iPhone 18 may buck the RAM-ageddon trend. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple will supposedly bump the base model iPhone 18’s RAM by 4GB for a total of 12GB. The additional memory will ensure the new iPhone supports all Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27.
A DigiTimes report says that despite memory becoming substantially more expensive, the company does not plan to bump the iPhone 18’s price.
The Mophie 4-in-1 Wireless Charge Stand works faster because of StealthCharge tech. Photo: Mophie
Mophie makes loads of wireless chargers, so it’s as aware as anyone of the flaws in the technology. That’s why it developed StealthCharge, its improvement to Qi2.2 that lets wireless chargers run more quickly because they stay cooler.
The tech is built into two new desktop chargers plus a travel one. Apple likes these enough that all three are available from the Apple Store, as well as directly from Mophie.
Apple’s privacy-focused email services are getting a unified domain. AI image: ChatGPT
Starting “later this summer,” Apple will use a unified domain for Sign in with Apple and Hide My Email. The two services will use the private.icloud.com domain.
The change will only apply to email IDs generated in the future. Existing accounts will continue to work with the old domain.
Three exciting features that Apple skipped at WWDC26 might still be headed your way. Photo: Apple
Three rumored features that Apple didn’t mention at WWDC26 last week — a customizable Camera app, Siri support for third-party AI chatbots, and a Modular watch face that works on regular Apple Watches — might arrive this fall.
These features all bubbled up in the rumor mill before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, but it looks like we won’t see them until September.
Sports Live software doesn't need a hardware connection to react to action onscreen. It uses data. Photo: Signify
Update: In time for the soccer World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a new Philips Hue app update unlocks the new Sports Live feature we reported on in May, below. Users had their first chance to try it Thursday with Mexico and South Africa’s opening match, Signify said in a blog post.
Original post, May 7, 2026:
Philips Hue and its sibling smart-lighting brand WiZ both get a new feature soon that could change how you watch the World Cup this summer, parent company Signify said Thursday. Called Sports Live, the software uses real-time match data to trigger lighting effects in your home whenever key moments happen on the pitch — goals, yellow cards, red cards — with no manual input or hardware required.
“With Sports Live, we’re moving beyond the traditional screen-based sync offering, broadening the role of smart lighting in at-home sports entertainment,” said said John Smith, business leader for Connected Lighting at Signify.
“By using live match data to trigger lighting in real time, we’re creating a new level of precision and immersion in how fans experience sports at home, making every match a truly memorable occasion,” he added.
Shown here in white with their carrying case, Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones let you easily swap out the battery yourself. That can add years of product life. Photo: Sennheiser
Something is changing in portable audio. In the past year, several well-known audio brands have made a design commitment that sounds almost quaint in the age of sealed, glued-together gadgets. They put a battery in their speakers and headphones that you can actually take out and swap yourself.
That’s environmentally responsible, consumer-friendly and adds much longer life to premium products.
So Apple, take note: Marshall, Sennheiser, Philips, JBL and Noble Audio all embraced user-replaceable batteries in recent products. AirPods Max and Beats speakers and headphones still don’t. But they should, for the good reasons above — and to not lose out to competitors following this positive trend.
After whiffing a couple years ago, Apple hits it out of the park with Siri AI. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: For once, Siri doesn’t leave us exasperated! After a week of WWDC26 surprises, we’re genuinely stoked about the promise of Siri AI.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
The good news doesn’t stop with Siri. Loads of new Apple Intelligence features look useful and thoughtfully implemented.
Apple faces off against the European Union, and it looks like EU iPhone and iPad users will pay the price.
And finally we wrap up with the results of our WWDC26 predictions game.
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 live stream, embedded below.
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.
Apple is ready to dump copycat applications from the App Store. Graphic: Apple/Cult of Mac
Finding useful software in the App Store is about to get easier. Apple is apparently preparing to remove what it describes as “opportunistic” apps that provide little value to iPhone and iPad users.
It already had a policy of not approving applications that are “indistinguishable from what’s already widely available.” This week, it quietly warned developers that it will start removing low-value software that doesn’t attract attention from users.
iOS 27 packs several smaller changes that Apple did not talk about. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple spent the majority of WWDC26’s opening keynote talking about Siri AI, Apple Intelligence upgrades, Liquid Glass refinements and performance enhancements. But iOS 27 packs much more than that. There are several smaller changes that Apple did not talk about onstage.
Here are some of the best hidden iOS 27 features you might have missed.
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.
Apple is finally closing the book on Intel app support with macOS 27 Golden Gate. Photo: Apple
Apple’s planned goodbye to Intel is almost here, and it’s not about the hardware. macOS 27 Golden Gate will be the last version of macOS to support apps built for Intel-era chips using Rosetta 2, the software layer that’s been keeping older software alive on Apple silicon. Next year, when Apple announces macOS 28, that safety net will disappear completely.
This affects even M-series Mac users who upgraded years ago. If any of the apps you use haven’t been updated with native Apple silicon support, they are likely alive because of Rosetta 2. These apps now have roughly one year before they stop running.
Get ready to pay more for OLED MacBook Pro, which might be called MacBook Ultra (with a touchscreen!). AI image: ChatGPT
Apple has resisted putting a touchscreen on its laptops for years. But one of the most credible voices in the Apple supply chain rumor space declared that resistance officially over on Thursday. The long-rumored touchscreen MacBook is “100% confirmed,” they said.
Apple Maps' Flyover feature gets a lot more realistic. Photo: Apple
Once a bit of a sketchy upstart, Apple Maps has become one of the best iPhone navigation apps. And upcoming iOS 27 — previewed at WWDC 2026 this week — pushes it even further. Here’s every notable Apple Maps upgrade in iOS 27.
Some Siri AI features will only work on Apple's latest devices. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
iOS 27 is coming to iPhone 11 and all models released after that. And while it sounds impressive that Apple’s new operating systems will support devices released in 2019, it does not mean that your old iPhone will get every new iOS 27 feature. In fact, even the iPhone 17 will not get the full suite of AI features in iOS 27.
The same holds true for iPadOS 27 and macOS 27. Many of the headline features require newer hardware, meaning some compatible iPads and Macs will miss out on parts of the update.
Type it like you'd say it. iOS 27's Calendar app understands plain-English event descriptions. Image: Apple
Apple’s Calendar app is just fine — good enough to use, but never good enough to love — but iOS 27 finally changes that. The update brings natural-language event creation to Apple’s stock app, a feature that third-party solutions have made possible for years.
In iOS 27, you can just type in simple English what you want to do, and your iPhone will take care of the rest. No more hopping between date pickers, fiddling with time selectors, and entering a location. The app will understand and build an event for you.
Siri AI might tell you to take a break if you're getting too gabby. Photo: Apple
Apple’s new Siri AI chatbot might know when you’ve been bending its ear — and encourage you to take a break. A hidden piece of code in iOS 27 reveals that Siri AI could remind you to chill out if a conversation runs too long.
It’s a small detail, but it suggests Apple is clearly thinking about what happens when you don’t stop talking to Siri.
Please, only touch the screen if it’s a touchscreen. Photo: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels
A few changes in macOS Golden Gate 27 hint towards Apple introducing a Mac with a touchscreen quite soon. Apple added a bunch of developer tools that allow apps to differentiate touch input from mouse input. Liquid Glass elements also behave differently when you interact with them on a touchscreen — they bounce and glow more prominently, just like iOS.
Officially, these changes are for Sidecar, the feature that lets you use an iPad as a touchscreen Mac display. But Apple’s own documentation also states that these new features are “not just for the Sidecar display.”
What else could that be…? Maybe the touchscreen MacBook that’s rumored to launch later this year.
The new BenQ MA320UG 120Hz Glossy Monitor for Mac could appeal to users at $830. Photo: BenQ
The new BenQ MA320UG 120Hz Glossy Monitor for Mac is a 32-inch 4K display running at 120Hz with a glossy Nano Gloss panel and deep macOS integration, the company said Tuesday. It arrives as the first 120Hz model in BenQ’s MA Series for Mac.
“Today’s Mac users expect one setup to handle it all, and the MA320UG is the perfect answer for those users,” said Jeffrey Hsieh, head of the BenQ Consumer Line of Business. “The MA320UG combines 120Hz performance with matching Mac colors, intuitive controls and the flexible connectivity that Mac users depend on to work, create, and unwind.”
Apple Music's iOS 27 update is packed with upgrades. Here's what's coming. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Apple Music will receive one of its biggest overhauls in years with iOS 27, and the changes go deeper than you might expect.
The update covers almost all aspects of the Apple Music app: interface changes, expanded lyrics tools, improved AI-powered mixing, and quality-of-life changes that make the app feel faster. It sounds like a big update for anyone who uses the app daily.
Soon iOS 27 will make this process a lot smoother. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
Apple’s WWDC26 keynote brought a wave of updates to Apple Wallet well beyond cosmetic tweaks. From AI-assisted bill splitting to richer hotel stays, iOS 27 turns Wallet into a more capable everyday tool. Here’s what’s coming.
Updates unveiled at WWDC26 should boost Apple's Home app nicely. AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac
WWDC26 drew plenty of attention for the rebuilt Siri and the relatively substantial iOS 27 overhaul. But buried beneath those headlines lies Apple’s biggest push yet to turn the Home app into a genuinely capable smart home platform. iOS 27 and tvOS 27 updates make your home smarter, from AI-powered security cameras to a more reliable wireless backbone.
The Telegram experience on Apple Watch is about to get a lot better. AI image: ChatGPT
Years after dropping support for the Apple Watch, Telegram is back with a native watchOS app. The revived app offers a richer experience, letting you send messages, reply to chats, and more directly from your wrist.
It packs nearly all the essentials you’d expect from Telegram without having to reach for your iPhone.
Two Apple TV models may be left behind as tvOS 27 arrives. Photo: Apple
Apple’s tvOS 27 brings a few new features, but it also will leave two Apple TV models behind. According to Apple’s developer website, the tvOS 27 beta is compatible with “Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later).”
That would mean the Apple TV HD and the Apple TV 4K (1st generation) won’t get the update. If you own either of those set-top boxes, you’re probably stuck on tvOS 26, with no new features coming.
Apple provides more options for tweaking Liquid Glass in iOS 27, macOS 27 and iPadOS 27. Image: Apple
Refinements to Apple’s divisive Liquid Glass user interface in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 address many of the quirks that made some people despise the glossy new UI over the past year.
Apple straightforwardly addressed users’ concerns during Monday’s WWDC26 keynote. And Shubham Kedia, Apple’s human interface design director, said Apple updated “the foundations of how Liquid Glass is built” for this year’s new operating systems.
“Last year, we introduced our most ambitious cross-platform design update ever with Liquid Glass, which made apps and experiences even more expressive and delightful,” said Kedia. “Like with all major design updates, there’s a natural process where we take a bold leap forward and then we continue to iterate.”
Will the changes to Liquid Glass satisfy users who dislike the current state of affairs? The first developer betas are out, and early reactions seem mostly positive. Here are the biggest changes coming to Apple’s design language this year.