If your Apple Watch is a Series 8 or older, an Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) or the original Apple Watch Ultra, Monday brings you nothing. Those five models ran watchOS 26 and none of them appears on Apple’s watchOS 27 list, which stops at Series 9, SE 3 and Ultra 2. Series 12 ships…
iOS 27 First, Then watchOS 27: The Update Order for Monday, and Where Apple TV Fits
There is a fixed order to Monday’s updates, and Apple publishes it in a footnote rather than an instruction. watchOS 27 requires a paired iPhone already running iOS 27, so the phone goes first and the watch cannot go at all until it does. watchOS 27 installs only after the paired iPhone is on iOS…
visionOS 27 on an M2 Vision Pro: What Arrives Monday, and the Two Features Apple Keeps for the M5
visionOS 27 arrives free on Monday, September 14, and an original M2 Apple Vision Pro gets almost all of it, including the Siri AI beta. Two features are held back for the M5 headset: Siri voice customization and Apple’s improved on-device Dictation model. Apple announced no new headset at its September 9 event. Image: Apple…
watchOS 27's Four Off-Stage Features: Find My, Wallet Passes, Call Context and Kids' Setup
watchOS 27 arrives free on Monday, September 14, and four of its changes were never mentioned on stage: a single Find My app, Wallet passes made by scanning a plastic membership card, Call Context on your wrist, and a setup path for a child’s Apple Watch. None of the four needs an Apple Watch Series…
AirPods 5 vs AirPods Max 2: $420 Apart, and Only One Has a Full Spec Sheet
AirPods 5 costs $129 and AirPods Max 2 costs $549, a gap of $420 inside the same product family. The odd part is that their total rated listening times with noise cancellation are almost the same, at up to 20 hours each. AirPods 5 at $129 sits $420 below the top of Apple's range. Image:…
Every AirPods Apple Sells Runs the Same H2 Chip: So What Separates $129 From $549?
Apple lists the same H2 chip and the same Bluetooth 5.3 radio on every set of AirPods it sells, from the $129 AirPods 5 to the $549 AirPods Max 2. The price range across that lineup is more than four times, and none of it is explained by a different processor. AirPods 5 carry the…
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max Match Last Year's Pros Millimeter for Millimeter: How to Size-Test Before Pre-Orders
Apple lists the iPhone 18 Pro at 150.0 x 71.9 x 8.75 mm, which is exactly what it listed for the iPhone 17 Pro, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at 163.4 x 78.0 x 8.75 mm, exactly what it listed for the 17 Pro Max. If you can hold either of last year’s Pro…
AirPods Features That Stop at One Model: Heart Rate, Hearing Aid, Volume Swipe and MagSafe
Several of the features Apple advertises on AirPods exist on exactly one model in the range, and one of them exists on only one of the two AirPods 5 versions. Heart rate sensing and the hearing features are AirPods Pro 3 alone, MagSafe charging is Pro 3 alone, and the force sensor with volume swipe…
iPhone Duo Storage Costs the Same as iPhone 18 Pro Max Storage: How to Configure a $1,999 Fold
iPhone Duo costs exactly $700 more than an iPhone 18 Pro Max at every storage tier, and every storage step costs exactly what the same step costs on the Pro and Pro Max: $200 to reach 512GB, another $400 for 1TB, another $600 for 2TB. Apple has priced the fold as a flat surcharge and…
iPhone Duo Arrives Five Weeks After the iPhone 18 Pro: What That Gap Is Worth to a Buyer
Apple’s first foldable pre-orders on Friday, October 16 and ships on Friday, October 23, exactly five weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max reach buyers on September 18. For anyone weighing a first-generation fold, that gap is the most useful thing about the launch, because most of what sits inside an iPhone Duo…