Apple News

Apple is clearing shelf space for a new era of smart home gear. The company is reportedly preparing a significant overhaul of its retail stores this fall. The changes point to more than a routine refresh. And at the center of it all sits the rumored Apple home hub — its first smart display built for the home.

The retail work targets the “Avenues,” the perimeter walls in Apple’s newer stores. These walls showcase HomePod, Apple TV, AirPods, and Beats gear. Store-layout teams are reportedly rearranging these sections and adding new accessory bays. The scale of the project suggests Apple needs room for something significant.

OpenAI wants ChatGPT to remember your workday better than you do. The newly introduced Computer History feature, currently rolling out in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS, turns your clicks, keystrokes, web browsing and more into a searchable timeline.

The idea is to make ChatGPT more of an intelligent assistant. It can help you resume unfinished work, locate relevant files or conversations and automate workflows. If you lose the thread of what you were doing before lunch, ChatGPT can reconstruct it for you. Whether you want an AI logging all that activity is a separate question — one that’s in opposition to Apple’s privacy positioning.

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Apple of fraud, alleging that a Private Relay problem means that iCloud+ subscriptions failed to deliver the privacy protection Apple promised.

If you ever paid for iCloud+ to gain the peace of mind Private Relay offered, the privacy shield you paid extra for had a hole in it the whole time. And Apple is now getting sued over it.

Popular podcast After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe will return for a third season on June 7, Apple said Wednesday. The show, which stars Ted Lasso alum Hunt and Premier League soccer commentator Lowe, will arrive in time to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“We are thrilled to bring After the Whistle back for a third season,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services and health, in a press release. “Brendan and Rebecca have an incredible ability to capture the energy and passion of the World Cup. Their unique dynamic and deep love for soccer make this show an absolute can’t-miss for fans everywhere.”

The daily games hiding inside the News app are my favorite puzzles to play. Some are digital versions of classic games like crossword puzzles and sudoku. Others are entirely new.

All five games are available to all Apple News+ and Apple One Premier subscribers. Here’s how to play each of the daily word games in Apple News+ on iPhone. Check them out in this quick video.

Weeks after launch, Apple has quietly reduced Studio Display XDR’s price by $400. The monitor now starts from $2,899, down from $3,299.

The reduced price only applies to the Studio Display XDR with the VESA mount adapter.

Apple’s first iPhone with the Lightning port, the iPhone 5, is now obsolete. The phone launched over a decade ago, in 2012.

Back then, the iPhone 5 stood out for its revamped design and larger 4-inch display.

Apple News gives you a streamlined way to keep up with current events. It’s a sane, if somewhat generic-looking, way to stay on top of the news that matters to you. If you want more, Apple News+ offers paywall-free access to major publications, local news and magazines. And to sweeten the deal, it has fun daily puzzles, excellent recipes and audio stories.

Admittedly, not a lot of people pay for Apple News+ on its own. It’s hardly a fan favorite. But if you have the Apple One Premier bundle, you can enjoy all of its hidden benefits — here’s how to make the most of it. Keep reading or watch our quick video. 

An AirTag 2 teardown video reveals Apple’s second-gen AirTag packs major internal changes. From the outside, though, the tracking tag looks identical to its predecessor. 
Internally, Apple has used a thinner PCB and revamped the speaker assembly to make it louder. The latter will also help avoid unwanted tampering with the tag.

Apple Cash’s updated fee structure will make instant transfer pricier for users who want quick access to their money. The change goes into effect in less than a month from now, on February 18, 2026. 
From that day, Apple will charge a 1.7% fee for an Instant Transfer.

Apple’s Black Friday deals are now live on the Apple Store. The promotion runs from November 28 through December 1.

Depending on the device you purchase, you can get up to a $250 Apple Gift Card.

The older Apple Home architecture will live for a few more months. Apple previously planned on phasing out the architecture in late 2025. 
Instead, the HomeKit architecture will stop functioning on February 10, 2026.

Apple’s newest M5 MacBook Pro does not ship with a power brick in the box in Europe and the U.K. But this time, don’t blame Apple for the move.

The change stems from new EU regulations around energy efficiency and electronic waste reduction.

Apple unveiled an upgraded 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the new M5 chip on Wednesday. While the laptop looks the same as its predecessor, it sports a faster new Apple silicon processor to deliver even better performance.

“MacBook Pro continues to be the world’s best pro laptop, and today, the 14-inch MacBook Pro gets even better with the arrival of the M5 chip,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a press release.

Apple officially addressed the iPhone 17‘s Scratchgate issue. It says the problem isn’t due to the new glass-and-aluminum design, blaming worn-out MagSafe risers and chargers in retail displays instead.

iPhone 17’s Scratchgate controversy surfaced just days after it went on sale, sparking widespread concern among early buyers.

Apple is now accepting preorders for the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The devices will hit store shelves next Friday, on September 19 — the same day preorders get delivered.

Update: An hour after the pre-orders started, demand for the iPhone 17 Pro Max is already starting to exceed supply. An order placed now in the U.S. for most configurations of this top-of-line model won’t ship until late September, and others won’t arrive before October.        

Apple is already taking preorders for the AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3. All three will be available at retail starting September 19.

Apple no longer bundles a USB-C charging cable with the AirPods Pro 3. Since the earbuds include a USB-C port and support wireless charging, you are unlikely to rue its absence.

This marks another accessory Apple has dropped after the power brick.

Apple’s iPhone 17 family supports significantly faster wired charging speeds. They can top up to 50% in just 20 minutes — 10 minutes faster than previous iPhones.

However, the speed improvements only apply to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. The iPhone Air only supports 20W charging speeds.

iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 owners will get another year of free satellite connectivity. The company did not announce this extension on stage but mentioned it in the footnote of the iPhone 17 Pro press release.

This is the second extension for iPhone 14 since its launch in September 2023.

Following months of beta testing since WWDC25, Apple is finally ready to release iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe to the public. These operating systems finally have a release date.

The updates will start rolling out as early as September 15, just a week after Apple’s Awe Dropping event.

Quartiles is a daily word-building game for Apple News+ subscribers. It’s fun, with a clean interface and no ads. If you want to score maximum points each day, you’ll need to know how to play Quartiles and all the tips and tricks you need to succeed.

Here’s how to play Quartiles — keep reading below or watch our instructional video.

A new act in Japan will force Apple to open the iPhone’s App Store to non-WebKit browsers later this year. Apple currently only allows non-WebKit browsers in the EU App Store, all due to the Digital Markets Act.

Yet, all major iPhone browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, use the same WebKit engine as Safari on iOS. This is despite them using a different engine on desktop.

As part of its additional $100 billion investment in US domestic manufacturing, Apple is entering into a chip manufacturing partnership with Samsung. The Korean company will fabricate next-gen chips for Apple at its Texas foundry.

The companies will work together to “launch an innovative new technology for making chips, which has never been used before anywhere in the world.”

Apple will expand its retail footprint in India and open new stores in the country this year. It will also open its fifth retail store in the United Arab Emirates before the end of 2025.

The company recently launched its online store in Saudi Arabia, marking a major expansion of its presence in the Middle East.

Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass will once again serve as the exclusive global streaming destination for the Leagues Cup, North America’s premier cross-league soccer tournament that kicked off Tuesday and runs through August.

The monthlong competition brings together clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX in what organizers call the first in-season club tournament across all men’s professional sports in North America.