Meta has been warned by the European Commission that its endlessly scrolling Facebook and Instagram feeds may violate the EU's new Digital Services Act rules.


In preliminary findings published on Friday, the Commission said that its investigation into features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems, found that Meta "did not adequately assess the risks of their addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults."

From the press release:

These features fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into 'autopilot mode,' contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use.

Moreover, Meta disregarded available information about the time minors spend on Instagram or Facebook at night and how the optimization of its different formats – such as reels and stories – could lead to excessive or compulsive use of the services.

The Commission additionally criticized Meta's risk mitigation measures, saying that the platforms' time management tools could be easily dismissed and don't meaningfully limit the time users spend on the services. It also found fault with Meta's parental controls, which the Commission said were "only effective if parents and guardians possess adequate technical expertise, as well as devote effort and time to understand them."

The Commission said that at this stage of its investigation, it believes Meta needs to make design changes to both Instagram and Facebook. These could include disabling addictive features such as autoplay and infinite scroll by default, introducing effective screen time breaks, and modifying its recommender system to make it less focused on driving engagement.

Meta on Friday said it disagreed with the Commission's findings, claiming they "don't accurately take into account the significant steps we've taken to protect teens."

The Commission said Meta now has the opportunity to exercise its right of defence by reviewing the documents in the investigation file and responding in writing to its preliminary findings. If those provisional conclusions are upheld, the company could face a fine of up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover.
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OpenAI says it is shuttering its ChatGPT Atlas browser. When it was released last October, the company said the agentic browser was designed around the question "What if you could chat with your web browser?" The query was at least novel, but the answer was apparently not all that compelling.

As part of a slew of ChatGPT Work-related announcements on Thursday, OpenAI confirmed plans to "sunset" Atlas, with deprecation scheduled for August 9.

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Apple has significantly lowered its demand expectations for the standard iPhone 17 because of rising hardware costs, a Chinese leaker claimed today.


According to the account "Fixed Focus Digital" on Weibo, some production lines for the standard iPhone 17 this week shifted from an earlier 15 percent reduction to plans to suspend roughly one-third of their capacity. The leaker also claimed Apple has made a "very serious" internal assessment of the impact that higher hardware costs could have on demand.

The claims can't be independently verified, plus the post doesn't say whether the production adjustments apply to overall iPhone 17 output or only to certain manufacturing lines, so caution is advised.

Higher component costs are impacting the electronics industry worldwide due to intense demand from AI companies intent on maximizing data center buildout, and Apple is far from immune.

The doubling cost of memory and storage chips over the last year recently led Apple to increase prices across multiple product lines, which CEO Tim Cook called "unavoidable." So far, iPhones have been spared the hikes, but Apple is widely expected to use the debut of iPhone 18 Pro models in September as a chance to increase the prices of its entire smartphone lineup.

Apple is expected to unveil a next-generation iPhone 18 model next spring alongside a new iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2, as part of a new split-launch strategy.
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Apple's battery supplier has registered two new battery cells believed to be destined for the company's rumored foldable iPhone, according to a prolific Chinese leaker.


In a post on Weibo, the leaker known as Digital Chat Station said that the two cells have rated capacities of 1,921mAh and 2,962mAh, for a combined minimum rated capacity of 4,883mAh. "The supply chain is also predicting a total battery capacity of 4,800–5,000mAh, though this still needs further confirmation," the leaker added.

If accurate, the dual-cell design would be in line with existing book-style foldable smartphones, which typically split the battery across the device's two halves. In terms of where it sits next to rival foldables already on the market, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold has a total battery capacity of 5,015 mAh, while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a 4,400 mAh capacity. For comparison's sake, the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are believed to come with 4,288mAh and 5,567mAh batteries, respectively.

The leaker's claim appears to conflict with an early rumor suggesting Apple was testing a significantly larger 5,400mAh to 5,800mAh battery for its first foldable iPhone. That report described an engineering test configuration, however, so it's possible Apple has since revised the design. Either that or the rumor was incorrect.

A March 2025 rumor claimed that Apple has placed a heavy focus on improving power efficiency while slimming down key components of its foldable iPhone, with battery life said to be a key priority for the company. Separately, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said the device will use high-density battery cells.

Apple's foldable iPhone is rumored to feature a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover display, along with Touch ID instead of Face ID, an A20 chip, and Apple's C2 modem in some countries. The device is expected to be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in September. Apple's book-style foldable could launch as the "iPhone Ultra," as suggested by reports. IDC has predicted that the foldable will carry an average selling price of $2,500, with storage options potentially priced as high as $3,000.
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DuckDuckGo's free web browser now blocks most video ads on YouTube, and the feature is on by default for iPhone and Mac users running the latest version of the app.


Announced on Wednesday, YouTube Ad Blocking stops ads that play before and during videos on YouTube's website, and DuckDuckGo says the result is the regular YouTube experience minus the interruptions, so features like viewing history and saving your spot in playlists keep working.

One thing to watch on iPhone is if you tap a YouTube link, it often opens the dedicated YouTube app if you have it installed. The blocking feature obviously won't work there, and you'll need to open the YouTube website inside the DuckDuckGo browser instead.

DuckDuckGo says it is using a community-maintained filter lists from uBlock Origin, along with its own rules to help minimize breakage. The company warns that videos may buffer a little longer than usual, but playback should run uninterrupted once a clip loads.

Note that YouTube Ad Blocking is separate from Duck Player, the browser's distraction-free video viewing mode, but the two can be enabled together.


The move follows Google's ongoing efforts to break ad blockers every which way it can, including recent changes to Chrome that targeted uBlock Origin. It's worth mentioning that DuckDuckGo isn't the first browser to block YouTube ads, with similar features already available in Brave and Opera.

DuckDuckGo's browser offers more than a dozen privacy protections, including ad tracker blocking and cookie pop-up removal. It's available for iOS devices on the App Store and for Mac on the Mac App Store and DuckDuckGo website.
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Meta has prototyped "super sensing" smart glasses that use cameras and audio recordings to capture the wearer's every moment, reports the Financial Times ($).


The smart glasses continuously collect audio while taking photos every few seconds, allowing the user to leverage AI to help query what they saw or heard, or recall their day, according to the report's sources.

Meta's current AI smart glasses have an LED in the corner of the frame that lights up to signal to others when a wearer is taking photographs or filming. But Meta executives don't want to activate the LED when the super-sensing features are turned on.

In one proposed system, raw footage and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and images would be extracted and uploaded to the server for Meta's AI to query, which proponents argue would have fewer privacy implications.

The company is also discussing whether data collected through the glasses and their features could be used to train its own AI models, as it pours billions into rivalling competition such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in the AI race.

The report suggests the features could be activated on Meta's existing glasses via a software update.

Meta's plan, which could still change, highlights the obvious civil liberty and privacy risks of smart glasses. Privacy experts argue that always-on devices could violate data privacy or biometric data laws. It is also unclear whether the company or the wearer would be liable for potential violations of wiretapping laws, given that several U.S. states prohibit recording third-party conversations without consent.

Meta's existing Ray-Ban smart glasses already lack a visual indicator when AI is being used to analyze the wearer's surroundings. The company says it safeguards privacy by stripping out key identifying information.

In February, it was reported that the social media giant had an inactive facial recognition feature embedded in its Ray-Ban smart glasses platform. The company later removed the system.

Apple is widely expected to release its first smart glasses in 2027, designed in-house rather than through a partner brand.

Apple's smart glasses are expected to include cameras, microphones, and AI capabilities, and will have the ability to take photos, record video, provide translations, give turn-by-turn directions, and more. However, they won't have augmented reality capabilities, and it's not clear how Apple will manage privacy concerns.
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Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max could be noticeably thicker and heavier than its predecessor, suggesting a trade-off behind the device's rumored larger battery.


Chinese leaker Ice Universe today claimed the iPhone 18 Pro Max will measure around 9mm thick and weigh approximately 240 grams. That would make the device around 0.25mm thicker and roughly 7 grams heavier than the current iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The latest claim comes off the back of recent regulatory filings indicating the iPhone 18 Pro Max will feature a 5,391mAh battery in China and a 5,567mAh battery in the U.S. – an increase of nearly 500mAh over the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Ice Universe suggested the added thickness and weight are a direct result of the larger battery, but Apple is also said to be adopting a new type of vapor chamber that uses stainless steel, which could also be a contributing factor.

The rumor builds on an earlier claim that Apple's next flagship could become the heaviest iPhone ever. If so, it would have to be heavier than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which also weighed 240 grams, so it may turn out that there are only milligram-level differences between the two.

Apple's use of titanium instead of stainless steel made the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro models. Apple then switched away from titanium to less-dense aluminum for the iPhone 17 Pro models, but internal changes and slightly thicker designs bumped up their weight again.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone this September.
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Apple has suspended development of the display for a cheaper, lighter version of the Vision Pro that it originally planned to launch in the next few years, according to The Elec.


The Korean outlet says Apple supplier Samsung Display is set to internally wind down the panel project – known in the industry as "G-VR" – with development set to be formally terminated by September.

G-VR is a glass-substrate micro-OLED, a lower-cost alternative to the silicon-based OLEDoS used in the current Vision Pro. It was being developed at around 1,600 to 1,700 pixels per inch, which is roughly half the 3,386 PPI of Apple's Vision Pro. The report says mass production had once been planned for sometime after 2028.

Apple has since turned much of its attention away from headsets in favour of smart glasses development, which has apparently drained momentum from the G-VR glass-substrate. However, Samsung continues to develop OLEDoS panels for the company's own mixed-reality devices, according to the report.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said in October 2025 that Apple had paused work on a lighter, cheaper "Vision Air" to fast-track glasses that would rival Meta's Ray-Bans. In May 2026, Gurman reported that the cheaper device had been canceled outright.

Apple hasn't walked away from the headset market entirely, though. If a new Vision Pro-style device does materialize, Gurman said in May that he wouldn't expect it for "around two more years at least," given that the bulk of Apple's mixed-reality hardware talent has been pulled onto other projects like smart glasses, which are expected to launch in 2027.

Apple refreshed the Vision Pro in October 2025 with an updated model featuring an M5 chip. Last month, Apple upped the starting price of its Vision Pro from $3,499 to $3,699 as part of the company's sweeping product price hikes.
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Samsung has announced it will introduce its latest Galaxy smartphones at a July 22 event, including what is believed to be a Galaxy Z Fold 8 with new passport-style dimensions similar to Apple's upcoming book-style foldable iPhone.


It's no secret that Samsung has been working on a new foldable form factor to go head-to-head with Apple's rumored iPhone Ultra, and the company has been hinting at what's to come. Today's event announcement includes a video of a show ticket having its stub torn off to make it shorter than before – clearly alluding to the new device. "A new shape unfolds," reads the tagline.

The shorter, wider version of Samsung's book-style foldable is said to resemble Apple's own folding device, which is expected to have a 7.8-inch inner display, a 5.5-inch outer display, two rear cameras, one front camera, and a Touch ID power button instead of Face ID. Apple is anticipated to debut the foldable in September alongside its new iPhone 18 Pro models.

Apart from unveiling the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung is expected to announce new versions of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which also unfolds like a book, and the clamshell-style Galaxy Z Flip 7. New Galaxy Watches are also expected. Galaxy Unpacked will be held in London, U.K., starting at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on July 22.


On Tuesday, Google revealed that it will introduce its latest Pixel smartphones at an August 12 event, debuting the updated devices about a month ahead of when Apple is expected to announce new iPhone models.
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Apple today announced its multiyear partnership with Broadcom to design and produce custom silicon components and wireless technologies, confirming a Reuters report we covered on Monday.


Apple says the new agreement is expected to exceed $30 billion, and will lead to the creation of more than 15 billion U.S. chips and support "hundreds" of American jobs.

Broadcom is part of Apple's American Manufacturing Program (AMP), an initiative launched last year to boost U.S. manufacturing. Under Apple's largest AMP commitment to date, Broadcom will invest $1.5 billion to expand and modernize its manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, where it will produce advanced radio frequency components, including FBAR filters, as well as wireless connectivity technologies.

"Apple and Broadcom have a long history together, and this new phase of our partnership further accelerates our commitment to American manufacturing and innovation," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "The cutting-edge components built in Fort Collins are essential to delivering the incredible performance and connectivity our customers expect, and we're proud to deepen our investments in U.S.-based suppliers that share our commitment to excellence and innovation. We're grateful to the president and his administration for supporting important projects like this one."

Broadcom's chips cover custom radio frequency components, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and other networking semiconductors found throughout Apple's lineup. Apple says the investment is part of its commitment to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over four years.
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Apple's foldable iPhone is on track to ship in September despite rumors of a delayed launch, reports Chinese financial outlet Cailian Press.


The outlet says it spoke with several people within Apple's supply chain, who indicated that the device's design was locked in some time ago and that the foldable is now in mass production.

Separately, Chinese financial outlet East Money and Korea's The Bell reported that Apple's foldable has entered mass production, with assembly partner Foxconn launching large-scale hiring to secure labor.

Asked about rumors that its launch could slip due to complex assembly and low yields, sources who spoke to Cailian Press reportedly said they had not heard of any delay, and that a September delivery window was still expected.

The report provides a glimmer of hope for consumers eager to pre-order one of the devices in early fall. Last month, The Elec reported that mass production was set to begin in July, but it also said Apple had run into hinge problems during testing. While most of those issues were said to have since been resolved, it raised the odds of a small initial shipment following the device's launch.

Then over the weekend, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the foldable will be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in September but may not go on sale until the fourth quarter, suggesting a possible release in October or later.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in March that the new foldable iPhone won't ship to customers in the same September timeframe as the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max. However, a month later, Gurman said that the foldable iPhone remained on track for a September debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, and that Apple is aiming to put it on sale at roughly the same time or slightly later.

Apple has reportedly told suppliers to prepare to make approximately 10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from a previous forecast of about 7-8 million units a few months ago.

The book-style foldable is expected to feature a 7.8-inch inner display, a 5.5-inch cover screen, an A20 chip, Apple's C2 modem in some countries, and a Touch ID power button, with a starting pricing rumored between roughly $2,000 and $2,500 across reports. Apple's foldable could launch as the "iPhone Ultra," as suggested by rumors.
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Apple's challenge against the EU's designation of its App Stores and iOS platform as "gatekeepers" was dismissed by Europe's top court on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

"The General Court dismisses Apple's actions regarding its designation as a gatekeeper in relation to the App Store and iOS," the Luxembourg-based tribunal said.

Apple took its case to Luxembourg's General Court in 2024 after the European Commission designated its five App Stores – on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch – as a single core platform service under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a label that brings with it a set of strict obligations.

Designated "gatekeepers" are prohibited from favoring their own services over those of rivals, and are prevented from combining personal data across different services. They also have to give users the option to use alternative app stores.

Apple also challenged the EU's designation of iOS as a gateway platform, a status that requires the operating system allows rival services to interoperate with it.

The company also disputed the classification of iMessage as a number-independent interpersonal communications service, or NIICS, which would subject the app to EU telecoms rules. But the General Court said Apple's actions regarding the iMessage service are inadmissible.

To be classified as a "gatekeeper" under the DMA, a company must fulfill certain criteria, including having sales across the EU of at least €7.5 billion, or a market capitalization of €75 billion or above. The designation also requires platforms or services to have more than 45 million monthly active users and over 10,000 active business users annually within the EU.
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A federal judge has thrown out most of the claims in a proposed class action accusing Apple's AirPods Max of a condensation defect, ruling that the $549 headphones do what they were built for even if they fall short of a buyer's expectations (via Law360).


Filed in April 2025 by two plaintiffs, the suit alleges that condensation builds up inside the AirPods Max ear cups during normal indoor use, which can degrade sound, break ear detection and active noise cancellation, and interfere with charging.

From the 24-page order:

On April 9, 2021, while residing in New York, Plaintiff Apicella ordered AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare+ through Apple's website. Upon receiving and using his AirPods Max, Plaintiff Arthur Apicella "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while watching a movie," and his AirPods Max "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he used them, often after only about 15 minutes of use."

On May 23, 2021, while residing in Washington, Plaintiff Dustin Amundson purchased AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare. Shortly after purchasing them, Plaintiff Amundson "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while performing every day tasks, indoors, at home," and they "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he use[d] them."

Plaintiffs allege that they "are unable to use their AirPods Max to enjoy 'exhilarating high-fidelity audio' . . . or the supposed '[s]patial audio with dynamic head tracking [giving them] a theater-like experience for movies and shows, with sound that surrounds [them.]'" Instead, they experience switches in connection between their devices, pauses in connectivity or sound quality, failure to connect to wireless networks "with increasing frequency as the condensation worsens," and "failure to maintain its battery charge" for the advertised 20 hours.

Both plaintiffs claim that Apple knew about the problem as early as 2018, but stayed quiet.

However, in an order issued on Monday, Judge Orelia E. Merchant of the Eastern District of New York dismissed every claim brought under New York law with prejudice. She found that the state's implied warranty of merchantability asks only that a product meet "a minimal level of quality," not that it needs to be perfect. She also noted that one plaintiff had successfully used his AirPods Max to watch a movie.

The New York resident was dropped from the case entirely, while the Washington state resident may still proceed with two claims under Washington law and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

The AirPods Max condensation phenomenon is fairly well-known at this point. Condensation frequently forms where warm body heat meets the cooler aluminum ear cups. Owners began reporting condensation soon after the headphones launched in December 2020. By 2023, the issue was sometimes referred to as "condensation death" following reports that some headphones had stopped working due to the accumulation of liquid.

Whether the phenomenon is the direct cause of reported faults has never been firmly established. Many owners experience condensation build-up inside the cans with apparently no ill effects, and there haven't been waves of water-damaged units flooding the repair market. Apple's AirPods Max 2, launched in March this year, have the same ear cup design as the original model, and condensation has been reported in them as well.

The New York case is actually the second AirPods Max condensation class action to flounder. An earlier California case filed in February 2021 never reached the class-wide stage because the lead plaintiffs settled their individual claims with Apple and both parties moved to dismiss.

Notably, Apple has not conceded the headphones have an inherent defect in either case. In its California court filing, the company argued that moisture is more noticeable on AirPods Max simply because the ear cups are magnetic and removable, and pointed to its own guidance that the headphones "aren't waterproof or water resistant."
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Maestral, the free lightweight open-source Dropbox client for Mac, has been retired, according to the project's maintainer, Sam Schott.


Over its seven-year life, Maestral has proven to be a popular client for users on platforms and file systems that are no longer directly supported by Dropbox. It has also been lauded for its simplicity, small app bundle size, and low memory usage compared to the official Dropbox app.

By cutting out Dropbox's client bloat, Maestral just runs silently in the background and syncs a local folder to Dropbox using the company's APIs. It also allows for configuring an unlimited number of Dropbox accounts, supports selective sync, and works on an unlimited number of devices – avoiding Dropbox's caps.

Schott, writing on the project's GitHub page:

As of 2026-07-28, this project is archived. It's been a fun challenge to develop a syncing client, but unfortunately, I find too little time to invest in Maestral these days. I've also moved away from using Dropbox myself.

Schott says Maestral will still remain usable in the medium term – i.e., for as long as its certificates are valid – but it will no longer be actively maintained or receive updates. Unless someone else forks the project and takes it over, unfortunately it will eventually stop working.
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Apple is reportedly working on a second-generation iPhone Air that's expected to launch in spring 2027, and one of Apple's main aims is to improve battery life. We now have the first rumor suggesting what kind of improvement could be coming.


In a post on Weibo listing supply chain predictions, serial leaker Digital Chat Station said the iPhone Air 2 is expected to feature a 3,500mAh battery. That's up from the 3,149mAh battery in the current iPhone Air, indicating around a 11% increase in raw capacity.

A larger battery capacity usually implies either a physically larger battery or a denser one, but it does not automatically mean a bigger phone. Apple may also be able to improve internal packaging to fit a larger battery in the same chassis. Either way, it's going to be another tight squeeze.

Multiple prior rumors have suggested Apple is adding a second camera to the ‌iPhone Air‌ to address the main customer complaint about the device. The current model has a single rear Wide lens, which makes it less versatile compared to the more affordable iPhone 17 in terms of photography. Reports suggest Apple will add an Ultra Wide lens to the iPhone Air 2 to address this.

Multiple technologies are housed in the plateau of the iPhone Air to maximize space for the battery, so Apple would presumably need to redesign the internals considerably to fit in another camera. Whether that will impact the battery packaging design remains to be seen.

The device will use an A20 chip built on Apple's new 2nm process, so it could feature better efficiency, which should help battery life regardless of any change in battery capacity. In addition, according to a separate report, Apple is said to be adopting a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the iPhone Air 2's display thinner. That could allow Apple to slide in a slightly larger battery while retaining the same device dimensions.

The iPhone Air 2 is expected to launch in the first half of 2027, alongside the regular iPhone 18 and the lower-cost iPhone 18e.
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Apple's Mac mini and Mac Studio have become the machines of choice for running AI agents, according to Doug Brooks, Apple's senior product manager of Apple silicon.


Brooks made the claim while discussing Apple's chip strategy in a newly published interview with The Deep View conducted just prior to WWDC 2026 in June.

Brooks says that the company has seen "incredible demand" for the two desktop Macs. When it comes to agentic workloads, "people often want a system that's under their control, isolated from their primary machine, and capable of running 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Brooks.

"A Mac mini is an amazing system for that," he added.

Many AI tools are also Mac-first or Mac-only, which Brooks says has helped cement the Mac's standing among developers, including those at frontier AI labs where Macs are said to be a common sight.

The Apple executive also conceives of agentic AI as a whole-chip problem rather than a GPU one. "It's not just about the GPU crunching on an LLM anymore," he said. "It's about the whole chip contributing to different parts of the task, tool-calling, and the things that are happening around those workflows. It really plays to the strengths of Apple silicon."

Brooks links Apple's position of strength in modern AI back to chip decisions made long before LLMs like ChatGPT arrived. He points to the Neural Engine, which is built for power-efficient matrix math, along with lesser-known neural accelerators inside the CPU that handle time-sensitive tasks like speech.

Apple more recently added neural accelerators to the GPU, which has extended AI performance across the board from iPhone-class parts up to the Mac's largest silicon. Brooks ties that progress to Apple's design method, where a chip is built for a specific machine, and the hardware and software are developed in tandem.

He also described a shift toward running AI locally rather than in the cloud – a move motivated by privacy, security, and the rising cost of inference as agents consume more tokens. However, Brooks envisions a hybrid future in which agents decide what runs on-device and what gets sent to the cloud.

He also singled out what he calls "transparent AI" on iPhone and iPad, referring to features scattered throughout the operating system and third-party apps that work quietly without announcing themselves as AI.

Some of the examples he cited include Draw Things, an image generator that runs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and SwingVision, which analyzes tennis and pickleball gameplay in real time using the iPhone's cameras.

"The speed of AI development right now is just crazy," Brooks said. "I can't imagine where we're going to be a year from now, three months from now, or even a month from now," he added.

You can read the full interview over on The Deep View website.
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WhatsApp appears to be introducing a new visual indicator that shows when a contact is online, according to WaBetaInfo.


The feature adds a small green circle to a contact's profile photo when they're active in the app, and which disappears the moment they leave, all updated in real time. The indicator is now being tested for the WhatsApp iPhone app in TestFlight after it debuted on Android last month.

As it currently works, the dot only surfaces in the chat info screen (the page that opens when you tap a contact's name at the top of a conversation). It doesn't yet appear in the chat list or the conversation view itself, but that could change in the future.

The change appears to stick to WhatsApp's existing privacy rules, so if someone has specifically chosen to hide their last seen and online status, the green dot won't show up for them.


The indicator is live in the WhatsApp beta for iOS 26.26.10.72. WABetaInfo reports that it's available to some beta testers now, with a wider beta rollout expected over the coming weeks. There's no word yet on when the green dot will reach the stable version for everyone, though.
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Apple will release iOS 27 in September, and despite the company's focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and nixing bugs, there are still many additional features on the way, not least of which is Apple's new context-aware Siri, re-tooled for the generative AI era.


This year's major iPhone software update isn't all about AI, though, as the following feature list testifies. iOS 27 remains in developer beta, while a public beta is expected to arrive this month.

Extend Your Photos and Lock Screen Wallpaper

A new wallpaper extension feature in iOS 27 uses Apple Intelligence to automatically expand a photo beyond its original boundaries so it fills the entire Lock Screen more naturally. If a photo is cropped too tightly, doesn't match your iPhone's aspect ratio, or it leaves empty space when positioned on the Lock Screen, iOS 27 can generate additional image content around the edges with the "Extend" option. It will analyze the existing image and create matching background details that blend with the original photo, so there's no need for aggressive cropping. The Extend option can also be found in the Photos app.

Organize Your Safari Tabs

Safari uses Apple Intelligence to automatically organize your open tabs into related topics, making them easier to browse and manage. For example, if you're shopping for a new refrigerator while planning a vacation, Safari groups tabs for each activity into separate topic-based collections. You can enable this feature by opening Tab View, tapping the three-line icon in the top-right corner, and turning on Automatically Create Topics.

Use Natural Language for Reminder and Calendar Entries

In the Reminders app, you can now create reminders using natural language, and Apple Intelligence will automatically fill in details such as the date, time, and location. For example, if you type "Pick up Dad at 6 p.m. tonight" or "Send the photos to Eric tomorrow at 3 p.m.," Reminders extracts the relevant information and adds it to the reminder automatically.

The Calendar app also supports natural language input, identifying people, dates, and locations as you type. You can then tap the suggested information to quickly add it to your event.

Inline Reply to Messages From Android Users

In the Messages app, you can now long press on a specific message from an Android user (a green chat bubble) and get an option to reply to it. That contrasts with iOS 26, where inline replies are limited to blue bubbles sent over Apple's iMessage platform.

Upgrade Your Wallet Passes

Apple has expanded the redesigned pass experience in the Wallet app with iOS 27, bringing the enhanced design introduced for airline boarding passes in iOS 26 to additional pass types. Membership, gift, loyalty, and rewards cards can now use a new Poster Generic layout with a background image, a logo, customizable header and footer fields, main information, and an optional barcode. Passes can also include up to two quick actions at the bottom, such as getting directions to a venue or checking a rewards points balance.

Describe Your Next Shortcut

Apple Intelligence makes creating shortcuts much more accessible by letting you build them with natural language. Tapping New Shortcut in the Shortcuts app opens a Describe a Shortcut interface, where you simply explain what you want the shortcut to do. You can describe a single action or a more complex automation, and Apple Intelligence selects the appropriate actions and assembles the shortcut automatically.

For example, you could create a shortcut that sets tomorrow's alarm based on your first Calendar event, enables Sleep Focus, and dims the bedroom lights each evening, or one that displays your first meeting, the weather, and today's reminders every morning. Like existing shortcuts, these automations can be triggered by factors such as the time of day, your location, app activity, system events like taking a screenshot, incoming notifications, and more.

Get a Better Flyover of Your City

Apple is enhancing the Flyover feature in Maps with iOS 27, using Apple Intelligence models to improve aerial imagery with greater texture and sharper detail. Trees, buildings, and other landmarks appear more realistic, with more accurate geometry and improved lighting effects.

According to Apple, the update makes select cities around the world look more lifelike, from the shape of individual trees to the way light reflects off glass skyscrapers. Flyover already offers detailed 3D views of landmarks, roads, parks, and buildings in more than 350 cities, so iOS 27 is essentially using AI to further improve the quality of those visualizations.

Ask Siri What Your Camera Sees

The iOS 27 Camera app has a new "Siri" mode that is available in addition to the video, photo, and other camera modes. The new mode uses Visual Intelligence to identify objects in the frame and provide information about them. It can be used to identify plants, animals, food, and more. If it's food you want info on, for example, it can tell you what it is, and how many calories are in it.

Other examples ‌Siri‌ mode can be used for include capturing a photo of an event flyer and adding a date to the Calendar app, text translation, splitting a bill, and more.

Make Your Lock Screen Clock More Compact

A new compact clock mode is available as a new Lock Screen layout option in iOS 27. Found in the top-right corner of the Font & Color panel, the option moves the time from its traditional large, centered position to a much smaller format alongside the date and widgets at the top of the screen. It's a nice option to have if you like a cleaner Lock Screen look that shows off your wallpaper more fully, and it's the complete opposite effect introduced in iOS 26 that stretches the clock down the screen.

Generate Photo-realistic Images with Image Playground

Apple's Image Playground has been a bit of an embarrassment up until now, being limited to cutesy re-renderings of actual photos and sketched illustrations. But the app gets a major update in iOS 27. Powered by a new generative model that runs on Private Cloud Compute, it can produce high-quality images in virtually any style, including photo-realistic output for the first time. All generated images automatically carry a hidden SynthID watermark to identify them as AI-generated. The app now also supports photo-based editing in addition to creation.

Tweak Liquid Glass Opacity

If Apple's Liquid Glass UI embrace in iOS 26 wasn't your thing, there's a way to tone it down. In iOS 27, Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under Settings ➝ Appearance ➝ Liquid Glass. It changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and you can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that allows some of the background to show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves the legibility of text, or choose something in between.

Create a Slideshow from Any Album

In iOS 27, you can create a slideshow from any album, collection, or selection of photos in the Photos app, rather than being limited to Memories. Open an album or select multiple photos, tap the menu button in the top-right corner, and choose Start Slideshow. Slideshows can be customized with different transition styles, slide durations, and background music, and then saved as a video or shared directly to social media.
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Development of Apple's rumored camera-equipped AirPods Pro has been halted, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami."


In a blunt post on X referencing a June post about the product "case" being "concluded," the leaker appeared to be correcting it to say that the project has been "suspended." No other details were provided.

The claim comes as quite a surprise, given that Bloomberg reported in May that the camera-equipped AirPods Pro were nearing completion and had reached an "advanced" testing stage, suggesting early mass production could be imminent.

That said, the same report also noted that Apple could also opt to wait to launch the AirPods if it was not satisfied with the quality of the ‌Visual Intelligence‌ features in development for ‌Siri‌.

The AirPods Pro's built-in cameras are said to feed visual information about the wearer's surroundings to Siri. The cameras would not be for taking photos or videos, but used solely for AI purposes. "Kosutami" claimed in February that the infrared cameras will allow for the AirPods Pro to be "connected with Apple Intelligence," and other reliable sources have since corroborated that claim. The new AirPods have been in development for around four years.

Apple reportedly wanted to start selling the camera-equipped AirPods Pro in the first half of 2026, but the product's launch was held back because the smarter, AI version of ‌Siri‌ was still being developed – it exists in the current iOS 27 beta, but it won't be widely available until the release of iOS 27 in September.

Bloomberg said Apple was expecting strong demand for the new AirPods Pro and had operations teams working to secure components for a launch in challenging circumstances, owing to the industry-wide shortage of memory chips and other silicon. It's not clear whether this is the reason behind Kosutami's claim that the project has been suspended.

Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, around 10 months before the iPhone 16 Pro launched, they correctly revealed that it would feature a metal-enclosed battery.

They also provided an early look at an Apple Watch band made from Apple's controversial FineWoven material. However, Kosutami incorrectly claimed that AirPods Pro 3 were imminent in August 2024.
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Opera browser has announced a new security feature called Paste Protect that aims to stop clipboard-based cyberattacks before their malicious commands can be accidentally executed.


Opera says it's the first major browser to offer native protection against ClickFix attacks – a growing form of social engineering that tricks users into copying and pasting malicious commands into a computer's terminal. The new feature is built into Opera's desktop browsers and enabled by default.

ClickFix attacks typically masquerade as routine troubleshooting prompts, such as fake CAPTCHA verification or video playback fixes. Once pasted and executed, the commands can install malware, steal passwords, or give attackers remote access to a device. Opera describes the browsing risk as follows:

A ClickFix-style attack usually starts with something small and ordinary: a video that won't play, or a CAPTCHA that won't quite verify you're human. A pop-up offers a fix, telling you to copy a short command and paste it into your computer's terminal. It looks like routine troubleshooting. In reality, that command can install malware, steal saved passwords, or hand an attacker remote access to your machine, all carried out by the user's own hands, on their own device.

Opera features an existing clipboard hijack protection feature that prevents external applications from silently replacing copied content such as cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Paste Protect combines this with a new injection protection system that monitors clipboard activity for suspicious commands copied from websites and blocks potentially malicious content before it reaches the clipboard.

Users can see the first 120 characters of the blocked content, and developers working with trusted sources can override the block or mark specific sites as safe.

Opera cited research from cybersecurity firm Huntress that said ClickFix accounted for more than 53 percent of malware-loading cyberattacks last year, indicating the rapid growth of the technique.

Apple itself introduced a related safeguard for the Mac with the release of macOS Tahoe 26.4 earlier this year. Following the update, the operating system explicitly warns the user before they paste potentially dangerous commands into the Terminal app.

Opera browser is available now as a free update and can be downloaded from the company's website.
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For the last 19 years, the iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) has selected the best photographs captured with an iPhone, and the 2026 award winners were announced today.


The IPPA 2026 Grand Prize image features a volcano dramatically erupting in the Cayman Islands, with the photo shot by Robyn Jensen on an iPhone 15 Pro.


The Gold Prize image by Gellért Gombai features two children napping on grass in the shadow of a badminton racket, with the photo shot in black and white using an iPhone X. There are also Silver and Bronze prize winners taken on iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models, respectively.


There are other winners across a number of categories, including abstract, animals, architecture, children, cityscape, landscape, lifestyle, nature, people, portrait, series, still life, travel, and other. All of the winning images can be viewed on the IPPA website.

The contests are open to iPhone and iPad users worldwide, and images can be edited with iOS apps. It is worth noting that it costs money to send in a photo, but Apple devices are provided as prizes. The 20th annual entry deadline for submissions is March 31, 2027.
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TV Time, the popular show and movie tracking app, is shutting down on July 15, with all personal user data set to be deleted after that date.


In a support page update announcing the news, the company admitted that it was "no longer sustainable to continue operating the service as a free app," and said that there was "not enough demand for a paid app."

Come the shutdown date, the TV Time app will be removed from both the App Store and Google Play, and the tvtime.com website will go offline permanently.

Users who want to preserve their viewing history and tracked data can request an export through the app's GDPR self-service tool before the July 15 cutoff. The company says all personal user data will be deleted after that date, but it may retain aggregated, non-personal data for business or legal purposes.

TV Time has operated for more than a decade, and over that period it built a dedicated community around episode tracking, watchlists, and user ratings. In the wake of the closure announcement, users on the Resetera forums have suggested alternatives like Trakt, Serializd, and Simkl – although the latter's servers have reportedly struggled under a sudden wave of new sign-ups.
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Apple has told suppliers to prepare to make approximately 10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from a previous forecast of about 7-8 million units a few months ago, reports Nikkei Asia ($).


Apple has already booked parts for roughly 80 million smartphones for the second half of 2026, which includes the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the first-ever foldable iPhone. The company's full 2026 production is expected to top 220 million units, according to the publication.

Apple's purchasing power is said to have left it better positioned than rivals like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, which have each cut annual production targets below 100 million units amid an industry-wide memory shortage.

Some suppliers have reportedly been told to expect orders for as many as 85 million new iPhones in the second half of 2026, with Apple asking them to reserve iPhone 17 components for the coming iPhone 18 lineup.

Engineering problems tied to the foldable iPhone's hinge appear to have been resolved, but that has raised the odds of a small initial shipment following the device's launch. A larger production run likely won't begin until closer to the end of the year.

Apple raised prices on MacBooks and iPads last month in response to rising component costs, but the iPhone 17 lineup has so far been spared from a price hike. If that remains the case, Apple will likely use the new devices launches to introduce increased pricing across the lineup. IDC has predicted that the foldable will carry an average selling price of $2,500, with storage options potentially priced as high as $3,000.

Apple's foldable iPhone is rumored to feature a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover display, along with Touch ID instead of Face ID, an A20 chip, and Apple's C2 modem. The device is expected to be released alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in September. Apple's book-style foldable could launch as the "iPhone Ultra," as suggested by reports.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook held "constructive" talks with EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen on Tuesday about releasing Siri AI in the bloc while complying with the bloc's digital rules, reports the Financial Times ($).


An EU spokesperson told the publication the virtual meeting had involved a "constructive exchange on topics of common interest, on which the work continues."

Siri AI will be available for free with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 when they are released in September. However, the enhanced chatbot-style Siri will not be available in the EU on iOS and iPadOS until it can find a path forward under the bloc's regulatory framework. That includes the new Siri app for revisiting conversations, expanded Visual Intelligence capabilities, integrated writing tools, Siri mode in the Camera app on iPhone, and more.

When the new enhanced Siri AI features were announced at WWDC 2026 last month, Apple said EU regulators did not accept any of the company's proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants.

According to the Commission, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) requires Apple to give rival AI assistants access to the same underlying iPhone capabilities as Siri, allowing them to perform many of the same tasks on a user's behalf with appropriate user consent.

To address the issue, Apple came up with the idea of a Trusted System Agent – intermediary software that would be designed to let third-party virtual assistants securely access the same system capabilities as Siri AI on EU devices. Apple said the EU rejected the proposal.

The EU quickly shot back against that characterization, however, saying the decision not to launch Siri AI in the bloc was entirely Apple's and that the company sought an exemption from its legal obligations rather than a compliant solution. Regulators also said Apple simply requested a blanket exemption from its interoperability obligations under the DMA, something the Commission said is not an available option.

The dispute prompted a wave of criticism of the Commission. According to the Financial Times, EU officials received hundreds of emails from consumers accusing Brussels of denying Europeans access to the new technology.

As for Apple's proposed Trusted System Agent, a Commission official told the publication its contact with Apple on the idea was limited, and that it lacked a concrete proposal or details on how such an agent would work beyond the general concept. The official claimed Apple "focused on obtaining a green light to delay compliance."

"Apple's proposal to delay interoperability for third-party AI agents while having its product available to users would have risked leading to the entrenchment of its service before others would get a chance to compete for at least two years if not more," the official said.

By contrast, the official said changes Google made to Android prompted the Commission to open a formal consultation on how the company could comply with the DMA and avoid hefty fines.

Apple has not publicly commented on the latest round of discussions.
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Last summer, Swiss-based Proton launched Lumo, an AI assistant with a privacy-first approach. Today, the company has announced Lumo 2.0, a major update to the chatbot that brings three new features commensurate with its core principles of no logs, no data sharing, and zero-access encryption.


Proton says Lumo 2 has been rebuilt on a new architecture that brings its biggest leap in capability to date, with Fast and Thinking modes now available. Fast of course prioritizes speed, while Thinking is optimized for more complex, multi-step reasoning. Proton says Lumo 2 responds to everyday queries up to 76 percent faster than Lumo 1.4.

Beyond the new architecture, Lumo 2 also boasts multimodal capabilities such as image generation and image recognition. Users can now upload an image to analyze, create visuals from a prompt or a rough sketch, or edit existing images, all in the same conversation.

On top of the new features, Lumo 2.0 has far stronger web search compared to Lumo 1.4, according to the company. There's also a Memory feature that lets Lumo learn your preferences, working style, and ongoing context, with the context window now twice as large.

Lumo 2.0 also introduces Custom Lumos, described as enabling purpose-built assistants that can be tailored to specific tasks, such as a research assistant that structures answers the way you need them.


Lumo is free to use at Lumo.proton.me and does not require a Proton account when accessed. However, if you have a Proton account, your chat history can be saved using the company's "zero-access" encryption across all your devices. There are also mobile apps for iPhone and Android.

For power users, Lumo Plus brings unlimited chats, Projects, advanced image generation, and priority access to the fastest models. Plus costs $12.99 per month, and there's also a Lumo Professional plan for teams offering secure collaboration for $14.99 per user per month, with discounts currently available for both plans.
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Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models are expected to introduce new color options, including a dark cherry color, and today we may have been given another peek at the rumored finish, courtesy of the Chinese leaker known as Ice Universe.


In an image posted on Weibo, a SIM tray allegedly from the unreleased iPhone is shown in a dark cherry color, which could also be described in this grainy example as burgundy, brownish, or purple.

Multiple rumors have suggested Apple is testing a deep reddish finish for the iPhone 18 Pro models, and the color is expected to be the special one that Apple markets prominently in 2026, similar to how it did for the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro.

Two other colors Apple is said to be planning are Light Blue and Dark Gray. Apple may also offer the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in Silver. Macworld has previously claimed to have identified the Pantone colors for all four finishes.

The four colors were also spotted in the first iPhone 18 Pro dummy models to leak, providing another look at the shades Apple is likely to use.

Notably, in the same Weibo thread where the SIM tray image was posted, Ice Universe responded to another user asking if the iPhone 18 Pro would be available in black. The leaker replied simply, "No." It's not the first time we've heard there will be no black iPhone 18 Pro model this year.

Apple's next-generation premium devices are expected to be unveiled in September alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone, which could have its own set of more muted color finishes, with silver, white, and indigo rumored so far, with other rumors suggesting it will be available in two colors or perhaps even just one.
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Apple could be taking action to limit the spread of leaked iPhone 18 Pro video footage that surfaced online following a recent cyberattack targeting Tata Electronics, one of Apple's manufacturing partners in India.


Over the last day, video clips that apparently showed an iPhone 18 Pro undergoing drop testing began appearing on X (Twitter). The clips appeared to show a silver-gray iPhone 18 Pro model with a more uniform rear aesthetic than the current iPhone 17 Pro's two-tone design. The device had the expected three-camera rear array, but the lenses appeared to protrude more from the plateau than on the iPhone 17 Pro. The Apple logo on the back of the device also appeared to have a reflective finish.

The clips were initially shared by an account using the @EvLeaks handle and were reposted by Ice Universe, but the posts have been taken down by X, citing a violation of the platform's rules. The @EvLeaks account has since been suspended.

Evan Blass, who was previously associated with the EvLeaks name, says he has "nothing to do with the new @EvLeaks account nor the purported iPhone leak posted there." Blass added: "Looks like Apple may have done what Samsung never could," likely referring back to the hundreds of Samsung leaks that Blass himself has been able to freely make public unimpeded over the years.

It is not clear whether the posts were removed at Apple's request or Tata's request, or because the videos were later believed to be fake.

Elsewhere, over in China, Ice Universe claimed on Weibo that Apple had "already banned the leaked data on Twitter."

Apple has not publicly commented on the removals, but the videos appeared to be genuine based on similar descriptions provided by Reuters.

The alleged leaked footage follows the outlet's report that Apple is "concerned" about confidential files stolen from Tata Electronics and circulated on the dark web. Reuters said the leaked files included Apple-watermarked documents, component details, supplier information, codenames, and images of iPhone 18 Pro models during drop testing. Apple is said to be investigating the incident and working with Tata on long-term measures to improve security.

We are not sharing the videos or images of them here out of caution, though some are still circulating online. They may not last the day, however. The speed of the takedowns, if instigated by Apple, may indicate that the company is moving more aggressively than usual in the face of a major data breach in order to prevent further spread.

Alternatively, it could be that the videos simply originated from an X account that was suspended for impersonating someone else, and they where later deemed to be fakes for that reason. We should know for sure when the iPhone 18 Pro is released in September.
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The U.K.'s competition regulator has proposed letting app developers direct users to payment options outside Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, in a move aimed at increasing competition and reducing the fees charged by the two companies.


As reported by Reuters, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the proposals would remove restrictions that currently prevent U.K. developers from directing users to off-platform payment options.

The regulator said any fees Apple and Google charge developers for enabling such "steering" must be fair and reasonable, remain below existing App Store and Play Store commissions, and allow developers to either pass savings on to consumers or reinvest them in innovation.

The CMA said it was also considering making Apple open up access to its near-field communication (NFC) technology, which is used for Apple Pay contactless payments. This would allow developers to potentially offer alternative payment options within their own apps.

Last year, Apple was designated with strategic market status (SMS) in the U.K. for iOS and iPadOS, which enables the CMA to initiate targeted interventions designed to open the platforms to greater competition.

Apple has previously said it does not support allowing developers to direct users to off-platform payments. The company argues this ​could undermine user security and fraud ​protections, and limit its ability ⁠to verify transactions.

An Apple spokesperson told Reuters it could open the door to "scams, bait-and-switch tactics, and the circumvention of parental controls."

"When users are directed away from Apple's trusted payment infrastructure, they lose the protections ​they rely on Apple to provide," the spokesperson said, adding the U.S. tech giant would continue to "make ​our concerns clear" ⁠to the CMA.

In February, Apple and Google agreed to a series of changes aimed at making their app stores fairer for developers. Under terms published by the CMA, both companies said they will ensure apps are reviewed and ranked on their app stores in a "fair, objective and transparent way," without discrimination against apps that compete with their own services.

Apple must allow developers to more easily request access to iOS features and functionality, which could clear the way for third-party apps to better compete with Apple's own services.
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The next major Mac Studio update is still a couple of years away, but a refresh for 2026 is still in the cards, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Writing in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman said Apple has two Mac Studio refreshes in the pipeline: an M5 Ultra version due this year, and a more significant M7 Ultra model expected in 2028.

Apple appears set to skip the higher-end M6 chips entirely, hence the two-year gap between the two models. Gurman reported earlier this month that Apple is canceling its higher-end M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, instead releasing a base M6 this year and moving its next Pro and Max silicon to the M7 lineup, which is expected to lean heavily into on-device AI and GPU-intensive workloads.

Apple has always had at least three variants of its in-house silicon, including the base M-series chip, a Pro version, and a Max version. The M6 will mark the first time that Apple is not coming out with a Pro or Max chip for the lineup.

For the Mac Studio, that means jumping straight from M5 Ultra to M7 Ultra – there will be no M6 Ultra in between. While a major redesign is not expected for this year's M5 Ultra model, Gurman says Apple has been developing new inner architecture for the 2028 Mac Studio, including a better heat sink to improve thermal performance.

The ‌Mac Studio‌ refresh was supposed to come earlier in 2026, but Apple reportedly postponed the launch because of memory chip supply issues and price increases. Apple has reportedly tested support for up to 768GB of unified memory, but supply constraints could prevent it from launching with an option for that much memory.

It remains unclear whether Apple will make an October launch for the M5 version, especially given that the current M3 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ still has delivery estimates stretching into October.
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An alleged image of the iPhone 18 Pro motherboard has leaked online, showing the A20 Pro chip will use a new packaging technology that should offer notable performance gains over the previous model.


The leaked image, which has been shared by the accounts "WHYLAB" and "Ice Universe" on Weibo, appears to show the A20 Pro chip integrated into TSMC's new packaging architecture, known as Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) technology.

Traditionally, Apple has used package-on-package (PoP) designs, where the DRAM sits directly on top of the application processor. The advantages of this method are lower power consumption and reduced latency, but it also makes heat concentrated in the packaging area.

In the leaked WMCM implementation, by contrast, the DRAM has been moved to the side of the package, which should reduce thermal coupling between the processor and DRAM while improving heat dissipation during sustained workloads. Apple's design is also said to be equipped with LPDDR6 memory with a 96-bit memory bus, which should provide more energy-efficient bandwidth.

The chip size is said to be roughly the same as the A19 Pro, but the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) appears to be significantly larger, suggesting that Apple is also aiming to improve AI performance.

The leaked image has not been confirmed as authentic, but the WMCM technology has been repeatedly rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Powered by the A20 Pro chip, the foldable iPhone and iPhone 18 Pro models are also expected to use TSMC's new 2nm process, also known as N2, boasting performance improvements that could be up to 15 percent faster and 30 percent more efficient than A19 chips.


In addition, N2 introduces new super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal (SHPMIM) capacitors into the chip's power delivery system. These capacitors more than double the capacitance density of the previous generation. Together with the adoption of WMCM, the changes should boost performance globally and improve power stability and energy efficiency.

The Pro and Fold models are expected to share 12GB of RAM, 48-megapixel rear cameras, and Apple's C2 modem. All three models are expected to be released in September this year.
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