MacRumors

Now through May 20, you can get 5% Daily Cash when you use the Apple Card via Apple Pay for purchases at Walgreens and Duane Reade, both in stores and online.

5% Daily Cash is limited to $500 in combined Walgreens and Duane Reade purchases, meaning that the maximum cash back that you can receive from this offer is $25.

Ordinarily, the Apple Card offers 3% Daily Cash for Walgreens and Duane Reade purchases.

Apple's credit card is available in the U.S. only.

Apple has updated a wide range of products and accessories this month, but there is still no entry-level iPad 12 with Apple Intelligence support.

Fortunately, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said an iPad with an A18 chip for Apple Intelligence is "ready to go" and "still coming this year."

An earlier report from Macworld claimed that the iPad 12 will actually have an A19 chip.

No other major changes have been rumored so far for the iPad 12, so we expect the device to have the same overall design as the current model.

Apple Intelligence is already available on all other current-generation iPad models, including the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

Apple released the iPad 11 with an A16 chip in March 2025, with U.S. pricing starting at $349.

Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models.

In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other Apple Intelligence upgrades are released later this year.

Inventory of the Apple TV, HomePod mini, and full-sized HomePod is once again "running low" at Apple's retail stores around the world, according to Gurman, but it is unclear if this means anything since the revamped Siri has yet to debut.

Gurman previously reported that Apple was aiming to release the personalized Siri features in either iOS 26.5 or iOS 27. The first developer beta of iOS 26.5 could be available in late March or early April, so at least some of the Siri upgrades might be just a week or two away, unless they are entirely held back until iOS 27 debuts in June.

Accordingly, if the new Apple TV and HomePod mini models remain tied to the Siri upgrades arriving in iOS 26.5 or iOS 27, then Apple should announce the devices at any point between late March and the end of September this year.

Earlier rumors claimed the next Apple TV would be equipped with the A17 Pro chip, which is the oldest chip that supports Apple Intelligence. The device is also expected to feature Apple's N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread.

As for the HomePod mini, it is expected to use an Apple Watch's S9 chip or newer, but it is not entirely clear how that chip would be capable enough to support the revamped Siri powered by Apple Intelligence. Other rumored features include the N1 chip, improved sound quality, a newer Ultra Wideband chip, and a red color option.

The current Apple TV 4K debuted in October 2022, and the HomePod mini was introduced in October 2020, so both devices are due for upgrades.

It has been a busy March for Apple, which has unveiled more than 10 products and accessories this month. However, aside from the all-new MacBook Neo and Studio Display XDR, the devices received faster chips or new colors and little else.

The new products include an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. The new accessories include iPhone cases, Apple Watch bands, and the iPhone's Crossbody Strap in a range of fresh color options like Bright Guava, Vanilla, Soft Pink, Clementine, and/or Electric Lavender.

iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone 16e, but it gains Apple's A19 chip, MagSafe for magnetic wireless charging and magnetic accessories, Apple's second-generation C1X modem for faster 5G, and a doubled 256GB of base storage. In the U.S., the iPhone 17e starts at $599, just like the iPhone 16e did.

The new iPad Air's key upgrades include Apple's M4 chip, an increased 12GB of RAM, Apple's N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, and the C1X modem in cellular models.

The MacBook Air received a faster M5 chip, and a doubled 512GB of base storage, but the starting price increased from $999 to $1,099 as a result of a 256GB configuration being dropped. With the N1 chip, the MacBook Air now has Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and it now comes with Apple's 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max.

The higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models finally received M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, plus up to twice as fast SSD speeds and a doubled 1TB of base storage. Battery life has increased slightly across all of the models, and the N1 chip extends to the MacBook Pro line now for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support.

The regular Studio Display gained Thunderbolt 5 support and improved speakers, and the camera now supports Desk View. There is also an all-new, higher-end Studio Display XDR that gained all of those benefits, plus bigger improvements such as a 120Hz refresh rate, mini-LED backlighting, increased brightness, and more.

The colorful new MacBook Neo starts at just $599 in the United States, and at an even lower $499 for college students. Available in Blush, Citrus, Indigo, and Silver, the MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone, and it is equipped with a 13-inch display, up to 512GB of storage, and a non-configurable 8GB of RAM.

AirPods Max 2 have a handful of upgrades over the previous AirPods Max, including Apple's H2 chip, increased active noise cancellation, improved sound quality, and features such as Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, and Live Translation. Plus, the Digital Crown has a new Camera Remote function.

The special-edition Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 are the same as the regular Powerbeats Pro 2, except they have a two-tone design consisting of black and Nike's signature Volt neon green-yellow color. The earbuds have both Nike and Beats logos.

To learn more, read our coverage:

• Apple Announces iPhone 17e With A19 Chip, MagSafe, and More
• Apple Unveils iPad Air With M4 Chip, Increased RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and More
• Apple Announces MacBook Air With M5 Chip and 512GB Base Storage
• Apple Unveils MacBook Pro Featuring M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips
• Apple Updates Studio Display With Thunderbolt 5 and More
• Apple Introduces All-New Studio Display XDR: 120Hz, Mini-LED, and More
• Apple Announces $599 'MacBook Neo' With A18 Pro Chip
• Apple Announces AirPods Max 2 With H2 Chip and More
• Apple's Special-Edition Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 Now Available
• Apple Releases iPhone Cases, Apple Watch Bands, and Crossbody Strap in New Colors

All of the products and accessories listed above have been released, except for the AirPods Max 2, which are available to pre-order starting Wednesday, March 25.

Apple's plans to enhance the iPhone 18 Pro's Camera app led it to consider acquiring Halide, but the talks ultimately collapsed and were followed by a fierce legal dispute between the startup's co-founders, according to The Information reports.

In the summer of 2025, Apple reportedly held discussions to acquire Lux Optics, the developer behind the popular iPhone camera apps Halide, Kino, and Spectre. The company concluded that it could get a better offer from Apple in the future following updates to the app. Two months after the talks concluded without a deal, Apple set about recruiting Lux's co-founder and designer Sebastian de With.

Lux CEO and co-founder Ben Sandofsky is said to have fired de With in December over financial misconduct. de With announced that he had joined Apple's design team in January.

Sandofsky has now filed a lawsuit in the California Superior Court of Santa Cruz against de With, accusing him of improperly using more than $150,000 in Lux company funds to pay for personal expenses since 2022, as well as providing confidential material and source code from Lux to Apple.

During the discussions to acquire Lux, Apple employees purportedly told the startup that its intellectual property was a major consideration in evaluating the company. Apple apparently wanted to acquire Lux to bolster the built-in Camera app, which is said to be "top priority for the company right now." The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ will "match professional-grade cameras in terms of certain advanced features," necessitating an upgrade of the built-in Camera app. Apple is not named as a defendant in the case and it is not accused of any wrongdoing.

de With's legal representatives say that the lawsuit is meritless and deny that he "used, transferred, or disclosed any Lux intellectual property" as part of his new job at Apple. They added that the lawsuit was only filed after de With raised concerns with Sandofsky about financial irregularities at Lux and had requested access to its financial records and payments, suggesting that it was a "retaliatory response to those efforts and an attempt to avoid scrutiny of that conduct."

The Apple TV is now almost two decades old amid rumors of the announcement of a new model.

Today marks 19 years Apple launched the original ‌Apple TV‌. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the ‌Apple TV‌ at Macworld Expo in January 2007 alongside the original iPhone, but it didn't launch until March.

The ‌‌Apple TV‌ was initially previewed as the "iTV." The device allowed users to wirelessly stream movies, TV shows, music, and photos from their Mac or PC directly to their TV. Unlike today, there was no App Store or third-party app support, and the experience was centered almost entirely around iTunes-purchased or synced media.

The ‌Apple TV‌ was controlled with a simple Apple Remote and ran a Front Row-style interface designed for navigating iTunes libraries on a TV. It featured a 40GB hard drive for local content storage and supported 720p HD resolution, offering both HDMI and component video output, and was priced at $299.

Apple famously described the ‌Apple TV‌ as a "hobby," reflecting its niche and experimental status within the company at the time. Over subsequent years, Apple slowly repositioned the device over time from a Mac accessory to a standalone streaming device.

In 2010, it dropped the internal hard drive and shifted to a smaller, streaming-focused design. The introduction of tvOS and the ‌App Store‌ in 2015 marked a major turning point, enabling third-party apps and games. Apple later added 4K support in 2017 and continued to iterate with faster chips, culminating in the current model powered by the A15 Bionic chip.

Unlike the original ‌Apple TV‌, which was primarily designed to stream iTunes content from a Mac or PC, the device now serves as a hub for Apple's services, with integrations for ‌Apple TV‌+, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, AirPlay, and HomeKit. While competitors such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Google TV devices still dominate the lower end of the market, Apple has continued to position the ‌Apple TV‌ as a premium option with tighter ecosystem integration and more powerful hardware.

Today's ‌Apple TV‌ is the third-generation 4K model from November 2022. A new Apple TV is expected to be announced soon, featuring a faster chip and Apple's custom N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Just when you thought Apple was done with product announcements for a little while, this week saw one last drop with the AirPods Max 2 making their appearance.

This week also saw fresh rumors about iOS 27 coming later this year while an iOS 26.4 release looks to be right around the corner, and Apple kicked off a series of events around the world in celebration of the company's upcoming 50th anniversary, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!

Top Stories

Apple Announces AirPods Max 2 With H2 Chip and More

In a surprise move, Apple this week unveiled AirPods Max 2, with key upgrades including the H2 chip, increased active noise cancellation, improved sound quality, and features such as Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, and Live Translation.

The new AirPods Max have the same overall design as the previous generation, with most of the new features coming from the upgrade to the H2 chip, but they do bring a nice set of audio improvements and a new Camera Remote function for the Digital Crown. If you're a current AirPods Max owner and are considering an upgrade, be sure to check out our buyer's guide comparing the two generations.

AirPods Max 2 will be available to order starting Wednesday, March 25, with a launch to follow sometime in early April.

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Be Like Mac OS X Snow Leopard

In his Power On newsletter this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that iOS 27 will be similar to 2009's Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that one of Apple's biggest priorities is bug fixes for improved performance and stability.

That isn't to say, however, that the update will be completely devoid of new features, as we have already heard about a number of them that are in the works beyond the significant revamp to Siri that has been repeatedly pushed back. Perhaps most notable for those who dislike the Liquid Glass redesign that arrived in iOS 26, Apple is said to be aiming to include a system-wide slider to allow users to adjust the Liquid Glass effect.

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Apple this week seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.4 and related updates to developers and public beta testers, representing the final versions that will be provided to the public if no additional bugs are found.

Apple shared full release notes for iOS 26.4 as part of the seeding, revealing a few previously unknown changes including a fix for a keyboard accuracy bug and a change to App Store Family Sharing that will allow adults in a group to use different payment methods.

iOS 26.4 also includes support for AirPods Max 2, so the update will definitely be released by the time those arrive in early April, but the iOS 26.4 public release could come as soon as next week.

iPhone Fold: 5 Things We've Learned About Apple's Foldable

It's been a big couple of weeks for foldable iPhone rumors. In case you missed any of them, we've recapped five recent rumors that we previously covered. It sounds like display production for the device may be about to get underway as Apple looks toward a launch later this year, potentially as late as December.

In other foldable smartphone news, Samsung is discontinuing its Galaxy Z TriFold after just three months on the market. The innovative device unfolds twice to reveal a massive 10-inch inner display.

Apple Kicks Off 50th Anniversary With Surprise Alicia Keys Concert in New York

As part of its upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, Apple is hosting gatherings "around the world" throughout the month of March to celebrate human creativity and ingenuity.

The series kicked off with a surprise concert by Alicia Keysat Apple's retail store overlooking the main concourse at New York City's iconic Grand Central Terminal, with MacRumors in attendance for the event.

Tim Cook then traveled to China for a performance by Li Yuchun at the company's Taikoo Li store in Chengdu, with events in additional countries planned for the next few weeks.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Responds to Retirement Rumors

After a flurry rumors late last year going back and forth about whether his retirement as Apple CEO might be imminent, Tim Cook addressed the rumors in an interview with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan earlier this week.

While Cook referred to the idea as "a rumor," he did not explicitly confirm or deny that he will be stepping down as CEO any time soon, though he did say "I can't imagine life without Apple."

In a separate brief interview with Nikias Molina at the Alicia Keys concert, Cook reiterated that Apple still sees a long life ahead for the iPhone, even as rumors have suggested the company is looking to integrate its technology into other personal devices like augmented-reality glasses and an AI-powered pendant that will be able to gather information from the world around you. "There's so much left that we can do with the iPhone," said Cook. "I think it's going to continue to be the center of people's digital lives."

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Apple saw a 23% year-over-year increase in iPhone sales in China during the first nine weeks of 2026, significantly outperforming a broader market decline driven by weak demand and rising component costs, according to Counterpoint Research.

China smartphone sales apparently fell by 4% year-over-year in the first nine weeks of 2026. Within this environment, Apple emerged as the fastest-growing major vendor, with iPhone sales rising 23% compared to the same period in 2025. Counterpoint attributed Apple's impressive performance partly to a combination of e-commerce discounts and the inclusion of the standard iPhone 17 in government subsidy programs aimed at stimulating consumer electronics purchases.

Counterpoint noted that the rising cost of memory components has been passed on to vendors, forcing several Android brands to adjust pricing strategies. Chinese smartphone makers OPPO and vivo have announced notable price increases for some existing models, with those changes set to take effect this month.

In contrast, Apple has not announced any comparable price increases and is unlikely to follow competitors in raising prices, instead absorbing some of the margin pressure from higher component costs to maintain pricing stability. The firm added that Apple's control over its supply chain leaves it better positioned than rivals to withstand rising memory costs.

Rising memory prices are expected to persist throughout 2026. The research firm expects China's smartphone market to remain under pressure in the coming months, with potential improvement in June driven by the country's mid-year "618" shopping festival. Counterpoint's findings are based on its China Weekly Smartphone Sell-Out Tracker, which monitors retail sales across the market.

iOS 26.4 isn't the major update with new Siri features that we hoped for, but there are some useful quality of life improvements, and a little bit of fun with an AI playlist generator and new emoji characters.

• Playlist Playground - Apple Music has a Playlist Playground option that lets you generate playlists from text-based descriptions. You can include moods, feelings, activities, or make up something entirely nonsensical and let the AI figure out what you mean.
• Ambient Music widget - Apple added a widget for the built-in Ambient Music feature in iOS, so it's quicker to play background sounds. You can choose Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing playlists curated by Apple.
• Emoji - There are eight new emoji characters including trombone, treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature, fight cloud, orca, landslide, and ballet dancer.
• Reduce Bright Effects - If you dislike Liquid Glass, there's a Reduce Bright Effects setting that cuts down on bright flashes when tapping buttons. Reduce Motion also limits Liquid Glass animations more than it did previously.
• Keyboard Fix - iOS 26.4 fixes an iOS 26 keyboard bug that caused typos when typing quickly.
• Purchase Sharing - Adults in Family Sharing groups no longer have to use the same payment method, and Apple now lets everyone add their own credit or debit card.
• CarPlay AI apps - CarPlay users can use third-party chatbots with ‌CarPlay‌ starting in iOS 26.4. Companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google will need to update their apps with ‌CarPlay‌ support, but the framework is in iOS 26.4.
• Video Podcasts - The Podcasts app has native video episode support with HLS streaming, along with options to swap between audio and video and offline video downloads.
• Average Bedtime - The Sleep feature in the Health app now records average bedtime for the past two weeks to give you a better idea of how your bedtime impacts sleep.
• Stolen Device Protection - Stolen Device Protection is now on by default. It thwarts physical theft and access of your iPhone by requiring biometric authentication for things like viewing passwords and turning off Lost Mode on the iPhone. Some features like changing an Apple ID password have a one-hour security delay.

There are other new additions in iOS 26.4, like offline song recognition in Control Center, nearby concert suggestions and full-page album artwork in ‌Apple Music‌, easier access to subtitle customization options in media apps, and Apple Creator Studio support for Freeform, with details available in our full iOS 26.4 notes article.

Release Date

The iOS 26.4 release candidate is available to developers and public beta testers, and it's likely the update will see an official launch on March 23 or March 24.

The special-edition Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 are now available to order on Apple.com in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., and a handful of other countries. These headphones are the same as the regular Powerbeats Pro 2, except they have a two-tone design consisting of black and Nike's signature Volt neon green-yellow color.

Aside from the Nike-focused design, these are the same ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ 2 that were introduced last year, with the signature Powerbeats wraparound earhooks for stability, Active Noise Cancelling with Transparency mode, built-in heart rate monitoring, and up to 45 hours of battery life when tapping into the charging case to recharge.

Powerbeats Pro 2 are essentially a fitness-focused alternative to the AirPods Pro 3.

Nike showed off the headphones in an ad starring NBA superstar LeBron James.

In the U.S., pricing is set at $249.99, in line with the regular Powerbeats Pro 2. Apple is currently showing a March 24 delivery date.

The highlights of this week in Apple deals include the return of an all-time low price on AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch Series 11, and ongoing launch discounts on all of Apple's new products. You'll also find a few early accessory deals from Amazon's Big Spring Sale below.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

AirPods Pro 3

• What's the deal? Take $49 off AirPods Pro 3
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Amazon has the AirPods Pro 3 available for $199.99 this week, down from $249.00. This is a match of the all-time low price on the AirPods Pro 3, which has been rare on Amazon in recent weeks.

M4 iPad Air

• What's the deal? Take up to $80 off M4 iPad Air
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Last week was the launch week for all of Apple's new products, and Amazon is already offering good discounts on many models of the M4 iPad Air, although a few of the prices have risen a bit since we first covered the deals earlier this week. We're still seeing up to $80 off both the 11-inch and 13-inch models, however, which is solid for a brand-new product.

MacBook Air and MacBook Pro

• What's the deal? Take $49 off M5 MacBook Air and M5 Pro/M5 Max MacBook Pro
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Similar to the M4 iPad Air, Amazon is offering multiple discounts across the new M5 MacBook Air and M5 Pro/M5 Max MacBook Pro this week. You'll find $49 off select models right now, without the need of a coupon code.

Samsung Monitors

• What's the deal? Save on Samsung monitors
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

This week, there were two sales on Samsung monitors, split between Amazon and Samsung's own website. On Amazon, there was a big accessory sale this week, and the highlights of the event included big savings on monitors from Samsung, LG, Dell, and more. Samsung's newest Smart Monitor M9 hit the all-time low price of $1,299.99 during the sale, and it's still available now.

On Samsung, you can get a free copy of Resident Evil Requiem with the purchase of select monitors. You'll also find big discounts on TVs and Galaxy products this week.

Apple Watch Series 11

• What's the deal? Take $100 off Apple Watch Series 11
• Where can I get it? Amazon
• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Amazon this week has all-time low prices on the Apple Watch Series 11, with $100 discounts across numerous models of the smartwatch. We first started tracking the return of these deals last month, but this sale has now expanded with many more options on both 42mm and 46mm GPS models.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss Apple's surprise announcement of the AirPods Max 2 this week.

The ‌AirPods Max 2‌ introduce a range of improvements primarily driven by the addition of Apple's H2 chip, which replaces the H1 chip used in previous models. This new chip underpins most of the upgrades, enabling more advanced computational audio and significantly enhancing the overall listening experience.

One of the most notable improvements is Active Noise Cancellation, which Apple says is up to 1.5x more effective than before, making the headphones better suited to noisy environments such as travel. Transparency mode is also refined, with more natural-sounding ambient audio and improved clarity when hearing voices and surroundings.

The H2 chip also facilitates a suite of new adaptive listening features. Adaptive Audio dynamically adjusts the balance between noise cancellation and environmental sound depending on your surroundings, while Conversation Awareness automatically lowers playback and enhances nearby voices when you begin speaking. Personalized Volume builds on this by learning your listening preferences over time and adjusting volume levels accordingly. In addition, Voice Isolation has been improved, helping to prioritize your voice during calls and reduce background noise more effectively.

Audio quality is enhanced with a new high dynamic range amplifier and updated signal processing. These changes should result in more consistent bass, clearer midrange, more natural vocals, and improved separation of instruments. Spatial Audio has also been refined, offering more accurate sound placement and a more coherent soundstage.

Wireless performance sees an upgrade with support for Bluetooth 5.3, which reduces latency compared to the previous generation. Alongside audio improvements, several new features have been added, including Live Translation powered by Apple Intelligence, the ability to use the Digital Crown as a camera remote for taking photos or controlling video recording, and expanded Siri interactions, including hands-free activation without "Hey ‌Siri‌" and gesture-based responses.

Despite these updates, several core aspects remain unchanged. The design, materials, and overall form factor are identical to earlier versions, battery life remains at up to 20 hours with noise cancellation enabled, and the headphones continue to use the same Smart Case. Pricing is also unchanged at $549.

‌AirPods Max 2‌ will be available to order on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app starting Wednesday, March 25 in the U.S. and more than 30 other countries, and they launch on an unspecified day in early April. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.

You can also listen to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or other podcast apps. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your player.

If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about Apple's concentrated week of announcements that saw the introduction of 10 new products.

Subscribe to ‌The MacRumors Show‌ for new episodes every week, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by interesting guests such as Kayci Lacob, Kevin Nether, John Gruber, Mark Gurman, Jon Prosser, Luke Miani, Matthew Cassinelli, Brian Tong, Quinn Nelson, Jared Nelson, Eli Hodapp, Mike Bell, Sara Dietschy, iJustine, Jon Rettinger, Andru Edwards, Arnold Kim, Ben Sullins, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Tyler Stalman, Sam Kohl, Federico Viticci, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morrison, Ross Young, Ian Zelbo, and Rene Ritchie.

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at podcast@macrumors.com or head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.

Both the MacBook Air and entry-level MacBook Pro now feature the M5 chip, so how do the latest models compare?

While the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ starts at $1,099 and the 15-inch model at $1,299, moving to the 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ requires spending at least $300 more. For some buyers, the extra cost is unnecessary; for others, the Pro's ability to sustain performance, along with its more advanced display and expanded I/O, meaningfully change the experience in ways the Air cannot match even with higher configurations.

With the introduction of the MacBook Neo as a new entry-level option, the Mac lineup now spans three distinct tiers. As a result, the ‌MacBook Air‌ no longer represents the default choice for most buyers, but instead occupies a middle position between affordability and performance. If you've already ruled out the ‌MacBook Neo‌, this guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of Apple's other two popular laptops is best for you. The key differences are as follows:

‌MacBook Air‌	‌MacBook Pro‌
13.6- or 15.3-inch display	14.2-inch display
	Slimmer borders around the display
LCD Liquid Retina display	Mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display
60Hz refresh rate	ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz
Up to 500 nits brightness	Up to 1,000 nits brightness and 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness
	Nano-texture display option
Passive cooling	Active cooling
Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports	Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports
	HDMI 2.1 port with support for multichannel audio output
	SDXC card slot
13-Inch: Four-speaker sound system 15-Inch: Six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers	High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
Three-mic array with directional beamforming	Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming
512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB storage
13-Inch: 53.8-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 15-Inch: 66.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery	14-Inch: 72.4-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
18-hour battery life	24-hour battery life
30W, 35W, or 70W USB-C Power Adapter	70W or 96W USB-C Power Adapter
Silver, Sky Blue, Starlight, or Midnight color options	Silver or Space Black color options
13-Inch: Starts at $1,099 15-Inch: Starts at $1,299	Starts at $1,599

Dimensions are also a key area of difference between the ‌MacBook Air‌ and ‌MacBook Pro‌. The ‌MacBook Pro‌ is noticeably thicker and heavier than both ‌MacBook Air‌ models:

	‌MacBook Air‌ (13-Inch)	‌MacBook Air‌ (15-Inch)	‌MacBook Pro‌ (14-Inch)
Height	0.44 inches (1.13 cm)	0.45 inch (1.15 cm)	0.61 inches (1.55 cm)
Width	11.97 inches (30.41 cm)	13.40 inches (34.04 cm)	12.31 inches (31.26 cm)
Depth	8.46 inches (21.5 cm)	9.35 inches (23.76 cm)	8.71 inches (22.12 cm)
Weight	2.7 pounds (1.24 kg)	3.3 pounds (1.51 kg)	3.4 pounds (1.55 kg)

Taken as a whole, the ‌MacBook Air‌ now occupies a more clearly defined middle position in Apple's laptop lineup. With the introduction of the ‌MacBook Neo‌ as a lower-cost entry point, the Air no longer represents the default choice for most buyers, but instead serves those who want a meaningful step up in performance, features, and long-term usability without moving into the ‌MacBook Pro‌ tier.

The ‌MacBook Air‌ offers excellent performance with the M5 chip, capable memory and storage options, a good all-round display, and key features like a backlit keyboard, 18 hours of battery life, and a 12MP Center Stage camera. For everyday tasks, performance remains effectively indistinguishable from more expensive models, but the Air is far less likely to feel constrained after several years of use compared to the ‌MacBook Neo‌. Its thinner chassis, lower weight, silent fanless design, and broader range of color options also remain important advantages.

By contrast, the 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ is differentiated less by baseline performance and more by its ability to sustain it, as well as by a collection of hardware features that materially change the experience. Active cooling allows the M5 chip to operate at higher levels for prolonged periods, avoiding the thermal limitations inherent to the Air's passive design. This becomes noticeable in extended workloads such as video editing, 3D rendering, compiling large codebases, or running intensive AI-driven tasks. If your workload regularly involves sustained performance, such as long video exports, large code builds, or intensive multitasking, the ‌MacBook Air‌'s fanless design may become a limiting factor.

Alongside this, ‌MacBook Pro‌'s mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion offers substantially higher brightness, contrast, and motion fluidity, while the inclusion of HDMI, SDXC, and an additional Thunderbolt port expands its versatility in professional environments. It also delivers consistently better speakers, higher-quality microphones, and longer battery life. For users planning to keep their machine for several years, this sustained performance headroom and broader feature set can make the ‌MacBook Pro‌ a more resilient long-term investment.

The most consequential trade-off emerges at the upper end of the ‌MacBook Air‌'s pricing. At $1,299, the 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ sits close enough to the 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌'s $1,599 starting price that the decision becomes less about affordability and more about priorities. For an additional $300, the Pro offers a significantly more advanced display, active cooling for sustained performance, longer battery life, additional I/O, and overall greater versatility. Once you are already considering spending over $1,000 on a laptop, these advantages become disproportionately impactful, particularly for users intending to keep their machine for several years.

As a result, the ‌MacBook Air‌ is best understood as the balanced option within the lineup: Meaningfully more capable and longer-lasting than the ‌MacBook Neo‌, but somewhat constrained compared to the ‌MacBook Pro‌. The right choice depends less on basic specifications and more on where your needs sit across three distinct tiers, with basic computing at the low end, sustained performance and advanced features at the high end, and the ‌MacBook Air‌ positioned squarely between them.

While the MacBook Neo is not "fast-charge capable," according to Apple's tech specs, the laptop can still charge faster with certain Apple chargers.

Apple includes its 20W USB-C Power Adapter with the MacBook Neo (except in the UK and the EU, where the laptop does not ship with a charger at all), but a new charging test has revealed that Apple's 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter is a better choice if you want the fastest charging speeds at the lowest additional cost from Apple.

In the video below, ChargerLAB shows that the MacBook Neo reaches a peak charging speed of 18W with the included 20W charger, but this rises to 30W with Apple's 35W adapter, which is available in two sizes for $59 on Apple's online store.

ChargerLAB did not show exactly how much time you can save by using the 35W charger over the 20W charger, but it is probably up to 20-30 minutes for a full charge.

Of course, a variety of 30W-and-higher chargers sold by Apple and other companies can charge the MacBook Neo at peak speeds of 28W to 30W, so look beyond Apple if you want to save money. If you stick with Apple, just know this: its 35W adapter is faster than the included 20W adapter, but its expensive 96W and 140W chargers do not charge the MacBook Neo any faster than the 35W adapter despite costing more.

MacBook Neo launched last Wednesday, and Apple's CEO Tim Cook today revealed that the Mac just had its best launch week ever with first-time buyers.

OpenAI has a Mac "superapp" in development that unifies its ChatGPT app, Codex coding platform, and Atlas browser, reports The Wall Street Journal ($).

The idea behind the all-in-one app is to simplify the user experience, following the launch of several standalone products, some of which haven't resonated with OpenAI's customers. The company is also trying to bounce back after the recent successes of its main rival, Anthropic.

OpenAI executives are said to be looking at areas it can deprioritize while it focuses on creating agentic AI capabilities within the new superapp that can work autonomously on a user's computer to carry out various tasks like writing code and analyzing data.

In an all-hands meeting last week, OpenAI's chief of applications Fidji Simo reportedly told employees they couldn't afford to be distracted by "side quests" given Anthropic's rapid success winning over enterprise and coding customers. From the report:

An OpenAI spokeswoman said the new "superapp" will enable teams inside OpenAI to work more closely together, and help the research division focus its efforts around improving one central product. Over the coming months, the company expects to add new "agentic" capabilities within its Codex app so it can help with productivity-related tasks beyond coding before merging ChatGPT and the Atlas browser into the superapp as well.

OpenAI unveiled a series of major initiatives last year, like its Sora video app and the acquisition of Jony Ive's AI hardware venture. Since then, however, Anthropic has gained strong momentum with the success of its Code Claude and Cowork offerings.

The WSJ report gave no timeline for the launch of OpenAI's so-called superapp, but it said the company's mobile ChatGPT app will remain unchanged.

Apple and the Sydney Opera House in Australia recently announced a collaboration, and it turns out this will tie into Apple's 50th-anniversary celebrations.

On his Instagram page earlier this week, Australian composer Bailey Pickles said Apple asked him to compose and perform music for its upcoming 50th-anniversary celebration at the Opera House, where Apple will soon be illuminating artwork.

From March 25 to March 27, the Opera House's eastern sails will be illuminated with artwork created in the Procreate app on the iPad by a group of 10 emerging Australian artists. Through free Today at Apple sessions earlier this month, the public also had the opportunity to create and submit artwork for potential illumination.

Apple said selected artworks from both commissioned artists and public submissions will be curated and projected onto the Opera House's eastern sails on March 25 at 8:30 p.m. local time, and on March 26 and March 27 at 8 p.m. local time. Pickles did not say exactly when he will be performing at the world-famous venue, but it is clear that the 50th-anniversary celebration will involve a mix of artwork and music.

It is unclear if Apple's CEO Tim Cook or any other company executives will attend this celebration, but it is worth noting that Cook is currently in China, so he is a lot closer to Australia right now than he would ordinarily be. Perhaps he will make a surprise appearance at the Opera House at some point, but only time will tell.

Apple has hosted 50th-anniversary celebrations in the United States, China, and South Korea so far, with more to follow in Canada, France, and Thailand, plus Australia. Our guess is that Apple will eventually hold a final celebration in California — the rainbow arches inside Apple Park would be the perfect spot for one last gathering.

Apple turns 50 on April 1.

Apple collected nearly $900 million in App Store fees from generative AI apps in 2025, according to data from analysis firm AppMagic, covered by The Wall Street Journal ($).

The overwhelming majority of Apple's AI app commission revenue came courtesy of ChatGPT downloads leading to subsequent subscriptions, which alone accounted for around 75 percent of the above total. Elon Musk's Grok app came a distant second, making up just 5 percent of the revenue.

Apple is now said to be on course to earn $1 billion in generative app revenue this year. Given how behind the company is in the AI race, highlighted by the sluggish progress of its enhanced Siri rollout, it's a tidy sum indeed.

Of course, the reason Apple benefits from the popularity of AI apps built by other companies is that the iPhone remains the smartphone market leader. Most AI apps still have to go through its App Store, where Apple takes a commission of up to 30 percent on subscriptions. As the report notes:

"Its Siri chatbot is still weak by modern AI standards. What Apple does have that the other AI players don't is a dominant position making devices. However fancy OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI make their chatbots, iPhones are still a primary way to deliver them to consumers."

The revenue stands in contrast to Apple's relatively modest AI spending compared to rivals like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, all of whom have poured tens of billions into AI infrastructure, with little to no profit yet to show for it. Meanwhile, Apple's capital expenditures have remained comparatively flat, thanks to its prioritization of investment in on-device AI over large data centers filled with GPU processors.

The strategy won't enable a more capable Siri, but Apple appears to be happy to lean on Google to provide the necessary AI infrastructure for that. The two companies announced in January that Gemini will power a revamped version of Apple's virtual assistant, coming later this year. The financial terms of the partnership haven't been disclosed, but Bloomberg reported last year that the deal would be around $1 billion annually. That will give Apple access to a 1.2 trillion parameter model that dwarfs its in-house capabilities.

Perhaps the deeper irony is that Google already pays Apple around $20 billion per year to remain the default search engine on iPhones, so now money is flowing in the other direction too, albeit at a drastically lower rate.

Still, some investors see the App Store approach as a more viable long-term strategy. Charles Rinehart, chief investment officer of Johnson Asset Management, told WSJ that if Apple "can act as a toll road for providers of AI, then they'll probably end up looking good long-term."

Apple's CEO Tim Cook today said the Mac just had its "best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers," which suggests that the new MacBook Neo has been a hit with customers buying their first laptops or switching from Windows.

Apple released the MacBook Neo last Wednesday, March 11. In the U.S., pricing starts at just $599 for the general public and an even lower $499 for college students. The laptop is powered by a version of the iPhone 16 Pro's A18 Pro chip, and it is available in colorful finishes like Citrus, Blush, and Indigo, alongside traditional Silver.

Apple also released MacBook Air models with the M5 chip and MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips last week, so it was a big week for new Macs, but the affordable MacBook Neo is likely driving the record number of first-time Mac buyers.

If you want a MacBook Neo, you may have to wait. In the U.S., MacBook Neo orders placed through Apple's online store today are estimated to be delivered between April 6 and April 13. However, it may be possible to find a MacBook Neo sooner at one of Apple's retail stores, or through authorized resellers such as Amazon and Walmart.