Chance Miller

Apple’s major MacBook Pro refresh is coming this year, and it’s shaping up to be exactly what I wanted. Here’s why I’m optimistic about the biggest changes coming later this year.

Earlier this year, Apple officially confirmed that JP Morgan Chase will take over Apple Card from Goldman Sachs.

The transition is expected to occur in January 2028. In new comments this week, Chase revealed why it thinks it will fare better at managing Apple Card than Goldman Sachs.

Apple is holding its annual shareholders meeting today, giving shareholders the opportunity to vote on various proposals. This year, shareholders rejected an outside proposal asking for an audit on Apple’s relationship with China and approved all other proposals.

One week after the release of the first beta, iOS 26.4 beta 2 is now available. The update continues to refine new features and changes for iPhone users. There are updates to RCS encryption, the Games app, and more.

iOS 26.4 beta 2 is now rolling out for developers, and it expands support for testing encrypted RCS messaging on iPhone.

The team behind Dark Sky is back with a new weather app for iPhone called “Acme Weather.” One of the primary goals of Acme Weather, according to the team, is to address “forecast uncertainty.”

Rather than simply giving you a “single best guess” like other weather apps, Acme Weather acknowledges that it the forecast it’s showing might be wrong … and offers up some alternatives.

New references uncovered in macOS 26.3 reveal multiple new Apple hardware products coming soon. Ahead of Apple’s March 4 special “experience,” there are new references to two new Studio Display models as well as the oft-rumored low-cost MacBook powered by the A18 Pro chip.

Benjamin and Chance discuss all the new features in iOS 26.4, which turned out to be a pretty packed release, even with the Siri features missing in action. Also, Apple confirms a product event for March 4, with rumors of new Macs and more in the air. Finally, Bloomberg reports Apple is advancing work on a suite of new AI devices, including glasses and a clip-on pendant. 

And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin plans his tech packing for his trip to Japan. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join. 

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According to a report from The New York Times, survivors of the catastrophic avalanche near Lake Tahoe this week used Emergency SOS via satellite on iPhone to stay in contact with first responders.

It’s the latest example of the life-saving impact of Apple’s Emergency SOS and satellite features on iPhone and Apple Watch.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified this week in what’s viewed as a landmark court case around the mental health impact of social media. As part of that testimony, Zuckerberg revealed that he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook to talk about the “wellbeing of teens and kids.”

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Apple was preparing to update CarPlay with support for voice-based interactions in AI apps like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. As of this week’s release of iOS 26.4 beta 1, that support has officially arrived.

Here’s how it works.

In new SEC disclosures filed this week, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it has once again trimmed its stake in Apple. At the same time, the firm disclosed a new $350 million investment in the New York Times.

Yesterday, Apple announced a “special experience” for March 4 at 9 a.m. ET, inviting members of the press to New York, London, and Shanghai.

The question right now is what format this “special experience” and the associated product announcements will take.

Apple released iOS 26.4 beta 1 yesterday, and the update includes a variety of changes and new features. In addition to everything we’ve covered so far, there are two specific changes to the Health app: updates to the Vitals metric and sleep tracking.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple is “accelerating” its development of three new wearable products, including smart glasses, an AI pendant, and camera-equipped AirPods.

These products, the report says, are being “built around the Siri digital assistant.”

According to a new Private Cloud Compute software release this week, Apple is starting to use M5 chips in Apple Private Cloud Compute servers. This is the infrastructure that powers Apple Intelligence’s cloud-based features.

iOS 26.4 beta 1 is now available in beta for developers. The update includes a ton of new features and changes for iPhone users. There are new changes to the Music app, Messages, Apple Podcasts, and much more. Head below for the full roundup of all the new features in iOS 26.4 beta 1.

Update February 17, 2026: Now available for public beta testers as well.

Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.4 for developers today, and it includes a new Apple Intelligence feature for Apple Music.

Dubbed “Playlist Playground,” this feature lets you create playlists based on text descriptions.

Apple added RCS support to iPhone with iOS 18.1, enabling richer cross-platform messaging between iPhone and Android users. This included things like typing indicators, read receipts, and high-resolution photo and video attachments.

Last March, Apple announced its plans to add support for end-to-end encryption for RCS messages.

Now, iOS 26.4 beta 1, which is rolling out today, adds an early way to test end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging on iPhone.