Amazon this weekend has major discounts on a few AirPods models, including the return of the all-time low price on the AirPods 4. You can get the base AirPods 4 for $99.99 on Amazon, down from $129.00.
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.
Amazon also has the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation for $148.99, down from $179.00. We did track these at a lower price during the 2024 holiday season, but that deal never returned and today's is the best we've seen so far in 2025.
Additionally, you can get the AirPods Pro 2 for $169.99 today on Amazon, down from $249.00. This is the lowest price we've tracked so far in 2025 on the AirPods Pro 2, and it's an overall solid second-best price. The USB-C AirPods Max are also available at second-best price this weekend.
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.
Deals Newsletter
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Apple has pushed back the launch of its rumored smart home hub due to delayed Siri features, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman no longer expects the home hub to launch this month, but he has not provided a revised timeframe for the device's release.
"At one point, the company had hoped to announce this product in March," he said, in his Power On newsletter today. "But because the device, to an extent, relies on the delayed Siri capabilities, it has been postponed as well."
In the meantime, he said Apple has started allowing select employees to test a pre-release version of the device at home.
This comes a few days after Apple said it needs more time to finish the more personalized version of Siri, which it previewed at WWDC 2024 last June. The promised Siri upgrades will be powered by Apple Intelligence, so you will need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
"We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps," said Apple, in a statement shared with Daring Fireball's John Gruber. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year."
Gurman said Apple was initially aiming to launch the more personalized Siri as part of iOS 18.4, which is already in beta and lacks any of the promised features. He then said that the features were delayed until iOS 18.5 in May, but Apple's statement suggests the features will take even longer to arrive. The more personalized Siri will likely launch at some point between iOS 19 in September 2025 and iOS 19.4 in March 2026.
Whenever they launch, the Siri upgrades will include understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. For example, during its WWDC 2024 keynote, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.
With these new Siri capabilities rumored to be at the core of Apple's smart home hub, it would make sense if the company has pushed back its internal timeframe for launching the device. It's not ideal to launch one without the other. This is not an official delay, given that Apple never publicly announced plans to release a home hub, but it is clear that Apple has missed its internal targets for the more personalized Siri and this related project.
Gurman previously said the home hub would be "Apple's most significant release of the year," as it represents the company's "first step toward a bigger role in the smart home." He said the device will be like a "smaller and cheaper iPad" that lets users "control appliances, conduct FaceTime chats, and handle other tasks."
The device is expected to be similar to a HomePod with a screen, with rumored features including a 6-inch or 7-inch display, an A18 chip, and Apple Intelligence support. Gurman said it can be attached to a tabletop base with a speaker, or mounted on a wall.
So, when will Apple's home hub launch? "In the coming year" probably applies here, too.
Apple announced the infamous 12-inch Retina MacBook a decade ago today, an experimental new Mac that was as controversial as it was revolutionary.
Apple unveiled the 12-inch MacBook on March 9, 2015, at the "Spring Forward" event in San Francisco, California. The event was primarily focused on the Apple Watch, which was being fully detailed ahead of its launch the following month, so the debut of the brand-new MacBook line took many by surprise. Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the new MacBook as a "reinvention" of the notebook.
The device was extremely controversial due to its underpowered performance, single USB-C port for both charging and data transfer, short battery life, unreliable butterfly keyboard, and high price point ($1,299 starting price in 2015—the same as a MacBook Pro at the time).
However, the 12-inch MacBook offered a glimpse at what was to come in the Mac lineup. It was the first Apple device with a USB-C port, terraced battery, butterfly keyboard, and haptic trackpad. It was also the first MacBook with a design focused on efficiency, a Retina display in a non-Pro model, multiple color options, and without a fan or an illuminated Apple logo.
In 2016, Apple refreshed the 12-inch MacBook to add Intel Skylake Core m3, m5, and m7 processors, improved battery life and faster PCIe storage, and a Rose Gold color option. In 2017, it introduced Intel Kaby Lake Core m3, i5, and i7 processors, and a second-generation butterfly keyboard for slightly better reliability.
It was discontinued upon the introduction of the 2019 MacBook Air. The 12-inch MacBook was functionally replaced by the 2018 MacBook Air, which effectively adopted its design, but with an additional USB-C port, a single fan for active cooling, and a larger display.
What do you think about the 12-inch MacBook a whole decade later? Let us know in the comments.
The highlight of Apple deals this week is Best Buy's and Amazon's pre-order discounts on the just-announced M3 iPad Air, 11th generation iPad, and M4 MacBook Air. You'll also find great, record-low prices on AirPods Pro 2, Apple Watch Series 10, and the previous generation M2 MacBook Air.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
New iPads and MacBook Air Pre-Orders
What's the deal? Save up to $50 when pre-ordering Apple's new products
This was a big announcement week for Apple, with the introduction of the new M4 MacBook Air, M3 iPad Air, 11th generation iPad, and updated Mac Studio. We've been tracking pre-order discounts at Best Buy for My Best Buy Plus/Total members for most of the week, and Amazon is matching some of these deals for all shoppers.
Following the introduction of new M4 MacBook Air models, Amazon has discounted the previous generation 13-inch M2 MacBook Air (256GB) to just $699.00 this week. That's $300 off and a new record low price.
Apple Watch Series 10
What's the deal? Take $100 off Apple Watch Series 10
Amazon this week has numerous all-time low prices on Apple Watch Series 10, including both GPS and cellular models. You'll find $100 off both 42mm and 46mm GPS Series 10 models in multiple case colors and band styles, and this time the deals do not require any coupon codes.
Apple Studio Display
What's the deal? Take $299 off Apple Studio Display
Samsung's Spring Sale is still going on this weekend, with big savings on TVs and monitors. You'll also find great deals on home appliances and Galaxy devices, and our original post has all of the details on this sale.
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.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2025? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
There was definitely "something in the air" this week as Tim Cook promised, with Apple making a number of product announcements to breathe new life into several of its Mac and iPad products.
Some aspects of the announcements were expected while others were a bit of a surprise as was Apple looking to entice potential customers with some interesting choices for its new products, so read on below for all the details!
The M4 chip features a 10-core CPU, an up to 10-core GPU, and support for up to 32GB of unified memory, and Apple says the new MacBook Air is up to 2x faster than the M1 model.
Apple Announces New Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips, Thunderbolt 5, and More
Wednesday's other big announcement was an updated Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, Thunderbolt 5 ports, and more.
The M4 Max chip was already released last year in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it can be configured with up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory. The all-new M3 Ultra chip features up to a 32-core CPU with 24 performance cores and eight efficiency cores, up to 80 GPU cores, and up to 512GB of memory.
Apple Announces New iPad Air With M3 Chip, Updated Magic Keyboard
With the M3 chip, the new iPad Air should offer up to 20% faster performance compared to the previous-generation model with the M2 chip, which was released in May 2024. In addition, the M3 chip brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the iPad Air for the first time, providing improved graphics rendering in games.
The new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air features a larger trackpad and function keys for easy access to features like display brightness and volume controls.
Apple Unveils 11th-Gen iPad With A16 Chip and More Storage
While the new iPad won't support Apple Intelligence, the A16 chip represents a significant upgrade over the A14 Bionic chip in the previous model, and the new iPad offers a better value as Apple has doubled the starting storage to 128GB. There's also a new 512GB tier at the high end.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
Apple announced the Mac Studio and Studio Display three years ago today.
The Mac Studio and Studio Display were unveiled as the final major announcements of Apple's "Peek Performance" event. Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced them as a completely new Mac product category and a powerful new display designed for creative professionals.
The Mac Studio is positioned between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro. The first model featured the M1 Max or the newly introduced M1 Ultra chip, offering the best performance of any Mac at the time. The base M1 Max model started at $1,999, while the M1 Ultra variant began at $3,999. Fully configured, the M1 Ultra model could exceed $8,000. Many saw the Mac Studio and Studio Display as the spiritual successor to the 27-inch iMac, which was discontinued on the same day as the Mac Studio's launch.
In June 2023, during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple announced M2 Max and M2 Ultra chip options for the Mac Studio. Enhancements included support for up to six 6K monitors and improved connectivity options, such as Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E.
Earlier this week, Apple introduced the latest iteration of the Mac Studio, now featuring the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips. The M4 Max offers a 16-core CPU and up to a 40-core GPU, starting with 36GB of RAM, while the M3 Ultra boasts a 32-core CPU and up to an 80-core GPU, with configurations supporting up to 512GB of RAM. Both models include Thunderbolt 5 ports.
The Studio Display marked Apple's reentry into the consumer display market after more than a decade of absence. Prior to its release, Apple only offered one high-end professional monitor in the form of 2019's Pro Display XDR, which was aimed at a niche audience with a price tag of $4,999, without a stand. The Studio Display introduced a more accessible option for the wider range of users looking for a high-quality, premium external monitor that works well with Apple devices.
Rumors suggest that Apple is developing a new Studio Display model with mini-LED backlighting, expected to be released later in 2025 or early 2026.
The hub has been described as a "Command Center" for controlling Wi-Fi connected smart home products, and rumors suggest that Siri's planned feature set is meant to play a major role in the device's functionality. Siri is supposed to be getting smarter, able to learn more about users and to do more in and between apps, which would go a long way toward making a smart home control device more appealing.
Back in November, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the device had been designed around App Intents, the more advanced app and task control feature set that is delayed. Gurman also said that it would be marketed as a way to chat with Siri, and that the device is "designed to bring Siri and Apple Intelligence to life in a way that hasn't happened before."
Gurman initially said the device could launch as soon as March 2025, but in January, he suggested Apple would not make that timeline due to Siri delays. With the Siri Apple Intelligence features being pushed back even further, it's entirely possible Apple's "Command Center" won't be ready to go until 2026.
Apple's acknowledgement of the delay suggests that the Siri capabilities aren't going to be introduced until iOS 19, and the timing remains unclear.
The smart home hub is expected to look something like a mini iPad, and it will be square in shape with a six-inch display. In addition to controlling smart home products, it will have a selection of Apple apps so people will be able to make video calls, look up recipes, listen to music, access their calendars, view photos, and more.
Apple today shared a somewhat vague statement announcing that some of its planned Apple IntelligenceSiri features will take longer than expected to develop, and it's sounding like those Siri capabilities aren't going to be implemented until iOS 19.
Apple's statement, for context:
"Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year."
"In the coming year" isn't exactly concrete, and could be interpreted as in the next 12 months, or as 2026. If it's taken as in the next 12 months, that leaves room for a launch that's still part of iOS 18, but 2026 is firmly iOS 19. Direct Apple acknowledgements of product delays are uncommon, and if Apple was on track to introduce the Siri features in iOS 18, would the company bother to make a delay announcement at all? It seems unlikely. For that reason alone, there's a good chance Apple has pushed the feature set to iOS 19.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber has come to a similar conclusion, suggesting Apple's "years" refer to product years that start at WWDC. It is his opinion that Apple is subtly suggesting an iOS 19 launch timeline.
Reading between the lines, and based on my PhD-level fluency in Cupertino-ese, what Apple is saying here is that these "more personalized Siri" features are being punted from this year's OS cycle to next year's: to iOS 19 and MacOS 16. Apple's years in this context aren't calendar years, but Apple's OS product years. Those years effectively start at WWDC.
Further, both Reuters and CNBC interpreted Apple's statement as a delay of the Siri features until 2026, and wrote headlines stating as much. If Apple was only counting on a delay of a couple of months, it's likely the company would correct the 2026 assumption, but Apple has offered no further clarification nor has it asked for those sites to change their wording.
We'll get the first iOS 19 update in September 2025 alongside new iPhones, so if 2026 ends up being accurate, the Siri features might not even come in the iOS 19 release. They'll instead be slated for a future iOS 19 update, perhaps iOS 19.2 or iOS 19.3.
The vague wording of Apple's statement gives it some runway to tweak launch timing. The company has up to 12 months to provide the promised Siri functionality after admitting to a delay, so there's a good chance Apple is aiming for the September iOS 19 release, but tempering expectations in case it takes longer.
Apple announced the personalized Apple Intelligence Siri features at WWDC 2024, and initially said the functionality would come in iOS 18. Rumors suggested Apple was aiming for an iOS 18.4 release, but couldn't meet that timeline. Until now, there was still hope for a launch in iOS 18.5 or iOS 18.6, but there are strong implications that the feature set is going to be bundled into iOS 19 or an update to iOS 19.
The Siri features that we're waiting on include personal context to allow Siri to keep track of emails, messages, files, photos, and more, and deeper app integration that lets Siri do more in and across apps.
Apple is also working on an LLM version of Siri similar to ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and while that was initially planned for the iOS 19 update, it now seems Apple is going to hold it until iOS 20.
Update:Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that the Siri features "won't be released until next year at the earliest." Some people in Apple's AI division think the features could even be "scrapped altogether and rebuilt from scratch.
There are some concerns that fixing Siri could require more powerful hardware, which would mean Apple needs to reduce its feature set or make the models run more slowly on current devices.
Apple today scored another victory in the ongoing lawsuit that AliveCor levied against it in 2021, with the federal appeals court confirming the invalidation of three patents that AliveCor claimed Apple violated with the Apple Watch. As a result, the court has vacated an ITC ruling that could have led to an Apple Watch import ban.
In a statement to MacRumors, Apple thanked the court for its work and said that it will continue to develop new Apple Watch health features.
We thank the Federal Circuit for its careful consideration in this case. Apple's teams have worked tirelessly over many years to develop industry-leading health, wellness and safety features that meaningfully impact users' lives, and we intend to stay on this path."
After AliveCor sued Apple, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) initially found that Apple had violated three AliveCor patents related to heart rate monitoring and ECG technology. Apple then asked the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to review the patents, and the board found that several claims were not patentable, ultimately invalidating the patents and weakening AliveCor's case against Apple.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) still went on to recommend a limited exclusion order and a cease-and-desist for the Apple Watch, which Apple appealed given that the patents involved in the case were invalidated. The order was suspended while appeals on both sides played out, with Apple seeking an appeal of the ITC ruling and AliveCor appealing the PTAB ruling invalidating the patents.
The federal appeals court upheld the ruling invalidating the patents, and vacated the ITC's decision as a result, so there will be no Apple Watch import ban in the AliveCor case. In a statement to MacRumors, AliveCor said it was disappointed with the decision.
We are deeply disappointed by the Court’s decisions this morning and that the Court did not review the available secondary considerations, which the ITC found to be persuasive in their finding of validity. Today's ruling does not affect our business or ability to continue innovating for our growing base of millions of customers.
These cases go beyond AliveCor; these cases represent every small company and every future innovation that is at risk of being suppressed by a Goliath. Our fight against Apple is necessary to preserve innovation, fair competition, and the ability to ensure that inventors - both today and of the future - have the IP protection needed to build and scale new technologies.
We will continue to explore all available legal options, including potential appeals, to defend our position that our patents are valid and that Apple infringed our intellectual property rights. As we move forward, our focus remains on transforming the industry with clinically validated, AI-powered solutions that help democratize access to cardiac care.
Last year, AliveCor's antitrust lawsuit against Apple was also dismissed, a decision that AliveCor is appealing.
Apple has not been as successful in a different legal battle against blood oxygen company Masimo, and Apple Watch models in the United States are still subject to an import ban. Apple has disabled blood oxygen sensing technology in Apple Watch models sold in the U.S., and has not yet been able to reinstate it.
It's been a week since Apple released the iPhone 16e, its new low-cost (but not as low-cost as before) smartphone. The iPhone 16e has many of the same capabilities as Apple's flagship iPhones, but it is lacking in some key areas to save money. So, is it worth the savings? MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera spent a week with the iPhone 16e as his main iPhone to see what he could live without.
At $599, the iPhone 16e is quite a bit more expensive than the iPhone SE 3 that it replaces, but it offers a current-generation A18 chip, an all-display design with Face ID instead of Touch ID and OLED technology, a 48-megapixel single-lens rear camera, long battery life, USB-C, and safety features like Emergency SOS via Satellite and Crash Detection, all of which were not in the iPhone SE.
Most iPhones have had two or more cameras for several years now, so the single-lens camera on the iPhone 16e is surprisingly subtle and makes for a clean, minimal design where the camera isn't the dominant feature drawing the eye. There's also less weight with the slimmed down camera setup, so it doesn't feel heavy in the hand. You can only get the iPhone 16e in black or white, but they're classic colors.
Since Apple slimmed down the bezels with the flagship iPhone 16 lineup, the bezels on the iPhone 16e are more noticeable, but that's something that will mostly only come up when it's right next to an iPhone 16. Apple modeled the iPhone 16e after the iPhone 14, so it's also got a notch instead of a Dynamic Island. The OLED display doesn't support 120Hz, and it's not quite as bright as what you get with the iPhone 16. You're also not going to get the always-on display, and if that's something you're used to, you might miss it. But if you've never had that functionality, you won't know the difference.
There's no Camera Control button, but you do get an Action Button and support for all of the Apple Intelligence features, including Visual Intelligence. It's just activated from the Control Center or Action Button instead of Camera Control. The Camera Control button isn't something most people will likely care about. The A18 chip is basically the same chip you get in the iPhone 16, but with one less GPU core, a change that's not super noticeable.
Apple added a USB-C port for charging, but one major absence is support for MagSafe and Qi2. There is no magnetic ring in the iPhone 16e, so it does not work with all of the magnetic accessories that have come out for iPhones over the last several years. It's also limited to 7.5W charging speeds instead of the 15W you can get with MagSafe or Qi2, and that's a big downside.
If you've never had MagSafe, you won't mind charging primarily with a cable, but if you have MagSafe accessories already, it's going to be a downgrade.
The 48-megapixel camera is about the same as the camera in the iPhone 16, and it can take 1x and 2x photos. You don't get a Telephoto lens with 5x zoom or an Ultra Wide lens with 0.5x zoom and macro photo capabilities, but those are more niche camera features that are more nice to have than essential.
The iPhone 16e has one unique component, and that's Apple's C1 modem. So far, it seems to be performing about the same as Qualcomm's modem chip, though there is no support for the faster mmWave 5G networks. We didn't see any notable speed difference between the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e when testing the devices on Verizon's network, but the C1 modem actually seemed to be more reliable in some instances where signal was low.
Did you get an iPhone 16e? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.
Amazon is offering numerous all-time low prices on Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch SE, including both GPS and cellular models. You'll find all-time low prices for both watches, and in regards to the Series 10, we're tracking $100 discounts for the first time ever.
Apple Watch Series 10
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.
Amazon has the 42mm GPS Apple Watch Series 10 for $299.00, down from $399.00, as well as the 46mm GPS model for $329.00, down from $429.00. Both of these are new record low prices on the Apple Watch Series 10, and they're available in numerous case colors and band styles, all of which you can find in the lists below.
In addition to Series 10 deals, Amazon is discounting the 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE to $169.00 today, down from $249.00. This is the best price we've tracked so far in 2025, and it's available in Starlight, Silver, and Midnight Aluminum color options.
Amazon has nearly every 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE at this price, including multiple sizes of the Sport Band model and many Sport Loop models. Most are in stock and available to be delivered by early March.
Additionally, you can get the 44mm GPS Apple Watch SE at an all-time low price of $199.00 today on Amazon, down from $279.00. This one is also available in Midnight, Silver, and Starlight Aluminum colors, and multiple band sizes.
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 says that it is going to take longer than expected to roll out the more personalized Siri experience, and that these features will be rolled out "in the coming year."
"Siri helps our users find what they need and get things done quickly, and in just the past six months, we've made Siri more conversational, introduced new features like type to Siri and product knowledge, and added an integration with ChatGPT. We've also been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year."
The personalized Siri features that Apple is talking about were demonstrated at WWDC when introducing iOS 18, and they were expected to come out in an update to iOS 18. The functionality includes personal context, onscreen awareness, and improved app integration. A quick summary:
Personal Context
With personal context, Siri will be able to keep track of emails, messages, files, photos, and more, learning more about you to help you complete tasks and keep track of what you've been sent.
Show me the files Eric sent me last week.
Find the email where Eric mentioned ice skating.
Find the books that Eric recommended to me.
Where's the recipe that Eric sent me?
What's my passport number?
Onscreen Awareness
Onscreen awareness will let Siri see what's on your screen and complete actions involving whatever you're looking at. If someone texts you an address, for example, you can tell Siri to add it to their contact card. Or if you're looking at a photo and want to send it to someone, you can ask Siri to do it for you.
Deeper App Integration
Deeper app integration means that Siri will be able to do more in and across apps, performing actions and completing tasks that are just not possible with the personal assistant right now. We don't have a full picture of what Siri will be capable of, but Apple has provided a few examples of what to expect.
Moving files from one app to another.
Editing a photo and then sending it to someone.
Get directions home and share the ETA with Eric.
Send the email I drafted to Eric.
Rumors suggested that Apple initially planned to introduce these features in iOS 18.4, but ahead of the first iOS 18.4 betas, there were reports that the functionality simply wasn't ready. Apple will debut an iOS 18.5 update after iOS 18.4, so we could see the new Siri features in that update, but it's possible we'll be waiting even longer. "In the coming year" is a bit vague, but it looks like the new Siri functionality will come sometime in the next 12 months.
Apple did already update Siri with a new Type to Siri feature, a refreshed look, ChatGPT integration, and more natural language understanding as part of its Apple Intelligence improvements, with more to come in the future.
Amazon and Best Buy are discounting Apple's 13-inch M2 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD storage down to $699.00 in a few colors. This is a $300 discount on the previous generation M2 MacBook Air, and a new record low price for the computer.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Although this is a previous generation device, it will work great for anyone who doesn't need the performance gains introduced with the newer Apple silicon chips, especially at this discounted price. Apple just announced the new M4 MacBook Air, and anyone shopping for those models can get $50 off if you're a My Best Buy Plus/Total member.
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's new M3 Ultra chip can be configured with a massive 80-core GPU, and an early benchmark result offers a look at its graphics performance.
In one Geekbench 6 result for the new Mac Studio, the M3 Ultra with an 80-core GPU achieved a Metal score of 259,668, up from 222,582 for the M2 Ultra chip with a 76-core GPU in the previous-generation Mac Studio. If that single result is accurate, then the M3 Ultra offers up to 16% faster graphics performance than the M2 Ultra.
This means the M3 Ultra offers the best graphics performance of any Apple chip ever.
In the 16-inch MacBook Pro, the highest-end M4 Max chip with a 40-core GPU has an average Metal score of 187,460, so the M3 Ultra appears to offer up to 38% faster graphics performance than the M4 Max based on the one result.
A few other Geekbench 6 results for the M3 Ultra chip with an 80-core GPU show Metal scores in the 195,000 range. We believe those results are inaccurate, as it would not make any sense for the score to be that low.
The new Mac Studio is available to pre-order now on Apple's online store, and it will launch in stores on Wednesday, March 12. In the U.S., pricing starts at $1,999 for M4 Max configurations, and at $3,999 for M3 Ultra configurations.
Now that the iPhone 16e is available, we explore first-hand impressions of the device, including its design, camera, display, and custom modem. Apple this week unveiled a new iPad Air featuring the M3 chip, a refreshed entry-level iPad with the A16 chip, and a redesigned Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air. The MacBook Air now offers the M4 chip and an all-new "Sky Blue" color option, now starting at just $999. Meanwhile, the Mac Studio has been refreshed with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options.
We take a look at why the iPad Air's refresh is relatively small and who should buy it, the entry-level iPad's peculiar omission of Apple Intelligence support, and differences between the iPad Air's Magic Keyboard and that of the iPad Pro. We also discuss thoughts on the MacBook Air's unexpected new finish, as well as the unusual chip generation difference among the new Mac Studio's options.
The MacRumors Show is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
Amazon this week has Apple's AirPods Pro 2 for $169.99, down from $249.00. This is the lowest price that we've tracked so far in 2025, and Amazon is providing an early March delivery estimate for most residences in the United States.
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.
Although we saw a better deal over the holiday season, it's very unlikely that all-time low price will return any time soon. Amazon's price today is still a solid deal on the AirPods Pro 2, which feature USB-C charging and Active Noise Cancellation.
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.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2025? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, and new MacBook Air and Mac Studio models with M4 and M3 Ultra chips, we thought we'd provide a quick recap of what else we are expecting from the company in the summer months ahead.
There are at least three product categories that we are hoping to see some movement in before summer is over, but of course, nothing is guaranteed. Keep reading to learn what they are.
Smart Home Command Center
Apple is working on a new Home accessory that is designed to serve as a central hub or "Command Center" for smart home management. Apple's upcoming iPad-like smart home accessory could be released as soon as early 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. However, he recently said that Apple might not be able to launch it until later in the year due to its reliance on features coming in iOS 18.4 and iOS 19. Kuo believes the device will not be released until the second or third quarter of 2025. In February, Gurman said that the smart home hub launch is "still months away."
Mac Pro
Apple will refresh the Mac Pro in the summer of 2025, according to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The next-generation Mac Pro was expected to use a new M4 Ultra chip, but the recent debut of the M3 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio has put that claim into question. Apple has already said that its M4 Max chip lacks an UltraFusion connector, which would eventually have allowed for a doubled-up M4 Ultra chip in the future. As things stand, the next Mac Pro could end up getting the M3 Ultra chip, which Apple says is the fastest Mac chip it has ever released.
AirTag 2
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, while another leaker has claimed Apple will launch the device in May or June this year. The next-generation AirTag will include an upgraded chip that enhances location tracking, claims Gurman. This could mean Apple plans to equip the device with the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, first introduced in the iPhone 15 lineup last year.
As part of its efforts to prevent stalking, Apple is also expected to make the AirTag's built-in speaker more difficult to remove. However, the overall design is likely to remain largely unchanged, so major visual differences from the current model are not anticipated. Additionally, the new AirTag is rumored to offer improved range, potentially extending the effectiveness of the Precision Finding feature over greater distances.
iOS 19
Apple plans to unveil iOS 19 at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2025, but the official release won't happen until sometime in September, when the new iPhone 17 lineup is expected to be announced.
Rumors suggest that Apple's continued work on iOS 18 features is pushing back development on iOS 19, so we may see new capabilities come out on a rolling basis like we did for iOS 18. iOS 19 could feature a revamped Camera app with a design inspired by visionOS, according to one rumor. The design of Apple's most recent apps, Invites, Apple Sports, and Apple Playground, hint at the visionOS-like redesign we could see in iOS 19. The apps have more translucent user interface elements, expanding buttons, and an emphasis on content. We could also see other visionOS-style app redesigns, but the Camera app is the only redesign rumored as of now.
Apple is developing a much smarter version of Siri that utilizes advanced large language models or LLMs, allowing the personal assistant to better compete with AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT. However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently said Apple is no longer planning to unveil the more conversational Siri at WWDC 2025 in June this year, and it appears that the feature is no longer on track to launch as part of iOS 19.4 in March or April next year. Instead, he said that some Apple software engineers believe that the Siri overhaul will not launch until at least iOS 20.
In the meantime, iOS 18.5 should be released in May, and with it, Siri is expected to gain on-screen awareness, understanding of personal context, and deeper per-app controls.
In a move that probably won't make headlines but should delight detail-oriented Mac users everywhere, Apple has quietly corrected a 26-year-old design inconsistency on its keyboards.
The Mute key, a staple on Mac keyboards since the PowerBook G3 'Lombard' debuted in 1999, has finally received a logical redesign on the new MacBook Air with M4 chip. As spotted by iCulture, the key now displays a speaker with a strike through it – matching the actual on-screen indicator that appears when you press it in macOS.
For over two decades, the Mute key has confusingly shown just a speaker icon, providing no obvious visual indication that it silences your Mac. Meanwhile, pressing it would display a completely different but more accurate symbol on screen: a speaker with a line through it. To be fair, it is a toggle key that both mutes and un-mutes audio, but the new mute icon more recognizably informs what the key does – just like on the Apple TV Remote.
Mute key symbol on previous Mac keyboards
This small but meaningful correction resolves a surprising design inconsistency that has persisted through countless keyboard iterations across dozens of Mac models.
Mute key symbol on new MacBook Air
The redesigned Mute key isn't limited to the MacBook Air, either. The new iPad Air's Magic Keyboard also incorporates the corrected icon. In fact, you could call this a "double upgrade" for iPad Air users, as previous Magic Keyboard models have lacked function keys entirely.
The keyboard change is typical of Apple's meticulous attention to detail, even if it took more than a quarter-century to implement.
It seems likely that all future Mac models will adopt this revised Mute key design. The next expected release, a MacBook Pro with M5 chip anticipated around October, will presumably incorporate the updated key icon.
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