MacRumors

Apple today at its "Wonderlust" event announced that macOS Sonoma, the latest version of its Mac operating system, will be available to all users with compatible Mac models starting on Tuesday, September 26.

• Will My Mac Run macOS Sonoma?

‌macOS Sonoma‌ includes several new features, including interactive desktop widgets, Apple TV-like aerial screensavers, enhancements to apps like Messages and Safari, a new Game mode that prioritizes CPU and GPU performance for gaming, and more.

New interactive widgets can now be placed right on your desktop, blending into your desktop wallpaper to not be obtrusive when you're working, and thanks to Apple's Continuity feature you can use the same widgets from your iPhone on your Mac.

‌macOS Sonoma‌ also introduces enhanced video conferencing features, including Presenter Overlay to allow a user to display themselves in front of the content they are sharing. Reactions let users share how they feel within a video session, and Screen Sharing has been improved with a simplified process.

As is usual with macOS updates, Safari is getting numerous new features within Sonoma. There's an update to Private Browsing that provides greater protection from trackers and from people who might have access to the user's device.

Profiles within Safari offer a way to separate browsing between topics, like having one for work and one for personal browsing. There's also a new way to create web apps that work like normal apps and let you get to your favorite website faster.

When you're not actively using ‌macOS Sonoma‌, the new screen savers feature slow-motion videos of various locations worldwide. They shuffle between landscape, Earth, underwter, or cityscape themes, similar to what you'll see on tvOS.

For gamers, there's a new Game Mode in ‌macOS Sonoma‌ that delivers an optimized gaming experience with smoother and more consistent frame rates. It dramatically lowers audio latency with AirPods and reduces input latency with game controllers, and it works with any game on Mac.

Alongside ‌macOS Sonoma‌, Apple at its "Wonderlust" event also announced the release date for iOS 17 for compatible iPhones.

Apple today announced that the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199 in the U.S. with 256GB of storage. By comparison, the previous-generation iPhone 14 Pro Max started at $1,099 with 128GB of storage.

The smaller iPhone 15 Pro with a 6.1-inch display continues to start at $999 with 128GB of storage in the U.S., just like the iPhone 14 Pro did.

Both of the iPhone 15 Pro models feature a lightweight titanium frame, USB-C port, customizable Action button, faster A17 Pro chip, Wi-Fi 6E support, and more. Read our announcement coverage for additional details about the devices.

All of the new iPhone 15 models are available to pre-order starting Friday, September 15, and will launch on Friday, September 22 in more than 40 countries and regions around the world, Apple said.

Apple today at its "Wonderlust" event announced that iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will be available to all users with compatible iPhone and iPad models starting on Monday, September 18.

‌iOS 17‌ adds a new StandBy option for the ‌iPhone‌, allowing it to serve as an information hub when it is in a horizontal position and connected to a charger. StandBy mode displays the time, Live Activities, incoming notifications, and tons of widgets.

Staying on the topic of widgets, widgets you use on the Lock Screen and Home Screen are interactive, so you can do things like control a smart light or check off a Reminder without opening an app. Autocorrect is smarter than before, and it's easier to correct mistakes with a quick tap.

AirDrop has a new NameDrop feature for quickly sharing contact information with a person nearby, and the Phone app has customizable Contact Posters that let you choose what people see when you call them.

Live Voicemail shows the voicemail that someone is leaving right on your Lock Screen so you can pick up if it's important, and the Messages app has a refined look and a Check-In feature that's meant to help you get to your destination safely.

FaceTime supports video messages so you can leave a video voicemail if someone misses a call, plus you can use it on the Apple TV. Safari has a locked private browsing window and a password sharing feature, and better tracking prevention. The Maps app now works offline, the Photos app can recognize your pets, and Visual Look Up works with food, symbols, videos, and more.

There's a new mood tracking feature available in the Health app, and later this year, Apple also plans to add a journaling app.

‌iOS 17‌‌ is compatible with the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ XS and newer, meaning that support has been dropped for the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 8, ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 8 Plus, and ‌‌iPhone‌‌ X.

• Will My iPhone Run iOS 17?
• Will My iPad Run iPadOS 17?

For a complete overview of all of the new features in ‌iOS 17‌, we have a dedicated iOS 17 roundup. ‌iPadOS 17‌, which is being launched alongside ‌iOS 17‌, also has some iPad-only features like a revamped Lock Screen, with details available in our separate iPadOS 17 roundup.

With the launch of the new iPhone 15 models, Apple has discontinued the iPhone 13 mini, the last remaining flagship ‌iPhone‌ under six inches. Apple only made two 5.4-inch ‌iPhone‌ minis, the iPhone 12 mini and the ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini.

The ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ was discontinued with the launch of the iPhone 14, leaving the ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini as the only smaller flagship option. The iPhone SE is still available to those who want something smaller than 6.1 inches, but it does not have modern features like Face ID.

Apple is continuing to sell the ‌iPhone‌ 13 and the ‌iPhone 14‌ as lower-cost options that are offered as an alternative to the ‌iPhone 15‌. The ‌iPhone‌ 12 has also been discontinued and replaced with the ‌iPhone‌ 13, which has dropped in price. Apple's full device lineup is as follows:

• iPhone SE - $429
• iPhone 13 - $599
• iPhone 14 - $699
• iPhone 15 - $799
• iPhone 15 Plus - $899
• iPhone 15 Pro - $999
• iPhone 15 Pro Max - $1199

While the ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini and the ‌iPhone‌ 12 have been discontinued by Apple, they may still be available from the refurbished store while supplies last, and third-party retailers will also have some stock available until it sells out.

Apple's just-announced iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max introduce four new color options: Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium.

The new titanium design is the most premium material ever used in an iPhone enclosure, according to Apple. It's said to be stronger and more durable, yet lighter. Both models feature a new refined brush texture, contoured edges, and the thinnest borders on iPhone.

The iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 15 Plus, on the other hand, feature a color-infused back glass with a textured matte finish, and a new contoured edge on the aluminum enclosure, which is available in a light pink shade, yellow, blue, green, and black.

In addition to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max Clear Case, available for $49, a Silicone Case with MagSafe will be available for $49 in black, storm blue, clay, light pink, guava, orange sorbet, cypress, and winter blue.

The ‌iPhone 15 Pro will start at $999 with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options available, while ‌iPhone 15 Pro Max will start at $1199 with 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. Pre-orders for the new ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro models will open on Friday, September 15, with shipping to begin on Friday, September 22.

For all the details, check out our Apple event coverage.

Apple today announced the iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max, its latest flagship smartphones. The devices sport an array of new features, including a titanium frame, the A17 Pro chip, an Action Button, and more.

The new titanium chassis has a brushed finish. It makes the iPhone lighter than any previous Pro model, while enhancing durability. The frame has a contoured edge for a more comfortable feel in the hand. The bezels around the display are also substantially slimmer.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro features an Action button in place of the mute switch. With a press and hold, users can toggle between ring and silent, with haptic feedback to indicate a change of state. Users can switch between different actions, allowing them to start recording in voice memos, launch the camera, activate a favorite accessibility, feature, or run a Shortcut.

The new devices feature Apple's A17 Pro chip, made with a first-of-its-kind 3-nanometer process. The A17 Pro has a six-core CPU, for 10% faster CPU performance and 20% faster GPU performance. It has a two-times faster 16-core neural engine to accelerate machine learning such as more accurate autocorrect or pulling a subject from an image. It can process up to 35 trillion operations per second.

The A17 Pro contains a brand new GPU with an Apple-designed shader architecture. Apple says it is the biggest redesign in the history of Apple GPUs, with a focus on performance and efficiency, running complex applications, and new rendering features. It offers hardware-accelerated ray tracing and new Mesh shading capabilities. Console games like Resident Evil 4 can now be played on the ‌iPhone‌.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro features an improved camera system. The main camera has a larger sensor, a new coating to reduce lens flare, better low light performance for Portraits and Night mode, a range of focal lengths, a new 24MP super-high-resolution default mode, and more. The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max's telephoto camera offers 5x optical zoom at 180mm focal length with a 25% larger sensor. This is combined with optical image stabilization and an autofocus 3D sensor-shift module, which Apple says is its most advanced stabilization system yet. The Ultrawide camera has a new anti-reflective coating, as well as improved Night mode and Smart HDR.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro models feature a USB-C port for charging and data transfer. The A17 Pro supports up to 10Gbps transfer speeds with a USB 3 cable. Using a cable, users can instantly transfer 48MP ProRaw photos to a Mac or record ProRes video directly to an external storage drive. Higher quality recording options are available for external drives, with support for 4K60 for the first time, plus Log encoding.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro, like the standard ‌iPhone 15‌ models, has a next-generation Portrait mode that automatically detects when there's a subject in the frame, allowing you to switch to Portrait mode after an image has been taken. There is also new focus and depth control tools, allowing you to switch focus from one person to another after the photo has been taken. Night mode is also improved, while and Smart HDR allows the device to capture the sky and subject simultaneously.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro has Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, allowing other devices with the chip to connect from up to 3x as far away and friends that share their location with you to be located directionally like an AirTag. The devices also support Wi-Fi 6E, Qi2 charging, and Thread, opening up future opportunities for Home app integrations. Building on Emergency SOS via Satellite, it is now possible to connect to a satellite for roadside assistance. Audio quality for calls has been updated with a more advanced machine learning model that prioritizes your voice.

The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro models are available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, Natural Titanium. The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro starts at $999 for 128GB of storage, while the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max starts at $1,199 for 256GB of storage.

In addition to the iPhone 15 models getting a USB-C port, Apple today announced that the second-generation AirPods Pro are now available to order with a USB-C charging case for $249, and the wired EarPods now come in a USB-C version as well.

The updated second-generation AirPods Pro ship with a USB-C charging case, but the case is not sold separately at this time on Apple's online store. Additionally, the updated second-generation AirPods Pro include improved IP54-rated dust resistance for the earbuds and case, and will support lossless audio when connected to the Apple Vision Pro headset launching in early 2024. No other changes were announced.

Apple said the updated second-generation AirPods Pro will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores on Friday, September 22.

Apple continues to sell EarPods with a Lightning connector and with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Apple today at its "Wonderlust" event announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. As expected, both devices are equipped with a USB-C port instead of Lightning, and have the Dynamic Island that debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro models last year.

iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both devices now feature a frosted rear glass panel with a matte finish and countered edges, an upgraded 48-megapixel main camera lens with a new 2x Telephoto option, the A16 Bionic chip, and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip with up to three times the range. New color options include Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black.

For the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus displays, peak HDR brightness now reaches up to 1,600 nits, up from 1,200 nits on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Outdoors, peak brightness can reach up to 2,000 nits.

Apple shared an overview of new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus features:

All of the new iPhone 15 models are available to order starting Friday, September 15, and will launch on Friday, September 22 in more than 40 countries and regions around the world, Apple said. Pricing starts at $799 for the iPhone 15 and at $899 for the iPhone 15 Plus in the U.S., with the devices available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities.

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus availability will expand to Macao, Malaysia, Türkiye, Vietnam, and 17 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 29, according to Apple.

Apple's just-announced iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus introduce five new color options: A light pink shade, yellow, blue, green, and black.

The iPhone 15 features an aerospace-grade aluminum enclosure, and color built into the foundation of the back glass itself. Apple used an optimized custom dual-ion exchange process for this new material, and polished it with nano-crystalline particles.

iPhone 15 has a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display. Both devices feature a frosted rear glass panel with a matte finish, an upgraded 48-megapixel main camera lens, an A16 Bionic chip, and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip.

iPhone 15 starts at $799 for 128GB and iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 for 128GB, with 256GB and 512GB models also available. US carriers are offering up to $800 off with trade-in. Pre-orders for the new ‌iPhone 15‌ models open on Friday, September 15, and will begin shipping on Friday, September 22.

For all the details, check out our Apple event coverage.

Apple has announced a new textile it's calling "FineWoven," which is made of 68 percent post-consumer content and is overall more environmentally friendly compared to the company's previous line of leather accessories. Apple confirmed it will no longer use leather for new Apple accessories, starting today.

FineWoven Apple Watch bands will be available for purchase, along with a collection of all new Hermés bands and new Nike bands. All of these new Apple Watch band accessories were made with sustainability in mind.

Apple today announced an all-new second-generation Apple Watch Ultra, offering all of the features of the original Ultra, plus a faster new S9 SiP chip, a new double tap gesture, Apple's brightest display ever, expanded altitude range, quicker on-device Siri, Precision Finding for iPhone, and new capabilities for water adventures.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a brighter display at 3,000 nits – 50 percent brighter than the first generation of Apple Watch Ultra and the brightest display Apple has ever designed. For dark rooms or early mornings, the display can now lower to just one nit so as not to disturb people close by. Flashlight also benefits from the new display architecture, according to Apple, as rotating the Digital Crown temporarily doubles the brightness to better light up the immediate environment.

The Apple Watch Ultra also features an S9 chip, which has 60% more transistors and is 30% faster than the S8 chip used in the original Apple Watch Ultra. In addition, the S9 chip has a four-core neural engine for 2x faster neural tasks, according to Apple.

There's a new second-generation Ultra Wideband chip in the Ultra that makes it easier to use the Apple Watch Ultra to find an iPhone 15, and it also supports Precision Finding. Apple Watch Ultra 2 also has a new 4-core Neural Engine that can process machine learning tasks up to twice as fast as the original Apple Watch Ultra.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also has a new gesture that uses just the watch hand for when your hands are full. Double Tap allows you to tap your index finger and thumb together to do things like answer a call, end a call, snooze an alarm, play or pause music, and more.

The new Double Tap gesture is enabled by the faster Neural Engine in Apple Watch Ultra 2, which processes data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart sensor with a new machine learning algorithm. The algorithm detects the unique signature of tiny wrist movements and changes in blood flow when the index finger and thumb perform a double tap. Double Tap will be available next month, according to Apple.

There's also a new Modular Ultra watch face, which takes advantage of the large display, using the outermost edge to present real-time data, including seconds, altitude, or depth. It offers the most complications of any Apple digital watch face to customize for sports, outdoor adventures, and ocean and water activities. It also feature a Night mode, which now turns on automatically in the dark thanks to the ambient light sensor.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 runs watchOS 10, which delivers redesigned apps, the new Smart Stack, new cycling experiences, features to help explore the outdoors, and the new Modular Ultra watch face. Apple Watch Ultra 2 has the same 36-hour battery life with regular use and up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode.

"This year we've made our most rugged and capable Apple Watch even better," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. "Apple Watch Ultra 2 is our most advanced Apple Watch, with great performance and feature updates. It's perfect for anyone who wants our biggest, brightest display, longest battery life, and best GPS of any Apple Watch, all in a stunning design."

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 starts at $799. Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UAE, the U.K., the U.S., and more than 40 other countries and regions can order Apple Watch Ultra 2 today, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 22.

Following the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple today detailed a new feature coming to the smartwatch next month. Called "Double Tap," the new gesture feature lets you control the Series 9 by tapping your thumb and index finger together twice.

Users will be able to answer calls, stop alarms, open Smart Stack, play and pause Music, and more by using Double Tap. Apple said the new feature should make it easier to navigate the Apple Watch when you're one-handed, like walking your dog or holding a cup of coffee.

Double Tap will also be available on the new Apple Watch Ultra 2. The feature will be available in a software update next month for the Series 9 and Ultra 2.

Apple today unveiled the Apple Watch Series 9, featuring significantly improved performance thanks to the S9 Apple silicon chip, a "Double Tap" hand gesture for interacting with the device without touch, Precision Finding for iPhone, and more.

The Series 9 has been internally redesigned, including an entirely new Apple silicon chip. It has 60% more transistors and is 30% faster than the S8 chip. It also has a four-core neural engine for 2x faster neural tasks.

Siri requests are now processed on the Apple Watch, making them faster and more secure, and the voice assistant can also access health data for the first time. Dictation on the Series 9 is also up to 25% more accurate than the Series 8 thanks to secure on-device processing. It retains the same 18-hour all-day battery life.

With Ultra Wideband support, the Apple Watch Series 9 can use Precision Finding for an ‌iPhone‌ for the first time, just like the ‌iPhone‌ can with an AirTag. It is also more deeply integrated with the HomePod. When an Apple Watch user gets within four meters of a ‌HomePod‌ playing audio, Apple Watch Series 9 will automatically launch Now Playing to control the media. If nothing is playing on ‌HomePod‌, media suggestions will appear at the top of the Smart Stack.

The Series 9 also features a brighter always-on Retina display that can now go up to up to 2000 nits, twice the brightness of the Apple Watch Series 8. It can also reduce to just one nit of brightness for use in theatres or at night.

The Apple Watch Series 9 can be controlled with a new hand gesture called "Double Tap," where the user taps the thumb and index finger together like with a Vision Pro headset. Using this gesture, users can interact with the device without touching the screen for tasks like answering or ending a call, stop a timer, snooze an alarm, pause of play music, bring up the Smart Stack, and more. It does this by looking for tiny changes to movement and blood flow using the accelerometer and blood oxygen sensor.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is available in a new Pink color option, alongside Starlight, Silver, Midnight, and PRODUCT(RED). The stainless steel version is available in Silver, Gold, and Graphite.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is made with more recycled materials and comes in a smaller, more environmentally friendly box. A new version of the Sport Loop band also uses 82% recycled yarn. Leather will no longer be offered on any new Apple Watch bands, but Apple is offering a range of new "FineWoven" bands, as well as bands from Hermès and Nike.

The Apple Watch Series 9 is the successor to last year's Series 8, which introduced body temperature sensing and cycle tracking, a more powerful gyroscope and high dynamic range accelerometer, and Crash Detection.

Apple's "Wonderlust" event kicks off today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, where we're expecting to see the iPhone 15 lineup, updated Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models, a USB-C case update for AirPods Pro, and perhaps some other announcements.

Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We will also be updating this article with live blog coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the keynote unfolds. Highlights from the event and separate news stories regarding today's announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account.

As usual, Apple's online store is currently down in advance of the event.

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Intel today announced Thunderbolt 5, the next-generation version of the connectivity standard present on all Macs and iPad Pro models, promising significant improvements in connectivity speed and bandwidth.

Thunderbolt 5 delivers 80 Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth and, with Bandwidth Boost, can provide up to 120 Gbps for video-intensive usage. This enables considerably better display support, allowing for more and higher-resolution displays with higher refresh rates. Thunderbolt 4 has maximum speeds of 40 Gbps, making Thunderbolt 5 a significant improvement of at least double the bandwidth.

The latest specification also features double the PCI Express data throughput and double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt Networking. It also uses a new signaling technology, PAM-3, to increase performance with printed circuit boards, connectors, and passive cables.

Thunderbolt 5 continues to be built in industry standards such as USB4 V2, DisplayPort 2.1, and PCI Express Gen 4, enabling it to be compatible with previous version of Thunderbolt and USB. Computers and accessories that use Intel's Thunderbolt 5 controller are set to become available starting in 2024. It is highly likely that Thunderbolt 5 will come to future Apple devices.

The iPhone 16 and ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus will feature 8GB of memory and an A17 Bionic chip fabricated with TSMC's N3E process, according to Jeff Pu, a tech analyst at Hong Kong investment firm Haitong International Securities.

In a note to investors seen by MacRumors, Pu noted the significant RAM increase for the standard iPhone models next year and the switch to LPD5 memory. Apple's standard ‌iPhone‌ models have had 6GB of memory since 2021's ‌iPhone‌ 13. The iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus are expected to continue the trend. The ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max are expected to be the first iPhones to feature 8GB of memory, meaning that both the A17 Bionic and 8GB of memory from 2023's Pro models will trickle down to the standard models a year later.

Pu added that the A17 and A18 Bionic chips used in the ‌iPhone 16‌ lineup will be fabricated with TMSC's N3E process, its enhanced 3nm node. The A17 Bionic used in the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max is expected to be Apple's first chip manufactured with a ‌3nm‌ fabrication process, resulting in major performance and efficiency improvements over the 5nm technique used for the A14, A15, and A16 chips.

The A17 Bionic chip used in the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC's N3B process, but according to Pu, Apple will switch to N3E next year when the chip is used in the ‌iPhone 16‌ and ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus.

N3B is TSMC's original ‌‌3nm‌‌ node created in partnership with Apple. N3E, on the other hand, is the simpler, more accessible node that most other TSMC clients will use. N3E has fewer EUV layers and lower transistor density than N3B, resulting in efficiency tradeoffs, but the process can provide better performance. N3B has also been ready for mass production for some time longer than N3E, but it has much lower yield. N3B was effectively designed as a trial node and is not compatible with TSMC's successor processes including N3P, N3X, and N3S, meaning that Apple will need to redesign its future chips to take advantage of TSMC's advancements.

Interestingly, this mirrors a rumor shared on Weibo in June. The move was said to be a cost-cutting measure that could come at the expense of reduced efficiency. At the time, it was thought unlikely that Apple would make such a drastic change to the A17 Bionic. The A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 and ‌‌iPhone 14‌‌ Plus is a higher binned variant with one additional GPU core than the A15 used in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 and ‌‌iPhone‌ 13‌ mini, so some cross-generational differences despite outwardly featuring the same chip would not be unheard of, but this would be effectively retaining the same name on a fundamentally different chip.

Apple was originally believed to be planning to use the N3B for the A16 Bionic chip, but had to revert to N4 because it was not ready in time. It may be the case that Apple is using the N3B CPU and GPU core design originally designed for the A16 Bionic for the initial A17 chips, before switching to the original A17 designs with N3E later in 2024.