Apple today announced that Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition is coming to Apple Arcade on August 6, a new entry in the franchise built specifically for the service with a season-based structure and current NFL rosters.


The game is a full Madden title with no ads or in-app purchases, and it includes both Franchise and Quick Play modes, with player ratings drawn from real NFL performances. A weekly story engine drives Franchise mode, casting players as GM and tasking them with guiding a team through shifting storylines, keeping fans onside, and building toward a title. Controller support is available across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

Retro Bowl College+ also launches August 6, putting players in charge of one of 250 college programs in this spinoff of the original pixel-art Retro Bowl.

On September 3, NFL Retro Bowl '27 adds a new Gauntlet Mode, where players start with limited resources and try to string together 15 wins in a row for the top spot on the leaderboard, picking between easier matchups or riskier ones that pay out real NFL players and perks. Progress carries over between runs even after a loss, building toward a final matchup against a rival team.

A handful of existing Arcade sports titles are also set to receive updates. NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition now includes Tyrese Maxey as a new Paragon player and has added the 2016-2024 era to its Association mode. PGA TOUR Pro Golf gained a new course, Bear's Best Atlanta, and starting July 16, NFL Retro Bowl '26 is rolling out Historic Super Bowl challenges built around some of the league's most memorable title games.

Apple also pointed to a handful of Arcade games that can now be sampled on the App Store without a subscription, including PowerWash Simulator, Mini Motorways, Cooking Mama: Cuisine!, and Play-Doh World.

‌Apple Arcade‌ is a subscription service that provides access to hundreds of games across the iPhone, ‌iPad‌, Mac, ‌Apple TV‌, and Apple Vision Pro. All of the games are free of ads and in-app purchases. In the U.S., ‌Apple Arcade‌ costs $6.99 per month, and it is also bundled with other Apple services in all Apple One plans. ‌Apple Arcade‌ can be accessed through the ‌App Store‌ and the Apple Games app.
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Facilities in Apple's supply chain have finished renovations ahead of "iPhone 20" production, according to a Weibo leaker who says Apple's 20th-anniversary iPhone will move to an all-glass design.


In a new post on Weibo, the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital" said the "preferred approach" for the iPhone 20 is a return to glass, with manufacturing quality expected to land somewhere around that of the first-generation iPhone Air. The leaker said the relevant manufacturing facility has "already been renovated" and is now waiting for machining to begin, but didn't name the supplier involved. Lens Technology produces iPhone cover glass and previously took over metal-frame and glass-back assembly plants from fellow supplier Catcher Technology.

Apple's iPhone production typically doesn't reach full-scale manufacturing until a matter of weeks before launch; for the iPhone 17, trial production began in June with full-volume output targeted for August, about a month ahead of the device's September release. The information likely refers to an early step in retooling a production line, which is the kind of groundwork Bloomberg said Apple is already "ramping up" as it develops the 20th-anniversary redesign.

The claim adds fresh supply chain detail to a redesign that has been rumored for well over a year. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple is aiming for a "mostly glass, curved iPhone without any cutouts in the display" to mark the iPhone's 20th anniversary, with curved glass wrapping around all sides of the device and a launch expected in September 2027.

In May, Fixed Focus Digital pushed back on an earlier report from fellow leaker Instant Digital claiming Apple was exploring liquid metal or an improved titanium alloy to replace aluminum on future Pro models, arguing that aluminum remains the only practical choice for now given the heat generated by on-device AI processing.

At the time, Fixed Focus Digital said any material change was unlikely before 2027, in line with the iPhone 18 Pro's expected retention of the same aluminum unibody design introduced on the iPhone 17 Pro. Earlier this month, the leaker reiterated that aluminum mid-frames are "going to be used in straight-edge phones for a long time to come," a distinction that leaves room for a different approach on the curved-edge iPhone 20.

The 20th anniversary iPhone models are expected to launch in the fall of 2027, following the iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and ‌iPhone Air‌ 2 in the spring.
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OpenAI's ambitions to build a hardware rival to the iPhone are already running into trouble because of Apple's trade secret lawsuit, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who argues the damage is showing up well before any court ruling.


Apple sued OpenAI last week, accusing the company of pushing former employees, and even people it was trying to recruit, to hand over details on unreleased products. The suit also claims OpenAI coached new hires on how to dodge Apple's exit-interview security checks using a document tied to former iPhone design chief Tang Tan. Apple is asking the court to order OpenAI to stop the alleged conduct, destroy any proprietary material it obtained, and pay damages.

A courtroom resolution could take years, Gurman says, but he argues the suit is doing damage now, squeezing OpenAI's ability to recruit and creating drag on its device work long before a judge weighs in. OpenAI has declined to discuss its hardware roadmap directly, though in response to the suit the company said it has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets" and remains focused on its own technology.

The scale of the talent drain is a major part of why this matters to Apple. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, including former Apple design chief Jony Ive, and Gurman says the company poached so heavily from Apple's iPhone product design group specifically that Apple had to rebuild parts of the team. Apple has responded with bigger retention bonuses and executives personally working to keep engineers from leaving.

The trade secret situation has apparently become one of Apple's biggest internal concerns of the past several months, ranking alongside tariff exposure and the ongoing memory chip shortage. In its own court filing, Apple frames the case as narrowly about trade secrets and describes OpenAI's hardware business as still nascent, arguing that discovery is needed to expose "the pervasive theft of Apple's trade secrets."

The lawsuit is said to already be reshaping OpenAI's hiring, independent of anything a court eventually decides. Apple employees weighing a move to OpenAI may now think twice given the added scrutiny, and even interviewing there could draw attention from Apple's security team, which could keep more engineers at Apple and slow the flow of institutional knowledge to OpenAI.

Former Apple employees are likely to grow more guarded about discussing prior work, with managers avoiding technical questions that risk touching Apple's confidential information. New legal reviews, tighter internal controls, and compliance training could pull engineers away from actual development, while senior OpenAI leadership spends time on discovery and depositions.

Given Apple's leverage over Asia's consumer electronics manufacturers, suppliers may be reluctant to deepen ties with OpenAI for fear of jeopardizing bigger, longer-standing relationships with Apple or getting pulled into the litigation themselves.

Bloomberg Intelligence wrote that "Apple is likely to secure targeted preliminary relief tied to OpenAI's device effort." Any such order would likely require disputed materials to be isolated, evidence preserved, and compliance certified, which could slow OpenAI's hardware plans further. In the longer term, if Apple can prove its trade secrets made it into OpenAI's products, OpenAI could be forced to redesign them.

Regardless, a person familiar with OpenAI's plans told Gurman the company still expects to announce its first hardware product this year and release it in 2027, though that could shift as OpenAI reviews Apple's claims. That device is reportedly far along, but building out a wider family of products, the kind Bloomberg previously described as central to OpenAI's device ambitions, will likely get harder. OpenAI has reportedly explored categories including smart speakers and wearables with an iPhone-style device as the eventual goal, but a simpler, non-phone product is expected to ship first.
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Apple captured a record 20% share of the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2026, even as worldwide shipments fell 4% year-over-year amid an ongoing memory chip shortage, according to a new report from Omdia.


It is Apple's best second-quarter showing on record, landing in what is normally its slowest stretch of the year. Omdia credits this to a strong iPhone 17 upgrade cycle, as well as Apple keeping prices flat across the lineup while rivals were forced to raise theirs. The firm still flagged that Apple raised prices on other products late in the quarter, which raises the question of whether iPhone pricing will follow suit later this year.

The wider industry slump traces back to a memory chip shortage that has pushed component costs sharply higher, with some vendors reportedly paying several times more for memory than a year ago. Samsung was the only other major vendor to grow, holding the top overall spot at 22% share as Chinese competitors pulled back their lineups and raised prices to cope.

Omdia expects the squeeze to worsen over the next two quarters as peak shopping season collides with tight supply, pushing vendors further upmarket to protect margins. That is expected to leave fewer affordable options for budget buyers, and adds another data point to observe as Apple heads into an iPhone 18 cycle already facing rising component costs of its own.
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Apple is developing a new API that will let third-party accessories, including Meta's Ray-Ban ‌Meta‌ glasses and Quest headsets, automatically pair across a user's Apple devices the same way AirPods and the Apple Watch do today, according to Apple's EU Interoperability Request page.


The plan responds to a request ‌Meta‌ filed in October 2025 under the EU's Digital Markets Act, asking Apple to let a ‌Meta‌ device, once paired with one iPhone or iPad, automatically become available on a user's other Apple devices without extra prompts. Third-party accessories have never been able to tap into that ability, meaning owning non-Apple hardware alongside an iPhone has always involved more friction. If Apple builds this out, that gap will close, at least for whichever manufacturers get access to the new API.

Apple told ‌Meta‌ on February 4 that it plans to let third-party apps access cryptographic materials that make a pairing completed on one Apple device usable on another, secured by a session key and a one-time, per-accessory user consent. Apple expects to finish development by spring 2027 and ship it "shortly thereafter," which points toward an iOS 27.x update, possibly iOS 27.4, though Apple has not yet confirmed a version.

The feature runs on AccessorySetupKit and Proximity Pairing, infrastructure Apple built to comply with a March 2025 European Commission ruling and which only works in the EU today, the same infrastructure behind the proximity pairing feature already live for EU users. ‌Meta‌ has objected that adopting it would force the company to abandon Core Bluetooth, which it relies on for pairing everywhere outside Europe, and has asked Apple to decouple the two. Apple has declined so far, though it told ‌Meta‌ that support outside the EU "is something we are still considering."

The request remains in phase three as of Apple's most recent update. ‌Meta‌ hasn't yet invoked the DMA's formal dispute resolution process, which would trigger a review by Apple's Interoperability Request Review Board within 30 working days. Until then, Apple's plan proceeds with a spring 2027 rollout tied to AccessorySetupKit, in the EU only.
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Apple accounted for roughly 90% of all Edge AI-capable smartwatch shipments in the first quarter of 2026, according to new data from Counterpoint Research.


That dominance came as Edge AI penetration across the broader smartwatch market grew 70% year-over-year, reaching 25% in the first quarter of 2026, according to Counterpoint's Global Smartwatch Shipments Tracker.

"Edge AI" refers to artificial intelligence that runs directly on a device's own chip rather than being processed on remote servers. On the Apple Watch, that means the onboard Neural Engine handles tasks like recognizing an irregular heartbeat or detecting a fall in the moment, without sending data to a paired iPhone or the cloud first. Anshika Jain, Principal Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said:

Brands have been continuously upgrading their smartwatch hardware to make devices more AI-capable. Edge AI integration enables real-time health insights and faster responses while helping ensure data privacy. Currently, Edge AI penetration remains limited to leading brands, with Apple solely accounting for ~90% of Edge AI smartwatch shipments in Q1 2026.

Health and fitness monitoring remains the main use case for Edge AI on smartwatches. Counterpoint's data shows blood pressure monitoring shipments doubling and sleep apnea detection tripling year over year, with brands now apparently setting their sights on diabetes detection next.

Apple's head start traces back to 2023, when it introduced the S9 chip with a 4-core Neural Engine built specifically for on-device machine learning in the Apple Watch. Huawei only followed with comparable silicon in 2025, launching its own Kirin W80 chip to power its "Celia" voice assistant locally, and Qualcomm isn't entering the race until this year with its Snapdragon Wear Elite platform. Google is also said to be readying its own Tensor-based wearable chip, though it has yet to ship.

Counterpoint notes that a software-driven alternative to dedicated NPUs is also emerging, with Ambiq's Apollo platform running AI inference on vector-core silicon via Arm's Helium extensions rather than purpose-built neural hardware. This approach remains a niche compared to Apple's dedicated-chip strategy, but it could eventually help cheaper smartwatches offer some Edge AI features without the silicon Apple has spent years building into its devices.

Counterpoint only classifies a smartwatch as Edge AI-capable if it has a neural engine or NPU on board and at least one of its health, safety, or interaction features actually runs its inference on that chip, rather than merely including the hardware.
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the future of Apple's increasingly tangled high-end MacBook lineup, including the entry-level MacBook Pro and the rumored "MacBook Ultra."


Apple's chip roadmap for the Mac is reportedly set to take an unusual turn over the next year. The company is said to be skipping the M6 Pro and M6 Max entirely, jumping from the M5 generation straight to the M7 for its high-end laptops. A standard M6 chip will still arrive this year in an entry-level ‌MacBook Pro‌, but there will apparently be no Pro or Max variant in that family.

As a result, Apple's first high-end OLED laptop will use the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips rather than newer silicon. First-generation buyers would therefore be paying a premium for a redesigned machine featuring the same processors already found in the current ‌MacBook Pro‌, with M7 Pro and M7 Max models expected to follow in the second half of 2027.

The launch window remains fluid. The device was long expected to arrive in late 2026, but memory chip constraints and Apple's recent price increases have pushed it toward early 2027. A second-generation model with M7 chips is already planned for late 2027, meaning the first Ultra could remain on sale for a relatively short window.

The overlapping releases make for a crowded and confusing roadmap. Across roughly a year, Apple is expected to ship a base M6 ‌MacBook Pro‌, a redesigned base M7 model in the first half of 2027, two M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Ultra models, their eventual M7 Pro and M7 Max successors, and perhaps new high-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models with the M7 Pro and M7 Max. Notably, the entry-level M7 model is set to get the new design first, ahead of the pricier high-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.

The headline changes are reserved for the top-tier "Ultra" model. It is expected to be the first Mac with an OLED display, using the same hybrid tandem ‌OLED‌ technology as the iPad Pro, along with the first touchscreen on a Mac, a Dynamic Island in place of the notch, and a thinner chassis. Both 14-inch and 16-inch sizes are expected. Built-in cellular connectivity for the first time on a Mac is also rumored.

Apple is reportedly positioning touch as "touch-friendly, not touch-first," letting users move between touch, trackpad, and keyboard rather than treating the Mac like an iPad. That marks a reversal for a company that long resisted the idea. Steve Jobs argued in 2010 that vertical touchscreens cause arm fatigue, and as recently as 2021 hardware chief John Ternus said the Mac was "totally optimized for indirect input."

Signs of the shift are already visible in macOS 27 Golden Gate, which adds direct touch control to Sidecar, so users can tap and interact with macOS elements using a finger on an ‌iPad‌. A reinforced hinge is also expected, so the display does not wobble when tapped.

Pricing is likely to be steep. Apple raised prices across the Mac lineup in June, and the current 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ now starts at $1,999, rising to $2,499 with the M5 Pro chip and $4,099 for an M5 Max. The 16-inch M5 Max reaches $4,399, and a fully specced configuration already exceeds $10,000. The high-end ‌OLED‌ model is expected to start higher still.

The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about the latest leaks and rumors surrounding the iPhone 18 Pro.

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

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at podcast@macrumors.com or head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
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The bill of materials for the iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to rise by nearly $300 compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, according to a new Counterpoint Research analysis.


The estimate covers the 1TB storage model. NAND flash costs for the device are said to exceed $250 on their own, a figure that would cover roughly half of the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max's entire estimated component cost. DRAM pricing is also climbing sharply, with both components facing pressure from a broader memory chip shortage tied to surging demand for AI hardware.

Apple's expected shift to a 2nm chip is described as the second-largest contributor to the cost increase. The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ is rumored to debut the A20 Pro, manufactured on TSMC's N2 process, which reportedly carries a steep premium in wafer pricing over the current N3P node used for the A19 Pro. Early yield ramp costs on a new process node typically add to per-unit chip pricing as well.

Counterpoint says display costs and other miscellaneous components may actually decline compared to the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, partially offsetting the memory and chip increases. Camera costs are expected to rise slightly, which the firm attributes to new technology, likely a reference to the variable-aperture main camera rumored for the Pro models.



The report arrives weeks after Apple raised prices on 14 products, including every Mac and iPad, along with the Apple TV, HomePod, HomePod mini, and Vision Pro. Apple attributed those increases to the same memory chip shortage cited in the Counterpoint report, saying that the "supply-demand imbalance" driven by AI data center buildouts had made further price increases necessary. iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods pricing was left unchanged in that round of hikes, but the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ lineup is widely expected to be next.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ could start as high as $1,399, citing estimates that Apple's DRAM cost per unit could climb from $39 to $145 and its flash storage cost from $13 to $51. Apple CEO Tim Cook told the outlet that the company is "still working through" which devices will see price increases. Separately, IDC has estimated a $200 increase to the Pro and Pro Max models specifically, while Weibo leakers have separately suggested Apple could raise its Chinese starting price for the lineup by around 11%.

To manage the higher costs without giving up margin entirely, Apple is expected to apply different retail price increases across storage tiers rather than a flat increase across the lineup, concentrating the impact on higher-capacity models. Even with an average $200 retail price rise, Counterpoint still expects the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max to land at a slightly lower gross margin than the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max achieved in 2025.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone in the fall.
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Apple stands to gain from India's decision to eliminate import duties on a range of components used in smartphone manufacturing, in a move that could further lower costs for the company's rapidly growing India-based supply chain.


According to a report from Reuters, the Indian government has done away with tariffs of 7.5% and 5% that had applied to inputs for wireless charging hardware, automotive and medical device screens, and lithium-ion battery cells. The exemptions are set to remain in effect through to March 31, 2029.

The wireless charging component exemption, in particular, feeds directly into the MagSafe ecosystem used across the iPhone lineup. With import costs on that hardware now removed, Apple's India-based assembly partners have a clearer path to sourcing and building charging components domestically rather than importing them at a markup.

Apple has leaned heavily on India as it works to shift iPhone production away from China, with assembly partners now building roughly a quarter of all iPhones in the country and producing the entire iPhone 17 lineup there for the first time, including the higher-end Pro and Pro Max models. Foxconn, one of Apple's main assemblers, poured $1.5 billion into expanding its India operations earlier this year, and Tata Electronics has grown into an equally central manufacturing partner alongside it.
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Apple has stopped signing several older versions of iOS for a group of legacy iPhone and iPad models, cutting off the paths to reinstall or downgrade the affected software.


Apple will no longer validate over-the-air (OTA) or direct IPSW installs of the builds in question. Once a version is unsigned, there is no longer a way to restore or install it through Finder or iTunes.

The change is narrower than a typical signing update. Apple has not stopped signing the iOS versions themselves. Instead, it has ended signing for the baseband firmware, the low-level software that runs each device's cellular modem, tied to those releases.

The affected releases span iOS 6 through iOS 10. The full set of devices and versions that can no longer be restored is as follows:

• iPhone 4 (CDMA): iOS 7.1.2 IPSW installs


• iPhone 4S: iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs


• iPhone 5 (GSM and CDMA): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 IPSW installs


• iPhone 5c (GSM and CDMA): iOS 10.3.3 IPSW installs


• iPad 2 (Wi-Fi + 3G, CDMA): iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs


• iPad 3rd generation (GSM and CDMA): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs


• iPad 4th generation (Wi-Fi + Cellular): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 IPSW installs


• iPad mini (Wi-Fi + Cellular): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs

Tellingly, every model caught up in the change is a cellular variant. Wi-Fi-only iPads are untouched, since they carry no cellular modem and therefore there is no baseband to sign in the first place.

The oldest hardware on the list is the CDMA iPhone 4, which never advanced beyond iOS 7.1.2, while the newest builds affected are iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 on the iPhone 5 and the fourth-generation ‌iPad‌.

For context, Apple did not separate iOS and iPadOS until iPadOS 13, so these much earlier ‌iPad‌ releases were all running iOS at the time.

One of the more interesting entries is the OTA version of iOS 8.4.1, which Apple had kept signing to serve as a stepping stone. Certain devices had to pass through iOS 8.4.1 on the way to iOS 9, and the same signed build gave owners a route back if they wanted to revert. That fallback now disappears for nearly every device on the list, from the iPhone 4S up to the iPhone 5.

A device that is already up and running on its current firmware carries on as normal, but owners lose the fallback of a fresh install should that firmware ever break. It also shuts the door on restores for anyone holding onto old hardware to test apps, check compatibility, or preserve software.

Signing changes like this usually target the latest releases instead, often landing within days of a significant security patch for a current version of iOS or iPadOS. Pulling signatures for decade-old builds on aging devices is rarer, and it touches only a tiny fraction of users in 2026, since everything on the list is more than ten years old.

Update 12:00 pm: Apple has fixed the baseband signing issue for the iPhone 5c on iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4, and presumably other devices and iOS versions will follow.

Update 12:24 pm: Baseband signing for all devices has now been restored.
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Apple yesterday published a new support document warning that macOS 28 will no longer support encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volumes, meaning affected external drives will need to be decrypted or reformatted ahead of the update.


Starting with macOS 28, "the Mac OS Extended file system format will be supported only for volumes (disks and other storage devices) that aren't encrypted." Any encrypted HFS+ disks, such as older encrypted external hard drives, will stop working with the Mac unless users take action before upgrading.

Apple has not given a specific reason for the change. APFS, which natively supports encryption, has been the default file system on the Mac since macOS High Sierra launched in 2017, and dropping encrypted HFS+ support looks like a further nudge toward retiring the older format altogether.

The transition will start showing up before macOS 28 arrives. Apple says that beginning with macOS 26, a Mac might notify users if it detects an encrypted Mac OS Extended disk that will not carry over to macOS 28 or later, identifying the affected volume by name.

Users can also check manually through Disk Utility by selecting a volume and looking at the format details listed beneath its name; a volume showing both "Mac OS Extended" and "Encrypted," such as "CoreStorage Logical Volume • Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)," will be incompatible.

Unencrypted Mac OS Extended volumes are not affected. Apple says macOS 28 and later will continue to support them, and notes that Mac OS Extended is also known as HFS Plus, or HFS+.

For anyone who wants to keep using an affected drive after upgrading, Apple recommends backing up its contents first, then either reformatting or decrypting it. Reformatting means erasing the volume and setting it up again in APFS or APFS (Encrypted) format through Disk Utility, which permanently deletes existing data but ensures the drive keeps working in future versions of macOS.

Decrypting is the alternative for anyone who wants to preserve their existing data on the drive. That involves connecting the drive, unlocking it with its encryption password, then Control-clicking its icon in the Finder or on the desktop and choosing Decrypt, entering the password a second time to begin the process. Apple notes that decryption "takes time, especially for large volumes," and progress can be checked in Terminal.

Once decryption finishes, users can optionally convert the volume to APFS without erasing it via Disk Utility's Convert to APFS option, and re-encrypt it afterward if desired. Apple notes that this decryption path does not apply to encrypted Time Machine backup disks.
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Code spotted in the third developer beta of iOS 27 suggests that Apple is preparing to add car key support for Lucid and Xiaomi vehicles, and that the feature could be nearing launch.


The code references the identifiers "LCID" and "XIA1," which appear to correspond to Lucid and Xiaomi respectively. With an Apple car key, drivers can use their iPhone or Apple Watch to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle instead of relying on a traditional key fob.

Lucid Motors was already named as one of 13 brands Apple said would "soon" gain car key support at WWDC 2025, alongside Acura, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Porsche, Rivian, Smart, Tata Motors, Hongqi, WEY, Chery, and Voyah. Apple did not give a timeframe for that rollout at the time, and Lucid has yet to formally confirm when the feature will arrive on its Air or Gravity models.

Xiaomi's inclusion would be new. The Chinese electronics maker has expanded rapidly into electric vehicles with models like the SU7 sedan and YU7 SUV, and car key support would mark one of the company's first tie-ins with Apple's ecosystem despite Xiaomi being a major Apple rival in the smartphone market.

This is not the first time code has recently hinted at car key support ahead of an official announcement. MacRumors previously found code pointing to Volkswagen adding Apple Wallet car keys to future vehicles, and similar backend references preceded confirmed support for General Motors brands. As with those cases, the code does not confirm which specific models will be compatible or give an exact date, though its presence in a live beta suggests Lucid and Xiaomi support could arrive relatively soon.
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Apple is testing DRAM memory chips from China's state-backed ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), according to a new report from the Financial Times.


Last week, it emerged that Apple was in discussions with CXMT and fellow Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) about sourcing memory, with no deal finalized. The new details suggest Apple has since progressed to qualifying CXMT's chips specifically, running the company's memory through the kind of technical validation that typically precedes a supplier being approved for production use. Apple has apparently still not committed to using CXMT's chips commercially, and is continuing to lead a lobbying effort among U.S. tech companies to get Washington's blessing for broader use of the supplier's products.

CXMT has grown from a heavily subsidized and unremarkable domestic chip maker into the world's fourth-largest DRAM producer, behind Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, accounting for roughly 11% of global DRAM wafer capacity last year. That share is expected to climb to 15% by 2028 as new production lines come online in Hefei, Shanghai, and Beijing. Qualifying CXMT as a working supplier now would let Apple tap into that capacity as soon as it needs to, rather than starting the testing process from scratch once a political green light arrives.

Standard DRAM contract prices are reported to have surged an estimated 55% to 60% in early 2026 as AI server demand pulled capacity away from consumer devices, and Apple recently raised prices across almost its entire product lineup as a result. A qualified fourth DRAM supplier would give Apple leverage in future negotiations with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, as well as a potential hedge against further shortage-driven price increases on devices built for the Chinese market.

Both CXMT and YMTC appear on the Pentagon's 1260H roster of firms Washington links to the Chinese military. In practice, that mostly cuts off Defense Department contracting rather than blocking ordinary commercial purchases, so nothing legally stops Apple from buying CXMT chips today. YMTC carries a heavier restriction, since it's also on the Commerce Department's Entity List, meaning any U.S. company needs an export license before dealing with it. What Apple reportedly wants from the administration is a promise that CXMT won't get pushed onto that same Entity List down the road, since that would effectively cut off the supply.

Back in 2022, an earlier attempt to work with Chinese memory suppliers, including YMTC, drew objections from Washington and was shelved after lawmakers pushed back. According to Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook has now taken the pitch directly to administration officials, framing it as a way to route Chinese-made memory into devices for the Chinese market specifically, which would leave more Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron chips available for products sold elsewhere. Not everyone in the administration is said to be on board, so it remains unclear whether the lobbying push will succeed.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook and incoming CEO John Ternus are attending this year's Sun Valley Conference, according to Forbes.


Allen & Co., the boutique investment firm behind the event, uses the conference as an annual excuse to put media, tech, and finance leaders in the same rooms for a week of closed-door talks at the Sun Valley Lodge. This year's event began on July 7 and is expected to run through July 11.

This marks Cook's final Sun Valley trip as Apple's chief executive officer. Apple announced in April that Ternus will take the CEO title on September 1, ending Cook's 15-year run atop the company as he moves into the newly created executive chairman role.

Apple's SVP of Services and Health, Eddy Cue, is also attending the Sun Valley Conference again this year. Cue has been a regular at the conference in previous years.

This year's guest list places Apple's leadership alongside a heavy concentration of AI industry figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

Beyond the AI contingent, this year's attendees include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.

Sun Valley's reputation as a dealmaking backdrop goes back decades. Casual conversations at the resort are widely credited with laying the groundwork for Disney buying ABC in 1995, Bezos picking up The Washington Post in 2013, and Verizon's 2014 deal for AOL.
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The iPhone 18 Pro's aluminum frame and camera housing are both set to grow thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro's, according to new posts from the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital."


In a post on Weibo today, the leaker said that aluminum alloy mid-frames are "going to be used in straight-edge phones for a long time to come," referring to Apple's continued use of the material introduced with the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ rather than a return to titanium. Citing leaked materials from Tata, the leaker claimed that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s overall body and rear camera plateau, will be thicker than the current model, corresponding to a roughly 2mm increase the leaker says it can now confirm firsthand. The leaker added that the final thickness figure "will indeed be somewhat surprising."

The post links to two of the leaker's earlier claims. In one, Fixed Focus Digital said the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ lineup "will still feature an aluminum alloy build" with "indeed excellent" heat dissipation, while warning that buyers should be cautious about the new color options given the discoloration and surface chipping that has affected some ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ units. In the other, the leaker said supply chain feedback confirmed the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s main camera upgrade and indicated that the aluminum alloy back panel would grow by 2mm.

That 2mm figure lines up with a separate post the leaker shared on July 4, which estimated that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models' overall thickness will land somewhere around 9.9–10.9mm. That would mark a substantial jump from the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, which both measure 8.75mm thick. It also builds on dummy models shared in April, which suggested the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max's camera plateau would grow to 11.54mm, up from 11.23mm on the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max.

The added bulk is reportedly tied to a redesigned main camera system. The device is widely rumored to feature the iPhone's first variable aperture, a component reported to cost Apple 50% more than the current fixed-aperture lens. Production of the new module is said to be ramping up at suppliers including LG Innotek and Sunny Optical.

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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An iPhone 17 Pro Max in Cosmic Orange has been sealed inside a 250 year time capsule as part of America's Semiquincentennial celebrations, with the device not due to be seen again until the 23rd century.


America250, the congressionally appointed nonprofit leading the 250th anniversary celebrations, announced that "America's Time Capsule" was officially sealed and buried at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026, to be reopened in 2276.

The iPhone was included through America250's "America Innovates" initiative as a representative of the cutting edge of American innovation and technology in 2026, with the device showcasing advances in handheld computing, imaging, and connectivity that have transformed how people work, communicate, and create in the 21st century. The device contains "digital artifacts" in the Notes app, intended to give whoever opens the capsule in 2276 a small window into everyday life in 2026.

The capsule itself was built to give the iPhone and everything else inside it the best possible chance of surviving intact. Developed with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and preservation experts at the Library of Congress, it uses a 900 pound, precision milled stainless steel cylinder sealed with indium, a soft metal that deforms under compression to fill microscopic imperfections in the sealing groove. It was covered with a 1,100 pound stainless steel bell jar that creates a protective air pocket to keep the vessel dry underground.

Beyond the iPhone, the capsule holds contributions from all 56 states and territories and all three branches of the federal government, including a feather from Civil War era bald eagle mascot "Old Abe" (Wisconsin), fabric from the Wright brothers' 1903 aircraft (Ohio), and an AI generated response from Anthropic's Claude submitted by California imagining the state 250 years from now.
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Broadcom has agreed to extend its chip partnership with Apple through 2031, expanding a deal that covers the development and supply of a wide range of custom chips, Reuters reports.


Today's extension builds on an existing supply relationship between the two companies, which have worked together for years. Apple is one of Broadcom's largest customers, believed to account for about 20% of its annual revenue.

Apple has been steadily bringing chip design in-house, such as with its own C1 and C1X cellular modems, but many of Broadcom's wireless connectivity and radio frequency components remain in use. Broadcom's chips cover custom radio frequency components, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and other networking semiconductors found throughout Apple's lineup.

Apple and Broadcom signed a multibillion-dollar agreement in 2023 covering 5G radio frequency components manufactured in the United States. Broadcom shares rose nearly 4% in premarket trading today on the news.
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New Chinese regulatory certification filings appear to confirm the battery capacities of Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max models.


According to new filings in China's C3 database, spotted by the leaker known as "Digital Chat Station" on Weibo, the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ is seemingly rated for 4,056mAh in China and 4,288mAh in the U.S., up modestly from the iPhone 17 Pro's 3,988mAh and 4,252mAh. The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max shows a bigger jump, rated for 5,391mAh in China and 5,567mAh in the U.S., compared with 4,823mAh and 5,088mAh on the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max, an increase of nearly 500mAh.

‌iPhone 18 Pro‌

	China	China Difference	U.S.	U.S. Difference
iPhone 16 Pro	3,582mAh	+308mAh	3,582mAh	+308mAh
‌iPhone 17 Pro‌	3,988mAh	+406mAh	4,252mAh	+670mAh
‌iPhone 18 Pro‌	4,056mAh	+68mAh	4,288mAh	+36mAh

‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max

	China	China Difference	U.S.	U.S. Difference
‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max	4,685mAh	+244mAh	4,685mAh	+244mAh
‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max	4,823mAh	+138mAh	5,088mAh	+403mAh
‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max	5,391mAh	+568mAh	5,567mAh	+479mAh

The devices in the filings are not directly named the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, but are highly likely to relate to these models.

The China and U.S. capacities differ because Apple has continued to include a SIM tray on iPhones sold outside the United States, while U.S. models have been eSIM only since the iPhone 14 lineup. Without a physical tray taking up internal space, Apple can fit a slightly larger battery into the U.S. version of each device.

The certification listings cover battery models S2232 and S2233 for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and 2235L/2235 and 2236L/2236 for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and also show rated energy figures of up to 21.751Wh and a 4.520V charge limit voltage, and list all four batteries as valid through May or June 2031.

The numbers line up with Digital Chat Station's report from June, which gave identical figures for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌.

In a separate post the same day, Digital Chat Station said supply chain information from months earlier had already pointed to the China model landing in the "5,000mAh" range, and suggested that a 5391mAh cell paired with the 2nm A20 Pro chip could deliver a noticeable battery life improvement.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models are rumored to feature a smaller Dynamic Island, a variable aperture main camera, the C2 modem outside of the U.S., and more. The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch in September alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone.
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest leaks and rumors surrounding the iPhone 18 Pro.



Tata Electronics, one of Apple's manufacturing partners in India, was hit by a ransomware attack that resulted in more than 200,000 internal files being posted online, including component lists, supplier data, and images of ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ test units. The material was obtained illegally, and MacRumors has not seen the stolen files directly.

Among the leak's more surprising details is that the C2 modem may be limited to international models, succeeding the C1 and C1X modems already used in the iPhone Air, iPhone 17e, and M5 iPad Pro. A bill of materials for the U.S. variant instead lists Qualcomm components, including the SDX80M and other parts associated with mmWave 5G, a feature Apple's C-series modems still lack. U.S. carriers have spent years building out mmWave networks, making it a harder feature to drop from the Pro lineup than it was from the ‌iPad Pro‌ or a rumored cellular MacBook.

The leak also lined up with existing rumors of a more uniform rear finish than the iPhone 17 Pro's two-tone design and camera lenses that protrude further from the plateau. Separately, a leaked SIM tray offered another look at the rumored Dark Cherry color option, expected to join Light Blue, Dark Gray, and Silver as this year's lineup, with no black model.

On the camera side, the rumored variable aperture main camera is this year's headline upgrade, though it's unclear how much of a real-world difference it will make compared to genuinely transformative jumps in past generations, like the 8x telephoto lens introduced on the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ or the and 48-megapixel sensor from the iPhone 14 Pro.

Pricing looms over rumors about the device. Apple has now raised prices across much of its lineup, citing a global memory chip shortage driven largely by AI data center demand. The Apple TV and HomePod price hikes drew particular criticism, since both products are several years old with no accompanying hardware changes.

Estimates for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ itself point to a starting price as high as $1,399, up from $1,099 for the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌, an increase weighed against a modest RAM and battery bump, a smaller Dynamic Island, and a more capable N2 chip. A rumored 5G-via-satellite feature will likely offer limited access to specific services like Siri or Maps rather than full Safari browsing.

Micron's chief business officer suggested that Apple's own aggressive supplier negotiating tactics may have contributed to the memory shortage now driving prices up industry-wide. The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



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



If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our discussion about potential price rises for the iPhone 18 lineup following Apple's wave of hikes yesterday, as well as plans for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and camera-equipped AirPods.

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

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at podcast@macrumors.com or head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
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The Apple Watch Series 12 could ship with a new health sensor built directly into one of its bands, according to a sketchy rumor from a known leaker.


The leaker known as "Kosutami" says the sensor will be injection-molded into a silicone band, and only a silicone band, apparently because Apple has not yet solved how to embed similar hardware in bands made from other materials. No detail was given on what the sensor is actually meant to measure.



This is not the first time band-based sensing has been floated for Apple Watch, and the idea has reappeared repeatedly over the years, mainly as a result of Apple's patent filings. Back in 2017, a patent for modular band links that could each house a different function emerged, including blood pressure monitors and sweat sensors, followed later that year by a self-adjusting band patent that Apple said could also improve the accuracy of onboard biometric sensors by ensuring a snugger fit.

In 2019, a batch of smart band patents covered skin-texture authentication and other embedded functionality, and in 2021 a dedicated hydration sensor patent proposed the use of electrodes against the skin to measure electrolyte concentration in sweat. None of that patent activity has led to a shipping product so far, and Apple routinely files patents for concepts that never reach customers.

Kosutami's credibility as a source is mixed. While Apple has clearly researched adding sensors to Apple Watch bands extensively, the rumor is new, uncorroborated, and should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt for now.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is likely to be a minor upgrade featuring a new chip and little else is known about the device. It's expected to launch this fall alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple's first foldable iPhone, continuing to use the same design introduced with the Series 10.
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Stolen data from Apple manufacturing partner Tata Electronics appears to reveal that the iPhone 18 Pro will use different modem chips depending on the market it is sold in, with U.S. models retaining Qualcomm hardware while international models will feature Apple's in-house C2 modem.



The finding emerged from a wide-ranging cyberattack on Tata, which alongside Foxconn assembles the iPhone. More than 630GB of confidential data was stolen by a ransomware group calling itself "World Leaks" and has been circulating online. The material was obtained illegally and MacRumors has not seen the stolen files directly. AppleInsider conducted an analysis of the stolen files and said it could confirm the authenticity of several key documents.

Among the information that has attracted particular is a bill of materials apparently related to the U.S. variant of the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌, which lists multiple Qualcomm components rather than Apple's C2 modem, codenamed Ganymede. The Qualcomm parts referenced include the SDX80M, SDR875, QDM8771, QDM8720, PMK75, PMX75, and QET7100A, components associated with mmWave 5G support. International ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models, by contrast, are said to use the "C2," which would succeed the C1 and C1X modems currently found in the iPhone Air, iPhone 17e, and M5 iPad Pro.

The implication, as AppleInsider notes, is that the C2 still lacks mmWave capability, and that Apple is once again relying on Qualcomm to fill that gap for American carriers.

mmWave is the ultra-high-frequency band of 5G offered primarily by Verizon, delivering very fast download speeds over short distances. Apple's C1 and C1X modems are widely regarded as more power efficient than their Qualcomm counterparts, meaning U.S. ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ buyers may see somewhat worse battery life than those purchasing the same device elsewhere.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber offered analysis of the practical tradeoffs involved. While 5G outpaced LTE in his tests, Gruber argued the difference has no meaningful impact on how the phone actually feels to use:

Having a phone that can pull 320 Mbps down over cellular is like having a car that can go 320 MPH — an interesting technical feat, but of no practical value to me whatsoever. I never feel like I'm waiting for anything to load because I'm on LTE. LTE is fast enough, and regular 5G is more than fast enough. 5G mmWave is simply a waste of battery life as far as I'm concerned.

On why Apple would not simply deploy the C2 everywhere rather than retaining Qualcomm for the U.S. market, Gruber pointed the finger squarely at carrier economics:

Faster-than-you-practically-need download speeds are a carrier bragging point. Longer battery life and plenty-fast-enough download speeds are an Apple bragging point. Verizon — and to a lesser extent, AT&T — spent a fortune building out mmWave networks. They don't want to sell flagship phones that don't support them. Apple's flagship iPhones have supported those networks since 2020. If Zivkovic's analysis of this stolen data from Tata is correct, and Apple is going to use Qualcomm's modems only in iPhone 18 Pro models sold in the U.S., I think the reason why is Verizon and AT&T bragging points, not any practical user benefit. And the result may be that U.S. iPhone 18 Pro models get somewhat worse battery life than those in the rest of the world.

The C2 modem has been a rumored feature of the iPhone 18 Pro for years as part of Apple's broader effort to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm. A split deployment, with the C2 handling most of the world while Qualcomm covers the U.S., would represent a significant step in that direction even if it falls short of a complete transition.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch in the fall alongside the first foldable iPhone.
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Google today launched Gemini Spark for its macOS desktop app, allowing the AI agent to automate tasks involving local files and desktop workflows.


Google announced the update today, adding a dedicated Spark tab to the sidebar of the Gemini app for macOS. The feature allows the AI agent to take action on files stored locally on a user's computer rather than just responding to questions in a chat window.

Users can perform actions such as sorting PDFs from a Downloads folder into labelled subfolders, or pulling figures from locally saved invoices to build a Google Workspace budget spreadsheet on a set schedule. Users control which folders Spark can see by linking them in the sidebar and can revoke that access at any time. Google says a future update will allow users to start tasks on their Mac from a phone.

Google also announced a series of third-party integrations for Spark on web and mobile. New connected apps include Google Tasks, Google Keep, Canva, Dropbox, Instacart, OpenTable, and Zillow Rentals, enabling actions like converting Keep notes into task lists, reserving restaurant tables, ordering groceries, and booking apartment tours. Those integrations are rolling out over the next week, with macOS support to follow in the weeks after.

Support for custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers is also arriving, giving users a way to connect additional services directly into Spark. Google also adds real-time topic tracking, allowing Spark to monitor blogs, news sites, social media, finance, sports, shopping, weather, and email and alert users when specified conditions are met.

Gemini Spark for macOS is available in beta to Google AI Ultra subscribers aged 18 and over in the United States, starting with version 1.80.15.516 of the Gemini desktop app. Google AI Ultra starts at $99 per month.
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Soaring demand for the iPhone 17 lineup seems to have finally come to an end, amid rumors that Apple has finally lowered expectations and reduced production plans by 15%.


In a pair of posts on Weibo, the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital" said the claim comes from reliable sources within the supply chain. The leaker said that the ‌iPhone 17‌'s current outlook "won't hold for long," adding that "major global smartphone manufacturers — Apple included — have all lowered their shipment forecasts."

The second post provides broader industry context for that claim. Xiaomi has reportedly reduced its shipment targets by approximately 20–30%, while OPPO, vivo, and Honor are also lowering their targets by roughly 15–30%.

A simpler explanation for softening ‌iPhone 17‌ demand may be the natural product cycle. The iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch in September alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone, and many customers who were going to buy an ‌iPhone 17‌ model have likely already done so following a near-record sales run stretching back to launch last September.

As recently as June, TrendForce reported that Apple's iPhone production surged 19.7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, even as the broader global smartphone market contracted 1.7% over the same period. That report attributed Apple's strong output to the launch of the iPhone 17e alongside ongoing production ramp-up for the broader ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup, and described Apple as better positioned than most competitors to absorb rising memory component costs without sacrificing profitability.

In May, Counterpoint Research's Global Handset Model Sales Tracker found the iPhone 17 was the best-selling smartphone globally in the first quarter of 2026, capturing 6% of worldwide unit sales, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ in second and third place. A separate Counterpoint report that same month found Apple had topped the global smartphone market in a first quarter for the first time ever, capturing 21% of global shipments and growing 9% year-over-year even as the overall market contracted 3%.

The ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup's strong run began at launch. Shortly after release in September 2025, Apple told two suppliers to increase daily ‌iPhone 17‌ output by at least 30% following a strong pre-order weekend, and Counterpoint found the lineup outsold the iPhone 16 models by 14% during the first 10 days in the United States and China. In January, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that demand for the iPhone during the holiday quarter was "simply staggering" and had surpassed the company's own expectations, with iPhone revenue reaching $85.2 billion, a new all-time high.

After nine months and with another generation on the horizon, it was inevitable that the ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup's remarkably strong run would come to an end eventually.
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A flaw in Apple's Hide My Email service can reportedly allow almost anyone to uncover the real email address behind a generated alias, and Apple has failed to address it for more than a year since it was first reported.


404 Media is withholding the technical specifics of the vulnerability because it remains exploitable, but the publication verified the issue this week using one of its own Hide My Email addresses. In tests with volunteers by the researcher who discovered the flaw, 100% of Hide My Email addresses were found to be exploitable.

Tyler Murphy, co-founder of EasyOptOuts, discovered the issue and responsibly reported it to Apple in June 2025, along with instructions to replicate it. Apple acknowledged the report a month later and said it was investigating. Murphy said:

Apple Hide My Email is leaking email addresses that are supposed to be hidden. We reported the issue and replication instructions to Apple over a year ago. We don't know why it hasn't been fixed, but we don't feel comfortable waiting any longer. Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses.

Free, publicly accessible people-search sites make it easy to link an email address to other personal details, so people relying on Hide My Email for safety may be at risk.

In March 2026, Apple told Murphy it had "addressed the reported issue in a recent system change," but Murphy found the flaw had not in fact been closed. He provided further information, and Apple replied again to say it was still investigating.

In May, Apple once more said the issue remained under investigation and asked Murphy not to disclose it publicly until the inquiry was complete. Murphy proposed that Apple suspend the creation of new Hide My Email addresses as an interim measure to limit customer risk, but there is no indication that suggestion was acted on. By the end of May, Apple said it expected to address the issue in a security update "expected in the coming weeks."

Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature that lets users generate random alias email addresses, primarily for use when signing up to services or corresponding with third parties. It is designed to protect a user's real email address from spam, data breaches, and unwanted identification.

Murphy noted that numerous people-search databases are freely available online and can tie an email address to a person's other personal details, meaning anyone depending on Hide My Email for their safety may be more exposed than they realize. Last month, it emerged that Apple's decision to move Hide My Email to a dedicated "private.icloud.com" domain appears to have the consequence of making it easier for platforms that want to block ‌iCloud‌ aliases to do so.
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A "major overhaul" of the Apple Watch's design is due to arrive next year with a new system for connecting bands, according to a known Weibo leaker.


In a set of recent posts, the leaker known as "Instant Digital" linked the new claim to older rumors about an "Apple Watch X" model, which was said to introduce a fresh design and break compatibility with the existing watch band system. Citing a post from August 2023, the leaker reiterated that the way the band attaches to the case would change, creating internal space for a larger battery. The leaker went on to advise that anyone planning to buy a new Apple Watch in 2027 should hold off on buying extra bands in the meantime, given that a redesigned case could leave the current attachment system behind.

The "Apple Watch X" rumor traces back to a 2023 report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who said Apple was planning the "biggest overhaul yet" for the Apple Watch's 10th anniversary, complete with a new magnetic band attachment system, a thinner case, and a microLED display. None of this materialized and Apple instead released the Apple Watch Series 10, keeping the existing band system intact with a design that, while tweaked somewhat, scarcely represented a major overhaul. It now looks like this redesign could simply have been delayed, rather than shelved entirely.

The timing lines up with how Apple has historically refreshed the standard Apple Watch's design. The original Apple Watch through to the Series 3 shared one design, the Series 4 through Series 6 shared another, and the Series 7 through Series 9 shared a third. The current design arrived with the Apple Watch Series 10. Following that roughly three-year pattern, a new design would be due to land with the Apple Watch Series 13 in 2027, matching the timeline Instant Digital is now describing.

The leaker previously said that the redesign would not appear until 2028, the year after the debut of the 20th anniversary iPhone. Last year, DigiTimes said that at least one future high-end Apple Watch model would get a "significant redesign ," including exterior changes such as eight sensors arranged in a ring pattern on the device's underside, tied to broader health-sensing ambitions. Earlier this month, Apple was said to be evaluating next-generation OLED backplane technology for the 2027 Apple Watch.

This year's Apple Watch Series 12 is not expected to feature a new design, continuing to use the same one introduced with the Series 10 in 2024, which introduced a thinner case, larger display, and a metal back that folds the antenna into the housing.
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Apple will try to convince the UK Supreme Court this week to throw out a $502 million judgment in favor of patent holder Optis Wireless.


As reported in the Financial Times, the UK Supreme Court this week takes up a dispute that has stretched on since 2019 in both U.S. and UK courts, when Optis first accused iPhones, iPads, and LTE-equipped Apple Watch models of infringing patents covering 4G networking technology.

The current UK fight is no longer about whether Apple infringed the patents, but rather what Apple should reasonably owe for using it. Patents deemed essential to a wireless standard must be licensed on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, and the two sides remain far apart on the number. The award is structured as a single upfront payment spanning 2013 to 2027, covering Optis' LTE patents across Apple's cellular hardware.

The figure has shifted dramatically over the course of the proceedings. London's High Court had set the bill at $56.43 million in 2023. The Court of Appeal multiplied that roughly ninefold to $502 million last year. To get to that figure, the judges leaned on a separate agreement Optis had signed with Google as a reference point and counted royalties stretching back to 2013, well beyond the six-year window the High Court had favored.

Apple wants the justices to reconsider not just the size of the award but how the lower court arrived at it, contending the Court of Appeal "erred in law" and produced a figure it calls "arbitrary." Optis counters that Apple has spent years dodging fair payment and using its scale to drive rates down. Qualcomm has also lined up against the appeal, warning that Apple's stance breaks with established licensing norms and risks discouraging future innovation.

The dispute traces back to a pivotal 2020 ruling in which the UK Supreme Court held that British courts can set worldwide patent licensing rates, even though they can only rule on the infringement of UK patents. That decision opened the door for Optis to pursue global damages. After a 2021 High Court finding that Apple had infringed two of its patents, with the potential bill reported to run as high as $7 billion, an Apple lawyer told the court the company could withdraw from the UK rather than accept terms it considered "commercially unacceptable." Apple later backed away from that position.

The proceedings in the UK contrast with the parallel U.S. case, where Apple has fared considerably better. In February, a U.S. jury cleared Apple of infringing any of the five patents in dispute, the latest turn in a case that has repeatedly ended in Apple's favor.

Two earlier awards, of $506 million and $300 million, were each thrown out on appeal. Optis has signaled the U.S. legal battle isn't finished, saying it expects the District Court and the Federal Circuit to revisit the verdict.
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Apple has accused Indian antitrust investigators of "copy-pasting" claims from its rivals and failing to conduct their own analysis, arguing the regulator's findings against it should be thrown out.


In a June 25 submission to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reviewed by Reuters, Apple escalated its long-running dispute with the regulator, where Match and a group of Indian startups are among its opponents. The CCI's investigators privately concluded in 2024 that Apple had engaged in "abusive conduct" on the App Store and wrongly mandated the use of its own payment system.

Apple has denied the allegations. The company said it is a "minuscule player" with under 6% of India's smartphone market, and argued the investigation's conclusions rest on rivals' claims rather than the CCI's independent work. It warned that "forced alterations to Apple's carefully designed ‌App Store‌ could disrupt its integrated business model," and that remedies would "create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investments in India's digital economy."

In its submission, Apple provided tables intended to show the CCI's investigation team had simply reproduced filings from opponents in the case, including Match, Walmart's Indian payments app PhonePe, and Indian rival Paytm. "The DG [Director General] made no effort whatsoever to independently verify or critically assess these statements, often parroting them verbatim," Apple said.

Apple also claimed the CCI "blindly replicated" a graphic on worldwide consumer spending on mobile apps and games drawn from a 2024 EU ruling against the company, despite India facing different market conditions. In its own case, Google argued that Indian investigators had copied parts of a European ruling, but it had little effect on the final ruling resulting in forced changes to promotion of Android.

Apple is also arguing that officials failed to grant it "a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence" during the probe, in contrast to Google, which it says was given several chances to defend itself.

The regulator has accused Apple of stalling the case for more than two years by withholding responses and pursuing a parallel challenge to India's antitrust penalty law, which allows for fines of up to 10% of a company's turnover over the previous three years. That law lets India base any penalty on global rather than local turnover, the basis on which Apple has estimated its potential exposure at as much as $38 billion. Apple is separately contesting in a New Delhi court whether the law, which took effect in 2024, should apply to the full 2022–2024 period in question.

Apple had refused to supply global financial documents for that period before agreeing to cooperate in early June 2026, ultimately submitting only its local Indian turnover after requesting a "final extension" that ran to June 25, which was the same day it filed its copy-pasting accusation.

The dispute comes as India grows ever more central to Apple's business. The country is set to make 26% of the world's iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago.
This article, "Apple Says India's Antitrust Case Against It Is 'Copy-Pasted'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple plans to adopt OLED panels capable of displaying a much wider range of colors, according to a new report from research firm TrendForce.


The new panels would cover 95% of the BT.2020 color standard, which describes a far broader spectrum of colors than the DCI-P3 standard Apple's screens currently target. In practice, that means deeper, more accurate reds, greens, and blues. Reaching those richer colors demands more precise control over the light a display emits, along with better energy efficiency, so TrendForce expects the next round of OLED competition to hinge less on familiar specs like brightness and thinness and more on balancing color, power consumption, and overall performance.

Apple first brought OLED to the iPad Pro in 2024, and the technology is expected to come to the MacBook Pro between 2026 and early 2027. To reach the wider color range, panel makers are changing the chemistry of the layer inside each pixel that actually produces light, moving from a simpler recipe toward more sophisticated designs that pass energy between materials more efficiently.

TrendForce points to several of these new approaches. One makes a pixel emit a purer, more precise color, which is what lets a screen reach the tougher BT.2020 targets. Another adds a "helper" material so the pixel turns energy into light more efficiently. A third mixes in extra materials to keep a panel bright for longer without wearing out.

The shift is also a chance for display makers to rely less on technologies they have to license from others. All of this is said to be changing the relationship between the companies that manufacture displays and the companies that supply the materials inside them, with the winners increasingly being whoever can offer the best mix of cost, ease of manufacturing, and freedom from patent licensing.

Apple plans to adopt the more advanced OLED panels gradually across future ‌MacBook Pro‌, ‌iPad Pro‌, and iMac models, according to the report.
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On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss potential price rises for the iPhone 18 lineup following Apple's wave of hikes yesterday, as well as plans for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and camera-equipped AirPods.



Apple yesterday raised prices across most of its lineup, including HomePod mini, HomePod, Apple TV, the entire iPad line, the entire Mac line, and Vision Pro, following CEO Tim Cook's warning to The Wall Street Journal that hikes were "unavoidable" due to soaring memory and storage chip costs. Apple's online store was briefly taken offline before returning with the new pricing, with increases ranging from $30 on the ‌HomePod mini‌ to $1,300 on the high end Mac Studio, averaging $246.67 across the affected products.

The iPhone, AirPods, Studio Display, Apple Watch, and accessories such as the Apple Pencil appear to be the only product lines left unaffected. Separately, the 256GB Mac mini has returned to the lineup after disappearing earlier this year, now priced at $799, which is a $200 increase over its earlier price.

The same pressure is likely to hit the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which were already speculated to cost more than their predecessors before yesterday's increases. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Cook acknowledged Apple isn't immune to these cost pressures, and said clarity on iPhone pricing would come with the lineup's September launch.

Citing research firm TechInsights, the ‌Wall Street Journal‌ reported that DRAM and flash storage costs are projected to roughly quadruple by fall, pushing the iPhone 17 Pro's bill of materials from about $582 up 25% to around $726 for its successor. TechInsights has said Apple would need to raise the iPhone 18 Pro's price by about $270 to preserve current margins, though Apple's preference for standardized pricing makes a $1,299 starting price more likely on its own.

Factoring in the new camera system, which analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says could cost about 50% more than the previous generation, the ‌Wall Street Journal‌ estimates Apple could ultimately set the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s starting price at $1,399 or higher, a $200 to $300 jump over the current model, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max likely starting $100 above that.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ is rumored to keep the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌'s aluminum build, with four new colors including Dark Cherry, a muted wine-red expected to be the signature shade. As with last year, there's likely no true black option. Weibo leaker Fixed Focus Digital recently warned the new colors could be prone to the same chipping and surface issues seen on last year's Cosmic Orange and Dark Blue, which Apple reportedly treats as a material characteristic rather than a defect.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch in September alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone, the "iPhone Ultra." Shipping could slip slightly later for the foldable. A Chinese leaker recently said any gap would be at most a month, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported the device remains on track for September, after Barclays analyst Tim Long earlier suggested shipments could slip to December. The foldable is expected to feature a 7.8-inch inner display, 5.5-inch cover display, the A20 chip and C2 modem, Touch ID instead of Face ID, two rear cameras, and a starting price of at least $2,000.

Gurman recently reported that the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 will launch alongside the new iPhones. Little is known about the devices, though a faster chip seems highly likely given that both the Series 11 and Ultra 3 stuck with the S10 from the previous year. watchOS 27 will likely add new watch faces, including a variant of the Modular Ultra face.

For 2027, Apple is developing camera-equipped AirPods. The cameras, embedded in the AirPods' stems, are not designed for taking photos or video, and will instead feed information about the wearer's surroundings to Siri, which will be able to answer questions about objects and whatever the wearer is looking at, alongside contextual reminders and improved turn-by-turn directions. An included light will indicate to people nearby when the cameras are active. The AirPods were originally targeted for a 2026 launch, but Apple's broader AI struggles and the need to develop reliable object-identification models apparently pushed the timeline back.

The MacRumors Show has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips.



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



If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up to hear our further discussion about WWDC 2026 and iOS 27, macOS Golden Gate, and Apple's other new software updates coming this fall.

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

‌The MacRumors Show‌ is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also email us at podcast@macrumors.com or head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
This article, "The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Has a Pricing Problem" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Micron's chief business officer has hinted, without calling it out by name, that Apple's tough supplier negotiations contributed to the conditions behind the global memory shortage.


In remarks given to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Sumit Sadana explained that Micron was unable to fund capacity expansion during the industry's previous slump, a period when its margins turned negative partly because some buyers pushed relentlessly for lower prices.

We told a couple of the customers who were being very aggressive with pricing at that time that this is not constructive. A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins.

Micron is one of Apple's memory suppliers, providing some of the DRAM and NAND flash chips that go into iPhones, Macs, and iPads. Apple has a reputation for getting favorable terms from suppliers like Micron through long-term purchasing contracts.

Sadana's comments came just hours after Apple unveiled a sweeping round of price hikes that touched nearly every part of its hardware lineup. Products across the Mac, iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and Vision Pro lines all went up in price, with only the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods left untouched. Apple's stock closed down 6% the same day, its worst single-day performance in more than a year, wiping out roughly $265 billion in market value.

Apple CEO Tim Cook forewarned about this outcome more than a week earlier in comments to the same publication, warning that price increases had become unavoidable given how the company was being squeezed on memory and storage costs. Cook said Apple had been trying to shield customers from the worst of it but had reached a breaking point, describing the shortage as a "hundred-year flood" unlike anything he had seen in more than four decades. He pointed to the surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers, arguing that consumer products were now competing for a shrinking pool of supply and that pricing needed to come back down to earth before Apple's own prices could follow.
This article, "Micron Suggests Apple Helped Cause Memory Price Crisis" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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