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5 ways the Camera in iOS 27 is more refined than ever

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Camera app graphic
The Camera is one of the iPhone’s most essential apps.
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

The Camera app in iOS 27 is chock-full of small but meaningful improvements. The UI was given a major simplification last year; this year, that design is iterated and refined upon to make it the best yet.

This is one of the changes I’ve really grown to appreciate since installing the developer betas. Check it out below.

Apple’s foldable iPhone orders reportedly jump to 10 million units

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A concept image of the foldable iPhone used in a story about the upcoming device.
Apple's foldable iPhone is reportedly expected to debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro this September.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Apple could be telling its suppliers to build more foldable iPhones than anyone expected. The company has reportedly raised its 2026 prediction target for the much-rumored iPhone Ultra to around 10 million units. This is a significant jump from the previous 7-to-8-million estimation.

That’s a huge vote of confidence from Apple and good news for anyone hoping to get their hands on one. A bigger build target usually means fewer launch-day sellouts and a better shot at your preferred color and storage.

Apple eyes deals with pair of Chinese chipmakers

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Apple’s reported plan to diversify its memory supply chain includes two major Chinese chipmakers.
Apple’s reported plan to diversify its memory supply chain includes two major Chinese chipmakers.
AI image: ChatGPT

Apple reportedly wants to source memory from two Chinese suppliers — CXMT and YMTC — for its products. Previous rumors suggested Apple lobbying for CMXT’s approval from the US government.

However, a new report from Bloomberg suggests the company is also looking to secure DRAM from YMTC.

Tons of new features in Photos help sort your massive library in iOS 27

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Photos app graphic
Loads of new features come in Apple’s upcoming software update.
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

The new Photos app in iOS 27 clearly did not get the memo that this was a small year of bug fixes and performance improvements. While it is faster and more stable, there are tons of excellent new features top to bottom. Sorting through the largest photo libraries will be easier than ever in iOS 27.

Here are all the new features you can look forward to — or, if you’re daring, try out now.

New iPhone and Mac updates offer dozens of security fixes

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iOS 26.5.2 is packed with security patches.
There are just so, so many security patches in iOS 26.5.2.
Image: Cult of Mac

Apple released iOS 26.5.2, macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2 on Monday with no additional features but lots of security fixes. There are no fewer than 29 of them listed in Apple’s documentation.

Clearly, even though they lack fun new features, you should install these updates ASAP.

Today in Apple history: Fans line up to get their hands on the very first iPhones

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A photo of people looking at the first-gen iPhone inside a glass case on the original iPhone launch date.
The smartphone that changed smartphones!
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

June 29: Today in Apple history: Fans line up to get their hands on the very first iPhones June 29, 2007: The first iPhone launch date arrives, giving excited Apple fans lined up outside stores their first chance at owning the game-changing smartphone. The queues that greet the device around the world prove that Cupertino is onto a good thing with the smartphone, first shown off by Apple CEO Steve Jobs earlier in the year.

The launch-day fervor offers a glimpse of just how revolutionary the iPhone will become.

Expect to pay a whole lot more for a next-gen iPhone

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Analyst predicts iPhone price increases are coming
An analyst predicts the iPhone 18 Pro Max will cost much more than previously expected.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Apple hiked prices on Mac, iPad and more on Thursday, but not handsets — all iPhone models still cost what they did before. But an analyst warns that we should expect the iPhone models coming in the fall to cost significantly more than the current ones. That’s especially true for the iPhone Ultra.

Even so, the analyst anticipates strong iPhone sales this fall. Here’s why.

Today in Apple history: iPhone 4 arrives with glorious Retina display

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iPhone4
The iPhone 4 marked the culmination of Steve Jobs' career at Apple.
Photo: Apple

June 24: Today in Apple history: iPhone 4 arrives with glorious Retina display June 24, 2010:. The iPhone 4 release date finally arrives, bringing a sleeker design, a new video telephony service called FaceTime and a gorgeous Retina display. Simply put, it’s a stunning smartphone.

While history may remember the device for the “Antennagate” scandal caused by that new design, it is otherwise a fantastic upgrade over the iPhone 3GS. In its first weekend, Apple will sell 1.7 million iPhone 4 handsets. That’s a major triumph for Cupertino.

Check out the best Amazon Prime Day deals on our favorite Apple gear

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Prime Day graphic
Prime Day is from June 23 to 26, 2026.
Graphic: Amazon/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Prime Day is always an advertising blitz of products — what are the good products and what’s crap? At Cult of Mac, we put together the best Amazon Prime Day deals on the products we’ve actually used, reviewed and love.

While the occasion is as artificial and arbitrary as ever, the pressure is actually real this year. Apple CEO Tim Cook warned earlier this week that prices are inevitably going to rise sometime soon. So if you’ve been thinking about a new computer, now may be the best time.

We review tons of products, from official Apple products to top accessories offered to our staff. Take a look at some of our top recommendations this Prime Day.

Hack to skip the Siri AI waitlist no longer works — but there may be another way

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Graphic showing a big X over Siri AI running on the Mac, with a “Beta 2” label.
The popular workaround is no more.
Graphic: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

The hack that some Mac users were using to try out the new Siri AI, skipping the waitlist, no longer works.

Apple released the second developer beta of all its OS 27 updates yesterday. In macOS 27 developer beta 2, the hidden Terminal command no longer enables Siri AI. After you update, you’ll find yourself back on Apple’s waitlist. If you previously enabled it on your Mac, your access will be revoked.

But no worries — some users on Reddit may have found a way to get yourself accepted fast.

8 new features in Safari in iOS 27 that make browsing better

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Safari
The web browser that comes on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

There are eight great new Safari features in iOS 27. The update fixes a lot of irritating design problems that have bothered me for years.

Plus, if your phone supports Apple Intelligence, you’ll enjoy some smart new features that make your browsing easier — I’ve already created a couple custom extensions. And everyone will appreciate the speed and performance gains when they update.

Check out what you can expect from Safari this fall when Apple releases iOS 27.

Did the iPhone help cause America’s baby bust?

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iPhone may play a role in U.S. birthrate decline
Seems people might prefer their iPhones to parenthood.
AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac

For years, economists blamed declining birth rates in the United States on rising housing costs, student debt, expensive childcare and delayed marriage. Now a study points to a surprising additional factor: the iPhone.

Researchers examining the long-running decline in U.S. fertility rates found evidence that smartphones may have contributed significantly to the drop in births since 2007, the same year Apple launched the original iPhone.

Today in Apple history: iOS 4 brings FaceTime and multitasking

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Photo of the iPhone 4, which ran on iOS 4
iOS 4 brought important new features to iPhones and the recently released iPad.
Photo: Yutaka Tsutano/Wikimedia CC/Modified by Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

June 21: Today in Apple history: Apple releases iOS 4, which brings multitasking and FaceTime June 21, 2010: Apple releases iOS 4, which introduces a range of productivity features as well as the FaceTime videotelephony service. The iOS 4 launch represents a big step forward for Apple’s flourishing mobile devices.

Due to the arrival of the first-gen iPad earlier in the year, iOS 4 also brings a transition from the mobile operating system’s original name, “iPhone OS.”

Your iPhone can track your medications — here’s how to set it up

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Image of an iPhone with the words
Your iPhone and Apple Watch can help you track your meds.
Image: MorgueFile/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

The Apple Health app on your iPhone makes it easy to track your medications — and help you remember to take them on time. It offers many advanced options and covers all kinds of medicines.

You can set up schedules, log your activity and even get advice on drug interactions. Let me show you how to get started.

Your old iPhone has a security flaw, and there’s nothing Apple can do to fix it

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A photo of the usbliter8 iPhone security flaw used in a story about the same.
The iPhone XR, XS and 11 are among the older models affected by the newly disclosed usbliter8 exploit.
Photo: Paradigm Shift

Still holding onto an iPhone XS, XR or 11 because it gets the job done? There’s now a good reason to upgrade: usbliter8. This security flaw lets anyone with physical access to an older iPhone hijack the startup process, and Apple won’t be able to patch it with a software update.

That’s because it isn’t an iOS bug — the flaw is in the chip’s boot code, the first thing that runs when you turn on the device.

Resizable iPhone apps show what the folding iPhone will be like [Gallery]

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Mockup image folding a folding iPhone with a screenshot from iOS 27
The unfolded folding iPhone will be kinda like an iPad mini.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

iPhone Mirroring in macOS Golden Gate gives us a clue about what the first folding iPhone will be like. For the first time, you can resize the window to any arbitrary size. That means you can stretch the screen to the rumored dimensions of Apple’s upcoming foldable and see how your favorite apps will look and work.

After all, it’s going to be an unusual iPhone. The unfolded inner screen will be roughly iPad mini-size, with an outer screen that’s much shorter and wider than any iPhone made in the last 15 years.

I took some screenshots of various Apple apps to demonstrate what the folding iPhone’s user interface will look like.

$1,299 iPhones?!? Why Apple products are about to get more expensive.

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Mac shipments keep climbing as Apple’s momentum continues
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.”

Today in Apple history: iPhone OS 3 brings copy/paste to iPhone

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Photo of an iPhone running iPhone OS 3
iPhone OS 3 turned Apple's smartphone into a much more capable device.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

friday_17 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.

Apple is fixing the Mail app’s broken search in iOS 27

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A photo of Apple's Mail app for the iPhone used in a story about the iOS 27's Mail app update.
Apple Mail gets a ground-up search overhaul in iOS 27.
Image: Apple

Apple WWDC26: 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.

iOS 27 finally fixes the Messages app’s most annoying buttons

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A photo of Apple's Messages app used in a story about new features coming with IOS 27.
Messages in iOS 27 gets smarter, safer, and a whole lot less frustrating.
Photo: Apple
Apple WWDC26: 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.

How to download the iOS 27 developer beta and get Siri AI

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Download the iOS Beta graphic
Give me better Siri now!
Image: Apple/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

Anyone interested can download the iOS 27 developer beta for free — right now.

You’ll be among the first to try the exciting new Siri AI, which really does work as promised. It can answer complex questions about your digital life, understand what you’re asking for and look things up online with broad world knowledge. You’ll also get the other new Apple Intelligence features, a tweaked Liquid Glass design, improved speed and performance, and much more.

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.

Apple adds new parental controls across platforms

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Apple adds new parental controls
The new tools should help parents create safer digital experiences for their kids.
Photo: Apple

Apple WWDC26: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.

iOS 27 debuts at WWDC26 with brighter Siri, better Visual Intelligence

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Image of an iPhone running iOS 27 with new Siri AI from WWDC26 keynote
Siri gets a whole new look, and a ton of new AI capabilities, in iOS 27.
Image: Apple

Apple WWDC26: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.