MacRumors

Apple is working on a set of smart glasses that will rival Meta's popular AI-equipped Ray-Bans, offering many of the same features. Rumors about Apple's work on the glasses have been picking up, and we've gathered all of the information we've heard in the guide below.

Overview

There have been persistent rumors about Apple's work on augmented reality smart glasses, but true, lightweight augmented reality glasses are still years away. What's feasible now is a set of smart glasses that don't have any display functions, and that instead rely on cameras, speakers, AI integration, and sensors to offer useful features to wearers.

Apple's first smart glasses will be an iPhone accessory like the Apple Watch or AirPods, able to provide auxiliary features to reduce ‌iPhone‌ reliance.

Design

Apple plans to offer multiple material and frame options, making the smart glasses as much of a fashion accessory as the Apple Watch once was. Buyers will be able to choose their preferred color and frame style, selecting from metal and plastic frame options.

Apple is apparently testing 3D printing technology for manufacturing.

It's likely that Apple will offer both standard lenses and sunglasses, and based on the Vision Pro, Apple will also support prescription lenses. There's already a mechanism in place for ordering custom Vision Pro lenses through Zeiss, so Apple could expand that to cover the smart glasses as well.

Cameras and microphones will be included, and there is likely to be an LED light that indicates when the camera is active.

Controls

The glasses are expected to support touch-based controls, such as a tap to snap a photo, and voice-based controls.

Features

Here's what you'll be able to do with Apple's smart glasses, based on what we know so far:

• Take photos
• Record video, including spatial video
• Listen to audio
• Get directions
• Get answers to questions
• Get descriptions of the surroundings
• Identify plants, animals, landmarks and more
• Make phone calls
• Live translation
• Find My integration (not rumored, but likely)

iPhone Reliance

Apple's smart glasses may need a connection to an ‌iPhone‌ to provide functionality like music playback and AI assistance, though they will have some on-device capabilities. Apple is designing a custom SoC for the glasses that's based on the chip in the Apple Watch.

AI Integration

The cameras in Apple's smart glasses will be able to feed information to an AI assistant. The AI will be able to answer questions about what the wearer is seeing, similar to how Visual Intelligence works on the ‌iPhone‌ today.

AI will be able to control the glasses and do things like snap a photo or play music, plus it will be able to provide directions.

Pricing

There's no word on what the smart glasses will cost, but somewhere in the AirPods to Apple Watch range would make sense. Meta's glasses are priced starting at $300.

Competition

Apple's main competition will be the Meta Ray-Bans and the Meta Oakleys. Meta teamed up with popular sunglasses manufacturers and its smart glasses have proven popular with customers.

The Meta Ray-Bans use the traditional Wayfarer style and come in a range of colors, plus there are other frame options available as well.

Launch Date

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes Apple could introduce the smart glasses as soon as 2026, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo doesn't expect them to come out until 2027.

Future Features

Apple's first smart glasses will not include augmented reality capabilities, but a future version could integrate a display that would overlay digital information on the real world view.

Augmented reality glasses are a longtime goal of Apple's, and it is technology that the company is actively pursuing.

The Messages app has the Liquid Glass redesign that's been introduced throughout iOS 26, but Apple also added several long-desired features that make for a better experience in both one-to-one and group chats, such as custom backgrounds and group typing indicators.

Message Backgrounds

In any conversation in the Messages app, you can set a custom background, a feature that's available in many third-party messaging apps.

To set a custom background, tap on the name of the person or group at the top, and choose the "Backgrounds" option. There are pre-set options like sky, water, and aurora, or you can choose a solid color.

You can also opt to select a photo from your Photo Library, or generate an image with Image Playground. Backgrounds are changed for every participant in the conversation, but you need to have ‌iOS 26‌, iPadOS 26, or macOS Tahoe. Custom backgrounds can only be set for iMessage conversations at the current time, and there won't be an option to set a custom background in a chat with someone who has an Android device.

If you don't want to see custom backgrounds that people set, you can turn off the option in the Messages section of the Settings app. Just go to Settings > Apps > Messages and toggle off Conversation Backgrounds.

Regardless of the background that you choose, message bubbles will still be blue, and bubble color can't be changed.

Polls

For conversations where you're asking people to choose one of multiple options, you can now create a poll. If you tap on the "+" button next to the Messages text, there's a poll option.

You can add up to 12 choices in a poll, and then send it to people in a conversation to vote on. If you send a poll and someone thinks an option is missing, they can edit it and add in another choice.

On devices that support Apple Intelligence, the Messages app will suggest a poll in relevant conversations. If you're asking the group whether to get pizza, burgers, or pasta, for example, you might see a suggestion to create a poll.

Live Translation

‌iOS 26‌ supports a live translate feature in Messages on devices with ‌Apple Intelligence‌. If you're conversing with someone that speaks another language, you can turn on translate. What they type will be translated to your language, and what you type will be translated to their language. Translations are near instantaneous and don't slow down text conversations.

Languages that are supported include Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified), French, German, Italian, English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain).

To opt in to automatic translate, tap on the person's name, scroll down, and toggle on the Automatically Translate option. You will need to select a language to translate from, and download that language pack if you don't already have it installed (they're around 900MB).

Messages that you send will show up in both your language and the translated language on your own phone, but the person on the other end will only see the message in their language. Messages they respond with will show their language and the translated language.

Live Translation is an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ feature, and it works best when both participants have ‌iOS 26‌, ‌iPadOS 26‌, or macOS Tahoe. You can use Live Translation with someone who has an older device or an Android device, and it will translate their text on your end, but your responses are not translated to their language.

Group Chat Improvements

When you're in a group chat, you'll see typing indicators for people who are typing a response.

Apple Cash is also now supported in group chats, so members of the group can send money to one another without having to split out into separate conversations.

If you're in a group chat and there's a person that you don't know, there's now an option to add that person to your Contacts app with a tap.

Copy/Paste

If you want to copy just a part of a message, such as an address or a package tracking number, there's an option in ‌iOS 26‌ to do so. Long press on the message that you want to copy and then tap on the "Select" option.

Message Filtering

Apple separated spam messages and messages from unknown senders into two categories in ‌iOS 26‌, and both can be filtered out if you prefer.

There's a Filter section that you can access by tapping the icon at the top right of the Messages app interface that will let you see messages with specific content. Options include Unknown Senders, Transactions, Promotions, Spam, and Recently Deleted.

You can have messages from unknown senders (aka not saved in your Contacts) sent directly to the Unknown Senders list, and you won't get notifications. You'll see a badge in the filter section of the Messages app so you know the message is there, but you won't be bothered by it.

There's an exception you can turn on for Time Sensitive notifications, so you won't miss something like a food delivery person sending you a message. Messages classified as spam will be sent to the spam box, and you won't see a notification or a badge.

You can also turn on filtering notifications for messages that are classified as Personal (not from businesses), Transactions (order receipts and confirmations), and Promotions.

Natural Language Search

Messages supports natural language search, so you can use conversational words when looking for a text thread or something specific in a conversation.

Low Data Photo Sharing

Apple added a "Send Low Quality Photo Previews" setting that can be enabled in the Messages section of the Settings app. When it's turned on, Messages will send a lower quality preview of an image if your iPhone is in Low Data Mode. The full version of the photo is sent at a later time when you have a Wi-Fi connection.

Genmoji

In Messages, the Genmoji feature has been updated to support mixing two or more existing emoji characters together to create a new emoji.

In a conversation, tap on ‌Genmoji‌ to make a custom emoji character. Once in the ‌Genmoji‌ interface, tap on the smile icon with a "+" next to it, and you can select the emoji characters that you want to add from the emoji menu. You can add two emoji, or even more if you want.

Combined emoji can be further edited with text-based descriptions, and if someone sends you a combo emoji, you can long press on it and choose "New Emoji" to tweak it further.

CarPlay

When you're driving, you can now respond to an incoming message with a quick Tapback response. Plus you can pin conversations to the Messages app in CarPlay so you can access your favorite contacts quickly.

EU Changes

In the European Union, there's a new EU-only API for developers that will allow third-party messages apps to send and receive RCS/MMS/SMS messages by default instead of the built-in Messages app.

End-to-End RCS Encryption

Apple is planning to bring end-to-end encryption to ‌RCS‌ conversations between ‌iPhone‌ and Android users in a future software update, but the functionality is not implemented yet.

Read More

We have a complete iOS 26 roundup that covers all of the new features that are available in the update.

In the early to mid-1990s, Apple released a wide range of quirky and unique products, ranging from printers and digital cameras to a video game console and a PDA with a keyboard. Steve Jobs nixed the vast majority of these products upon his return to Apple in 1997, helping the company to regain its focus and avoid impending bankruptcy.

Many longtime MacRumors readers are likely already well informed about Apple's peculiar 1990s era, but for those who started following the company in the 2000s, it can be fascinating to look back at the products released in the older days.

Below, we reflect on five unique Apple products from the 1990s, including the QuickTake, Newton eMate 300, Studio Display, StyleWriter, and Pippin. There are of course many others, ranging from the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh to the Newton MessagePad, but we tried to make some selections that are perhaps a bit more obscure today.

Newton eMate 300

In 1993, Apple released the Newton MessagePad, a personal digital assistant (PDA) that was sort of like a very early and rudimentary version of the modern smartphone. Equipped with a black-and-white, pressure-sensitive touch screen, and a stylus, the device offered basic calendar, contact, note-taking, to-do list, and email functionality.

Apple went on to release a line of Newton products, including the eMate 300 in 1996, an entry-level computer for children to use in the classroom. It was the only Newton device with a built-in keyboard, and it featured a colorful and durable plastic casing that could withstand the perils of the classroom. It looks a little bit like the iBook that Apple released a few years later, but it ran the Newton operating system instead of Mac OS.

Priced at around $800, the eMate 300 was equipped with a 6.8-inch black-and-white, pressure-sensitive touch screen with a resolution of 480×320 pixels. Other specs included a 25 MHz ARM processor and a whopping 3 MB of RAM.

Jobs discontinued the entire Newton line upon his return in 1997.

QuickTake

In 1994, Apple released the QuickTake, one of the first consumer-oriented digital cameras ever. Apple designed the original QuickTake 100 model in partnership with Kodak. With 1MB of built-in storage, the camera could store up to a whopping eight photos with a resolution of 640×480 pixels. The camera had a built-in flash, but it did not offer manual focus or zoom controls. And while it featured a small LCD screen for basic information like battery level, it did not provide a live preview of the viewfinder's image.

Apple went on to release two more QuickTake 150 and QuickTake 200 models, with the latter made in partnership with Fujifilm. Some of the QuickTake 200's key upgrades included support for higher-resolution photos up to 1024×768 pixels, a 1.8-inch LCD screen with a viewfinder preview, and a removable 2MB storage card.

At the time the QuickTake was released, it was still common for people to have photos printed at a store, so the ability to transfer digital photos to a Mac or PC was quite novel, but Apple faced lots of competition from the likes of Canon, Nikon, and Sony, and it was ultimately a lower-selling product that did not survive the Jobs chopping block.

Pippin

Believe it or not, Apple once made a video game console.

Apple teamed up with Bandai to release the Pippin, or PiPP!N, in 1996. Priced at $599, the PowerPC-based console was intended to be somewhat of a hybrid of a computer and a video game console, with its software based on the Macintosh System 7.5.2. Games were loaded into the built-in CD-ROM drive, but the selection was limited.

Ultimately, the PiPP!N was a flop, as both Sony's PlayStation ($299) and the Nintendo 64 ($199) were less expensive and offered a wider library of games.

Another casualty of Jobs' return, the PiPP!N was discontinued by 1998.

Studio Display

You might be thinking that Apple just released the Studio Display three years ago, but it first used that name for an external monitor released back in 1998.

The original Studio Display featured a sleek design, with a 15-inch flat-panel LCD screen and a 4:3 aspect ratio. It had a resolution of 1024×768 pixels, a far cry from the current model's resolution of 5120×2880 pixels. It was priced at $1,999.

This is actually a product that Apple released shortly after Jobs returned to Apple, and the line remained available until 2004, when Apple fully shifted to its widescreen Cinema Display. In 2011, Apple moved on to the Thunderbolt Display, which was discontinued in 2016, before releasing the Pro Display XDR in 2019 and the current Studio Display in 2022.

Apple also released a bulkier CRT version of the Studio Display in 1999.

StyleWriter

Printers are another device category that Jobs put the kibosh on when he returned to Apple. Before then, though, Apple had released a variety of printer models, including the ImageWriter in 1982, the LaserWriter in 1985, and finally the StyleWriter in 1991.

The original StyleWriter was Apple's first inkjet printer with liquid ink, whereas the ImageWriter was a dot-matrix printer and the LaserWriter was a laser printer.

In the 2000s to early 2010s, Apple offered a rebate on third-party printers from brands like HP, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark with the purchase of a new Mac, but it has been nearly 30 years since an Apple-branded printer was last on the market.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with GRID Studio to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of Apple's iPhone 16 models. If you're not familiar with GRID Studio, it's a company that takes old, discarded Apple products and turns them into art for Apple fans.

GRID Studio is hosting a sale this week, and there are special discounts on the iPhone 2G and the ‌iPhone‌ 5 pieces, along with a 15 percent discount on everything else. Just enter the promo code PD15 when checking out to get the deal.

The GRID 2G is available for $299, which is $100 off the regular $399 price. The GRID 2G is one of the most popular devices that GRID Studio sells, because it showcases the first ‌iPhone‌ that Apple made. It highlights all of the components that were in the original 2007 ‌iPhone‌, including the curved shell, power button, headphone socket, speaker, logic board, and ear piece.

The Grid 5 is available for just $109 this week, down from $169. It features the 2012 ‌iPhone‌ 5, which was the first ‌iPhone‌ that was developed under Apple CEO Tim Cook and the last ‌iPhone‌ that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was involved with. The ‌iPhone‌ 5 is an important part of Apple's history because it included a taller 4-inch display, and it was the first ‌iPhone‌ to use the Lightning port rather than the 30-pin port.

GRID Studio has a whole range of deconstructed Apple devices, and each one includes all of the components artfully displayed and labeled. A sleek black frame completes the look, and there are interesting details included about each component.

We have a 128GB ‌iPhone 16‌ to give away to one lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win, use the widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner(s) and send the prize(s). You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, following us on Threads, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older, UK residents who are 18 years or older, and Canadian residents who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. All federal, state, provincial, and/or local taxes, fees, and surcharges are the sole responsibility of the prize winner. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (July 11) at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on July 18. The winner will be chosen randomly on or shortly after July 18 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.

Apple updated its vintage and obsolete products list to add several Macs, iPads, accessories, and more. The 2013 "Trash Can" Mac Pro was added to the vintage list, 12 years after it was first introduced.

Most products are added to the vintage list much earlier, but Apple sold the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌ for so long that it wasn't eligible until now. A device is considered "vintage" five years after it was last distributed for sale.

The trash can ‌Mac Pro‌ wasn't discontinued until December 2019, when the redesigned "Cheese Grater" ‌Mac Pro‌ came out. The 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌ was the subject of Phil Schiller's infamous "Can't innovate anymore, my ass," line, which backfired spectacularly when the ‌Mac Pro‌'s design turned out to be unsustainable.

The ‌Mac Pro‌ featured a radical new cylindrical design that was much smaller than the previous-generation ‌Mac Pro‌, but it didn't end up meeting the needs of pro users. There wasn't space to upgrade internal components like GPUs, which proved to be a major downfall as GPUs expanded in size, power, and thermal requirements. Apple wasn't able to introduce a new version of the ‌Mac Pro‌ due to design limitations, and in 2017, Apple admitted that it had failed with the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌. "I think we designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner," Apple hardware chief Craig Federighi said at the time.

Along with the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌, Apple also added the 2019 13-inch MacBook Air, 2019 iMac, 2018 11-inch iPad Pro, and 2018 third-generation 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ to its vintage products list. The 128GB iPhone 8 also joins the 64GB and 256GB iPhone 8 models on the vintage list. The 64GB and 256GB models were added earlier this year, but the 128GB ‌iPhone‌ 8 was sold for a longer period of time.

Several devices were also transitioned from the vintage products list to the obsolete products list. The second-generation AirPort Express, 2TB and 3TB AirPort Time Capsules, and 802.11ac AirPort Extreme are now considered obsolete.

Devices are moved from the vintage list to the obsolete list after a two-year period. Apple products are typically considered technologically obsolete seven years after they were last available for sale.

For vintage products, Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) are still able to offer repairs if the required parts are available. If parts can't be obtained, Apple isn't able to do repairs.

Products that are obsolete are not repaired by Apple Stores or AASPs and Apple does not provide parts. Some Mac laptops are eligible for a battery-only repair period of up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed from sale, though this is subject to parts availability.

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss Apple's roadmap for new Vision headsets and smart glasses over the next few years.

At the end of June, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo leaked an extensive roadmap of the company's plans for its Vision and smart glasses product lines until the end of the decade. Most recently, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman provided some clarifications about the new Vision Pro that is expected to launch this year. With the information from these two highly reliable sources, here's what we're now expecting:

2025

• Apple Vision Pro (M4): A refreshed first-generation Vision Pro. Featuring the M4 chip, potentially with a more powerful Neural Engine. It will also likely have an all-new head strap with a focus on improving comfort. No other changes are expected and the new device will not be considered to be a "second generation" model. Mass production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025 and Apple is expecting to ship 150,000–200,000 units this year. It will likely remain a niche product. The second-generation model is simply designed to maintain market presence and support ecosystem development, as well as reduce inventory of excess components in the supply chain.

2026

• No new Vision or smart glasses products to be released.

2027

• Apple Smart Glasses: Similar to Meta Ray-Bans, Apple's first smart glasses product will offer multiple frame and temple material options for a more personalized look. It will feature voice control and gesture recognition, but there will be no display. Key features include audio playback, photography and videography, and AI-powered environmental awareness. Some users will use the smart glasses to replace their AirPods or iPhone camera in certain situations. Mass production is scheduled for the second quarter of 2027, with Apple expecting shipments of three to five million units in the launch year. It will likely be the first Vision or glasses product to achieve significant sales volume.
• Apple Vision Air: Featuring all-new design that is "substantially lighter," with over 40% weight reduction compared to the Vision Pro. This weight reduction will be achieved by replacing glass with plastic, using magnesium alloy, and reducing the number of sensors on the device. It will contain Apple's latest flagship ‌iPhone‌ processor of the time, rather than an M-series chip. It will come at a "significantly lower price point" than the Vision Pro. Mass production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2027.

2028

• Apple Vision Pro (second generation): Apple's true second-generation Vision Pro headset will debut an entirely new design with a significantly reduced weight. It will feature a powerful, Mac-grade processor and a lower price point. Mass production is projected to begin in the second half of 2028.
• Apple XR Glasses: While the product will feature voice control and gesture recognition like the company's first smart glasses, this more advanced version will add a color Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) display with waveguide optics. AI will apparently be critical to the device's success. Mass production is scheduled for the second half of 2028. Several other brands are expected to release similar products before Apple to establish early market presence, but due to the nature of this category of devices as early technology, these products will probably remain niche offerings over their first few years of existence.

We discuss our thoughts on each of these devices, how they're likely to fit into Apple's lineup, and how customers may respond. In light of Samsung's announcement of the ultra thin Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 this week, we also touch on Apple's foldable ‌iPhone‌ plans. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.

You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player.

If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about Apple's apparent plan to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an ‌iPhone‌ chip.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kevin Nether, John Gruber, Mark Gurman, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.

Amazon Prime Day is coming to a close later today, so we're quickly recapping all of the best Apple and Apple-related deals that are still live on Amazon right now. Since many of these products have been on sale for a few days, shipping may be delayed, but they're all at some of the lowest prices we've ever seen.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Amazon Prime Day requires you to have an Amazon Prime membership to take advantage of the discounts. Amazon Prime costs $14.99 per month or $139.00 per year, and it comes with a 30-day free trial for new subscribers.

Special for 2025, Amazon is also offering a free six month trial to Prime for Young Adults right now. Prime for Young Adults is a discounted Prime membership for anyone age 18-24 that offers all of the Prime benefits at $69.00 per year, half of the price of regular Prime.

AirPods

Amazon has the AirPods Pro 2 for $149.00, down from $249.00, and the AirPods 4 for $89.00, down from $129.00 for Prime Day. These are both new record low prices, and it's possible we won't see deals this good again until closer to the holidays, so be sure to shop soon if you're interested.

iPads

MacBook Air

Amazon today has low prices across nearly the entire M4 MacBook Air lineup, with up to $175 off both 13-inch and 15-inch models.

Apple Watch Series 10

Amazon has the 42mm GPS Apple Watch Series 10 for $279.00, down from $399.00, as well as the 46mm GPS model for $309.00, down from $429.00. Both of these are record low prices on the Apple Watch Series 10, and they're available in numerous case colors and band styles.

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Amazon has introduced a new all-time low price on the Black Apple Watch Ultra 2, available for $649.99, down from $799.00. This is the first time in a few weeks that we've tracked any notable discount on the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Beats

Amazon this week is discounting a collection of Beats headphones and speakers, including an all-time low price on the Powerbeats Pro 2. You can get this new 2025 model for $179.95 in four colors, down from $249.99. This deal on the Powerbeats Pro 2 is being matched at Best Buy, along with a few other Beats deals.

• Beats Studio Buds+ - $89.95, down from $169.95
• Beats Pill - $97.95, down from $149.95
• Beats Solo 4 - $97.99, down from $199.95
• Beats Studio Pro - $169.95, down from $349.99
• Powerbeats Pro 2 - $179.95, down from $249.99

Monitors

Samsung's popular 32-inch Smart Monitor M8 (Model M80D) is down to the best price we've ever seen it on Amazon, available for $384.99, down from $699.99.

In addition to the Smart Monitor M8, Amazon has a wide array of monitors and PCs on sale from HP, Acer, Samsung, and more for Prime Day. One of the highlights is Samsung's 27-inch ViewFinity S9 5K Monitor for $999.99, down from $1,599.99.

• 32-inch Odyssey Gaming Monitor - $199.99, down from $329.99
• 34-inch Odyssey G5 Ultra-Wide Monitor - $279.99, down from $399.99
• 34-inch Alienware Curved Gaming Monitor - $679.99, down from $799.99
• 49-inch Odyssey OLED Curved Gaming Monitor - $899.99, down from 41,599.99
• 57-inch Odyssey Neo G9 Curved Gaming Monitor - $1,599.99, down from $2,299.99

TVs

• 55-inch Roku Smart TV - $249.00, down from $349.99
• 55-inch LG 4K Smart TV - $326.99, down from $376.99
• 50-inch Vizio 4K Smart TV - $398.00, down from $629.99
• 70-inch Samsung QLED 4K Smart TV - $597.99, down from $997.99
• 75-inch Hisense 4K UHD Fire TV - $599.99, down from $799.00
• 55-inch The Frame 4K TV - $947.00, down from $1,499.99
• 65-inch Sony 4K Ultra HD TV - $1,698.00, down from $3,499.00
• 65-inch LG G3 OLED 4K TV - $2,530.09, down from $2,799.99

Accessories

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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We're in the final hours of Amazon Prime Day for 2025, and you can still find record low prices on nearly every AirPods model right now on Amazon.

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.

The highlight of these deals include the AirPods Pro 2 for $149.00, down from $249.00, and the AirPods 4 for $89.00, down from $129.00. Both of these are new all-time low prices for the AirPods during Prime Day, and it's very likely we won't see deals this good again until the holidays come around.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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xAI's latest Grok 4 large language model appears to search for owner Elon Musk's opinions before answering sensitive questions about topics like Israel-Palestine, abortion, and U.S. immigration policy.

Data scientist Jeremy Howard was first to document the concerning behavior, showing that 54 of 64 citations Grok provided for a question about Israel-Palestine referenced Musk's views. TechCrunch then successfully replicated the findings across multiple controversial topics.

The AI model's "chain of thought" reasoning process explicitly states it's "considering Elon Musk's views" or "searching for Elon Musk views" when tackling such questions. This happens despite Grok's system prompt instructing it to seek diverse sources representing all stakeholders.

On the other hand, there is no reference to Musk in the LLM's system prompt guidelines, therefore the behavior could be unintentional. Indeed, programmer Simon Willison has suggested Grok "knows" that it's built by xAI and owned by Musk, which is why it may reference the billionaire's positions when forming opinions.

Of course, either way, the discovery raises questions about Musk's claim that Grok 4 represents a "maximally truth-seeking AI." Musk has yet to comment on the matter.

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.

Apple plans to release a next-generation Studio Display or equivalent replacement external monitor as soon as early next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In his latest report on Apple's product roadmap for 2026, Gurman said the company is planning to launch its first new Mac external monitor since debuting the Apple Studio Display in 2022.

The new version, internally code-named J427, "is currently slated for early 2026," alongside Macs with M5 chips, said Gurman.

Gurman in February reported that Apple was "ramping up" work on a new Studio Display that "should arrive by 2026," so his latest wording offers a more definite launch window.

Notably, Gurman in his latest report refrains from referring to the product as a new Studio Display. Whether that means the replacement external monitor could be named differently is unclear.

For what it's worth, Gurman in March reported that Apple is working on a second new monitor code-named J527. At the time, Gurman suggested that either Apple was developing two versions of the Studio Display and would choose one to launch, or it's a second model with a different screen size or set of specifications – perhaps a new Pro Display XDR. Apple's high-end monitor debuted alongside the Mac Pro in 2019, and it has not received an update since its launch.

Gurman has not revealed any new features or changes planned for Apple's Studio Display successor. However, display industry analyst Ross Young in January said Apple was developing a new 27-inch display with mini-LEDs that could launch in late 2025 or early 2026. Young believes this display could be a new Studio Display with mini-LED backlighting.

Mini-LED technology would provide benefits such as increased brightness and higher contrast ratio compared to the current Studio Display with LEDs.

Apple launched the Studio Display in March 2022 alongside the Mac Studio. It features a 5K resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 600 nits of brightness, built-in camera and speakers, one Thunderbolt 3 port, and three USB-C ports. Pricing in the U.S. starts at $1,599.

Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but there is another major refresh coming to the MacBook Pro – although when it will arrive has now been thrown into doubt.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is rethinking its original plan to minimally refresh the MacBook Pro lineup with M5 chips later this year. Instead, the refreshed M5 models, offering only a small performance boost, are now expected to arrive in the first half of 2026.

Gurman previously suggested that a more substantial redesign or "true overhaul" was scheduled for 2026. But now that the M5 refresh itself appears to be delayed until 2026, the chances of a major redesign landing in the same year seem less likely. Gurman has so far kept quiet on whether the redesigned MacBook Pro timeline has shifted as well.

To recap, here are the biggest changes rumored to be coming to the overhauled MacBook Pro, following the M5 refresh early next year.

OLED Display

Goodbye, mini-LED

Several rumors have indicated that Apple is developing MacBook Pro models with OLED displays. Research firm Omdia in May 2024 claimed Apple is "highly likely" to introduce new MacBook Pros featuring OLED displays next year, while display analyst Ross Young in September 2024 said that Apple's supply chain is expected to have sufficient notebook-optimized OLED display production capacity in 2026 to bring the technology to MacBook Pro. Compared to current MacBook Pro models that use mini-LED screens, the benefits of OLED technology would include increased brightness, higher contrast ratio with deeper blacks, improved power efficiency for longer battery life, and more.

Thinner, Lighter Laptop

Major Redesign

The switch to OLED displays could allow future MacBook Pro models to have a thinner design, and rumors suggest that is indeed what Apple intends. When the M4 iPad Pro was unveiled in May 2024, Apple touted it as the company's thinnest product ever. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman subsequently called the iPad Pro the "beginning of a new class of Apple devices," and said Apple was working to make the MacBook Pro thinner over the "next couple of years." Apple is reportedly focusing on delivering the thinnest possible device without compromising on battery life or major new features.

Notably, the MacBook Pro got thicker and heavier with its most recent redesign in 2021. A major highlight was the reintroduction of several ports that were removed in previous iterations in favor of chassis thinness. How Apple will make its redesigned MacBook Pro thinner without removing the functionality it reintroduced fairly recently is the big question.

Punch-Hole Camera

No More Notch

If you are fed up of the notch intruding on your Mac display, here's some good news. Apple plans to remove the notch from the redesigned MacBook Pro, according to a roadmap shared by research firm Omdia. The roadmap indicates that redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will have a hole-punch camera at the top of the display, rather than the notch we've become accustomed to. A MacBook Pro without a notch would offer additional visible pixels on the screen, creating a more uninterrupted and cohesive display design.

5G Modem

Cellular Connectivity

In 2025, Apple introduced the C1 modem, its custom-built 5G chip that it's had in the works for years now. The modem chip features in the iPhone 16e and is said to be coming in the iPhone 17 "Air," giving Apple an opportunity to test the technology before rolling it out to flagship devices. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will then consider bringing cellular connectivity to the Mac lineup for the first time. The company is said to be "investigating" the possibility of adding a second-generation C2 modem chip to a future Mac as soon as 2026, teasing the potential for a cellular MacBook Pro in the same year. The C1 modem chip is limited to sub-6GHz 5G speeds, but the second-generation version will support faster mmWave technology, according to Gurman.

M6 Series Chip

2nm Process

Before the MacBook Pro's major redesign, Apple plans to update the lineup with M5 series chips. The chips will be manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P, resulting in typical year-over-year performance and power efficiency improvements compared to the M4 series of chips. M6 chips, on the other hand, could adopt a completely new packaging process for Apple's overhauled MacBook Pro models.

According to one rumor, Apple's A20 chip in next year's iPhone 18 models will switch from the previous InFo (Integrated Fan-Out) packaging to WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module) packaging. WMCM integrates multiple chips within the same package, allowing for the development of more complex chipsets. Components such as the CPU, GPUs, DRAM, and Neural Engine would therefore be more tightly integrated. While we don't know for sure, this could see Apple develop the M6 using the 2nm process while taking advantage of WMCM packaging to make even more powerful versions of its custom processor.

Apple will launch a new 12th generation entry-level iPad in the spring of next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple is said to have two versions of the entry-level 11-inch iPad in development, codenamed J581 and J582. These could refer to different storage capacities – in which case, Apple may be planning to drop the existing lowest capacity option. The current iPad 11 is available in 128, 256, and 512GB capacities.

Based on the report, the next-generation low-end iPad model will look like the current version but include a faster chip, but there is no word yet on which chip it will use. The iPad 11 features an A16 processor.

Apple is reportedly aiming to launch the new devices in March or April 2026, suggesting a fast turnaround. The current editions, which start at $349, went on sale last March.

Apple is expected to introduce several notable hardware upgrades with the iPhone 17 lineup in 2025, and one of the most significant changes involves RAM. While all four iPhone 16 models feature 8GB of RAM, recent supply chain reports suggest that Apple plans to increase memory in several iPhone 17 models, potentially improving multitasking and gaming performance, as well as future-proofing the devices for upcoming Apple Intelligence and machine learning features.

According to a July 2025 report from industry sources in Asia, Apple's forthcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models will both be equipped with 12GB of RAM – a 50% increase over their predecessors. And for the first time, Apple is also expected to offer 12GB in a non-Pro device: the all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, which is rumored to replace the Plus model in this year's forthcoming lineup.

The base iPhone 17, however, is likely to retain 8GB of RAM – the same amount as that found in the current iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. While Apple doesn't advertise the amount of RAM in its smartphones, the differentiation could be part of Apple's strategy to expand the performance gap between entry-level and premium models.

Below, we've compared the RAM configurations of the iPhone 16 series with what's currently expected from the iPhone 17 lineup. Bear in mind that the iPhone 17 RAM configurations are based on analyst reports and leaks, and may not represent the actual amounts, which will likely be confirmed by device teardowns after launch.

Model	iPhone 16 RAM	iPhone 17 RAM	Upgrade
Base iPhone	8 GB	8 GB	—
Plus / Air	8 GB	12 GB	+4 GB
Pro	8 GB	12 GB	+4 GB
Pro Max	8 GB	12 GB	+4 GB

Based on the company's historical annual release cycles for its smartphones, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17 series around mid-September alongside iOS 26, which is currently going through the beta testing phase.

The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia.

According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the ‌iPhone 17‌ and ‌iPhone 17 Air‌ in colors to match their finishes upon release, thereby revealing what options to expect.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ will seemingly be available in black, silver, blue, green, and purple. This lines up with an earlier report which claimed Apple was testing green and purple color options for the ‌iPhone 17‌.

The ‌iPhone 17 Air‌ will apparently be available in black, silver, gold, and blue. This corroborates previous rumors from the leakers known as "Fixed Focus Digital" and "Majin Bu".

The iPhone 16 and ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus are available in black, white, pink, teal, and ultramarine. With the ‌iPhone 17‌, it looks like Apple is dropping pink and teal, replacing them with green and purple. Black, white, and ultramarine could become black, silver, and blue, but the essential palette should remain broadly the same for these three core colors.

On the other hand, the ‌iPhone 17 Air‌, which is set to replace the ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus, is moving to a much more muted, Pro-style selection of color options. This makes sense in light of Apple's repositioning of this second iPhone in the lineup toward something more premium with a distinctive, ultra-thin design.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ and ‌iPhone 17 Air‌ are expected to launch alongside the iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max in the fall.

iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report.

Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain.

Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports that Apple has approved BOE's latest displays for mass production. However, the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ models with BOE displays will apparently be limited to the Chinese market.

Today, Apple sources the majority of its OLED panels for iPhones from South Korea-based Samsung Display and LG Display. BOE has struggled to replicate the panel brightness, efficiency, and long-term durability of Samsung and LG's offerings.

In May 2022, Apple halted BOE's inclusion in the ‌iPhone‌ 13's supply chain after detecting unauthorized design modifications. The crisis began when BOE, facing component shortages and yield issues, expanded the circuit width of thin-film transistors in its panels without Apple's approval. When Apple discovered this, Apple instructed BOE to halt production.

Since then, BOE has gradually sought to return to Apple's good graces. The company was later granted approval to resume supplying OLED panels for the ‌iPhone‌ 14, albeit in limited quantities. The Chinese supplier apparently intends to play a major role in ‌iPhone‌ production in the future and grow its share of Apple's highly competitive display supply chain.

A new Apple-backed AI model trained on Apple Watch behavioral data can now predict a wide range of health conditions more accurately than traditional sensor-based approaches, according to a recently published study.

The research paper, titled "Beyond Sensor Data: Foundation Models of Behavioral Data from Wearables Improve Health Predictions," introduces a machine learning model that analyzes user behavior to flag potential health issues. Unlike earlier methods that focus on real-time sensor outputs like heart rate or blood oxygen, the new model identifies patterns in how people move, sleep, and exercise over time.

At the center of the study is a foundation model that the researchers call the Wearable Behavior Model (WBM). It analyzes high-level behavioral metrics such as step count, sleep duration, heart rate variability, and mobility, which are all calculated by the Apple Watch using on-device algorithms.

The researchers found that this approach allows the AI model to detect certain health conditions more effectively than models based solely on direct biometric data. The WBM showed particularly strong performance in identifying what the researchers called static health states, such as whether a person takes beta blockers, and transient health conditions like sleep quality or respiratory infection. For pregnancy detection, the model achieved up to 92% accuracy when combined with traditional biometric data in a hybrid approach.

Apple collected data for the model through the Heart and Movement Study, which involves more than 160,000 participants who voluntarily share data via the Apple Watch and iPhone. The foundation model was trained on over 2.5 billion hours of data and evaluated on 57 different health-related prediction tasks. It uses a time-series machine learning architecture designed to identify changes in behavior over days or weeks, allowing it to identify health conditions that unfold over time rather than instantaneously.

The researchers argue that wearable devices have now evolved to the point where they can support this kind of AI-powered analysis at scale. Whether such a model will be integrated into a user-facing feature in the future is unknown, but it goes to show that current Apple Watch hardware can go much further in terms of accurate and intelligent health analysis.

Apple has successfully secured the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing it of conspiring with Visa and Mastercard to suppress competition in the payments network industry and inflate merchant transaction fees (via Reuters).

The Southern District of Illinois ruled in favor of Apple, Visa, and Mastercard in the case brought by Illinois-based beverage retailer Mirage Wine & Spirits and other merchants, which alleged that Apple had entered into anticompetitive agreements with the two major card networks. The plaintiffs claimed that Visa and Mastercard made ongoing payments to Apple, described as "a very large and ongoing cash bribe," to ensure Apple would not build its own rival payment network.

According to the complaint, these payments amounted to 0.15% on the value of all U.S. credit transactions and 0.5 cents on each U.S. debit transaction processed through Apple Pay on the Visa and Mastercard networks. The plaintiffs argued that the arrangement disincentivized innovation, preserved high transaction fees, and ultimately harmed merchants by limiting competitive pressure in the payments ecosystem.

Since its launch in 2014, ‌Apple Pay‌ has relied on existing card networks, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, to process transactions. Similarly, Apple Card is operated on the Mastercard network. Likewise, Apple Cash uses Visa's network.

In the original complaint, plaintiffs argued that Apple's long-standing exclusive reliance on these networks constituted evidence that the company had foregone competition in exchange for a steady stream of payments. They further alleged that Apple's control over its iPhone's near-field communication (NFC) hardware, which facilitates tap-to-pay transactions, effectively blocks third parties from launching alternative payment solutions on the device, further entrenching Visa and Mastercard's market position.

The court concluded that the plaintiffs had failed to provide sufficient factual allegations to support their claims, saying that they were largely circumstantial and speculative. The judge noted that Apple's existing agreements with Visa and Mastercard included language that explicitly preserved Apple's right to compete with them. He also pointed to the inherent complexity, risk, and cost associated with launching a new payment network as additional context undercutting the plausibility of the plaintiffs' claims.

While the current version of the lawsuit has been dismissed, the plaintiffs have been granted 30 days to amend their complaint and refile a second amended class action complaint. If they do not meet this deadline, the case will be dismissed with prejudice.

Apple is working on a more affordable version of the MacBook that's powered by an A-series iPhone chip rather than an M-series Apple silicon chip. We've rounded up all of the rumors about the new machine, which is expected next year.

Design

The upcoming low-cost MacBook will have a 13-inch display (approximately), according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. That means it will be right around the same size as the 13-inch MacBook Air that Apple already sells.

Apple used to have a super thin 12-inch MacBook and there have been some off and on rumors over the years suggesting it could see a revival. A thin and light MacBook with an ‌iPhone‌ chip in it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

The first version of the 12-inch MacBook had a low-power Core M chip, and it came out in 2015, well before Apple transitioned to Apple silicon. There were no fans inside and that kept it thin and quiet, a design that Apple has continued with the ‌MacBook Air‌.

An A-series chip would not run as hot as an M-series chip, and it would need even fewer heat dissipation features. Even though thinner and lighter often means more expensive with Apple devices, that might not be the case with an ‌iPhone‌ chip in a body the size of the ‌MacBook Air‌.

Colors

Apple reserves stately colors for its "Pro" machines, and often uses fun colors for its lower-cost products. Rumors suggest that the low-cost MacBook could be made available in silver, blue, pink, and yellow. Those color options actually sound similar to the color options that Apple offers for the iMac, so we could be looking at iMac-style shades.

Chip

Kuo says the low-cost MacBook will use an A18 Pro chip, and we've also seen signs of a MacBook with an A18 Pro in Apple's code, so all signs point to the A18.

The A18 Pro is the chip that Apple introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro. It uses a second-generation 3-nanometer process and for an ‌iPhone‌ chip, performance is impressive.

There's a 6-core CPU with four performance cores and two efficiency cores, along with a 6-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine for AI-based tasks. In Geekbench benchmarks, the A18 Pro has an average single-core score of 3451, and a multi-core score of 8572. For comparison, the M4 chip in the iPad Pro earns a single-core score of 3694 and a multi-core score of 13732.

The A18 Pro outperforms the M1, which is the chip that Apple kept around in a lower-cost version of the ‌MacBook Air‌ for several years.

So an A18 MacBook wouldn't be too far off from the M4 Mac/iPad chips in terms of single-core performance, but there would be a difference in multi-core performance.

Thermal Design

The ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ has a thermal architecture that combines a titanium frame with a graphite clad aluminum substructure, and some parts of that build could translate to a MacBook.

RAM

Macs start with 16GB RAM, but the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ has 8GB RAM, the minimum for Apple Intelligence. We can expect an A18 Pro MacBook to have at least 8GB RAM so it can support ‌Apple Intelligence‌, but it's possible Apple will give it the 16GB that all Macs have.

Ports

The A18 Pro chip in the ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ models doesn't support Thunderbolt, so the MacBook will be limited to USB-C (10GB/s) and won't offer Thunderbolt speeds. That will limit display connectivity, so it's likely the A18 Pro MacBook will only support a single external display.

Price

The ‌MacBook Air‌ with M4 chip is priced starting at $999, and it comes with a 10-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The A18 Pro MacBook could be a couple hundred dollars less expensive, though we have no insight into pricing right now.

Apple probably won't want to undercut its ‌iPad‌ pricing. The low-cost ‌iPad‌ with A16 chip starts at $349, and the iPad Air with M2 chip starts at $599. A price around $599 to $699 could make the most sense because it wouldn't be as expensive as the ‌MacBook Air‌ or ‌iPad Pro‌, but would come in at or just over the ‌iPad Air‌'s cost.

$599 would be on par with some of the highly rated Chromebook options that people often purchase for school use. $599 is also the cost of the iPhone 16e, Apple's most affordable ‌iPhone‌ that uses a slightly less powerful A18 chip.

Launch Date

Kuo says Apple is going to start producing the low-cost MacBook late in the fourth quarter of 2025 or early in the first quarter of 2026. That would align with a spring 2026 launch timeline.