It's Halloween weekend, and we're tracking a bunch of great accessory discounts from popular companies like Belkin, Hyper, and Anker. In addition to these seasonal sales, below you can find a recap of this week's top Apple offers, including pre-order discounts on Apple's new MacBooks and iPad mini, plus our exclusive Banktivity discount.
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.
Halloween Deals
Tomorrow is Halloween, and in celebration of the holiday multiple retailers are hosting notable sales and discount events this weekend. These events include savings on MagSafe-compatible chargers, iPhone cases, noise cancelling headphones, and more.
Anker - Save an additional 20% sitewide with code HALLOWEEN20
Best Buy - Save sitewide on video games, iPads, and more
MacRumors has partnered with the personal finance app Banktivity to offer our readers a 30 percent discount on their first year of the service, plus a 30-day free trial. This deal is available to new subscribers only, and you can find it on Banktivity's website, where it has been automatically applied with no coupon code needed.
Apple Pre-Orders
What's the deal? Save on pre-orders of select new Apple products
Apple announced an array of new products this week, including the iPad mini 8, M6 iMac, M6 14-inch MacBook Pro, and PROLED XDR MacBook Pro. A few of these devices have pre-order bonuses at Best Buy in the form of gift cards, and right now these are the only offers we're tracking on any of Apple's newest devices.
Mac Mini and Mac Studio
What's the deal? Get record low prices on Mac mini and Mac Studio
Apple's M5 Max Mac Studio with 36GB RAM and a 512GB SSD is still on sale for $2,299.00, down from $2,499.00. Regarding the Mac mini, you can get the 16GB RAM/256GB SSD Mac mini for $779.00, down from $899.00, and the 16GB RAM/512GB SSD model for $949.00, down from $1,099.00.
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 as we head into 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!
Since late August, Apple has been on an absolute spree, releasing more than 25 new devices and accessories. Quite the start to the John Ternus era.
Below, we have recapped most of the new products that Apple has released over the past two months, with some available now and others still up for pre-order. This list is not entirely complete, as it does not include various Apple Watch bands, iPhone cases, and certain other accessories, but it covers most notable items.
Barring any surprises, Apple has likely cleared through its slate of remaining major product announcements this year, but things will continue to be busy through at least mid-November as we wait for the HomeView, new Apple TV 4K and iPad mini, MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, and more to begin arriving to customers.
The developers of Draw Things have launched Local Code, an open-source AI assistant that lets Mac users download models and put them to work on their own computers.
Local Code lets users download an AI model and start working without separately installing the tools it needs. When using a local model, the app processes prompts and files on the Mac rather than sending them to a cloud AI provider.
Local Code can create presentations, generate images and videos, analyze spreadsheets, work with Word and PowerPoint files, and more. It also includes a browser that the assistant can use to navigate websites and complete online tasks.
With the user's permission, the app can read information from Mail, Messages, and Notes, as well as make changes in Calendar and Photos. According to its documentation, Apple's App Sandbox restricts its access to files and other parts of the system.
The app offers Qwen and DeepSeek models for Macs with different amounts of memory. Its website lists 16GB as the minimum for Qwen 3.8 27B, with recommended downloads taking around 10GB to 21GB of storage. The larger DeepSeek models require downloads of around 89GB or 376GB, depending on the version.
Users can also choose a cloud model, although doing so sends prompts and relevant files to the selected provider. Local use is free, while optional cloud access is available through users' own API keys or prepaid credits starting at $9.99.
Apple this year acquired Ascend.io, a California-based company that developed technology to help businesses automate the collection and analysis of data, and more recently introduced AI agents to help engineers manage this data.
The acquisition was revealed in a notice posted on the European Commission's website today, and Ascend.io's own website mentions "winding down operations as we prepare for our next great adventure."
Today is HomePod mini 2 launch day, with the first pre-orders beginning to arrive to customers and the speaker now available to purchase at most Apple Store locations around the world. In the U.S., the HomePod mini 2 is priced at $149, with two-tone pink, green, and blue color options available alongside white and midnight.
Here is what is new with the HomePod mini 2:
Siri AI support is coming in a future software update, with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad required for requests involving your personal context.
S10 chip, up from the S5 chip for the previous model. Apple said the S10 chip enables "advanced computational audio," but it did not explicitly confirm if the HomePod mini 2 has improved sound quality compared to the original model.
Wi-Fi 6E support, up from Wi-Fi 4 for the previous model.
Bluetooth 6 support, up from Bluetooth 5 for the previous model.
Apple's AirTag 2 has hit $69.99 this week on Amazon and Best Buy, down from $99.00. This deal is on the 4-Pack of the AirTag 2, and it's a new record low price for the accessory.
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.
We're also tracking a smaller deal on the AirTag 2 1-Pack, available for $23.00, down from $29.00. This is another record low price on the AirTag 2.
The new AirTag is equipped with a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, enabling the Precision Finding feature to work up to 50% farther away from an item compared to the previous-generation model.
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 as we head into 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!
Filmmaker Rian Johnson, best known for writing and directing "Knives Out," "Glass Onion," and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," has seen his new iPhone photography app Chromagraph Camera climb to the top of the paid App Store charts after attracting attention on social media this week.
Johnson developed the app with his longtime cinematographer Steve Yedlin and programmer Eric Cameron, bringing image processing techniques from their films to iPhone still photography. Chromagraph currently ranks No. 1 in Photo & Video on the U.S. App Store.
Johnson's announcement on X accumulated six million views within a day, while users have been sharing their results, with some photo posts attracting thousands of likes.
Chromagraph shoots RAW photos and processes them using techniques Yedlin developed for his films, giving pictures a distinctive treatment of color, contrast, and grain. It also adds halation, a soft glow around bright areas. Users can adjust the look with controls for color, tone, and texture.
The effect appears after taking a photo, when users open the app's gallery. Original RAW files are kept intact, so edits can be changed later.
For sharing, photographs can be exported as JPEG or HEIC files with the processing applied. An automatic export option also sends each finished photo to the user's photo library.
Chromagraph Camera costs $12.99 as a one-time purchase on the App Store and requires iOS 17 or later.
Apple allocated roughly 80% of its initial iPhone Duo inventory to its retail stores, with locations holding as few as 50 units each, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Power On podcast, Gurman, citing people very close to the device's logistics, said most customers who bought a Duo in store on day one got one by waiting in line.
Flagship stores were said to have held up to around 250 units, and Fifth Avenue was stocked unusually heavily because Apple executives attended the launch. The inventory split helps explain why pre-orders slipped to late January within minutes on October 16, while most people who queued on launch day walked away with a new phone.
At the time, Apple described demand as "nothing short of extraordinary" and said it was working to satisfy demand "as quickly as possible," so there's a good chance that, even if a delivery estimate for your order is way out in the future, it could improve over time.
iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, with 512GB at $2,199, 1TB at $2,599, and 2TB at $3,199 on Apple's U.S. store. In the UK, the same storage tiers run £1,999, £2,199, £2,599, and £3,199 on Apple's UK store.
Apple's new OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro could ship between 1.2 million and 1.5 million units in 2027, according to a new forecast from market intelligence firm TrendForce.
Announced on Wednesday, the new MacBook Pro is the first to feature a tandem OLED touchscreen, with pricing starting at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch model. Pre-orders are available now, with a launch coming on Friday, November 6.
Given that Apple is selling the OLED models alongside its existing mini-LED MacBook Pro lineup, TrendForce says that the premium starting price could temper near-term replacement demand.
Even so, the firm expects Apple's arrival in the OLED laptop market to accelerate the market landscape more broadly. Up until now, it has been driven mainly by Windows brands such as Lenovo, HP, and ASUS.
The overall laptop market has been contracting for two consecutive years, but TrendForce forecasts OLED laptop shipments will grow nearly 40% year-over-year in 2026, followed by another increase of more than 40% in 2027, with brands increasingly prioritizing OLED models in their product roadmaps.
Samsung Display is currently the exclusive panel supplier for the new MacBook Pro. The company has designated Phase 1 of its G8.6 A6 production line at its Asan campus in South Korea as a dedicated facility for Apple, and the MacBook Pro is the first product to enter mass production on Samsung Display's G8.6 fine metal mask (FMM) OLED line. The display's tandem OLED architecture and 254 PPI pixel density impose exceptionally demanding production requirements, particularly in material costs and manufacturing yields, notes TrendForce.
Meanwhile, rival panel makers are conducting qualification programs, but TrendForce believes the cost of meeting Apple's specifications and Samsung Display's established position present considerable barriers to entry. LG Display, BOE, and TCL CSOT are instead said to be directing their efforts toward the supply chain for the OLED MacBook Air, which isn't expected to debut until at least 2028.
As expected, the new Apple TV 4K with the A19 chip is equipped with 8GB of RAM, while the new iPad mini with the A20 Pro chip has 12GB of RAM.
For good measure, Xcode shows the iPhone Duo is equipped with 12GB of RAM.
None of these RAM amounts are surprising, but Apple does not list this information in its tech specs for these devices, so they are worth confirming.
An industrywide memory chip shortage has led to skyrocketing prices for RAM and storage chips, resulting in Apple raising prices this year across many products, including iPhones, iPads, Macs, HomePods, the Apple TV 4K, and more.
While the new iPad mini has an OLED display, the device does not support ProMotion, meaning the display's refresh rate is limited to 60Hz instead of 120Hz.
ProMotion support would have allowed for the iPad mini's refresh rate to automatically adjust from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on the content being displayed, but evidently Apple has kept the feature exclusive to the iPad Pro among iPad models for now.
In an interview with YouTuber and podcaster Christopher Lawley, Apple's vice president of hardware design David Pakula commented on the new iPad mini lacking 120Hz support, noting that its OLED display still has significantly faster pixel response times compared to the previous model with an LCD, resulting in reduced motion blur.
"Display experience is about more than just a single spec," said Pakula. "One of the things that's really cool about OLED is it actually has this really fast pixel response time. So it's like more than an order of magnitude faster than the pixel response time for an LCD display. And what that does is it makes everything really smooth. Motion blur is significantly reduced compared to LCD. When you pair that with the other things that I mentioned, the contrast, the brightness, and the color, this is just a killer display."
Apple says the new iPad mini can achieve a maximum brightness of 600 nits for standard content, up from 500 nits for the previous model, and up to 1,200 nits for HDR content. OLED technology allows for higher contrast and more vivid colors, as there is no backlight and individual pixels turn off completely to display true black.
Apple's tech specs indicate the new iPad mini has a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The display still has 326 pixels per inch and P3 wide color support.
The new iPad mini is available to pre-order now, with U.S. pricing starting at $699, and the device launches on Friday, November 6.
The HomePod mini 2 is launching tomorrow (or in a few hours in Australia and New Zealand) and a new hands-on video from Craig's Tech Talk gives a clear look at the two-tone color design Apple added with some of the color options.
For the pink, blue, and green HomePod mini models, the two layers of acoustic fabric are different colors. In pink, the outer layer is a light pink and the inner fabric is more of a coral. For the blue HomePod mini 2, the mesh is blue and the fabric underneath is green. The green HomePod mini 2 has the green color outside and blue underneath, so it's the opposite of the blue model.
You can get a close-up look at the colors at the one-minute mark in the video.
Apple is lowering the commission that it collects in Taiwan to 26 percent, down from 30 percent. Apple plans to drop the rate for in-app purchase and paid app transactions on the iOS and iPadOS Taiwan storefront starting on October 31.
The commission update comes after Apple held discussions with the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (TFTC). In a statement to MacRumors, Apple said the fee reduction reflects its ongoing commitment to developers.
We're making updates to the Taiwan storefront of the App Store following constructive discussions with the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission. These changes reflect our ongoing commitment to providing developers with a thriving marketplace and ensuring the App Store remains the safest, most trusted platform for users. We will continue to equip developers with the tools, resources, and support they need to build, grow, and scale successful businesses on the App Store.
Apple normally charges a lower rate for Small Business Program members, but the announcement about the Taiwan commission changes doesn't include that information.
Amazon's $9 pre-order discount on the HomeView has returned for the Space Gray color, allowing you to get the home hub for $289.99, down from $299.00.
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.
Although only a $9 discount, this is still biggest deal we've seen on the HomeView, and as of writing only Amazon is offering any sort of discount on the device. Amazon's delivery estimates have begun stretching into late November, past the HomeView's launch date of November 13.
In terms of pre-order discounts, Amazon also has the new Apple TV 4K for $289.99, down from $299.00, with an estimated delivery date on launch day of November 13. This beats Apple's current delivery estimates, which have slipped into late November/early December, so it's a great chance to save a little money and get the Apple TV 4K on the 13th.
For more pre-order info on Apple's newest Macs and iPad mini, be sure to check out our dedicated post. 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 as we head into 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!
If you installed Popcorn Time on a Mac years ago, part of the app may still be running, and it may have left your Mac open to attack.
Security firm Eye Research has detailed how Time4Popcorn – an unofficial version of the once-popular movie streaming app – left behind a small update checker that scanned for updates every time the Mac started, even for people who hadn't opened the app in years. The checker basically trusted whatever it downloaded, and gave it full permission to change anything on the Mac.
What's worse is that Time4Popcorn's developers long abandoned the project, so the website addresses the helper contacted were expiring. That meant anyone who took over one of the addresses could use it to install harmful software on affected machines. Fortunately, Eye Research says it found no evidence that criminals had done so.
Eye Research said it took control of an abandoned address used by the update checker, and it estimates that 250,000 to 350,000 Macs were affected. With no developer left to issue a fix, the researchers had to use the checker itself to disable it on more than a million Macs and Windows PCs. It then handed the addresses to the Shadowserver Foundation, a nonprofit cybersecurity group.
Even so, this fix doesn't address other vulnerabilities in Time4Popcorn, and some updated addresses remain outside the researchers' control. For that reason, if you're still running that version, the researchers' advice is simple: uninstall it. Time4Popcorn was one of several unofficial versions of Popcorn Time, and it was actually distributed under the Popcorn Time name, so users may not know whether the copy they installed is the affected one. For all the details, check out the Eye Research report.
Apple's new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display features tandem OLED technology, touchscreen input, the Dynamic Island, and a thinner, lighter design. It joins the existing Liquid Retina XDR models introduced in March 2026, with both versions offering the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.
The PROLED models carry a $400 starting-price premium across equivalent sizes and chip tiers. The 14-inch M5 Pro starts at $2,499 with Liquid Retina XDR or $2,899 with PROLED XDR, while the corresponding 16-inch models start at $2,999 and $3,399. With chip options, memory capacities, and battery life unchanged, the decision largely centers on how much you value the new display, touch interaction, and slightly improved portability.
Here are all of the differences between the Liquid Retina XDR and PROLED XDR MacBook Pro models:
Display
Liquid Retina XDR MacBook Pro
PROLED XDR MacBook Pro
Mini-LED-backlit LCD with local dimming
Tandem OLED with two self-illuminating pixel layers
Zone-based backlighting
Individual pixel illumination
Dedicated display engine, compensating for content, temperature, environment, and individual pixel usage over time
1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
10,000,000:1 contrast ratio
Up to 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness
Up to 2,000 nits peak HDR brightness
Up to 1,000 nits outdoor SDR brightness
Up to 1,000 nits sustained full-screen SDR brightness and 2,000 nits peak outdoor SDR brightness
Slimmer display borders and smaller camera cutout with Dynamic Island
Rounded top display corners and square bottom corners
Rounded display corners at all four corners
Standard display or optional nano-texture display
Antireflective coating, fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, and optional nano-texture cover glass
Multi-Touch sensor integrated directly into the display panel, rather than layered on top, to reduce latency and bulk
Both versions deliver up to 1,000 nits of sustained full-screen HDR brightness, so PROLED's 2,000-nit peak does not necessarily mean the display is twice as bright across every task. Both retain a 1-nit minimum brightness, True Tone, support for one billion colors, and a 254-pixel-per-inch density.
Reference Modes and Color Workflows
Apple's Liquid Retina XDR and PROLED XDR specification sheets list the following reference-mode differences:
Liquid Retina XDR MacBook Pro
PROLED XDR MacBook Pro
Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits)
Apple XDR Display (P3-2000 nits)
Apple XDR Display (P3 + Adobe RGB-2000 nits)
Design and Print (P3-D50)
Design and Print (P3-D50) and Design and Print (Adobe RGB-D50)
Photography (P3-D65)
Photography (P3-D65) and Photography (Adobe RGB-D65)
HDR Photography (P3-D65)
Medical Imaging (DICOM-350 nits), for nondiagnostic review, research, and education
Medical Imaging (DICOM-600 nits), for nondiagnostic review, research, and education
Both versions retain reference modes for HDR video, broadcast television, digital cinema, and sRGB workflows, and both support Pro Display Calibrator.
Design and Dimensions
The weight reduction is more substantial than the change in thickness with the latest models. The measurements below cover both chip tiers in each size:
Liquid Retina XDR
PROLED XDR
Reduction
14-inch height
1.55 cm
1.50 cm
3.2%
14-inch width
31.26 cm
31.08 cm
0.6%
14-inch depth
22.12 cm
21.63 cm
2.2%
14-inch M5 Pro weight
1.60 kg
1.38 kg
13.8%
14-inch M5 Max weight
1.62 kg
1.40 kg
13.6%
16-inch height
1.68 cm
1.60 cm
4.8%
16-inch width
35.57 cm
35.55 cm
0.1%
16-inch depth
24.81 cm
24.42 cm
1.6%
16-inch M5 Pro weight
2.14 kg
1.82 kg
15.0%
16-inch M5 Max weight
2.15 kg
1.84 kg
14.4%
The redesign also changes the hinge, cooling system, and rear Apple logo:
Liquid Retina XDR MacBook Pro
PROLED XDR MacBook Pro
Previous standard hinge design
Redesigned hinge for greater stability during touchscreen use
Previous standard thermal architecture
Redesigned thermal architecture redirects warm air away from the display; Apple says sustained M5 Pro and M5 Max performance is maintained
Redesigned tweeters shape sound dispersion to improve clarity
Dedicated audio tuning for closed-lid use with an external display
12MP Center Stage camera with computational video
12MP Center Stage camera with computational video and advanced video stabilization to reduce camera-feed shake during touchscreen use
Camera resolution, Center Stage, Desk View, and 1080p recording remain unchanged, as do the six-speaker count, Spatial Audio support, and three-microphone array.
Genlock synchronizes display refresh with camera capture
14-inch battery capacity: 72.4Wh
14-inch battery capacity: 72.6Wh
16-inch M5 Max: 70W minimum recommended charging
16-inch M5 Max: 94W minimum recommended charging
M5 Pro storage remains limited to 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB. The external-display refresh-rate increases apply to the specific arrangements listed above, rather than every resolution and monitor combination. It is also worth noting that the slightly larger 14-inch battery seemingly does not increase endurance.
Touch and Dynamic Island
Liquid Retina XDR MacBook Pro
PROLED XDR MacBook Pro
Keyboard, trackpad, and pointer input
Keyboard, trackpad, pointer, and direct onscreen Multi-Touch input
Scrolling, zooming, and dragging through the trackpad or other input devices
Additional direct onscreen swiping, pinch-to-zoom, and drag-and-drop gestures
Window controls operated through the keyboard, trackpad, or pointer
Additional touch gestures, including double-tapping a window to fill the screen and flicking to tile it
macOS translates onscreen touches into clicks for existing applications
Touch-specific interactions through updated gesture APIs
Camera "notch"
Dynamic Island for Live Activities and controls, including music playback, phone calls, AirDrop requests, and more
Spotlight
Spotlight moves into Dynamic Island when Siri AI is available and enabled
Accessibility controls
Additional listed AssistiveTouch and Touch Accommodations features
Environmental Differences
Liquid Retina XDR MacBook Pro
PROLED XDR MacBook Pro
45% recycled content
55% recycled content
50% renewable manufacturing electricity
45% renewable manufacturing electricity
100% recycled tantalum in multiple capacitors, a first for Apple
Pricing and Availability
Current U.S. starting prices put PROLED $400 above each corresponding Liquid Retina XDR model:
Liquid Retina XDR
PROLED XDR
14-inch M5 Pro
$2,499
$2,899
16-inch M5 Pro
$2,999
$3,399
14-inch M5 Max
$4,099
$4,499
16-inch M5 Max
$4,399
$4,799
Launch date
March 11, 2026
November 6, 2026
The Liquid Retina XDR models remain in Apple's lineup. Their current prices reflect increases since their March introduction, so comparing original launch prices exaggerates the present starting-price premium for PROLED.
Is It Worth Upgrading?
For most existing M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro owners, there is little reason to upgrade. Both versions use the same chips, so equivalent configurations should deliver essentially the same processing performance. Neither the maximum memory capacity nor battery life has increased.
The strongest exceptions are professionals who need the OLED display's advanced capabilities, genlock, or more than 8TB of internal storage. Adobe RGB coverage and additional reference modes may address specific requirements for photographers, designers, and other professionals, while the 16TB option accommodates projects that exceed the older model's storage ceiling. These are essentially reasons to upgrade for a particular workflow, rather than for better everyday performance.
The touchscreen is a welcome addition for some users, but it is highly unlikely to justify replacing a recent MacBook Pro by itself. The reduced weight may matter more to frequent travelers, especially those carrying a 16-inch model daily, although it remains a secondary consideration for most owners since the changes are relatively minor.
The upgrade case is stronger for users coming from an M1-, M2-, or M3-generation MacBook Pro, particularly when their current machine is struggling with demanding work or has insufficient memory or storage. The existing configuration and the work it needs to perform matter more than its age alone.
Owners whose current machine remains capable should also consider waiting. M7 Pro and M7 Max models are reportedly planned for late 2027, potentially offering a major chip upgrade alongside this new display and design.
Which Should You Buy?
For buyers who need a new MacBook Pro now, the PROLED model is the stronger choice when the $400 starting-price premium is affordable and the built-in display will be used frequently. Its OLED panel is the main reason to pay more, while touch input, reduced weight, and improved speakers make the overall package more appealing. Users who need its advanced display and production capabilities have the clearest reason to choose it.
The Liquid Retina XDR model remains a sensible option when discounts create a substantial saving, particularly for users who work primarily with an external monitor, but it is important to remember that it uses a five-year-old design. It is still the better purchase when the saving allows you to afford the memory or chip configuration your work requires.
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.
Apple this year acquired 
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.
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.
The new iPad mini shown with pinched fingers on Apple's website in the U.S.
The new iPad mini shown without pinched fingers on Apple's website in South Korea
The new MacBook Pro models with OLED displays have an accessibility setting that allows you to turn off touch input entirely, 
