According to an opinion piece by Tom Yager at Infoworld, Apple has closed the source of the Intel version of the Mac OS X kernel (called XNU) due to piracy concerns. While the rest of the underlying operating system of OS X (called Darwin) is still open-source, closing the kernel means less capability for pirates to hack OS X to run on non-Apple hardware, but also limits developers and power-users' ability to tweak their systems.
Apple's Open-Darwin mailing list has an ongoing discussion in which some users point out that Apple has actually not released the XNU source for Intel since 10.4.3 or perhaps earlier. Therefore, it appears as though the facts of the article are not new, but rather are just now gaining press attention.
Apple has not officially commented on the future of XNU's source availability, and it appears most conclusions as to why the source has not been released is based on speculation rather than inside knowledge.
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are just a month away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a...
The upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with a nearly 12% larger battery compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, according to an apparent leak.
An alleged photo of a battery pack for a Chinese model of the iPhone 18 Pro Max with a SIM card tray lists a capacity of 5,391 mAh, up from 4,823 mAh for the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro Max battery. The photo was shared on the Korean platform Naver...
Wednesday August 12, 2026 6:59 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple supplier Pegatron today indirectly confirmed that the standard iPhone 18 model will not be released until next year, according to a new report.
Pegatron held an earnings call for the second quarter of 2026 today. On the call, Taiwan's Economic Daily News said Pegatron indicated that one of its customers will be changing its usual smartphone shipment schedule. As widely expected, the...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.