Apple Holding Shopping Event in Japan on January 2-3, Offering Free Apple Store Gift Card With Select Products
In celebration of the New Year, Apple has announced that it will be holding a two-day shopping event in Japan on January 2-3, offering customers a free Apple Store gift card with the purchase of select products. This promotion is similar to Apple's four-day shopping event held between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States.
In a tweet spotted by Mac Otakara, Apple says the gift cards will be worth up to ¥18,000, or roughly $175. (The promotion page has since gone live with a complete list of eligible products and gift card values.)
As expected, the promotion excludes many of Apple's newer products, including the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, HomePod mini, and Macs with the M1 chip. Apple says gift cards will be available for products like the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR, iPad Pro and iPad mini, 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, full-size HomePod, AirPods and AirPods Pro, Beats, and Apple Watch Series 3.
Apple has also marked the Japanese New Year with a new ad highlighting how the App Store can help people get off to a good start in 2021.
Popular Stories
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup.
If you skipped the iPhone...
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself.
Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed.
Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles."
If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
This week saw rumor updates on the iPhone 17 Pro and next-generation Vision Pro, while a minor iOS 18.4.1 update delivered not just security fixes but also a fix for some CarPlay issues.
We also looked ahead at what else is in Apple's pipeline for the rest of 2025 and even the 20th-anniversary iPhone coming in 2027, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!
iPhone 17 ...
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes.
The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps.
In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner.
In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
