Keep all your Apple devices safe with a low one-time payment. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
The more devices you own, the more difficulty you will encounter in protecting your privacy from malicious actors and sanctioned snoops. This heavily discounted FastestVPN lifetime license guards up to 10 of your devices, from your MacBook to your iPhone, for just $24.97.
It could be here in late 2026 or early 2027. AI image: Grok/Cult of Mac
Apple is finally bringing touchscreens to the Mac, marking a major reversal from the company’s longstanding position against the feature in anything but iPads, according to a Thursday report with tantalizing new details. The first touchscreen MacBook Pro reportedly will arrive in late 2026 or early 2027.
You won’t find a better basketball game for Apple devices than NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition. Graphic: 2K Games/Apple Arcade
NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition brings the latest update to what many consider the definitive basketball game franchise for Apple devices. It goes way beyond just playing the game with amazing graphics — players can also take a different route and manage their favorite NBA team.
The feature-packed offering is now on Apple Arcade for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.
M4 Mac mini is tiny and so is the price (especially with this deal). Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Apple’s tiny yet powerful M4 Mac mini is an amazing deal at any time, and a sale on the desktop computer makes it an even better value. You can get the latest model with 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD for only $499. That’s 17% off the list price.
Configure the Mac mini with an M4 Pro or more memory and you can get it starting at $1,301, which is $98 below the usual cost.
On this day in 2003, Steve Jobs revealed his plan to bring iTunes to Windows. Photo: Apple
October 16, 2003: Six months after opening the iTunes Music Store for Mac owners, Apple expands the service to Windows computers. This gives PC owners a new, legitimate way to download — and pay for — songs at a time when digital piracy threatens the music industry.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs later quips that making iTunes available to Windows owners is akin to “giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.”
The brain drain from Apple's AI team is real (and likely to accelerate). Photo: Apple
Meta continues poaching high-profile executives from Apple’s AI team for its Superintelligence group. The latest hire is Ke Yang, who Apple recently appointed to lead its Answers, Knowledge and Information team.
Apple’s team is making an “answer engine” that will crawl the web to answer simple search queries.
Hey, look — it's Steve Jobs! At least we think that's Steve Jobs ... although it almost looks like he has moobs. Image: U.S. Mint
A questionable portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged in a California meadow will appear on a collectible $1 coin from the U.S. Mint in 2026. It’s a great tribute to Jobs and Apple’s innovation — but you’ll need to squint pretty hard to identify the hippie-turned-techpreneur.
“This design presents a young Steve Jobs sitting in front of a quintessentially northern California landscape of oak-covered rolling hills,” the Mint said in a press release Wednesday. “His posture and expression, as he is captured in a moment of reflection, show how this environment inspired his vision to transform complex technology into something as intuitive and organic as nature itself.”
The Jobs coin — which kinda makes Apple’s late leader look like a young Ellen DeGeneres — is one of four featured in the 2026 American Innovation $1 Coin Program, a commemorative series established to honor U.S. inventors and innovators.
An Apple TV+ historical comedy is back… for a while. Photo: Apple TV+
Fans of The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin can enjoy an episode that was unexpectedly added to the end of season one of the historical comedy.
Unfortunately, it likely won’t be followed by any more episodes after its star, Noel Fielding, forced the show’s cancellation.
The Dual Knit Band introduced Wednesday with the new M5-powered Vision Pro is compatible with Apple’s original headset, too. You don’t need to shell out another $3,499 — the extra comfort can be had for a fraction of the price.
Other improvements to the new headset are somewhat minor, with nothing else standing out as a must-have for current Vision Pro owners (all 12 of them lol). The Dual Knit Band might be all you need to spice up life in your spatial computer.
Configuring your iPad Pro M5 with loads of storage brings additional perks. Photo: Apple
Those who want the best performance out of their new M5 iPad Pro need to opt for at least a terabyte of storage. That’s because paying out for additional capacity also brings a faster version of the processor and more RAM. There’s no way to configure the tablet with these features other than to choose a version with plenty of storage.
Plus, only the priciest variants can add nano-texture glass.
A variable-aperture camera will be a first on an iPhone. Photo: Apple
Is your iPhone photography hindered by low light and a lack of control over depth of field? Well, good news confirmed: Apple plans to equip its iPhone 18 Pro lineup with variable-aperture camera technology. That marks the first time the tech giant implements the feature in any iPhone, according to a supply-chain report Wednesday that appears to prove earlier predictions right.
The technology should debut in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models, slated for release in fall 2026.
After Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, John Sculley is Apple's most memorable CEO. Photo: Web Summit/Flickr CC
October 15, 1993: John Sculley, the former CEO responsible for forcing Steve Jobs out of Apple, is forced to leave the company himself. When Sculley resigns as Apple’s chairman, he leaves with a golden parachute.
His parting gifts include $1 million in severance pay, a one-year consulting fee of $750,000, a commitment from Apple to buy his $4 million mansion and $2 million Learjet, and $2.4 million in stock options. Total take: around $10 million.
The M5 iPad Pro is faster than any of its predecessors. Photo: Apple
Apple just revealed the 2025 iPad Pro, which gets a speed boost from the new M5 processor, and some variants get 50% more RAM. The premium tablet includes an OLED screen in both the 13-inch and 11-inch versions.
“Powered by the next generation of Apple silicon, the new iPad Pro delivers our most advanced and versatile iPad experience yet,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “iPad Pro with M5 unlocks endless possibilities for creativity and productivity — with a huge leap in AI performance and a big boost in graphics, superfast wireless connectivity, and game-changing iPadOS 26 features, it pushes the boundaries of what iPad can do yet again.”
The new Apple Vision Pro is mostly change on the inside. Image: Apple
Apple launched the M5 Vision Pro on Wednesday, bumping the impressive headset up from the years-old M2 processor. The punchier M5 processor boosts the headset’s video resolution and refresh rate for a clearer, sharper image.
The updated Vision Pro is “setting a new standard for what’s possible in spatial computing,” said Apple Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Bob Borchers in Apple’s press release. “Spatial computing is even more capable, entertaining, and magical with the new Vision Pro.”
The M5 isn’t the only upgrade, either. A new Dual Knit Band elegantly adds comfort and style to the headset. And as icing on the cake, the M5 Vision Pro boasts noticeably improved battery life.
The M5 Vision Pro starts at the same high price of $3,499 with 256GB of storage. It’s available for preorder today, with deliveries and in-store availability beginning on October 22.
The M5 chip beefs up AI and graphics processing substantially. Photo: Apple
Apple’s new M5 chip packs more power than predecessors, with advanced performance for Apple Intelligence and pumped up GPU performance boosting graphics processing, among other incremental improvements across the chip.
“M5 ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. “With the introduction of Neural Accelerators in the GPU, M5 delivers a huge boost to AI workloads.”
“Combined with a big increase in graphics performance, the world’s fastest CPU core, a faster Neural Engine, and even higher unified memory bandwidth,” he added, “M5 brings far more performance and capabilities to MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and Apple Vision Pro.”
14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 chip goes official. Photo: Apple
Apple unveiled an upgraded 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the new M5 chip on Wednesday. While the laptop looks the same as its predecessor, it sports a faster new Apple silicon processor to deliver even better performance.
“MacBook Pro continues to be the world’s best pro laptop, and today, the 14-inch MacBook Pro gets even better with the arrival of the M5 chip,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a press release.
Get AI help tackling Google Workspace files with AiAssistWorks. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Hey Google Workspace users: Whether you’re juggling content in Docs, analyzing data in Sheets or just trying to make Slides look halfway decent, AiAssistWorks is basically the AI productivity buddy you wish came bundled in Google’s popular tools.
It taps top AIs so you can get the results you need using plain-language commands. And right now, you can save big-time on this Google Workspace booster. For a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to AiAssistWorks’ Plus Plan for just $39.99 (MSRP $480) with code AI20.
It’s a quick and easy way supercharge your workflow and reclaim your evenings.
Ugreen NASync DH2300 is easy to set up and use. Photo: Ugreen
Ugreen’s new NASync DH2300 and DH4300 Plus network-attached storage devices aim squarely at everyday home users, the consumer electronics maker said Wednesday. In other words, those who want local storage as an alternative to iCloud, but without the complexity typically associated with NAS systems.
Starting at a low price of $209.99 $188.99, the two-bay DH 2300 device joins the more capable four-bay DH4300 Plus ($429.99 $364.99) in Ugreen’s effort to make personal cloud storage accessible to non-technical users. Both are on sale for launch, too.
Apple's first smart display could be pricey. AI image: Midjourney/Cult of Mac
Apple will build its upcoming smart home products in Vietnam to diversify its manufacturing away from China. This includes indoor security cameras, a smart display and a tabletop robot.
A $350 smart display will be the first to launch in spring 2026.
M5 MacBook Pro is almost here. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Apple’s SVP of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, teased the imminent launch of the M5 MacBook Pro on X today.
“Mmmmm… something powerful is coming,” Joswiak said on X, with his post accompanied by a short clip giving a quick glimpse at the upcoming MacBook Pro.
Save on essential Microsoft software for Mac or PC. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
Not a fan of monthly fees for software like Microsoft 365? This deal lands you a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 for Mac or PC.
Why pay monthly for cloud storage when you can grab a 2TB external SSD? Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
This Western Digital Elements SSD gives you 2TB of external hard drive storage you can take anywhere. Now on sale for just $64.99 (MSRP $79.99), this little powerhouse is the storage solution your setup didn’t know it needed.
Whether you’re juggling high-res photos and videos on your phone or tablet, or heavy project files on your desktop, the WD Elements drive offers 2TB of space in a pocket-size design. That’s enough to stash years of photos, entire movie libraries and way more spreadsheets than you’ll ever want to open.
Get money back from the whole group at once. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
In iOS 26, you can use Apple Cash in a group chat to make it super-easy to split a bill. You won’t need to chase down everyone separately if you use this incredibly convenient feature.
Here’s how to request money and send payments using Apple Cash from a group chat.