Apple once again delayed its long-awaited smart home hub with a display — casually known as the “HomePad” — until around September as the company continues struggling to get its revamped Siri voice assistant ready for prime time, according to a report Monday.
Apple released no fewer than seven products last week, including the MacBook Neo, the M5 MacBook Air, the iPhone 17e and much more. But there are still three more products likely to be coming out of Cupertino this spring — and one of them is among Apple’s most popular offerings.
Here’s what new Apple products we can look forward to in the next few months across multiple categories.
Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed Thursday what had previously been rumored: The company will launch new products starting Monday, March 2.
The graphic he posted on X hints at the new MacBooks that are expected to be among the announcements. Beyond notebooks, the iPhone 17e, revamped iPads and possibly more could all be unveiled in just a few days.
Apple on Monday announced a product-launch event scheduled for March 4, inviting select media to attend in person what it describes as a “special Apple Experience.” The invitation offers no details on what to expect, but the company is surely preparing to unveil new hardware as it pushes into the heart of its spring product cycle.
Numerous leaks and rumors point to a busy event. A new MacBook Pro, a new MacBook Air, an entirely new low-cost MacBook, the iPhone 17e, revamped iPads and possibly more could all be on the agenda.
February 11, 2010: With iPad excitement reaching a fever pitch, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wades in with his opinion of Apple’s tablet. His view? Apple’s upcoming device is kinda meh.
“There’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it,'” Gates tells one interviewer.
“Love is a many-splendored thing,” goes the old saying — like a multifaceted, intricately cut diamond. Fortunately, your valentine probably doesn’t expect a diamond for a gift on February 14 (hopefully, for the sake of your wallet). But you can still spend loads of cash on Apple’s picks for Valentine’s Day gifts. We selected a bunch below.
February 8, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly flips out over a tweet sent from an iPad by an editor at The Wall Street Journal.
The reason? Apple showed the iPad to top staffers at the news outlet months ahead of its official release. While Jobs already unveiled the device to the public a couple of weeks before, the suggestion that people outside Apple gained early access to the tablet apparently upset him.
The iPad tweet quickly disappears.
iPad shipments worldwide shot up a whopping 16.5% in the last quarter of 2025, according to a market analysis firm. Apple set a new record — it shipped more tablets in Q4 than in any previous quarter.
Not only does iPad outsell every other competitor, but Apple’s tablet also beat its top four rivals’ combined shipments last quarter.
Developer Mode lets you run unsigned code on your iPhone or iPad. Enable it, and you can download and run apps that are not from the App Store (or alternative app marketplaces) or in TestFlight, Apple’s tool that lets developers invite users to beta-test new apps.
If you want to write your own apps in Xcode, you will need to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad before running your app.
Developer Mode is also essential if you want to sideload apps onto your device from a Mac, using an app like Sideloadly. This could include apps that aren’t allowed on the App Store (such as porn app Hot Tub) or apps that are no longer available from their original developers, like Apollo (the now-shuttered Reddit client). For sideloading to work, you will need to turn on Developer Mode.
Read on to see how to enable Developer Mode on your iPhone or iPad, as well as the potential security implications.
February 1, 2010: The tech-loving world goes into meltdown at the sight of comedian Stephen Colbert using a prerelease iPad to read nominations during the televised Grammy Awards show.
“Jay-Z, did you not get one of these in your gift bag?” Colbert quips from the stage. “Am I cooler than you?”
The celebrity sneak peek is all part of Apple’s big (and wildly successful) plan to hype its upcoming tablet.
“I am proud to say that we just had a quarter for the record books,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during Thursday’s earnings call, before rattling off numbers that surprised Wall Street analysts — in a good way.
The highly successful quarter was also one for the stat geeks. Apple racked up several all-time highs during the quarter (technically Apple’s Q1 2026). From overall revenue (a new all-time high!) to customer satisfaction ratings (through the roof!), the numbers Apple put up during the 2026 holiday quarter will blow your mind.
If you want a screaming-fast iPad Pro with a gorgeous, 13-inch screen, consider this refurbished M4 model. Released in 2024, it delivers the goods when it comes to working (and playing) at home, in the office or on the go.
Plus, it’s on sale for just $899.99 — while our limited inventory lasts.
January 27, 2010: After months of rumors and speculation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs publicly shows off the iPad for the first time. Aside from the name, which some people joke sounds like a female sanitary product, the first-generation iPad immediately earns critical acclaim.
“The last time there was this much excitement over a tablet, it had some commandments written on it,” The Wall Street Journal quips.
When it goes on sale a few months later, the first-gen iPad quickly becomes Apple’s fastest-selling new product ever.
The new Pisen Qi2 8-in-1 140W Mega Charging Hub — just launched on Amazon — offers Apple users a comprehensive desktop charging solution that combines wireless charging for iPhone and Apple Watch with high-power wired charging for MacBooks and iPads, the company said Thursday.
It features not only a Qi2 MagSafe charging platform for recent iPhones, but a magnetic Apple Watch charger, USB ports and even power outlets for plugs. And you can get it not only in basic black, but in a surprising yellow!
Whether you’re working remotely from a coffee shop, camping with your MacBook or preparing for the next power outage, the Anker Solix C800 X Portable Power Station delivers reliable backup power for all your Apple devices. And it’s currently available as a killer deal with savings of $250.
If you’ve noticed your iPhone storage filling up faster than it used to, you’re not imagining things. Modern iOS apps now routinely consume hundreds of megabytes, with some reaching multiple gigabytes in size. What’s behind this relentless growth? Why do iOS apps take so much space? And what can you do about it? Read on.
A massive sale on Apple gear slashes the prices on everything from the high-end Pro Display XDR monitor to everyday necessities like charging cables.
The sale’s on now at Amazon-owned daily deals site Woot. And if you use the code APPLEFIVE at checkout, you’ll get an extra $5 off. (Limit one coupon per customer, valid through January 21, 2026, at 11:58 p.m. Central.)
That extra $5 discount doesn’t make much of a difference on large items like the aforementioned Pro Display XDR. But on things like Apple Watch chargers and Thunderbolt cables — already offered at steep discounts — it makes for a nice cherry on top of your savings.
iPad users will soon have access to a version of the Pixelmator Pro image editing application that previously was a Mac exclusive.
Apple promised that the upcoming tablet version of the application will be a significant step up from the features available in the current basic Pixelmator app for iPad. Plus, it will improve on the Mac version thanks to support for Apple Pencil.
But there’s bad news for users of the current, basic Pixelmator version.
You can set up persistent notifications from specific apps so they stick to the top of your iPhone screen. With persistent notifications in iOS, when your phone is unlocked and an important alert comes in, the notification will stay visible at the top of the screen until you act upon it.
It’s an easy way to make sure you don’t miss (or forget about) critical notifications on your iPhone.
This proves super-handy for things like medication reminders. It also works wonders if you’re the sort of person who ignores notifications once they disappear from your iPhone screen. I’ll show you how to make your notifications sticky.
Apple silently gave some Macs and iPads a Wi-Fi speed boost with macOS Tahoe 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2. The update enables 160MHz channel bandwidth support on 5GHz Wi-Fi networks, eliminating a restriction that tamped down the maximum possible speeds.
The additional bandwidth should let your recent Mac or iPad benefit from higher throughput.
Using an aging iPad? Or maybe you’re thinking about getting your first tablet. Great news! Updated models with significantly more horsepower will hit store shelves soon.
Here’s what to expect from iPad in 2026.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple’s got a fantastic year ahead of it, with a genuinely prodigious pipeline of new products coming in 2026. From a folding iPhone and a low-cost MacBook to entirely new product categories, get ready for 12 months of exciting new Apple hardware.
In our first show under the new Cult of Mac branding, and our final podcast of 2025, we discuss all the great stuff that Apple fans have to look forward to in 2026.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of Cult of Mac 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.
Congratulations — you got a new iPad! Whether it’s the entry-level iPad that brings the essential features at an affordable price, the iPad Air with the powerful M3 chip, the pocketable iPad mini or the top-of-the-line iPad Pro, you’ll want to set up your new device with the least amount of fuss.
We’re here to help you do just that with a ton of little tips and tweaks that will make sure you’re off and using that new iPad as quickly as possible. From backing up your old iPad (if you had one already) to getting up and running with a brand-new iPad from scratch, we’ve got you covered.
December 24, 2009: As rumors of a possible Apple tablet reach the boiling point, word spreads online that the new device will be called the “iSlate.”
The news is based on the fact that Apple quietly acquired the domain name iSlate.com a few years earlier. Since Apple did the same thing for the iPhone back in the late 1990s, years before the iPhone actually debuted, it makes total sense that the company would follow suit with the naming of its tablet.
Of course, that didn’t end up happening.
2025 was a big year for Apple. In this end-of-year roundup, we gathered up the most consequential news, groundbreaking rumors and biggest surprises of the last 12 months.
There were plenty of leaks — in fact, the entire iPhone 17 lineup was exhaustively shown off in the months leading up to September. We also knew most of the other product releases, from the MacBook Air and iPad Air to MacBook Pro and Vision Pro, would consist of simple spec bumps.
But there were tons of curveballs, too. Tariffs rattled Apple’s international supply chain. The Blood Oxygen app for Apple Watch made a sudden return. And no one was expecting a UI redesign quite like Liquid Glass.
Here’s our look back at 2025.