As we approach the release of Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), Appleinsider suggests that this may be the last major Mac OS revision that supports the PowerPC architecture.
Looking ahead, those people familiar with Apple development cycles speculate that Mac OS X 10.6 will exclude support for PowerPC-based Macs entirely, requiring that users have one of the company's Intel-based systems which first began making their way to market in early 2006.
Cited as speculation, Apple may not yet have made a decision on this matter. Apple has made no announcements about Mac OS X 10.6. Based on the most recent Mac OS development cycles, Mac OS X 10.6 would not likely ship until 2009.
Wednesday December 17, 2025 3:50 pm PST by Juli Clover
There's now a dedicated Apple Music app for ChatGPT, which allows ChatGPT to make music recommendations and build playlists.
Apple Music can be added to ChatGPT through the Settings section in the Mac app, website, or iOS app. Apple Music is listed under the apps option, and connecting to it requires signing in with your Apple Account for authorization purposes.
ChatGPT can be used to...
Tuesday December 16, 2025 8:44 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with under-screen Face ID, and the front camera will be moved to the top-left corner of the screen, according to a new report from The Information's Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu.
As a result of these changes, the report said the iPhone 18 Pro models will not have a pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout at the top of the screen....
Thursday December 18, 2025 3:44 pm PST by Juli Clover
Since the AirPods Pro 3 launched, there have been complaints from users who have noticed a static-like sound or a crackling issue when using the earbuds, particularly when Active Noise Cancellation is on but no media is playing. Users have also run into strange high-pitched whistling sounds that happen intermittently.
We shared the issues back in late October, and despite two subsequent...
Thursday December 18, 2025 1:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple Maps no longer offers a Flyover feature that provides users with automated tours of notable landmarks in major cities. The Flyover option appears to have been nixed around when iOS 26 launched, but its removal went largely unnoticed.
Flyover city tours were introduced in 2014 with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, using Flyover imagery to generate an aerial tour. Most cities with Flyover...
You'd think things would be slowing down heading into the holidays, but this week saw a whirlwind of Apple leaks and rumors while Apple started its next cycle of betas following last week's release of iOS 26.2 and related updates.
This week also saw the release of a new Apple Music integration with ChatGPT, so read on below for all the details on this week's biggest stories!
Top Stories
i...
Tuesday December 16, 2025 4:42 pm PST by Juli Clover
There has been a whirlwind of rumors over the last few days, sourced from leaked internal software designed for the iPhone and the Mac, and news sites like The Information. Below, we have a quick recap of everything we've heard this week, which serves as a guide to Apple's product plans in 2026 and beyond.
We've organized the info by likely release date, though there are some products that...
Wednesday December 17, 2025 10:06 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today provided beta testers with the first releases of upcoming iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, tvOS 26.3, and watchOS 26.3 updates for testing purposes. The public betas come a couple of days after Apple provided the betas to developers.
Anyone can download and install public betas, and all that's required is to sign up on Apple's beta site. Once you've opted in, the software can be...
...and only fundamental difference between G4 and G5 is 32/64 bitness. It would make sense to only support G5 or not support PPC at all if the next big cat (10.6) would be 64-bit only — but WHY ON EARTH would they make it 64-bit only as they now tout the wonderful feature of letting 32bit and 64bit hardware live nicely together under the same roof? No, that's not going to happen.
They won't do that. There are a lot of Intel based Minis, MacBooks, MBPs and iMacs that don't have 64 bit CPUs. The Mini got the C2D only 2 months ago. When 10.6 comes out in 2009, they won't exclude systems that are only two years old.
manufacturers of processor upgrades. There are still a few out there, cranking out PPC G3 and G4s. They might eventuallly get some G5s, but that's doubtful.
If PPC support is dumped, and I don't doubt that it will be, it's just a question of when, they're going to lose a major part of their business. It's time to diversify!:eek:
Once this news gets out, expect lower prices on eBay for PPC macs :-)
By late 2009, it would have been 4 years since the last new PPC mac was sold.
Not so; new PPC Macs were still being sold at least as late as August 2006, when the Mac Pro was introduced. Plenty of 17" and 12" PowerBooks and iBooks were also sold in '06, too, to say nothing of the XServes, which remained G5s until less than a year ago.
In any event, since Tiger will have been out for 2.5 years when Leopard ships (assuming it's still on time, as now appears the case), shouldn't we be expecting Cougar (or whatever) to be coming around April 2010 at the earliest?
