Michael is 9to5Mac’s Associate Editor, leading all of our Apple news coverage on Saturday and Sunday, and contributing to reporting from Monday to Wednesday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and started the weekly Indie App Spotlight series, which has covered dozens of indie apps since it launched.
Every January, CES takes place in Las Vegas. Given the fact that Apple themselves never partakes in CES, it’s not necessarily a super important event for me to go to. That said, it’s always fun to see what’s going on in the tech world, and also see what Apple-adjacent products are coming to market.
I’ll be rounding up some of my favorite products that I got to see. Some of them aren’t coming to market imminently, though most of them are on the horizon.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
If you’ve ever found yourself looking into the sky and wondered “huh, that plane looks a little interesting’ – Zephy is a fun plane tracking tool that uses your iPhone’s gyroscope to show you what exactly is around you. It’s rather nifty.
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In just a few short months, we should hopefully get our first look at an all new AI-infused Siri. After unveiling it over a year and a half ago, Apple’s vision for an all new Siri faced many engineering challenges – and is yet to hit users devices. That should be changing soon, though.
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If you’re looking to kick off the new year with a new MacBook, now’s a fantastic time to buy. In recent years, Macs have become more and more affordable – largely in part because of Apple’s transition to Apple Silicon. These MacBooks are also more capable than ever.
Apple’s latest macOS Tahoe update also dropped support for practically all Intel Macs (with some small exceptions). If you’d like to stay on the latest and greatest Apple software, nows a fitting time to upgrade.
Keep up with all of the latest MacBook deals on 9to5Toys.
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This year, Apple is anticipated to refresh the majority of its iPad lineup. Apple kicked off a new iPad generation with the launch of the M5 iPad Pro in October, and every other iPad in the lineup will follow suit later this year. These are the latest rumors.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
In this vast world of streaming, finding something you want to watch can be a challenge. Backlot simplifies that, and puts discovery, watchlists, and ‘where to watch’ in one singular ad-free experience, making it easy to find what you want to watch when you need to.
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After debuting over 6 years ago, Apple Card has been a little bit of a nightmare for its partner bank, Goldman Sachs. They’re looking to exit, and while rumors aren’t crystal clear on the future of Apple Card, we’ll be recapping them here.
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Apple’s had a remarkable 2025, with the introduction of Liquid Glass, the iPhone Air, radical new iPhone 17 Pros, and large leaps in Apple Silicon. There weren’t a lot of surprising product launches per se, but everything felt pretty new. Heading into 2026 though, Apple has a lot of innovative new products coming to market – across every category.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
In iOS 26.2, Apple introduced the ability for you to attach full screen alarms to your reminders. Cannot Ignore is a new app that takes that a step further, allowing you to sync calendar events and have full screen alarms for them, ensuring you can’t forget anything important.
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Earlier this week, Apple leaker Kosutami shared new images of prototype AirPods in two very bright colors: pink and yellow. These ultimately didn’t make it to release, but they’re cool to see nonetheless.
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Rumors strongly suggest that Apple will be overhauling the MacBook Pro as soon as next year, marking five years since the previous redesign that we know and love today. There are five key rumors to follow with this redesigned MacBook Pro, and we’ll be delving into them here.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
AnywAIr, which is a play on the word “anywhere”, is a nifty little iOS app that lets you play with AI models – regardless of if you have an internet connection. It offers custom themes, a plethora of tools and games, and all of the local AI models you could want to mess with.
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Anker is back at it again with a new 20,100mAh power bank, under its Anker Prime brand. This power bank has three ports, offers up to 220W of output, and comes in a pretty compact package. It’s available for purchase on Amazon for $129.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Keeping up with the news can often be exhausting. Headlines offers a clean experience that puts your favorite writers and publications front and center. It’s available on iPhone, iPad, and has a web app.
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With iOS 26 this year, Apple announced an incredibly promising improvement to the order tracking feature in the Wallet app. With on-device Apple Intelligence models, the company planned to identify orders in your email to provide tracking updates, eliminating the need for retailers to need to support their proprietary feature.
I was really optimistic about this improvement, but after using it for the past couple months, it honestly feels a dull band-aid solution that never should’ve been implemented. Here’s why.
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With iPadOS 26.2, Apple is bringing two major upgrades to the iPad: Split View has returned, and Slide Over has a new gesture. Now, you can just drag and drop apps from your dock, and they’ll snap into place – there’ll no longer be a need to manually resize your windows in the manner you need them.
This was already how things worked in iPadOS 18 and prior, and now it’s finally back.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
Spotlight on the Mac has been far from perfect, especially in recent years. If you want a great, drop-in replacement that offers speedy app launches, file searches, a clipboard manager, and much, much more – you should check out Vector.
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According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple’s hardware technologies SVP Johny Srouji is ‘seriously’ considering leaving the company. He’s most known for leading the charge on Apple Silicon. If he does end up leaving, he’ll reportedly take his talents to another company.
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Belkin’s always been a top accessory maker when it comes to MagSafe and Qi2 products for iPhone users, and these accessories are no different. For Cyber Monday, Belkin is offering some pretty compelling discounts on some of its leading charging accessories. I’ll be sharing my impressions here.
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Welcome to Indie App Spotlight. This is a weekly 9to5Mac series where we showcase the latest apps in the indie app world. If you’re a developer and would like your app featured, get in contact.
There’s lots of weather apps out there, but Dumb Weather goes against the grain. Rather than overwhelming you with information, it focuses on the bare essentials and the key insights that you truly need to have a good overview of your day ahead.
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Recently, Anker announced a new collaboration with Black Myth, and they’re slowly rolling out a number of limited-edition themed products around that. First of which is their 14-in-1 DL7400 desktop dock, which I’ll be going hands on with.
For Black Friday, you can save up to 30% on Anker’s DL7400 desktop dock – bringing it down to just $209.99 for the standard version and $271.99 for the flashier limited edition collab.
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Last year, Apple opened up its MagSafe standard to the Wireless Power Consortium, allowing third party companies to officially utilize MagSafe – at up to 15W. Earlier this year, the standard expanded with Qi2.2, making 25W MagSafe charging available to third party manufacturers.
Many manufacturers have come to market with fantastic 25W Qi2.2 chargers, and this ESR model is one of them. For Black Friday, you can get this ESR 3-in-1 for just $89.99, making it one of the more affordable Qi2.2 options on the market.
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Apple offers two entry level MacBook models: the MacBook Air, and the base model MacBook Pro. There’s a couple hundred dollars in difference between the two, which begs the question – is the MacBook Pro worth the premium, or should you save money and stick to the MacBook Air?
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Apple started selling the M1 MacBook Air for $699 through Walmart last year, and at the time, it was a great deal. I’ve personally been a big advocate for the M1 MacBook Air, especially as its slowly come down in price. In more recent history, it’s gone on sale for $599, and this week for Black Friday – you can grab one for $549.
While that’s still certainly an appealing price point, I’d recommend you think twice about that purchase before you make that jump. Here’s why.
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