As the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 go on sale around the world today, Apple has begun collecting photos from Apple retail locations and shared them on its website. This morning, CEO Tim Cook tweeted the short blog post, depicting customers excitedly purchasing the new devices at Apple locations across the globe.
Thanks to time zone differences, a few customers in New Zealand began receiving their iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus pre-orders yesterday, sharing a few unboxed images of the smartphones online. In the Sydney Apple location, a group of students who had been waiting in line for the iPhone 7 Plus in Jet Black -- which was confirmed to be sold out on Wednesday -- walked away with $100 gift cards and two iPhone 7 models each.
With hype surrounding the iPhone 7, the Apple Watch Series 2 hasn't received as much attention. Apple's wearable device has faced a few pre-order snafus of its own, however, with Best Buy informing early pre-order customers that their launch day shipments would be delayed nearly two weeks. The retailer did the same thing for a few unfortunate iPhone 7 customers, and in compensation offered gift cards to be put towards a future purchase at Best Buy: $50 for Apple Watch pre-orders and $100 for iPhone 7 pre-orders.
For plenty of customers who pre-ordered early last Friday, their shipments should be arriving as the day progresses. If you're waiting for your own device, be sure to check out the MacRumors forums to view iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 launch day posts from other members.
Saturday April 11, 2026 9:14 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
CarPlay Ultra...
As we wait for WWDC to kick off next Monday, Apple today announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards, recognizing apps and games for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.
The 2025 Apple Design Award winners are listed below, with one app and one game selected per category:
Delight and Fun - CapWords (App) and Balatro (Game)
Innovation - Play (App) and PBJ -...
Saturday April 11, 2026 9:07 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the AirPods Max 2 received more attention, Apple also released a second pair of headphones last month: Nike Powerbeats Pro 2.
Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 are the same as the regular Powerbeats Pro 2, except they have a two-tone design consisting of black and Nike's signature Volt neon green-yellow color. The headphones were released on March 20 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and a ...
Tuesday March 17, 2026 3:32 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple today launched its atrial fibrillation history feature for Apple Watch in mainland China.
Since 2022, Apple Watch in the U.S. has supported AFib History, which allows users diagnosed with atrial fibrillation to view an estimate of how frequently their heart is in this type of irregular rhythm.
The feature analyzes pulse rate data collected by a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to...
Thursday March 19, 2026 3:10 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple's current blood oxygen sensing implementation in the U.S. does not infringe on patents owned by Masimo and Apple will not face a revived import ban, a U.S. International Trade Commission judge said this week (via Reuters).
After Apple was found to have violated Masimo's patents related to blood oxygen sensing, the Apple Watch faced a U.S. import ban that caused Apple to briefly pause...
Tuesday March 24, 2026 10:02 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released watchOS 26.4, the fourth major update to the watchOS 26 operating system that came out in September. watchOS 26.4 comes a month and a half after Apple released watchOS 26.3.
watchOS 26.4 can be downloaded for free on an iPhone running iOS 26.4 by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update, or initiating an update in the Settings app on the...
Apple is having another outstanding product launch while Samsung's phones are catching on fire. Which has been the lead story on national TV news in the US.
Also, Samsung botching their recall doesn't help...