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Huge M4 Mac mini savings are live — while they last

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Mac mini deal
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 $479. That’s a full 20% off the list price.

Mac mini makes a great gift for someone needing their first computer. Especially at this low, low price.

Today in Apple history: Apple storms New York’s Grand Central Terminal

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Photo of Apple Grand Central in New York City, one of the company's most stunning retail outlets.
Apple Grand Central is one of the company's most stunning retail outlets.
Photo: Apple

December 9: Today in Apple history: Apple opens store in New York's Grand Central Terminal December 9, 2011: Apple opens a store in New York’s fabled Grand Central Terminal, the company’s fifth Manhattan retail outlet.

Overlooking the terminal’s Main Concourse, the enormous Apple Grand Central makes a stunning addition to the 140-year-old train station, which is one of New York’s busiest transportation hubs.

Setapp AI gives you 260-plus Mac apps and AI tools for just $69 a year

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An image of a Mac laptop with iSpeech AI Text-to-Speech, one of the Mac apps in the Setapp AI deal, on the screen.
Get a full year of Setapp's Mac apps and new AI tools at a hefty discount.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

This deal on Setapp AI gives you access to 260-plus Mac apps, as well as powerful AI tools. It’s a welcome addition to MacPaw’s pioneering and popular Mac app subscription service, Setapp, that’s fine-tuned for the AI age.

Grab this deal to get a full year of Setapp AI for just $68.99, then take advantage of killer Mac apps and AI tools that will streamline every part of your workflow.

iPhone 17 steals the show in MKBHD’s 2025 smartphone awards

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iPhone 17 aced MKBHD's 2025 Smartphone Awards.
iPhone 17 is the surprise winner of MKBHD's annual smartphone awards.
AI Image: Google Gemini

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is Apple’s flagship phone. But in popular YouTuber MKBHD’s yearly Smartphone Awards 2025, the iPhone 17 bagged the Phone of the Year award, beating its siblings and Android rivals.

The iPhone Air and iPhone 16e also won three more awards in different categories.

iPhone 16 again becomes the world’s bestselling phone

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iPhone 16 was the world's best selling iPhone in Q3 2025.
That's the highest selling phone of Q3 2025.
AI Image: Google Gemini

Despite its age and stiff competition from Android flagships, the iPhone 16 was the bestselling smartphone in the world in the third quarter of 2025. More impressively, a new report from Counterpoint Research indicates iPhones bagged the top four slots.

Even the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which launched toward the end of the quarter, made the list.

$100 discount drops Apple Watch Series 11 below Black Friday’s best price

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Marketing image of Apple Watches with the words
Apple Watch Series 11 comes in a range of colors and combos, but not everything's on sale ... yet.
Image: Cult of Mac

A hot deal on Apple Watch Series 11 drops Apple’s newest smartwatch to just $299 for the smaller 42mm size. That’s a $100 discount off Apple’s MSRP, and 10 bucks cheaper than the Black Friday low.

The same $100 discount applies to the 46mm size, too, dropping it to just $329.

Use this tool to get the best results from dozens of popular AIs, all for one low price

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ChatPlayground AI promotional image with text
Access multiple AI apps with a lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI, now 85% off!
Image: Cult of Mac Deals

ChatPlayground AI gives you easy access to more than 40 of the top AI models across 25 apps, all in one place — and all for one low price. It includes big names like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama, Perplexity and Gemini, and it lets you send one prompt to multiple AIs simultaneously.

That means you can compare results to find the right AI tool for the job at hand, without jumping from one AI app to another. If you’re a heavy AI user, it will save you time as well as money.

Normally $619, a lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI’s Unlimited plan is on sale now for only $79.

How to ping your lost Apple Watch from your iPhone

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Ping Apple Watch from iPhone: “Where Did It Go?”
It's not easy to find in a pile of miscellaneous clutter.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

You can ping a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone, giving you an easy way to find your misplaced wearable.

If you take your Apple Watch off at the end of the day, forgetting to throw it on the charger, you might not remember where you left it the following morning. (The reverse has always been a cool feature of the Apple Watch. Read our post: How to find your lost iPhone with Apple Watch.)

Now, you can find a lost Apple Watch from your iPhone. Here’s how it works.

The one executive Apple is fighting to keep [Updated]

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Screenshot from Apple video of Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, unveiling the M1 Pro chip in November 2020.
The genius behind Apple silicon and other Apple in-house chips might leave the company.
Photo: Apple

Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, reportedly reassured his team Monday that he won’t become the next high-level exec to leave the company.

Srouji leads Apple’s internal custom chip design team, the group behind Apple silicon, the Neural Engine and several of the company’s other in-house processors. Losing him would have been a major blow to Apple’s hardware division.

Today in Apple history: The Byte Shop, Apple’s first retailer, opens

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Photo of Paul Terrell, founder of the Byte Shop, the first retailer to sell the Apple-1 computer.
Paul Terrell founded the Byte Shop on his birthday.
Photo: NextShark/Paul Terrell

December 8: Today in Apple history: Early computer store The Byte Shop, Apple's first retailer, opens December 8, 1975: San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur Paul Terrell opens the Byte Shop, one of the world’s first computer stores — and the first to sell an Apple computer.

Years before Apple would open its own retail outlets, the Byte Shop stocks the first 50 Apple-1 computers built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Apple’s big Fitness+ expansion makes it stronger than ever

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Apple Fitness+ expands in two big ways
Millions more people can get in shape with Apple Fitness+.
Graphic: Apple

Apple is adding new language options for Fitness+, its subscription workout service. Hundreds of workouts and meditations will be digitally dubbed into Spanish and other languages. In addition, Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets around the world.

The expansion should broaden the appeal of a service voice that reportedly hasn’t found many customers so far.

Today in Apple history: Apple’s massive glass staircase wows Manhattan

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Featuring a massive glass staircase, the Apple Store on West 14th Street in New York City becomes the company's trendiest yet.
Apple's trendiest store yet?
Photo: Mathieu Thouvenin/Flickr CC

December 7: Today in Apple history: Apple opens its first three-story retail store, the Apple Store on West 14th Street in New York City December 7, 2007: Apple opens its magisterial store on West 14th Street in New York City. The new Apple Store features a three-story glass staircase deemed the most complex ever made.

The store is Apple’s biggest in Manhattan (and second-largest in the United States, after the one on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue). The first three-story Apple retail outlet, it boasts an entire floor dedicated to services. It’s also the first Apple Store to offer free Pro Labs classes to customers.

The sheer size of this Apple Store — with its 46-foot Genius Bar — proves impressive. However, its astonishing spiral staircase steals the show as its most iconic design feature.

Discount code: Transfer and sync all kinds of files among your Apple devices

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AnyTrans Mac app lets you transfer and sync files on Apple devices
Sidestep Apple's file-management hurdles with AnyTrans.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

AnyTrans is a one-stop content manager for iOS devices. The Mac app makes it easy to transfer any kind of data — music, photos, texts, whatever — among all your Apple gear.

And for a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to AnyTrans for just $19.97 with code SYNC10 (regularly $79.99).

Shakeup in Apple’s C-suite! [The CultCast]

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The CultCast logo with a photo of ex-Apple UI design chief Alan Dye and the words,
So long, Alan Dye ... have a Liquid Glass blast at Meta!
Image: Cult of Mac

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: With the sudden departure of Apple’s UI design chief Alan Dye — and the prompt naming of a Steve Jobs-era veteran to take his place — are we looking at a software renaissance for iPhones and Macs?

We certainly hope so!

Also on The CultCast:

  • Apple’s AI chief is out — and that could be great news!
  • In another surprise twist, Intel might make chips for Apple again.
  • And finally, it’s that time of year when we look at our Apple Music Replay stats and try not to whimper.

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 version, embedded below.

You can still grab AirPods 4 with ANC for just $99.99

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AirPods deal
Discover incredible AirPods deals. Upgrade your audio experience today!
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have dropped to near their Black Friday low at just $99.99. Amazon’s stock of entry-level AirPods 4 (without ANC) seems depleted, because those earbuds shot up to cost more than their more sophisticated siblings!

With the “regular” AirPods 4 AWOL from holiday sales, you should jump on this deal on AirPods 4 with ANC if you want to gift a pair of Apple’s affordable earbuds.

USB-C travel hub packs 10 ports and MagSafe charger, all for just $24

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Product photo of the portable 10-port USB-C travel and charging hub.
Pick up this USB-C travel hub for just $23.99 and see how it can make your digital life more convenient.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Finding an outlet at the airport or keeping devices charged on a trip can feel like a treasure hunt. But this portable USB-C travel hub changes the game. Designed for on-the-go charging, this hub lets you power up multiple devices from just one outlet — no need for extra adapters or clutter.

It includes a high-power USB PD slot for MacBooks and iPads, and a built-in wireless MagSafe charger for iPhone, AirPods and more.

Now at a budget-friendly $23.99 (regularly $36), it’s a great travel companion for those who value convenience, functionality and, most importantly, fully charged batteries.

Designers sound positively giddy about Apple’s new UI chief

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Fellow designers are giddy about Steve Lemay, Apple's new UI chief.
Praise for Steve Lemay pours in from current and former members of Apple's UI design team.
Photo: LinkedIn/Cult of Mac

The best people to ask about Steve Lemay, the new head of user interface design at Apple, are the people who’ve worked with him.

Spoiler alert: They seem absolutely thrilled. The word “excited” keeps coming up in their comments on the change in leadership.

Here’s what the people in a position to really know Lemay have to say about him.

Today in Apple history: Lousy quarter proves Steve Jobs isn’t invincible

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$1 trillion value
A perfect storm of bad news leads to a massive $195 million quarterly loss for Apple.
Photo: Apfellike

December 6: Today in Apple history: Apple suffers first quarterly loss since Steve Jobs' return December 6, 2000: Apple Computer’s stock price falls after the company posts its first quarterly loss since Steve Jobs’ return to Cupertino in 1997.

Shares tumble $3 to just $14 a share as doom-predicting pundits worry that the big Apple comeback might come screeching to a halt. Little did they know …

The real reason Meta poached Apple’s UI design chief

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Screenshot of Apple VP of human interface design Alan Dye talking about the Vision Pro headset.
Lots of Apple fans are saying good riddance to Alan Dye, but they're overlooking his best work.
Screenshot: D&AD

Alan Dye, the former chief of Apple’s user interface design, has done brilliant, groundbreaking work — but almost no one is getting to experience it.

Dye just got poached by Meta, and the majority opinion among Apple fans seems to be “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Some of Dye’s critics, like John “King of the Apple nerds” Gruber, are scathing. “His tenure is considered a disaster by actual designers inside and outside the company,” Gruber wrote after Dye’s departure from Apple became public Wednesday.

Dye, of course, is not perfect. He is rightly getting criticized for Liquid Glass, the shiny new interface in Apple’s operating systems, that’s been tweaked, rolled back, tweaked again, and is now semi-optional for users who don’t want it.

Where’s the conviction Apple is famous for? Steve Jobs must be spinning.

But Dye’s best work is spectacular, important and deep. You’ve just not seen it.

Price drop: Get a versatile iPhone scanning app for $28 (works with iPad, too)

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Scan documents with your iPhone or iPad with iScanner, now only $35.
This iPhone and iPad-compatible scanning app works wonders.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

With the right scanning app, your iPhone or iPad can scan documents with vivid clarity. There’s no need for a printer-size scanner — you just need your Apple gear. A great example of such an app, iScanner is now on sale for only $27.99 (regularly $199.90) with code FLASH.

How to stop your AirPods from switching between devices

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Stop Switching Around On Me
Apple’s “intelligent” AirPods switching can get annoying.
Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

If you’re trying to listen to podcasts or music on your iPhone, it can be annoying when your AirPods keep switching to other devices, like your Mac or iPad.

Personally, I don’t mind this behavior. If I’m sitting at my Mac, I want to use the Music and the Podcasts apps on the Mac. But a lot of people consider their iPhone their primary device — and always want to play audio from their phone, no matter which other device they’re using.

If you want your iPhone to retain supreme control over your ears, here’s how to disable AirPods auto-switching.

M4 MacBook Air price slashed: Fantastic deal takes 20% off Apple’s slim laptop

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Apple product shot of M4 MacBook Air laptops, 13-inch and 15-inch models, on sale now
Get a sleek and speedy MacBook Air while its on sale!
Image: Cult of Mac

The M4 MacBook Air is the best mobile computer for most people, and a sweet new deal drops both the 13-inch and 15-inch models to low, low prices. You can snag the 13-incher for only $799 or the 15-incher for only $999.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, but you can still find wickedly good deals for a beautiful and powerful Apple laptop.

Apple TV’s cloying Born to be Wild trailer puts cute face on extinction

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Born to Be Wild documentary series
The Born to Be Wild documentary series debuts on Apple TV December 19.
Photo: Apple TV

The first trailer for Apple TV’s upcoming documentary series Born to be Wild means well, offering hope in the face of species extinction. But it leans so hard on baby-animal cuteness and human hero worship that I found it cloying. Nowhere does it acknowledge humans as a major cause of animal extinctions. The series itself most likely does, but we’ll have to see when it airs.

The emotional six-part documentary series debuts December 19. 

Acclaimed Red Dead Redemption finally gallops onto iPhone

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Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption is a highly acclaimed adventure game now on iPhone and iPad.
Image: Rockstar Games

Classic console game Red Dead Redemption, as well as companion title Undead Nightmare, are now free to play on iPhone and iPad for Netflix subscribers.

Released in 2010 and widely regarded as one of the best video games of all time, Red Dead Redemption mixes Western themes, gunfighter gameplay and a vast open world that players can walk (or gallop) through.

It’s also one of the most emotionally resonant and artistically accomplished titles to ever come out of Rockstar Games. If you own an iPhone or iPad, and subscribe to Netflix, playing Red Dead Redemption should fill up your weekend! 

Netflix beats Apple to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in unprecedented deal

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Netflix buys Warner Bros
Too bad Apple TV will miss out on all that primo programming.
AI image: Grok/Cult of Mac

Apple’s efforts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery to bolster the Apple TV streaming service ended in disappointment Friday, with Netflix emerging victorious in one of Hollywood’s most competitive bidding wars in recent years.

Netflix said Friday it will purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s entertainment assets for $72 billion, outbidding Apple and other tech giants to secure one of the industry’s most valuable content libraries. The deal, far larger than any Netflix (or Apple, for that matter) has attempted to date, includes Warner Bros. studios, HBO and the HBO Max streaming service. Those assets would have dramatically transformed Apple TV’s positioning in the streaming wars.