4.6. The new version arrives just two months after the previous model upgrade. more…06:51 pmApple will apply all the tech and power it has to make live F1 content a success
Apple intends to use everything it has including its hardware, stores, services, and apps to add value to its Apple TV F1 streaming service — and don't rule out an F1 movie sequel, either.Apple has big plans for its F1 streaming service. Image source: AppleApple will pick up the streaming rights for F1 race weekends when the new season starts in March 2025. The deal will run for five years, and viewers can expect the company to go all out."We will bring everything Apple has to bear," Apple senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, has said, speaking during an interview with the motorsport website Racer. Cue pointed at the depth of offerings Apple has that can put F1 in front of customers — whether they're existing F1 fans or not. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums06:47 pmApple was once ‘carpet bombing’ Tesla with recruiting calls, per Elon Musk
Apple once had ambitions of building an electric car, and during that period, per a new interview with Elon Musk, the company was “relentlessly” trying to poach Tesla employees. more…06:30 pmApple Silicon supplier TSMC expands AI chip production to Japan
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Apple Silicon supplier and the world’s leading chipmaker, is expanding production… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.06:30 pm9to5Mac Daily: February 5, 2026 – The latest iPhone Fold specs and rumors
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Sponsored by Stuff: Stuff helps you get everything out of your head and into a simple, elegant system—closing open loops and reducing mental stress. Use code 9TO5 at checkout for 50% off your first year. more…06:22 pmApple's iPad gains in 2025 came from a market correction, not a breakthrough year
Apple's iPad shipments climbed sharply in 2025, driven more by a market correction and vendor behavior than by product innovation.iPad shipments surged in 2025In 2025, global tablet shipments went up by 9.8% compared to the previous year, hitting around 162 million units. It was the best annual performance for the tablet market since the big jump in 2020 due to the pandemic.However, Omdia warned that the recovery wasn't consistent and was already showing some cracks. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums06:06 pmApple’s M5 Ultra secret may have been spilled
Macworld We’ve been waiting for Apple to release the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro for weeks, sometime after the release of macOS 26.3. Well, now that the release candidates for 26.3 are available, we should see those new MacBooks next week. But there’s another bit of intrigue: based on the code inside, some light was shed on another chip we’ve all been wondering about. According to a report by MacRumors, the iOS 26.3 release candidate includes references to the M5 Max and the M5 Ultra chips. The code doesn’t explicitly say “M5 Max” or “M5 Ultra,” but rather references model and platform codes that align with those chip families (T6051 and T6052 model numbers, with associated H17C and H17D platform names). The “17” is a reference to the M5 (H17G), while “C” and “D” refer to Max and Ultra chips, respectively. Curiously, the letter “S,” which is used for Pro chips, isn’t referenced in the code. Assuming that Apple didn’t change the coding system, this reveal lets us know that yes, Apple is testing a Mac with an M5 Ultra chip. Apple did not release an M4 Ultra for the Mac Studio back in March 2024. Instead, the company went with an M3 Ultra, which, despite being of an older generation, is currently Apple’s fastest chip. Apple never publicly explained why it went this direction, nor why the Mac Pro stuck with the M2 Ultra. At the time, the M3 Ultra left us wondering about the next Ultra chip: would it be an M4 or M5? Well, it looks like we now know. But what about the M5 Pro? It’s possible that Apple simply left out the reference and could add it later when the software is released. Another possibility is that Apple changed the names, and the “D” reference actually refers to the M5 Pro (which makes this whole article moot). The last possibility is that Apple is going to release an M5 Ultra MacBook Pro, which would be a first.06:01 pmToday only: Samsung's 32-inch M8 USB-C monitor plunges to $329
B&H's Flash Deal Zone offers a $370 price drop on Samsung's M8 32-inch 4K Smart Monitor, which pairs well with Macs.Grab Samsung's M8 for $329 today only.You can pick up the Samsung M8 Smart Monitor for $329.99 at B&H Photo today only during the retailer's Deal Zone savings event.Buy Samsung M8 for $329.99 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums05:59 pmApple gets win from EU over Apple Maps and Ads services
Apple has been forced to make a lot of region-specific changes to the iPhone and iOS in the EU due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). But the company just received good news from the EU commission regarding the DMA’s impact on two key services: Apple Maps and Ads. more…05:54 pmNo, Google didn’t just admit that Siri will run on its servers
Macworld Ever since Apple and Google jointly announced a partnership to base the Siri voice assistant on Gemini tech, questions have been raised about user privacy. Apple has done its part to offer reassurance by insisting that Gemini-powered Siri will continue to run on-device or on the company’s own Private Cloud Compute (PCC) servers, rather than on infrastructure owned by Google. But doubts remain. At its triumphant Q1 earnings call late last month, CEO Tim Cook responded to a question about the Gemini partnership by saying, in part: “We’ll continue to run on the device, and run in PCC, and maintain our industry-leading privacy standards in doing so. In terms of the arrangement with Google, we’re not releasing the details of that.” As 9to5Mac points out, that’s worded in such a way that it could mean other Apple Intelligence features will be hosted in the way described, whereas the new version of Siri will be handled in some other way. I don’t think he was saying that (the “arrangement with Google” almost certainly refers to the financial aspect of the question), but it’s one possible, albeit tenuous, interpretation. Those doubts resurfaced on Wednesday following another earnings call, this time by Google. The company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, mentioned the partnership in his remarks in the following way: “I’m pleased that we are collaborating with Apple as [its] preferred cloud provider and to develop the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, based on Gemini technology.” Hearing Google refer to itself as Apple’s “preferred cloud provider” while discussing the Gemini partnership is undoubtedly alarming, and I don’t blame pundits for drawing negative conclusions. One news site (9to5Mac, link above) interpreted this as Google “suggesting” Gemini-powered Siri will run on its servers; another (AppleInsider) said Apple and Google’s statements were “seemingly contradictory.” But once again, Pichai’s statement contains vague implications rather than a clear meaning, and I don’t think we should take this as a direct contradiction of Apple’s privacy claims–something which would in effect be a declaration of PR war. Much like Cook’s statement, there are multiple interpretations of what Pichai said. One is that Apple was lying through its teeth and Gemini-powered Siri will run on Google servers in a way that gives Google access to user data. Another is that Google is simply going to lease server hardware to Apple as part of the arrangement. They will be Apple Park servers running Apple software, but the hardware is “provided” by Google. That would likely fulfil Apple’s privacy pledge, even if the optics might not be great. And another is that Pichai was, clumsily and at the worst possible time, referring to the fact that Google already provides extensive cloud services to Apple in other areas, and that this latest partnership is merely one more example of the two tech giants working fruitfully together. In other words, the whole thing is frustratingly vague. What we have at the moment is a partnership with many details still to be decided, and the two partners have very different priorities in terms of public messaging. Apple wants to reassure its users at every point that their privacy will be safeguarded, while Google just wants everyone to know that its Gemini AI platform is more important and successful than ChatGPT. So the result is a lot of statements that differ in implication but don’t actually say very much. There is a fourth option, proposed by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. This is that Gemini-powered Siri will run, as Apple has consistently said, on-device or on Apple servers, but that another, more radical version of the voice assistant, a chatbot codenamed Campos, will launch later and run on Google servers. That’s going to be a tough sell, assuming Gurman is correct (and he says only that the two companies are discussing the idea). But Apple will at least have some more time to make the case to its users.05:34 pmThe M5 MacBook Pro just dropped under $1,500
Macworld New MacBooks are right around the corner, but if you don’t need the power or price of an M5 Max processor, the entry-level M5 is a fantastic option. And today it’s cheaper than ever: The M5 MacBook Pro is now available at B&H Photo for $1,499, a generous $300 discount and the best price we’ve ever seen. With this configuration featuring 24GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, it’s an incredible value for a machine that’s barely been on the market for a handful of months. The M5 MacBook Pro delivers jaw-dropping performance, as we wrote in our 4.5-star review. We gave it our Editors’ Choice award, praising its improved GPU and SSD performance, which make it a standout for professionals and creatives alike. This model has a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display with 120Hz Pro Motion, crisp visuals, vibrant colors, and absolutely amazing 1,000 nits of brightness in any lighting condition. A slew of ports await your accessories, including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, USB-C, and an SD card reader. And of course, it’s got a fantastic backlit keyboard and gorgeous slim design. If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to upgrade, this is your chance to snag Apple’s best laptop at a fantastic price. Don’t miss out—grab the M5 MacBook Pro for $1,499 before the sale ends. Buy now at B&H05:17 pmApple’s new ‘HomePad’ is my most wanted product that’s coming soon
Apple has a brand new Home product—potentially called ‘HomePad’ or ‘HomePod Touch’—that’s reportedly launching this spring. And out of the many products Apple has coming in the next few months, HomePad is easily the one I want most. more…