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This week’s top stories: AirPods Max officially announced, Apple Fitness+ launch date, more

Chance Miller | Dec 13 2020 - 1:45 pm PT

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.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS | tvOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

Mac and iPad |

AirPods|

Apps |

This week’s top videos |

9to5Mac Daily |

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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9to5Mac Watch Time |

Jeff Benjamin joins Zac Hall to give Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 5 an exit interview before new models are announced. 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives.

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Week 6 – 9to5Mac Watch Time

This week on Watch Time join 9to5Mac's Zac Hall and Tempo developer Rahul Matta in the final episode of this podcast "season". 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives. Subscribe now to catch up with each episode and automatically hear new episodes as soon as they’re released every two weeks: 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🟠 Overcast | 🟢 Spotify Follow Zac Instagram @apollozac Twitter @apollozac SpaceExplored.com Follow Rahul Matta Twitter @rmatta Twitter @TempoLog Blog indie.sh Follow 9to5Mac Instagram @9to5mac Twitter @9to5mac Facebook YouTube.com/9to5Mac Listen & Subscribe Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast RSS Read More Toning down the Apple Watch: Tips and feature requests to avoid being overwhelmed Apple releases watchOS 7.4.1 with security improvements Apple Watch blood sugar and blood pressure measurement could be a step closer watchOS 7.4 brings iPhone mask unlock feature for Apple Watch Enjoy the podcast? Shop Apple at Amazon to support 9to5Mac Watch Time!

9to5Mac Happy Hour Podcast |

9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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iOS 27 beta 2, Apple price increases, Apple Watch OS support – 9to5Mac Happy Hour

Benjamin and Chance react to the shocking price increases across Mac, iPad, and more, as well as break down all the latest changes in iOS 27 beta 2. Also, how fair is it that watchOS 27 cuts off so many models of Apple Watch, while iOS 27 is available for every iPhone that runs iOS 26. And in Happy Hour Plus, John Ternus is reportedly looking to re-establish the design team at the center of Apple’s decision-making. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join. Sponsored by Roborock: Check out Roborock's Prime Day Sale featuring up to $1,500 off best-selling robot vacuums and wet dry vacuums, including the Saros 10R, Qrevo Edge 2, Qrevo Curv 2 Flow, and more. Sponsored by Shopify: See less carts go abandoned and more sales. Sign up for a $1 per month trial at shopify.com/happyhour. Sponsored by Quince: Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Visit quince.com/happyhour for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Sponsored by Framer: The only free design tool that brings your ideas to the web. Visit framer.com/happyhour for 30% off a Framer Pro annual plan.

Stacktrace Podcast |

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Stacktrace has moved! – Stacktrace

As we've mentioned in the last episode, the Stacktrace podcast is no longer a part of the 9to5Mac network. If you're seeing this entry in your podcast player, then you probably need to unfollow Stacktrace and follow the podcast again. Start by unfollowing the show in your podcast player, then just search for "Stacktrace" and follow the show again. You'll notice that the updated show has a new artwork and that episode 179 has already been released there. To learn more about how to listen to Stacktrace, check out our new website. Thanks for listening!

Apple @ Work Podcast |

Apple @ Work by 9to5Mac is available on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and via RSS for other podcast players.

Apple @ Work Podcast: macOS ClickFix is back for more – Apple @ Work

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