Lewis Wallace

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Leaked code indicates Apple is working on a new iMac Pro, years after the powerful all-in-one faded from the scene.

Does a new iMac Pro make sense in the Apple silicon era? And what price point would make it appealing? We discuss the possibilities.

Also on The CultCast:

• The 20th-anniversary iPhone sounds like a real cracker — if Apple can pull off the impossible.
• Another leak gives us a look at new features coming in iOS 26.4.
• Hate iOS 26’s Liquid Glass user interface? Griffin walks us through a weird hack that will keep your iPhone on iOS 18 forever.
• We wrap up the show with our new trivia segment, Apple Genius. Should we make it a regular addition to the podcast?

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

December 15, 2020: Apple releases AirPods Max, its first over-ear headphones, touting the device’s pristine design and advanced computational audio.

The pricey cans with the sleek aluminum ear cups retail for a wallet-thrashing $549. But they supersize the magical AirPods experience, and deliver Apple’s best audio experience yet.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Fresh rumors about the hybrid device that marries an iPad with a HomePod get us thinking about the future of Apple’s home automation. This could be the start of something big.

Also on The CultCast:

• A worrisome rumor about Apple’s chip chief turns out to be a false alarm. Johny Srouji, the architect of Apple silicon, is not leaving “anytime soon.” But what’s really going on with the wave of Apple execs heading for the exit?
• Griffin gets excited about potential upgrades coming to Apple’s Studio Display.
• And finally, Leander wraps up with a review of the Beats Pill speaker, which he finds surprisingly excellent — especially at the rock-bottom price he paid!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

December 13, 2016: After months of anticipation and delay, Apple finally launches the first-generation AirPods. The tiny wireless earbuds arrive in Apple’s online store just in time for holiday shoppers looking for stocking stuffers.

Like so many Apple products, they aren’t the first wireless earbuds to arrive on the scene. However, AirPods’ rapid success will fuel a wireless listening revolution.

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker rarely sees a discount, but a special holiday deal from B&H cuts the price by $20 for a limited time.

The timing is awesome, because a HomePod makes a great gift for the Apple lover in your life. And with this deal, you can scoop up a full-size, second-generation Home Pod for just $279 in either midnight or white.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: With the sudden departure of Apple’s UI design chief Alan Dye — and the prompt naming of a Steve Jobs-era veteran to take his place — are we looking at a software renaissance for iPhones and Macs?

We certainly hope so!

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple’s AI chief is out — and that could be great news!
• In another surprise twist, Intel might make chips for Apple again.
• And finally, it’s that time of year when we look at our Apple Music Replay stats and try not to whimper.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

These excellent Cyber Monday deals on all AirPods models make Apple’s lineup of trend-setting headphones more affordable than ever.

Whether you want Apple’s entry-level earbuds (AirPods 4, with or without active noise cancellation), the amazingly versatile AirPods Pro 3 or the luxurious over-ear AirPods Max headphones, you can be sure that the latest models will work like a charm with all your Apple devices.

They’re even better when you can snag them at a discount — and most of these Black Friday deals drop AirPods to their lowest prices yet!

Our guide to the best Cyber Monday 2025 deals on Apple products and accessories showcases some prices that are even lower than Black Friday’s blowout sales. We’ll update this post throughout the day, but the clock is ticking. These Cyber Monday deals should end at midnight!

Our favorite earbuds — AirPods Pro 3 — remain at an all-time low price. The iPad mini just hit a new low of $349. And somehow, an amazing deal on the latest M4 MacBook Air got even more amazing as Cyber Monday approaches.

Find our absolute favorite Apple Cyber Monday picks, and our other favorite deals sorted by product category, below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple reportedly plans to focus on squashing bugs in iOS 27 and the rest of next year’s new operating systems. Sounds like Snow Leopard redux … and we couldn’t be happier. New features be damned!

Also on The CultCast:

• Android devices get a delicious dose of AirDrop.
• As usual, Apple’s Black Friday deals don’t knock us out. But plenty of other big discounts do. We discuss some of the best sales we’ve seen.
• Griffin shows how you can give your Mac a makeover in macOS Tahoe. The new customization options look rad — and functional!
• And finally, Griffin reviews the ViewSonic VP2788-5K, a Mac-ready, 27-inch 5K monitor with great features (and a regrettable name).

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

If you’ve always coveted a pair of Apple’s AirPods Max headphones, but always balked at the outrageous price, this Black Friday deal is for you.

You can get a new pair of Apple’s premium headphones for just $399.99 — a massive discount off the list price of $549.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest rumor about Apple CEO Tim Cook‘s retirement says he could step down as early as next January. We discuss the likelihood of that, and Apple’s succession plans, as we debate the company’s future.

Also on The CultCast:

• Soon, iPhones will let users trigger voice assistants other than Siri (at least in some countries).
• It sounds like Apple might kill the Mac Pro. We pour one out for the distinguished line of high-powered computers — but recognize that maybe their time has come.
• Against all odds, the iPhone Pocket is a hit! Time to eat some crow.
• You won’t believe what London phone thieves do when they find out they’ve got an Android on their hands.
• And finally … we marvel at some super-high-end Apple setups.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Nobody saw this coming! The iPhone Pocket is a bizarre Apple product, and the press release announcing its precious existence is one of the most pretentious we’ve ever seen.

Still, it might be big in Asia!

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple’s new Digital ID is based on your passport and paves the way for the wallet-free (and possibly surveillance-intensive) future. We discuss the pros and cons.
• Sounds like Tesla is finally buckling and plans to give iPhone users what they want. Victory!
• Griffin shows off a cool new three-way charger that’s fantastic for travel (although he likes it at home, too).
• And finally, we discuss Pluribus, the great new Apple TV show from Breaking Bad mastermind Vince Gilligan. Two episodes in and we’re hooked!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Apple reportedly plans to pay a cool $1 billion a year to use Google Gemini to make Siri smarter. How do we feel about that? Honestly, anything that fixes Siri sooner rather than later would be a big win.

Anybody creeped out about iPhones and Macs with Google inside should rest easy, though. Apple plans to keep everything safe and secure. And Cupertino’s still scrambling to get its own AI up to speed.

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple plans to build a low-priced laptop that will bring Macs to the masses. We discuss why that has PC makers quaking in their boots.
• The iPhone Air is reportedly a bust. One big reason is that people love their iPhone cameras — and the Air skimped out on that. The next iPhone Air model might add a second lens, but really fix the problem?
• Some automakers plan to pull the plug on CarPlay. We’re already plotting our revolt!
• Griffin runs down the top five features in iOS 26.1 that you should try immediately, including one important toggle that will keep your iPhone from photographing the luxurious insides of your pocket.
• And finally, we wrap up with a new game — Apple Mad Libs!

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Apple used a giant glass Apple TV logo, colorfully lit and filmed in a studio, to create the new visual branding that will run before the streaming service’s shows.

The translucent logo seems to flip like the pages of a book, with colors changing all the while, in the mesmerizing video snippets.

“Many might assume the visual effects were made digitally, but in fact, it was all done practically using glass and captured in-camera,” Ad Age reported Wednesday.

A short behind-the-scenes video shows the extraordinary lengths the streamer and its storied ad agency went to create the striking visuals.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest rumor about the 20th anniversary iPhone whets our appetite for this glorious device. It’s just over the horizon, and it sounds like an absolute stunner.

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple reportedly plans to bring a gorgeous OLED screen to almost every iPad.
• A horrifying AirPods Pro 3 problem strikes when you need it least — while flying! Thankfully, it seems like the glitch is not that widespread. Still, we’ve got some tips on preparing for the worst.
• Griffin serves up his M5 Vision Pro review, and Leander talks up Apple Watch Series 11.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Griffin gets his hands on the new M5 Vision Pro, and he’s all too happy to share his first impressions about the upgraded headset.

Also on The CultCast:

• The latest iOS beta offers a strange option for people who dislike Liquid Glass.
• New rumors about Apple’s folding iPhone and iPad make both projects sound a bit shaky. And the prices we might pay when these devices finally arrive? Outrageous!
• The Mac mini is one smokin’ machine, and it powers some pretty sweet setups.
• And finally, we field a question from a listener about our Cult of Mac workflows.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

OpenAI released its ChatGPT Atlas browser for Mac on Tuesday, making it easy to use the AI chatbot wherever you go online. When using the free browser to visit a website, you can tap into ChatGPT’s knowledge to provide more information about whatever’s on the page.

For example, after searching for a top Airbnb listing in a certain locale, you could ask ChatGPT for best hikes in the area or tell the chatbot to assemble an itinerary for a three-day trip — right within the browser. An agent mode, available to paid ChatGPT users, can go even further.

However, while OpenAI says it built in safeguards to mitigate the dangers of allowing an AI to act for you on logged-in websites, the company admits that using agent mode carries risks. And there’s still the common AI problem of hallucinations.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: With the M5 chip, Apple silicon blows our minds once again with its insane combination of performance and efficiency. How does Apple keep pulling this off?

We discuss all the lustworthy new hardware that the M5 powers: MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and Vision Pro.

Also on The CultCast:

• What’s the new Vision Pro headset’s biggest upgrade? Hint: It’s not the chip.
• If you’re picking up a new iPad Pro, you really should go big on storage.
• How did the upcoming Steve Jobs commemorative $1 coin go so hilariously wrong?

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

A questionable portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged in a California meadow will appear on a collectible $1 coin from the U.S. Mint in 2026. It’s a great tribute to Jobs and Apple’s innovation — but you’ll need to squint pretty hard to identify the hippie-turned-techpreneur.

“This design presents a young Steve Jobs sitting in front of a quintessentially northern California landscape of oak-covered rolling hills,” the Mint said in a press release Wednesday. “His posture and expression, as he is captured in a moment of reflection, show how this environment inspired his vision to transform complex technology into something as intuitive and organic as nature itself.”

The Jobs coin — which kinda makes Apple’s late leader look like a young Ellen DeGeneres — is one of four featured in the 2026 American Innovation $1 Coin Program, a commemorative series established to honor U.S. inventors and innovators.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After OpenAI’s Sora app races to the top of the App Store charts, it’s time to consider how fantastic and terrifying it really is.

The iPhone-only app produces startlingly photorealistic videos of wacky things like Pikachu as a World War II soldier and iJustine wrestling an elephant. Will we ever be able to believe our eyes again?

Also on The CultCast:

• Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and his new BFFs at OpenAI reportedly run into some serious problems as they work to create an AI device to take on the iPhone.
• iOS 26 lets you screen iPhone calls even more efficiently than before. Griffin shows us how it the upgraded features work.
• A switcher lands a great deal on a MacBook Air, then goes all in on the Apple ecosystem. Talk about the halo effect!
• And finally, the latest iOS 26.1 beta brings some interesting new features — Griffin tells us all about them.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The Federal Communications Commission leaks secret Apple info and Russian YouTubers get their hands on unreleased iPad Pros.

What’s going on with these crazy Apple leaks? We have a theory about why at least some of them are happening.

Also on The CultCast:

• Logitech updates a classic — the new MX Master 4 mouse adds haptics!
• A cool new Mac app called Folder Quick Look fixes a longtime annoyance, and it’s totally free.
• We take a good, hard look at the latest addition to our colleague’s setup.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

That cheaper Vision Pro you were waiting for? Don’t hold your breath. Apple reportedly shelved the project to redirect its focus on creating smart glasses to compete with Meta’s popular products.

Previous rumors indicated Apple would release a stripped-down version of its $3,499 Vision Pro headset by 2027. But Apple execs reportedly told employees last week that it’s putting the lighter, cheaper headset on the back burner.

With the Anker Nano Power Bank (5K, MagGo, Slim), thin is definitely in. Measuring just 0.34 inches deep, the Qi2 power bank attaches magnetically to MagSafe iPhones and delivers enough juice to get you through a frantic afternoon on the go.

At just 5,000 mAh, it won’t take modern iPhone batteries all the way to 100%. But it will power up a dead iPhone from zero to 20% in a little over 20 minutes. And it does so while attached comfortably to the phone, without the excessive heat generated by some competing power banks.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We dish out our reviews of the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air and AirPods Pro 3.

How’s the battery life? How’s the cosmic orange? How badly does the iPhone 17 Pro scratch? How good is AirPods’ new Live Translation feature?

In this extra-long edition, we go deep on our first impressions of Apple’s latest gear.

Also on The CultCast:

• We know Scratchgate is real. And an expert offers an explanation for the iPhone 17 Pro’s problem.
• Apple’s new iPhone cases are pretty great — and they’re already on sale.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Now that we’re all running the latest software versions on our iPhones and Apple Watches, it’s time to go over the coolest new features.

Yes, Apple’s new Liquid Glass user interface takes some getting used to, but it’s pretty sweet in the end. And there are a bunch of other great additions we love. Join us for the conversation!

Also on The CultCast:

• A MacBook Pro with a touchscreen?!? It might be in the pipeline.
• The updates in iPadOS 26 finally fix the tablet’s multitasking problem.
• The Mac App Store is currently broken — but there’s a workaround.
• Cult of Mac’s buyback program buys everything from AirPods and iPhones to MacBooks and Magic Keyboards, damaged or not. Get your quote now.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.