MacRumors

It's looking like 2025 is going to be an important year for Apple, with the company planning to revamp the iPhone, push further into smart home products, and improve Apple Intelligence. There are tons of new products rumored for 2025, including new iPhones, M4 Macs, a smart home command center, and much more.

We've highlighted the top five Apple products that will have the biggest impact in 2025.

iPhone 17 "Air"

There's a new, super thin ‌iPhone‌ planned for 2025, and while we don't know what Apple will call it, rumors have taken to referring to it as the iPhone 17 Air. It's a fitting name, because it won't be as powerful or as pricey as the Pro models, but it will be more expensive than the standard ‌iPhone 17‌.

Rumors suggest the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air will be somewhere around 6mm thick, which will make it the thinnest ‌iPhone‌ to date. For reference, Apple's iPhone 16 Pro is 8.25mm thick, so we're looking at a good 2mm difference.

The new ‌iPhone‌ is rumored to have a 6.6-inch display, coming in between the ‌iPhone 17‌ and ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro Max in size. It will only have a single-lens 48-megapixel rear camera because of space constraints, and it's going to be one of the first devices to feature Apple's new 5G modem.

We're still getting a regular ‌iPhone 17‌, but there won't be an ‌iPhone 17‌ Plus this year. Apple also plans to sell the ‌iPhone 17‌ Air alongside ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro and Pro Max models, and rumors suggest there are some design changes coming to those models, too. So far, it sounds like we're going to get a half-aluminum half-glass design for the back panel that could improve durability, plus the camera setup could get a redesign.

All four iPhones in 2025 will get A19 chips, and ProMotion 120Hz display technology isn't going to be limited to the Pro models anymore.

You can read more about the features rumored for the ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup in our iPhone 17 roundup.

AirPods Pro 3

Apple refreshed the AirPods 4 in 2024, and in 2025, we'll get an AirPods Pro update. Apple is rumored to be updating the design, but just what the earbuds will look like remains unclear. The ‌AirPods 4‌ got a slimmed down case, so that could be what we see for the AirPods Pro 3 too.

Both sound quality and Active Noise Cancellation are expected to improve, mostly due to Apple unveiling a next-generation H series chip. Apple hasn't introduced a new audio chip for some time now, so it will be exciting to see what features an update will bring.

There have been some rumors about heart rate tracking and temperature monitoring coming to the ‌AirPods Pro‌ at some point, so that's a possibility as well. More on what we've heard about the ‌AirPods Pro 3‌ can be found in our guide.

Apple Command Center

Apple plans to unveil a small, square-shaped home "Command Center" device that will be used for controlling smart home devices, FaceTime calls, watching videos, and more. It essentially sounds like it's going to be Apple's version of the Echo Show.

The six-inch device will be small enough to take from room to room, and you can use it on a tabletop or mount it on the wall. It will hopefully be affordable enough that you can have multiple devices across different rooms, streamlining the increasing number of smart home products many of us have in our homes.

The Command Center will have standard Apple apps like Home, Calendar, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Photos, but Apple isn't making a dedicated App Store for it. You'll be able to use it for video calls, and expect deep ‌Apple Intelligence‌ integration.

iPhone SE 4

Apple is finally ready to refresh its low-cost ‌iPhone‌, and the iPhone SE 4 is going to get a lot of improvements that have the potential to make it an incredible value.

Small screen sizes and Touch ID are a thing of the past, so the ‌iPhone SE‌ will have a 6.1-inch OLED display and Face ID. In fact, rumors suggest that it's modeled after the iPhone 14. There will be a single-lens 48-megapixel rear camera, a notch for ‌Face ID‌, and a USB-C port for charging.

The larger screen size, OLED display technology, ‌Face ID‌, and higher megapixel camera will all be new to the SE lineup. The device is also expected to be the first to get Apple's in-house 5G modem, and it is rumored to have the same A18 chip that's in the current iPhone 16.

The A18 chip supports ‌Apple Intelligence‌, so the ‌iPhone SE‌ will have Genmoji, Image Playground, Writing Tools, smarter Siri, and more, plus 8GB RAM is the minimum for ‌Apple Intelligence‌, so it's also going to get a big memory boost.

When it launches, the ‌iPhone SE‌'s performance will be on par with the ‌iPhone 16‌, which is impressive for a low-cost ‌iPhone‌. There's been no word that Apple plans to raise prices, and we're still expecting the ‌iPhone SE‌ to cost less than $500.

Siri Improvements

In spring updates coming to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, Apple plans to add new functionality to ‌Siri‌, including onscreen awareness, personal context, and the ability for ‌Siri‌ to take more actions in and across apps.

Onscreen awareness will let ‌Siri‌ see and understand what's on your display, so you can reference it in voice requests. If you're looking at a photo and want to send it to your friend Eric, for example, you will be able to say "Send this to Eric," and ‌Siri‌ will understand what "this" is.

Personal context will allow ‌Siri‌ to do more with your personal data like emails and messages, learning more about you to be more helpful. ‌Siri‌ will know who you're communicating with, how you use your device, and will keep track of everything you have stored. Personal context will let ‌Siri‌ do things like find a specific message, locate a recent file, find content in emails like flight numbers, or remind you when you took a photo you're looking for.

‌Siri‌'s ability to do more in and across apps will majorly improve what ‌Siri‌ is capable of. You'll be able to move files from one app to another, edit photos with voice commands, and complete multi-step multi-app processes that ‌Siri‌ isn't currently capable of handling.

In iOS 19, coming in June, Apple plans to unveil LLM ‌Siri‌, or a version of ‌Siri‌ trained on a large language model. LLM training will make ‌Siri‌ more like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, allowing ‌Siri‌ to understand and generate natural, human-like language, perform complex tasks, and solve problems. While ‌iOS 18‌ will add helpful new ‌Siri‌ functionality, the real ‌Siri‌ evolution will come with iOS 19 and subsequent updates.

Add Yours

What are you looking forward to seeing from Apple in 2025? Let us know in the comments below.

Amazon today has the USB-C AirPods Max on sale for $499.99 in four colors, down from $549.00. This is a return of the Black Friday price on the headphones, and only a few dollars higher when compared with the previous record low price.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Colors available on sale include Blue, Midnight, Orange, and Purple. Depending on your location, most of the AirPods Max can be delivered in time for Christmas, but you might start seeing some colors slip past the 25th as stock begins to dwindle.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple Vision Pro users can watch a new episode of the "Adventure" series starting today, delving into a freezing underwater dive in the Arctic with athlete Ant Williams.

The Ice Dive episode follows Williams as he attempts to shatter the world record for swimming the longest distance under ice with just one breath.

Ice Dive is the third episode in the Adventure series on the Vision Pro headset. The first Adventure episode, Highlining, was one of the first immersive videos that Apple made available when the Vision Pro launched. Parkour, another episode, launched earlier this year.

Apple has been working to bring more 3D videos to the Vision Pro over the last few months. There have been new dinosaur-focused Prehistoric Planet episodes, a new Boundless series exploring extraordinary places, a short film called Submerged, and more music-related content.

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we take a look ahead to all of Apple's expected hardware announcements for 2025.

Rumors and reports from a range of reliable sources suggest that Apple will release at least 22 new products in 2025, with a series of minor to major updates and refreshes planned for the iPhone, iPads, Mac, Apple TV, HomePod, Vision Pro, and Apple Watch, as well as one entirely new product. Here's everything we're expecting with their key new features:

• iPhone SE 4 (March): ‌iPhone‌ 14-like design, 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, A18 chip, USB-C port, single 48-megapixel camera, 8GB memory, Apple Intelligence support, and Apple-designed 5G modem.
• Command Center (March): Smart home hub product with 6-inch display, attachable to a tabletop base with a speaker or mounted on a wall, runs new "homeOS" operating system with smart home controls and customizable widget-focused home screen, proximity sensors to adjust widget size based on distance, Siri and ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support, and built-in camera for FaceTime calls.
• 2025 MacBook Air (March–June): M4 chip.
• iPad 11 (March–June): Faster chip, 8GB memory, and ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support.
• iPad Air 7 (March–June): M3 or M4 chip.
• New Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (March–June): Thinner and lighter design with aluminum palm rest, larger glass trackpad, and function row.
• AirTag 2 (mid-2025): Second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for better range and improved location tracking, new tamper-protections including more durable speaker, and Apple Vision Pro integration.
• Mac Studio (mid-2025): M4 Max and M4 Ultra chip options.
• Mac Pro (mid-2025): M4 Ultra chip.
• HomePod 3 (July–September): OLED display, A18 chip, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support, and improved smart home functionality.
• HomePod mini 2: Newer S-series chip, improved sound quality, second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for a lower-latency Handoff experience, new color options, and Apple-designed wi-fi and Bluetooth chip with Wi-Fi 6E support.
• Apple TV 4K 4: Newer chip and Apple-designed wi-fi and Bluetooth chip with Wi-Fi 6E support.
• iPhone 17 (September): 6.1-inch OLED display with ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz, more scratch-resistant front glass, "A19" chip, and 24-megapixel front-facing camera.
• iPhone 17 Air (September): 6.6-inch OLED display with ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz, more scratch-resistant front glass, super-thin design, single speaker, no SIM card tray, "A19" chip, Apple-designed 5G modem, 24-megapixel front-facing camera, and centered single rear camera.
• iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max (September): Lightweight aluminum frame with part-glass rear for wireless charging, easier-to-remove battery, "A19 Pro" chip, 12GB memory, 24-megapixel front-facing camera, 48-megapixel tetraprism Telephoto camera, and at least one rear camera with mechanical aperture.
• Apple Watch SE 3 (September): Plastic casing, larger displays with 41mm and 45mm case sizes, newer chip.
• Apple Watch Series 11 (September): Hypertension detection.
• Apple Watch Ultra 3 (September): Hypertension detection, messages via satellite, and 5G cellular connectivity.
• AirPods Pro 3: Refreshed design, improved audio quality and Active Noise Cancellation, new chip, temperature sensor, and capacitive pairing button.
• iPad Pro (late 2025): M5 chip.
• MacBook Pro (late 2025): M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chip options.
• Apple Vision Pro 2: M5 chip and ‌Apple Intelligence‌ support.

What do you think of Apple's rumored plans for 2025? Let us know in the comments. The MacRumors Show also has its own YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed to keep up with new episodes and clips. We'll be back next year!

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about all of Apple's biggest announcements this year.

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Today we're tracking the return of an all-time low price on Apple's AirTag 4-Pack, which has hit $69.99 on Amazon, down from $99.00. The AirTag 4-Pack was priced at $72.99 for most of December, so this is the first time we've seen it return to its record low price in a few weeks.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Depending on your location, the AirTag 4-Pack may still have a chance to be delivered in time for Christmas. If you're looking for deals that you can get delivered in time for Christmas, be sure to check out our dedicated article with discounts on Apple Watch, AirPods, iPads, and more.

Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

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Starting today, the third-generation iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus, are listed as unavailable on Apple's online store in Switzerland, ahead of a regulation that will require smartphones with wired charging capabilities that are newly placed for sale to be equipped with a USB-C port in the European Union (EU).

Switzerland is not officially part of the EU, but the country participates in the single EU market and is thereby subject to EU trading laws.

While all iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models are equipped with USB-C ports for wired charging, the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus still have Lightning ports, so Apple appears to be responding to the upcoming regulation. The law applies to any individual iPhone unit placed for sale after the deadline, even if they are older models.

French website iGeneration last week reported that the iPhone SE, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Plus would no longer be sold through Apple's online store and retail stores in EU countries starting December 28, which is when the regulation goes into force. However, the report said sales of the iPhones would be halted on Apple's online store in Switzerland around one week earlier, and that has now happened. The report said in-store availability at Apple's retail locations in Switzerland will continue until December 28.

Given that the Switzerland aspect of the report has now proven to be accurate, it is likely next week that Apple will make the affected iPhones unavailable across all 27 countries in the EU, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and others. While the United Kingdom left the EU in 2020, Northern Ireland continues to participate in the single EU market.

Apple Authorized Resellers in the EU will be able to continue selling the iPhones until their remaining inventory is depleted, the report said.

Apple is expected to announce a fourth-generation iPhone SE with a USB-C port in March, so the device should quickly return to the EU. Meanwhile, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus likely would have been discontinued in September had the USB-C regulation not existed, so sales of those devices are ending in the EU around nine months early.

OpenAI has expanded the capabilities of its ChatGPT app for macOS, adding support for Apple Notes and a range of popular third-party apps. The update builds on last month's release that introduced the ability to read on-screen content from select Mac apps.

This expansion should broaden ChatGPT's utility for both casual users and developers using macOS, as the AI assistant can now interact with content in Apple Notes, Notion, and Quip, alongside numerous development environments including BBEdit, Android Studio, and various JetBrains IDEs.

For developers, the update also adds support for additional IDEs including VSCode forks (VSCodium, Cursor, WindSurf) and terminal apps like Prompt and Warp. The AI can analyze code from multiple apps simultaneously, offering suggestions for improvements without manual copy-pasting.

OpenAI says that users maintain full control over which apps ChatGPT can access, and all data handling follows the same OpenAI privacy protocols as the app's regular conversation history. The expanded app integration feature remains exclusive to paid subscribers, including ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users.

To get ChatGPT working with apps, enable the Work with Apps option in ChatGPT ➝ Settings and allow the necessary permissions via Manage Apps. Then you can access ChatGPT within supported apps in the following way:

1. With ChatGPT open, open a supported app (such as Apple Notes).
2. Press Option + Shift + 1 to invoke the ChatGPT bar.
3. Type queries or use advanced voice mode for hands-free interaction.

The advanced voice mode is especially useful in this context, since it allows you to speak handsfree to ChatGPT and get suggestions or modifications to your on-screen content. OpenAI recently demonstrated the feature using a holiday party planning scenario, where ChatGPT provided song recommendations and party ideas using a Santa voice persona.

The ChatGPT app for macOS is available for download from OpenAI's website.

Apple has shared details on a collaboration with NVIDIA to greatly improve the performance of large language models (LLMs) by implementing a new text generation technique that offers substantial speed improvements for AI applications.

Apple earlier this year published and open-sourced Recurrent Drafter (ReDrafter), an approach that combines beam search and dynamic tree attention methods to accelerate text generation. Beam search explores multiple potential text sequences at once for better results, while tree attention organizes and removes redundant overlaps among these sequences to improve efficiency.

Apple has now integrated the technology into NVIDIA's TensorRT-LLM framework, which optimizes LLMs running on NVIDIA GPUs, where it achieved "state of the art performance," according to Apple. The integration saw the technique manage a 2.7x speed increase in tokens generated per second during testing with a production model containing tens of billions of parameters.

Apple says the improved performance not only reduces user-perceived latency but also leads to decreased GPU usage and power consumption. From Apple's Machine Learning Research blog:

"LLMs are increasingly being used to power production applications, and improving inference efficiency can both impact computational costs and reduce latency for users. With ReDrafter's novel approach to speculative decoding integrated into the NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM framework, developers can now benefit from faster token generation on NVIDIA GPUs for their production LLM applications."

Developers interested in implementing ReDrafter can find detailed information on both Apple's website and NVIDIA's developer blog.

Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup.

The redesign took the ‌Mac Pro‌ in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of the ‌Mac Pro‌'s components were mounted around a central thermal dissipation core, cooled by a single fan that pulled air from under the case, through the core, and out the top. The fan could spin more slowly than smaller fans and keep the Mac extremely quiet, even during intense operations.

Apple announced the radically redesigned ‌Mac Pro‌ at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2013. During the announcement, Apple's Phil Schiller infamously remarked "Can't innovate anymore, my ass." The comment was directed at critics who pointed at the previous ‌Mac Pro‌'s lack of updates and claimed Apple had largely abandoned its pro user base and was out of ideas.

Apple said that the new ‌Mac Pro‌ offered twice the overall performance of the previous generation while taking up less than one-eighth of the volume, thanks to its unified thermal core. The ‌Mac Pro‌ twinned Intel Xeon processors with dual AMD FirePro workstation GPUs, enabling it to deliver seven teraflops of computing power.

While the striking design was undoubtedly ambitious, users were unhappy with the way that almost all expansion had to be served externally by Thunderbolt 2 ports. Many professional users who were reliant on powerful hardware could not get past the ‌Mac Pro‌'s lack of internal slots to add graphics cards and memory.

The result was a device that was unable to adapt to changing hardware trends. Even Apple seemed unsure how to offer a meaningful hardware update for the ‌Mac Pro‌; as recently as 2019, it was possible to buy a brand new trashcan ‌Mac Pro‌ from Apple, with no upgrades coming to the device during the preceding six years.

This led Apple to make a rare admission of the product's failure during a meeting with reporters in April 2017, explaining in detail why the device didn't succeed in the way it had hoped. In 2019, Apple's full mea culpa came in the form of yet another ‌Mac Pro‌ redesign, which took the machine back to a highly modular tower form factor with eight PCIe slots and three impeller fans.

Yet in many respects, what the 2013 ‌Mac Pro‌ set out to achieve—a small, powerful computer for professionals, with external expansion only—lives on and has been executed more effectively by the Mac Studio.

Making a device backup over iCloud now requires iOS 9 or later, which means iPhones and iPads that are running iOS 8 or earlier are no longer able to be backed up using ‌iCloud‌.

Apple announced the change in November, and as of this week, it has gone into effect. Support for ‌iCloud‌ backups on devices that run iOS 8 or older has ended, and Apple has deleted all existing ‌iCloud‌ backups of those devices.

Apps and data stored on an iPhone or iPad running iOS 8 or earlier are not affected, and these devices can still be manually backed up to a Mac or a Windows PC. If you have a device on iOS 8 or older, if you can update, you can restore ‌iCloud‌ backup capabilities. Otherwise, all backups will need to be done manually.

Apple says that it discontinued ‌iCloud‌ backups for older devices to "more closely align" with its minimum software requirements. With the iOS 9 update that came out years ago, Apple adopted CloudKit for ‌iCloud‌ backups and stopped using an older system, and it looks like this older system is what's being sunset.

Amazon has brought back the all-time low Black Friday price on Apple's 10th generation iPad (64GB Wi-Fi), available for $249.99 in Silver, down from $349.00. You'll need to clip an on-page coupon worth $29.01 in order to see the final deal price at checkout.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This is the first time since Black Friday that we've seen a return of the record low price on the iPad, and this one isn't expected to last long with only one color on sale. Delivery is also estimated to arrive after Christmas, so you'll have to be willing to wait until January for the tablet.

This iPad features Apple's A14 Bionic processor, a 10.9-inch display, 12-megapixel Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage, 12-megapixel rear camera, and Touch ID. If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple plans to launch its next-generation Vision headsets as early as 2026, and they will likely be more affordable, according to TrendForce.

In line with previous rumors, the Taiwanese research firm today said Apple is planning to introduce both a next-generation Vision Pro and a mainstream headset, which would likely be named "Apple Vision" without the "Pro" modifier.

For the next-generation Vision Pro, TrendForce said Apple will likely consider sourcing components from suppliers beyond Sony to reduce production costs, and this move could contribute to the headset having a lower price. Currently, the Vision Pro starts at $3,499 in the U.S., and this price has naturally limited sales of the device.

In an interview earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the Vision Pro is not a mass-market product due to its high price.

"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," said Cook. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow's technology today—that's who it's for. Fortunately, there's enough people who are in that camp that it's exciting."

In July, research firm IDC estimated that Vision Pro sales would be below 500,000 units this year.

While the next Vision Pro could be at least slightly more affordable, TrendForce ensured that the device will continue to have high-end specifications, including display technology with a resolution exceeding 3,000 pixels per inch.

In addition to a Vision Pro price cut, a lower-end model is also expected eventually.

For this mainstream Vision headset, the research firm said that Apple is expected to focus on "affordability and "cost-efficiency" as a main priority, which should make visionOS accessible to more customers at a considerably lower price compared to the Vision Pro. It said the device could have less-advanced displays to keep costs down.

"Possible display options for this model include glass-based OLED displays and LCDs with LTPO backplane technology, both of which offer a balance between performance and cost," said TrendForce, in a press release.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last month said the next Vision Pro will actually launch in 2025, with an M5 chip in place of the current M2 chip, but he said Apple pushed back its plans for a cheaper Vision headset until beyond 2027.

Apple has stopped signing iOS 18.1.1, preventing iPhone users who have upgraded to iOS 18.2 from downgrading to that version of iOS. Apple released iOS 18.2 a week ago on December 11.

Apple often stops signing an older version of iOS, usually within a week or two after a new version is released. When an update is no longer signed, it can't be installed on an ‌iPhone‌ due to a server-side software verification check.

This policy encourages users to keep their operating systems up to date, ensuring they have the latest security enhancements. Apple also stopped signing iOS 17.7.2 on Wednesday.

The iOS 18.1.1 update provided important security fixes, but no other notable changes. In contrast, the iOS 18.2 update brought several new Apple Intelligence features to compatible iPhones. You can find all the details in our comprehensive guide.

Apple is facing calls to remove its AI-powered notification summaries feature after it generated false headlines about a high-profile murder case, drawing criticism from a major journalism organization.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged Apple to disable the Apple Intelligence notification feature, which rolled out globally last week as part of its iOS 18.2 software update. The request comes after the feature created a misleading headline suggesting that murder suspect Luigi Mangione had shot himself, incorrectly attributing the false information to BBC News.

Mangione in fact remains under maximum security at Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, after having been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of healthcare insurance CEO Brian Thompson in New York.

The BBC has confirmed that it filed a complaint with Apple regarding the headline incident. The RSF has since argued that summaries of the type prove that "generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public."

Vincent Berthier, head of RSF's technology and journalism desk, said that "AIs are probability machines, and facts can't be decided by a roll of the dice." He called the automated production of false information "a danger to the public's right to reliable information."

This isn't an isolated incident, either. The New York Times reportedly experienced a similar issue when Apple Intelligence incorrectly summarized an article about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, creating a notification claiming he had been arrested when the original article discussed an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court.

Apple's AI feature aims to reduce notification overload by condensing alerts into brief summaries, and is currently available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 models, and select iPads and Macs running the latest operating system versions. The summarization feature is enabled by default, but users can manually disable it through their device settings.

• iOS Notification Summaries Lost in Translation? How to Turn Them Off

Apple has not yet commented on the controversy or indicated whether it plans to modify or remove the feature.

(Via BBC News.)

Apple is reportedly negotiating with China's ByteDance and Tencent to bring their artificial intelligence models to iPhones sold in China, as the company adapts its AI strategy for the Chinese market.

Apple began integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT into its devices globally earlier this month with the release of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, but ChatGPT is not accessible in China due to regulatory restrictions. Chinese law requires government approval before companies can release generative AI services to the public.

Both ByteDance and Tencent have developed their own AI models - Doubao and Hunyuan respectively - which could potentially be integrated into Chinese iPhones if the talks prove successful. However, negotiations are said to be still in early stages, according to sources cited by Reuters. Apple is reported to have previously held talks with Baidu about similar AI integration.

Any partnership could be particularly significant as Apple faces increasing competition in China's smartphone market. The company briefly dropped out of China's top five smartphone vendors in the second quarter of 2023 before recovering in the third quarter, though its sales still declined 0.3% year-over-year.

• iOS 18.2: Everything You Can Do With ChatGPT Integration

Meanwhile, Huawei has gained momentum in the Chinese market, with sales surging 42% in the third quarter. The company's recent Mate 70 series features AI capabilities powered by its own home-grown large language model.

Apple is close to reaching an agreement with Indonesia to lift the ban on iPhone 16 sales in the country after securing preliminary approval for a $1 billion investment proposal, according to Bloomberg.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is said to have given his support for the government to accept Apple's investment plan following a weekend briefing. The proposal includes establishing manufacturing facilities in the country, with one of Apple's suppliers set to build an AirTag production plant on Batam island.

The Batam facility is expected to initially employ 1,000 workers and will eventually account for 20% of global AirTag production. The location was chosen for its free-trade zone status, which provides tax exemptions and import duty benefits.

Additional investments will fund a separate manufacturing facility in Bandung for producing other accessories, as well as expanding Apple's existing developer academies in Indonesia. President Prabowo has directed his Economic Affairs Ministry to finalize the agreement, but no specific timeline has been provided for lifting the iPhone 16 sales ban.

The ban was implemented in October after Indonesian authorities determined Apple had failed to meet the country's requirement for 40% domestic content in smartphones. Apple's latest proposal represents a significant increase from its previous offers of $10 million and $100 million, which were rejected by the government.

If approved, the deal would mark a success for President Prabowo's efforts to attract foreign investment while demonstrating the effectiveness of Indonesia's strategy to pressure international companies into developing products locally. The country remains a significant market for Apple, with over half of its 278 million residents under the age of 44.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple has released a report highlighting its concerns about how some companies could "weaponize" the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) interoperability requirements to access sensitive user data. The report came on the same day that the European Commission began consulting on the proposed measures for requesting interoperability with Apple's iOS and iPadOS operating systems.

The DMA, which came into force this year, requires major platform holders like Apple to provide third-party developers equal access to iOS and iPadOS system tools and features. One of the Commission's proceedings focuses on the process Apple has set up to address interoperability requests submitted by developers and third parties for iOS and iPadOS. While Apple says it is fully committed to complying with the interoperability regulations, which aim to create fair competition, it is worried about unintended consequences resulting from the law's interpretation that could have a negative impact on user privacy.

Apple's report specifically calls out Meta, which has made 15 separate requests "and counting" for access to Apple's technology stack. According to Apple, Meta's requests have included access to features like messaging capabilities, AirPlay, CarPlay, and the App Intents framework. If granted as requested, Apple warns that these permissions would potentially allow Meta's apps to access a range of user data spanning messages, phone calls, photos, app usage, and passwords on their devices.

"In many cases, Meta is seeking to alter functionality in a way [...] that appears to be completely unrelated to the actual use of Meta external devices, such as Meta smart glasses and Meta Quests," says Apple. The report continues:

"If Apple were to have to grant all of these requests, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a user's device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords, and more. This is data that Apple itself has chosen not to access in order to provide the strongest possible protection to users."

Apple in the report is keen to emphasize its longtime support for developer access to device features through more than 250,000 APIs, but always with built-in privacy protections. The company points to historical examples like TouchID implementation and microphone access, where developers can take advantage of these features while maintaining privacy and control safeguards.

The report expresses particular concern about companies with previous privacy violations potentially circumventing GDPR protections through DMA requirements. Apple notes that while it processes data on-device whenever possible, other companies might use that information for their own gain. "Third parties may not have the same commitment to keeping the user in control on their device as Apple, and may prefer to move user information to their servers—where they can combine, profile, and monetize an individual's private data," Apple warns.

Apple's publication underlines its commitment to reviewing and implementing interoperability requests as per the DMA when feasible, but the company argues that solutions must preserve platform integrity and protect sensitive user data. As a way to achieve this, Apple outlines its four-step process for handling interoperability requests that includes initial assessment, project planning, development, and release phases.

"We will never abandon our bedrock commitment to our users' privacy and security," adds Apple. "We trust that the EC will seek to implement the interoperability requirements in a manner that respects the GDPR."

Meta yesterday responded to Apple's criticisms, claiming that "Every time Apple is called out for its anti-competitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality." However, Meta itself has previously come under criticism for privacy violations several times. Just this week, the UK's Ofcom said it was opening an investigation into Meta's Instagram for "turning a blind eye to ads for child sex abuse," while a new report by MLex said that more than half of UK scams involve Meta platforms.

Meta has also been fined €251 million ($265 million) by Ireland's Data Protection Commission for a 2018 Facebook breach affecting three million accounts in Europe, exposing names, contact details, locations, and children's data. Meta is expected to appeal the decision.

The Commission's interoperability proceedings began in September 2024 and are set to conclude within six months of opening.

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Today marks eight years since Apple launched the original AirPods. Unveiled in September 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, the wireless headphones became available on December 19, 2016, following a slight delay.

At the time, wireless headphones were already on the market but had not yet reached true mass popularity. AirPods helped redefine the category through their convenience and seamless integration with Apple devices. Apple's Phil Schiller at the time:

AirPods are the first headphones to deliver a breakthrough wireless audio experience, and with the new Apple W1 chip they deliver innovative features including high quality sound, great battery life and automatic setup. AirPods are simple and magical to use, with no switches or buttons, automatically connecting to all your Apple devices simply and seamlessly, and letting you access Siri with just a double tap. We can't wait for users to try them with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2.

Priced at $159, the first-generation AirPods introduced key features such as one-tap pairing with Apple devices and in-ear detection for automatic play-pause functionality. Powered by Apple's custom W1 chip, they delivered enhanced audio quality compared to wired EarPods and set a new standard for battery life in a compact, completely wireless design.

Since their debut, AirPods have evolved with the release of second-, third-, and fourth-generation models in March 2019, October 2021, and September 2024. These updates brought improvements such as better audio quality, longer battery life, hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality, a wireless charging case, and, most recently, active noise cancellation. The product line has also expanded with the premium AirPods Pro, featuring an in-ear design and active noise cancellation, in October 2019, and the over-ear AirPods Max in December 2020.