Apple's online store is going down for a few hours on a rolling country-by-country basis right now, but do not get your hopes up for new products.
Apple takes its online store down for a few hours ahead of Black Friday every year to tease/prepare for its annual gift card offer with the purchase of select products. The store already went down and came back online in Australia and New Zealand, and the gift card offer is nowlive in those countries as expected.
The store is down in the United Kingdom and many other European countries right now, and it will soon go down in the United States and Canada.
Many readers email us about Apple's online store going down ahead of Black Friday, so this is our annual reminder that it does not relate to new products.
In case you missed the earlier announcement, Apple is offering a free gift card with the purchase of an eligible product in select countries, from November 28 through December 1. In the U.S., the gift card values range between $25 and $200.
Black Friday is one of the few occasions per year when Apple directly offers deals on its products, but better deals are often available through resellers like Amazon, so make sure to check out our Black Friday deals coverage for the latest discounts on iPads, Macs, AirPods, Apple Watches, accessories, and more.
North Carolina has approved Apple's request to push back the hiring and investment milestones tied to its long-delayed Research Triangle Park campus, effectively restarting the incentive agreement that could be worth up to $845 million to the company, the Herald reports.
North Carolina's Economic Investment Committee voted this week to grant Apple a four-year extension on the timelines originally established when the company secured a rare "transformative" Job Investment Grant in 2021. The move follows Apple's confirmation last year that it had paused construction plans and was seeking to renegotiate the agreement with the state.
Under the original deal, Apple committed to invest $1 billion in North Carolina over a ten-year period, including $552 million for a new corporate campus in Research Triangle Park and $448 million to expand its data center footprint in Catawba County in exchange for up to $845 million in tax benefits if it met strict annual hiring and spending goals.
Apple has still not begun construction on the campus. In June last year, the company formally asked the state to suspend the project for up to four years, noting it had added around 600 employees in the Raleigh area since 2021 but required more time before beginning major development work.
Site plans filed in 2023 showed that Apple expected to build three office buildings, several support structures, and a car park totaling around 900,000 square feet. The latest vote enables Apple to delay hiring requirements until the end of 2027, by which time it will need to add 126 positions to remain eligible for incentives, rising to 1,719 by year five and 2,700 by year ten.
Apple previously said the campus will focus on machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and other related fields.
Apple today shared its annual holiday season ad, titled A Critter Carol, as well as a behind-the-scenes video showing how it was made.
In the short film, set in a snowy forest, a group of woodland creatures use a lost iPhone 17 Pro to film themselves singing about the gift of friendship. Later, the owner of the iPhone finds the device with help from the Find My app on his Apple Watch, and he then discovers the critters' heartwarming recording.
In an AI world, Apple's ad emphasizes the use of practical effects. The critters — a raccoon, bear, owl, deer, squirrel, and others — are handcrafted puppets.
The short film was shot entirely on the iPhone 17 Pro, according to Apple, although the fine print says that additional hardware and software was used. The behind-the-scenes video shows how the ad was made by puppeteers, and how the typography used throughout the campaign was meticulously handprinted from wood blocks.
Apple says the short film, directed by award-winning Australian filmmaker Mark Molloy, underscores the irreplaceable value of human creativity.
The ad showcases the iPhone 17 Pro's advanced camera capabilities, such as 8× zoom, Center Stage selfies, and Dual Capture with the front and rear cameras.
"I was surprised by the power of the iPhone 17 Pro because it allowed me to capture the story in a truly immersive way," said Molloy.
The ad was released just in time for U.S. Thanksgiving.
Apple TV has pulled its upcoming French thriller series "The Hunt" just days before its scheduled December 3 debut, after allegations emerged that the show plagiarized a 1973 novel and its film adaptation.
Production company Gaumont confirmed the postponement in a statement, saying it is "conducting a thorough review to address any questions related to our production." The company added that it takes "intellectual property matters very seriously."
Creator and director Cédric Anger is accused of copying the plot from late author Douglas Fairbairn's novel "Shoot" and the 1976 film of the same name. French media journalist Clément Garin was first to make the allegations, according to Variety.
The similarities between the two stories look fairly substantial. Both narratives follow a group of hunters who encounter rival hunters in the wilderness, leading to violent consequences. In each story, one hunter is shot and the attacker is killed in retaliation. The survivors then return home while keeping the incident secret, but they soon grow paranoid about the potential for revenge.
"The Hunt" was set to premiere with two episodes on December 3, followed by weekly releases through December 31, but Apple has since removed all promotional materials for the series from its website. Apple has yet to comment on the controversy.
It's the second time this year Apple TV has pulled a completed series at the last minute. Jessica Chastain's "The Savant" was postponed days before its September premiere and still has no release date.
Kagi, best known for its telemetry-free search engine, has released version 1.0 of Orion, its privacy-focused browser for Mac. After a long beta period, the WebKit-based browser is aimed at users who want Safari's speed without the data collection that comes with most other options.
For users who want an alternative to Chromium browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Brave, without sacrificing speed or extension support, Orion could be worth a look. Moreover, unlike some recent browser launches, there's no integration of AI features, and Kagi says it collects no telemetry or usage data of any kind.
For a browser claiming zero-bloat, there are some notable features, too. Focus Mode strips away the browser interface to turn any website into a distraction-free app, while Link Preview lets you peek at links from mail or notes without actually opening a new tab. You can set up separate profiles that keep work, personal browsing, and everything else completely isolated. Not only that, the browser also works with Chrome and Firefox extensions.
Orion is free to download and use, and also comes with 200 free searches on Kagi's premium search engine, while an optional Orion Plus subscription at $5 per month unlocks floating windows that stay on top of other apps, custom icons, and offers early access to new features.
Kagi's six-person team developed Orion over five years (the first two years handled by a single developer). The company plans to expand documentation and add new features over the coming year. You can grab it over on the Orion website, while iPhone and iPad versions can be downloaded from the App Store.
Apple's disappointing iPhone Air sales are causing major Chinese mobile vendors to scrap or freeze their own ultra-thin phone projects, according to reports coming out of Asia.
Since the iPhone Air launched in September, there have been reports of poor sales and manufacturing cuts, while Apple's supply chain has scaled back shipments and production.
Apple supplier Foxconn has reportedly dismantled all of its production lines for the iPhone Air, while Luxshare, another supplier, stopped production at the end of October.
As a result of the device's poor reception among consumers, rival smartphone manufacturers including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and others have either canned or adjusted their development plans for Air-style models, and reallocated eSIM solutions intended for the devices to other production lines.
Xiaomi reportedly planned a "true Air model" to rival Apple's offering, while Vivo targeted thinness within its mid-range S series. Both companies are now said to have halted related projects but have yet to officially comment.
Apple relied on the iPhone Air's new look to generate excitement – it's the first major redesign of the iPhone since the iPhone X introduced Face ID and an all-display front in 2017. However, achieving a super-thin 5.6 mm profile required trade-offs. The iPhone Air uses a smaller battery and a single rear camera, yet still carries a premium price.
Starting at $999, it seems too expensive for what many buyers view as style over substance. It sits only $100 below the $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro, which offers a triple-lens camera system and far better battery life.
The tepid consumer response is also said to have forced Apple back to the drawing board: a report from The Information claims Apple has delayed the second-generation iPhone Air while it redesigns the device to potentially fit in a second camera and improve battery life.
Apparently it's been a similar story for Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge, the Korean company's equivalent ultra-thin offering. Samsung has reportedly cancelled the Galaxy S26 Edge and halted the production of the Galaxy S25 Edge, owing to poor sales.
In case you missed it: Spotify has been rolling out a new built-in playlist-transfer feature for its mobile app, so now you can import playlists from other streaming services directly, without the need for third-party tools.
Announced by the company a week ago, the feature is powered by TuneMyMusic, and it supports all the major services including Apple Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, TIDAL, Pandora, and Deezer. Spotify said the tool would roll out to all users "over the coming days."
You should be able to find the new tool in the "Your Library" section of the Spotify app – swipe to the bottom of the list, then tap on the new option to "Import your music" and follow the prompts to connect with the service.
You can then choose the platform you'd like to transfer playlists from. Missing tracks can still happen when services' catalogs don't align, but for most users the process now takes only a few taps.
The rollout removes one of the biggest barriers to switching platforms. Until now, users had to rebuild playlists manually or rely on third-party apps to do so. It's a nice bonus too, since the online version of TuneMyMusic only lets you transfer 500 tracks for free – unlimited transfers require a paid plan.
Apple Music rolled out its own transfer tool globally in September, allowing users to import their playlists and libraries from competing services.
It's only been two months since iOS 26 launched, but rumors don't take breaks. We're already hearing details about the next-generation iOS 27 update, which Apple will introduce in June 2026 before launching it in September 2026.
We've rounded up all of the rumors that we've heard so far.
Foldable Features
In 2026, Apple plans to launch the first foldable iPhone, a device that could be called the iPhone Fold. Rumors suggest that it will feature a 5.5-inch display when folded, and a 7.8-inch display when it's opened up like a book.
An iPhone with a larger display that also folds will require some major updates to iOS, and iOS 27 will focus on building new interfaces and experiences made for a larger display.
We haven't heard specifics on how Apple will tweak iOS to accommodate the iPhone Fold, but we could see some iPad-like options such as side bars and perhaps even multitasking views with support for multiple windows.
Bug Fixes
Bloomberg's Mark Gurmanhas described iOS 27 as a "Snow Leopard" update, suggesting that Apple will focus on improving underlying performance and quality rather than introducing major new functionality. Apple engineers are reportedly going through iOS 26 to look for bloat, bugs, and any other issues impacting performance.
Liquid Glass
iOS 27 might include refinements for the Liquid Glass design that Apple introduced with iOS 26. There have already been some changes in the iOS 26.1 and iOS 26.2 updates, but iOS 27 will provide Apple with the opportunity to make larger adjustments.
Apple Intelligence
We're supposed to get the much smarter version of Siri in an iOS 26.4 update planned for spring 2026, but it's likely even more Apple Intelligence capabilities will follow in iOS 27.
We don't know specifics yet, but Apple Intelligence features could expand to additional apps.
Apple is working on a "World Knowledge" Siri search feature that would provide information on general search queries, which will likely be included in Siri's iOS 26.4 update. If it's not in iOS 26.4, the add-on Siri feature could instead come in iOS 27.
Siri
With iOS 27, Apple could update Siri's design. Siri will get its major overhaul in iOS 26.4, but a new visual look is supposedly planned for iOS 27. There are no specifics about what the redesign might entail, but rumors linked to Apple's upcoming tabletop robot suggest that the company might introduce a version of Siri that's more animated, similar to the Mac Finder logo. That more animated version of Siri could also come to the iPhone and iPad.
Health+
Apple is rumored to be developing a paid Health+ service with nutrition planning and medical suggestions, and we could see that introduced as part of iOS 27.
The medical tool would explain different health metrics and trends from the Health app, offering up personalized guidance for health improvement.
New Satellite Features
Apple is working on several new satellite features for the iPhone, and it's possible some features could be introduced as soon as 2027. Timing on Apple's satellite improvements is unclear, though, and behind-the-scenes updates from Apple's satellite partner Globalstar are required. Rumored features:
Satellite connectivity without the need for a view of the sky
Some of these features might require new hardware, but options like Apple Maps via satellite would not require components beyond what's available now.
Launch Date
New versions of iOS, macOS, and Apple's other software platforms will be previewed in June at WWDC before launching in September just ahead of when new iPhone models come out.
Apple is fighting an antitrust penalty law in India that could require it to pay massive fines in its ongoing antitrust dispute with Tinder owner Match, reports Reuters.
Last year, India passed a law that allows the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to use global turnover when calculating penalties imposed on companies for abusing market dominance. Apple can be fined up to 10 percent, which would result in a penalty of around $38 billion. Apple said that using global turnover would result in a fine that's "manifestly arbitrary, unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, and unjust."
Apple is asking India's Delhi High Court to declare the law illegal, suggesting that penalties should be based on the Indian revenue of the specific unit that violates antitrust law.
Apple has been fighting an antitrust lawsuit in India since 2022 against dating app Match and several Indian startups. The CCI released a pair of reports last year suggesting that Apple had engaged in "abusive conduct and practices" because it required developers to use its in-app purchase system. The CCI was forced to recall its investigative reports because they contained confidential information about Apple's business practices, resulting in a delay of several months. No final decision has been made, and a penalty has yet to be levied against Apple. Apple maintains that it has not done anything wrong, and argues that it has a very small share of the smartphone market in India because Android devices are much more popular.
Apple said in today's filing that the CCI used the new penalty law on November 10 in an unrelated case, fining a company for a violation that happened 10 years ago. Apple said it had "no choice but to bring this constitutional challenge now" to avoid having retrospective penalties applied against it, too.
Match has argued that a high fine based on global turnover would discourage companies from repeating antitrust violations. Apple's plea will be heard on December 3.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Perplexity offers conversational search that incorporates the user's history and wants when looking for item suggestions. The Perplexity team suggests that the AI is able to understand each shopper's unique needs better than a search algorithm that's optimized for advertiser dollars.
The search engine is able to remember past searches, learning each user's design preferences. Results are displayed in product cards rather than scrollable grids, with the cards featuring spec lists and reviews. Perplexity supports checking out with PayPal directly from the Perplexity interface, though this is currently limited to supported merchants like Fabletics, Adorama, and NewEgg.
OpenAI this week added an AI shopping research feature to ChatGPT, so both ChatGPT and Perplexity now offer similar functionality.
Perplexity's new shopping experience is available for free to all U.S. Perplexity users on the desktop and web, and it will be expanding to iOS in the coming weeks.
PayPal is currently offering a cash back reward. Customers who complete their first purchase using PayPal within Perplexity can receive 50 percent back, up to $50.
OWC kicked off its Black Friday sale this week, offering big discounts on a variety of USB-C docks, external drives and enclosures, and Mac accessories. Some of these deals won't be applied until you add the items to your cart, at which time an automatic coupon will be applied to your order.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with OWC. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
There are a few notable deals in this sale, including $130 off the popular 14-Port Thunderbolt Dock for Mac, available for $149.99, which is the steepest discount we've seen since the summer on the accessory. If you purchase a qualifying new or used Mac at the same time as this dock, you can get an additional $20 off the accessory at checkout.
You can find all the Apple Black Friday Deals currently available in our dedicated post. For everything else, we're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2025.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find this holiday season? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
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You can get the 42mm GPS Apple Watch Series 11 for $339.00, down from $399.00, and the 46mm GPS model for $369.99, down from $429.00. You'll find three of the 42mm GPS models on sale at this all-time low price, and four of the 46mm GPS models discounted by $59 in this sale.
If you're shopping for cellular models, you can also find new record low prices on multiple models this week on Amazon. The 42mm cellular Apple Watch Series 11 has hit $439.99, down from $499.00, and the 46mm cellular model has hit $469.99, down from $529.00.
You can find all the Apple Black Friday Deals currently available in our dedicated post. For everything else, we're keeping track of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2025.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find this holiday season? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Amazon this week is taking $75 off Wi-Fi models of Apple's 11th generation iPad. Prices start at $274.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi iPad, down from $349.00, which is a new all-time low price on this model.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Additionally, Amazon has the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad for $374.00 ($75 off) and the 512GB Wi-Fi iPad for $579.00 ($70 off). Free delivery estimates are placed around November 30 for most of these iPad models, but Prime members should be able to get same-day delivery in many locations.
You can find all the Apple Black Friday Deals currently available in our dedicated post. For everything else, we're keeping track of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2025.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find this holiday season? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Days after Apple's iPhone Pocket sold out around the world, fake versions of the accessory have started to become available online.
Earlier this month, Apple introduced the iPhone Pocket in collaboration with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE. The 3D-knitted limited edition accessory is designed to carry an iPhone.
The accessory is like a stretchy pocket, not unlike an iPod Sock, but elongated to form a strap made of a ribbed, elastic textile that fully encloses an iPhone yet allows you to glimpse the display through its open structure. It comes in a short strap variant for $149.95 and a long strap variant for $229.95.
The iPhone Pocket became available to order on Apple's online store starting Friday, November 14, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. It quickly sold out around the world.
Now, lookalike versions of the accessories have started to become available on Chinese sites like AliExpress, where you can buy an iPhone Pocket clone for as little as $6. Some listings describe it as a 1:1 replica, but there is no ISSEY MIYAKE print on the label. They describe the accessory as being made with the same production processes. Both the short and long variants are available in all of the original color options.
Apple products and accessories are often replicated by manufacturers in China, but the turnaround for these particular copies has been especially fast. As with most reproductions, quality can vary, yet for customers who missed out on the limited-edition release, found it too expensive, or simply like the aesthetic, the dramatically lower price of these lookalikes may make them a tempting alternative.
Christie's is preparing to auction off the original partnership contract that created the Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, valuing it in the region of $2-4 million.
The original three-page document served as the contract among Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ron Wayne. The agreement established initial shares at 45% for Jobs, 45% for Wozniak, and 10% for Wayne.
Additional papers documenting Wayne's withdrawal as a partner just 12 days after the company was formed are also included in the auction package. Wayne initially received $800 for his 10% share of the company, and later received an additional $1,500 payment.
Wayne later stated he withdrew because he knew the venture would be a "roller coaster" and that the high-stakes ride was not for him.
If Wayne's original 10% stake had somehow remained untouched, it would be worth about $409 billion today based on Apple's $4 trillion valuation. That's only a playful comparison, mind, since decades of stock splits, new share issuances, and structural changes mean that early 10% slice has no realistic connection to Apple's modern share count!
Christie's will offer the founding contract and Wayne's withdrawal agreement as a single lot on January 23, 2026.
In the early 1990s, Wayne sold the physical copy of the founding contract for $500. Apple's founding corporate papers were last sold at auction by Sotheby's in December 2011. That lot also included Wayne's withdrawal, and it was sold to a private collector for nearly $1.6 million.
OpenAI has updated the voice feature in its ChatGPT app so that voice conversations now happen directly inside an ongoing chat instead of forcing users into a separate voice-only session.
The change means responses now appear in real-time with text – plus any visuals like images and maps – as you speak, making switching between voice and text smoother while preserving chat history and context.
Previously, when you used "Advanced Voice Mode," voice chats opened in their own window, which would exit your current conversation and knock you out of your workflow. The update means voice and text interactions are now integrated in one seamless conversation thread.
Users who prefer the old separate voice mode, characterized by the floating orb, can easily revert back to it via Settings ➝ Voice Mode ➝ Separate mode. The option is available on both ChatGPT for web and mobile apps updated to the latest version.
You can now use ChatGPT Voice right inside chat—no separate mode needed.
You can talk, watch answers appear, review earlier messages, and see visuals like images or maps in real time.
Rolling out to all users on mobile and web. Just update your app. pic.twitter.com/emXjNpn45w
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 25, 2025
Apple is set to reclaim the title of world's largest smartphone maker for the first time since 2011, driven by the success of the iPhone 17 lineup, according to Counterpoint Research data (via Bloomberg).
Based on the firm's data, iPhone shipments are projected to grow 10% in 2025, easily outpacing Samsung's 4.6% growth. As a result, Apple is expected to capture a 19.4% global market share as the overall smartphone market expands 3.3% for the year.
The iPhone 17 series has posted double-digit year-over-year sales growth in both the U.S. and China. Counterpoint previously reported that the iPhone 17 lineup outsold iPhone 16 models by 14% during the first 10 days of availability in those markets, and that Apple had a record October in China with sales jumping 37% year-over-year.
Apple is also benefiting from easing U.S.-China trade tensions and a weaker dollar that has boosted purchases in emerging markets.
Counterpoint analyst Yang Wang said the key driver behind the upgraded shipment outlook was a replacement cycle "inflection point," as consumers who bought phones during the pandemic boom are now ready to upgrade. Wang noted that 358 million secondhand iPhones were sold between 2023 and Q2 2025, representing another pool of potential upgraders.
Looking ahead, Wang expects Apple to extend its lead with the 2026 launch of its first foldable iPhone and a budget-friendly iPhone 17e, followed by a major iPhone design overhaul in 2027, in celebration of the device's 20th anniversary.
Apple will launch the iPad mini 8 with OLED display in the third quarter of next year at the earliest, according to Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital.
Today's claim from the Chinese social media account broadly aligns with reports from Bloomberg and Koreanmedia indicating the iPad mini will get an OLED display as soon as 2026.
Corroborating previous rumors, Instant Digital says Apple will make the iPad mini the second model in its iPad lineup to adopt OLED display technology, followed by the iPad Air – likely in 2027 at the earliest. Currently, OLED panels are exclusive to iPad Pro models.
OLED panels can individually control each pixel, resulting in more precise color reproduction and deeper blacks compared to other common display technologies. They also provide superior contrast, faster response times, better viewing angles, and greater design flexibility.
For the iPad mini 8, Apple is likely to use the mid-tier A19 Pro chip found in the iPhone Air. Apple built the A19 Pro chip on an upgraded third-generation 3-nanometer N3P process for modest speed and efficiency improvements.
Apple is reportedly working to give the iPad mini 8 a more water-resistant design, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. To achieve this, Apple is said to have designed a new vibration-based speaker system that eliminates the need for traditional speaker holes.
Apple's iPad mini with OLED display technology and improved water resistance is expected to be more expensive, and Apple could charge up to $100 more for the device, according to Gurman. The iPad mini is currently priced starting at $499.
The source of today's rumor, Instant Digital, has a mixed but occasionally reliable track record. The account previously revealed accurate details such as the Yellow iPhone 14 and 14 Plus finishes and the Titanium Milanese Loop for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, though not all of its past claims have proven correct.
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Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
