With the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics set for tomorrow in London, Apple is preparing to offer an extra bonus to some customers visiting its stores in the area during the roughly two-week event. The company has produced a series of four lapel pins commemorating the London Olympics, displaying the flag of the United Kingdom in place of the screen of both black and white iPhones and iPads.
The pins are distributed attached to larger sheets of cardboard that appear as five iOS device flags hanging on a line, with the center one being the actual lapel pin.
We have not confirmed the exact details on distribution of the pins, but we've heard that select stores will be distributing the free of charge while supplies last on select days. Also unclear is how broad the distribution will be: Apple has a total of six retail stores inside the M25 motorway encircling London, with several others just outside and a total of 33 in the United Kingdom.
Apple offered a similar promotion during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, distributing an iPod nano pin with the Canadian maple leaf at one store and a pair of pins showing off the maple leaf and the Apple logo at the other Vancouver-area store open at the time. Apple now has four stores in the Vancouver area.
Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari.
More features and changes will follow in future versions,...
Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain.
There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...
Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor.
Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...
Saturday October 4, 2025 8:19 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's website offers a list of nearly 200 new features and changes (PDF file) included in the software update, released last month.
Apple also shared equivalent lists for iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe.
iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer. To install the update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, and tap on Software Update.
Below, we have highlighted eight ...
Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends.
Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below.
Apple in October
Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023.
In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
On this episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest leaks about the next-generation iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Studio Display, and Vision Pro.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
Earlier this week, an apparent unboxing video of an updated iPad Pro with the M5 chip was shared online. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip...
Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:27 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
A handful of upcoming Apple products leaked yesterday, through a combination of YouTube videos out of Russia and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documents that were released, despite Apple's confidentiality requests.
The leaked products include an iPad Pro with an M5 chip, as well as updated MacBook Pro and Apple Vision Pro models. All of these devices had already been rumored...
Wednesday October 1, 2025 3:56 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple's two big yearly events, WWDC and the iPhone launch, are done and over with, but there are still some new products that we're expecting to see before the end of the year.
Apple TV
The Apple TV hasn't been updated since 2022, so it's due for a refresh. It doesn't look like Apple is going to change the design of its set-top box, but we can expect a faster chip
Apple code suggests...
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.
As a British person I can safely say that I've not seen a Union Jack hung anywhere in my city for ages...and its a big city.
It's nowhere near as bad (not sure thats the correct way of putting it) as in the US, where its seemingly common to have a flag hanging on the front of your house.
As an Irish person, I have always found the British tendency to stick the Union Flag absolutely everywhere extremely crass and imperialistic.
As an Irish person, I have no problem with it. As someone else said, they don't have Union Jack's everywhere all the time. It's just on special days. We do the same on Saint Patrick's Day and other special occasions.
I don't think some realise it's different to how it was 30 years ago. We break out the Union Flag now for the right reasons, basically to celebrate or to party.
But you know, if people want to see it as it was that's their issue to work through, not ours.
