As new details on Apple’s smart home hub leak out, the device is shaping up to be something that’ll attract plenty of customers.  On Thursday, it was revealed that the device will have a front-facing camera with Center Stage, making it ideal for making FaceTime calls.

Previous reports indicate that it’s designed to be the centerpiece of a smart home, not only controlling smart accessories but also displaying shared calendars and answering questions, thanks to the improved version of Siri now in development.

This could be a flagship product in a fresh push by Apple into smart home technology.

Apple is bundling three months of free Apple Arcade access with every Apple Gift Card purchase. Best Buy is running an even better offer, bundling access to Apple Fitness+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and Apple TV with an Apple Gift Card.

The best part? The offer applies to both new and returning subscribers. 

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 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.

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.

Apple honored 17 apps and games that stood out for their innovation and cultural impact in 2025, as the iPhone giant unveiled the winners of its annual App Store Awards Thursday. 

December 2, 1991: Apple ships its first public version of the QuickTime player, bringing video to Mac users running System 7.

Containing codecs for graphics, animation and video, QuickTime confirms Apple’s status as a leading multimedia tech company. The software also starts us on the path to playing video on our computers. This fundamental transformation of Macs into media machines eventually leads to iTunes Movies, YouTube and more.

We put together the ultimate guide to the best Black Friday 2025 deals on Apple gear — and all the accessories you could want. We’ll be updating this post throughout the week as deals come and go. 

Our favorite earbuds — AirPods Pro 3 — remain at an all-time low price. And somehow, an amazing deal on the latest M4 MacBook Air got even more amazing as Cyber Monday approaches.

Find our absolute top five picks, and our other favorite deals sorted by product category, below. 

November 28, 2001: People download QuickTime 5 for Mac and PC a million times every three days, Apple says, putting the multimedia software on track to exceed 100 million downloads in its first year of distribution. The announcement comes as websites adopt the MPEG-4 format, and online video begins to take off in a big way.

In particular, Apple’s movie trailer website proves a massive success. Millions of people download previews of upcoming blockbusters like Spider-Man and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Online trailer releases for films like The Lord of the Rings become buzz-worthy events.

In a pre-YouTube world, Apple has everything to gain!

Apple’s Black Friday deals are now live on the Apple Store. The promotion runs from November 28 through December 1.

Depending on the device you purchase, you can get up to a $250 Apple Gift Card.