Top Stories: WWDC 2022 Schedule, New Apple Watch Pride Bands, and More

by

It's Memorial Day weekend in the United States, and that means WWDC is right around the corner and anticipation is building for what we might see at the opening keynote. Software updates are a given, but will we see any new hardware?

top stories 28may2022
Other news this week included the annual release of new Pride-themed Apple Watch bands, iPhone 14 Pro rumors, and Sony's latest headphones that compete against the AirPods Max, so read for all of the details!

Apple Shares WWDC 2022 Schedule Starting With Keynote

One of the most exciting times of the year for Apple fans is fast approaching, with WWDC now under two weeks away.

apple wwdc 2022
Apple this week shared a schedule for WWDC, which will kick off with the keynote on Monday, June 6 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. At the weeklong developer conference, Apple is expected to preview its latest software, including iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16.

WWDC will be an online affair again this year, but some lucky developers were randomly selected to attend a special day at Apple Park on June 6 for a tour and to watch the keynote video in person.

New Apple Watch Pride Edition Bands Now Available

In celebration of Pride month this June, and in support of the LGBTQ+ community and equality, Apple this week released new Pride Edition versions of the Sport Loop and Nike Sport Loop for $49 each.

2022 Pride Apple Watch Bands
A new Pride watch face is also available for the Apple Watch Series 4 or newer. The watch face's colorful threads move as the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch is rotated, the display is tapped, or the wearer's wrist is raised.

iPhone 14 Pro Screen Refresh Rate Upgrade Could Allow for Always-On Display

Display industry consultant Ross Young this week shared his expectation that the ProMotion displays used in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be capable of dropping to a refresh rate as low as 1Hz. This upgrade could pave the way for an always-on display and/or longer battery life.
Beyond iPhone 13 Feature 2
The Apple Watch has featured an always-on display since the Series 5 was released in 2019, allowing for the clock and other on-screen elements to be viewed at any time.

iPhone 14 Pro Renders Highlight Multiple Design Changes

Speaking of the iPhone 14 Pro, leaker Jon Prosser and graphic designer Ian Zelbo have shared some brand-new renderings of what the iPhone 14 Pro is expected to look like, reflecting a number of design changes rumored for the device.

iPhone 14 Pro Purple Side by Side Black
In addition to the much-discussed shift from a notch to a "hole and pill" design for the front camera and Face ID, the renderings include a larger camera array that will necessitate a change of the corner radii of the entire device for a slightly rounder appearance.

Sony's New WH-1000XM5 Headphones vs. AirPods Max

Sony last week came out with an updated version of its popular over-ear noise canceling headphones, so we picked up a pair to compare them to the AirPods Max to see which headphones are better.

WH 1000XM5 vs AirPods Max thumb
Sony's new "WH-1000XM5" headphones are priced at $399 in the United States, while the AirPods Max retail for $549. Watch our video for a comparison of the headphones to see which is a better value and check out our complete review of Sony's latest cans.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Tag: Top Stories

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
Read Full Article • 67 comments
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Read Full Article • 24 comments
iPhone Pocket Short

iPhone Pocket Now Available to Order, But Already Selling Out

Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
Read Full Article • 191 comments
tvOS 26 Profiles

tvOS 26.2 Adds a Useful New Feature to Your Apple TV

Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account. In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
Read Full Article
Tim Cook WWDC 2018

Report: Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO 'as Soon as Next Year'

Saturday November 15, 2025 2:40 pm PST by
Apple is preparing for Tim Cook to step down as CEO of the company "as soon as next year," according to the Financial Times. The company's board of directors and senior executives "recently intensified preparations for Cook to hand over the reins," the report said. While the report said that Apple is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, it went on to ...
Read Full Article • 419 comments
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's 2026 Mac Plans

Friday November 14, 2025 3:23 pm PST by
Most of Apple's Macs are slated to get M5 chips across 2026, and there's a possibility we'll even see the first M6 chips toward the end of the year. Updates are planned for everything from the MacBook Air to the Mac Studio. MacBook Air (Early 2026) The MacBook Air will be one of the first Macs to get a 2026 refresh, with an update planned for the first few months of the year. The MacBook...
Read Full Article • 149 comments
walmart new ornametns

Walmart Black Friday Deals Begin Today With Low Prices on Headphones, TVs, and More

Friday November 14, 2025 7:55 am PST by
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
Read Full Article • 13 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
Read Full Article • 68 comments
best early black friday deals

Best Black Friday Apple Deals Live Now - Save on AirPods, iPads, and Apple Watches

Saturday November 15, 2025 1:45 pm PST by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When ...
Read Full Article • 1 comments
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
Read Full Article • 119 comments

Top Rated Comments

PrecisionGem Avatar
PrecisionGem
45 months ago
Some new more classic watch faces with hands would be nice. Seems we have enough pride faces and bands by now. I would think that the market for traditional faces still a bigger market. I could be wrong however.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
44267547
45 months ago

Does Apple not understand that all the camera upgrades after the 12 Pro look ridiculously un-portional to the actual size of phone?
Well apparently, Apple does understand, because they’re still manufacturing approximately 160 million iPhones annually sold throughout the world, and it seems the consumer probably doesn’t share your mindset, especially given that the majority of smart phones are used in cases, which negates your point to a degree.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corsig Avatar
Corsig
45 months ago
I never thought a watch band would get so much coverage
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
CarlJ
45 months ago

You can actually design your own watch face and share it with the world, you know...
That doesn't mean what you think it means. That lets you take one of the existing built-in Apple Watch faces and customize it the same way you'd do by selecting "Edit" on the watch face itself - that is, you can choose complications and colors and such - and then share that to other people (ooh, exciting). It's nothing at all like making an actual new watch face.

If Apple had released the ability to build actual new watch faces, I would have made several already, at least one of them likely following the pattern of one of my Raspberry Pi clocks that's been running for the past five years.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
CarlJ
45 months ago

Some new more classic watch faces with hands would be nice. Seems we have enough pride faces and bands by now. I would think that the market for traditional faces still a bigger market. I could be wrong however.
It’s not a zero sum game, we can have “traditional“ faces and “Pride” faces. The “traditional” faces still outnumber the “Pride” faces, no quota is necessary. Me, I just like the pretty colors. (And, come on, they’ve released literally hundreds of Watch bands over the years, and only, what, maybe half a dozen Pride bands - and you want them to cut back on the Pride bands?)

Personally, I find it completely absurd that most of the “traditional” watch faces on the Apple Watch have “hands” that continually run “over” the complications. In mechanical watches (not in the sense of wind up but in the sense of having physical hands), this was a mostly* necessary limitation of the mechanical bits. In a watch that has a pixel-based display, it’s just playing olde-timey make believe for no good reason - they should make the complications appear to “float” over the hands, so they’re visible all the time. As it is, we end up with analog faces where you can see the date in the traditional place - unless it’s around 3 o’clock, when the hour hand covers up the date, or it’s around 15 minutes past any hour, when the minute hand covers up the date - if so, just wait a while - you didn’t need to know the date right now, did you? If you had, you should have worn a watch (oh, wait). Traditional watchmakers didn’t design it that way because they wanted the day/date to play peek-a-boo, it was a limitation they couldn’t easily overcome. Aping that mechanism just makes it look like you want to carry around a cute little picture of a “watch”, rather than wanting to be able to know/check the time and date.

*: FWIW, I did once see an Omega watch that had a digital display incorporated into the underside of the crystal - the digits/letters (day/date, stopwatch, etc.) floated over the hands. It was flawed, but still tempting. It was also like $1200, IIRC.

I’d rather see them put some real effort into faces that can give both analog and digital representations of the time equal footing - both are useful for different ways of understanding the time. They get kind of close with some of the modular faces, but invariably either the analog face is too tiny to take in at a glance, or the analog face dominates the dial. I want one where the analog display and the digital display are both easy to completely take in with the merest of glances. The analog part does not have to have a strong resemblance to traditional analog faces, just recognizable hour and minute hands pivoting around a central axis with tick marks making the hours clear. Extra points if seconds are shown by a dot or series of dots crawling around the outside edge of the display (I have this running on two clocks on my living room that I built five years ago - I can tell the exact time [digitally] or get a sense of the time [analog] with a single glance from anywhere in the room). I’d want the analog and digital time, the day/date, the activity rings, and two lines for current-or-next event (calendar) and current-or-next task (reminders/OmniFocus). Bonus points if the calendar/task lines are treated like the old Siri watch face, where some more pressing thing, like a running stopwatch or timer, will override the other information display.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
logain Avatar
logain
45 months ago
That pride flag heads graphic is hairist. Loads of hairstyles, not a single balding male hairline.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments