In celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year on February 1, Apple has released special-edition AirPods Pro with a custom-designed tiger emoji through its online store and retail stores in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao.
2022 is the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar. The special-edition AirPods Pro have a custom-designed tiger emoji printed on the wireless charging case, with a larger red version printed on the AirPods Pro box. When purchased at Apple retail stores in China, customers have also received a set of 12 red envelopes with each of the Chinese zodiac signs printed on them in emoji form. It is a Chinese New Year tradition to gift red envelopes to your family and friends, often with money inside.
The special-edition AirPods Pro are otherwise identical to the standard ones, and priced equally.
In China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, customers can also take part in a free in-store or virtual Today at Apple session called "Share Your Love" in which they will create personalized greeting cards for the New Year.
Apple also has Year of the Tiger artwork and decals on display at select retail stores in China.
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled special-edition Beats Studio Buds for the Chinese New Year. The custom Beats feature a red design with gold tiger print accents on the earbuds and charging case as a tribute to the Year of the Tiger. They are available starting today, but only in China, with pricing set at 1,099 yuan.
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...
Tuesday January 13, 2026 6:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced a new Apple Creator Studio bundle that offers access to six creative apps, as well as exclusive AI features and content, as part of a single subscription. In the U.S., pricing is set at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.
Here are the six apps included with an Apple Creator Studio subscription:Final Cut Pro on the Mac and iPad
Logic Pro on the Mac and iPad
Pixelmator...
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.
...
why are there people upset about this? you guys realize that just because the china government is corrupt does not mean that the people living there can't have good things, right?
Really funny that this culture is only being marketed to specifically in places tied to the mainland or under regional influence. Not in Japan, not in Korea, not in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia or anywhere else that has populations celebrating the lunar new year, which would include many western countries. Who is really insulting all those others who celebrate this?
For instance, Apple sells 福袋 (Lucky Bag) in Japan during new year. ('https://www.apple.com/jp/promo/newyear/terms.html') Do I need to list them all out? Just because MacRumors makes an article out of it doesn’t mean that Apple has no regional cultural celebration in other countries. They also celebrated Indian festivals. Problem is that whenever China is mentioned some of you people get crazy and get a free pass to attack.
Really funny that you people have to insult a culture that’s observed by people in China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan (they celebrate on 1 Jan with the Gregorian calendar after WWII) and many Chinese or East Asian communities in the world (read: 1/4 people in the world?) just because you don’t like a certain government (and just because Apple puts a freaking tiger drawing on the AirPods case). Racial discrimination is not allowed unless it’s to the Chinese people and anything related to China?
