Apple can no longer absorb soaring memory and storage costs. AI image: Apple/ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple CEO Tim Cook says the iPhone maker must raise its prices to offset the impact of the rising memory and storage chip prices. According to one estimate, this year’s iPhone 18 Pro could cost as much as $1,299!
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
iPhone OS 3 turned Apple's smartphone into a much more capable device. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
June 17, 2009: Apple releases iPhone OS 3, the third iteration of its mobile operating system (and the last before a name change to “iOS”). It adds Cut, Copy and Paste functionality, among the most requested features since the original iPhone shipped in 2007.
“iPhone 3.0 has more than 100 new features for our customers,” says Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, as he demos the new operating system in front of developers. “Let me walk you through just a few, starting with Cut, Copy and Paste. So, we’ve been working really hard to design an easy-to-use, straightforward user interface for Cut, Copy and Paste on our large touchscreen display, and we think we’ve nailed it.”
iPhone OS 3 also brings a host of other new features, including MMS, a landscape keyboard, support for audiobooks and iTunes video, and Spotlight search, which users can access by swiping left on the iPhone’s Home Screen. And the Find My iPhone app comes along for the ride.
iPhone Mirroring gets a major upgrade in macOS 27. Photo: Apple
iPhone Mirroring, which lets you view and control your iPhone from your Mac, finally gets some features it deserved from day one in macOS 27 Golden Gate. The three notable improvements are resizable windows, Control Center access and DRM video playback.
What might be called AirPods Ultra could be an AI-focused device, not just a simple audio player. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple intends to make 2027 one of its most ambitious product years ever, targeting a late-year window for three major launches, according to a new report Tuesday.
Apple Mail gets a ground-up search overhaul in iOS 27. Image: Apple
Apple Mail’s search has been broken for years, and everyone knows it. But iOS 27 should fix that.
When it arrives later this year, it will bring a completely rebuilt Mail search with features such as a new on-device index, relevance ranking and the ability to reindex old emails. The emails you know exist but can never find? Your iPhone will finally be able to surface them.
Messages in iOS 27 gets smarter, safer, and a whole lot less frustrating. Photo: Apple If you ever accidentally hit the microphone button in the Message app and started recording your voice, Apple finally fixed that problem in iOS 27. Justin Bieber publicly complained about it last year, and as it turns out, Apple was paying attention.
With iOS 27, Apple is not only ending the dictation button problem but also adding some new features to the Messages app. You’ll also get AI-powered smart suggestions, a new drawing tool, improved child safety features and performance fixes.
Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software is buggy and can lead to data loss. That being said, iOS 26 has been buggy since September. iOS 27 promises broader system stability — unlike most early betas, in my testing, the system runs smoother than before. But it comes at the expense of odd behavior you may find in third-party apps, since they haven’t been updated to support the new changes to Liquid Glass.
If you want to try it out, you should make sure you have a backup of your most important data with two copies of your photo library before you try installing. I’ll show you how.
The new tools should help parents create safer digital experiences for their kids. Photo: Apple
A sweeping set of child safety features including parental controls give families sharper tools for managing what kids see, who they talk to and how long they spend on devices, Apple said Monday at WWDC26.
“At Apple, our mission has always been to create technology that empowers people and enriches their lives, while helping keep them safe,” said Sumbul Desai, M.D., Apple’s vice president of Health and Fitness.
“Our approach to helping families create safer digital experiences is grounded in the belief that every child is unique,” she added. “That’s why we build simple and intuitive tools, based on expert guidance, to let parents tailor their kids’ digital journey.”
The features arrive with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 this fall.
Siri gets a whole new look, and a ton of new AI capabilities, in iOS 27. Image: Apple
The much-anticipated iOS 27 update for iPhone showcased at the Worldwide Developers Conference rebuilds the Siri voice assistant from the ground up as Siri AI, improves Apple Visual Intelligence, offers an improved Camera app, fixes myriad bugs and more, Apple said Monday. It turned out to be quite the consequential update.
“We’re excited to bring a wide range of improvements to each of our platforms, making them even more useful and delightful,” said CEO Tim Cook as he began to close out the keynote presentation. It’s expected to be his last before he steps down from the role on September 1.
The folding iPhone Ultra might debut in a neutral color, rather than a range of them. Image: Majin Bu
Looks like we’ll be able to get the folding iPhone Ultra and any color we want, as long as what we want is white.
A noted tipster says Apple’s upcoming handset with a flexible screen could come only in that single color option. It’s not a surprising move for a device expected to be a niche product because of its premium price.
We're not saying any of these tech executives would go to jail, but the UK may target anyone whose products let kids see nudity on their devices. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
The UK government plans to compel Apple, Google and other technology companies to block children from encountering any nudity on their devices like iPhones and iPads — and to imprison executives who fail to act for up to 5 years, according to a new report Friday about policy changes in the works.
Seems like the sort of thing that could make incoming Apple CEO John Ternus a little nervous.
June 3, 2011: iOS overtakes Research in Motion’s BlackBerry operating system for the first time, with Apple’s mobile operating system inching past BlackBerry OS.
While Android remains comfortably in the lead in terms of market share, the news marks the beginning of the end for BlackBerry as a smartphone powerhouse.
With the iPhone Ultra, Apple might finally bring multitasking to the iPhone. Photo: Techblood.in
Apple is reportedly working on new multitasking features in iOS 27 that would automatically adapt any iPhone app for landscape and split-screen layouts.
With the rumored folding iPhone on the horizon, a lack of multitasking would translate to a waste of screen real estate. But this rumored capability could mean your entire app collection would work instantly, without Apple waiting for developers to redesign their apps.
Apple Watch OLED displays are great now, but more advanced tech could boost power efficiency and, therefore, battery life. Photo: Apple
The display in your Apple Watch may already seem pretty great, but a new type of screen technology in development could make models in the next year or two even better by running for longer on a single charge, according to a new report.
iPhone 18 Pro may not impress you with its battery capacity. Photo: Szabó Viktor/Pexels
iPhone 18 Pro’s alleged battery capacities just surfaced online. While the Chinese variant will reportedly pack a 4,056mAh battery, the US model could feature a larger 4,288mAh cell.
If accurate, these capacities are largely similar to the batteries used in the iPhone 17 Pro.
If you're one of the unlucky few the charging problem vexes, here's your solution. Image: Cult of Mac
Apple made an update available for its iPhone operating system Monday with iOS 26.5.1. It addresses a wired charging problem some users with iPhone Series 17 or iPhone Air handsets face.
Apple said the problem affects a “small number of users.” But for the few users who face it, the problem probably feels pretty big. The same goes for a Mac glitch fixed by macOS 26.5.1, also released Monday.
A big Chicago daily pulls the plug on staff photographers. Photo: HypeBeast
May 31, 2013: The Chicago Sun-Times fires all 28 of its photographers, with the goal of training its staff to shoot photos using iPhones instead. Pulitzer Prize winner John H. White is among those who lose their jobs.
The move is significant not just because of what it says about the declining newspaper industry. It also spotlights the iPhone’s growing acceptance as a professional camera.
Master your photos. No computer nor equipment required. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Who needs a computer or expensive photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom? You can edit pictures right on your iPhone with Apple’s free, built-in tools.
The Photos app comes with a ton of professional editing tools baked into it. If you didn’t line your shot up quite right, you can fix the crop and perspective. If you took it a split second too late, you can use Live Photo functionality to replace the shot. You can add a Portrait mode blur after the fact, and even change which part of the image is in focus.
Here are the eight great editing tools built right into your iPhone.
iPhone users will soon be able to summarize documents using Meta AI in WhatsApp. Photo: WhatsApp/Cult Of Mac
WhatsApp wants to make Meta AI a lot more useful on the iPhone. To that end, Meta is working on a new feature that allows users to upload documents and get AI-powered summaries and answers right in WhatsApp.
For iPhone users, this sounds like a meaningful upgrade. Instead of switching between apps to analyze PDFs, notes, presentations or spreadsheets, users will be able to hand files directly to Meta AI without relying on another chatbot.
Most Apple devices saw increases in trade-in value. Photo: Pixabay CC
If you’ve been sitting on an older Apple device, now might be a good time to put it toward something new. The iPhone giant has quietly updated its U.S. trade-in estimates, boosting values across most of its current iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch lineup.
You can use your phone to take lo-fi pictures. You don’t need a separate point-and-shoot camera. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you feel like every photo you take looks boring and overprocessed, you can change your iPhone camera settings to take natural, lo-fi pictures.
Turning down the exposure can prevent the photo from looking unnaturally bright (and more like something shot on an older digital camera). If you have a newer iPhone, you can even change its Photographic Style to “Natural,” for better-looking colors. A few quick trips into the Settings app can turn off the lens distortion on the Ultra Wide and selfie cameras, for that pure fisheye look.
You can even take things a step further and download a different camera app — one that captures totally unprocessed photos straight from your iPhone’s sensor.
Here are my top tips for taking lo-fi iPhone photos.
The AirPods' settings page just keeps getting more crowded as Apple adds new features. Photo: Apple
Apple is reportedly preparing to overhaul one of the iPhone’s most cluttered menus: the AirPods settings screen.
Over the years, the AirPods settings screen has grown more cluttered with every new feature Apple introduces to the popular earbuds. That could change with iOS 27, which could come with a completely revamped layout for the AirPods settings.
Will future iPhones come in titanium once again? Image: Apple/Cult of Mac
On the latest episode of the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple might go back to the iPhone future, thanks to some metallurgical magic that involves a special titanium alloy.
We discuss the pros, the cons and the possible timeline for such a retro upgrade.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Another recent Apple rumor also sounds like a bit of a flashback: The Apple Watch Ultra 4 might get high-blood-pressure alerts. Um, doesn’t it already do that? Yes, but …
As per tradition, Apple reveals new accessibility features coming in the next version of iOS. And, as always, they sound pretty incredible.
Special guest Niléane shows off TinyStart, a “tiny launcher for macOS, fast and focused on the essentials.”
Listen to this week’s episode of the Cult of Mac podcast 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.
Apple may finally be preparing to move beyond the Dynamic Island era. Photo: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple is reportedly testing a prototype quad-curved OLED screen for the iPhone 19 Pro as part of its push toward an all-screen iPhone. If the leaks prove accurate, it could mark Apple’s biggest redesign since the iPhone X.
The rumored 2027 flagship phone is said to come with under-display Face ID and be curved on all four sides. It could give buyers a compelling reason to skip the iPhone 18 Pro.
Apple officially closed the downgrade window for iOS 26.4.2. Image: Cult of Mac
Apple stopped signing iOS 26.4.2, meaning iPhone users who updated to iOS 26.5 can no longer roll back to the previous version.
Whenever Apple rolls out an iOS update, it allows users to go back to the previous version if they run into bugs or other issues. But once the company considers the new release stable, it stops signing the older build.