Apple once again beat all its rivals to stay the world’s top smartphone vendor, according to new data from a market-research firm, with its latest quarterly performance underscoring the strength of the iPhone lineup. This is the first time the iPhone has led the world in Q1, traditionally a weak quarter for the company.
Apple’s smartphone shipments grew 5% year over year, while all of its top competitors declined.
Those who aren’t fans of Apple’s Liquid Glass have a new way to disable some of its distracting features. “Reduce Bright Effects” appeared in iOS 26.4, as well as macOS and iPadOS. As the name suggests, it is intended to minimize highlighting and flashing when pushing on-screen buttons.
Here’s how to find the toggle switch.
Apple has been busy this week rolling out updates to two of its most popular creative apps — Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro. The updates bring meaningful new features to musicians, producers, photo editors and designers alike. The rest of the iWork lineup got minor updates, too.
Update: And just like that, now Lexus enters the fray. Reports indicate the Toyota-owned luxury brand will add support for iPhone car keys in the coming months, according to references found in Apple’s backend code. It joins many others.
From a single BMW model in 2020 to dozens of brands today, Apple Wallet’s digital car key keeps gaining momentum. Could it soon become as standard as a seat belt? It looks to be headed that way, at least — and for good reason.
Apple will permanently close three of its U.S. retail locations this June — one of which made history as the first Apple Store in the country to unionize — citing deteriorating conditions at the shopping malls that house them, the company said Thursday.
The closures have drawn swift backlash from the workers’ union. It called the move a deliberate effort to undermine organized labor.
Not everyone who switched to Mac left the PC world entirely behind. Whether it’s a gaming rig they can’t give up, a work-issued Windows laptop they feel stuck with or a legacy tower they repurposed for specialized tasks, plenty of power users run both platforms side by side. Behold the top 9 Mac-and-PC setups from the Cult of Mac archives.
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Apple TV scored five nominations for the 86th Annual Peabody Awards, the streamer said Thursday. Nods spanned entertainment, documentary and children’s programming categories.
The nominated titles — Pluribus, Come See Me in the Good Light, Mr. Scorsese, Vietnam: The War That Changed America and Shape Island — are all currently streaming on Apple TV.
April 10, 1985: During a fateful meeting, Apple CEO John Sculley threatens to resign unless the company’s board of directors removes Steve Jobs as executive VP and general manager of the Macintosh division.
Sculley’s threat triggers a series of events that ultimately will result in Jobs’ exit. The marathon board meeting — which continues for several hours the next day — leads to Jobs losing his operating role within the company. However, the Apple board allows him to stay on as chairman. Things won’t exactly play out like that.
Apple’s CarPlay voice commands offer a safe way to handle dozens of tasks without lifting a finger or shifting your gaze away from the road. CarPlay’s Siri integration is one of the most underused safety tools in modern cars. However, it only works if you know what to say.
Get to know the best CarPlay voice commands for every driver with Cult of Mac’s handy roundup. Commit them to memory now so you’ll know how to employ them once you hit the road.
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 $59.97.
Apple on Thursday released macOS 26.4.1, a minor but essential update for Mac users running macOS Tahoe. The software arrived a day after the corresponding iOS 26.4.1 and iPadOS 26.4.1 reached iPhone and iPad users.
The update does not introduce major changes. Instead, it focuses on fixing bugs.
Apple shipped more Macs in the first three months of 2026 than it has in any quarter going back years. And its share of the world PC market reached a milestone, too.
It’s surely no coincidence this occurred in the quarter the the MacBook Neo launched — Apple’s first entry-level notebook is a huge hit.
April 9, 2007: Apple sells its 100 millionth iPod. Coming just five-and-a-half years after the portable music player went on sale, the landmark event confirms the iPod as Apple’s most popular product of all time.
Until the iPhone arrives a couple of months later, that is!
Apple Music comes with a karaoke mode for people who love to sing along as they listen. It’s called Apple Music Sing, and it lets you turn down the lyrics in your favorite songs with just a tap.
It’s much nicer than searching out karaoke versions of songs on YouTube. Those often don’t use the original backing track, but re-create it (with varying levels of quality). Also, if you’re still learning a song, Apple Music Sing can keep some of the original vocals to guide your singing.
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For a limited time, you can get one month of Microsoft 365 for just $7.99. That’s a 20% discount off the regular price of $9.99. And, if one month’s not enough, you can get a one-year personal plan for just $69.99 (regularly $99.99) or a one-year family plan for up to six people for just $99.99 (typically $129.99).
Apple rolled out iOS 26.4.1 for compatible iPhones on Wednesday. While it looks like a minor update on paper, it fixes a frustrating issue and quietly introduces a major security change.
The update resolves an iCloud syncing bug that Apple introduced in iOS 26.4. It also enables Stolen Device Protection by default for enterprise iPhones.
Not every Cult of Mac reader is all Mac, all the time. We know many of you use PCs for various reasons — and here’s the big Windows 11 sale you’ve been waiting for.
For a limited time, you can get a lifetime license to Windows 11 Pro for less than $12.97 from Cult of Mac Deals.
The Artemis II mission has delivered some of the most breathtaking lunar and Earth imagery in decades. And there are two easy ways to get those photos from the Orion spacecraft onto your Apple devices right now — directly from NASA, or via clever free shortcuts that cut out some steps.
An AirTag with the proper collar can tell you where your cat or dog is. Tractive’s new Cat 6 Mini and Dog 6 XL devices can do that, too, but they also can tell you whether your pet is stressed, scratching themselves too much or breathing differently than usual, the company said Wednesday.
Your dog or cat can’t wear an Apple Watch. These collar-based trackers seem to be the next best thing.
“Since Tractive’s founding, we’ve helped pet parents know where their pets are,” said Michael Hurnaus, CEO and founder of Tractive, in a press release. “Now we’re helping them understand how their pets are doing. ”
April 8, 1983: John Sculley, former president of PepsiCo, takes charge as Apple’s third CEO.
Despite a total lack of experience selling tech products, Sculley was lured to Apple by Steve Jobs himself. The Apple co-founder famously pitched the Pepsi exec with the line, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
Want a MacBook Neo? Better order it soon. It’s possible Apple will sell out of the affordable notebook … and not just for a few weeks. It’s not impossible that the laptop will go completely off the market until Apple can solve a shortage of a critical component … and it’s not RAM! Alternatively, Apple could be forced to raise the price.
And it’s all because the Neo is so wildly popular. Here’s what’s going on.
Apple signed a 3-year exclusive agreement with Samsung Display to supply the foldable OLED panels in its long-anticipated folding iPhone, according to a new report Wednesday.
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This app makes finance tracking easier on your Mac. And that will make tax time a million times easier when it comes around. With this new price drop, you can save on a lifetime subscription to Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus 2024. Get the Mac version for only $224.97 (regularly $699). Or snag the Windows version for just $194.97.