Trying to decide if you should buy iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max? After a few years of feature parity, this year’s lineup once again makes a marquee feature exclusive to the Pro Max model. And for photographers, it’s a doozy: iPhone 15 Pro Max gets a new 5x optical zoom, thanks to its tetraprism periscope lens.

Bigger display and longer battery life aside, this key camera improvement alone could make it worth upgrading to the larger iPhone Pro this year. Here’s how iPhone 15 Pro compares to iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The new Mac mini is the best value in the entire computer industry, point blank. It’s a $700 computer that won’t break a sweat editing high-resolution video, exhaustively long podcasts or giant graphic design projects — all at the same time. The M2 Pro model takes it even further.

Because of my job here at Cult of Mac, I wear a lot of hats. In a typical week, I edit videos, record a podcast, dabble in graphic design, compile open-source projects in Xcode and research topics for my writing. I’m basically all the creative professional stereotypes Apple loves to put in their promotional videos rolled into one.

After living with the new Mac mini for over a month, I can confidently say this is a fantastically powerful machine within the reach of independent creators, small businesses and schools.

UPDATE: The brilliant Elago Quattro bumper is now available in new color options, including shark gray and light pink, and it now supports 40mm Apple Watch models. Get yours today for just $11.99 from the Cult of Mac Store.

Don’t let your precious (and pricey) Apple Watch fend for itself in harsh environments. Pick up this tough Quattro Bumper Case from Elkson for essential protection against scuffs and shattered screens.

It protects the sides of your Apple Watch that are prone to scratching when you’re hard at work. It also has a lip that helps prevent its screen from rubbing up against anything rough.

You can get yours for Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, and Series 6 for just $11.99.

Apple expanded its popular AirPods lineup Tuesday, unveiling a new over-the-ear model dubbed AirPods Max.

The high-end headphones promise to deliver “the magic of AirPods” in an all-new design. They boast high-fidelity, spatial audio and active noise cancellation like AirPods Pro. And they come in five colors. They’re available to order today, priced at $549.

I just opened more than 650 tabs in Safari on a new M1 MacBook Air. I would have opened more, but I got bored.

Meanwhile, in the background, the machine is downloading Photoshop and the Microsoft 360 suite, and I can see in Activity Monitor that it’s processing thousands of iCloud photos while also indexing the hard drive.

Despite this, the machine is as fleet as a greyhound. I started working on a Photoshop project while checking email, keeping an eye on TweetDeck and, of course, clicking around all those open Safari tabs. The MacBook Air is just humming. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Mario Kart Tour recently turned one, marking its first year on iOS following its debut in September 2019. To celebrate, the game is offering a slew of anniversary themed celebrations — including new characters, courses, and an intriguing new Auto mode.

Auto Mode can be selected at the beginning of a race. You can then watch the characters speed round the course a bit like an extended demo mode. If you’re into taking screenshots of the game, it’s a good addition since you don’t have to worry about controlling the character.

The Federal Trade Commission wants tech giants, including Apple, to give more information about previous mergers and acquisitions considered too small to report to antitrust regulators.

The move comes as Justice Department, FTC, state attorneys general and the House Judiciary Committee ramp up investigations into big tech. Politicians have accused tech giants of using their size and power to illegally defend market share or move into new areas.

Apple says it spent unspecified “billions” on its updated Apple Maps app.

Cupertino’s revelation about the Apple Maps expenditures came amid answers to questions from the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which is currently carrying out antitrust probes into Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook.

The mysterious, rainbow-colored stage erected inside Apple Park bears all the hallmarks of the company’s meticulous design, according to an Apple document provided to Cult of Mac.

It’s the latest creation by Jony Ive’s team — and it’s just as thoughtfully and intricately designed as you might imagine.

An article explaining the project to Apple employees sheds light on just how much thought, time and intense effort went into building the rainbow Apple Stage. And Jony Ive’s ruminations on the project show he and his collaborators put a lot of thought into it.

At a time when critically acclaimed TV shows serve up a steady stream of sex and violence, the upcoming Apple TV+ service proffers an unusual prescription for success: optimism, inclusion, creativity and inspiration.

Touting its upcoming streaming video service as “the new home for the world’s most creative storytellers,” Apple is carefully framing its upcoming Apple TV+ day as a healthy antidote to Hollywood’s toxic hellstew of nudity and mindless gore. The company even suggested its original shows could act as a tonic to heal a nation divided by the bitter partisan politics of the Trump era.