Apple's extended return policy went into effect today for the 2026 holiday shopping season. The policy applies to most products sold by Apple online and in its stores, with a few exceptions, including some carrier-financed iPhones and iPads.
In the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and many other countries, most products purchased between November 6 and December 25 of this year may be returned through January 8, 2027, according to Apple's website. All purchases made after December 25 in those countries are subject to Apple's standard 14-day return policy (15 days in Canada).
In some countries, such as Mexico, Italy, Spain, and Japan, the return window is slightly longer. Apple says eligible products purchased in those countries between November 6 and January 6, 2027 may be returned through January 20, 2027.
Apple has also updated its online store with holiday theming and gift recommendations.
Apple today released Apple Music Classical version 4.1, with a new black-and-white app icon and an updated interface.
The redesigned icon retains the app's treble clef, but now rendered in shaded black against a white background. The change brings Apple Music Classical in line with Apple Music's new visual identity, which Apple introduced last month, replacing its familiar red branding with a monochrome appearance.
The new version of the app also features blue accents for selected tabs, playback buttons, and links, instead of the previous red ones. Apple has not detailed the visual changes in its release notes, which state only that the update contains "stability and performance enhancements."
Apple Music Classical is included with Apple Music subscriptions at no additional cost. The app offers search tailored to classical recordings, composer biographies, album booklets, time-synced listening guides, and curated stations.
From today, Apple's new iPad mini with an OLED display, M6 iMac, and its latest MacBook Pro models are available to buy from Apple's online store and in the Apple Store app, with the first pre-orders also arriving to customers today and both devices reaching Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers.
OLED iPad Mini
The eighth-generation iPad mini is Apple's smallest tablet with an OLED display. The 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display offers up to 1,200 nits of peak brightness, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 1-nit minimum brightness, with a nano-texture glass option on 256GB and 512GB models for the first time.
The device is powered by Apple's A20 Pro chip and the N1 wireless chip, enabling Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. At 5.4mm thin and 255 grams, it's the lightest iPad Apple has made. It's also the first iPad with an IP67 water and dust resistance rating, aided by a new Acoustic Display that produces sound through the screen itself, so there are no speaker holes in the enclosure.
A 12MP Center Stage front camera is now located on the landscape side for video calls, and the device supports Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C). The display is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate with no ProMotion, which has been the main point of criticism in early reviews.
In the United States, the new iPad mini starts at $699 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model. The 256GB and 512GB configurations are priced at $799 and $999, with nano-texture glass adding $100 on those models, while Wi-Fi + Cellular models start at $849. Education pricing starts at $649.
M6 iMac
Meanwhile, the new iMac is the first update to Apple's all-in-one since the M4 model. The M6 chip brings up to a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, with Apple claiming up to 2x faster graphics than the previous generation, alongside Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and an optional 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port on the power adapter.
The iMac with M6 starts at $1,499 for the model with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, while the version with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU starts at $1,699. Education pricing starts at $1,449.
Latest MacBook Pro Models
Also launching today are the new MacBook Pro models. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 starts at $1,999 and features a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, alongside Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via Apple's N1 wireless chip.
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with touchscreen PROLED XDR displays are also available, starting at $2,899 and $3,399, respectively. Powered by M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, the touchscreen models replace the notch with a Dynamic Island and offer up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness for both SDR and HDR content.
Apple's online checkout system indicates many configurations of the 14-inch and 16-inch touchscreen MacBook Pro models in Space Black and Silver currently ship in 2-3 weeks, so anyone who wants one as soon as possible is likely to have more luck visiting their local Apple Store, where at least some base configurations are typically in stock.
Apple is sending email surveys to some iPhone Duo buyers to get feedback on display size, crease, under-display camera, and other features.
The first question asks why the buyer chose the iPhone Duo now, with answers like "I wanted to try Apple's first foldable," "It was an impulse purchase," and "I expect smartphone prices to increase."
Other questions ask about the size of the iPhone Duo's display when it's closed, how visible the crease is, whether the under-display camera is distracting, and the camera's image quality. The final question is open-ended and asks what the buyer would add or change about the iPhone Duo.
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It's been about two weeks since the iPhone Duo launched, and it's not too unusual for Apple to conduct surveys following a new product's debut.
Some of the questions are about iPhone Duo compromises compared to standard iPhone models. The Duo's outer display is 5.4 inches, making it about the same size as the discontinued iPhone mini line. The inner display's under-screen camera is limited to 4MP, and it was one of the main complaints in reviews.
The survey does not ask about Touch ID, the experience of using unoptimized apps, or the display cracks some users have reported, all of which are also top Duo complaints,
It's Friday, November 6 in Australia and New Zealand, which means customers who preordered a PROLED touchscreen MacBook Pro, OLEDiPad mini, M6 MacBook Pro, or M6 iMac are now starting to receive their devices.
People will soon be sharing photos and first impressions of the new products on the MacRumors forums, Reddit, Instagram, and other platforms, giving us a first look at what real-world users think of the OLED upgrade for the iPad mini and the PROLED and touchscreen update for the MacBook Pro.
Apple's new high-end MacBook Pro models come with M5 Pro or M5 Max, and the major change is the display. It's touch-enabled and is the first Mac with an OLED display. The design has been updated, so the new machines are thinner and lighter than the mini-LED models, which Apple is still selling. Apple also brought back the glowing Apple logo, and replaced the notch with a Dynamic Island. Pricing on the PROLED MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch model.
The OLED iPad mini is Apple's first smaller-screened iPad to get OLED, and it's also the most affordable OLED iPad. It's almost a millimeter thinner than the prior version and has an Acoustic Display that does away with speaker holes. Without them, the enclosure is sealed, making it the first iPad with a water and dust resistance rating (IP67). It uses Apple's A20 Pro chip. The OLED iPad mini starts at $699.
The 14-inch entry-level MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac got little in the way of updates beyond an M6 chip. The MacBook Pro is priced starting at $1,999, and the iMac starts at $1,499.
Australia is the first country where customers can buy one of the new products in an Apple retail location. Online orders of the PROLED MacBook Pro don't ship until late November or early December, so it's possible in-store stock will be limited. The OLED iPad mini, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and iMac should be readily available.
After Australia and New Zealand, sales and deliveries of the new Macs and iPad mini will begin in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and finally, North America.
Anthropic today added Personal Finance to Claude, allowing users to connect their bank and card accounts for analysis.
Claude has read-only access to accounts, and there is no option for it to move, manage, or invest money. Anthropic says Claude gives answers in everyday language and can explain unfamiliar financial terms.
The feature can track spending across categories, upcoming bills, and out-of-the-ordinary purchases. It can look for unexpected fees, increasing bills, and subscriptions, plus it can create charts, calendars, and dashboards.
Financial accounts are connected to Claude through the Plaid service, so Claude does not see bank passwords. Claude has access to the bank name, account name and type, balances and credit limits, and up to two years of transactions for bank accounts. Personal Finance chats are not used for model training and are not added to Claude's shared memory.
OpenAI added a similar finance feature to ChatGPT back in May.
Personal Finance is rolling out in beta on the Pro, Max, and Ultra plans in the United States.
Apple today added several new games to Apple Arcade, including Crossy Road Rush, NBA 2K27 Arcade Edition, Kami 2+, and Food Stylist - Design Game+.
Crossy Road Rush is the latest game in the popular Crossy Road series. Players will make their way across an island obstacle course and unlock fun characters. The game supports up to four players in local or online multiplayer, as well as solo play.
NBA 2K27 adds the WNBA, which is a first for the Arcade Edition. The game has all 15 WNBA teams and 180 active players, though they're limited to Quick Match and Blacktop modes. The new edition also has faster, deeper progression for the MyCAREER journey and a refreshed Neighborhood.
Kami 2+ is a puzzle game where players fold colorful paper patterns, and Food Stylist lets players create virtual dishes and tablescapes inspired by cuisines around the world.
Apple Arcade is Apple's subscription gaming service, priced at $6.99 per month. Up to six family members can share a subscription, and there are no ads or in-app purchases.
MacRumors has confirmed that the A18 chip in Apple's new HomeView smart home hub is paired with 8GB of RAM. This is not very surprising given the A18 chip also has 8GB of RAM in all iPhone 16 models and the MacBook Neo, but Apple does not list this information in the HomeView's tech specs, so it is worth documenting.
Apple refreshed both the iPad mini and iPad Air this year, but the choice is now less straightforward and there is just a $50 price difference between them, so which should you choose?
The eighth-generation iPad Air arrived in March with the M4 chip, 12GB of unified memory, Apple's N1 wireless chip, and the C1X modem on cellular models. It remains available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes. Following Apple's June price increases, the two size options now start at $749 and $949, respectively.
In October, Apple announced the eighth-generation iPad mini, introducing a larger 8.5-inch display with OLED technology, a thinner and lighter design, the A20 chip, an optional nano-texture finish, a landscape front camera, and more. The changes give Apple's smallest tablet several advantages over the iPad Air, even as the Air retains a larger screen and support for Apple's Magic Keyboard.
Both devices offer Touch ID in the top button, Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) support, Apple Pencil hover, landscape 12MP Center Stage front cameras with ƒ/2.0 apertures, Apple's N1 wireless chip, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread networking technology, and USB-C ports with transfer speeds of up to 10Gb/s. The new iPad mini also features 12GB of unified memory, matching the Air. Advertised battery life is the same, with up to 10 hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi or watching video, or up to nine hours of web browsing over cellular. Despite the iPad mini's move to OLED, neither model offers ProMotion.
Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPads is best for you.
Acoustic Display audio system with display-coupled woofers and concealed tweeters
Landscape stereo speakers
IP67 water and dust resistance, rated for a maximum depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes
Adaptive True Tone rear flash
Apple C2 modem (cellular models)
Apple C1X modem (cellular models)
U.S. cellular model (A3596) supports LTE band 106
U.S. cellular models (A3460) and (A3462) do not support LTE band 106
UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ cellular support
UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA cellular support
Supports one external display at up to 4K resolution at 60Hz, with extended external display mode
Supports one external display at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, with extended external display mode
Compatible with Bluetooth keyboards
Smart Connector for compatible keyboard accessories, including Apple's Magic Keyboard
18.9Wh battery
11-inch: 28.93Wh battery 13-inch: 36.59Wh battery
Fast charging up to 50% in around 30 minutes with a 35W or higher USB-C power adapter
128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage
128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage
Available in Midnight and Starlight
Available in Space Gray, Starlight, Purple, and Blue
Starts at $699 (Wi-Fi) or $849 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
11-inch: Starts at $749 (Wi-Fi) or $899 (Wi-Fi + Cellular) 13-inch: Starts at $949 (Wi-Fi) or $1,099 (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
Beyond their features, the physical differences between the two devices are substantial. The iPad mini is thinner and weighs almost half as much as the 11-inch iPad Air, making it easier to hold for extended periods and carry in a small bag. The iPad Air's larger dimensions accommodate a more spacious display, but even the smaller model represents a noticeable step up in size and weight:
iPad mini
11-inch iPad Air
13-inch iPad Air
Height
7.69 inches (195.3 mm)
9.74 inches (247.6 mm)
11.04 inches (280.6 mm)
Width
5.22 inches (132.6 mm)
7.02 inches (178.5 mm)
8.46 inches (214.9 mm)
Thickness
0.21 inch (5.4 mm)
0.24 inch (6.1 mm)
0.24 inch (6.1 mm)
Weight (Wi-Fi)
0.56 pound (255 grams)
1.02 pounds (464 grams)
1.36 pounds (616 grams)
Weight (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
0.58 pound (263 grams)
1.03 pounds (465 grams)
1.36 pounds (617 grams)
The latest iPad mini changes the balance between these two devices. The iPad Air retains the core design introduced in 2020, while the iPad mini has just received a substantial redesign with an OLED display, a thinner and lighter enclosure, and several features unavailable on the Air. With the mini also costing $50 less, the current iPad Air is harder to recommend unless you specifically need its larger workspace and keyboard support and cannot wait for its successor.
For most buyers looking for a handheld tablet to complement a laptop or desktop computer, the iPad mini is now the more compelling choice. Its portability advantage is substantial: the Wi-Fi model weighs 255 grams, compared with 464 grams for the 11-inch Air, and its smaller footprint makes it much easier to hold and carry. Combined with its OLED display, water and dust resistance, and fast charging, this makes it particularly well suited to reading, watching videos, playing handheld games, and taking notes on the go.
The iPad Air remains the better choice for productivity. Even the 11-inch model provides considerably more screen space for documents, drawing, and working across multiple apps. Support for Apple's Magic Keyboard makes the iPad Air a much more practical potential laptop replacement. The iPad mini has ample processing power for many of the same tasks and supports Bluetooth keyboards, but its smaller display and lack of an equivalent integrated keyboard accessory make it less suitable as a productivity device.
These are meaningful reasons to choose the iPad Air if you need a tablet immediately. The 11-inch model's $50 premium buys a larger workspace and keyboard support, although the Magic Keyboard costs extra and whether the combination can replace your laptop depends on your apps and workflows being supported by iPadOS. Its older design does not diminish that clear utility, but buying one now means accepting an LCD display and missing several of the iPad mini's newer features.
The 13-inch iPad Air provides the clearest distinction from the iPad mini, with substantially more room for side-by-side documents, drawing, and multitasking. Its $250 premium over the base iPad mini is worth considering if you regularly need that added display area, although its larger dimensions and weight make it much less convenient for handheld use. The 11-inch Air offers a more portable balance for switching between tablet and keyboard use, but neither approaches the iPad mini's ease of carrying and holding.
For prospective iPad Air buyers who do not need a new device immediately, we recommend waiting. A new iPad Air with an OLED display is expected in the first half of 2027. This would address one of the current iPad Air's most significant disadvantages compared with the iPad mini, likely along with other new features to bring it up to par. With the iPad mini newly refreshed and a consequential iPad Air update expected in the not-too-distant future, postponing a nonessential iPad Air purchase is the more sensible choice.
Apple today seeded the first betas of iOS 27.3, iPadOS 27.3, macOS Golden Gate 27.3, tvOS 27.3, and watchOS 27.3. The new software comes two days after Apple released the betas for developers.
iOS 27.3 is a major update that adds a Vertical Tabs layout option and Adaptive Dark Mode for Safari. Siri AI can do more in and across Apple's apps, and developers are now able to create actions for Siri to carry out.
The redesigned Health app is now available with custom Insights and Longevity information, and the iPhone Duo supports Reachability. There's a new Selfie Sing feature in Apple Music, plus changes to StandBy on non-Duo iPhones. A full list of what's new in the beta can be found in our guide.
On the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, Audio Intelligence features Live Rewind and Siri Recap are available for testing. Live Rewind creates a transcript of the last 15 seconds of speech, and Siri Recap offers a high-level summary of conversations throughout the day.
macOS Golden Gate 27.3 has the same Safari features, and it brings Live Activities to Macs without a Dynamic Island.
To get the new betas, you can sign up on Apple's beta testing website. After you're signed up, the betas can be installed through the Software Update section in the Settings app on each device.
We're expecting all of Apple's updates to launch in December.
On an earnings call earlier this week, Apple CEO John Ternus announced that the company sold more Macs in its 2026 fiscal year than any previous fiscal year. "We have never sold more Macs in a fiscal year than we did this time, which is a truly remarkable testament to these incredible products," he said.
This record is all the more impressive given that several Mac models have faced supply constraints this year. Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh said Mac sales have been driven by the popularity of the MacBook Neo and MacBook Pro lately.
According to Apple's full release notes for version 13.0 of Logic Pro for Mac, released today, the new AI-powered Intelligent Assistant feature requires an Apple Creator Studio subscription for $12.99 per month or $129 per year. In other words, the feature is not available in the $199.99 one-time purchase version of Logic Pro.
The intelligent assistant (beta) requires an Apple Creator Studio subscription, a Mac with Apple silicon, and macOS 27 or later.
Indeed, the release notes for the one-time purchase version of Logic Pro for Mac version 13.0 do not mention Intelligent Assistant.
The subscription requirement was not mentioned in Apple's announcement last month:
The assistant (beta) in Logic Pro for Mac requires macOS 27 Golden Gate or later on an Apple Intelligence-capable Mac and is available in U.S. English only.
Apple customers who are growing tired of features being locked behind a subscription will obviously be disappointed to learn this news.
Logic Pro's Intelligent Assistant likely requires a Creator Studio subscription because it uses cloud AI models. In a support document, Apple said the feature will have monthly usage limits, with expanded usage available for a fee.
Apple says the Intelligent Assistant is powered by a combination of Apple-built and third-party AI models. The feature is designed to help creators "navigate production workflows, start a new song, set up a vocal track from a single prompt, or refine an active project." Except for creators who opted to pay $199.99 upfront for Logic Pro, that is.
Instagram today expanded its Edits video editing app to the Mac. Edits for Mac is intended for larger projects that benefit from a big screen and the control of a mouse and keyboard.
The app includes Instagram's licensed and royalty-free audio libraries, sound and video effects, and unlimited automatic captions.
Edits for Mac has a full multi-track timeline, keyframes for dynamic transitions, and precise audio waveforms for accurate cuts. There is an option to import LUTs or font files, along with support for Model Context Protocol so AI agents can use the app. The Edits team says splitting, cutting, and trimming are easier.
Videos created with the app can be published directly to Instagram or downloaded to share on other platforms. Multiple horizontal and vertical aspect ratios are included, and Edits offers 4K watermark-free export.
In iOS 27.2, Apple has a new settings menu that lets you choose which apps Siri, Search, and suggestions can access, all from one list. Here's what's changed and how to use the new menu.
With iOS 27.2, Apple has replaced the old App Access controls with a redesigned Excluded Apps feature that makes it a lot simpler to keep specific apps away from Siri, Search, and suggestions.
It's actually a bigger change than it might sound. Previously, excluding an app in iOS meant opening Settings ➝ Apple Intelligence & Siri ➝ Apps and adjusting each app's toggles individually. This included a switch that let Siri "Learn from this App," and several suggestion options that appeared in Search and widgets.
What was confusing is that some of these switches controlled on-device personalization, rather than access to an app's contents. Moreover, fully keeping an app's content out of search results also required toggling off a separate "Show Content in Search" switch that was buried in each app menu in Settings ➝ Apps.
Thankfully, in iOS 27.2, Excluded Apps consolidates all of this into a single multi-select list, where you can add an app once and make it unavailable to Siri, Search, and suggestions. Here's where to find it.
How to Exclude Apps From Siri and Search
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap Siri.
Tap Excluded Apps.
Tap Add Apps, select the apps you want to exclude, then confirm your selection.
Bear in mind that excluding an app can disable some Siri features for it. For example, the Electronic Freedom Foundation found that excluding Messages stops Siri AI from reading or replying to messages. Also, onscreen awareness – where you invoke Siri and ask it for information about what you're currently looking at – will no longer work in any app you exclude.
Let an App Back Into Siri and Search
To return individual app access to Siri and Search, simply tap the Edit button in the Excluded Apps menu, then tap the minus button next to the app in question and hit the checkmark at the top to confirm.
Cellular carriers have always offered big savings on the newest iPhone models during the holidays, and Black Friday 2026 sales have kicked off at AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as Best Buy. Right now we're tracking notable offers on the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Duo. For even more savings, keep an eye on older models during the holiday shopping season.
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.
If you're looking for something other than iPhones, be sure to visit our Black Friday Roundup for all of the best deals and discounts happening this season. For more Apple-specific devices currently on sale, our main post on the best Apple Black Friday deals is the best place to look.
iPhone Duo: Up to $1,200 off with eligible trade-in
Apple Watch SE 3: No cost (up to $300) when adding a watch line on a qualifying plan, or get $250 off any Apple Watch when picking up another Apple Watch
T-Mobile is offering the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max for up to $1,200 off when you trade in an old device (in any condition) and purchase the new device on an eligible unlimited plan. You can also get this offer if you switch a line to Experience Beyond 2.0, Experience Beyond, or Go5G Next.
For anyone shopping for the iPhone Duo, you can get up to $1,200 off the iPhone Duo with any condition trade-in on an Experience Beyond plan. This discount will appear in the form of bill credits over the course of 36 months.
Similarly, if you're on the Experience More or Experience Beyond plan, you can get up to $830 off with a trade-in, and up to $730 off with a new line on most other plans. All of these offers have the same payout schedule over the course of 36 months.
iPhone Duo: Up to $1,200 off with eligible trade-in
Over at AT&T, you can get the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max for up to $1,200 off with an iPhone trade-in in any condition. You'll need to upgrade with AT&T Next Up Anytime or switch to get this offer.
Additionally, new and existing customers can get up to $1,200 off the iPhone Duo with an eligible trade-in. If you're switching to AT&T, the carrier will give you up to $800 to pay off your current device balance, and you can save $200 per line when ordering the smartphone online.
In regards to the main offer of up to $1,200 off the iPhone Duo, AT&T says this requires an eligible trade-in of $230 or more, alongside activation of a new line or upgrading an existing line. You'll get this credit over the course of 36 months on your AT&T bill.
You can find the breakdown of each plan tier from AT&T below, and remember that they each require a trade-in as well.
Up to $1,200 off iPhone Duo: requires AT&T Premium 2.0 plan or higher / trade-in value of $230 or more
Up to $930 off iPhone Duo: requires AT&T Extra 2.0 plan or higher / trade-in value of $130 or more
Up to $500 off iPhone Duo: requires Value 2.0 plan / trade-in value of $130 or more
Up to $350 off iPhone Duo: requires any eligible unlimited plan / trade-in value of $35-$129
If you switch to AT&T from a different carrier, AT&T will pay off your phone balance at up to $800 off per line. With the $1,200 offer, AT&T is offering the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro at no cost.
iPhone Duo: Up to $1,200 off with qualified activation and trade-in
Carriers aren't the only place you can save on iPhones this year, with Best Buy offering the same discounts as AT&T and T-Mobile with activation through these carriers at the time of purchase. This is a great option for anyone who shops at Best Buy a lot and likes to rack up member reward points.
Similar to the carriers, you can get the iPhone 18 Pro models and iPhone Duo for up to $1,200 off with qualified activation on cellular plans and a trade-in of an older device. Best Buy supports activation through AT&T and Verizon.
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 during the holidays? You can sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
One of the key new features is a touchscreen. Is it worth it, though? Here's what reviews say.
The Verge's David Pierce said that, in his testing so far, touch input has not been something that "meaningfully changes the laptop experience." He recommends the new MacBook Pro models regardless for the OLED display and other upgrades.
Pierce did mention some examples where touch proved useful:
That's not to say the touchscreen doesn't come in handy, though. It does more often than I expected. When I'm editing photos, reaching out and spreading my fingers to zoom in on the section I want to see is vastly easier than clicking and dragging with the trackpad. When I'm watching a movie, I can just tap the video rather than wiggling the mouse to find the cursor. My favorite touch use so far has been when I'm showing somebody something on my computer — now we can both swipe between options or tap to make an edit rather than having to crowd around the trackpad.
He also pointed out a few limitations:
There's no onscreen keyboard that appears when you tap a text box; you don't get the copy / paste / select all pop-up when you tap on words. No radius of tools appears when you tap the Apple Pencil on the screen in Procreate, because, oh wait, the Apple Pencil doesn't work at all.
The touchscreen is occasionally useful. It's not the end-all-be-all. But it sure is handy.
If you're one to use the iPhone mirroring feature on MacBook Pro, the touchscreen makes it more intuitive. Instead of having to click on the bottom bar to minimize an app, you can simply swipe up from the bottom of the mirrored iPhone, like normal. Using the touchscreen on the mirrored iPhone isn't as snappy as the real deal. It's obvious though that Apple has been working towards this touchscreen design for a while, as more and more macOS features start to make better sense with the touchscreen in tow.
WIRED's Luke Larsen often forgot about the touchscreen, but he too pointed out a few examples where it proved to be useful in his testing:
In the time I've had with the touchscreen MacBook Pro so far, I tried to remind myself of its new powers. But when I'm deep in work, I completely forget the touchscreen. It just has no place in my workflows. That doesn't mean it's not ever useful, though. Sometimes, swiping away a notification with a finger feels intuitive. Or if you're lounging on the couch and use your thumb to scroll through your Instagram feed as you would on an iPad, it works. But those times are few and far between. I'm certainly not going to be poking three fingers up at the screen to swipe between Spaces when I could do that on a trackpad without even lifting my hand.
With an OLED display, the new MacBook Pro models deliver more vivid colors and increased contrast ratio compared to the previous models with mini-LED displays. The laptops also achieve up to 2,000 nits of brightness for HDR content. OLED displays do not have a backlight, and individual pixels turn off completely for the color black.
The new MacBook Pro's dual-layer tandem OLED panel is genuinely striking and can get noticeably brighter than LCD models. Since each pixel is individually controlled and can fully shut off for dark content, this screen provides meaningfully superior contrast compared with the Mini LED models, which were already impressive in their own right. Any concerns I had about display uniformity, which can be an issue with some OLED devices, quickly vanished once I began using the machine. From corner to corner, the 16.3-inch panel is punchy, vibrant and can display an even wider range of colors than before — a win for photographers.
This laptop absolutely slaps, and the incredible PROLED XDR display is the headline. It's stunning.
His expanded thoughts:
I'm not going to waste time explaining exactly how tandem OLED technology works; instead, you'll have to trust me that it means a brighter display that lasts longer. The blacks on the display are deep, the colors pop, and the shadows and highlights provide incredibly detailed contrast.
Other display-related upgrades include a Dynamic Island instead of a notch, slimmer bezels, and a redesigned hinge with improved stability.
Spotlight and Siri AI are now animated as emerging from the black blob that is the Dynamic Island. Now Playing appears up there, too, and you can click or tap on the Dynamic Island to expand it and get playback controls. Shared Live Activities from your paired iPhone should also appear up there, rather than in the menu bar itself, as they do on other Macs.
I'm a big fan of subtle, ambient information presentations that inform you about things happening on your devices. That's why the Dynamic Island was such a fun approach to turning a problem (an unsightly camera cut-out) into a useful feature. The notch never really did anything—it was just a dead zone. The Dynamic Island serves a purpose and the MacBook Pro is better for it.
The new MacBook Pro models also feature improved speakers, a new 16TB storage option, a redesigned cooling system, and a lighter and slightly thinner design. And there is a fun bonus: the glowing Apple logo on the lid has returned.
Apple said the improved speakers deliver 50% deeper bass, but Bloomberg's Chris Welch actually found this upgrade can be "detrimental":
[...] The revamped MacBook Pro has left me with mixed feelings in one area that I wasn't expecting: sound. Since the first 16-inch model debuted in 2019, it's offered fantastic, well-balanced audio with a surprising degree of immersion. These are widely considered the best speakers on any laptop. For the new PROLED series, Apple has introduced a redesigned six-speaker system that it says offers 50% deeper bass. And that's true — to a point where it's sometimes detrimental.
The added low-end impact makes these laptops tremendous entertainment machines for movies and TV shows, but when listening to music or podcasts or even watching YouTube videos, the sound is often too boomy and bass-forward. The balance has been thrown off, and there's also no easy way of dialing back deeper tones.
You notice the lighter weight of the new MacBook Pro immediately when you pick it up. My review unit is the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and I'm genuinely surprised at how nice it feels. It's not light, but it feels less like a tank.
I've always used the smaller of the two MacBook Pro models for portability, most recently a 14-inch M4 Pro. The weight of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro has me reconsidering that preference, though. It feels remarkably nice for a laptop with such a large display, and I've really enjoyed having the extra screen space without feeling like I'm sacrificing too much portability.
Who doesn't love the glowing Apple logo? As we previously highlighted, the logo's brightness level is tied to the display's brightness level, and Miller revealed that the feature also takes ambient brightness into consideration:
The logo's brightness is still tied to the display brightness, just like it was a decade ago. The higher your display brightness, the brighter the Apple logo on the back. It also factors in your environment's ambient brightness.
When the MacBook Pro is closed, the logo looks like polished metal, just like it has since the 2016 redesign. Open it up, and it glows. It's unnecessary, but I'm so thrilled it's back.
The laptops use the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that remain available in the MacBook Pro models with mini-LED displays, so performance is similar.
In the U.S., the 14-inch model starts at $2,899 and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399.
Earlier this week we highlighted some of the best early Black Friday Apple deals, and today we're focusing on third-party accessory markdowns available to purchase right now on Amazon. In this article you'll find all the best accessories for charging, smart homes, smartphones, and more.
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.
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 today began rolling out the Creator Studio app updates that it announced last month. Both the Creator Studio version and standalone version of Logic Pro for the Mac were updated today, and the remaining app updates will come out later in November.
Logic Pro for Mac has received a new Liquid Glass design, an AI-powered Intelligent Assistant feature that can help you build beats using natural language, a redesigned browser that centralizes things from loops and instruments to patches and plug-in presets, an enhanced Stem Splitter that now separates drums, and more.
Sidecar support will turn an iPad into a multi-touch controller for Logic Pro on the Mac.
Apple says Intelligent Assistant requires a Creator Studio subscription, so that feature will not be available in the one-time purchase version.
Here are the Logic Pro version 13.0 release notes for the one-time purchase version, which costs $199.99:
Version 13.0 - Unified Browser
• Find the perfect sound faster with a redesigned browser that brings your entire library into one place — loops, one-shots, instrument and effect patches, and plug-in presets
• Add your own custom or third-party sound to the browser and Logic Pro uses music understanding to analyze and classify them, applying tags that make even massive sample libraries easily searchable
• Narrow results with dynamic tag filtering, or describe what you're looking for in plain terms like "atmospheric pad" or "lo-fi kick"
• Find similar sounds or samples across your entire collection with ease
• Browse your licensed Splice sounds alongside the rest of your library
• Add any folder on your Mac as a Browser location for instant access to your personal collection
Enhanced Stem Splitter
• Break the drum stem into individual tracks — kick, snare, hi-hat, toms, cymbals, and other percussion
• Rebalance your entire drum mix without ever needing the original multitracks
All-New Liquid Glass Design
• Bring clarity to your workflow with translucent surfaces and deeper contrast — menus, toolbars, and windows feel lighter and more refined
Sidecar Support
• Transform your iPad into a Multi-Touch controller for Logic Pro on your Mac
• Tap to trigger cells in Live Loops, populate Step Sequencer patterns, adjust plug-ins and instruments, and control multiple mixer channels at once
Play Surface
• Play instruments with a resizable performance window — trigger drum and chord pads with your typing keyboard and mouse, or tap your iPad using Sidecar
• Play a musical keyboard with controls for velocity, modulation, and polyphonic pitch glide
• Make beats by triggering drum pads and use note repeat to add rolls — perfect for trap hats
• Customize Chord pads to follow the Chord track in realtime, so every chord and note you play fits perfectly
Step Sequencer Multi-Select
• Select a range of steps with a drag or Shift-click, then adjust velocity, note repeat, or any parameter for the entire selection at once
• Copy and paste groups of steps to new positions or rows, and use dedicated key commands to select all steps in a row, invert a selection, or nudge selected steps
For $12.99 per month or 129 per year in the U.S., a Creator Studio subscription provides access to full-featured versions of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, MainStage, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform.
One-time-purchase versions of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage remain available on the Mac App Store.
Free versions of Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform continue to be available, but they do not receive all of the new Creator Studio features.
When the remaining updates are released, we will let you know.
MacRumors has confirmed that the A18 chip in Apple's new 
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