Today is the last day to save $250 on Apple's new M5 Pro MacBook Pro, best price ever
Today is the final day to grab the lowest price on record for Apple's 2026 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chip.Save $250 on 2026 14-inch MacBook Pro today only - Image credit: AppleB&H Photo has slashed Apple's new 14-inch MacBook Pro, with the standard M5 Pro model falling to $1,949 thanks to a $200 instant discount paired with a $50 in-cart coupon.Buy M5 Pro MacBook Pro for $1,949 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Epic Games deals Apple fresh blow in App Store fee fight
In the App Store fee fight stemming from Apple's longstanding legal battle with Epic Games, the iPhone giant takes a setback. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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watchOS 26 added Notes app to Apple Watch, here’s how I’m using it
Apple Watch users got a brand new app in watchOS 26, with Apple Notes now available on your wrist. Here’s how I’ve been using the app. more…

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Formula 1 returns to America this weekend via live streaming on Apple TV
Formula 1 returns to the U.S. this weekend for the FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2026 — streaming exclusively on Apple TV… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Get Microsoft Office 2024, plus courses that show you how to use it, at a killer price
Get Microsoft Office 2024 plus a full training bundle for $114—so you’re not just using Office, you actually learn how to use it well. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Apple TV comedy with 96% Rotten Tomatoes is coming back soon
Apple TV announced Ted Lasso’s season 4 release date yesterday, and now today the streamer revealed that it has another beloved, critically acclaimed comedy coming back for a new season too: Trying. more…

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Formula 1 coverage expands across Apple services for Miami Grand Prix
Apple will stream the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026 live on Apple TV with full race weekend coverage available across the United States.F1 Miami Grand PrixApple TV will carry every session, including practice, qualifying, and the race, with live and on-demand access through the Apple TV app. Coverage includes up to 30 simultaneous live feeds with onboard cameras, timing data, and a Driver Tracker that shows the full field in real time.A dedicated Podium feed follows the top three drivers throughout each session. Multiview lets viewers build custom layouts or select preset viewing options across supported devices. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Intel responds to MacBook Neo with 21% faster chip intended for similar devices
Apple’s launch of the MacBook Neo – and especially the incredible price/performance balance – sent shockwaves through the Windows world. Intel has now responded with the launch of a CPU aimed at similar budget laptops. An early benchmark suggests that it is 21% faster than the A18 Pro used in the MacBook Neo … more…

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Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus expected to join Apple’s Thursday earnings call
Apple investors are eager for a closer look at John Ternus as the next CEO of the iPhone maker when Apple reports quarterly results on… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Robotics Framework Aims to Prevent Conflicts in Shared Spaces
A new interoperability framework aims to help robots share intent, not just data, allowing machines from different vendors to coordinate tasks, avoid conflicts, and operate more safely in complex, shared environments. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.

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I tried the most powerful Thunderbolt dock ever made [Review] ★★★★★
The iVanky FusionDock Ultra packs an absurd 26 ports and uses a unique dual-cable Thunderbolt 5 setup to deliver unmatched connectivity. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Every iPhone has a useful hardware feature that zero Samsung phones offer
When Apple released the iPhone 17e, it doubled the storage and added what it calls the “magic of MagSafe” to the $599 iPhone 16e replacement. Apple’s decision to bring MagSafe to the last iPhone holdout meant every iPhone includes a useful hardware feature that zero Samsung phones offer. more…

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Take $300 off the M3 iPad Air in Amazon’s blowout clearance sale
Macworld Apple iPad Air M3 View Deal (function () { document.querySelector("#sticky-promo-block a").addEventListener("click", function(e) { const debug = document.location.host.search(/lndo.site|go-vip.net/) !== -1; const text = this.closest("#sticky-promo-block").querySelector("p.promo-title").textContent; const data = { event: "stickyConversionUnitClick", eventCategory: "Sticky Conversion", eventAction: "Click", eventLabel: text }; if(debug)console.log("Sticky Conversion CLick - pushing to dataLayer: ", data); dataLayer.push(data); return true; }); })(); If you want a new iPad, we’ve got a great deal for you today: This decked-out M3 13-inch iPad Air with extra storage and 5G is down to its absolute best price of $1,149, which means you’re saving an insane $300! That’s the best price we’ve ever seen for this model and one of the best iPad Air discounts of all time. With the super-fast M3 chip, a maxed-out 1TB of storage, and both Wi-Fi 6E and 5G connectivity. This combo enables you to use your tablet anywhere you go, install tons of apps, and handle all apps, including graphics-intensive tools, with ease. The 13-inch Liquid Retina display is absolutely gorgeous, too, so you’ll love how everything looks, whether you’re playing, binge-watching your favorite shows, or just looking at YouTube vids. When we reviewed the M3 iPad Air, we gave it a 4-star rating, praising its absolutely outstanding performance, loving the design and display, and finding the extended battery life quite great. And since this model has everything you’ll need, it’ll be your go-to tablet for years to come. It might not be as fast as the newer M4 version, but there’s no universe in which you’ll get the same amount of storage and 5G connectivity for this price anytime this year. So grab the M3 iPad Air for $1,149 before Amazon sells out and it’s gone forever.

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Supreme Court considering legality of smartphone location ‘dragnets’
The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the legality of so-called geofence warrants, sometimes also referred to as “digital dragnets” because they capture the location data of a great many innocent citizens in addition to criminal suspects. In a practice raising obvious privacy concerns, tech giants are increasingly being asked by law enforcement to identify all of the smartphone users present at a particular location at the time a crime was committed … more…

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John Ternus' first major challenge is dealing with quadrupled iPhone memory prices
John Ternus faces a turbulent start to his tenure as Apple CEO, including massive RAM pricing spikes that will impact the fall iPhone launch. With continued pressure to manufacture in the U.S, supply chain changes could be on the way.John Ternus will be Apple's next CEO in SeptemberThe arrival of John Ternus as Apple CEO in September will be a big event for Apple, but it will also include some tough early choices. Some that will affect how Apple's massive supply chain operates in the future.At present, Apple is dealing with the industry-wide problem of memory pricing, with RAM skyrocketing in cost and affecting the price of electronics in general. So far, Apple has managed to insulate itself from the problem through strategic contracts with suppliers, but it won't last forever. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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9 reasons why the ChatGPTphone isn’t an iPhone threat
Macworld As if the smartphone market wasn’t already stuffed with enough rivals to the iPhone, it’s emerged this week that AI giant OpenAI is getting ready to throw its hat in the ring. In a short article posted to Twitter/X, the highly respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed the ChatGPT maker is “set to redefine smartphones” with a new handset created in partnership with Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Luxshare. Apple has so far struggled to bring the iPhone up to speed with the pace of AI development, and on first impressions, this might sound like a formidable challenge for John Ternus to deal with as he settles in as CEO. But I don’t think he’ll be worried about the threat of the “ChatGPTphone.” Here’s why. 1. Apps aren’t dead yet In the article, Kuo talks about the evolution from app to agent. “Users are not trying to use a pile of apps,” he says. “They are trying to get tasks done and fulfil needs through the phone.” That sounds good if the apps you’re replacing are Calendar, Clock, Weather, and a bunch of airline, rail, and cab apps. But people will still want to watch and listen to streaming services, browse social media, play games, track sports, and do dozens of other things on their phones. You can’t replace apps with an AI agent unless it’s just a glorified app launcher. 2. It’s too late Apple has been doing this for nearly 20 years, and has built up a loyal fan base of users who would never consider anything other than an iPhone. Google and Samsung, too, have multi-generation fans, as do the other manufacturers of Android phones. Even if OpenAI’s phone came out in 2026, that would already be extraordinarily late to be trying to break into the smartphone market, but Kuo says mass production won’t start until 2028… by which point, as a commenter points out, OpenAI may not even exist. It’s a mark of OpenAI’s lateness that by this point, most other companies are trying to plan for what comes after the smartphone. 3. OpenAI has no experience in smartphone hardware OpenAI will be going from a standing start in a mature market stuffed with contenders that have, as mentioned above, been doing this for almost two decades. Even with design guru Jony Ive on the team, it takes multiple generations to get this sort of thing right, and that’s time OpenAI hasn’t got. 4. OpenAI is overestimating its brand loyalty “OpenAI’s advantages lie in its consumer brand, years of accumulated user data, and leading AI models,” Kuo writes. We’ll come to the second and third factors in due course, but even the brand awareness is debatable. OpenAI certainly has a lot of brand value in ChatGPT, but far less as a company. And just because people know or even like a piece of software, it doesn’t mean they’re prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for hardware by the same company. 5. The ecosystem isn’t there With its iterative updates and generally conservative designs, Apple makes the smartphone market look easy. But it’s not just about the phone, and OpenAI hasn’t got anything like the same surrounding ecosystem to push people towards its smartphone and then lock them in. The iPhone benefits from seamless compatibility with the AirPods, Apple Watch, Mac, and Vision Pro, and also benefits from the appeal of Apple Music, iMessage, Apple Pay, the App Store, and so much more. The only halo product OpenAI can build a phone around is ChatGPT, and the problem with that… 6. What’s the unique selling point? …is that ChatGPT is already on the iPhone, both as an app and integrated with Siri and Apple Intelligence. OpenAI could cut those off (along with the Android app) to give itself a USP, but that would likely hurt OpenAI more than its smartphone competitors. 7. ChatGPT isn’t even that special Yes, ChatGPT was the catalyst for the AI explosion over the past few years, and it’s a market-leading model. But rivals have proliferated, and most are backed by larger companies with a greater capacity to endure the inevitable market dips. AI is only likely to become more commoditised. Why buy a phone built entirely around ChatGPT when you can get a phone that can run ChatGPT as well as Gemini, Claude, or whichever model you may happen to prefer? 8. Apple is going to get AI right eventually I’m the last person to praise Siri or Apple Intelligence, but Apple has made AI a top priority, and it has the resources to reach a solution eventually (or just buy a company that has a worthwhile model already). It’s really just a matter of time before Apple Intelligence works well, and that’ll happen before the OpenAI phone arrives. At which point, the one thing OpenAI does better than Apple won’t be an issue any more, while Apple will still have all its other advantages as a maker of phones and phone software. 9. OpenAI never wanted to make a phone anyway If you examine OpenAI’s hardware development history, it becomes clear that this entire project isn’t its first choice. The company originally wanted to make an AI pin, which it worked on with former Apple design guru Jony Ive (who is now more closely associated with OpenAI following a merger with Ive’s LoveFrom studio in 2025). Why suddenly shift from a pin to a phone? All the reasons above, presumably. But rival AI pins such as Humane were savaged by reviewers, and OpenAI is now fleeing to the more consumer-friendly world of phones as a half-hearted compromise. Good luck with that.

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Apple was ready for the RAM crisis
Macworld Over the decades, the evolution of computers has been easy to follow: They’ve become steadily more powerful to keep pace with the need for more advanced applications. We’ve seen computers equipped with faster processors, more storage, and, most of all, more RAM. This trend has accelerated even further recently, with companies pushing on-device AI capabilities into their devices, and Apple is no exception. However, the increasing demand for RAM is having another effect on the market. While once plentiful and affordable, RAM is more expensive than ever, and it’s becoming harder to get, even at exorbitant prices. But instead of dealing with constraints by upping prices, Apple is showing the industry how its years-long effort to control every component inside its devices has given it a unique advantage over every other PC maker, clearly evidenced by the recent launch of the MacBook Neo. The importance of RAM in today’s world First, let’s take a closer look at why RAM or memory is so important. Essentially, RAM is a type of short-term memory with ultra-fast speeds, much faster than SSDs. When you open an app on your phone or laptop, it’s stored in RAM to ensure that the processor can handle it more quickly as you continue to use it. That’s why, generally speaking, having more RAM means your devices can run faster, enabling more apps and tasks to operate at the same time without slowing down. As such, RAM has also become extremely important for artificial intelligence. Since RAM is much faster than internal storage, devices also store AI parameters in RAM for quicker access. In other words, the more and faster the RAM, the greater the device’s ability to handle AI tasks locally. That’s why AI companies have been buying up as much DDR5 RAM, the same that’s used in Apple devices, as they can for their servers. It’s also why we’ve seen consumer desktops and laptops gaining more RAM in recent years, including Apple, which only recently increased the base RAM for Macs to 16GB and the iPhone and iPad to 8GB. The AI boom has put more pressure on chips to increase RAM limits.Apple More RAM isn’t a viable option anymore For years, the strategy of adding more hardware resources to handle software demands was a simple solution to complexity. But as modern workloads have become increasingly memory-intensive in recent years, suppliers have been unable to keep up with demand. As a result, RAM has become much more expensive, and PC makers have been forced to shift their strategy. The situation became so dire that Apple had to discontinue the highest-end Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM, while other versions with higher amounts of RAM are also facing significant shortages. And it’s hard not to conclude that the timing of the Mac Pro’s discontinuation wasn’t tied to the RAM crisis as well. The RAM crunch has also been affecting the 16GB Mac mini, which is currently sold out at the Apple Store and unavailable at Amazon. Higher-end models with more memory are severely constrained as well. This situation would (and has) put tech companies in a bind. They need better hardware to meet the growing demand for AI tasks, but there simply isn’t any more RAM on the market. Fortunately for Apple, it had already found the solution years before. Apple chips were made for a RAM-scarce world In theory, there’s no way to simply replace RAM with something else. However, Apple has found the next best thing: a way to optimize both its hardware and software to run smoothly even on devices with the bare minimum of RAM. When Apple introduced the first Mac with the M1 chip, it wasn’t a mere swap from Intel to its own chips, but also a radical change to how its computers work. That’s because Apple silicon chips are classified as a system on a chip, which means key components, including the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, SSD, and even the RAM, are all on the same pool, sharing the same resources. And that makes a big difference in everyday use. The M-series chips have a complete package right on the chip.Apple Thanks to the SoC’s unified memory, all components can quickly access the same data without having to copy it between different modules. This drastically reduces latency and improves performance when running resource-intensive tasks without needing loads of additional memory. At the same time, Apple leverages its hardware and software integration to further optimize memory usage. For instance, macOS features a very aggressive memory compression system that significantly reduces the amount of RAM used by inactive apps running in the background. The chips also utilize something called “memory swapping.” Admittedly, this isn’t a term Apple invented, but nowhere else is it used so seamlessly thanks to the way Apple silicon chips are designed. If your Mac runs out of RAM, the system can temporarily store memory data directly on the SSD. Because both the RAM and the SSD are connected to the same SoC, data transfer is nearly instantaneous, allowing the computer to run smoothly even when you’re using all available RAM. When it comes to AI, the built-in Neural Engine also helps macOS process machine learning parameters and tasks, freeing up RAM. Essentially, this makes a Mac with 8GB of RAM feel like it has twice that. While pro users will still need more, which Apple happily sells, the MacBook Neo proves once and for all that for everyday users, 8GB of unified memory delivers much more than the same 8GB of RAM in a traditional PC laptop. The ‘RAM tax’ is already here The timing couldn’t be better. In March, Apple introduced its most affordable laptop ever, the $599 MacBook Neo, while the rest of the industry struggles to stay afloat due to the RAM crisis.  Microsoft recently announced significant price increases for the Surface lineup, with some flagship models now costing $500 more than they did at launch due to increased costs for memory and other components. For instance, the 13-inch Surface Laptop now starts at $1,149 with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. That’s $50 more expensive than the base 13-inch MacBook Air model with similar specs. Unlike the MacBook Neo, Microsoft doesn’t even offer an option with 8GB of RAM. The MacBook Neo arrive at a time when PC makers are raising prices.Foundry Meta also recently raised the prices of its Quest headsets by up to $100. The company likewise blamed the “global surge in the price of critical components.” Apple isn’t immune to price increases for components, of course. The M5 MacBook Air, which was introduced last month, is in fact more expensive than the M4 model, starting at $1,099 with 512GB of storage rather than $999 with 256GB of storage. Still, it’s unlikely Apple has any plans to change the MacBook Neo’s starting price of $599 anytime soon. That, of course, is because Apple has established that an entry-level Mac can run just fine with only 8GB of RAM thanks to its system-on-chip architecture. And even in the higher-end models, Apple silicon chips are so efficient that Apple is under less pressure to keep raising baseline RAM—and prices—as aggressively as competitors. Even with just 8GB of RAM, the MacBook Neo performs better than PC laptops with twice the memory.Eugen Wegmann Efficiency will become a growing priority As expected, Apple’s competitors finally seem to be catching on. Last month, Microsoft pledged to improve the quality of Windows with a series of improvements that will make Windows faster and more reliable by scaling back AI and freeing up RAM for other parts of the system, which should definitely improve performance on less powerful devices. Whether by coincidence or not, the announcement came about a week after Apple unveiled the MacBook Neo. Apple isn’t reacting to this shift. It’s already there. Not because Apple devices don’t benefit from more RAM, they absolutely do, but because they rely less on memory specs to deliver a consistent experience. It’s no longer just about how much RAM a device ships with, but how well it uses every gigabyte. Apple might not have designed the M1 chip with a RAM shortage in mind, but all this technology is now proving more useful than ever. This gives Apple a significant advantage over its competitors, who are unable to achieve the same level of integration with separate parts.

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AirDrop is now widely available on Android phones, and I’m here for it
We can argue endlessly about how innovative Apple is as a company, and indeed many people do. Personally, I would argue that some of its greatest innovations have been in the seemingly smallest of features, and AirDrop is one of these. AirDrop is a really simple and convenient way to move a document from one of our Apple devices to another, as well as to exchange files and information with other iPhone users. The introduction of NameDrop in iOS 17 was a particularly great application of the tech in my view … more…

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John Ternus faces critical decisions on iPhone pricing and US manufacturing – FT
Incoming Apple CEO John Ternus is going to be facing two critical decisions soon after he takes the helm, says a new Financial Times report. First, how to respond to a massive increase in memory prices, with Apple’s RAM costs increasing by more than 400% by next year. Second, how to shape the company’s manufacturing plans across China, India, and the US … more…

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Sorry, Intel’s new chip won’t help PCs beat MacBook Neo
Macworld The MacBook Neo has shaken up the affordable laptop market, with PC manufacturers trying to figure out what they can do to compete with Apple’s laptop. One way is to offer better performance with a cheap processor, and Intel’s latest chip appears to do just that. TweakTown reports that benchmark results are appearing for Intel’s new Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 CPU, a chip designed for affordable mobile devices. In PassMark’s multi-thread test, the Wildcat Lake Core 5 320 chip was 21 percent faster than Apple’s A18 Pro, a chip released in September 2024 and used in the MacBook Neo. In single-thread results, the Intel and Apple chips were basically the same. So, it looks like PC makers have another viable chip offering–TweakTown calls Wildcat Lake’s performance “particularly impressive” compared to the MacBook Neo. On multi-thread performance alone, Intel’s new CPU makes good progress catching up to Apple’s older chip. “Impressive” is a bit much, in my opinion, for a difference that is slightly noticeable in real-world usage, but still, it shows that Intel has responded to Apple’s threat. While performance is an important consideration when buying a cheap laptop, there are other factors that PC makers at this price point still haven’t figured out how to compete on. Most notably, PC laptops in this market (even some priced several hundred dollars more than the Neo) are made of plastic, which, apparently and mind-bogglingly, some PC users actually prefer over aluminum, environmental concerns be damned. And the build quality of these laptops, with their creaks, stiff hinges, and flimsiness, makes the MacBook Neo feel downright luxurious. You’ve also got battery life. MacBook Neo’s 16-hour battery life might pale in comparison to the Air and Pro, but it’ll still comfortably get you through a school day. PC laptops, on the other hand, are notoriously inefficient, especially when not plugged in, so it’ll be interesting to see how long the first crop of Wildcat Lake Core 5 320 laptops lasts. I’m gonna guess not great. Then there’s the whole Windows versus macOS thing that, well…the debate is an old one. But I’ll just say, if you like spending time figuring out how to strip out bloatware, ads, and other grossness from your new laptop’s operating system, then Windows 11 is for you. While you’re doing that, I’ll be doing real work on my MacBook Neo.

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