Michael Burkhardt

Shortly after the release of macOS Big Sur back in 2020, Apple faced widespread server outages. The outage affected macOS installations, iMessage, Apple Pay, and most notably: the notarization service. This meant that users had major issues opening apps, revealing a flaw in how Apple handles app verification on the Mac.

In the latest Power On Newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman clarifies some details about next year’s slim iPhone 17 model, which he refers to as an iPhone 17 “Air.” The analyst also goes on to provide details about Apple’s future iPhone plans, including a “Pro” model with a slimmer chassis, as well as the possibility of a folding iPhone.

According to the latest edition of Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple’s Vision group is continuing to experiment with a couple different products to follow up the launch of Apple Vision Pro from earlier this year. These new products include a cheaper Apple Vision headset, a second generation of Apple Vision Pro, as well as a version of Smart Glasses.

Apple is expected to unveil two new iPad models this fall, potentially at its annual iPhone keynote next month. This will include a new entry-level 11th generation model, as well as the 7th generation of iPad mini. Both of these models have gone over 2 years without an update, so we’re overdue for a refresh.

After allowing people to buy their way to the top of the replies section by purchasing an X Premium subscription, the social media platform has now launched a new menu to allow users to sort through replies with more traditional options.

After becoming the first Apple Store in the country to unionize back in June 2022, the retail employees at the Towson Town Center location have reached a “historic” union contract with Apple this week, providing numerous benefits to the workers. This win comes after the union planned a strike earlier this year regarding the contract negotiations.

In his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reiterates that new Mac models with the M4 chip are still on track to launch later this year, although there is one interesting new detail. Gurman also adds that MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro will receive their M4 updates in 2025.

In this weekend’s Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has clarified that despite Apple Intelligence not launching until October, Apple won’t be delaying the release of the new iPhone 16 models.

Apple introduced Apple Account cards in the United States back in 2022 with iOS 15.5. Now, with iOS 17.6, the Wallet app card is expanding to Canada and Australia, two years after the initial debut.

In 2022, Apple agreed to pay a $50 million dollar settlement for certain eligible 2015-2019 MacBook owners who experienced problems with their butterfly keyboards. The claims process opened in late 2022, and the settlement got final approval last May. Starting today, eligible MacBook owners are finally receiving their payouts.

After discontinuing Twitter for Mac this week, Twitter (officially known as X) has now enabled support for running the unmodified iPad app on Apple Silicon Macs, a feature that debuted with macOS Big Sur. Although the app initially had a problem where users would get suspended for using it, it seems that the app is now safe to use.

According to filings published today, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold nearly 50% of its stake in Apple during the second quarter of 2024, after the firm already trimmed their stake by around 13% in the first quarter. Berkshire Hathaway has been rapidly building up its cash reserves in recent months, trimming positions in some of its major holdings.

After hiring a number of advertising executives earlier in the year, Apple is continuing to show signs of an upcoming ad-supported Apple TV+ plan. According to a new report from The Telegraph, Apple has held meetings with a large UK ratings body to discuss options for tracking advertising.

After some speculation on whether or not Apple Intelligence would launch in iOS 18.0, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that Apple will indeed be delaying the features until iOS 18.1, which should release to the public in October.

Spain’s National Commission of Markets and Competition, or CNMC for short, has started an investigation into Apple’s App Store. The investigation regards potential anti-competitive behavior on Apple’s platforms.

After unveiling Apple Intelligence at WWDC back in June, many have wondered when we’ll actually get to test out these new features. After all, we are quickly approaching August, and there’s still no Apple Intelligence features in any betas. Unfortunately, it’s looking like we might not get anything until iOS 18.1 later in the year.

With Apple Card approaching 5 years old, I think it’s about time that we see some changes with Apple’s first credit card. After all, Goldman Sachs is set to exit the Apple Card partnership within the next year, so Apple will have to find a new partner bank. In that process, it’s likely that we’ll see some form of revamp.

Apple is preparing to imminently release iOS 17.6, which will come with the build number 21G79. iOS 17.6 has been light on features throughout the beta period, so presumably this version will primarily include bug fixes and improvements.

Apple recently launched a new Apple Card offer, allowing cardholders to earn some additional cash back while refueling or recharging their cars. This offer lasts until August 15th.