MacRumors

Apple has reportedly designed a new AI-based system that will summarize reviews in the App Store to highlight the most common customer feedback for users before they download an app.

According an unlisted App Store article seen by 9to5Mac, AI-generated summaries will appear on app product pages alongside existing elements like descriptions and screenshots. The summaries will be dynamically updated as new reviews are posted to ensure feedback remains current, similar to the feature Amazon recently adopted to summarize reams of customer reviews on its product listings.

According to Apple, apps will need to reach a certain threshold of reviews before becoming eligible for the feature, which will initially launch in select regions. Meanwhile, in an effort to maintain accuracy, developers will have the ability to report summaries they believe misrepresent their apps.

The feature appears to be part of Apple's broader push into AI-powered features, following the recent introduction of text and notification summarization capabilities in iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Apple hasn't announced when review summaries will go live, but their presence in the App Store API suggests a launch may be imminent.

Popular AI coding tool Copilot is now available for Xcode as part of a public preview, GitHub announced today. Apple developers can use Copilot for coding assistance directly in Xcode, which GitHub says will help developers boost productivity, speed up development, and enhance their overall coding experience.

GitHub Copilot for Xcode offers multiple useful features.

• Code completions with real-time code suggestions.
• Multi-language support, including Swift and Objective-C.
• Multiline suggestions for code.
• Content filtering to ensure all code recommendations adhere to professional standards.
• Option to block suggestions matching public code.

Xcode users who have a Copilot license can use Copilot for Xcode by installing the Copilot extension. As of right now, the feature is available in a preview capacity and GitHub is soliciting feedback from developers.

Copilot is priced starting at $10 per month or $100 per year.

The Memory Saver feature in the Chrome browser for desktop now features three different modes, including Standard, Balanced, and Advanced. Memory Saver is aimed at speeding up browser performance by limiting the memory that inactive tabs are using.

Standard mode deactivates tabs based on your computer's needs, while Balanced mode considers both browsing habits and the needs of the system. Advanced mode deactivates tabs more quickly after you stop using them. You can select a Memory Saver mode by going to the Settings menu in Chrome and choosing the Performance option.

Google has also added a Performance Detection tool to Chrome. The tool is able to identify potential performance issues that you might have, offering up solutions on how to fix the problem.

To speed up a tab you're using, for example, Google says Chrome will suggest deactivating tabs using extra resources. Chrome users will see a "Performance issue alert" notification, and clicking on the included "Fix now" option will improve browsing. Performance Detection can be disabled in Settings.

Chrome has additional performance controls that can be used to set websites that should always remain active, such as those that need to complete tasks in the background, plus there's an option to turn off visual indicators for inactive tabs.

In today's Mac mini announcement video, Apple showed off some new capabilities that are coming to the Final Cut Pro video editing software in the future.

Final Cut Pro will soon incorporate AI for generating captions for videos without having to use additional software. Current versions of Final Cut Pro allow you to import captions from another app, use a plug-in, or write them yourself, but soon the software will generate them natively.

The mention of the Final Cut Pro capability is at about 3:50 in the announcement video below.

Apple didn't highlight any other features coming to Final Cut Pro, but there was a short clip of the caption option that also suggests that a new "Magnetic Mask" function is coming, as well as a mention of AI effects.

The 2024 FCP Creative Summit is set to take place in November, and it's likely that we'll hear about new AI features coming to Final Cut Pro at the event.

Apple today released a new firmware update for all AirPods 4 models. The ‌AirPods 4‌ firmware has a build number of 7B19, up from the previous 7A304 firmware that came out in September.

There is no word yet on what's included in the new ‌AirPods 4‌ firmware, but it is available for both the standard ‌AirPods 4‌ and the ‌AirPods 4‌ with ANC. This is the second firmware update that the ‌AirPods 4‌ have received since they launched earlier this year.

Apple recently updated the AirPods Pro 2 to add Hearing Health capabilities like a hearing test, hearing protection, and hearing aid functionality. The ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 also run the 7B19 firmware, but hearing aid functionality will not be included in the ‌AirPods 4‌.

Apple doesn't have a way to manually upgrade AirPods software, but firmware is generally installed over-the-air when the AirPods are in a charging case and connected to an iOS device or Mac.

Apple today introduced a redesigned Mac mini with M4 and M4 Pro chip options, and the computer provides two clues about RAM amounts for the next 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, which are expected to be announced tomorrow.

First, just like the new iMac, the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip starts with 16GB of RAM, which is double the 8GB of RAM included in the equivalent previous-generation model. As has already been rumored and leaked, it now looks almost certain that the next base-model 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip will start with 16GB of RAM too. Given that a vocal contingent of Mac fans have long criticized Apple for including only 8GB of RAM with some Macs, the increased 16GB minimum would be a long-awaited change.

Second, all higher-end Mac mini configurations with the M4 Pro chip start with 24GB of RAM, and this upgrade will likely extend to the incoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M4 Pro chip. The current MacBook Pro models with the M3 Pro chip start with 18GB of RAM, so this would amount to a 6GB increase for the new models. The increased unified memory can benefit multitasking and Apple Intelligence performance.

Apple has yet to announce the M4 Max, so it is unclear how much RAM that chip will support.

All of this information will likely be confirmed in less than 24 hours.

With the launch of the M4 Mac mini, Apple says it has reached a milestone in its overarching environmental goal of total carbon neutrality by 2030. The Mac mini is Apple's first carbon neutral Mac to date, and it joins the carbon neutral Series 10 Apple Watch models.

The ‌Mac mini‌ is made from more than 50 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in its enclosure, 100 percent recycled gold plating in its circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.

Apple claims that the electricity that was used to manufacture the ‌Mac mini‌ is sourced from 100 percent renewable electricity, and the company says that its worldwide clean energy projects address 100 percent of the electricity that customers use to power their ‌Mac mini‌ devices.

Apple updated its shipping methods, and 50 percent of ‌Mac mini‌ computers by weight are shipped using non-air modes of transportation, like ocean freight, from the factory to their next destination. According to Apple, these changes have cut the carbon footprint of the Mac by more than 80 percent, and to make up the remaining emissions, Apple "applies high-quality carbon credits from nature based products" such as those from the Restore Fund. The Restore Fund uses funds from Apple and other companies to invest in carbon removal projects such as reforesting.

‌Mac mini‌ packaging is fiber based, which Apple says brings it closer to its goal of eliminating plastic from packaging by 2025.

Back in 2020, Apple announced that it was committing to being 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire supply chain by 2030, with net zero climate impact for every Apple product sold. Apple plans to reduce emissions by 75 percent compared with 2015, while using carbon removal solutions for the remaining 25 percent of its carbon footprint.

Apple's global corporate operations are already carbon neutral, and Apple has been making changes as it works toward hitting its 2030 goal.

With the M4 Pro chip, the Mac mini is able to support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI, an improvement over the previous M2 Pro model. The ‌M2‌ Pro version of the ‌Mac mini‌ also supported three displays, but it could run only two at 6K 60Hz resolution and one at 4K 60Hz resolution.

Apple's M4 Pro chip alternatively supports one display at 6K resolution over 60Hz and a second display at 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz.

The standard M4 chip that Apple has used in the ‌Mac mini‌ and the iMac so far is compatible with three displays total, though not three 6K displays. It can drive two displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI.

It is also able to power an 8K display at 60Hz or a 4K display at 240Hz alongside a 5K display with a 60Hz refresh rate.

With the M4 Pro chip, the ‌Mac mini‌ can power three of the Pro Display XDR or three of the Studio Display. With the M4 chip, the ‌Mac mini‌ can drive two Pro Display XDRs or three Studio Displays.

The M4 Pro version of the ‌Mac mini‌ is equipped with three Thunderbolt 5 ports, and it is the first Mac that offers Thunderbolt 5 compatibility. The M4 Mac mini has three Thunderbolt 4 ports instead, and both models have two USB-C ports at the front.

The Mac mini received a major update today, with Apple introducing a slimmed down design that shaves more than two inches off of the size so it takes up less space on a desktop or in a rack. Despite the size change, the ‌Mac mini‌ uses Apple's most powerful M-series chips, including the new M4 Pro.

Combining the smaller form factor and updated chips necessitated a redesigned thermal architecture. The foot of the ‌Mac mini‌ allows it to pull in air from the surrounding environment, and the air is able to circulate throughout before being vented back out through the bottom foot.

Apple says that air is guided to each level of the system, and that combined with the power efficiency of the M4 chips, the ‌Mac mini‌ can "breeze through intensive workloads at outrageous speeds."

The redesigned ‌Mac mini‌ measures in at five inches square and two inches tall. It's taller than the prior version, but it is 2.75 inches smaller. Rumors suggested that it could be as small as the Apple TV (which is 3.66 inches), but it ended up being a bit bigger than that.

The M4 Pro hasn't been benchmarked yet, but it has a 14-core CPU and up to a 20-core GPU, which is up to twice as powerful as the M4 GPU. 3D renders in Blender are up to 2.9x faster compared to the M2 Pro and motion graphics render up to 2x faster.

The M4 Pro version of the Mac mini that Apple introduced today uses the latest Thunderbolt 5 technology with transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s, which means Apple is selling a new Thunderbolt 5 cable to go along with it.

Priced at $69, the new 1 meter Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable supports Thunderbolt 5 data transfers at the maximum speed, but it is also backward compatible with Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, USB 4, and USB 3. The cable has a braided design for durability purposes, and it is black like prior Thunderbolt cables that Apple has offered.

Apple's new Thunderbolt 5 cable supports up to 240W charging, and it offers DisplayPort 2.1 video output. It is designed to connect displays and other devices to the new M4 Mac mini models and the upcoming MacBook Pro models that we expect to see introduced tomorrow.

The M4 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ supports Thunderbolt 5, which means M4 Pro and M4 Max versions of the ‌MacBook Pro‌ will as well, but it is compatible with all of Apple's USB-C devices. The cable is ideal for connecting the Studio Display, Pro Display XDR, Thunderbolt docks, and external drives.

The M4 Mac mini has an overhauled design that adds more ports in a slimmed down package, and to make everything fit, Apple needed a new place for the power button.

As it turns out, the power button for the device is located on the bottom, so as Mr. Macintosh pointed out, you'll need to tip the Mac mini up in order to turn it on (or off, using the physical button).

Apple has been criticized for questionable button and port placement with other devices such as the Magic Mouse, but accessing the power button is probably not something most people do often with a desktop machine. Macs don't often need to be turned off, and most people put them into a sleep mode rather than shutting them down on a regular basis.

The power button is located on the rear left of the ‌Mac mini‌ when looking at the front of the machine, below the three Thunderbolt ports.

Pricing on the ‌Mac mini‌ starts at $599, and it can be pre-ordered today. It will launch on Friday, November 8.

Apple dropped a surprise today with the announcement of the new redesigned Mac mini when it revealed that the M4 Pro model comes with three Thunderbolt 5 ports, making it the first Mac to support the next-generation connectivity standard.

The newest specification of Thunderbolt offers 80 Gb/s of bi-directional bandwidth, and with Bandwidth Boost it will provide up to 120 Gb/s, enabling triple the maximum bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 for an optimal display experience.

Given that the current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips only support the older protocol, you can almost consider it a given that Apple's upcoming MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max will support Thunderbolt 5.

Thunderbolt 5 is fully compatible with USB4, and supports advanced protocols such as PCIe 4.0, allowing faster data access speeds for storage devices and peripherals. In addition, the new standard features support for native DisplayPort 2.1 output over USB‑C. Thanks to Thunderbolt 5, the Mac mini with M4 Pro can also support up to three 6K external displays at 60Hz, so expect similar enhancements to come to the new high-end MacBook Pro models.

Apple is expected to announce the new M4 MacBook Pro models on Wednesday. The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro will be equipped with an M4 chip, while the higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch models will offer M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.

Oops! Eagle-eyed developer Charlie Joseph today discovered that Apple has leaked its upcoming high-end M4 Max chip through an image uploaded to its website. The discovery was shared with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman on social media.

It was already pretty obvious that Apple plans to announce new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips this week, after Apple promised multiple Mac-related announcements this week. Now, the M4 Max chip image reinforces that Apple is gearing up to announce the new laptops imminently. Apple will likely unveil the new MacBook Pro models with a press release and video on Wednesday.

Here is the image of the M4 Max icon, and an Apple.com link to it while it lasts:

With this leak, the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro leaking in Russia, and the new Mac mini leaking on Amazon, Apple has struggled to keep these M4 Mac announcements under wraps, which is pretty rare territory for the company.

This discovery comes after Apple announced the M4 Pro chip alongside the new Mac mini today. Key specifications of the M4 Pro chip include up to a 14-core CPU, up to a 20-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, support for up to 64GB of RAM, support for Thunderbolt 5, and an increased 273GB/s of memory bandwidth. For the M4 Pro chip with a 14-core CPU, there are 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores. M4 Max specifications have not leaked, but it will obviously take performance to an even higher level than the M4 Pro chip.

Apple is expected to announce a base 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.

No major external design changes have been rumored for the MacBook Pro lineup this year, with more significant improvements such as an OLED display and thinner design not expected until 2026 at the earliest. However, the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro is expected to gain an additional Thunderbolt port compared to the current model, based on alleged leaks earlier this month. Those same leaks revealed that the MacBook Pro lineup might finally start with 16GB of RAM, instead of 8GB. We've already seen this trend with the new iMac and Mac mini, which both have a minimum of 16GB of RAM for all configurations.

Based on the Mac mini with the M4 Pro chip, it seems pretty likely that MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips will also support Thunderbolt 5 for up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds, but this is not officially confirmed yet.

Apple last redesigned the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2021, and the latest models with the M3 family of chips were released last October.

Apple today shared a 12-minute announcement video on YouTube for the new Mac mini, providing an overview of the computer's new features and changes, including a smaller design, two front-facing USB-C ports, M4 and M4 Pro chip options, Thunderbolt 5 support for higher-end configurations with the M4 Pro chip, and more.

For more details about the new Mac mini, read our coverage of Apple's announcement.

The new Mac mini is available to pre-order today, with U.S. pricing starting at $599, and it launches on Friday, November 8.

Be sure to check out Apple's video announcement for the new iMac too if you missed it yesterday.

Apple's new redesigned Mac mini with M4 Pro chip features three Thunderbolt 5 ports, the newest specification of Thunderbolt that offers speeds of up to 120 Gb/s with Bandwidth Boost, which is triple the maximum bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4.

The new standard also features support for native DisplayPort 2.1 output over USB‑C. Thunderbolt 5 is fully compatible with USB4, and supports advanced protocols such as PCIe 4.0, allowing faster data access speeds for storage devices and peripherals.

In contrast, the new Mac mini with M4 chip includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Front ports on both models include two USB-C ports that support USB 3, and an audio jack with support for high-impedance headphones.

Both models also come standard with Gigabit Ethernet, configurable up to 10Gb Ethernet for faster networking speeds, and an HDMI port for easy connection to a TV or HDMI display without an adapter. With M4, Mac mini can support up to two 6K displays and up to one 5K display, and with M4 Pro, it can support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz for a total of over 60 million pixels.

The new Mac mini with M4 starts with 16GB of memory for $599, while the M4 Pro models start with 24GB for $1,399. The new models are available to pre-order today with launch day arriving on Friday, November 8.

Apple today unveiled the M4 Pro chip, with key specifications including up to a 14-core CPU, up to a 20-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, and support for up to 64GB of RAM. For the 14-core CPU, there are 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores.

The previous-generation M3 Pro chip has up to a 12-core CPU and up to an 18-core GPU.

Apple says the M4 Pro chip features "the world's fastest CPU core" with "lightning-fast single-threaded performance." It also advertises the M4 Pro chip's graphics performance as being up to twice as fast as the standard M4 chip.

Apple has not provided any direct comparisons between the M4 Pro and M3 Pro chips, so we will have to wait for benchmark results for that. However, in its Mac mini video announcement, Apple says the M4 Pro chip's multi-core CPU performance is up to 1.6x faster than the M2 Pro chip and up to 1.9x faster than the M1 Pro chip.

Other specifications for the M4 Pro chip include Thunderbolt 5 support with up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds, and an increased 273GB/s of memory bandwidth. That is a 75% increase in memory bandwidth compared to the M3 Pro chip.

The first Mac equipped with the M4 Pro chip is the new Mac mini, also announced today. Apple is also expected to introduce updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chip options later this week.

Apple today announced fully redesigned Mac mini models featuring the M4 and M4 Pro chips, a considerably smaller casing, two front-facing USB-C ports, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, and more.

The product refresh marks the first time the ‌Mac mini‌ has been redesigned in over a decade. The enclosure now measures just five by five inches and contains a new thermal architecture where air is guided up through the device's foot to different levels of the system.

The new ‌Mac mini‌ can be configured with either the M4 or M4 Pro chip, with the latter allowing for a 14-core CPU, a 20-core GPU, and up to 64GB of memory. The ‌Mac mini‌ with the M4 chip features a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and now starts with 16GB of unified memory as standard. The M4 Pro features 273GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Apple says that the M4 Mac mini is up to 1.8x faster in CPU performance and 2.2x faster in GPU performance than the M1 model from 2020. With up to 20 cores, the M4 Pro's GPU is said to be up to twice as powerful as the GPU in the standard M4. Both chips bring hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the ‌Mac mini‌ for the first time, alongside a considerably more powerful Neural Engine.

The M4 Pro model offers two USB-C ports on the front and three Thunderbolt 5 ports on the back. This is the first time a Mac has featured Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, which delivers up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds—more than doubling the throughput of Thunderbolt 4. The M4 model continues to have Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The new machine is also Apple's first carbon-neutral Mac. The M4 and M4 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ is available to pre-order today with a starting price of $599, with launch set to take place on November 8.

Amazon today has a big selection of discounts on Apple's M2 iPad Air, with savings of about $100 across nearly every model. Only Amazon is offering these deals right now, and you'll find early November delivery dates for most of the tablets.

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.

Below we've collected every Wi-Fi model of the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models on sale. In most cases, you'll find all four colors on sale for every model. There are some cellular devices being marked down as well on Amazon this week, with the same $100 discounts.

11-inch iPad Air

• 128GB Wi-Fi - $498.00 ($101 off)
• 256GB Wi-Fi - $599.00 ($100 off)
• 512GB Wi-Fi - $797.00 ($102 off)
• 1TB Wi-Fi - $998.00 ($101 off)

13-inch iPad Air

• 128GB Wi-Fi - $698.00 ($101 off)
• 256GB Wi-Fi - $797.00 ($102 off)
• 512GB Wi-Fi - $999.00 ($100 off)
• 1TB Wi-Fi - $1,197.00 ($102 off)

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

Deals Newsletter

Interested in hearing more about top deals as we head into the holidays? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!