Several readers have noticed that our Buyer's Guide has recently changed the iPhone recommendation to "Don't Buy - Updates Soon" despite no recent rumors about a new iPhone update.
The Buyer's Guide generates some of its recommendations automatically based on historic product life cycles. For a product like the iPhone, however, which has only been on the market for a short period of time, these product cycles can be less predictive.
The relatively short product cycles for the iPhone reflect the fact that Apple has made regular adjustments to the iPhone's price and storage capacity. Only 2 months after its initial release in 2007, Apple dropped the price of the 8GB iPhone down $200. Then in February, Apple boosted the maximum storage capacity of the iPhone from 8GB to 16GB.
These regular short updates are why the Buyer's Guide recommendation has changed, but Apple has said they are not going to be updating any more products in 2008. So, any new updates wouldn't realistically be seen until early 2009. And Apple has said that they will continue to improve and aggressively price the iPhone in the future.
Regardless, readers should probably wait until Friday before buying any new Apple hardware since Apple and other retailers will be offering Black Friday After Thanksgiving sales. BestBuy, PowerMax and Amazon are already advertising their Black Friday sales, and we believe that both Apple and MacMall will also be offering their traditional discounts on Friday. Last year's discounts were as high as $300 off high end MacBook Pros.
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
