In this week’s top stories: Apple officially announces AirPods Max, Apple Fitness+ gets a release date, Apple surveys iPhone 12 users, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.
AirPods Max
Apple this week officially announced its new AirPods Max, bringing a higher-end over-ear headphone option to the AirPods lineup. The AirPods Max feature a stainless steel design and they come in at $549 — but they’re already back ordered until into 2021.
AirPods Max up to 20 hours of high-fidelity audio, talk time, or movie playback with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled. There is also support for head detection, so AirPods Max can intelligently detect when they are placed on a user’s head and pause playback when removed.
You can learn more about AirPods Max in our full coverage right here.
Apple Fitness+
Apple Fitness+ will launch to the public on December 14, Apple announced this week. Apple Fitness+ will cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. It is also included in the Apple One Premier bundle for $30 per month.
Apple Fitness+ will be located inside the Fitness app on the iPhone, running iOS 14. You can also get the workouts on the Apple Watch, and Apple is also launching a Fitness app for the Apple TV. For the initial launch, Apple Fitness+ is available in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Apple Silicon rumors
A new report from Bloomberg this week described that Apple is working on successors to the M1 with up to 20 CPU cores, made up of 16 high performance and 4-efficiency cores. In 2021, the company is expected to roll out ARM versions of the higher-end MacBook Pro, “both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops”. An ARM Mac Pro is scheduled to follow in 2022.
Find more details in our full coverage.
Holiday buying guides
Finally, we continue to offer holiday gift guides and buying guides at 9to5Mac. So far we’ve offered detailed advice on Apple Watch gifts, AirPods vs AirPods Pro, and more.
- Apple Watch Series 6 vs Apple Watch SE: Which should you buy this holiday season?
- 9to5Mac Gift Guide: AirPods vs AirPods Pro buying guide and the best accessories
- 9to5Mac Gift Guide: Gadget gifts for all budgets
- 9to5Mac Gift Guide: The best HomeKit gifts in 2020 for safety and security
- Apple Watch Series 3 vs Apple Watch SE: Which should you buy this holiday season?
- 9to5Mac Gift Guide: Best iPhone wallets and smart wallets
- Gift Guide: Smart health/fitness devices for beginners and fanatics
These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.
iOS | tvOS |
- iOS 14.3 Release Candidate now available, here are the full release notes
- How to manage COVID-19 exposure notifications on iPhone
- Apple Music adding animated album artwork with iOS 14.3
- Apple releases second iOS 14.3 RC and macOS Big Sur 11.1 RC to developers
iPhone |
- iPhone 12 Pro vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Which should you buy this holiday season?
- Apple says it is working on a fix for iPhone 12 wireless charging problem
- Apple surveys iPhone users on Face ID opinions, USB cable in the box
- Samsung plans to ditch power adapters just 3 months after mocking Apple over the same
- iPhone 12 Diary: As expected, 5G coverage means little as yet
- Bloomberg: Apple started developing its first cellular modem chip for future devices
Apple Watch |
- Concept imagines new Apple Watch Series 7 with flat edges
- Fitness+ workout service for Apple Watch launching on December 14
Mac and iPad |
- Best USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 displays for Mac
- Apple patent describes ‘light absorbing’ matte black MacBooks
- Bloomberg: Apple developing industry-leading CPUs with as many as 32 performance cores, targeting iMac and MacBook Pro
Top Apple stories, retail |
- Discover art and design around the world this holiday season with The 12 Days of Apple Stores widget
- How to shop at an Apple Store this holiday season
- COVID-19: Which Apple Stores have reopened?
AirPods|
- Apple officially announces AirPods Max for $549, order from today
- AirPods Max tidbits: Charger and audio cable not included, fast-charging, AppleCare, more
- Apple didn’t include its U1 chip for Ultra WideBand in the new AirPods Max
- AirPods Max development took at least 4 years, says former Apple designer
- AirPods Max hands-on roundup: ‘Crisp and bright’ sound, comfortable design help justify $549 price
- AirPods Max shipping times slip to March 2021 for some models
Apps |
- Apple to ban X-Mode tracking SDK from the App Store, developers given two weeks to comply
- Apple responds to WhatsApp criticism, confirms its own apps will show privacy labels
Top Apple stories, company |
- Apple homepage gets (RED) takeover with 100% of proceeds going to pandemic relief
- Report: Apple working with TSMC on self-driving car chips, model is ‘similar to Tesla’
- Apple and Cloudflare team up to stop your ISP seeing which websites you visit
Subscribe to 9to5Mac’s YouTube channel for more videos.
This week’s top videos |
- Hands-on with the top iOS 14.3 RC features and changes [Video]
- Hands-on: iPhone 12 Pro Max Leather Sleeve
- AirPods Max Over-Ear Headphones Unveiled! Everything you need to know.
9to5Mac Daily |
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Week 6 – 9to5Mac Watch Time
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iOS 16.4 features, SiriGPT, Apple TV+ theatrical ambitions – 9to5Mac Happy Hour
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Stacktrace has moved! – Stacktrace
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