Apple has held meetings with PrismML about ways it could use the startup's technology to run much larger AI models directly on iPhones, according to The Information.
The report said PrismML has managed to shrink down Alibaba's open-source large language model Qwen 3.6 to run entirely on an iPhone 17 Pro. The model has 27 billion parameters, which is larger than Apple's on-device AFM 3 Core Advanced model with 20 billion parameters. Apple's model powers iOS 27 enhancements such as Siri AI's more expressive voices and improved systemwide dictation on iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models.
Unlike with AFM 3 Core Advanced, all of Qwen 3.6's parameters can be active at the same time.
"One new on-device Apple model has 20 billion parameters but uses a so-called sparse architecture, in which only 1 billion to 4 billion parameters are active at a time," the report said, in reference to AFM 3 Core Advanced. "In the case of PrismML's on-device model, all 27 billion parameters are active at the same time."
Larger models running directly on iPhones would allow for more Apple Intelligence features to run on device instead of on Apple's Private Cloud Compute servers, which could reduce Apple's costs and further enhance user privacy.
Apple stands to gain from India's decision to eliminate import duties on a range of components used in smartphone manufacturing, in a move that could further lower costs for the company's rapidly growing India-based supply chain.
According to a report from Reuters, the Indian government has done away with tariffs of 7.5% and 5% that had applied to inputs for wireless charging hardware, automotive and medical device screens, and lithium-ion battery cells. The exemptions are set to remain in effect through to March 31, 2029.
The wireless charging component exemption, in particular, feeds directly into the MagSafe ecosystem used across the iPhone lineup. With import costs on that hardware now removed, Apple's India-based assembly partners have a clearer path to sourcing and building charging components domestically rather than importing them at a markup.
Apple has leaned heavily on India as it works to shift iPhone production away from China, with assembly partners now building roughly a quarter of all iPhones in the country and producing the entire iPhone 17 lineup there for the first time, including the higher-end Pro and Pro Max models. Foxconn, one of Apple's main assemblers, poured $1.5 billion into expanding its India operations earlier this year, and Tata Electronics has grown into an equally central manufacturing partner alongside it.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
There's a big accessory sale happening on Amazon this week, with the year's best prices on Anker chargers, Samsung monitors, Sonos audio products, and much 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.
Highlights this time around include a new batch of audio devices on sale, including the Sonos Ace Headphones for $279.00, down from $399.00, and Sony's WH-1000XM5 Noise Canceling Headphones for $248.00, down from $399.00. Another notable audio discount is on the Soundcore Sleep A30 Earbuds, which are designed to be worn in bed, available for $179.99, down from $229.99.
In terms of monitor and TV deals, there are quite a few Samsung deals happening this week on Amazon. The 32-inch Smart Monitor M9 has hit its second-best price on Amazon at $1,267.20, down from $1,599.99, beating the Prime Day deal by about $30. You'll also find solid sales on The Frame TVs and Odyssey monitors right now.
We're also tracking big discounts from brands like LG, Hisense, iVANKY, Jackery, and more in the lists below. Accessories on sale include USB-C wall chargers, MagSafe-compatible wireless chargers, portable batteries, headphones, docks, and monitors.
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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Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2026? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
This week, the California court overseeing the case held a hearing regarding preliminary approval of the settlement, but the judge has not yet issued a ruling. It will likely be at least a few more months before eligible customers can begin submitting claims, with payouts unlikely to begin until late this year or early next year if the settlement is ultimately approved. In other words, no action is required from eligible customers at this time.
Below, we have answered some key questions regarding the lawsuit.
Why Was Apple Sued?
In June 2024, Apple previewed new Siri capabilities powered by Apple Intelligence, including understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. For example, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.
In a statement, Apple touted a range of other Apple Intelligence features it had already released. Nevertheless, Apple agreed to settle the lawsuit "to stay focused" on "delivering the most innovative products and services to our users."
Apple finally announced "Siri AI" at WWDC 2026 last month, and the revamped assistant is available to test on the iOS 27 developer beta, with a public beta to follow this month. iOS 27 should be released in September, at which point "Siri AI" will finally be available to all users with an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
Am I Eligible?
To be eligible to submit a claim, you must reside in the U.S. and have purchased any iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025.
The full list of eligible iPhone models:
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 16
iPhone 16e
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
It is unlikely that individuals who submit a claim will still need to have physical possession of an eligible iPhone model. However, there is a possibility that proof of purchase or other information will be required, such as the device's serial number. Exact requirements will be outlined on the settlement website, which is still not live.
How Much Will Apple Pay Me?
According to the terms of the settlement, each person who files an eligible claim will receive a per-device payment of $25, but this amount could increase up to $95 if the total number of claims submitted is lower than anticipated.
Where and When Can I Submit a Claim?
Over the coming months, a settlement website is expected to go live with an online claims form.
Eligible class members will be notified by email within approximately 45 days after the settlement receives preliminary approval, according to the court documents. Even if you are not notified but are a U.S. resident who purchased one of the above iPhone models within the above dates, you are still eligible if you meet the criteria.
Apple has stopped signing several older versions of iOS for a group of legacy iPhone and iPad models, cutting off the paths to reinstall or downgrade the affected software.
Apple will no longer validate over-the-air (OTA) or direct IPSW installs of the builds in question. Once a version is unsigned, there is no longer a way to restore or install it through Finder or iTunes.
The change is narrower than a typical signing update. Apple has not stopped signing the iOS versions themselves. Instead, it has ended signing for the baseband firmware, the low-level software that runs each device's cellular modem, tied to those releases.
The affected releases span iOS 6 through iOS 10. The full set of devices and versions that can no longer be restored is as follows:
iPhone 4 (CDMA): iOS 7.1.2 IPSW installs
iPhone 4S: iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs
iPhone 5 (GSM and CDMA): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 IPSW installs
iPhone 5c (GSM and CDMA): iOS 10.3.3 IPSW installs
iPad 2 (Wi-Fi + 3G, CDMA): iOS 6.1.3 and iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs
iPad 3rd generation (GSM and CDMA): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs
iPad 4th generation (Wi-Fi + Cellular): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 IPSW installs
iPad mini (Wi-Fi + Cellular): iOS 8.4.1 OTA installs, plus iOS 9.3.5 and iOS 9.3.6 IPSW installs
Tellingly, every model caught up in the change is a cellular variant. Wi-Fi-only iPads are untouched, since they carry no cellular modem and therefore there is no baseband to sign in the first place.
The oldest hardware on the list is the CDMA iPhone 4, which never advanced beyond iOS 7.1.2, while the newest builds affected are iOS 10.3.3 and iOS 10.3.4 on the iPhone 5 and the fourth-generation iPad.
For context, Apple did not separate iOS and iPadOS until iPadOS 13, so these much earlier iPad releases were all running iOS at the time.
One of the more interesting entries is the OTA version of iOS 8.4.1, which Apple had kept signing to serve as a stepping stone. Certain devices had to pass through iOS 8.4.1 on the way to iOS 9, and the same signed build gave owners a route back if they wanted to revert. That fallback now disappears for nearly every device on the list, from the iPhone 4S up to the iPhone 5.
A device that is already up and running on its current firmware carries on as normal, but owners lose the fallback of a fresh install should that firmware ever break. It also shuts the door on restores for anyone holding onto old hardware to test apps, check compatibility, or preserve software.
Signing changes like this usually target the latest releases instead, often landing within days of a significant security patch for a current version of iOS or iPadOS. Pulling signatures for decade-old builds on aging devices is rarer, and it touches only a tiny fraction of users in 2026, since everything on the list is more than ten years old.
DuckDuckGo's free web browser now blocks most video ads on YouTube, and the feature is on by default for iPhone and Mac users running the latest version of the app.
Announced on Wednesday, YouTube Ad Blocking stops ads that play before and during videos on YouTube's website, and DuckDuckGo says the result is the regular YouTube experience minus the interruptions, so features like viewing history and saving your spot in playlists keep working.
One thing to watch on iPhone is if you tap a YouTube link, it often opens the dedicated YouTube app if you have it installed. The blocking feature obviously won't work there, and you'll need to open the YouTube website inside the DuckDuckGo browser instead.
DuckDuckGo says it is using a community-maintained filter lists from uBlock Origin, along with its own rules to help minimize breakage. The company warns that videos may buffer a little longer than usual, but playback should run uninterrupted once a clip loads.
Note that YouTube Ad Blocking is separate from Duck Player, the browser's distraction-free video viewing mode, but the two can be enabled together.
The move follows Google's ongoing efforts to break ad blockers every which way it can, including recent changes to Chrome that targeted uBlock Origin. It's worth mentioning that DuckDuckGo isn't the first browser to block YouTube ads, with similar features already available in Brave and Opera.
DuckDuckGo's browser offers more than a dozen privacy protections, including ad tracker blocking and cookie pop-up removal. It's available for iOS devices on the App Store and for Mac on the Mac App Store and DuckDuckGo website.
Meta has prototyped "super sensing" smart glasses that use cameras and audio recordings to capture the wearer's every moment, reports the Financial Times ($).
The smart glasses continuously collect audio while taking photos every few seconds, allowing the user to leverage AI to help query what they saw or heard, or recall their day, according to the report's sources.
Meta's current AI smart glasses have an LED in the corner of the frame that lights up to signal to others when a wearer is taking photographs or filming. But Meta executives don't want to activate the LED when the super-sensing features are turned on.
In one proposed system, raw footage and audio would not be stored by Meta or made available to the user, several people said. Instead, the metadata from that audio and images would be extracted and uploaded to the server for Meta's AI to query, which proponents argue would have fewer privacy implications.
The company is also discussing whether data collected through the glasses and their features could be used to train its own AI models, as it pours billions into rivalling competition such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in the AI race.
The report suggests the features could be activated on Meta's existing glasses via a software update.
Meta's plan, which could still change, highlights the obvious civil liberty and privacy risks of smart glasses. Privacy experts argue that always-on devices could violate data privacy or biometric data laws. It is also unclear whether the company or the wearer would be liable for potential violations of wiretapping laws, given that several U.S. states prohibit recording third-party conversations without consent.
Meta's existing Ray-Ban smart glasses already lack a visual indicator when AI is being used to analyze the wearer's surroundings. The company says it safeguards privacy by stripping out key identifying information.
In February, it was reported that the social media giant had an inactive facial recognition feature embedded in its Ray-Ban smart glasses platform. The company later removed the system.
Apple is widely expected to release its first smart glasses in 2027, designed in-house rather than through a partner brand.
Apple's smart glasses are expected to include cameras, microphones, and AI capabilities, and will have the ability to take photos, record video, provide translations, give turn-by-turn directions, and more. However, they won't have augmented reality capabilities, and it's not clear how Apple will manage privacy concerns.
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max could be noticeably thicker and heavier than its predecessor, suggesting a trade-off behind the device's rumored larger battery.
Chinese leaker Ice Universe today claimed the iPhone 18 Pro Max will measure around 9mm thick and weigh approximately 240 grams. That would make the device around 0.25mm thicker and roughly 7 grams heavier than the current iPhone 17 Pro Max.
The latest claim comes off the back of recent regulatory filings indicating the iPhone 18 Pro Max will feature a 5,391mAh battery in China and a 5,567mAh battery in the U.S. – an increase of nearly 500mAh over the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Ice Universe suggested the added thickness and weight are a direct result of the larger battery, but Apple is also said to be adopting a new type of vapor chamber that uses stainless steel, which could also be a contributing factor.
The rumor builds on an earlier claim that Apple's next flagship could become the heaviest iPhone ever. If so, it would have to be heavier than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which also weighed 240 grams, so it may turn out that there are only milligram-level differences between the two.
Apple's use of titanium instead of stainless steel made the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro models. Apple then switched away from titanium to less-dense aluminum for the iPhone 17 Pro models, but internal changes and slightly thicker designs bumped up their weight again.
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to launch alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone this September.
The Apple TV 4K hasn't been updated since 2022, and it's due for a refresh. An update is planned for 2026, but Apple is likely going to wait to launch it after Siri AI launches in iOS 27.
Design
Apple TV design updates don't happen often, and that's not changing. The next Apple TV is going to have the same squircle shape as the current model, and it'll continue to be made from a black plastic material.
We're expecting the 2026 Apple TV to be indistinguishable from the existing Apple TV on the exterior, with no changes to size or design.
New Chip
The Apple TV 4K is going to get a new A-series chip, and that'll be the biggest upgrade. Rumors suggest Apple is planning to use the A17 Pro that was first introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro models.
Compared to the A15 Bionic in the current Apple TV, the A17 Pro is a solid update, and it's a good reason to hold off on buying the current model. The A17 Pro is built on a 3-nanometer process for faster speeds and better efficiency. It has hardware-accelerated ray tracing for higher-quality graphics in games and it supports hardware-accelerated AV1 decoding, which is useful for streaming content.
Since Apple has held the Apple TV update for so long, it's possible it'll get an even newer chip like the A18 or A19. A RAM update is possible too, especially if the Apple TV has any kind of Apple Intelligence support.
Apple Intelligence and Siri
The next Apple TV is ready to launch, but new Siri features are the holdup. Apple wants to release the Apple TV with the smarter version of Siri that Apple is testing in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the Apple TV is linked to "new artificial intelligence features" that Apple has postponed until iOS 27, which is launching in September 2026. Apple intended to debut the Apple Intelligence Siri features in spring 2026, but the company was still experiencing issues with Siri. At this point, we're not going to see new Siri capabilities until iOS 27, which also means a delay for all the devices that Apple is holding.
Along with the Apple TV, the rumored home hub and a new version of the HomePod are waiting on Siri AI's launch.
Updated Siri features may require more RAM and a faster chip, so if you want the smarter Siri on the Apple TV, that's another reason to wait before making a purchase.
Wi-Fi
The Apple TV could get Apple's N1 networking chip with Wi-Fi 7 support. Wi-Fi 7 works with the 6GHz band offered by newer routers.
6GHz connectivity is faster and less congested, which you want for a streaming device.
Bluetooth and Thread
The Apple TV 4K could get Bluetooth 6 for connecting devices like controllers and earbuds.
Apple's N1 chip also supports Thread, so the Apple TV will be able to continue to serve as a Thread border router and a Matter hub for smart home devices.
Siri Remote
It's possible Apple will introduce a new Siri Remote alongside the Apple TV, though it's unclear what Apple might change.
Pricing
There were rumors of a price drop, but with the June 2026 price increase for the 2022 Apple TV and all Macs and iPads, a lower price is unlikely.
Launch Date
With Siri AI set to launch in September in iOS 27, we could see the Apple TV refreshed right around when new iPhone models come out.
Meta is rolling out a new feature that lets people use public Instagram posts and reels to generate AI content, and it's turned on by default.
If you have an Instagram account that's not set to private, there is a setting allowing anyone to generate content on Meta AI using your images and videos. The option was added to support Meta's new image generation model, Muse Image. Muse Image is rolling out across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Meta AI, and it pulls in images from an Instagram account with just an @-mention. From Meta's description of Muse Image:
You can also @-mention Instagram accounts in the Meta AI app to bring specific Instagram profiles right into your images. Whether you want to design a custom event invitation, mock up a collaborative creative concept, or generate a personalized graphic, tagging a username lets Meta AI use public photos to build a visual that's ready to post.
An Instagram help page explains that content on public Instagram accounts can be used for creating content with AI features, and you won't get a notification if someone uses your content to create an AI image.
If your account is public: Anyone on Instagram can reuse all or part of your reels, feed videos, and photos shared after reuse became available. Reels, feed videos, and photos can be reused in features like remix, sequence, templates and stickers. In addition, people may be able to create content with your Instagram content using AI features at Meta.
Meta opts all public Instagram accounts in by default, but there is an option to turn off AI permissions. In the Instagram app settings, scroll to Sharing and Reuse, then toggle off "Posts" and "Reels" under the "Allow people to create with and reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta."
Turn off the setting now if you don't want people using your content to create AI images, because AI content created prior to turning it off isn't deleted. Muse Image is still rolling out, and so is the toggle to turn off AI use. You may not see the opt-out option right away. Private Instagram profiles aren't included in Muse Image.
Meta plans to expand Muse Image to Facebook and Messenger soon, and allow advertisers and agencies to use Muse Image to create content in the coming weeks. Meta is also working on a Muse Video feature.
Nintendo today said it is ending service for its Mario Kart Tour mobile game on Tuesday, September 29. There are no plans for an offline version of the game, so it will no longer be playable after that date.
In-game currency is no longer available for purchase, and Nintendo has ended automatic subscription renewals ahead of the shutdown date.
Players who had a Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass subscription will be able to use the benefits for free from now until September 29, while players who did not have a subscription will get the benefits starting on August 4.
The Gold Pass includes Gold Gifts, Gold Challenges, 200cc, an increase in the maximum coins and points that can be earned per day, and a pipe gauge that fills faster. Players who have rubies can use the currency in the Spotlight Shop, Mii Racing Suit Shop, and Coin Rush until service ends.
Like traditional Mario Kart games, Mario Kart Tour on iPhone and iPad tasked players with racing to beat their rivals to the finish line, using drifts and items to succeed. The game featured several tracks, and playable characters like Luigi, Toad, Shy Guy, Waluigi, Peach, and Toadette.
Nintendo has launched and then canceled several mobile games, including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Miitomo, Dr. Mario World, and Dragalia Lost. Fire Emblem Heroes, Super Mario Run, and new game Pictonico continue to be available.
OpenAI today introduced GPT-Live, which it describes as a new generation of voice models meant to make talking to AI feel more like having a conversation with a real person. GPT-Live is meant to replace the existing ChatGPT voice experience.
GPT-Live is able to listen and speak at the same time, and it can show it is paying attention with acknowledgment phrases like "mhmm." The model was built for continuous interaction, and it can make decisions on whether to speak, continue listening, pause, interrupt, or use a tool multiple times per second.
Talking with ChatGPT should now feel much more like a real conversation. You can interrupt with a question, pause to gather your thoughts, or ask ChatGPT to slow down. It naturally acknowledges what you're saying with phrases like "mhmm" or "got it," so you know it's following along. We've also remastered the nine distinct voices in ChatGPT for GPT-Live.
OpenAI says GPT-Live is its smartest voice model to date, using the latest frontier model (currently GPT–5.5) for web search, deep reasoning, and complex work. While GPT-Live works on a task, it is able to continue a conversation, and then give the results of a task when it's finished. It also works for live translation, and displays rich visual cards for weather, stocks, sports, and more.
OpenAI is rolling out GPT-Live–1 and GPT-Live–1 mini to ChatGPT users worldwide starting today. GPT-Live–1 is the default for Go, Plus, and Pro users, while GPT-Live–1 mini is the default for Free users.
ChatGPT users can tap the Voice button to talk with ChatGPT and experience GPT-Live. GPT-Live does not yet support voice with video or screen sharing in ChatGPT, but OpenAI is working to add that feature soon.
Apple earned its highest number of Emmy nominations to date in 2026, with popular shows like Pluribus, Margo's Got Money Troubles, Widow's Bay, Shrinking, and Slow Horses earning the most nominations. New series Widow's Bay received 19 nominations, while Pluribus was second with 18 nominations.
The five most highly nominated shows are up for best series in their respective categories, and have also earned several lead actress and actor nominations.
Pluribus
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series - Rhea Seehorn, Carol Sturka
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Manousos
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series - Karolina Wydra, Zosia
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series - Miriam Shor, Helen
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - Jeff Hiller, Larry
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Margo's Got Money Troubles
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Elle Fanning
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Nick Offerman, Jinx Millet
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Michelle Pfeiffer, Shyanne Millet
Slow Horses
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Gary Oldman, Jackson Lamb
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Jack Lowden, River Cartwright
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - Jonathan Pryce, David Cartwright
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Shrinking
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Jason Segel, Jimmy
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Jessica Williams, Gaby
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Harrison Ford, Paul
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Michael Urie, Brian
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series - Brett Goldstein, Louis
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series - Michael J. Fox, Gerry
Widow's Bay
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Matthew Rhys, Mayor Tom Loftis
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Dale Dickey, Rosemary
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Stephen Root, Wyck
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - Kate O'Flynn, Patricia
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series - Betty Gilpin, Sarah Westcott Warren
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series - Hamish Linklater, Richard Warren
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
The Morning Show
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - Billy Crudup, Cory Ellison
Your Friends & Neighbors
Outstanding Drama Series
Apple also received nominations in categories for music, sound, picture editing, and more. Other titles up for those awards include Murderbot, Mr. Scorsese, Palm Royale, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
The full list of nominations can be found on the Television Academy website. Winners will be announced live on Monday, September 14 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on NBC.
Apple yesterday published a new support document warning that macOS 28 will no longer support encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) volumes, meaning affected external drives will need to be decrypted or reformatted ahead of the update.
Starting with macOS 28, "the Mac OS Extended file system format will be supported only for volumes (disks and other storage devices) that aren't encrypted." Any encrypted HFS+ disks, such as older encrypted external hard drives, will stop working with the Mac unless users take action before upgrading.
Apple has not given a specific reason for the change. APFS, which natively supports encryption, has been the default file system on the Mac since macOS High Sierra launched in 2017, and dropping encrypted HFS+ support looks like a further nudge toward retiring the older format altogether.
The transition will start showing up before macOS 28 arrives. Apple says that beginning with macOS 26, a Mac might notify users if it detects an encrypted Mac OS Extended disk that will not carry over to macOS 28 or later, identifying the affected volume by name.
Users can also check manually through Disk Utility by selecting a volume and looking at the format details listed beneath its name; a volume showing both "Mac OS Extended" and "Encrypted," such as "CoreStorage Logical Volume • Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)," will be incompatible.
Unencrypted Mac OS Extended volumes are not affected. Apple says macOS 28 and later will continue to support them, and notes that Mac OS Extended is also known as HFS Plus, or HFS+.
For anyone who wants to keep using an affected drive after upgrading, Apple recommends backing up its contents first, then either reformatting or decrypting it. Reformatting means erasing the volume and setting it up again in APFS or APFS (Encrypted) format through Disk Utility, which permanently deletes existing data but ensures the drive keeps working in future versions of macOS.
Decrypting is the alternative for anyone who wants to preserve their existing data on the drive. That involves connecting the drive, unlocking it with its encryption password, then Control-clicking its icon in the Finder or on the desktop and choosing Decrypt, entering the password a second time to begin the process. Apple notes that decryption "takes time, especially for large volumes," and progress can be checked in Terminal.
Once decryption finishes, users can optionally convert the volume to APFS without erasing it via Disk Utility's Convert to APFS option, and re-encrypt it afterward if desired. Apple notes that this decryption path does not apply to encrypted Time Machine backup disks.
Code spotted in the third developer beta of iOS 27 suggests that Apple is preparing to add car key support for Lucid and Xiaomi vehicles, and that the feature could be nearing launch.
The code references the identifiers "LCID" and "XIA1," which appear to correspond to Lucid and Xiaomi respectively. With an Apple car key, drivers can use their iPhone or Apple Watch to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle instead of relying on a traditional key fob.
Lucid Motors was already named as one of 13 brands Apple said would "soon" gain car key support at WWDC 2025, alongside Acura, Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Porsche, Rivian, Smart, Tata Motors, Hongqi, WEY, Chery, and Voyah. Apple did not give a timeframe for that rollout at the time, and Lucid has yet to formally confirm when the feature will arrive on its Air or Gravity models.
Xiaomi's inclusion would be new. The Chinese electronics maker has expanded rapidly into electric vehicles with models like the SU7 sedan and YU7 SUV, and car key support would mark one of the company's first tie-ins with Apple's ecosystem despite Xiaomi being a major Apple rival in the smartphone market.
This is not the first time code has recently hinted at car key support ahead of an official announcement. MacRumors previously found code pointing to Volkswagen adding Apple Wallet car keys to future vehicles, and similar backend references preceded confirmed support for General Motors brands. As with those cases, the code does not confirm which specific models will be compatible or give an exact date, though its presence in a live beta suggests Lucid and Xiaomi support could arrive relatively soon.
It is now July and we are still waiting for Apple to begin its annual Back to School offer in countries like the U.S. and Canada — if it is still coming.
In the U.S., Apple launched its Back to School offer in June from 2020 through 2025, but it has waited until July in the more distant past:
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple planned to launch its 2026 Back to School offer by last week, but that did not end up happening. Apple may have decided to hold off until July this year in order to give customers more time to digest the price increases that it implemented last month, but we are merely speculating.
Given the offer launched between July 9 and July 12 in 2017 through 2019, hopefully the 2026 offer arrives over the next few days.
Amazon today has knocked the price of the 512GB MacBook Neo down to $689.99, from $799.00. This sale is only available in the Indigo color option, and it makes the 512GB model cheaper than the current price of the 256GB model on Amazon.
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.
This marks the first notable discount on the MacBook Neo since Apple's price hikes in June. Amazon provides a mid-to-late July delivery estimate for the Indigo 512GB model, and we don't know how long this sale will last, so be sure to take advantage while it's live.
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.
Update: This deal has expired.
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Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
Apple and MLB today released the 
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