The Apple community was rocked this week as the company instituted massive price hikes on a broad array of products, with many products seeing increases of 10–20 percent and a few as high as 50 percent or more. The move led many Apple fans to flock to Amazon and other retailers in attempts to make purchases before the price increases trickle down to third-party sellers.


Other major news this week included a recap of the numerous products in Apple's pipeline rumored for release over the next 12–18 months, a second round of developer betas for iOS 27 and other updates, changes to Apple's chip roadmap, and more, so read on below for all of the details!

Top Stories

Apple Just Increased Prices on MacBooks, iPads, and More

After Tim Cook signaled last week that Apple hardware price increases were "unavoidable" in the face of high memory and storage costs from suppliers, Apple this week followed through with a slew of major price increases across its Mac and iPad lineups, as well as on HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, and Vision Pro.


Apple explained that the company has "never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," and while Apple held off on raising prices for as long as possible, the situation has become dire enough that it feels it needs to pass the increases along to customers. Apple says that it is "working tirelessly to find solutions," but memory suppliers forecast that shortages and high prices will last well into 2027.

Apple's price increases have largely yet to trickle down to third-party retailers and buyers are quickly snapping up whatever stock Amazon and others have left at the cheaper prices, so if you're interested in making a purchase, it would be wise to act quickly.

Apple to Release These 20 New Products Across Rest of 2026 and 2027

Apple's cadence of product updates has been slowed due to impacts from delays to the more advanced Siri as well as component shortages, so that means the pipeline of upcoming products is remarkably full at the moment.


Bloomberg's Mark Gurman this week recapped a list of around 20 new products we should be seeing through the remainder of 2026 and into 2027. The list includes updates to much of Apple's current product lineup, plus some new products like the foldable iPhone, a high-end touchscreen MacBook, camera-equipped AirPods, a smart home hub, and smart glasses.

Everything New in iOS 27 Beta 2

Apple this week rolled out a second round of developer betas for iOS 27 and related updates, and the new iOS 27 beta includes a few changes as Apple continues to build out the update ahead of an expected September public release.


A new "Write with Siri" button in several first-party apps makes it easier to locate the tools that allow Siri to assist you with writing, while there are improvements to RCS messaging, tweaks to the Camera and Wallet apps, the ability to update an Apple TV from the Home app on iPhone, and more.

2027 Macs to Get AI-Focused M7 Chips as Apple Skips High-End M6

A significant shakeup for Apple's chip roadmap is underway, according to Bloomberg, with Apple cutting higher-end chips from the upcoming M6 family as the company seeks to speed up development of the M7 family to deliver greater AI optimizations.


It sounds like we'll only be getting a base M6 chip from that family later this year in some lower-end Macs, with Apple quickly moving on to an M7 chip in the first half of 2027. Higher-end chips in the M7 family will follow later in 2027.

Apple's highly anticipated OLED touchscreen "MacBook Ultra," will reportedly use the current M5 Pro and M5 chips that debuted in the MacBook Pro earlier this year, despite the fact that the new laptop won't arrive until late this year or even early next year.

Apple Explains Why watchOS 27 Drops Support for So Many Models

Amid some consternation from users, Apple has explained why five Apple Watch models will miss out on watchOS 27 and the new Siri AI features that come with it.


The Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, SE 2, and the original Apple Watch Ultra will not receive watchOS 27, and will only get basic security updates going forward. With the update, Apple is effectively dropping three years' worth of device support in a single software update, which is unprecedented for the product line.

Speaking to TechRadar, Apple executives explained that the company wanted to use watchOS 27 to make the Apple Watch a "true co-partner to Apple Intelligence," and that required some sacrifices in supported models for the update. Only the last few generations of Apple Watch include the processing power to be able to adequately deliver the new features both on a standalone basis and in interfacing with a paired iPhone for heavier workloads with Siri AI.

MacRumors Newsletter

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

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This article, "Top Stories: Massive Apple Price Increases, iOS 27 Beta 2, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The Shortcuts app can be intimidating to casual iPhone users, but with iOS 27, it's a lot easier to use. With Apple Intelligence integration, shortcuts can be created using natural language, and they're much more accessible to the average person.

Describe a Shortcut

When you tap on the New Shortcut button in the ‌iOS 27‌ Shortcuts app, it opens to the Describe a Shortcut interface.


There's a text box that asks you what you want your shortcut to do, and you can describe what you need in natural language. You can start with a single step, or add in multiple parameters. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ selects the correct actions, creates the automations, and folds it all into a completed shortcut. A few examples of what you can do:

• Each evening, set tomorrow's alarm based on my first Calendar event, turn on Sleep Focus, and dim the bedroom lights.


• Every morning, show me my first meeting, today's weather, and my Reminders due today.


• Turn on the porch lights at night when you get a notification that food delivery is arriving.


• Text my partner an ETA when I leave work, then start playing my podcast.


• Show me a summary of my day's meetings and to-do list, and suggest anything I should prioritize.


• When I open YouTube, turn off orientation lock. Turn it back on when I close the app.


• Give me a three-line summary of today's tech news.

Shortcuts and automations can run based on time of day, location, an app action, a system feature like a screenshot, an incoming notification, and more. Shortcuts can do all kinds of things, from accessing system features to opening and running apps.

Add Refinements

After dictating a shortcut, the app will outline each of the actions the shortcut will perform. If it's what you want, you can tap on the play button to test it. It will be added automatically to your personal shortcuts.


If it's not quite what you want or you want to add more features, you can use the "Describe a change" interface. You can type in what you want to tweak, and go through multiple rounds of refinement until you get exactly what you want.

Shortcuts can be used from Siri, the app, Control Center, the Action Button, and more.

Edit Manually

Once created, you can tap into a manual editing interface if you want to add more complicated actions or tweak without using ‌Apple Intelligence‌. AI Shortcuts is in beta and it's not always perfect, so sometimes manual edits are required to get the end result you want.


You can also open any shortcut and use the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ mode to make edits.

New Automation Triggers

• When a notification is received


• When a screenshot is captured


• When a keyboard is connected


• When an Apple Watch workout starts

New Actions

There are several new actions in the Shortcuts app.

• Automate a recording in Notes


• Send messages to a group conversation


• Updated Get What's On Screen option that gets context information from the display (e.g. text, title, or links)


• Choose an item from a list


• Delete conversations or messages in Messages


• Mark as read in Messages


• Search in Messages


• Open Messages inbox


• Send Tapback


• Auto Enhance Photo


• Delete albums and photos


• Favorite photos


• Hide photos


• Open photo


• Create Group in Reminders


• Create Section in Reminders


• Delete groups, lists, and sections in Reminders


• Edit list in Reminders


• Toggle Hearing Aid Mute


• Toggle Vehicle Motion Cues

Improved Apple Intelligence Models

Shortcuts can use improved ‌Apple Intelligence‌ models that have access to broad world knowledge, which means the model can search the web to get information.


There are now Cloud, Cloud Pro, and on-device models that can be used in shortcuts. Cloud Pro is able to search the web, and is used for queries that need information from the internet.

Data Storage

Shortcuts can store and update data, so you can do things like add items to a list or keep a tally.

Automation Updates

Automation is no longer a separate section in the Shortcuts app, and automation triggers are under the general Shortcuts actions.

Cross-Platform Support

The Describe a Shortcut feature is available in the Shortcuts app in ‌iOS 27‌, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate.

Requirements

The ‌Apple Intelligence‌ Shortcut app features require a device that supports ‌Apple Intelligence‌, which includes the iPhone 15 Pro and later, iPads with an M-series chip or the iPad mini with A17 Pro, or a Mac with an Apple silicon chip.

Supported languages include English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, and Korean.
This article, "iOS 27 Makes the Shortcuts App Much Less Intimidating" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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