Zac Hall

It’s been two months since the United States Department of Justice filed its lawsuit against Apple over alleged antitrust violations. While Apple has voiced opposition to the case before now, today the company has taken the first step toward filing a motion to dismiss the case altogether. The move also sets up a number of upcoming deadlines for the case.

Apple plans to boost its iPhone production in India, increasing from below 15% to 25% by 2028. This target underscores Apple’s commitment to building a robust network of local suppliers and reducing its reliance on Chinese suppliers. It’s also a reality check on inflated projections made in recent reports.

Samsung Electronics is set to mass-produce its 3nm Exynos application processors in the latter half of 2024, challenging Apple’s smartphone dominance, and pressuring TSMC and Qualcomm.

Vietnamese officials have asked Apple supplier Foxconn to voluntarily reduce power usage by 30% at its northern assembly plants to prevent power shortages like last summer, which led to over a billion dollars in lost output.

Anyone play Mega Man back in the day? That’s the first thing I thought of when I unboxed the new NuPhy Halo75 V2 mechanical keyboard. The awesome “blue lagoon” color just screams Mega Man, and the aptly named Halo75 puts on a really playful light show for your Mac as you type. Come to think of it, those blues also give 9to5Mac vibes…

Apple has released iOS 17.5.1 for iPhone. The software update specifically addresses the issue with deleted photos reportedly returning after updating to iOS 17.5.

While the bug is certainly alarming, it’s important to note that Apple does not access your photos or videos. The issue resulted from a small number of photos being impacted by a corrupted database entry, making it possible for the photo to not fully delete from the device, Apple says.

Incase has been a favorite Apple accessory brand for me since before my time at 9to5Mac started in 2013. Seriously, their steel-colored Bird’s Nest Snap iPhone 4 case was the perfect blend of chaos and expression for me in 2011. Fast-forward to 2024 and Incase has brought back another crowd pleaser with their ICON case line.

The Incase ICON case design is much more mature than the Bird’s Nest Snap case line that I favored back in the day. The ICON case line for iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max is more like Apple’s FineWoven line—just without the drama.

MacWhisper is a super useful utility for quickly transcribing spoken audio on the Mac. Version 8 is launching today with new features around video, speed, AI, and more.

Apple Vision Pro may be taking a backseat while the M4 iPad Pro has its day in the sun, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t big things brewing for the premium mixed reality headset. GamesIndustry.biz has interviewed Owlchemy Labs CEO Andrew Eiche about their experience bringing Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator to Apple Vision Pro, and their perspective on its role in the world is clear.

Happy M4 iPad Pro launch day! Whether you’re picking one up for yourself or dreaming about which configuration you’d order, there’s plenty of M4 iPad Pro material to go around this week.

The latest insight into Apple’s vision for the iPad is included in an Apple exec interview by Harry McCracken for Fast Company. John Ternus and Greg Joswiak, or “Joz,” talk M4, AI, OLED, and what makes the iPad a “Pro” machine.

Remember when Apple discontinued the original HomePod and still sold the HomePod mini? The question at the time was “mini compared to what?” Apple later revived the HomePod with a second-gen model, restoring balance to the universe.

Now the iPad lineup is in a similar situation. Apple blasted the M4 iPad Pro with its Super Galactic Thinnifier 3000 Ray Gun, leaving the M2 iPad Air thicker than its pricier companion. In a world where Air means thin, the question is then “thin compared to what?” 

The answer exists in the annals of etymology.

Update: Three weeks later, Meta has announced the feature alongside a new partnership with an airline. Original coverage from April 18 below…

Today I learned two things. First, apparently Meta Quest headsets don’t work on planes? I guess Apple knew to prioritize that feature for Vision Pro. And second, support is reportedly on the way. Add this to the list of ways competition from Vision Pro is making Meta Quest 3 a better product.

Apple has officially released iOS 17.5, bringing new games in News+ and cross-platform tracking detection to iPhone users. Apple’s latest Pride wallpaper is also featured. The update is available alongside iPadOS 17.5, macOS 14.5 Sonoma, and more.

With 48 individual iPad configurations available from Apple, there are more choices in the lineup than ever. When simplified, though, the iPad line is divided into four models: iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. As Logan Spurgeon points out, however, there’s one thing Apple could do to really bring clarity to the iPad line.

Following release candidate versions of iOS and other operating systems this week, Apple has seeded out macOS 14.5 RC to testers. This version could be what ships when the final version reaches customers. Here are the release notes:

Not loving the new Sonos app? Cut ’em some slack—it took courage. That’s what the company says in response to criticism from customers.

One takeaway from the latest iPad event is that matte versus glossy is a polarizing topic when it comes to displays. This take is based on some of the reactions to Apple bringing its nano-texture matte display technology to the iPad Pro at last. For me, nano-texture coming to the iPad is easily my favorite piece of news from Apple’s Let Loose event.

Love those artistic Apple logos promoting the latest iPad event? It turns out the new Apple Pencil Pro carries that same energy with its packaging.

M-series Apple silicon chips tout impressive performance but unpredictable release cadence. That makes it hard to keep up with which chips are in which devices. Apple currently has three generations of M-series chips, up to four variations of each generation, and three product categories that use M-series chips. Here’s the data to make sense of it all.

Tim Cook doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to the iPad lifestyle. The Apple CEO literally walks the walk… in custom, 1-of-1 Nike sneakers. It turns out Cook’s “Let Loose” event attire included a special pair of Nike Air Max 1 ’86s. Hypebeast has the scoop…

Apple has refreshed the iPad line for 2024, and there are more choices than ever. In addition to the usual hardware upgrades, Apple has added a larger iPad Air to the lineup. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro has a nano-texture glass option for the first time.