The Vision Pro headset was internally called "Reality Pro" for a significant stretch of its development before Apple settled on the name it ultimately shipped with, according to the prototype collector and leaker known as "Kosutami."


In a post on X, Kosutami wrote that the "Apple Vision Pro was originally called Reality Pro" during the early stages of development, pointing to an internal string, "realityprorealityosdev."

The Reality Pro name is not new information. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in September 2022 that Apple's first headset would likely launch as "Apple Reality Pro." In August 2022, trademark filings for "Reality One," "Reality Pro," and "Reality Processor" surfaced in the United States and several other countries, filed through a shell company called Immersive Health Solutions LLC, a tactic Apple has used before to keep upcoming product names under wraps.

Those filings followed an earlier trademark application for "realityOS" dated December 2021 and filed by another apparent shell company, Realityo Systems LLC, after developers had already spotted realityOS references inside Apple's own software and App Store upload logs. By mid-2023, additional trademark activity surfaced for terms like "xrOS," "xrProOS," "realityproOS," and "realOS."

Apple ultimately unveiled the headset as the Vision Pro at WWDC 2023, seemingly dropping the Reality branding entirely for both the device and its operating system, which shipped as visionOS. The switch came late enough in development that traces of the old naming, like the string Kosutami highlights, persisted in internal builds and software.

Apple reportedly retains trademark rights to "Reality Pro" and "Reality One," which could matter in China, where Huawei holds a ten year license to the Vision Pro trademark until 2031. Gurman said that Apple could fall back on Reality Pro branding in markets where Vision Pro is unavailable as a trademark.

Vision Pro launched in the U.S. in February 2024 at $3,499. Apple this week laid off around 100 members of its Vision Products Group and largely shut down its Vision Pro gaming and immersive video teams. The cuts follow reports that Apple has effectively shelved the product line, having already canceled both a redesigned Vision Pro 2 and the cheaper "Vision Air" as the company's attention shifts to smart glasses instead.
This article, "Apple Vision Pro Was Almost Called 'Reality Pro'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

YouTuber Michael Fisher, known as "MrMobile," joins us on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show to talk through key rumors about the "iPhone Ultra" and how the device could compare to rivals.


Michael has covered the foldable phone category since 2019 and personally owned or reviewed nearly every major device in it, from the original Galaxy Fold to Samsung's newly redesigned Galaxy Z Fold8. He still carries a Motorola Razr Ultra as his personal phone alongside a rotating stack of review units.

Apple's foldable iPhone, rumored to be called the "‌iPhone Ultra‌," is widely expected to be announced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro this fall, featuring a 7.8-inch inner display, a 5.5-inch cover screen, the A20 chip, and a starting price above $2,000.

Much of the design speculation centers on Apple adopting a shorter, wider form factor similar to the Z Fold8 and older Pixel devices, rather than the taller, narrower shape most foldables have used for years. To minimize the crease that has plagued the category since the original Galaxy Fold, Apple is reportedly pursuing a layered glass display structure paired with a liquid metal hinge.

The foldable is reportedly expected to ship with just two rear lenses and no telephoto camera, despite engineering compromises made elsewhere to fit in a Camera Control button, while Samsung's competing Z Fold8 Ultra ships with a three-lens system that includes a telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The foldable iPhone is also expected to use Touch ID built into the side button rather than Face ID, since there is reportedly no room for the TrueDepth sensor array in such a thin chassis.

Pricing has been a recurring point of speculation, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman saying the foldable will "cross the $2,000 threshold" in the U.S., which would make it Apple's most expensive iPhone ever. Durability is also likely to face scrutiny, given the hinge failures that plagued the original Galaxy Fold and the fact that Samsung's current foldables still lack a full dust resistance rating years into the category's existence.

Code strings found in the iOS 27 beta reference a hinge angle, which could hint at foldable-specific software features, and Apple has already introduced new app adaptation protocols, likely as preparation for the device.

See more of Michael's work over on his YouTube channel. Fisher is also a co-founder of Clicks, which makes physical keyboard accessories for smartphones. 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 how the Apple Watch is seemingly heading into one of its least eventful new generations, yet the rumors stacking up behind it describe the most radical rethink in the product's history coming later.

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: Michael Fisher Talks iPhone Ultra" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Code found in Apple's backend car key system suggests the company is preparing to add support for MG vehicles.


The discovery indicates Apple has begun preparing car key support for SAIC Motor's MG brand. 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, with support for Express Mode that works without authentication.

MG began as a British sports car marque in 1924 before China's SAIC Motor acquired the brand in 2007, and it has since become one of the fastest-growing car brands in Europe. The company recently delivered its one millionth car to a European customer, with roughly 386,000 of those sales coming from the UK alone, where MG now holds more than four percent of the market and ranks among the country's 10 largest car makers by volume. That growth has been driven in large part by MG's electric lineup, including the MG4 and MG Cyberster.

As with other backend references to expanded Apple Car Key support, the code does not indicate which MG models will be compatible or provide a timeframe for rollout, and MG has not yet announced support for the feature. Its addition to Apple's backend code does suggest, however, that its release could soon be on the way.
This article, "MG Could Be Next Automaker to Get Apple Car Key Support" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple paid $17 billion in taxes to Ireland last year, which is 40% of its $43 billion worldwide total (via the Financial Times). The figures were disclosed for the first time under new EU rules requiring large companies to break down their finances by country.

The payment was significantly boosted by the EU's top court ordering Apple in 2024 to pay €13 billion in back taxes, after ruling that Ireland had granted the company unlawful state aid resulting in a tax rate of less than 1%.
This article, "Apple Paid $17 Billion in Taxes to Ireland Last Year" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple gained ground in India, Latin America, and Europe even as all three markets contracted, according to a new series of Counterpoint Research reports.


Between late March and the beginning of August, Indian smartphone sales ran 14% behind the equivalent stretch of 2025, and the market slipped for three straight weeks once major promotions in July had finished. Apple outperformed every rival with a 15% rise, which Counterpoint attributes to strong iPhone 17 demand holding up alongside continued affordability offers. Samsung and OPPO each grew just 4% in the country.

The research firm added that promotions are borrowing demand from the weeks either side of them, rather than growing the market. Amid broad price rises, Counterpoint expects the Indian smartphone market to finish 2026 down around 13%.

Latin American smartphone shipments fell 10% in the second quarter, which is the region's steepest annual drop since the third quarter of 2023. Apple and Samsung were the only brands to grow, by 5% and 6% respectively, while Motorola, HONOR, and Xiaomi all receded in the market. Apple's gains apparently came from absorbing component cost increases rather than passing them on to customers, and the company now accounts for roughly 51% of everything sold above $600 in the region.

European shipments dropped 10% to 35 million units, which is the weakest second quarter in three years. Apple added nine percentage points of market share to achieve parity with Samsung, with each now on 34%, and Xiaomi on 15%. No other brands sit above 4%. Counterpoint expects further declines as inventory dries up, but forecasts that Apple will continue outperforming the wider market.

The smartphone market in China was down 8.6% across the first 30 weeks of the year, with the rate of decline widening back into double digits once the popular 618 shopping festival had concluded. Apple's sales have slowed since July, with discounts pulled back across retail channels and much of the summer's demand already spent during promotions. Counterpoint expects that lull to last until the new iPhone lineup arrives. Huawei, meanwhile, led the market throughout in the region, holding more than a fifth of weekly sales since April.

Counterpoint expects constrained memory supply and elevated prices to run through the remainder of 2026, with a recovery unlikely before 2028. Apple is expected to introduce its next iPhone lineup in September, featuring the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and foldable "iPhone Ultra."
This article, "Smartphone Sales Are Falling Worldwide, But Apple Keeps Growing" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple plans to resurrect its ceramic Apple Watch casing with this year's Series 12 model, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami."


In a new post on X, Kosutami said that the casing will return with the Series 12. Apple first introduced a ceramic Apple Watch Edition with the Series 2 in September 2016, replacing the original gold Edition model and bringing the line's price down from thousands of dollars to a comparatively modest $1,249.

The white ceramic finish, made from a compressed zirconia and alumina powder polished with a diamond slurry, was marketed as being four times as hard as stainless steel. Apple expanded the material a year later with a gray ceramic option alongside the Series 3, but the Edition line disappeared entirely for the Series 4 in 2018, with Apple dropping ceramic and offering no high-end case option at all that year.

The white ceramic finish returned for the Series 5 in 2019 alongside an all-new titanium option, before Apple discontinued it for good when the Series 6 launched in 2020. The material has been absent from the Apple Watch lineup for six years since. It has since become one of the more sought after finishes among collectors on the resale market.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the ceramic case option is expected to return either this year or in 2027. Kosutami's latest post suggests that the feature will indeed arrive this year.

The Apple Watch Series 12 is expected to feature a new chip for improved performance, alongside a selection of other small upgrades. The device is expected to be introduced alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 4, iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and first foldable iPhone next month.
This article, "Ceramic Apple Watch Rumored to Return With Series 12" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

The leaker known as "DuanRui" today shared video and images of cases designed for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, potentially offering an early look at some of the new color options for Apple's official accessories.


The cases themselves are fake, featuring the same model number used for existing iPhone 17 Pro accessories, but they could still be based on the genuine cases Apple is expected to release alongside the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max next month.

Ahead of every major new iPhone announcement, dupe accessories like these tend to circulate in China well before Apple's official unveiling. Case makers frequently work from leaked dimensions and CAD files to get their molds ready in time for launch day, and while some manufacturers take creative liberties and expand their lineups beyond what Apple ends up shipping, such as continuing to offer leather cases, the fakes can still offer an early indication of some of the genuine accessories to come.

One clip shows an Apple-style clear case tinted light blue. It retains the opaque square in the center of the case that conceals the MagSafe magnets, a design first introduced last year on the iPhone 17 Pro's clear case due to the relocated Apple logo on the device. It was criticized by some for its appearance, particularly with Cosmic Orange and Deep Blue. The light blue tint is notable given that the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ is rumored to come in a Light Blue finish, which this case would complement.



The TechWoven cases shown in the images appear in a wider range of colors than what Apple currently offers, featuring black, cherry red, brown, green, blue, and taupe. Apple's existing iPhone 17 Pro TechWoven cases come in just five colors: blue, purple, black, sienna, and green.



The cherry red option stands out in particular, as it would match the eye-catching "flagship" "Dark Cherry" finish widely rumored for the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max are expected to launch alongside the first foldable iPhone, dubbed the "iPhone Ultra," in September.
This article, "Fake Cases Hint at New Clear and TechWoven Colors for iPhone 18 Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Cultured Code today released Things 3.23, featuring a significant update to the app's handling of repeating to-dos, addressing two of the most requested changes from users.


Until now, repeating to-dos in Things lacked some of the flexibility of standard to-dos and today's update closes that gap along with a handful of valuable smaller refinements throughout the app. The latest update's changes include:

• Complete repeating tasks early: Repeating to-dos now display a regular checkbox, just like any other to-do, allowing them to be completed early, with the next copy scheduled based on the existing rule.


• Make Exception or Update Rule: Rescheduling a fixed-schedule repeating to-do by moving it to a new date now prompts a choice between "Make Exception," which moves only that instance and leaves the rest of the schedule untouched, and "Update Rule," which changes the recurrence pattern itself going forward, so moving a Monday to-do to a Tuesday makes it repeat every Tuesday from then on.


• After-completion repeat changes: To-dos that repeat a period of time after completion, rather than on a fixed schedule, simply move to the new date when rescheduled, with no prompt.


• Create Next Copy: Selecting "Repeat" then "Create Next Copy" allows users get a head start on a to-do or project before its scheduled date, adding notes or completing checklist items in advance.


• Repeat icon: Generated copies of repeating to-dos now feature a small grey repeat icon to indicate their origin.


• Redesigned setup dialog: The setup dialog for configuring repeating to-dos now has a visual refresh with easier date selection.


• Bulk actions: Multiple repeating to-dos can now be paused, resumed, or stopped at once.


• Unified codebase: The display and editing of to-dos, both within lists and when expanded, is now driven by the same code across the Mac, iPadOS, and iOS.

Things already featured a list that gathers all repeating to-dos and projects along with their upcoming generated copies in one place, accessible by typing "Repeating" into the app's search field.

Things 3.23 is available now as a free update on the App Store for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Vision Pro. The update requires macOS 13.3, iOS and iPadOS 16.4, watchOS 9.1, and visionOS 26, or newer.
This article, "Things 3.23 Brings Long-Requested Overhaul of Repeating To-Dos" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple is hiring a Studio Producer for its Fitness+ service with a background in live production, in what could be a hint at the future of the service.


The job listing was posted last month, detailing an in-person role at Apple's Santa Monica studio. It calls for someone with a "strong foundation in live or live-to-tape multi-camera production and a genuine curiosity about where live content is headed next." Apple says it wants a "creative collaborator" who is "excited to experiment with new formats" and "push the boundaries of what live fitness content can be."

The role's actual list of responsibilities reads like Fitness+ production management rather than anything specific to live content. While Fitness+ is not a live service, many of the skills applicable to live production would likely be transferable to its needs.

Apple Fitness+ launched in 2020 as a library of trainer-led workout and meditation videos available on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, all shot in advance and streamed on demand, with Apple Watch integration for workout metrics. Apple has never offered Peloton-style live classes, real-time leaderboards, or scheduled sessions through the service, so the listing's repeated emphasis on live production skills appears to mark new territory, even if the responsibilities section stops short of describing what that live content would look like.

The job listing arrives as Apple continues to consider Fitness+'s future. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in November that Fitness+ was "under review" amid a broader reorganization, describing it as one of Apple's "weakest digital offerings" due to high churn and low revenue. Apple health vice president Sumbul Desai took over the service as part of that restructuring, with the health division now reporting directly to services chief Eddy Cue.

Gurman said in February that the review was still ongoing, and guessed that Apple would eventually merge Fitness+ with the Health app directly in some form, "perhaps offering it as a combined subscription." He did not mention any plans for live content.

Thanks, Anthony!
This article, "Job Listing Suggests Apple Fitness+ Could Get Live Content" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss how the Apple Watch is seemingly heading into one of its least eventful new generations, yet the rumors stacking up behind it describe the most radical rethink in the product's history coming later.


The most eye-catching change potentially coming this year is not a new feature at all, but a case material Apple abandoned six years ago. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the white ceramic casing is set to return either this year or in 2027, reviving a finish that has become one of the more sought after options among collectors on the resale market.

Ceramic arrived with the Apple Watch Series 2 in September 2016, replacing the gold "Edition" model and bringing the top of the line down from thousands of dollars to $1,249. Apple marketed the finish as four times as hard as stainless steel. A gray option followed alongside the Series 3, before the Edition line vanished entirely with the Series 4 in 2018. White ceramic came back for the Series 5 in 2019 alongside titanium, then Apple discontinued it for good when the Series 6 launched in 2020.

Everything else expected of the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 is considerably more restrained. Gurman believes the pair will continue the trend of "modest upgrades," featuring a meaningful performance increase. The Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 all reused the S10 chip, which was itself barely changed from the S9 introduced in 2023.

Gurman also expects new color and band options and a number of health and fitness upgrades, but no design changes, meaning a third year for the case introduced with the Apple Watch Series 10 in 2024. He does not expect an Apple Watch SE 4 this year at all.

Separately, a known Weibo leaker claims Apple is focused on longer battery life with the Series 12. Apple rates the Series 11 at up to 24 hours on a charge, or up to 38 hours in Low Power Mode. Both new models are expected next month alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and Apple's first foldable iPhone.

Looking to the future, the leaker known as "Instant Digital" claims a major overhaul is due in 2027 or 2028, built around a new band attachment system that would free up internal space for a larger battery and break compatibility with the existing bands. The leaker went as far as advising anyone planning a 2027 purchase to hold off on buying extra bands in the meantime.

If accurate, it would resurrect the "Apple Watch X" plan Gurman reported on in 2023, which promised a magnetic band system, a thinner case, and a microLED display for the device's 10th anniversary. None of that ultimately arrived.

The timing also fits Apple's roughly three year design cadence, running from the original model through to the Series 3, the Series 4 through to the Series 6, and the Series 7 to through the Series 9. Apple has separately been evaluating next-generation OLED backplane technology for the 2027 model, while DigiTimes claimed at least one high-end model is due a significant redesign including eight sensors arranged in a ring on the underside.

Beyond that, Apple appears to be reevaluating the Apple Watch lineup as a whole. Gurman says the industrial design team has been exploring a broader rethink of its smartwatches, taking the resurgence of screenless fitness bands and smart rings seriously enough to consider Apple Watch style devices with no display, alongside new screen types and case sizes. A round display has been contemplated, though Gurman cautioned that such a device is unlikely to ship. Apple has also weighed premium variants sitting above the Ultra and Hermès models, and cheaper options below the SE.

No direction has yet been settled on, but the company is said to be "determined to reinvent the lineup in response to growing competition," with plans to make its wearables more AI-focused and an ambitious long-term revamp of the Health app. Apple also apparently continues to develop non-invasive blood sugar detection, with a goal of shipping it by 2030. 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 what's next for the iPhone Air.

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: Where Does the Apple Watch Go Next?" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple has again added a collection of classic movies to Apple TV that subscribers can now stream at no extra cost.


The films are located in a new "Great Movies Available Now on ‌Apple TV‌" carousel inside the ‌Apple TV‌ app. So far, free titles are showing up for subscribers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with the exact selection differing by country. In the U.S., 19 movies are available:

• 21 Jump Street


• Arrival


• The Aviator


• A Beautiful Mind


• The Bourne Identity


• Charlie's Angels


• E.T.


• Forgetting Sarah Marshall


• Gone Girl


• I, Robot


• Looper


• The Martian


• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol


• The Proposal


• The Rookie


• The Sixth Sense


• Titanic


• Zodiac


• Zoolander

Other countries such as the United Kingdom appear to have much smaller collections of movies, with only six titles available.

These licensed titles sit alongside Apple's own catalog, which now includes more than 300 original productions.

It is not clear whether this is a lasting change to the catalog or a short-term feature. Apple added 51 licensed films under a "Great Movies on ‌Apple TV‌+" label in March 2024, then followed up with roughly 30 more titles the next month, and neither run lasted more than a few weeks.
This article, "Apple TV Gains Classic Movies Collection" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple today confirmed that its Apple Festival Place store in Basingstoke, England will permanently close in November 2026, while a nearby store in Reading undergoes a major expansion and will reopen with a new design in the following month (via 9to5Mac).


Apple The Oracle will become the closest replacement at around 18 miles from the old Basingstoke location, with Apple WestQuay in Southampton roughly 30 miles away and Apple Bentall Centre about 35 miles away as the next closest alternatives.

Apple Festival Place opened in August 2011, while Apple The Oracle first opened in the Oracle Shopping Centre in June 2011, so both stores are marking just over 15 years in operation as one closes and the other is rebuilt. Apple Festival Place will continue operating normally until November, and its staff will have the opportunity to move to Apple The Oracle or another location once it shuts.

Apple The Oracle is due to reopen in December with the features found in Apple's newest stores, including an experience room for trying out certain products, a dedicated Genius Bar, an Apple Pick Up area for collecting online orders, and free Today at Apple sessions.

The closure and rebuild are part of Apple's ongoing plan to open, relocate, and remodel dozens of stores worldwide. In the UK alone, Apple relocated its Touchwood store in Solihull to a much larger unit last summer and expanded its Trafford Centre store near Manchester earlier this year, while Apple Birmingham is said to be getting a series of upgrades.

The Basingstoke closure follows a more contentious round of U.S. store closures earlier this year, when Apple permanently shut three retail locations, including Apple Towson Town Center in Maryland, the first Apple store in the U.S. to unionize.

Apple opened 11 new stores and relocated 17 more with updated designs worldwide over the past 18 months. Including new locations in Miami and Downtown Detroit alongside a recent revamp of its UK flagship store on Regent Street in London.
This article, "Apple Closing Basingstoke Store as Nearby Reading Location Expands" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

A newly published Apple patent application describes a system for deciding, in real time, whether to interrupt what someone is doing on a device or leave them alone.


The application was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on February 5, 2026 and published on August 6, 2026, as spotted by patent tracking site Patentlyze. The patent describes how a device can observe what someone is doing, check that behavior against rules for when an interruption is warranted, and only then decide whether to show a prompt.

For example, if someone has been scrolling in an app for a long time, staring at one app, or repeating some other pattern the rules flag, the device would step in. If nothing matches, it does nothing and allows the person to carry on uninterrupted. A second part of the same filing covers turning recent activity into a short summary, so instead of getting interrupted mid-task, someone could check in afterward and see what they had missed.

Apple already ships something conceptually close to both halves of this patent. iOS 18.1 introduced AI-powered notification summaries, which use on-device AI to condense a stack of alerts into a single line, alongside a Reduce Interruptions Focus mode that filters out notifications the system judges unimportant. If Apple built the proposed system into a shipping feature, it looks better suited to sharpening those two tools than replacing them.

Reduce Interruptions currently judges each notification individually, weighing its content and sender to decide whether it counts as important enough to break through. It does not factor in what someone is actively doing on the device at that moment. The mechanism in this patent could add that layer, checking a person's ongoing activity, such as how long they have been on a call or how many times they have reopened an app, before deciding whether an interruption is warranted at all, even for a notification that would otherwise qualify.

Notification summaries could benefit in a similar way. Rather than condensing whatever alerts happen to stack up regardless of context, the patent's summarization element describes building a digest from a person's broader activity, which could let the system hold back a stray or inaccurate summary until it has enough of a pattern to summarize accurately, the kind of context Apple's AI summaries lacked when they generated a false news headline and drew criticism in December 2024.

As with all Apple patent filings, there is no guarantee that this specific system will ship in an actual product, and its docketed but unexamined status means the invention could still be narrowed or rejected before a patent is granted. That being said, the application maps onto features already live on Apple devices, which makes it appear to be less of a shot in the dark than many other patent applications. It could easily be Apple laying the groundwork for where it wants to take Reduce Interruptions and notification summaries next.
This article, "Apple Patenting Way to Improve Notification Summaries and 'Reduce Interruptions' Focus" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said "everyone" inside Apple refers to the company's upcoming foldable iPhone as the "iPhone Ultra" internally, though he cautioned that doesn't necessarily confirm it as the final name.

The comments came in response to Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, who argued the "Ultra" name doesn't fit because Apple's existing Ultra products represent the most capable version of a lineup, and the foldable wouldn't clearly outclass the iPhone Pro the way that positioning implies.
This article, "'Everyone' at Apple Apparently Calls Foldable 'iPhone Ultra'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

The leaker known as "Ice Universe" today shared images and a hands on video of screen protectors for Apple's rumored "iPhone Ultra," and the leak appears to confirm two of the most discussed details about the foldable's front design.


The leaked accessory has square corners on the side that would sit next to the hinge, and rounded corners on the opposite edge. That asymmetry lines up with months of rumors describing a foldable device with a hinge on one side, and the leak marks one of the clearest looks yet at how the proportions and shape carry over to the cover display itself.

Ice Universe said the shape reflects the protector covering the entire glass panel rather than matching the display area exactly, and that the screen underneath is still expected to have symmetrical rounded corners and uniform bezels on all sides. As shown in multiple previous reports, the screen protectors also corroborate the foldable iPhone's shorter, wider design.



The protector also shows a single punch hole cutout for the front facing camera, positioned on the right side of the panel rather than in the center. Some earlier reports had suggested the cutout could end up centered, so the accessories offer a firmer answer on its placement. Since the ‌iPhone Ultra‌ is expected to use Touch ID rather than Face ID, it doesn't need the larger TrueDepth sensor array Face ID requires, clearing the way for a single hole punch camera, which is a first for the iPhone.



The information comes a few days after leaker Sonny Dickson shared images of protective covers for the ‌iPhone Ultra‌'s rear camera module in silver and dark blue finishes. Other rumors point to a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.8-inch inner display, the A20 Pro chip, and a 5,000mAh battery, as well as a 48-megapixel dual rear camera system and 18-megapixel selfie cameras on both the outer and inner displays. The device is expected to debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in mid-September, with a price of at least $2,000.
This article, "'iPhone Ultra' Screen Protectors Reveal Asymmetric Corners" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

In response to rising component prices, Apple has extended how long it holds OLED display panels in reserve, according to a report from ETNews, citing industry sources in South Korea.


Apple apparently moved from a four-week display supply buffer to six weeks starting in the second quarter of 2026. The move is unusual since Apple has long treated inventory as a cost to be minimized rather than built up, operating one of the leanest supply chains in the industry.

Deliberately stockpiling more panels for longer marks a noticeable shift in that approach, reportedly driven by a sharp rise in memory chip prices that's rippling out to other components. Buying more panels upfront, especially during quieter periods of sales cycle, will help the company stabilize prices.

Apple already raised prices on 14 products, including all Macs and iPads, in June. The iPhone 18 Pro is widely expected to see a price hike when it launches next month.

Samsung Display and LG Display remain Apple's primary iPhone ‌OLED‌ suppliers, with BOE supplying a much smaller share out of China. A display industry official told ETNews the longer holding period is likely to stick, and expects it to stretch further once the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max launch.
This article, "Apple Now Stockpiling More Components Amid Rising Prices" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple today announced that "Block Blast!+" and "Art of Fauna: Cozy Puzzles+" are coming to Apple Arcade on September 3, adding two more puzzle games to the service's catalog.



Block Blast!+ is the Arcade edition of "Block Blast," a chart topping block clearing puzzle game. Players fill a grid with block shapes to clear full rows and columns, chasing bigger combos as they go, and the Arcade version drops the ads found in the free to play original.

Art of Fauna: Cozy Puzzles+ is based on "Art of Fauna: Cozy Puzzles," winner of the 2025 App Store Award for Cultural Impact. Players reconstruct vintage style nature illustrations piece by piece while learning facts about the animals depicted, and the game offers a text based alternative to the visual puzzles for players with visual or cognitive impairments.

The two new titles join an existing roster of Arcade puzzlers, including the dungeon crawling combat puzzler "Grindstone," the pipe connecting puzzle game "Flow Free+," and the word search title "Crossword Jam+." "Everyday Puzzles: Mini Games+" and "Water Sort Puzzle: Get Color+" are more recent additions to that same catalog.

A handful of existing Arcade games are also gaining new content this month. On August 12, "puffies." adds 28 new packs, including two collections themed around Oden Tomodachi and The Knights. Starting August 20, "Simon's Cat - Blast Time" is rolling out 200 new levels, with 50 arriving each week over the course of a month. And on August 26, "stitch." hits a milestone of 800 unique hoops, marked with a commemorative hoop and a new achievement.

September 3 brings a wider wave of additions to Arcade beyond the two new puzzlers. "NFL Retro Bowl '27" also gains its new Gauntlet Mode that day, tasking players with stringing together as many consecutive wins as possible using limited starting resources, with real NFL players and more perks the further they progress. "Coloring Games for Families+" launches with more than 3,000 activities aimed at players of all ages, while "Let's Play! Oink Games+" brings nine of the developer's board games to Arcade, supporting solo play, offline multiplayer, and online matches.

‌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.
This article, "Two New Games Coming to Apple Arcade's Growing Puzzle Catalog" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple is facing a proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of fraud and false advertising over a security flaw in iCloud Private Relay, according to 9to5Mac.



The suit was filed by the Clarkson Law Firm, which accuses Apple of deceiving ‌iCloud‌+ subscribers with its marketing of Private Relay, the feature meant to shield a user's IP address and DNS records while browsing in Safari. The firm alleges Apple knew, or should have known, that its privacy claims about the feature were false and misleading at the time it sold the subscriptions.

Clarkson previously took Apple to court over the delayed rollout of personalized Siri features, a case that ended in a $250 million settlement. That deal was reached in December 2025, though the payout terms were not made public until May.

Clarkson partner Tim Giordano said Apple had built its reputation on privacy promises, and argued that ‌iCloud‌+ subscribers paid a premium for protection that failed to hold up, calling it "an outrageous violation and betrayal of consumer trust and law."

The lawsuit points to a set of WebKit issues that security researchers detailed earlier this month. The most serious ties to passkey sign-ins: a site can trigger a passkey check that gets handled by the device's operating system rather than Safari, bypassing Private Relay's proxy servers entirely, sometimes without showing any passkey prompt at all, even on a site that only claims to support them.

Two further issues, tied to DNS prefetching and the WebTransport protocol added in iOS 26, can also expose a user's real IP address or DNS servers under certain conditions. Since WebKit powers every browser on iOS, the exposure is not limited to Safari.
This article, "Apple Accused of 'Fraud' in iCloud Private Relay Class Action Lawsuit" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

BOE wants a share of the OLED supply chain for Apple's next iPad Air, aiming to land a secondary sourcing role behind primary supplier Samsung Display, according to a report from South Korea's The Elec.


Sources cited by The Elec say the Chinese panel maker is building out its iPad Air ‌OLED‌ effort at its B12 fab in Chongqing, home to BOE's sixth-generation ‌OLED‌ production line, ahead of the launch of a redesigned ‌iPad Air‌ that isn't expected to launch until the first half of 2027. Samsung Display already holds the lead supply role for that panel and is on track to begin ramping production toward the end of this year or the start of next, as previously reported.

BOE still has to clear Apple's qualification process. Samples reportedly still need to be submitted for evaluation, and a verdict on whether the company wins any commercial orders is not expected until closer to the end of the year. Even a favorable outcome may only translate into modest volume at first, with output confined to ‌iPad Air‌ units destined for the Chinese market or to refurbished devices, rather than the entire global launch.

The sources put BOE's qualification decision at some point in November or December, noting Apple typically finalizes production approval just one to two months ahead of mass production actually starting. Should BOE fall short of that bar, Samsung Display will end up carrying the entire initial production run by itself.

Becoming a supplier for the ‌OLED‌ ‌iPad Air‌ would be a meaningful expansion for BOE, which has experience providing ‌OLED‌ panels for the iPhone, but has struggled to break into larger ‌OLED‌ products. Samsung Display and LG Display have held onto that ground in tablets specifically, and BOE has lost, rather than gained, footing elsewhere in Apple's ‌OLED‌ lineup recently; its utilization on Apple-dedicated lines reportedly slid from roughly 82% in 2024 to about 48% earlier this year as Apple is set to lean on Samsung instead for the upcoming ‌OLED‌ iPad mini.

The redesigned ‌iPad Air‌ is expected in 11 inch and 13 inch sizes, with a hybrid ‌OLED‌ panel pairing a glass substrate with thin film encapsulation, a single stack RGB emissive layer, and an LTPS backplane, with a refresh rate of 60Hz. That keeps it below the iPad Pro's tandem stack ‌OLED‌ panel on cost, while still moving the ‌iPad Air‌ away from an LCD.

BOE is also reportedly pursuing a secondary supplier role for Apple's ‌OLED‌ MacBook Pro from its 8.6 generation B16 fab in Chengdu, but persistent yield problems there make commercial shipments to Apple unlikely soon. Industry sources do not expect BOE to enter that supply chain until sometime after 2028.
This article, "iPad Air OLED Panel Orders Could Be Split With BOE in 2027" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple's rumored all-glass iPhone expected to mark the device's 20th anniversary has been canceled, according to Jefferies analyst Edison Lee.


Rumors have circulated since at least 2025 that Apple was developing a radically redesigned all-glass iPhone, with launch expected as early as September 2027. Lee's analysis today provided in Barron's claims that his firm's supply chain checks now point to the project being scrapped due to poor production yield, the rate at which manufacturing produces defect-free units.

As a result of the findings, Jefferies downgraded Apple stock to "Underperform," the equivalent of a "Sell" rating, from "Hold" today, cutting its price target to $263.66 from $285.56, one of the lowest on Wall Street. Apple shares fell 2.1% following the downgrade.

The all-glass iPhone has been rumored for well over a year as the most significant redesign since the iPhone X, expected to arrive in fall 2027 alongside a second-generation foldable iPhone. Reports pointed to a curved glass panel wrapping around the front and back with virtually no cutouts in the display, along with under-display Face ID and solid-state buttons.

• 20th Anniversary iPhone Coming Next Year With These 10 Features

Lee previously viewed the all-glass iPhone as a plausible upcoming release, and its apparent cancellation changes his view of Apple's ability to raise iPhone prices going forward. He called the move a major setback for pushing higher-priced iPhones as memory costs continue to climb. Had it launched in 2027, Lee estimated the device would have carried a blended retail price of around $2,060, higher than any previous iPhone.

The bigger concern for Lee is what the cancellation means beyond a single model. He believes Apple had planned to eventually bring all-glass styling to the iPhone Pro and Pro Max lines as well, in a move he saw as a way to further raise those models' average selling price and margin at a time when rising memory costs are squeezing profitability.

Lee also pointed to Apple's AI strategy and rising component costs for the "iPhone 19 Pro Max," expected in 2027, as additional reasons behind the downgrade. The slow rollout of Apple Intelligence, he argued, makes it harder for Apple to justify equipping more iPhones with the extra RAM needed to run AI models on-device.

It remains unclear whether Lee is describing the end of the entire 20th-anniversary redesign or just its all-glass display component. It has repeatedly been questioned whether Apple can eliminate the Dynamic Island next year at all, given the engineering hurdles involved, meaning a genuinely seamless glass front may never have been realistic regardless of Lee's yield and cost concerns. Even so, other elements of the rumored 20th anniversary design, including the quad-curved chassis, could still be on track.
This article, "Apple's All-Glass 20th Anniversary iPhone Reportedly Canceled" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

A known Weibo leaker has stepped into an ongoing disagreement over exactly how dark the iPhone 18 Pro Max's rumored Dark Cherry color will look, saying the deeper of two shades circulating online is the accurate one.


In a new post on Weibo, the leaker known as "Fixed Focus Digital" said two versions of the color have been mocked up online, one lighter and one darker, and claimed the darker version is correct. The leaker described the accurate shade as closer to a purplish red similar to a cherry, rather than the lighter, brighter red alternative some renders have shown.

The claim adds to what has already become one of the most heavily reported details of the ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s‌ rumor cycle. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was among the first to report on the color, describing it in February as a deep red.

In April, Macworld reported that Apple was preparing a signature new color called "Dark Cherry" for the ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌‌ and ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max‌, described as a deep, wine-like red rather than a brighter tone. The report said the color would replace Cosmic Orange as the line's headline shade and listed an internal Pantone code of 6076. A follow-up report in May from the leaker known as "Instant Digital" corroborated the color, describing it as a mix of burgundy, coffee, and deep purple.

Dummy models shared later that month by leaker Sonny Dickson showed the ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max‌ in "Dark Cherry" alongside Light Blue, Black, and Silver, with Dickson predicting the color would follow Cosmic Orange as the line's next standout hit. A separate SIM tray image shared in June by leaker Ice Universe offered another look at the color.

Apple is expected to unveil the ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌‌ and ‌‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max‌ next month alongside its first foldable iPhone.
This article, "Leaker Weighs in on Correct Shade for 'Dark Cherry' iPhone 18 Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple briefly published a support guide in China explaining how Mac users can connect Alibaba's Qwen AI to Siri and Writing Tools, before pulling it entirely less than a day later.


Reuters first spotted the Chinese-language guide on Apple's support site on August 8, which explained how eligible Mac users in mainland China could connect Qwen, Alibaba's family of generative AI models, to ‌Siri‌ and Writing Tools. According to the document, the extension required macOS 26.6 or later, needed users to sign into their own Qwen account, and specified that Alibaba was barred from using submitted materials to train or improve its models.

‌Siri‌ would be able to lean on Qwen for more detailed responses to certain requests, including analysis of photos and documents, while Writing Tools could use it to generate text and images. No equivalent guide was published for the iPhone or iPad.

The setup closely mirrors Apple's existing ChatGPT extension available elsewhere, which similarly lets ‌Siri‌ hand off complex requests and gives Writing Tools a "Compose" option, all on an opt-in basis.

By August 9, the guide had been removed. Chinese news aggregator ReadHub reported that the guide had disappeared from Apple's site, and TechNode reports that Apple's customer service told Chinese media it had received no notification of a new feature launch. Separately, tech analyst Liu Dingding told the Global Times that the takedown could reflect pending technical adjustments still tied to the regulatory process, rather than a full reversal.

It's a similar pattern to what happened back in March, when Apple Intelligence itself briefly went live for some Chinese users before being pulled offline without regulatory approval. China maintains strict rules around releasing AI features, and in practice requires companies like Apple to partner with local providers. Apple originally lined up Baidu as its primary China AI partner, but by February 2025, reports indicated Alibaba had taken over as the lead partner after Baidu's models fell short of Apple's requirements, with Baidu shifted to a supporting role.

Chinese regulators cleared Apple Intelligence for launch in the country in July, registering Apple's on-device AI service with the Cyberspace Administration of China. That approval covered the iPhone only, and Apple did not say whether or when the ‌iPad‌ and Mac would follow, making this week's brief Mac-specific guide the clearest signal yet on the Mac timeline specifically.

It remains unclear when Apple will formally relaunch the Qwen integration for the Mac, or whether the guide's brief appearance points to an imminent rollout.
This article, "Apple Briefly Posts China Guide for Connecting Siri to Qwen AI" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple is planning to reintroduce its striking ceramic Apple Watch casing as soon as this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.


Writing in his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that the ceramic case option is expected to return either this year or in 2027. Apple first introduced a ceramic Apple Watch Edition with the Series 2 in September 2016, replacing the original gold Edition model and bringing the line's price down from thousands of dollars to a comparatively modest $1,249.

The white ceramic finish, made from a compressed zirconia and alumina powder polished with a diamond slurry, was marketed as being four times as hard as stainless steel. Apple expanded the material a year later with a gray ceramic option alongside the Series 3, but the Edition line disappeared entirely for the Series 4 in 2018, with Apple dropping ceramic and offering no high-end case option at all that year.

The white ceramic finish returned for the Series 5 in 2019 alongside an all-new titanium option, before Apple discontinued it for good when the Series 6 launched in 2020. The material has been absent from the Apple Watch lineup for six years since. It has since become one of the more sought after finishes among collectors on the resale market.

Beyond the reintroduction of the ceramic casing option, the upcoming Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 will apparently continue "the trend of modest upgrades," with "under-the-hood improvements" including a meaningful increase in performance. This likely refers to the introduction of a new chip. The previous two Apple Watch generations have featured the same S10 chip, which is effectively unchanged from the previous S9 chip introduced in 2023.

Gurman added that this year's new Apple Watch models will also offer new color and band options, alongside a number of new health and fitness-related upgrades. The Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 are expected to be introduced alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and first foldable iPhone next month.
This article, "Ceramic Case Could Return With Apple Watch Series 12" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple is already making plans for its third-generation foldable iPhone, with launch expected as early as 2028, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Writing in his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said the first foldable iPhone is about to get what he called the device's first "truly revolutionary design change" this year, and that Apple already has a roadmap extending two generations beyond it. A second-generation model is planned for 2027, Gurman says, with a third version following as early as 2028.

The third-generation foldable will apparently feature slightly larger displays on both the inside and the outside compared to its predecessors, though he did not provide specific screen sizes. The first foldable iPhone is expected to launch with a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover display, so any increase would build on those dimensions. This is the first report to lay out plans for a third-generation model, extending Apple's foldable roadmap a year beyond where it previously stood.

The first foldable iPhone is expected to arrive this year with an ultra-thin design, Touch ID instead of Face ID, the A20 chip, C2 modem, and the moniker "iPhone Ultra," at a price around or above $2,000. The second-generation foldable, meanwhile, is reported to have already received the go-ahead for development, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Digital Chat Station," who said the "‌iPhone Ultra‌ 2" project has been formally approved and will likely reuse the first-generation model's display. That model is expected to launch in fall 2027 alongside the 20th-anniversary iPhone.



This article, "Foldable 'iPhone Ultra 3' Rumored to Feature Larger Displays" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple is re-evaluating the Apple Watch lineup and considering a host of radical new designs, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


In today's edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman compared plans for the Apple Watch's evolution to the "revolutionary design change" that the foldable iPhone represents. It will be "something that transforms the product for a new era." Apple's industrial design team has reportedly been "exploring a broader rethink of its smartwatches" for some time, with several directions under evaluation.

The company is apparently taking the resurgence of fitness bands without screens and smart rings seriously. As a result, the company is considering new Apple Watch-style devices with no display, as well as new Apple Watches with different types of screen and various new sizes.

Apple has also contemplated giving the Apple Watch a round display, but Gurman cautioned that such a device is unlikely to be released. The company has also considered introducing new premium variants designed to sit above the Ultra and Hermès models, alongside even more affordable options in addition to the Apple Watch SE.

The company has not yet settled on a direction for the product line, but it is said to be "determined to reinvent the lineup in response to growing competition." It also plans to make its wearables more AI-focused, with ambitious long-term plans to revamp the Health app.

Gurman believes that the Apple Watch revamp "could be as significant as the iPhone's transformation from a slab design into a foldable device." Apple purportedly hopes to reinvigorate its Wearables, Home and Accessories segment, which has struggled to generate growth over recent years.
This article, "Apple Watch Rethink Could See Debut of Round Model, Screenless Fitness Tracker, and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

New images of camera protector accessories for the "iPhone Ultra" suggest Apple's first foldable iPhone will launch in silver and dark blue finishes.


Leaker Sonny Dickson yesterday shared images of two third-party camera protectors designed to fit over the ‌iPhone Ultra‌'s camera bump, with one in silver and one in a dark blue finish. Dickson has a track record of accurate accessory and dummy model leaks, including his early look at this year's iPhone 18 Pro colors.

The images back up a May report that cited a Macworld supply chain source describing a classic silver and white model alongside an indigo option similar to the iPhone 17 Pro's Deep Blue finish. A silver finish was separately described as the first "confirmed" color in June, and a report the same week suggested the darker option might not be black. Dickson's accessories now offer the clearest visual confirmation yet of that silver and dark blue offering.



The restrained approach stands in contrast to the iPhone 18 Pro, which is rumored to add a Dark Cherry finish and a Light Blue option alongside Silver this year. A black option for the Pro models was also rumored initially, though a subsequent report suggested Apple decided not to include it this year.

The leaked accessories also clearly show the widely rumored design of the camera plateau on the back of the foldable iPhone, featuring two horizontally arranged lenses alongside a pill-shaped flash and a LiDAR scanner. The foldable ‌iPhone Ultra‌ is expected to be announced alongside the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max next month.
This article, "Foldable 'iPhone Ultra' Rumored to Come in These Two Colors" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Anthropic has updated Claude Code so that separate coding sessions can message each other directly, removing the need to manually copy context between Terminal windows.


The company shipped the feature in Claude Code version 2.1.224, released on Friday for macOS and Linux. Two new tools power it: ListAgents, which finds other active sessions running on the Mac, and SendMessage, which delivers the message. A session that receives one shows it as a labeled card with a link back to the sender.

According to Anthropic's documentation, only text passes between sessions, not conversation history, files, or permissions. One session can warn another when a change breaks something it depends on, or pass along an answer another session is waiting on, and Anthropic says an incoming message can't approve a permission request or change a session's settings on its own.



The feature sits alongside Claude Code's existing subagents and Agent Teams tools, but connects sessions a user is already running separately on their Mac rather than ones Claude spawns and manages itself. Messages between sessions on the same Mac stay local and never reach Anthropic's servers. Between different machines, messaging works only as a reply through Remote Control, the feature that connects a Mac terminal to the Claude apps for iOS and Android.

Cross session messaging requires macOS or Linux with Claude Code 2.1.224 or later and isn't available on Windows. It was released alongside 31 other changes in the same release, including a new claude self-hosted-runner command for Team and Enterprise plans.
This article, "Claude Code Adds Cross-Session Messaging on macOS" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple could raise iPhone 17 prices as soon as Monday, August 10, according to a new rumor, well before the wider round of increases expected with next month's iPhone 18 Pro launch.


Weibo leaker "Fixed Focus Digital" said in a post yesterday that rumors are circulating about an ‌iPhone 17‌ price change taking effect on August 10. The leaker was noncommittal about whether prices will actually move, though the post claimed with more certainty that Apple has called off plans to raise production capacity on some lines from 15% to 30%. It's not clear from the post which components or products that capacity change refers to.

Apple raised prices on Macs, iPads, and most other devices in June, citing soaring memory and storage costs, but left the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, Studio Display, and accessories untouched. Apple's next round of pricing changes is widely rumored to center on the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌.

Apple is expected to launch the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and its first foldable iPhone next month, with the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e not arriving until spring 2027. The ‌iPhone 17‌ is set to remain Apple's mainstream option well into next year, which could give Apple sufficient reason to adjust its pricing independently of the new lineup.

If Apple does raise ‌iPhone 17‌ prices this Monday, it remains to be seen whether the increase would apply across the whole lineup, including the iPhone 17e ($599), ‌iPhone 17‌ ($799), iPhone Air ($999), iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099), and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max ($1,199), or whether only select models will be affected.
This article, "iPhone 17 Prices Could Rise as Soon as Monday, Rumor Claims" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

The iPhone Air reaches one year on sale next month, and Apple is now closer to launching its successor than it is to the original's debut. On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss what's next for the device.


The first-generation model has had a difficult run. A KeyBanc Capital Markets survey found virtually no demand for the device within weeks of its September 2025 launch, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that suppliers were asked to cut capacity by more than 80% between launch and early 2026, and Luxshare and Foxconn both wound down production, leaving the phone believed to be entirely out of manufacture. Apple discounted it heavily in March, and SellCell data put its ten-week depreciation at 44.3% on average, against 34.6% for the iPhone 17 series. The Weibo leaker known as "Digital Chat Station" said in May that the device had barely surpassed 700,000 activations even after multiple rounds of price cuts.

A single rear camera left a $999 phone looking less capable than the cheaper ‌iPhone 17‌, which has two, and the absence of the iPhone 17 Pro's vapor chamber cooling means the Air runs warmer under load. It also lacks stereo speakers. Battery life falls short of a full day for many users, mitigated in part by the dedicated MagSafe battery accessory Apple sells alongside it. With the ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ starting at $1,099, the Air occupies a $100 gap that gave buyers little reason to stop there.

Almost every change rumored for the second-generation model targets one of those points. Bloomberg reported in June that Apple will add an Ultra Wide lens alongside the existing 48-megapixel Fusion camera, and that the dual-lens design has reached advanced testing with the same exterior as the current model save for the extra lens.

Almost everything other than the battery sits inside the ‌iPhone Air‌'s camera plateau, and Apple has reportedly asked suppliers for an ultra-thin Face ID module to free up space. The company also plans to adopt Samsung's CoE display technology, which is thinner and brighter than the current panel and debuts first on the foldable iPhone. Digital Chat Station expects a 3,500mAh battery, up from 3,149mAh, and The Information reported that Apple wants the device to be lighter and to gain vapor chamber cooling despite the added hardware.

The device will also likely feature the A20 Pro chip, binned in some form like its predecessor, along with Apple's second-generation N2 wireless networking chip, the C2 modem, and 12GB of RAM, unchanged from the current model. Externally, little is expected to change beyond the additional rear camera, but Pu expects a slightly smaller Dynamic Island, in line with the wider iPhone 18 lineup. A lavender color option could replace Sky Blue.

Pricing is the biggest open question. The Information reported that Apple is considering a lower price for the second model, but the surrounding lineup is moving too. Pu expects the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to cost $250 to $300 more than the current Pro models owing to 2nm silicon and memory costs, and the foldable iPhone is rumored to start somewhere between roughly $2,000 and $2,500. A widened gap between the Air and the Pro tier could change the calculation that undermined the original, particularly once the camera disparity with the standard iPhone disappears.

The leaker "Fixed Focus Digital" claimed in April that Apple will push through at least two generations of the device no matter how poorly it sells, a position consistent with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who expects the Air 2 in spring 2027 alongside the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e. Nikkei Asia reported in January that no second-generation Air was expected before 2027 at the earliest.

Apple's confidence in the fall lineup appears to be growing in the meantime. The company reportedly told suppliers to prepare roughly 10 million foldable iPhones this year, up from an earlier forecast of seven to eight million, and has booked parts for around 80 million smartphones in the second half of 2026. Samsung, meanwhile, says the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8 drew 1.44 million pre-orders in South Korea across seven days, a company record, with the redesigned Z Fold 8 accounting for close to half of them.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and foldable iPhone are expected in September, and Apple has already begun preparing for the event, opening a lottery for U.S. retail employees to staff it. 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 the iOS 27 beta, talking through our experiences with Siri AI, Liquid Glass refinements, and more.

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 Air 2 - What Changes After a Difficult First Year" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple has told a federal court that it hasn't heard from Jon Prosser's legal team in a month, as discovery drags on in its trade secret lawsuit against the leaker.


In a joint status report filed on Wednesday in the Northern District of California, Apple's attorneys said they had made repeated attempts to reach Prosser's counsel about outstanding discovery issues without success. From the filing:

Apple and Mr. Prosser have worked to advance this case through limited discovery. Mr. Prosser provided documents and communications to Apple, and sat for a deposition on June 16, 2026. Unfortunately, Apple last heard from Mr. Prosser's counsel on July 6th, 2026, despite repeated attempts to communicate and follow up on outstanding discovery issues. There still appear to be deficiencies in Mr. Prosser's productions, and Apple has notified Mr. Prosser's counsel of those issues.

Shortly before the report was filed, Prosser's attorney told Apple's legal team that the delay likely stems from Prosser welcoming his second child and attending to the newborn's care. The attorney indicated he would find dates for Prosser to provide the remaining discovery materials.

Co-defendant Michael Ramacciotti, who Apple says accessed the confidential device at the center of the case, has continued cooperating throughout the case. He agreed to supplement his interrogatory responses and sit for a second deposition.

Apple sued Prosser and Ramacciotti in July 2025, accusing them of misappropriating trade secrets tied to then-unreleased iOS 26 software, including the Liquid Glass redesign, by accessing a development iPhone belonging to Apple engineer Ethan Lipnik.

Ramacciotti cooperated with the case from the outset, but Prosser initially missed several deadlines to respond, leading the court to enter a default against him in October 2025 that barred him from contesting Apple's allegations. Prosser's attorney successfully petitioned to have that default set aside in June 2026, and Prosser filed a formal answer in the case on July 2. In it, he admitted joining a FaceTime call in which Ramacciotti showed him unreleased iOS features running on the development device, but denied that what he saw constituted trade secrets and denied knowing the device belonged to Lipnik.

Apple is seeking damages as well as a permanent injunction barring Prosser from disclosing its trade secrets again. Such an order could stop him from covering unreleased Apple products at all, which forms a significant part of his YouTube channel. Ramacciotti's second deposition is set for September, and all three parties expect to file another status update with the court on October 7.
This article, "Apple Flags Discovery Delays in Its Lawsuit Against Jon Prosser" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums