2023 Mac Pro with Apple M2 Ultra Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
Apple’s latest Macs are powerful and versatile. So much so that some people wonder if anybody will want the top-of-the-line Mac Pro desktop, even with its new M2 Ultra chip.
A new report found an audience for the top desktop lacking, given the capabilities of Mac Studio and MacBook Pro. But others suggest Mac Pro is here to stay.
Would you buy an iMac with a 30-inch+ display? Photo/Graphics: Apple/Rajesh
Aside from the inevitable iPhone refresh (and the headset everyone’s buzzing about), Apple reportedly has several other major new products lined up for launch in 2023 and the first half of 2024. This includes revamped iPad Pros with OLED displays, new Macs powered by a next-gen M3 processor and an upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra.
Apple also is supposedly in the early stages of developing an iMac with a display that measures more than 30 inches.
iOS 17 will include home screen widgets with buttons and other controls. Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
A long-requested feature is finally coming to iOS 17: interactive widgets. With these, you can control apps on the device directly from the convenience of the home screen.
iOS 17 is still in beta so not everyone has access to the new feature yet. I do, so here is what it’s like to use it on an iPhone (and iPad, too.)
Denon's sleek new earbuds feature proprietary tech that helps personalize your audio. Photo: Masimo
Venerable audio brand Denon, founded in 1910 and now owned by health-and-audio-device maker Masimo, introduced its first sets of wireless noise-cancelling earbuds with audio personalization Tuesday — Denon PerL and PerL Pro featuring Masimo AAT.
AAT stands for “adaptive acoustic technology,” something Masimo enhanced when it absorbed Australian sound-personalization innovator Nura months ago. Hear that, AirPods Pro 2?
Almost every Apple computer just got operating system updates designed to deal with pesky bugs. Photo: Cult of Mac/Egor Kamelev/Pexels
Apple just introduced a slew of operating system updates. That includes iOS 16.5.1, macOS 13.4.1, watchOS 9.5.2 and iPadOS 16.5.1, which fix bugs in the most recent versions.
But it also released bug-fix updates for older versions of the operating systems going back as far as 2020.
What hasn’t yet arrived on Wednesday are the much-anticipated second round of betas for iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.
Certain new iOS 17 features will not come to all iPhones capable of running the new OS. Photo: Apple
iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma are not big upgrades. However, they will bring plenty of little improvements that add up to a better experience on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Despite that, Apple dropped support for some older iPhones, iPads and Macs with its upcoming OS releases.
That’s only part of the disappointment equation, though. Several new features won’t work on older Apple gear, even though the devices can run the new operating systems.
Many of the new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 that won’t make it to older iPhones and iPads will go missing primarily because they are very resource-hungry. As for Macs, several macOS Sonoma features won’t come to Intel-based machines. This is sort of a given, since Apple switched to in-house chips that deliver better performance while maintaining ruthless power efficiency. The list of features not available on Intel Macs will only expand over time until Apple eventually drops support for them altogether.
Now that you the reasons for the omissions, here’s a rundown of new features in iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma that won’t work on older devices.
Spotify is finally coming to HomePod but it relies on using your iPhone. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Apple finally plans to make playing music from third-party sources easier on HomePods. Starting with iOS 17, you can ask Siri to play music on your HomePod from music apps installed on your iPhone.
Despite Apple providing the necessary apps, only a handful of music streaming services natively support HomePod. This change from Apple in iOS 17 is an excellent workaround to this problem.
There are a lot of cool Apple Watch faces, all created by Apple. Photo: Apple
A high-level Apple exec recently answered a question that bugs many Apple Watch users: Why aren’t third-party watch faces allowed?
It comes down to the company not allowing the wearable’s all-important home screen to be replaced by a non-Apple alternative that might not prove as reliable.
These are smaller features, but they’re no less awesome. Image: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
iOS 17 has a lot of great headlining features — and many more features Apple didn’t have time to mention during the WWDC23 keynote. Today, I’m going one level deeper: Here are 10 more tweaks and smaller changes that could have a big impact on daily life with your iPhone after you update to iOS 17.
Replacing the battery of the 15-inch MacBook Air is not going to be easy. Screenshot: Apple
Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air has received the teardown treatment less than a week after going on sale. The internals reveals the laptop is similar to its 13-inch sibling, with two additional speakers and the larger battery being the only significant difference.
Thanks to the larger chassis, Apple has also managed to fit a bigger battery on the 15-inch Air.