In line with a rumor from yesterday, Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion offering qualified educational purchasers iTunes Store/App Store/iBookstore gift cards of up to $100 with the purchase of a new Mac, iPad, or iPhone. The program begins today and runs through September 6.
Buy a Mac for college, get a $100 App Store Gift Card - and also save with education pricing. Or buy an iPad or iPhone and get a $50 card.
As in past years, the Mac mini is excluded from the promotion, while all iPad (fourth-generation, iPad 2, and iPad mini) and iPhone (5, 4S, and 4) are eligible. Full requirements for eligibility are outlined in the terms and conditions (PDF).
The offer is available in the following countries, with gift card amounts varying based on local currency: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.
Update: Photos of new window displays for Apple's retail stores:
Friday January 9, 2026 8:17 am PST by Tim Hardwick
2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
...
Thursday January 8, 2026 2:56 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday January 12, 2026 7:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year.
"After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement...
Monday January 12, 2026 1:15 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 26.3, nearly a month after the first beta. So far, the update includes a couple of new features for iPhones.
iOS 15.3 through iOS 18.3 were all released in late January over the years, so it is thereby likely that iOS 26.3 will be released towards the end of this month as well. The update is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer.
Below,...
Monday January 12, 2026 11:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.
"This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome," wrote Musk, in a post on X.
Musk serves as CEO of xAI, the company behind Gemini competitor Grok.
It is unlikely...
Monday January 12, 2026 8:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple and Google today announced that Google Gemini will help power not only a more personalized version of Siri, but a range of future Apple Intelligence features.
"Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology," the companies said, in a statement. "These...
Monday January 12, 2026 8:19 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.3 will likely be released to the public later this month, but it appears that Apple is preparing to push out another software update in the interim.
Apple's software engineers have started testing iOS 26.2.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. The update will likely be released at some point this week or next week.
...
Friday January 9, 2026 4:24 am PST by Tim Hardwick
The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026.
Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a ...
Anyone else notice that the student in the ad is wearing a watch? This *had* to be intentional. Seriously - when's the last time you saw a college student wearing a watch?
I'm a 22-yo college student and I wear a watch every day.
I know Apple used to give discount, but could Apple become so shady that they give 100 dollar app store card for students? Since they are wealthy...maybe they could of given more discounts and offer more stuff.
How is this shady? First, they give a student discount; second, they are giving $100 in free goods from iTunes/App store.
They don't have to give you anything.
Oprah and the Queen are also very wealthy, perhaps they can each give you $100 towards your new computer..... :rolleyes:
