Some Apple retail employees have been told to warn customers against visiting to purchase an iPhone Duo without a pre-order on Friday, October 23.


Apple Store employees told MacRumors that they have been advised that there will likely be no ‌iPhone Duo‌ stock available for walk-in purchases on launch day. Staff have been instructed to discourage customers without pre-orders from coming in expecting to buy the device, warning that they will be disappointed.

Apple's online store tells customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for pickup availability. Pickup reservations were briefly available when pre-orders opened before the option was disabled.

The October 24 message does not guarantee stock will be available that day, and it remains unclear how firm the warning shared with employees is and whether it applies worldwide. If the guidance is firm and widely perpetuated, it closes off a potential route for customers hoping to bypass the device's lengthy online wait times, at least at the stores concerned.

Warnings about a constrained launch began well before Apple announced the ‌iPhone Duo‌. In early September, Nikkei Asia reported that production had reached only a few hundred devices per day in late August. Further production problems emerged in late September.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple had at one point believed production constraints could push the start of sales into November. The company subsequently assembled enough inventory to proceed with the October 23 launch, although supply remained very limited.

The extent of the shortage became apparent when pre-orders opened earlier this week. Delivery estimates moved beyond launch day within minutes, and within 30 minutes, all configurations in Apple's U.S. online store showed January 25 shipping estimates. The device is now effectively sold out for Christmas through Apple's online store.

Apple subsequently described demand as "nothing short of extraordinary" in a statement to the Financial Times, adding that it was working to get devices to customers as quickly as possible. Apple has not publicly specified whether any stores will have stock for launch-day walk-in purchases.

The ‌iPhone Duo‌ starts at $1,999 in the United States, with the first pre-order deliveries scheduled for October 23.
This article, "Apple Retail Staff Told to Warn Against iPhone Duo Walk-In Purchases" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has hired former Meta lawyer Scott Tucker to lead its litigation team, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Tucker will become Apple's vice president of global litigation and financial services, a new position overseeing commercial lawsuits, patent disputes, and legal matters involving its financial products. He previously led litigation at ‌Meta‌ and held a senior legal role at Morgan Stanley.

The move brings Tucker back together with Jennifer Newstead, Apple's general counsel. Newstead joined Apple's leadership in March after six years as ‌Meta‌'s top lawyer.

Heather Grenier, who currently oversees Apple's commercial and competition litigation, will report to Tucker instead of Newstead. She will remain on Newstead's leadership team. Apple is also expanding legal executive Kyle Andeer's responsibilities to include international legal matters, child safety, cybersecurity, and law enforcement.

The changes are part of a wider overhaul under Newstead, who now oversees both legal and government affairs. Apple announced plans to combine the teams alongside the retirements of Kate Adams and Lisa Jackson.

According to Gurman, some Apple executives believe the company should have performed better in court, particularly in App Store disputes. Its battle with Epic Games has forced changes to the rules for links to outside payment options and the fees Apple can charge.

Apple also faces the U.S. government's antitrust lawsuit and privacy cases. Separately, it agreed to a $250 million settlement over delayed Siri features, with a final approval hearing scheduled for February 2027.
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It was another crazy busy week for Apple, headlined by Tuesday seeing the company take the wraps off of several home-related products as part of a "Welcome home" launch wave.


And as if that wasn't enough, Friday saw the start of iPhone Duo pre-orders with delivery estimates quickly slipping by months amid its popularity and apparent product shortages, while we're looking forward to even more products launches later this month, so read on below for all of the details!

Top Stories

Apple Announces 'HomeView' Smart Home Hub

Apple's long-rumored smart home hub is finally official, with Apple debuting the $299 HomeView as part of its "Welcome home" product launch this week.


Apple HomeView features a 7-inch Liquid Retina display and Siri AI support, and it's available in both tabletop and wall mounted versions. The device is able to recognize multiple users and adjust its presentation of information depending on how far the user is from the screen, and it supports Photos faces, Apple Music playlists, FaceTime calls, and more.

Pre-orders are underway now with a launch coming on November 13.

New Apple TV 4K Announced With A19 Chip, Updated Siri Remote, More

While the Apple HomeView was the headline attraction of this week's introductions, the Apple TV box also got its first update in four years with the unveiling of the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K.


The new box gets a big upgrade to the A19 chip, which provides Siri AI support and improved performance. A new Siri Remote (also available separately for older boxes) includes Find My support with Precision Finding and a speaker to allow it to make itself heard when lost. And for times when you want to use Siri without the remote, the box itself also now includes microphones for hands-free Siri AI.

The new box comes with a significant price hike to $299, and it's available for pre-order now ahead of a November 13 launch.

Apple Announces $149 HomePod Mini 2 With Siri AI, 'Sound Glow', and Four-Speaker Surround Sound

Apple's third home-related product announcement for the week was a new HomePod mini equipped with Siri AI, new colors, and improved audio experiences. The ‌HomePod‌ mini 2 has an S10 chip that supports advanced computational audio, and Apple says it optimizes dynamic range, loudness, and acoustic performance in real-time.


A Sound Glow feature turns the ‌HomePod‌ mini's top into a "visual canvas" that glows and animates in sync with music, reacting to bass and treble. It uses colors generated from the song's album artwork for a unique experience for each song.

The HomePod mini 2 is priced at $149 and is available for pre-order now ahead of an October 30 launch. Siri AI won't be available at launch, however, as it will come in a future software update.

iPhone Duo is Sold Out for Christmas as Shipping Estimates Slip to 2027

Apple began accepting iPhone Duo pre-orders in a number of countries at 5 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, with delivery estimates starting to slip within minutes if not seconds. Within half an hour, delivery estimates in the U.S. ultimately stabilized at late January 2027, a three-month delay.


In remains to be seen how much, if any, stock Apple will have at its retail stores for walk-in purchases on the October 23 launch date, and scalpers are already selling off early pre-orders for as much as $5,000.

Apple Inviting Media to October 28 'Launch Experience'

After previously reporting that Apple was planning a two-day product showcase in Los Angeles on October 27 and 28 for select content creators and members of the media to experience even more upcoming Apple products, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman now says Apple has begun explicitly inviting members of the media to the event for October 28.


We're expecting to see several more products launch on either October 27 or 28, including new high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook models with touchscreen OLED displays, new iMac and entry-level MacBook Pro models based around the M6 chip, and a new iPad mini with an OLED display.

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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.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!
This article, "Top Stories: Apple HomeView, New Apple TV and HomePod mini, and Sold-Out iPhone Duo" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Verizon plans to charge customers $10 per month for the iPhone Handoff feature that Apple added in iOS 27. iPhone Handoff allows one phone number to be shared across two separate iPhones.


Pricing was included in Verizon's iPhone Duo announcement today, with the carrier confirming iPhone Handoff will work with the iPhone Duo and the iPhone 18 Pro models.

Verizon will support iPhone Handoff, giving customers the flexibility to use a single Verizon phone number seamlessly across two compatible iPhone models. Whether using the pocketable iPhone Duo on the go or iPhone 18 Pro for work, customers can switch active status between devices at any time while keeping full access to Verizon's 5G network. iPhone Handoff will be available from Verizon for $10/month on compatible iPhones models running iOS 27.

With iPhone Handoff, users can switch between a main iPhone and a companion iPhone at will, though a phone number can only be active on one iPhone at a time. Verizon says support is "coming soon," and Apple previously said Verizon would adopt the feature before the end of the year.

U.S. carrier T-Mobile already supports iPhone Handoff, but charges just $5 per month for the feature. AT&T, the third major U.S. carrier, recently suggested it has no imminent plans to support iPhone Handoff.

U.K. carrier EE also said this week that it will soon support iPhone Handoff. Customers who have EE's Full Works Plus plan will get iPhone Handoff free, while other EE users can get it for £5 per month.

Deutsche Telekom in Germany is the only other carrier that's added iPhone Handoff support so far. It costs €6.95 per month, but the carrier includes it for free in the MagentaMobil L and XL plans.
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Demand for the iPhone Duo has been "nothing short of extraordinary," Apple said in a statement to the Financial Times. The company also said it is "working hard to get this revolutionary new product into customers' hands as quickly as possible."


Pre-orders for the ‌iPhone Duo‌ opened this morning at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, and it didn't take long for available stock to dwindle. Within minutes, delivery dates slipped from October 23 to November, and by 5:30 a.m., delivery estimates reached January 25.

It is no longer possible to order an ‌iPhone Duo‌ for delivery in 2026 from Apple, and customers who purchase now will be waiting until early 2027. Prior to pre-orders launching, rumors said supplies could be constrained due to manufacturing difficulties.

With past iPhone launches where supplies were limited, Apple has sometimes been able to ship devices sooner than expected, so it's possible the company will work through its backlog ahead of schedule. There are no guarantees, though, and it's clear many will be waiting for months.

Apple has not yet said whether there will be ‌iPhone Duo‌ stock available for walk-in purchases on October 23, but if there is, we could see long lines outside Apple retail stores for the first time in several years.

Apple's website suggests there could be some stock available for store pickup as soon as next week, as there is a note to check back on October 24 for availability.

Pricing on the ‌iPhone Duo‌ starts at $1,999 and goes up to $3,199 for 2TB of storage. The first orders will be delivered to customers on October 23.
This article, "Apple Calls iPhone Duo Demand 'Extraordinary' After Orders Slip to 2027" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today expanded its App Store moderation rules to cover AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery. Sexually explicit content was already banned, but now Apple says app developers must proactively prevent and remove AI-generated deepfakes from their platforms. Apple warns that apps with offending content could be removed from the ‌App Store‌ if developers fail to act.


The updated 1.2 rule names AI content creation apps and could be targeting apps like Grok, among others. Users have complained about xAI's Grok chatbot being used for nude and sexualized deepfakes, and earlier this year, Apple told xAI it would remove Grok from the ‌App Store‌ if it continued to permit nude deepfakes. xAI put safeguards in place, and Apple approved an updated version of the app.

Apple also added guideline 2.5.19 to clarify that developers who add features or functionality not present in the version of an app submitted for review risk removal from the ‌App Store‌ and Apple Developer Program. Apple links the rule to "nudification" apps that create sexually explicit images of real individuals without their consent, suggesting some of the apps have concealed their true purpose during review and added the nudify feature after approval.

Apps containing hidden or undocumented features are also prohibited on the App Store, including apps that misrepresent their purpose during review and only reveal harmful capabilities — such as "nudification" — after approval, a tactic commonly known as bait-and-switch.

Along with changes focused on AI-generated content, Apple updated section 5 to extend its ban on apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation to alternative app distribution.

"We do not hesitate to remove apps, and terminate the developers behind them, when they violate these guidelines," reads Apple's developer news post on the rule changes.

Apple's full updated guidelines can be found on its website.
This article, "New App Store Rules Target AI Deepfakes and Nudify Apps" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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