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UPDATED: As expected, Apple launched the MacBook Neo on Wednesday. Learn all about it:

• A18 Pro-powered MacBook Neo brings power at lowest price ever

There’s huge anticipation for the budget MacBook that’s rumored to launch soon. But a critical question about the laptop has yet to be answered: Just how much will it cost? We already know it’ll be the most affordable macOS notebook ever, and there’s plenty of speculation about the exact cost.

There’s definitely a level that the price cannot go above if Apple wants the low-cost MacBook to succeed. Trouble is, the ongoing AI boom might force Apple to increase the cost of the device above its original plan. That raises questions about how successful the budget laptop will be.

The iPhone and iPad are the first consumer devices to meet the information assurance standards set by NATO member nations. As a result, the devices can be used to handle classified information up to the NATO Restricted level without the need for specialized software or additional configuration, the company said Thursday.

“Apple has built the most secure devices in the world for all its users, and those same protections are now uniquely certified under assurance requirements for NATO nations — unlike any other device in the industry,” said Ivan Krstić, Apple’s vice president of security engineering and architecture, in a press release.

Apple is in advanced talks with major banks and global card networks to bring Apple Pay to India, potentially by mid 2026 — a move that could significantly expand the iPhone maker’s footprint in the world’s most populous country.

Star City is an ambitious new Apple TV drama set in the Soviet space program. It expands the alternate-history universe established by the streamer’s acclaimed series For All Mankind. And the new show got the “first-look” treatment Thursday, when Apple sent out a new photo to get fans excited about the premiere of Star City season one.

 The eight-episode series debuts May 29 with two episodes, followed by one new episode each Friday through July 10.

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.

Never shy about making keyboards that look as good as they perform, Keychron just pushed that idea into genuinely unexpected territory. Launched Tuesday, the K2 HE Special Edition comes in two versions — one with a body made entirely of concrete, and one cast in resin. Both cost $199.99.

“Mechanical keyboards have advanced significantly in switch engineering, but enclosure materials have remained largely unchanged,” said Keychron co-founder Paul Tan. “With K2 HE Special Edition, we applied magnetic switch performance to a material-driven redesign, expanding how a keyboard can look and feel.”

1Password, a popular third-party password manager service among Apple users, will soon cost significantly more. The company plans to raise prices for both individual and family accounts by as much as 33%.

After the increase, 1Password’s individual subscription will cost $47.88 yearly, while the Family plan will rise to $71.88 annually. 

Building a touchscreen into the MacBook Pro coming late this year will require significant changes to macOS 27. Some early details of what Apple has in store for macOS leaked out Tuesday from a generally reliable source.

The upcoming notebooks will supposedly be the first Macs with a Dynamic Island — but that’s just the start of what Apple has planned.

Sandisk just launched a third generation of the Extreme Portable SSD. It offers 2,000 MBps data transfers, drop protection and more. Capacities go up to 4TB.

The drive will be joined later in 2026 with two more additions to the line of SSDs — one with even faster data transfer speeds, and the other expected to be more affordable.

Earth almost seems to have a “make Earth great again” moment in the new For All Mankind season five trailer Apple TV released Tuesday. Happy Valley, the burgeoning Mars colony that the alternative-history drama depicts, needs so much funding and resources it’s starting to piss people off — on both planets. 

The new trailer, full of new characters and aging favorites, ratchets up the tension for the upcoming 10 episodes. Season 5 debuts on Friday, March 27 on Apple TV. 

Nearly every high-end chip powering Apple devices is manufactured in Taiwan, a small island democracy over which China claims ownership. U.S. officials have warned Apple and the rest of Silicon Valley for years that a Chinese blockade, invasion or prolonged military standoff — possibly coming by 2027, according to intelligence sources — could cut off the chip supply.

And with a too little, too late response by tech giants grinding forward, a chip shortage could crush the tech industry, hobble the U.S. economy and keep your next iPhone out of reach for a long time, according to a new report.

Apple will soon replace the Studio Display with an even more gorgeous second-generation version with a range of upgrades, according to reliable rumor sources.

Read on for all the enhancements that rumors indicate will come to the high-end Mac monitor.

WhatsApp is preparing to add a long-requested message scheduling feature. The app will let users compose messages in advance and send them at a chosen time, similar to how iMessage handles scheduled texts.

References to the feature popped up in the latest WhatsApp beta release on TestFlight.

Apple will start assembling Mac mini in the United States later this year. Foxconn will build the tiny desktop computers at its facility in Houston, Texas.

The assembled units will primarily serve local demand, which surged recently due to interest in agentic AI OpenClaw. (For more info, see: How OpenClaw turns your Mac into an action-based AI agent.)

Apple CEO Tim Cook has a well-established habit of dropping subtle hints about where the company is headed. This time, the dropped breadcrumbs all point toward Visual Intelligence. And the impression they leave is of a company preparing to reshape how humans interact with the world around them.

Following the success of the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro, Apple reportedly plans to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro in a deep red color. It will seemingly be the new flagship color for 2026 Pro iPhones. 

The company may also be testing similar hues internally.

This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: The “special Apple Experience” planned for March 4 doesn’t sound like a typical Apple event. What could it be? And what new hardware will we see?

It definitely doesn’t look like Apple CEO Tim Cook will be hitting us with his standard “good mooooorning” … we go over the possibilities.

Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:

• Apple is ramping up its AI efforts with three interesting new products: smart glasses, a pendant/pin and AirPods with earcams. The devices all have one thing in common — and we should see at least one of them later this year!
• While iOS 26.3 was a total snoozefest, the first beta of iOS 26.4 brings some exciting new features.
• We try to wrap our minds around the strangest MacBook Air setup we’ve ever seen.
• And finally, Griffin gives us the scoop on an excellent, affordable iPhone game controller he reviewed.

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.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose tariffs on imports coming into the United States from virtually every country. This could ease costs for U.S. companies that rely heavily on overseas manufacturing, including Apple.

In the months since Trump began broadly imposing tariffs, Apple paid billions in these import taxes. And it rearranged its supply chain to move some product assembly away from China, the country that the president made the primary focus of his tariff policy.

Six survivors of a deadly backcountry avalanche near Lake Tahoe in California this week communicated with emergency responders through an iPhone’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature to help ensure their rescue, according to reports. It helped safeguard their lives, though nine others were killed in the tragedy. 

The first ever entry-level MacBook could hit the market soon, with a budget price that could attract a huge new audience to macOS notebooks.

Could there be a lower-cost MacBook in your future? Here’s what the rumors reveal about its specs.

Major League Soccer’s 31st season gets underway Saturday, with all 30 clubs taking the pitch for MLS is Back weekend. And Apple TV subscribers will have a front-row seat to all of it, with all 13 matches available and no blackouts across more than 100 countries and regions, Apple said.

“All eyes are on North America this year as the MLS season kicks off this week and the World Cup approaches,” said Thomas Müller, Vancouver Whitecaps FC attacking midfielder and 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. I’m excited to begin my first full season in MLS, help the team build on what we started, and give fans everywhere the chance to follow our journey on Apple TV.”

Apple’s March 4 media event could be hiding a surprise for Formula 1 racing fans — and Vision Pro owners in particular. A widely read Apple commenter suggests the “Apple Experience” could show off immersive F1 racing on the Vision Pro headset.

Apple’s AirTag really frustrates some people. It’s a great way to find a missing set of keys, but Apple deliberately built in features to prevent the tracker tag from being used to locate stolen property.

Maybe you’ll be less irritated with those features when you realize that stalkers find those exact same features equally frustrating — for the opposite reason.

Apple just quietly relaunched Apple Music Connect, repurposing the name of its long-defunct social platform into something entirely different. Now it’s a centralized hub designed for record labels, music distributors and industry partners rather than fans.

Buying some configurations of the Mac Studio now means lengthy wait times. While that’s surely frustrating for those shopping for the powerful macOS desktop, this can be taken as a sign that it might be better to hold off on the purchase.

That’s because a new version is on the way.