April 16, 2009: Apple hits back at Microsoft following an advertisement that criticizes Cupertino for failing to sell decent laptops for less than $1,000.
“A PC is no bargain when it doesn’t do what you want,” Mac PR director Bill Evans tells Bloomberg. “The one thing that both Apple and Microsoft can agree on is that everyone thinks the Mac is cool. With its great designs and advanced software, nothing matches it at any price.”
Aduro’s PowerUp Trinity 3-in-1 Charging Station is a folding wireless charger that can power up an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods at the same time. It looks a bit like Apple’s discontinued MagSafe Duo, but can do more — at a fraction of the price.
It can lie flat or fold into a triangle so you can look at your iPhone while it charges. It also packs up small, so it’s great for when you hit the road. And right now, it’s on sale for just $24.99.
★★★☆☆
Lost your water bottle again? Journey Reevus Insulated Stainless Steel Bottle could fix that, permanently — if you’re willing to pay for it. It’s pricey because it’s not just another insulated stainless steel bottle, but the first one that integrates with Apple Find My tracking and functions as a MagSafe iPhone stand. So at $90 (or $76.50 with launch discount), it’s kind crazy steep. But this Reevus smart bottle review finds it might actually be worth it, especially if you’re one of those people who carries around water bottles all the time and tends to lose them.
If you ever lose access to your Apple Account or iPhone, you’ll be happy you set up a recovery contact in advance. Once you do, a trusted person can remotely unlock your iPhone for you if you can’t recall your password.
It only takes a few moments to set up — and could be a huge weight off your shoulders if you’re desperate, frustrated and just want to unlock your Apple account. Once you designate a recovery contact (and they accept), you can easily ask them for help.
Here’s how it works.
The 2018 Intel-based Mac mini has officially entered Apple’s vintage list. Alongside this, the 2015 iPhone 6s also joins the list.
This means that these products will only receive limited repair support from Apple.
With Tuesday’s Beats Cables launch, Apple subsidiary Beats officially entered the charging accessories market with its first-ever collection of reinforced charging cables. They bring the brand’s signature style to an often overlooked but essential product category. Available at apple.com, new Beats Cables feature a tangle-free woven design specifically engineered to prevent fraying and increase durability.
Unlike rival item trackers, the Chipolo Pop doesn’t force you to choose between iPhone and Android. You can find your misplaced keys or cat with either Apple’s Find My network or Google’s Find My Device.
Plus, the Bluetooth tracker tag comes in a range of colors.
April 15, 1981: Apple CEO Mike Markkula defends the struggling Apple III computer with a surprisingly straightforward admission. The comment comes even as the company pushes an unorthodox “fix” for the Apple III motherboard, which tends to overheat due to a questionable design.
“It would be dishonest for me to sit here and say that it’s perfect,” Markkula tells The Wall Street Journal, after critics blast the new computer for its overheating motherboard. Apple’s official solution to the problem? Ask users to drop their Apple III from a height of 6 inches to reseat the chips.
Apple chose Samsung Display as the exclusive supplier of OLED panels for its first foldable iPhone, expected to launch in 2026, according to a new report. The decision marks a departure from Apple’s typical multi-supplier strategy. It could help ensure high quality and reinvigorate the foldable OLED market.
We can’t say it often enough: AirPods Pro 2 are the best earbuds for any Apple fan. If you want to pick up a pair of these noise-canceling earbuds on the cheap, jump on this refurbished AirPods Pro 2 deal, which knocks the $249 list price down to just $159.99.
That’s $30 cheaper than the current best deal on new AirPods Pro 2.
You can stop your Mac from sleeping if you want it to stay on indefinitely. This might prove handy if you find it locking when you don’t want it to, like during a class or meeting. You don’t need to wiggle the mouse every few minutes to keep the screen on.
There are a few different ways to set this up. The simplest and most permanent way is to disable sleep entirely in your Mac’s System Settings. However, if you just want a quick way to disable sleep temporarily, there’s a simple command you can enter in the Terminal. Or, if you want something more user-friendly and customizable, there’s a free app you can download that you can toggle on and off from your Mac’s menu bar.
Here are the three best solutions if you want to stop your Mac from sleeping.
Apple’s AI efforts don’t have to be hampered by its commitment to user privacy. A blog post published Monday explains how the company can generate the data needed to train its large language models without the privacy violations caused by Apple itself reading people’s emails or messages.
It’s an indirect, opt-in system that takes advantage of the small AIs the Apple builds into millions of users’ devices.
★★★★★
The Espresso 15 Pro offers everything Apple users want in a high-end portable monitor. 4K? Yes. Gorgeous. Oh, yeah. Touchscreen? Got it. USB-C? Check.
It has an all-aluminum body that makes it look great from any angle. And as a bonus, it comes with an innovative stand that lets you position the screen where you want it, even above your notebook.
I used the Espresso 15 Pro display in my home office and when working remotely, and am simply blown away. Here’s why.
Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown on Monday for iPhone, iPad and Android. The award-winning action-adventure platformer challenges players to use Time Powers to defeat time-corrupted enemies and save the land.
The game runs at 60 FPS on recent generations of mobile devices.
Have you ever run multiple displays with different resolutions? Today’s featured Mac mini setup sports older Apple Thunderbolt Displays (2.5K resolution, aka 2560 x 1440p) flanking a newer Studio Display (5K, or 5120 x 2880p). Seems like that might cause a touch of seasickness looking back and forth between them all the time — or maybe a sticky mouse cursor — but it doesn’t bother the user at all. For them, it’s all about the excellent color reproduction across the board.
April 14, 1986: The “low-cost” Macintosh 512Ke brings hardware upgrades — and a bit of confusion — to the low end of the Mac lineup.
The Mac 512Ke is an “enhanced” (hence the “e”) model of the Mac 512K. The upgrade addresses complaints that the original Mac lacked enough memory. The 512Ke adds a double-density 800KB floppy drive and a 128KB ROM to the Mac 512K formula.
For the first time ever, Apple has claimed the global smartphone crown in the opening quarter of the year, thanks largely to the success of its iPhone 16e, according to data released Monday by a market analysis firm. With a strategic push into emerging markets and a rare off-cycle product launch, the tech giant surged past Samsung in Q1 2025 — a shift in the high-stakes battle for mobile dominance.
Apple sales grew during the period, while those of its chief rival Samsung dropped.
Apple makes the best desktop PCs and laptops. But I cannot say the same for its accessories. While I have been using Macs for more than a decade, I rely on these five Mac accessories made by third parties to enhance my experience.
The list ranges from a wireless keyboard to an ergonomic mouse to headphones that will amaze you with their noise cancellation. Read about my five favorite Mac accessories below.
After the U.S. government seemed to exempt iPhones, Macs and other electronics from hefty tariffs Friday, a clarification issued Sunday by President Donald Trump revealed that’s not the case.
Trump said on Truth Social that his administration did not announce a tariff exemption Friday. Instead, the “existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs” will still apply to electronics — with higher tariffs possibly coming soon.
The Vision Pro 2 might pack more upgrades than previously rumored. Instead of a minor spec bump, Apple could make the headset lighter and cheaper.
This would address two of the biggest complaints with Apple’s first mixed-reality headset.
April 13, 2005: The tech world gets excited when a sketchy rumor suggests Apple is building a tablet computer.
The Chinese-language report claims Quanta will build a 15-inch touchscreen tablet PC with detachable keyboard. Apple will supposedly ship the device in the first quarter of 2006. Things don’t turn out quite like that, but the rumor offers the first hint about Apple’s secret iPad project.
The next big iPadOS overhaul will make the OS more like macOS. That’s what a new report claims, indicating Apple will focus on “productivity, multitasking and app window management.”
All these changes will make iPadOS behave closer to macOS than iOS.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest video from Front Page Tech leaker in chief Jon Prosser gives us a closer look at what iOS 19 might look like. Its glossy UI elements and rounder “squircles” for app icons get us pondering the future. And the feud between Prosser and Bloomberg scoop machine Mark Gurman gets us laughing!
Also on The CultCast:
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 live stream, embedded below.
In a tremendous turnaround, President Donald Trump removed the hefty tariffs he’d imposed on phone, computers and many other electronics being imported into the United States. The change, which came late Friday, should prevent price hikes that Apple, HP, Dell, etc. would likely have had to charge customers to pay for the import taxes.
There will reportedly also be no tariffs on processors, TVs, solar panels, flash drives and removable memory cards — no matter what country they are made in.
Update: The Trump administration said Sunday that it only provided electronics with temporary tariff relief.
April 12, 1976: Apple’s third co-founder, a former Atari colleague of Steve Wozniak’s named Ron Wayne, cashes in his Apple shares for just $800.
Wayne, who owns a 10% stake in the company, throws in the towel after worrying that he doesn’t have the time or energy to properly invest in Apple. He later receives an extra $1,500 check to seal the deal. When he cashes it, he loses out on an investment that could have been worth billions.
“I was 40 and these kids were in their 20s,” Wayne told Cult of Mac decades later, referring to Wozniak and Steve Jobs. “They were whirlwinds — it was like having a tiger by the tail. If I had stayed with Apple I probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.”