MacRumors

Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast of the most radical design shifts in recent years.

At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become the slimmest iPhone in the lineup by some margin. For comparison, the current iPhone 16 Pro measures 8.25mm thick.

Achieving this level of thinness is unlikely to come without compromise. Dummy models shared by AppleTrack suggest that Apple has made some subtle adjustments to accommodate internal components in the tighter chassis. Most notably, the USB-C port on the bottom edge is no longer centered front-to-back. Instead, it appears shifted closer to the rear of the device, which is likely to accommodate display components within the enclosure.

There are other signs of Apple's re-engineering efforts. The speaker grilles, for example, show a pared-back design, with only two holes on either side of the port compared to the typical five. That reduction reflects the same space-saving measures required to fit in a battery, processor, display components, and speakers within a much slimmer frame.

To save even more space, Apple is said to be equipping the iPhone 17 Air with a single rear camera. The company is also expected to remove the physical SIM card slot entirely, adopting eSIM-only support globally – a shift first seen in U.S. iPhones with the iPhone 14.

One of the most interesting internal changes is the inclusion of Apple's new custom-designed C1 modem, first introduced in the iPhone 16e. The ultra-efficient chip should play a big role in maintaining battery life in such a thin frame. Despite its size, sources suggest the iPhone 17 Air will offer battery performance on par with current iPhone models.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 17 series during its usual fall event, which may also see the debut of third-generation AirPods Pro.

OpenAI has reversed a recent update to GPT-4o, the model powering ChatGPT, following widespread complaints about the chatbot's strange behavior.

Deployed late last week, the update made ChatGPT excessively agreeable and unnaturally effusive in its praise, and the responses quickly became the subject of mockery on social media.

CEO Sam Altman announced Tuesday that the company had completed the rollback for free users and was working to restore the previous version for paid subscribers. "We're working on additional fixes to model personality and will share more in the coming days," Altman wrote on X (Twitter).

In an official blog post, OpenAI acknowledged they "focused too much on short-term feedback, and did not fully account for how users' interactions with ChatGPT evolve over time." The result was responses that were "overly supportive but disingenuous."

The company noted that "ChatGPT's default personality deeply affects the way you experience and trust it," and that "sycophantic interactions can be uncomfortable, unsettling, and cause distress."

OpenAI's solution goes beyond the rollback, and the company is implementing a four-point plan. This includes refining training techniques, building honesty guardrails, expanding pre-deployment testing, and enhancing evaluations to prevent similar issues.

The company also plans to give users more control over ChatGPT's behavior, including new ways to provide real-time feedback and the option to choose from multiple default personalities in the future.

Google has announced that first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats will lose support in October 2025, disabling their connected features (via ArsTechnica).

After October 25, 2025, these devices will no longer receive software updates or connect to Google's cloud services. Users won't be able to control them via the Google Home app or voice assistants, though basic temperature control and on-device scheduling will continue to function.

The affected models include the original 2011 North American Learning Thermostat – pioneered by iPod creator Tony Fadell – and its 2012 successor, and the 2014 European model.

U.S. users can upgrade to newer Nest models, and owners can get a $130 discount if they upgrade to the fourth-generation Nest, which was released last year for $280. In Canada, the discount is CA$160.

European owners face a tougher choice, as Google confirmed it won't develop new thermostats for European heating systems. Instead, European customers are being offered a 50 percent discount on the Tado Smart Thermostat X.

This decision follows Google's recent discontinuation of other Nest products amid job cuts in its platform and devices division. Google is no longer making new Nest Protect Smoke & CO alarms and is ending sales of the Nest x Yale Lock.

Despite the upcoming end-of-life, the thermostats have exceeded Google's standard five-year support commitment, with some approaching 15 years of service by the cutoff date. Still, many Nest owners will be disappointed with the limited lifetime of a device they probably didn't expect to replace anytime soon.

Apple is making another round of leadership changes across two key divisions ahead of its earnings report on Thursday, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

The company's Apple Music division will now be co-managed by longtime Apple executive Rachel Newman and former TikTok music veteran Ole Obermann. Both will report to Oliver Schusser, who has taken on additional responsibilities over the past year including Apple TV+ and sports initiatives.

The restructuring appears designed to ease Schusser's workload as he continues to oversee the Beats brand and international services while reporting to Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of online services.

On the global affairs front, Apple is adjusting how it manages government relations teams worldwide. The heads of Europe and Asia will now report directly to Lisa Jackson, a former Obama administration official who reports to CEO Tim Cook. Previously, these teams reported to Nick Ammann, vice president of global policy.

Ammann, who still reports to Jackson, will now oversee the India and China government affairs teams. He'll also remain Apple's main liaison with the Trump administration, a role he held during Trump's first presidency.

The reshuffling follows other recent leadership adjustments at Apple, including changes to its retail division, and reorganizations of its Siri and robotics teams.

Researchers at cybersecurity firm Oligo today outlined a series of AirPlay vulnerabilities that impact millions of Apple devices (via Wired) and accessories that connect to Apple devices. While Apple has addressed the flaws in security updates that have come out over the last several months, some third-party devices that support ‌AirPlay‌ remain vulnerable.

Dubbed "Airborne," the ‌AirPlay‌ vulnerabilities allowed attackers to take control of devices that support ‌AirPlay‌ to spread malware to other devices on any local device that the infected device connects to. An attacker would need to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the intended victim, putting public Wi-Fi spots, businesses, and other high-traffic areas at more risk.

Oligo researchers said that the ‌AirPlay‌ flaws could lead to "sophisticated attacks related to espionage, ransomware, supply-chain attacks, and more." The vulnerabilities could be used independently or chained together for a "variety of possible attack vectors," such as Remote Code Execution, user interaction bypass, Denial of Service attacks, Man-in-the-Middle attacks, and more.

Apple worked with Oligo to identify and fix the vulnerabilities. Oligo found 23 separate security flaws, and Apple issued 17 CVEs to address them. Information on each vulnerability is outlined on Oligo's website. Apple also deployed fixes for its ‌AirPlay‌ SDK for third-party manufacturers.

The same Airborne vulnerabilities also impact CarPlay, which could allow hackers to hijack the automotive computer in a car. This attack vector would require the attacker to be directly in the car and connected to either the car's Bluetooth or an in-car USB port, which makes it unlikely.

Oligo recommends that users upgrade to the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and visionOS, to protect themselves from these vulnerabilities. Other devices that support ‌AirPlay‌ may still be vulnerable, so users should take steps like disabling the ‌AirPlay‌ Receiver feature on Macs and restricting ‌AirPlay‌ to the current user instead of all users.

Oligo CTO Gal Elbaz told Wired that there could be tens of millions of third-party ‌AirPlay‌ devices that are still vulnerable to attack. Because ‌AirPlay‌ is supported in such a wide variety of devices, there are a lot that will take years to patch--or they will never be patched," he said.

Facebook parent company Meta today announced the launch of Meta AI, its first standalone AI app. Meta AI has already been integrated into Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook, but now it is also available in a dedicated app.

The Meta AI app is built with Llama 4, and Meta says the app is its first step toward building a more personal AI that's designed around voice conversations. After downloading the Meta AI app, Meta AI will ask you personal questions so that it can get to know you, which Meta claims will provide "more helpful" answers. Meta AI is "easy to talk to," and has been created to be "natural to interact with."

The Meta AI voice features can be used in the background while multitasking, so you can use other apps while continuing to speak to the AI. Voice conversations will feel personal, relevant, and conversational in tone. The voice conversation feature is available in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as of now.

The app integrates image generation and editing too, both of which can be done through a voice or text conversation with the AI assistant. Llama 4 is able to search the web for finding product recommendations and delving into topics for research, with Meta providing "conversation starters" to inspire searches.

Meta says that it is using its decades of work on personalizing experiences on social media to make Meta AI more personal. It is able to remember facts about you, and it can pick up details based on context. It is also able to draw on information you've already shared on Meta platforms, like your profile and content that you like to engage with to provide more personalized responses.

The new Meta AI app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Bird Buddy, known for its line of camera-equipped bird feeders and accessories, today launched new nature tech products, Wonder Blocks and Petal. The devices are designed to let users attract and view all manner of insects, from butterflies to bees.

Wonder Blocks is a modular system that create an ecosystem for pollinators, and there are several different components that are part of the setup. The system includes smart planters, a hummingbird feeder, a butterfly feeder, a butterfly shelter, a bee habitat, a bee observatory, a stream for providing insects with water, an observation pole, and a frame for holding all of the components. Petal is an AI camera that attaches to the Wonder Blocks setup so that users can watch the pollinators that visit their homes.

The camera, which is equipped with a solar panel, is able to recognize more than 2,000 species of butterflies, bees, birds, and plants in real time, and it can be equipped with either wide or macro lens options. As with the Bird Buddy, camera footage is turned into more viewable snapshots that are viewable in the associated app.

For the Petal camera, footage is turned into "beautifully narrated nature clips." The camera is able to identify creatures, but it can also detect behavior patterns and environmental changes to alert users about nesting or plant stress. It also visualizes biodiversity activity and provides an impact score on the contribution the user is making to their local ecosystem. While the Petal camera can be mounted to the Wonder Blocks setup, it is also possible to mount the cameras anywhere in an existing garden.

There are three different versions of the Wonder Blocks available to order. The Wonder Planter is a self-watering planter that has an integrated Bee Habitat that can integrate with a full Wonder Blocks system or work on a standalone basis. The Wonder Blocks are the main modular habitat with an observation pole, feeding stations, and more, while the Wonder Blocks Hero is the full-featured setup with The Frame and multiple cameras.

The Wonder Blocks and Petal have already raised more than $1.2 million on Kickstarter, where the project has launched. The first products are set to launch in June 2026, so only pre-orders are available right now.

The Petal camera alone is $129, while the Petal Duo bundle with wide and macro lenses is $249. The Habitat with no camera is $149, and the Wonder Blocks set with Petal camera is $299. A Hero set with two cameras and extra accessories is also available $499.

Apple is working on an updated version of the low-cost Apple Watch SE, and the displays for the new model have entered production, according to display analyst Ross Young.

Young says that the new ‌Apple Watch SE‌ 3 will be available with 1.6-inch and 1.8-inch display sizes, which suggests little in the way of an upgrade over the current ‌Apple Watch SE‌ models. The ‌Apple Watch SE‌ 2 comes in 40mm and 44mm size options, and Apple could stick with those sizes for the next-generation models.

The ‌Apple Watch SE‌ has historically been based on an existing Apple Watch model, and the current version is based on the Apple Watch Series 6. Apple could continue with another model based on the Series 6 design, but there are other options. The display sizes could be off somewhat due to rounding issues and Apple could be planning for a larger Series 7 design with 41mm and 45mm sizes, or the new ‌Apple Watch SE‌ could get an entirely new design.

There were rumors that Apple was working on an ‌Apple Watch SE‌ with a hard plastic casing in a variety of fun colors, though it's not clear if Apple followed through with that design plan. If Apple did opt for an SE design that does not follow existing Apple Watch models, it's possible that the ‌Apple Watch SE‌ could have 1.6 and 1.8-inch displays in a smaller, slimmed down chassis that's closer to 38mm and 42mm size options. In this scenario, the next ‌Apple Watch SE‌ would be smaller than the current ‌Apple Watch SE‌, but with a larger display area and slimmer bezels for a more modern look.

Apple has been marketing the ‌Apple Watch SE‌ as a low-cost option for children, so a smaller ‌Apple Watch SE‌ 3 seems plausible as it would better fit smaller wrists.

We'll learn more about the ‌Apple Watch SE‌ as its launch approaches. We're expecting the new device to come out in September alongside upgraded Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 models.

Mozilla recently updated the Firefox browser to add support for tab groups, a feature that Firefox users have been wanting for years. According to Mozilla, tab groups have been the most requested idea on the Mozilla Connect community platform, and it was actually the first request that Mozilla received when launching Connect in 2022.

With the Firefox tab group implementation, users are able to drag and drop tabs into organized groups and label them by name or color, with groups listed in the right side of the Firefox browser's top menu. Tab groups are available starting with Firefox version 137, and all users will see the feature by May 6.

Safari already supports tab groups, with the option to save a number of open browser tabs into a tab group that can be revisited later. It's helpful for vacation planning, comparison shopping, project research, and other tasks where it's helpful to have multiple tabs.

Mozilla is experimenting with smart tab groups, an AI option that suggests names and groups based on the tabs that are open, and that could launch in the future.

Mozilla has instructions on creating and managing tab groups in Firefox on its website.

Apple today launched a new page that highlights content from popular music artists, actors, and athletes across three of its biggest services.

The new "Snapshot on Apple" page has a scrolling carousel of celebrities, including Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, Ariana Grande, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Brie Larson, Shohei Ohtani, Lionel Messi, Stephen Curry, Serena Williams, and many others. There are also pages for the bands Coldplay and BTS.

Each page includes some basic details about the person or band, and showcases their related content across the Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts apps. For example, Billie Eilish's page highlights her songs in Apple Music, her Apple TV+ documentary from 2021, and her appearances on a variety of podcasts.

"Your favorites, at a glance," the page says. "Discover more about the artists, actors, and athletes you love across Apple."

A tipster alerted us to the page's existence today, and we can confirm that snapshot.apple.com is a new address. Unfortunately, the page currently has a very basic design, with no search functionality. Apple has yet to officially announce the page, and it is unclear how or where the company plans to promote it.

Apple's Pro Display XDR has now been on the market for over five years, and while persistent rumors hint at a second-generation model, surprisingly little definitive information has emerged about Apple's plans for its premier external monitor. Here's everything we know so far.

In December 2022, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was developing an updated iteration of the Pro Display XDR, this time incorporating an Apple silicon chip, presumably to enable additional functionality. The Studio Display contains an A13 Bionic chip to power its built-in webcam, spatial audio, and always-on Siri.

Since the original Pro Display XDR lacks any of these smart capabilities, it stands to reason that its successor could gain a built-in camera, microphone array, high-fidelity speakers, and perhaps even support for new software features like Center Stage video framing, Face ID for Mac, or automatic color calibration based on ambient lighting conditions.

Hardware improvements are also expected. A second-generation Pro Display XDR could feature a higher refresh rate, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity for faster data throughput, and even a shift to OLED or hybrid OLED/QD-OLED panels. OLED technology would offer significantly better contrast ratios, deeper blacks, and lower power consumption, making it even better at professional color work.

In July 2023, Gurman reaffirmed that Apple was continuing development on several next-generation external monitors, but cautioned that releases were unlikely before late 2024 at the earliest.

In November 2024, a report from Display Supply Chain Consultants analyst Ross Young said that the next Pro Display XDR may adopt the same quantum-dot display technology now seen in the latest MacBook Pro models. According to Young, these newer quantum-dot films offer an equal or better color gamut and superior motion performance compared to the older KSF phosphor film used in the current Pro Display XDR and previous ‌MacBook Pro‌ models. Young's report suggested that the Pro Display XDR 2 could boast even more precise color accuracy, faster response times, and better consistency.

Earlier this year, Gurman noted that a new Pro Display XDR was currently "less of a priority" for Apple, given its niche market and premium price tag. Nonetheless, he revealed in March that Apple is actively developing a new display codenamed J527, intended to launch alongside a second-generation Studio Display. This mystery monitor could turn out to be the long-awaited Pro Display XDR successor.

Since then, no further leaks about the device have surfaced. While the launch timeline remains uncertain, it is plausible that Apple could unveil the second-generation Pro Display XDR alongside refreshed high-end Macs—particularly a new Mac Pro model. The current Pro Display XDR was released alongside the 2019 ‌Mac Pro‌.

Amazon kicked off a ton of steep discounts on Apple products earlier this week, and they include the AirPods Pro 2 for $169.00, down from $249.00. Free delivery options provide an estimated delivery date of around May 4, while Prime members should get the headphones sooner in most cases.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Compared to past sales, this is a match of the best price we've tracked so far in 2025 and it's an overall solid second-best price on the AirPods Pro 2. Amazon also has the AirPods 4 available for $99.99 during this sale, an all-time low price.

Other Amazon discounts include record low prices on 11th generation iPad, Apple Watch Series 10, M4 MacBook Air, and M3 iPad Air. If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple's iPhone 18 lineup will introduce a major leap in memory performance, according to new information shared today by Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. Apple is reportedly planning to equip the 2026 models with a high-capacity six-channel LPDDR5X memory configuration, significantly upping the memory bandwidth for future AI features and multitasking.

Expanding the memory bandwidth should enable faster app switching, smoother multitasking, and significantly improved AI capabilities – all areas Apple would likely to heavily invest in as part of its broader Apple Intelligence strategy. Paired with the A20 Pro chip, which will reportedly be built using TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, the iPhone 18 Pro models would stand to benefit the most.

The Weibo account Digital Chat Station has a decent track record with Apple product rumors, and they have previously shared accurate information about unreleased hardware from the broader semiconductor supply chain. Still, Apple's precise hardware plans could still evolve ahead of the iPhone 18's launch late next year.

Before then, if supply chain shortages can be overcome, the iPhone 17 series is expected to see a move to 12GB of RAM as standard across all models. That transition is likely to set the stage for the more aggressive hardware upgrades rumored for 2025.

OpenAI has announced several updates to ChatGPT, including a suite of shopping-focused tools that turn the chatbot into a full-featured product discovery and comparison engine.

The update brings visual search results, personalized recommendations, and improved product filtering to the existing ChatGPT interface. Users can browse and compare products from across the web by simply describing what they're looking for.

Queries like "best 4K monitor under $500" now return cleaner, scrollable product cards complete with images, star ratings, pricing, and summaries pulled from user reviews. Tapping on a product brings up more details, along with a direct link to the retailer's website for purchase.

OpenAI says the results are organic and free from advertising or affiliate influence, wherease traditional search engines and shopping aggregators typically prioritize sponsored listings. Product suggestions are tailored based on user preferences, such as budget, style, and category interests, although OpenAI notes that certain personalization features may be restricted in countries with stricter privacy rules, like the UK and EU.

The update also includes a new "Ask about this" button that lets users dig deeper into specific products directly from search results.

The new features are available for all ChatGPT users, including those on the free tier, with no account required to try them. OpenAI says the rollout is global and should be visible across platforms, including web and mobile apps.

In addition to the shopping search features, ChatGPT can now include multiple citations for a given response, allowing users to learn more or verify information across more sources. OpenAI says users can also now search faster with trending searches and autocomplete suggestions.

Lastly, WhatsApp users can now send a message to 1-800-ChatGPT (+1-800-242-8478) to get up-to-date answers and live sports scores.

Apple supplier Pegatron has warned that U.S. stores could face "empty shelves" within two months due to ongoing uncertainty around tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Pegatron chairman T.H. Tung told Reuters that the on-again, off-again nature of the levies has created confusion for U.S. retailers and disrupted supply chain decisions.

"Within two months, shelves in the United States might resemble those in third-world countries, where people visit department stores and markets only to find empty shelves, all because everyone is waiting and seeing," Tung said.

The Taiwan-based manufacturer, which assembles MacBooks, iPads, and Apple Watches, explained that U.S. importers are hesitant to ramp up shipments during the current tariff pause because they're uncertain whether the 10% levy might eventually be repealed.

This comes after the Trump administration recently paused some tariffs targeting countries where Pegatron has manufacturing bases, including Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. However, a 10% levy on nearly all goods imported into the U.S. remains in effect.

Despite the challenges, Tung said that Pegatron won't alter its long-term manufacturing plans based on short-term tariff fluctuations.

"Just because Trump raises tariffs doesn't mean the rest of the world will do the same. Taiwanese contract manufacturers are sticking to their overseas plans," he said. "We won't immediately adjust our long-term plans just because of two or three months of tariff changes."

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly had a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to explain how tariffs would cause iPhone prices to increase. Cook's efforts appeared to pay off when the Trump administration exempted iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches, iPads, and other electronics from the bulk of tariffs on Chinese goods.

However, the exemption may only be temporary. The day after the announcement, Trump stated that there was "no tariff exception" and that no one would be "getting off the hook," suggesting that Apple and other tech companies will be "moving to a different tariff bucket."

Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing locations away from China since Trump's first term, and has recently ramped up plans to build out its iPhone manufacturing base in India and manufacture U.S.-bound devices in the country by the end of 2026.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station.

The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM.

Kuo also said even the base-model iPhone 17 could be equipped with 12GB of RAM, but it will depend on whether supply chain shortages can be overcome. He said that Apple will make a final decision on the amount of RAM it will offer in the regular iPhone 17 model by May. Even if the base-model iPhone 17 sticks with 8GB of RAM, Kuo said he expects all models in next year's iPhone 18 lineup to have 12GB of RAM.

Currently, all iPhone 16 models come with 8GB of RAM, so going to 12GB would be a major increase. More RAM enables larger and more capable AI models to run locally, improving the speed, responsiveness, and complexity of tasks without relying heavily on cloud services. A fifty percent increase in allocable RAM would also allow for smoother multitasking, with AI processes operating in the background without slowing down active apps.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 17 lineup around its usual September timeframe.

On April 28, 2003, Apple introduced the iTunes Store, its iconic digital marketplace for downloading music. 22 years later, most of us don't purchase songs and albums individually anymore, and the iTunes Store doesn't exist as it once did, but played a major role in Apple history.

Early Years

When it launched, the iTunes Store was only for the Mac, but it expanded to Windows PCs before the end of 2003. It was a one-stop shop for music that could be loaded onto an iPod, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs inked deals with a number of different record labels to get it up and running.

In the first 18 hours following the launch of the iTunes Store, Apple sold ~275,000 tracks, with songs priced at $0.99 at the time. Less than a week after launch, Apple sold 1 million songs, and at the two week mark, Apple was at 2 million songs sold.

By 2008, five years after the iTunes Store launched, Apple's iTunes Store was the biggest music vendor in the United States. In 2010, it was the largest music seller in the world, bringing in over a billion dollars.

Pricing

The iTunes Store sold songs for $0.99 in the United States, though some were more expensive at $1.29. Albums were priced at $9.99 by default, but distributors were able to set higher prices. Apple regularly offered iTunes promotions, including weekly free songs.

Beyond Music

Before the App Store launched in 2008, the iTunes Store also housed apps, plus it was home to digital books before the launch of the iBooks Store. Apple also used the iTunes Store for distributing podcasts, TV shows, and movies.

The Rise of Streaming Music

In the 2010s, interest in streaming music started to pick up, cutting into music purchases. Streaming services like Rhapsody, Yahoo Music, and Pandora launched earlier in the decade, but more people became interested in streaming music when Spotify launched in the United States in 2011.

Beats Music launched in 2014, and was quickly purchased by Apple when Apple acquired the Beats brand. Apple ended up turning Beats Music into Apple Music, a Spotify competitor that launched on June 30, 2015. By 2016, just 24 percent of the music industry's revenue came from digital music sales, with streaming services bringing in over 50 percent of total revenue.

The iTunes Store Today

You'll still find the iTunes Store app on your iPhone, but it's a little harder to find on the Mac. It's available as a dedicated section in the Apple Music app for those who still purchase music.

TV shows and movies were split out into the TV app, while podcasts were split into the Podcasts app as part of changes made in macOS Catalina back in 2019. The Windows version of the iTunes Store stuck around longer, but in 2024, Apple launched dedicated ‌Apple Music‌, Apple TV, and Apple Devices apps for Windows users to replace iTunes.

Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.

Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard anything else about an upgraded display coating since then, and it's sounding like that's because it didn't work out.

Apple planned to use the anti-reflective coating for the higher-end ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ and the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max models, which would have made them the first iPhones with an anti-reflective display. Apple ran into problems scaling up the display coating process, and it is currently no longer a planned feature for the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models.

The process for adding the anti-reflective coating to the iPhone display was too slow when taking into account the millions of devices that Apple produces, so even though it was only planned for the Pro models, it still seems that it wasn't feasible this year.

Current ‌iPhone‌ models have a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, but Apple hasn't focused heavily on anti-reflective technology. For the Mac and iPad Pro, Apple offers a nano-texture display that cuts down on glare, but that's not something that has been expanded to the ‌iPhone‌. It's possible Apple pivoted to nano-texture or a simpler coating, but it's also possible it's just been scrapped entirely for now.

With the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung debuted a Gorilla Glass Armor display panel, which cuts down on reflections by up to 75 percent. The technology improves contrast in bright lighting conditions and makes colors seem more true to life even in the sun or in rooms with bright lights.

If the iPhone 17 models don't end up with the planned anti-reflective display properties, Apple could introduce the display improvement in a future ‌iPhone‌ as the manufacturing process improves.