Apple is working on a high-end MacBook Pro, and it's nearly ready to launch. It will have several firsts in a Mac, including an OLED display and a touchscreen.

Design

Apple hasn't redesigned the ‌MacBook Pro‌ since the launch of the M1 Pro and M1 Max models in 2021, so it's due for a new look. The new ‌MacBook Pro‌ is expected to feature some minor design changes. There's only so much you can do in a laptop form factor, but rumors say it will be lighter and possibly a bit thinner than before, which suggests some tweaks to the casing.

Apple plans to get rid of the notch, replacing it with an iPhone-style Dynamic Island. A ‌Dynamic Island‌ could better unify the way Siri AI behaves across the iPhone and the Mac with iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate, and it will take up less space on the display.

We haven't heard rumors of keyboard or trackpad changes, and neither needs an overhaul.

Size Options

The ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ will be available in both 14-inch and 16-inch size options. It's not yet clear if it will replace the current models or be sold as a higher-end option alongside them.

Display

Apple's upcoming ‌MacBook Pro‌ will be the first with an ‌OLED‌ display. ‌OLED‌ display technology is already used for the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad Pro, but it has taken time for larger-sized ‌OLED‌ screens to come down in price.

‌OLED‌ will be an upgrade over the current mini-LED display technology in most cases, bringing richer colors and a higher contrast ratio with true blacks. In an ‌OLED‌ display, individual pixels turn off instead of dimming when not in use, so there's less blooming. ‌OLED‌ displays tend to have better HDR than mini-LED, but sometimes don't match the mini-LED brightness levels.

Rumors indicate Apple is using rigid ‌OLED‌ panels with oxide TFT backplanes and advanced tandem OLED structures. Tandem ‌OLED‌ panels are used in the ‌iPad Pro‌ and have a longer lifespan with less burn-in than single-stack ‌OLED‌ panels.

Touchscreen

Along with ‌OLED‌ technology, the ‌MacBook Pro‌ is expected to have the first touchscreen display on a Mac. Users will be able to use their fingers to interact with the Mac's display, similar to an iPad.

Touchscreen capabilities will be used alongside the trackpad and keyboard, suggesting Apple sees touch as supplementary instead of a primary control method. Apple is rumored to be adapting ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ for touch input.

Apple plans to add a reinforced hinge to the ‌MacBook Pro‌'s display so that it doesn't wobble when it's tapped.

Touchscreen Hints in macOS 27

There are features in ‌macOS Golden Gate‌ that hint at a future touchscreen Mac. Apple added direct touch input to Sidecar so users can tap and interact with macOS elements when using the ‌iPad‌ as a Mac display.

‌macOS Golden Gate‌ supports an iPhone-style pull-to-refresh option, and it can be used across apps like Safari, Mail, News, Podcasts, and Calendar. A pull-to-refresh option makes the most sense on a touch display.

Chips

The current high-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models are equipped with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and Apple plans to use the same chips for the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌.

Apple already introduced an M6 chip in the latest Mac mini, and it's expected to appear in a low-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ and an iMac on October 28, but Bloomberg says Apple isn't going to release any other chips in the M6 series. Apple's chip plans changed earlier this year, and the company is now accelerating the launch of the M7 series. The M7 chips feature major neural-processing improvements that will meet demand for machines better able to handle AI tasks.

With no M6 Pro or M6 Max planned, Apple will need to use the M5 Pro and M5 Max so it doesn't have to wait for the M7 series before debuting the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌. A second-generation ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ will use the M7 Pro and M7 Max chips, with that machine planned for late 2027.

Naming

There were rumors that the ‌OLED‌ model would be called the "MacBook Ultra," but that's apparently not happening. Apple's product unveiling has the tagline "Pro and tell," making it clear the new device will keep the Pro name.

Pricing

Apple's ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ is expected to be a premium product, with a price tag higher than current ‌MacBook Pro‌ models. Apple raised the prices of all Macs in June 2026, so the ‌MacBook Pro‌ could be even more expensive. ‌MacBook Pro‌ pricing went up a minimum of $300 as part of the June price hikes.

The higher-end 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with M5 Pro chip starts at $2,499 after the price increase, while the 16-inch M5 Pro ‌MacBook Pro‌ starts at $2,999. The M5 Max models start at $4,099 for the 14-inch model and $4,399 for the 16-inch model.

Launch Date

Apple will introduce new Macs on Wednesday, October 28 as part of a "Pro and tell" launch. There won't be a livestreamed event, but some members of the media have been invited to Los Angeles to try out the new devices.

The ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ could launch as soon as November 6.
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Apple reportedly plans to unveil an iPad mini 8 with an OLED display next week, with those invited to Apple's Los Angeles experience on Wednesday, October 28 expected to receive hands-on time with the device, alongside MacBook Pro models with touch-enabled OLED displays, a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M6 chip, and an iMac with an M6 chip.


Here are 10 new features and changes expected for the iPad mini 8:

• Apple's latest A20 Pro chip, manufactured with TSMC's advanced 2nm process. Expect up to around 1.5× faster CPU performance and up to around 2.5× faster GPU performance compared to the A17 Pro chip in the current iPad mini. A20 Pro also introduces a "dual 16-core Neural Engine" for a total of 32 cores.


• With the A20 Pro chip, the next iPad mini will have 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB of RAM in the current model. This means the device will support the ability to customize the pace and expressiveness of Siri AI's voice.


• A slightly larger OLED display with better overall image quality compared to the current LCD model, thanks to richer colors and higher contrast ratio with true blacks. Apple has apparently tested both 60Hz and 120Hz (ProMotion) refresh rates for the new model, but it is unclear which option it chose.


• Slimmer bezels around the display compared to the current model.


• Landscape front camera, meaning the camera will be in the right bezel instead of the top bezel when holding the device in an upright position.


• Apple's custom-designed N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support.


• Apple's custom-designed C1X or C2 modem for cellular configurations.


• A redesigned speaker system with no speaker holes and potentially an iPhone earpiece-like speaker in the top bezel.


• IP-rated water resistance for the first time.

In the U.S., the current iPad mini starts at $599 after receiving a $100 price increase in June, which Apple attributed to skyrocketing RAM and storage chip prices. With a costlier OLED display, the next model might be even more expensive.
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With just three days to go until the iPhone Duo is released, Apple is getting ready for the launch. Behind the scenes, the App Store now has screenshots of Apple's built-in apps running on the Duo. We've seen some apps in marketing materials, but images of the ones we haven't seen give us an idea of what it will be like using the ‌iPhone Duo‌ day to day.


Many apps are shown in landscape orientation with an iPad-like interface that uses some of the screen real estate for sidebar navigation. Other apps use the full screen for more viewing space.




Some apps have a dual view that goes beyond sidebar navigation. In Contacts, the app is divided into a list of names and a view for editing information.


The Siri app doesn't have a traditional sidebar, but it also doesn't get a full split. The left part of the interface is a tiled view of conversations, while the full conversation can be viewed on the right.




The ‌iPhone Duo‌ adopts a vertical dock and vertical navigation bars on the right side of the display in both open and closed views. The exception is an open view with the ‌iPhone Duo‌ held vertically, similar to an iPad in portrait orientation. When positioned that way, navigation bars remain at the bottom of the interface.


Apple's screenshots don't show many apps in the unfolded vertical orientation, but it is a viewing option. Apple says it's ideal for apps that use the keyboard or for browsing in Safari.



Apps like Preview have palettes at the bottom for selecting tools, and those are combined with sidebars, navigation bars, or both. Markup editing gives a good preview of what drawing and photo editing apps will be like, with a large amount of display space paired with a bottom tool palette.




Apps that don't need large navigation bars have widescreen views that take up the whole display. Apps that do have navigation bars have an option to tap to hide the bar.




Floating popovers show up when you press and hold on an icon. The popovers aren't scaled up and take up less room on the display than they do on Apple's smaller iPhones.




When you're on the Home Screen, you'll see the Today view on the left of the display with your widgets, while app icons are on the right. The status bar is in the upper-right corner, and the Lock Screen icons like Flashlight and Camera are in the bottom right. The inner display doesn't have an always-visible Dynamic Island because there is no Face ID and the FaceTime camera is under the screen. Apple is still using the ‌Dynamic Island‌, which expands out from the side of the display for Live Activities and alerts. The outer display has a small vertical ‌Dynamic Island‌ that includes the camera cutout.


Most of the ‌App Store‌ screenshots have the ‌iPhone Duo‌ unfolded in landscape orientation, though some also show what apps will look like on the smaller outer display.




Apps will be able to transition quickly from open to closed and to different positions, and Apple made an effort to keep navigation buttons in the same place for a unified experience no matter how you're using it.




Open and closed aren't the only options for the ‌iPhone Duo‌. Few screenshots show the positions, but the Duo can be used laptop-style at an angle for watching videos or standing in a tent shape with the outer display visible. You can also use it partially open and held like a book.

Screenshots also don't show two apps used side by side or multiple windows of the same app like Safari, both of which are options. We'll see a deluge of ‌iPhone Duo‌ updates for third-party apps when the device comes out.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ is launching on October 23, which is this Friday. We should be getting media reviews and first impressions as soon as tomorrow since we'll be two days out from release.

(Thanks, Alireza!)
This article, "Here's What Apple's Apps Look Like on the iPhone Duo" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Linux cgroups has been used for a while to group processes and control their access to certain system resources. One of those resources is memory, through the use of memcg. That control is dynamic, allowing for cgroups to setup a minimal and a maximal amount of memory, as well as low and high thresholds, which will control the reclaim process.

But what about device memory that is not available as system RAM? Memory that is not available to the Linux page allocator? One of those device memories is GPU VRAM.

That's where the dmem cgroup controller comes in. Introduced in Linux 6.14, it was first adopted by the Intel Xe driver. In Linux 6.15, AMD amdgpu driver also adopted it. In 7.3, it was adopted by nouveau.

Such a cgroup controller allows the system to be configured such that a workload, be it a browser, a game, or another GPU rendering process can have some minimal VRAM available. Or it can prevent one of these processes from using all VRAM, preventing your compositor from using it, for example.

Let's go through the system knobs that are available to control this and what's new in Linux 7.3.

dmem regions and dmem.capacity

Since a given system might have multiple GPUs, there might be multiple device memory regions. So, on dmem, each such region is described by a name. Every dmem cgroup setting file will contain one line per region. One of those files shows the capacity of each region in bytes and is present only in the root cgroup.

After enabling the dmem cgroup with the following command:

# echo +dmem > /sys/fs/cgroup/cgroup.subtree_control

One can inspect the capacity of any available regions by looking at dmem.capacity at the root cgroup:

# cat /sys/fs/cgroup/dmem.capacity
drm/0000:03:00.0/vram 8573157376

That shows that the GPU at PCI address 0000:03:00.0 has a 8176MiB VRAM dmem region.

dmem settings

When introduced at 6.14, the following settings were available.

dmem.current

In every dmem cgroup, including the root cgroup, the dmem.current is a read-only file that shows the current usage of each region by the given cgroup.

# cat /sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/dmem.current
drm/0000:03:00.0/vram 292757504

Here, it shows that user.slice cgroup is currently using above 292 MB of VRAM.

# cat /sys/fs/cgroup/dmem.current
drm/0000:03:00.0/vram 311377920

Here, we can check that total system usage is above 311 MB.

dmem.max

Excluding the root cgroup, dmem cgroups can control the maximal number of bytes that can be allocated from a region by processes in that cgroup. If an allocation moves the usage above the max setting, it will be refused. In that case, the allocation might be attempted at system memory or it might trigger eviction, depending on the allocation parameters and the driver.

Here, the max value has special meaning, which is unrestricted usage.

# echo drm/0000:03:00.0/vram 536870912 > /sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/dmem.max
# cat /sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/dmem.max
drm/0000:03:00.0/vram 536870912
# echo drm/0000:03:00.0/vram max > /sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/dmem.max
# cat /sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/dmem.max
drm/0000:03:00.0/vram max

dmem.min

dmem.min, also not available on the root cgroup, will control the eviction process - when memory needs to be moved out of VRAM to make room for other VRAM allocations. If an object belongs to a cgroup which is using less than its min setting, it will not be considered for eviction. It effectively works as a hard protection such that the cgroup can use at least the minimal setting.

Given multiple cgroups may set a minimal value that exceeds the device memory capacity, it computes an effective minimal depending on the hierarchy.

dmem.low

While dmem.min works as a hard limit, dmem.low is a soft limit that will prevent eviction in case other objects from different cgroups are available for eviction. That is, the system will try to evict from different, possibly unprotected cgroups, before it tries to evict from a cgroup if evicting would leave its usage below the value set as dmem.low.

Recent developments in Linux 7.3

Some new changes have been recently introduced in the dmem cgroup controller and its integration with GPUs.

One of those is a new read-only file, dmem.peak, which was introduced to allow the peak usage of a region in a cgroup to be inspected.

Also, Linux 7.3 fixed certain scenarios where a given cgroup would not be able to allocate VRAM up to its minimal or low limits if other processes had already allocated most of VRAM, even though they had no such limits set.

Changing multiple regions' settings in a single write was possible before 7.3, but it was prone to failures which would not be reported to userspace and might have left the values partially updated. Starting with 7.3, only one region may be updated per write.

And, finally, prior to 7.3, setting dmem.max in a cgroup that was using more than the new setting would silently fail. Now, there is a mechanism that allows a reclaim mechanism to be triggered. That way, when a process writes to dmem.max and sets a maximal value below the current usage, it will wait (unless O_NONBLOCK is used) for the reclaim process to move objects out of VRAM until the usage gets below the maximal value. If that is not possible for some reason, the setting will still be in place, restricting further alloctions by that cgroup.

In a support document that it has since deleted, Australian carrier Telstra said RCS support would be available starting with an iOS update coming in December. If this timeframe remains accurate, then iPhone users with Telstra will likely be able to use RCS in the Messages app starting with iOS 27.3.

RCS has many benefits over the traditional SMS standard for text messaging with Android users, including end-to-end encryption, read receipts, typing indicators, in-line replies, and more. Apple maintains a list of supported carriers.
This article, "iOS 27.3 May Expand RCS Support to Australia's Telstra in December" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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As reported by 9to5Mac, Apple is now selling parts for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro chips, and new Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips on its self-service repair store in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

After ordering parts and tools, customers with the know-how can follow the steps in Apple's repair manuals for each of these devices, allowing them to skip a visit to the Apple Store's Genius Bar or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
This article, "Apple Now Sells DIY Repair Parts for iPhone 18 Pro and Two New Macs" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple’s Designers of Tomorrow showcase returns to spotlight the best in emerging talent, this time focusing on the theme of presence.

In a press release focused on its latest American Manufacturing Program commitments today, Apple reiterated that Mac mini assembly in the U.S. will begin later this year, with Foxconn expected to build the computer at a facility in Houston, Texas.

In an interview earlier this year, Apple's operations chief Sabih Khan said that Mac mini units assembled in the U.S. would primarily serve the U.S. market, while production would continue in Asia for orders placed abroad.
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The new fourth-generation Apple TV 4K announced last week can connect to up to four HomePods in front-left, front-right, rear-left, and rear-right positions, enabling an all-Apple surround sound system for home theater setups. There is also a related new feature that has not received as much attention: Whole Room Audio.


Apple says the Whole Room Audio feature spreads sound evenly across four HomePods in a room.

"Whole Room Audio spreads sound evenly across four HomePod speakers for audio that's perfect for parties or game day," says Apple. "Everything from music to sports commentary comes through clearly, no matter where you are in the room."

According to the user "pdfu," who has been digging into Apple's software code in recent months, "Surround Sound" and "Whole Room Audio" will be separate options in tvOS 27.2's audio settings when four HomePods are connected to the new Apple TV 4K.


When enabled, "pdfu" said Whole Room Audio assigns the same left or right stereo channel to HomePods positioned diagonally opposite each other. This arrangement is designed to provide a more consistent stereo listening experience throughout a room, regardless of where you are standing or which direction you are facing. As mentioned by Apple, the feature is ideal for parties, where people might not always be facing the TV.

"Whole Room Audio" was previously referred to as "Party Mode" in rumors.

You can connect four of the new HomePod mini 2 speakers to the new Apple TV 4K, or you can mix and match pairs of HomePod mini 2 and full-sized HomePod 2 speakers, so long as the front and rear pairs of speakers match. For example, you can have two full-sized HomePod 2 speakers up front and two HomePod mini 2 speakers in the rear.

Previous-generation Apple TV 4K models remain limited to two HomePods for stereo sound.

The new Apple TV 4K launches on Friday, November 13, while the HomePod mini 2 launches on Friday, October 30. Both devices can be pre-ordered now.
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Apple today announced new and expanded partnerships with two U.S. companies for iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro components and materials.


Through its existing American Manufacturing Program, Apple said it will commit up to $100 million over the next three years to Pennsylvania-based manufacturer Perryman, which produces titanium used in iPhone Duo enclosures.

In addition, Apple said Delaware-based Qnity Electronics will produce "advanced films" for the variable aperture camera system on the iPhone 18 Pro models.

Apple's commitments to Perryman and Qnity are part of its overall promise to invest $600 billion in U.S. manufacturing and innovation by the end of 2029.

"American ingenuity is vital to all our products, from the titanium crafted for iPhone Duo to breakthrough camera innovations in iPhone 18 Pro," said Apple's operations chief Sabih Khan. "We're proud to work with Perryman and Qnity Electronics to continue expanding our American Manufacturing Program and support U.S. jobs."

Apple said U.S. companies produce nearly 100 components in the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro.

By the end of 2026, Apple said all of the cover glass for all iPhone and Apple Watch models sold worldwide will be produced by Corning in Kentucky.

Apple CEO John Ternus highlighted this U.S. manufacturing announcement in a post on X today.
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Following an initial wave of pre-order discounts last week, Amazon's $9 discount on the HomeView quietly disappeared. Today, the small pre-order discount has returned for the Rose Pink color, allowing you to get the home hub for $289.99, down from $299.00.

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.

Although only a $9 discount, this is the first deal we've seen on the HomeView, and as of writing only Amazon is offering any sort of discount on the device. Amazon's delivery estimates have begun stretching into late November, past the HomeView's launch date of November 13.



In terms of pre-order discounts, Amazon also has the new Apple TV 4K for $289.99, down from $299.00, with an estimated delivery date on launch day of November 13. This beats Apple's current delivery estimates, which have slipped into late November/early December, so it's a great chance to save a little money and get the Apple TV 4K on the 13th.



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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Amazon today has the Black Apple Watch Ultra 3 with the Black Milanese Loop (Large) for $599.97, down from $899.00. This is a massive $299 discount on the previous-generation device, and it comes in around $100 cheaper than the last time we saw this model on sale.

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.

If you're shopping for the regular models, you'll find numerous discounts at Amazon and Best Buy this week. You can get the Black and Natural Apple Watch Ultra 3 for $649.00, down from $799.00, which is over $100 under the current sale price of the Ultra 4.



Best Buy has quite a few Apple Watch Ultra 3 models at this low price tag, with both delivery and in-store pick-up options available this week. If you're looking for a detailed breakdown on the similarities and differences between the Ultra 3 and Ultra 4, you can check out our Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs. Ultra 4 Buyer's Guide.

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.

Update: This deal has expired.

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Apple announced new and expanded partnerships with American companies that are supplying critical materials and components for iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro.

The Chinese author Cixin Liu [1] is most known for his book The Three Body Problem and it’s sequels. One of the main plot elements in the book is that every species in the universe is cool with genocide and willing to commit genocide as a preemptive strike against any star system found to contain intelligent life.

It’s not unreasonable to think that some planets may be by run societies like that, if one star system in 10,000 had a technological society and one society in 10,000 is run by depraved autocratic governments that would make 1,000+ planets in our galaxy that are run by genocidal groups!

To think that every single society wants to commit genocide at every opportunity says a lot about every person who makes such claims. If you believe that everyone wants to do something then it must be something you really want to do. If there’s something you really don’t want to do then you will be able to imagine a system of government where the majority of citizens vote against doing it.

Even in the more horrible parts of human history there hasn’t been a genocide comparable to destroying and entire star system, genocide is usually based on slavery and large scale armed robbery. To just commit large scale genocide with a side effect of destroying valuable resources without any investigation or attempts at negotiation just based on fear of others is an extreme that I don’t think humans have reached in history.

The Daleks are portrayed as a perverse extreme of xenophobia but even with the low budget SciFi trend of depicting aliens as mostly having a common belief system they managed to show some Daleks going against their system from time to time. Cixin Liu is a very talented writer but his attitude towards genocide has caused him to write SciFi with a major plot point that’s not great by Dr Who standards.

Overall his short stories are much better than the three novels he is most known for. But he shows his ass in some of them too. One notable example is a short story where a significant plot point is declaring a “right to sex” (for men) which involves government sponsored sex workers. A “right to sex” conflicts with a sex workers right to refuse sex for a potential client who is undesirable in some way. Regardless of opinions on whether sex work should be permitted I hope that the vast majority of voters in every jurisdiction can agree that sex workers shouldn’t be forced to do things that they don’t want to do.

Some writers like George Orwell create deliberately fictional scenarios that they hope to inspire opposition to bad ideas, I’m sure that many proposed laws have failed to get enacted after being described as “Orwellian”. But describing a fictional horror situation as inevitable is a way of driving support for such things. It’s particularly noteworthy when written by a citizen of a country that’s involved in genocide.

A possible counter argument would be “but he is living in a repressive country and can’t oppose his government”. But when Hergé (the author of the Tintin graphic novels) was threatened about the consequences of writing another book like King Ottokar’s Sceptre [2] he didn’t write books in favour of authoritarianism, he just avoided the topic by writing about visiting the moon instead. I don’t think that people living in China now should be expected to publicly oppose evil things done by their government, but when they go out of their way to support such things it’s their choice and we should note that they made that choice.

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t read his work as his short stories are definitely worth reading. But the Three Body Problem series really isn’t that good, he prevented many potentially interesting situations from happening by having every interaction between different species be based around genocide or the potential for it. Being a horrible person also made him a less capable SciFi author.

• [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Cixin
• [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ottokar%27s_Sceptre

Across my conversations with leaders in government, critical infrastructure and regulated industries, one priority consistently rises to the top: putting technology to work on their most important systems while maintaining the control those systems require.

This challenge is becoming more important as advanced cloud and AI capabilities move into public services, regulated processes and essential operations. Organizations are considering more than where data resides. They also seek to understand who can access and operate their systems, how sensitive digital assets remain protected, which technology dependencies matter most and whether critical services can continue as regulatory, geopolitical, security or network conditions change. Digital sovereignty should give organizations greater control and security over the technology they depend on, while continuing to innovate.

Last year, we introduced Microsoft Sovereign Cloud to give customers more choice in how they address these requirements. Since then, we have continued to turn our commitments into practical capabilities across public cloud and customer-operated environments, while expanding how we enable partners to address sovereignty requirements in their local markets. Today, we are sharing the next stage of that work.

A continuum of control, built around the workload

Our approach to digital sovereignty starts with the workload. Each workload carries different requirements for data, operations, technology dependencies, continuity and risk. Microsoft Sovereign Cloud is designed to make it easier for organizations to apply the appropriate level of control to each workload without forcing every application into the same deployment model.

Those needs can vary widely across organizations. A public-facing digital service may benefit from the scale and pace of innovation in the public cloud. A system supporting essential operations may need to continue running locally if connectivity is disrupted. An AI workload handling highly sensitive data may require models, data and processing to remain within a customer-controlled environment.

Microsoft Sovereign Cloud is designed around this workload-based approach, providing a continuum of management, control and options across Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud and the Sovereign Partner Ecosystem. Organizations can apply the level of control appropriate to each workload while maintaining a consistent approach to governance and operations across their digital estate. Sovereign Public Cloud adds capabilities for workloads that require greater control and transparency while continuing to benefit from the scale and innovation of Azure.

Sovereign Private Cloud extends cloud capabilities into customer-operated environments, including connected and disconnected operations. The Sovereign Partner Ecosystem broadens the continuum through independently operated environments, specialized partners, locally relevant expertise and technologies that support customers’ sovereignty requirements.

These are not isolated destinations. Customers can combine public cloud, private cloud and partner capabilities across their digital estate, applying different levels of control to different workloads as their operating needs evolve.

Making control more visible in Sovereign Public Cloud

For many workloads, the public cloud provides a combination of scale, innovation, integrated security and compliance. Organizations can benefit from these capabilities while applying additional sovereignty controls for residency, confidentiality, operator access, policy and continuity. Our work in Sovereign Public Cloud makes these controls easier to understand, apply and demonstrate.

Sovereign Control Panel, entering public preview at Microsoft Ignite, brings these signals together in a unified Azure portal experience. It helps organizations understand their sovereignty posture, apply and manage controls, identify gaps and risks and take action to address them. It also supports business continuity readiness by helping customers understand workload dependencies and assess portability across operating environments when required.

This visibility complements controls across the operator-access lifecycle. Just-in-time Access and Customer Lockbox give customers additional control over access to their environments. For customers in the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), we are rolling out Data Guardian, which adds European-resident oversight by a trusted EU partner for qualifying Microsoft engineer remote access to in-scope production systems. Production Touch Ledger, also launched with phased rollout in the EU and EFTA, creates tamper-evident records of that access and the actions performed.

Azure Key Vault Managed Hardware Security Module (HSM) already gives customers dedicated, single-tenant protection and control over the encryption keys used by supported Azure services. Last year, we committed to extending that control beyond Microsoft infrastructure. External key management with Azure Managed HSM is now generally available, allowing customers to keep the root encryption key in hardware they own and operate on-premises or through a trusted third party. This gives organizations another option for workloads that require physical control of key hardware outside Microsoft infrastructure.

Azure confidential computing helps protect supported data while it is processed in a hardware-based and attested trusted execution environment. We are also increasing transparency into the technologies that underpin that trust. Azure Confidential Clean Rooms, now in limited preview, applies confidential computing to approved multiparty collaboration, allowing participants to analyze shared sensitive data while limiting broader exposure of the underlying information.

Together, these capabilities provide additional technical and operational controls that can support a broader digital sovereignty strategy aligned to an organization’s legal, policy, security, resilience and business requirements.

Designing for resilience and operational independence

For some workloads, digital sovereignty also means maintaining critical operations as connectivity, geopolitical and operating conditions change. Resilience must be designed from the start so essential workloads can continue operating through disruption.

To help customers prepare for these scenarios, we are publishing new sovereign business continuity guidance and architecture patterns. These resources help organizations translate resilience requirements into architectures they can plan, implement and test before they are needed.

For many workloads, the scale and geographic reach of the public cloud provide a strong foundation for resilience across locations and operating conditions. For workloads that require greater operational independence, Sovereign Private Cloud extends that continuum into customer-operated environments. It supports connected and disconnected operating models. The ability to transition workloads from connected to disconnected operations is entering public preview, giving organizations greater flexibility to sustain critical services as connectivity and operating requirements change.

Bringing more of the application lifecycle under local control

Operational independence requires more than infrastructure. Increasingly, organizations need data, development tools, model capabilities and productivity services their applications depend on to operate within the same customer-controlled environment.

Sovereign Private Cloud, built on Azure Local, extends Microsoft cloud capabilities into environments that customers operate and control. SQL Server on Azure Local is already generally available for connected and disconnected deployments. DocumentDB and Blob Storage on Azure Local are both entering public preview, giving organizations more choice in how they run and manage critical data within customer-controlled environments.

GitHub Enterprise Local will become generally available at Microsoft Ignite as a validated GitHub Enterprise Server appliance on Azure Local, helping organizations keep repositories, code and development artifacts under local control. Developers can also use GitHub Copilot with locally hosted models for inference, bringing AI-assisted development closer to their code and data within the environments they control.

The local application environment is expanding with Foundry Local. At Ignite, Foundry Local will become generally available for connected and disconnected operations on Azure Local, with an expanded model catalog that includes Microsoft, partner, open-weight and open-source models. Local inference and agentic retrieval will also enable users to interact with local enterprise data using natural language and receive responses grounded in that data. Integration with Microsoft 365 Local, available in preview for approved customers, extends this functionality to locally operated Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange servers.

Confidential virtual machines on Azure Local are generally available, extending confidential computing capabilities to customer-controlled infrastructure. Hardware-encrypted memory and hardware-based isolation help protect sensitive data while it is being processed. Workload attestation adds assurance before sensitive data or keys are released. For regulated, sensitive and mission-critical workloads, these safeguards provide another layer of protection while giving organizations greater control over where their data and applications run.

Azure Local will support multitenancy, allowing organizations to separate resources, governance and management across multiple tenants while sharing the underlying infrastructure. This significantly expands what customers with distinct business units or security boundaries can achieve with Sovereign Private Cloud. Multitenancy also creates new opportunities for local operators and service providers to deliver differentiated sovereign cloud services on Azure Local infrastructure.

These additions bring more of the application lifecycle under local control, spanning data, development, productivity, AI and operations. Organizations can determine what runs locally based on the requirements of each workload.

Extending the continuum through partners

Navigating sovereignty is increasingly complex. Regulatory, security, operational and business requirements vary across countries, industries and workloads. Organizations must translate these needs into technology and operating models that work in their local context. Meeting these needs often requires a combination of technology, local operating authority, sector expertise and specialized solutions.

The Sovereign Partner Ecosystem broadens the ways customers can address these requirements. National Partner Clouds, including Bleu Cloud in France and Delos Cloud in Germany, provide independently operated environments for customers that require a different ownership and operating model. Software partners can enhance Azure Local environments with capabilities across security, identity, observability, backup and recovery, migration, data, networking and applications. Digital sovereignty specialized partners combine Microsoft technologies with local knowledge and implementation expertise. Platform co-innovation partners expand infrastructure choice from datacenter to the edge.

This ecosystem gives customers the flexibility to combine technology, operating models and trusted expertise based on the requirements of each workload.

The next chapter of digital sovereignty

AI is amplifying both the opportunity and the impact of technology choices. As AI systems and agents interact with sensitive data, business processes and essential infrastructure, they also expand the security considerations organizations need to manage. Organizations need clear control over where these systems run, who can operate them, what actions they can take and how critical services continue when conditions change.

Microsoft Sovereign Cloud brings these choices together as a continuum of control across the public cloud, customer-operated environments and our partner ecosystem. It gives organizations the flexibility to apply the appropriate level of control to each workload while continuing to benefit from cloud capabilities and ongoing innovation.

We will continue to expand this continuum so organizations can innovate with cloud and AI while maintaining the control, confidentiality, resilience and operational authority their most important workloads require.

Douglas Phillips leads global engineering efforts for Microsoft’s specialized, sovereign and private clouds. He is responsible for Microsoft’s global strategy, products and operations that bring Microsoft’s industry-leading solutions, including Azure, our adaptive cloud portfolio and Microsoft 365 collaboration suite, to customers with additional sovereignty, security, edge and compliance requirements.

Learn more

• Microsoft Sovereign Cloud
• Sovereign Landing Zone architecture guidance
• Sovereign Public Cloud Tech Community blog
• Sovereign Private Cloud Tech Community blog

The post Advancing digital sovereignty with greater control and choice appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.

The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. Theo de Raadt has announced the release of OpenBSD 8.0, the latest stable build of the project's free, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. As usual, the new release brings a large number of improvements and new features: "We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 8.0.....

Apple will announce a second wave of new products on Wednesday, October 28. Like the October 13 "Welcome Home" announcement, "Pro and Tell" isn't going to be a traditional Apple event, but some members of the media have been invited to Los Angeles to get hands-on time with the new devices.


Everyone not invited to Los Angeles will get to see the product announcements via press releases that come out on October 28. Apple could send out press releases at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, which is when the media experience will begin. Press release announcements typically come out earlier in the morning around 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, so that's also a possibility.

The "Pro and Tell" name gives us a strong hint at what's coming: the MacBook Pro. It will be joined by other new Macs and a new iPad.

OLED MacBook Pro

New high-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models are coming with two firsts for the Mac line: OLED display technology and a touchscreen. Design changes are expected too, but the new ‌MacBook Pro‌ models are going to use the same chips as the current version.

• OLED - The ‌MacBook Pro‌ will have an ‌OLED‌ display for improved contrast, richer colors, and power savings.


• Touchscreen - macOS 27 is being updated for touch-based gestures, and the ‌MacBook Pro‌ will be the first Mac that has touchscreen capabilities. Touch will be available as a supplementary option alongside the trackpad and keyboard, so you can presumably opt not to use it at all.


• Reinforced hinge - Apple is adding a sturdier hinge for support so the display won't move when you tap on the screen.


• Design - There's only so much that can be changed when it comes to a notebook computer, but the ‌MacBook Pro‌ will be lighter than the current model. Sizes aren't expected to change, and ‌OLED‌ screens will be available for both the 14-inch and 16-inch models.


• Dynamic Island - Apple is getting rid of the notch and will add a Dynamic Island instead.


• Chips - Apple isn't adding new chips because there aren't any. The company is reportedly skipping the M6 Pro and M6 Max, and the M7 Pro and M7 Max won't be ready until late 2027. Rumors suggest the new models will use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips as the models introduced in March.

Apple might keep selling the current ‌MacBook Pro‌ models and add the ‌OLED‌ models as a higher-end, more expensive option. While there were rumors suggesting the ‌OLED‌ MacBook would be called the MacBook Ultra, it's now clear Apple is sticking with Pro.

‌OLED‌ displays are expensive, and touch modules also add cost, so the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ models will likely cost more than the current ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.

Entry-Level MacBook Pro

The 14-inch entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌ is expected to get an M6 chip to replace the M5 chip it was updated with in October 2025. No other design changes are expected.

iMac

Rumors suggest Apple will update the 24-inch iMac with an M6 chip too. As with the entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌, it won't get external changes.

iPad mini 8

Along with the new Macs that are coming, we're expecting an iPad mini update. The ‌iPad mini‌ 8 is going to get an ‌OLED‌ display, making it the first ‌iPad‌ other than the iPad Pro to adopt ‌OLED‌.

It's also going to get a design refresh with a vibration-based speaker setup that eliminates speaker holes and allows for a more water-resistant design. It could be the first ‌iPad‌ with an IP rating, able to hold up to splashes and possibly even submersion.

The ‌iPad mini‌ 8 is expected to use the same A20 Pro chip that's in the iPhone 18 Pro models. It's so far unclear whether the ‌iPad mini‌ will continue to have a 60Hz refresh rate or if it will get a 120Hz ProMotion upgrade. The front camera will relocated from the portrait side to the landscape side, a change Apple previously made in other ‌iPad‌ models.

Waterproofing and ‌OLED‌ are expected to push up the price, so the new model could cost around $200 more than the current $599 model.

Launch Date

After an October 28 debut, the new Mac and ‌iPad‌ options could launch as soon as November 6. If this launch goes like the home product launch, the devices will be available for pre-order starting on October 28.
This article, "Apple's October 28 'Pro and Tell' Launch: What's Coming" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple is only allowing customers in the United States to purchase a maximum of two iPhone Duos. Attempting to purchase more than two on the website or the Apple Store app gives the following notice: "A maximum of 2 iPhone Duo can be purchased per customer. Please adjust the total quantity of ‌iPhone Duo‌ in your order before checking out."


Some Reddit users describe the U.S. purchase limit as new, but we couldn't confirm if it was in place when pre-orders started on October 16. The Reddit thread has reports from customers claiming to have been able to purchase four Duos and from those who say they were limited to two.

Apple had clear two-per-customer restrictions listed in countries like China, Singapore, and Hong Kong, but the U.S. website doesn't mention the limit until you try to add more than two Duos to the cart.

Launch day delivery stock sold out within minutes of pre-orders going live, and many customers received delivery dates in November or December. Apple has been moving up some delivery dates, so it may be able to fulfill demand earlier than expected for some customers who pre-ordered early.
This article, "Apple Limiting U.S. iPhone Duo Orders to Two Per Customer" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple acquired AI audio editing app Samplab in June, according to a notice shared today by the European Commission.


Samplab offered a desktop app and plugins for converting audio to MIDI, detecting and editing chords, stem splitting for isolating different parts of a song, and editing notes in polyphonic audio without affecting the timbre of the original.

Apple could fold the company's tools into Logic Pro or GarageBand. Logic Pro already has Stem Splitter and Chord ID, but polyphonic note editing would be new.

The filing says Apple acquired "certain assets" from Samplab and hired "certain Samplab employees." Apple is considered a "gatekeeper" in the European Union, and the Digital Markets Act requires it to inform the EC about deals involving core platform services, digital services, and data collection.

Samplab shut down on September 17, 2026. The Samplab website now redirects to Apple.com.
This article, "Apple Buys AI Audio Editing App Samplab" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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