Since Thursday, Apple has been posting the videos in sets of three, with each video corresponding to one of the MacBook Neo's Blush, Citrus, and Indigo color options. The laptop also comes in Silver, so there may be a final set of videos tomorrow.
Some of the videos show a lemon receiving a FaceTime call from a lime, the Mac's Finder app icon blushing, and iconic footage from the original Macintosh's introduction in 1984. Other videos are more abstract, with one showing citrus fruit in fizzy water and another showing a pink-hued sunrise, set to the Mac's startup chime.
Many comments on the videos have expressed confusion, and some people have asked if Apple's TikTok account has been hacked. Others have caught on to and applauded Apple's absurdist marketing, and the fact that it is allowing comments on these videos to begin with, which is something the company previously shied away from.
Apple also showed off a mini 3D figure modeled after the Finder app icon during a so-called "Matcha Break with MacBook Neo" live stream on TikTok on Wednesday, according to the well-known Apple fan account "Basic Apple Guy."
It's Apple pre-order week, and we're already tracking solid discounts across every new product that was announced this week. This includes free Best Buy gift cards when ordering the new MacBook Neo, Air, and Pro, plus the first cash discounts on M4 iPad Air on Amazon.
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.
Pre-Order Discounts
What's the deal? Save on pre-orders for iPhone 17e, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, MacBook Neo, and iPad Air
Pre-orders are live on all of Apple's newest products, including the MacBook Neo, M5 MacBook Air, M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro, iPhone 17e, and M4 iPad Air. You'll find free gift cards when pre-ordering select products at Best Buy, while Amazon has straight cash discounts on numerous M4 iPad Air tablets.
Amazon this week has all-time low prices on the Apple Watch Series 11, with $100 discounts across numerous models of the smartwatch. We first started tracking the return of these deals about a week ago, but this sale has now expanded with many more options on both 42mm and 46mm GPS models.
Apple's first-generation AirTag 4-Pack has dropped to $64.00 this week on Amazon, down from the original price of $99.00. Free shipping options have a delivery estimate around March 11, while Prime members should be able to get it delivered a few days sooner.
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.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2026? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
What a week for Apple news! Across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, Apple unveiled a total of seven new products, including low-cost iPhone and MacBook options, new displays, and refreshes for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iPad Air.
Check out our recap with links to all of our coverage from the three days, and read on below for details on each of the new products!
Top Stories
Apple Announces $599 'MacBook Neo' With A18 Pro Chip
The MacBook Neo is the first consumer Mac to be powered by an iPhone chip: the A18 Pro that debuted in 2024's iPhone 16 Pro models. Apple says it is up to 50% faster for everyday tasks than the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5, up to 3× faster for on-device AI workloads, and up to 2× faster for tasks like photo editing.
The MacBook Neo comes in four fun colors and features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2408-by-1506 resolution, 500 nits of brightness, and an anti-reflective coating. The display does not have a notch, instead featuring uniform, iPad-style bezels.
The $599 price tag does result in some compromises compared to more expensive Mac laptops, but the MacBook Neo is likely to be a hit with students, those new to Mac, and others shopping on a budget who are just looking for basic capabilities.
Apple Announces iPhone 17e With A19 Chip, MagSafe, and More
Apple this week announced the iPhone 17e, featuring the A19 chip, MagSafe connectivity, faster charging, and more.
The iPhone 17e contains the A19 chip introduced in iPhone 17, featuring a 6-core CPU and a 4-core GPU that make it up to 2× faster than the iPhone 11 that many prospective buyers may be upgrading from. The new 16-core Neural Engine is optimized for large generative models, and the iPhone 17e contains Apple's latest-generation C1X modem from the iPhone Air, delivering up to 2× faster cellular performance than the iPhone 16e.
The iPhone 17e starts at $599 and comes in black, white, and a new soft pink color.
Apple Unveils MacBook Pro Featuring M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips With New Fusion Architecture
The Fusion Architecture is a first for Apple silicon, since previous chips used a single-die design. The two bonded dies house the CPU, GPU, Media Engine, Neural Engine, unified memory controller, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities together.
The new MacBook Pro models also get memory and storage improvements, Apple's N1 networking chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support, and more.
Apple Introduces All-New Studio Display XDR: 120Hz, Mini-LED, and More
Both new displays measure in at 27 inches and 5K resolution, but the Studio Display XDR features mini-LED backlighting with 120Hz refresh rate and Adaptive Sync, among other upgrades.
The Studio Display is priced starting at $1,599, while the Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299.
Apple Unveils iPad Air With M4 Chip, Increased RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and More
Apple's tablet lineup also got an update this week thanks to a new iPad Air, with key upgrades including Apple's M4 chip for faster performance, an increased 12GB of RAM, Apple's N1 wireless networking chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, and Apple's custom C1X modem in cellular models.
The new iPad Air has the same overall design as the previous-generation model, which was equipped with the M3 chip, 8GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6E support.
The new iPad Air is available in the same blue, purple, starlight, and space gray colors as the previous generation, and it still starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model.
Apple Announces MacBook Air With M5 Chip and 512GB Base Storage
The M5 chip in the MacBook Air features a 10-core CPU, with what Apple calls the world's fastest CPU cores. It offers configurations with up to 10 GPU cores with Neural Accelerators in each core, delivering up to 4× faster performance for AI tasks than the MacBook Air with the M4 chip.
Starting prices for the MacBook Air have increased by $100 to $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch model, but that also gets you double the amount of base storage at 512GB as the previous generation. The SSD also has 2× faster read and write performance compared to the previous generation.
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.
For multi-core CPU performance, the highest score the iPhone 17e achieved so far is 9,241. As expected, this is nearly identical to the standard iPhone 17 model with the A19 chip, which has an average multi-core score of 9,249.
There is one tiny catch, as the iPhone 17e has a 4-core GPU, whereas the iPhone 17 has a 5-core GPU. With one fewer GPU core, the iPhone 17e obviously has slightly lower graphics performance, with the device achieving Metal scores of around 31,000 to 31,500 in early Geekbench results, compared to around 37,000 for the iPhone 17.
In our view, most customers are unlikely to notice a significant difference in graphics performance between the iPhone 17e and iPhone 17.
The table below provides a comparison of multi-core CPU scores for some iPhones.
iPhone Model
Multi-Core CPU Score
iPhone 17 Pro (A19 Pro)
9,805
iPhone 17 (A19)
9,249
iPhone 17e (A19)
9,241
iPhone 16 Pro (A18 Pro)
8,625
iPhone 16e (A18)
7,977
iPhone 15 Pro (A17 Pro)
7,199
iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone 16e, but it gains Apple's A19 chip, MagSafe for magnetic wireless charging and magnetic accessories, Apple's second-generation C1X modem for faster 5G, and a doubled 256GB of base storage. In the U.S., the iPhone 17e starts at $599, just like the iPhone 16e did.
iPhone 17e pre-orders began March 4, and the device launches March 11.
While the MacBook Neo starts at just $599, or an even lower $499 for college students, Apple has insisted that it did not make any design compromises.
"It's undeniably a MacBook, we're certainly not making any compromises on the design and that's really important," said Apple's vice president of industrial design Molly Anderson, in an interview with architecture and design publication Dezeen.
Anderson added that "it was important" for the MacBook Neo "to be quintessentially a MacBook."
Chiefly, the MacBook Neo is made from aluminum, not plastic.
"It wasn't just a redesign, it was starting from the beginning, and we're not using cheaper materials, it's incredible aluminium," she said.
Available in fun colors like Blush and Citrus, the MacBook Neo is meant to be distinguished from the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, according to Anderson.
"It was important to make it feel part of the family, but with its own personality," she said.
Even though the MacBook Neo is designed with premium materials, Apple did have to make compromises in other areas. For example, the MacBook Neo has only 8GB of RAM, and a Touch ID button is limited to the $699 model. Plus, there is no MagSafe, one of the USB-C ports is limited to USB 2 speeds of just 480 MB/s, and the keys are not backlit.
Despite its limitations, the MacBook Neo will likely be a hit with students and customers who need a Mac mainly for everyday tasks, like web browsing and document editing. Pre-orders began on March 4, ahead of a March 11 launch.
The most significant announcement of the week was the MacBook Neo, an all-new entry-level Apple laptop that starts at $599. The MacBook Neo is designed to compete with lower-cost Windows laptops and Chromebooks, while expanding the Mac lineup with a substantially more affordable option.
Unlike every other Apple silicon Mac, the MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip originally developed for the iPhone 16 Pro, making it the first Mac to use an iPhone-class processor instead of an M-series chip.
The machine features a rounded, colorful design available in Silver, Indigo, Blush, and Citrus finishes, with matching keyboards and wallpapers that give it a more playful appearance than Apple's existing notebooks. At 2.7 pounds, it weighs the same as a MacBook Air.
It offers a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with uniform, iPad-style bezels rather than a notch, a Magic Keyboard, a mechanical trackpad, two USB-C ports, 8GB of memory, a headphone jack, a 1080p camera, dual mics, dual speakers with Spatial Audio, and a battery life rated for up to 16 hours.
Apple also updated several existing devices with modest specification improvements. The iPhone 17e retains the same design and price as the iPhone 16e but adds the A19 chip, MagSafe support, Apple's second-generation C1X modem, and 256GB of base storage.
The 11- and 13-inch iPad Air gained the M4 chip, 12GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 7 support via Apple's N1 wireless chip, and the same C1X modem in cellular models. Meanwhile, the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air were upgraded with the M5 chip and a higher base storage capacity of 512GB, though the removal of the 256GB option increased the starting price to $1,099.
At the high end of the Mac lineup, Apple refreshed the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, introducing a "Fusion Architecture" that bonds two 3nm dies together into a single processor. These models also gained faster SSD speeds, higher base storage, and Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via the N1 chip. Battery life increased slightly across the lineup, while GPU cores now include dedicated Neural Accelerators intended to improve AI workloads.
Apple also expanded its display lineup with a new Studio Display XDR model, replacing the Pro Display XDR. The new model offers a 27-inch 5K mini-LED panel with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR brightness up to 2,000 nits, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. The standard Studio Display was updated at the same time with two Thunderbolt 5 ports, improved speakers, and a camera that now supports Desk View, but retains its 60Hz panel and 600-nit brightness.
All of the newly announced devices became available to pre-order on Wednesday, March 4, with the entire lineup scheduled to launch and begin arriving to customers on Wednesday, March 11. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.
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Amid its introduction of 10 new devices this week, Apple discontinued over a dozen of its products dating back to 2019.
Apple this week announced the iPhone 17e, refreshed iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, two new Studio Display models, and the all-new MacBook Neo. Simultaneously, these 15 products were removed from Apple's lineup to make way for the new additions:
Many of these devices are already seeing substantial discounts with third-party retailers. All of the newly announced devices became available to pre-order on Wednesday, March 4, with the entire lineup scheduled to launch and begin arriving to customers on Wednesday, March 11.
We now know how much faster the new MacBook Air with the M5 chip is compared to the previous model with an M4 chip, courtesy of a Geekbench 6 result shared by TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff. However, given the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro were already updated with the M5 chip last year, the result is not too surprising.
Ulanoff ran Geekbench on a MacBook Air with an M5 chip, which has a 10-core CPU. The laptop achieved a score of 17,073 for multi-core CPU performance, whereas the MacBook Air with an M4 chip has an average multi-core score of 14,731, so the new model is up to 15% faster than the previous generation. This is in line with what Apple advertised when it announced the M5 chip back in October, so it was entirely expected.
With the M5 chip, the Geekbench database shows that the MacBook Air is up to 16% faster than the MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip from a few years ago, but it is still slower than MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro chip and newer.
The table below provides a comparison of Geekbench 6 scores for various Macs. Each chip has the highest number of CPU cores available for it.
Mac Model
Multi-Core CPU Score
MacBook Pro (M5 Max)
29,233
Mac Studio (M3 Ultra)
27,726
MacBook Pro (M4 Max)
25,702
MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)
22,490
MacBook Pro (M3 Max)
20,960
MacBook Air (M5)
17,073
MacBook Pro (M3 Pro)
15,260
MacBook Pro (M2 Max)
14,740
MacBook Air (M4)
14,731
MacBook Pro (M2 Pro)
14,451
MacBook Pro (M1 Max)
12,345
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro)
12,345
MacBook Air (M3)
12,020
MacBook Air (M2)
9,709
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro)
8,668
MacBook Air (M1)
8,342
The new MacBook Air is available to pre-order now and launches on Wednesday, March 11.
Amazon today is joining in on the pre-order discounts for the M4 iPad Air, introducing up to $100 off these brand new models. These exceed the discounts we tracked at Best Buy earlier in the week, with discounts available on every model of the M4 iPad Air at Amazon without the need of a membership.
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.
Specifically, Amazon has up to $80 off the 11-inch M4 iPad Air and up to $100 off the 13-inch M4 iPad Air. All of these discounts have been automatically applied and do not require a coupon code or a Prime membership. The M4 iPad Air will officially launch on March 11.
The new iPad Air features the M4 chip, C1X modem, and N1 networking chip, which brings support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. In terms of design, the 2026 models are identical to the 2025 iPad Air tablets, with an edge-to-edge display, slim bezels, and aluminum chassis.
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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If you want a MacBook Neo delivered on launch day next week, you might want to act fast, as the laptop is beginning to sell out for March 11 delivery.
MacBook Neo pre-orders began March 4, and the initial delivery date was March 11. But now, Apple's online store in the U.S. shows that some MacBook Neo orders placed today are estimated to be delivered between March 16 and March 30.
Here are the estimated delivery dates for each configuration as of 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time:
256GB/Blush: March 16 — March 23
256GB/Citrus: March 11
256GB/Indigo: March 11
256GB/Silver: March 11
512GB/Blush: March 23 — March 30
512GB/Citrus: March 23 — March 30
512GB/Indigo: March 16 — March 23
512GB/Silver: March 11
Apple Store availability for in-store pickup varies.
Without knowing how much supply there is for each configuration, it is hard to draw any conclusions from the delivery dates listed above. If we assume that supply is equal across all configurations, then Blush and 512GB configurations appear to be the most popular options in the U.S. so far during the pre-order window.
With a starting price of $599 in the U.S., or just $499 for college students, the MacBook Neo is likely to be a hit with both students and average customers who need a Mac for everyday tasks such as web browsing and document editing.
Apple does not release Mac sales figures on a model-by-model basis, but the company's next quarterly earnings report might provide some broader insight.
Apple's long-rumored smart home hub device will launch in the fall of 2026, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami."
In a new post on X, Kosutami said that the device, colloquially dubbed the "HomePad," is now set to arrive in the fall of 2026. The fall runs from September to December, and usually coincides with Apple's busiest release period of the year.
Apple has reportedly been working on the device for several years, with the aim for it to serve as a centralized location for controlling smart home products, listening to music and podcasts, making video calls, and getting glanceable information like the weather and calendar events.
The device is expected to have a 7-inch square display and a front-facing camera. There may be two versions, with one designed to be mounted on a wall and the other featuring a speaker base that apparently looks similar to a HomePod mini and can be placed on a desktop or countertop.
Built-in sensors will be able to determine when someone is near the home hub, and the displayed content will change based on who is present. It will be heavily reliant on Siri voice commands, and Siri could even have a new personified look on the hub, with one design described as a version of the Mac Finder icon.
Apple could price the home hub somewhere around $350. The device was originally rumored to launch in early 2025, but due to delays with Apple Intelligence, its apparent release date moved to early 2026, and now to the fall. The rumored release timing means the HomePad could arrive alongside products like the iPhone 18 Pro in September or redesigned MacBook Pro models in October.
Apple and the Sydney Opera House today announced a yearlong collaboration to help inspire the next generation of creatives in Australia. The effort will expand access to initiatives that support art, design, and culture in the country.
Through this collaboration, Apple and the Opera House will focus on interactive programming and experiences for young people in Australia. Apple said it will be the founding partner of a new international children's festival being presented later this year. Apple will also support the Opera House's Centre for Creativity and explore new ways to enhance Opera House programming and experiences through technology.
From March 25 to March 27, the Opera House's eastern sails will be illuminated with artwork created in the Procreate app on the iPad by a group of 10 emerging Australian artists. Through free Today at Apple sessions, the public will have the opportunity to create and submit artwork for potential illumination as well.
"For 50 years, Apple has been at the forefront of empowering creativity, providing tools that allow people to imagine, design, and share their unique visions with the world," said Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak. "The yearlong collaboration with the Sydney Opera House and Illuminating Creativity is a celebration of this legacy, bringing together the incredible talent of Australian artists and the transformative power of iPad and Procreate."
Benchmarks for the new MacBook Neosurfaced today, and unsurprisingly, CPU performance is almost identical to the iPhone 16 Pro. The MacBook Neo uses the same 6-core A18 Pro chip that was first introduced in the iPhone 16 Pro, but it has one fewer GPU core.
The MacBook Neo earned a single-core score of 3461 and a multi-core score of 8668, along with a Metal score of 31286.
Here's how the Neo's scores compare to iPhone 16 Pro and other devices that make apt comparisons:
iPhone 16 Pro - 3445 single-core, 8624 multi-core, 32575 Metal
M1 MacBook Air - 2346 single-core, 8342 multi-core, 33148 Metal
M4 MacBook Air - 3696 single-core, 14730 multi-core, 54630 Metal
M3 iPad Air - 3048 single-core, 11678 multi-core, 44395 Metal
iPad 11 - 2587 single-core, 6036 multi-core, 19395 Metal
Since the MacBook Neo has one fewer GPU core than the iPhone 16 Pro, it makes sense to see a slightly lower Metal score.
When comparing the MacBook Neo's performance to existing Macs, the A18 Pro's multi-core performance is on par with the M1 chip in the MacBook Air, but single-core performance is much higher than it was with the M1. It's closer to the M3 or M4 chip.
High single-core performance is a good fit for the MacBook Neo audience, because single-core speeds are important for activities like web browsing, using document apps, and streaming video. The MacBook Neo isn't really built for video editing, music creation, 3D modeling, and similar tasks where multi-core performance makes more of a difference.
Apple does not compare MacBook Neo performance to other Macs, iPads, or iPhones. The company's low-cost MacBook focuses on competing with similar-priced Windows PCs and Chromebooks. In its marketing materials, Apple says the A18 Pro is up to 50 percent faster for "everyday tasks" than the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5. It's also up to 3x faster for on-device AI workloads and up to 2x faster for photo editing.
We're only seeing one benchmark result so far, so averages could be slightly different when more Neo machines are benchmarked, but the scores are right in line with what's expected.
The MacBook Neo is priced starting at $599, and it is available for preorder now. It is set to launch on March 11.
The first Geekbench 6 result for a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Max chip surfaced today, and Apple has achieved record-breaking performance.
In this unconfirmed result, the M5 Max with an 18-core CPU achieved a score of 29,233 for multi-core CPU performance, which tops the 27,726 score achieved by the Mac Studio's M3 Ultra chip with a 32-core CPU. M5 Max is now the fastest Apple silicon chip ever, and it even topped every other consumer PC processor in the Geekbench database.
In terms of multi-core CPU performance, the M5 Max is up to 5% faster than the M3 Ultra, and up to 14% to 15% faster than the M4 Max chip with a 16-core CPU.
Mac Model
Multi-Core CPU Score
MacBook Pro (M5 Max)
29,233
Mac Studio (M3 Ultra)
27,726
MacBook Pro (M4 Max)
25,702
MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)
22,490
Mac Studio (M2 Ultra)
21,410
MacBook Pro (M3 Max)
20,960
Mac Studio (M1 Ultra)
18,434
MacBook Air (M5)
17,073
MacBook Pro (M3 Pro)
15,260
MacBook Pro (M2 Max)
14,740
MacBook Air (M4)
14,731
MacBook Pro (M2 Pro)
14,451
MacBook Pro (M1 Max)
12,345
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro)
12,345
MacBook Air (M3)
12,020
MacBook Air (M2)
9,709
MacBook Neo (A18 Pro)
8,668
MacBook Air (M1)
8,342
As for single-core CPU performance, the M5 Max with an 18-core CPU achieved a score of 4,268 in this single Geekbench result, which is line with the regular M5 chip in the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro released back in October. This is the highest single-core score of any consumer PC processor ever, topping the AMD Ryzen 9 series.
As for graphics, the M5 Max with a 40-core GPU achieved impressive Metal scores of 218,772 in one result and 232,718 in another. These scores are anywhere from 5% to 10% lower than the highest-end M3 Ultra's average Metal score of 245,053, and a little more than 20% higher than the highest-end M4 Max's average Metal score of 191,600.
All in all, the M5 Max offers up to 15% faster CPU performance and up to 20% faster GPU performance compared to the M4 Max, in line with Apple's advertised figures.
MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max are available to pre-order now, and they will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores on March 11.
Apple today seeded revised third betas of the upcoming iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming three days after Apple provided the initial beta to developers. Apple has also released a new version of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 for public beta testers.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad by going to the General section and selecting Software Update.
iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 add multiple new features to the iPhone and the iPad. A Playlist Playground feature in Apple Music lets you generate songs for any idea, mood, emotion, or activity using a text-based prompt. There's also a Concerts Near You feature for finding local shows, and a redesigned look for albums and playlists with full-page artwork.
Apple Podcasts is getting native video podcasting capabilities that will make it easier to create, distribute, and monetize video podcast content through the Podcasts app. Video episodes will integrate with existing Apple podcasts features, like personalized recommendations and editorial suggestions.
Apple is testing end-to-end encryption for RCS, which will eventually bring full encryption to text conversations between Android and iPhone users. Apple is testing RCS with iPhone-to-iPhone conversations and iPhone-to-Android conversations.
Stolen Device Protection is enabled by default, there's a new ambient music widget, new average bedtime metrics in the sleep app, and plenty more. All of the features in iOS 26.4 can be found in our iOS 26.4 beta features guide.
Update: Apple also released a new third beta of watchOS 26.4.
In his newsletter over the weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was likely to announce at least some but possibly not all of the following products between March 2 and March 4: the iPhone 17e, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, updated entry-level iPad and iPad Air models, and a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip.
As it turns out, Apple announced nearly all of those products, with the sole exception being an updated entry-level iPad. In fact, we got two more products on top, in the form of an updated Studio Display and a higher-end Studio Display XDR.
Apple is not expected to unveil any additional products this week, so the wait for an iPad 12 continues for now. The device is expected to have two key upgrades over the iPad 11, including a faster A18 chip and Apple Intelligence support. In fact, one rumor claimed that the iPad 12 might even be powered by Apple's latest A19 chip.
No other major changes have been rumored so far for the iPad 12, so we expect the device to have the same overall design as the current model.
Apple Intelligence is already available on all other current-generation iPad models, including the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
Apple released the iPad 11 with an A16 chip in March 2025, with U.S. pricing starting at $349.
Apple quietly updated Mac Studio configuration options this week, removing the 512GB memory upgrade. As of yesterday, there is no option to purchase a Mac Studio with 512GB RAM, with the machine now maxing out at 256GB.
The Mac Studio starts with 36GB RAM, but there were upgrades ranging from 48GB to 512GB, with the higher tier upgrades limited to the M3 Ultra chip. Now there are options ranging from 48GB to 256GB, with wait times into May for the 256GB upgrade.
Apple has also raised the price for the 256GB RAM upgrade option. It used to cost $1,600 to go from 96GB to 256GB on the high-end M3 Ultra machine, but now it costs $2,000. 512GB was $4,000 when it was available.
Apple has likely removed the option to purchase 512GB of memory because of global DRAM shortages that have dried up supply and caused prices to soar, and it's also probably why shipping times for a configuration with 256GB RAM range into May.
Demand for the Mac Studio has increased due to consumers seeking machines suitable for running local AI agents, which could also be a wait time factor.
Memory scarcity is already having an effect on DRAM pricing, and it could affect PC and smartphone sales in the months to come. Apple is able to absorb higher memory costs in the short term, and it is well-positioned to minimize the effect on consumers because it is better able to secure available DRAM supply than smaller companies.
We are expecting M5 Max and M5 Ultra versions of the Mac Studio in 2026, but it is not yet clear when Apple might release an update.
While the MacBook Neo does not launch until next week, Apple's colorful new wallpapers designed for the laptop are included in the macOS 26.3.1 update for it.
MacBook Neo is available in Blush, Citrus, Indigo, and Silver finishes, and there is a Mac wallpaper available for each, with download links below:
