To end the week, we're tracking deals on Apple's iPad Pro and AirPods, which include a few best-ever prices that match Prime Day deals we saw earlier in the week.
iPad Pro
Starting with the 11-inch iPad Pro, you can get the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet for $699.00 on Amazon today, down from $799.00. At $100 off this is an all-time low price on this version of the 2021 iPad Pro, and it's only available on Amazon in Space Gray.
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.
With this record low deal on the 128GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Pro, this is now the cheapest entry point into the iPad Pro lineup. There are a few other models on sale, like the 256GB Wi-Fi tablet ($849.00) and 512GB Wi-Fi tablet ($999.00), which are second-best prices.
AirPods
You can also still get Prime Day prices on two pairs of Apple's AirPods, including the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Starting with the AirPods Pro with MagSafe, these are on sale for $169.99, down from $239.00, which is the best price of the year.
Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.
Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.
Notification Summary Changes
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries
Apple Intelligence...
Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes.
While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner.
Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri ...
Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.
A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device.
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by Juli Clover
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today.
On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models.
...
Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.
In each of the past four years, ...
Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year.
Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...
iPad Pro still isn't a good value at that price. Adding the cost of the iPad, a keyboard and any other accessories, you may as well just get the MBA, which is infinitely more useful and just as portable.
Not everyone gets the keyboard or other accessories, or maybe they already have them from the previous model.
Also, consider this: 64GB iPad Air is $599 Many say 64GB isn't enough these days... So then there's the 256GB iPad Air for $749.
The 128GB iPad Pro for $699 sounds like a good deal to me.
iPad Pro still isn't a good value at that price. Adding the cost of the iPad, a keyboard and any other accessories, you may as well just get the MBA, which is infinitely more useful and just as portable.
I got an 11” M1 this year without a keyboard (I use an old Bluetooth one at the desk) or any accessories except a case. Works just fine that way. It’s also a better content consumption device than a MacBook Air.
iPad Pro still isn't a good value at that price. Adding the cost of the iPad, a keyboard and any other accessories, you may as well just get the MBA, which is infinitely more useful and just as portable.
An iPad is an iPad, not a laptop/MacBook. If you need a keyboard and mouse get a computer. If you only occasionally need a keyboard buy a keyboard. They are meant to be separate devices and they just so happen to have overlapping traits. I have no idea why some apple users thing they every device has to be made just for them like Steve, Johnny Ives, Tim Cook and company was staring at a picture of them while they were developing products.
It’s not that easy. The cost is high and unfortunately for customers (and fortunately for Apple), the competition is few and weak.
The easiest way to get Apple to be more competitive and provide more value is to speak up and stop buying their products unless absolutely necessary. A very humbling quarter or two is needed for Apple to realize screwing customers like they are with the M2 laptops won’t fly.
Actually it IS easy in my view. It is happening before our very eyes.
The good news is some of these unhappy / complaining Apple product users are being priced off of the platform. The pandemic disruptions, employment shifts and inflation are a form of "natural selection" and ridding the Apple ecosystem of a Toxic group that see's Apple as "greedy', and representative of the "worst of capitalism" and "Racist" as well in Posts I have read in Apple forums recently. They are having their "Humbling" economic moment that will last for years. The current Economic malaise is driving food insecurity, home sales decline, and auto sales to name a few. As a pessimist, a cynic and a misanthrope it is a fantastic time to be alive! Winter is Coming! BRING IT!