Apple may turn to Intel to fabricate its low-end M-series Apple silicon chips. Such SoCs could debut as early as 2027.
Intel-fabricated Apple silicon chips will find their way inside the MacBook Air and iPad Pro.
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:
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’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.
Apple’s smallest tablet may be getting a significant upgrade soon, with iPad mini 8 expected to adopt OLED display technology by late 2026, according to Chinese leaker Instant Digital. The third quarter of next year at the earliest, they said.
Liven up your Thanksgiving week with woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. The next chapter in the Apple TV award-winning natural history series Prehistoric Planet leaves dinosaurs behind in favor of megafauna that lived during the last ice age, when glaciers covered much of the Earth’s surface.
The streaming service premiered Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age on Wednesday.
Apple will reportedly surpass Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone maker this year. The strong sales of Phone 17 will help the company reclaim the crown in more than a decade.
Strong consumer interest in the new iPhones has led to double-digit growth in sales, which will make this achievement possible.
Apple’s iOS 27 developers have reportedly been tasked with bringing to iPhone a feature many users have asked for, and every one actually wants. And it’s not AI. No, it seems the focus of the next major upgrade will be on removing bugs and improving the performance of the operating system.
The same supposedly goes for the next major version of macOS, iPadOS and other Apple OSs.
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:
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.
Retired secret assassin Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) and his now-the-wiser wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) lead the Morgan family to Europe for the holidays, only to find a gun-toting Irish villain from the past — played by English actor Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) — haunting them. And by “haunting” we mean trying very, very hard to rip off and probably kill Dan. It’s Apple Original Films’ first sequel, The Family Plan 2, and it’s now streaming November 21 on Apple TV, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Reviews so far suggest it could be perfect for that holiday down time. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “dumb-fun sequel that clears a low bar.” The New York Times says it’s a “better executed, equally goofball sequel about a family’s tangles with organized crime.” But some reviews get a little more Grinch-y, with Collider calling the film “lackluster” and Screen Rant fuming that it’s “mind-numbingly boring and unfunny.” But still, gathering in front of the screen could be better than talking to certain relatives, right?
Spotify just made it easier to import your music library from other streaming services. And you can do this directly from its mobile app.
The company has partnered with popular third-party service TuneMyMusic to integrate this functionality into its app.
Sharing holiday pictures with the whole family just got easier. Google found a way to make Android’s Quick Share feature cross-compatible with Apple AirDrop. This means Android and iPhone users can wirelessly transfer images and other files between their handsets.
The feature was announced Thursday, and currently only works with a few Android handsets, but Google promised wider availability is in development.
Apple Music crowned rapper Tyler, The Creator as its 2025 Artist of the Year on Thursday, honoring the hip-hop innovator’s remarkable creative output and cultural influence over the past 12 months. With streaming minutes numbering in the billions, the guy gives new meaning to “off the charts.”
This year has been Tyler’s most successful to date across Apple Music’s platform. Between November 2024 and October 2025, fans worldwide streamed his music for more than 4.5 billion minutes, marking career highs in plays, listeners and total listening hours on the service.
Apple is kicking off the holiday shopping season with a Black Friday promotion: from November 28 through December 1, customers who purchase select Apple products will receive an Apple Gift Card worth up to $250.
While that sounds sweet, you might want to shop elsewhere.
In what may be the strangest twist in the ongoing smartphone wars, London phone thieves have developed a strong brand loyalty to iPhone. Some phone thieves return Androids, literally giving the handsets like Samsung phones back to their victims, according to a new investigation. Now why would they do that? Well, it’s mainly about economics. And good taste, of course.
When will you be able to add your driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet on your iPhone? In the United States, it varies by where you live. It’s not up to Apple: Each state and territory maintains a completely independent registry of drivers and identification cards, so each one must independently pass legislation and implement digital IDs.
If you live in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico or West Virginia, you can do it today. (Our guide will show you how to add your driver’s license to Apple Wallet.) Otherwise, check our map and lists below to see how likely your state is to let you add your ID to Apple Wallet, and when it might happen.
A new open-source app called LibrePods aims to make the AirPods experience on Android nearly as good as on an iPhone.
Currently, Androids do not officially support AirPods. You can technically pair Apple’s earbuds with Android phones, but you won’t be able to access most of coolest features.
Illinois motorists can securely add a digital driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet, which enables them to present their ID using their iPhone or Apple Watch. The option was announced Tuesday and becomes available on Wednesday.
That makes the Prairie State the fourteenth U.S. state or territory to support Apple’s digital ID program.
Apple continues to quickly push ahead with development of its next round of operating system updates. The result: the third betas of iOS 26.2 and macOS Tahoe 26.2 reached developers on Monday, and the public on Tuesday. The same goes for iPadOS 26.2 beta 3, watchOS 26.2 beta 3, tvOS 26.2 beta 3 and visionOS 26.2 beta 3.
Expect the full versions to be ready in only a few weeks.
Apple has achieved what many thought impossible: manufacturing millions of Apple Watch cases using 3D-printing technology with 100% recycled titanium — while cutting raw material usage in half. The breakthrough marks a significant milestone in both sustainable manufacturing and production efficiency, with the company estimating the process will save more than 400 metric tons of raw titanium this year alone.
“It wasn’t just an idea — it was an idea that wanted to become a reality,” said Kate Bergeron, Apple’s vice president of product design, in a press release Tuesday. “Once we asked the question, we immediately started testing it. We had to prove, with continuous prototyping, process optimization, and a tremendous amount of data gathering, that this technology was capable of meeting the high standard of quality we demand.”
The iPhone 17’s new N1 wireless chip brings a significant boost in Wi-Fi speeds. Tests conducted by Ookla show the newer iPhone models pulling faster speeds over Wi-Fi than their predecessors.
Based on the test data, the iPhone 17 pulled 40% faster Wi-Fi speeds than the iPhone 16.
Apple One makes life easier (and cheaper) by bundling multiple Apple services together — and hidden perks make everything even better. The initial draw is that you gain access to services like Apple TV, iCloud and Apple Music at a reduced price. But there’s more to each of these services than meets the eye.
There are several lesser-known features you might not know about. Some enhance your day-to-day experience, while others will help you save even more money.
Apple continues testing iOS 26.2, seeding the third beta to developers. Building on the first two betas, the third beta contains several changes.
Below is everything new in iOS 26.2 beta 3.
Apple will soon allow iPhone users in Japan to use the side button to trigger a third-party voice assistant they might prefer to Siri. It is laying the groundwork for this change in iOS 26.2, which is currently in beta testing.
The company posted a detailed post on its developer blog providing insight into this change.
Abidur Chowdhury, the industrial designer who helped shape the iPhone Air, reportedly left Apple for an unnamed AI startup.
“His exit made waves internally, given his rising profile within the design team,” according to a Bloomberg report.
With Apple’s M5 chip appearing in more devices, it’s time for an M5 vs. M4 chip smackdown. Apple unveiled its new M5 chip in October, marking a significant leap forward in on-device artificial intelligence performance over its predecessor. So let’s compare the M5 chip to the M4 chip.
While maintaining the same core architecture as the M4 chip, the M5 delivers dramatic improvements in AI processing, graphics capabilities and memory bandwidth that position it as Apple’s most AI-focused silicon to date. But it enough to temp would-be upgraders?