Parker Ortolani

Rumors have been swirling for a long time about the next-generation iPad Pro. Just a few weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that the 2021 iPad Pros will maintain the same design but gain new technologies, like an A14X chip and a Thunderbolt port. It’s slated to be a much more significant upgrade than last year’s 2020 iPad Pro was over the 2018 model. Many users, including me, couldn’t find a reason to upgrade last year, and I’m struggling with the idea that this year’s model won’t yield the same situation.

iOS 14 was a major release for the platform, adding things like widgets, the App Library, updates to Messages, a redesigned Siri, and so much more. It was lauded as a key feature update so it would only be natural for iOS 15 to be a smaller update focused on refinements. While brainstorming what made the most sense for an iOS 15 concept, I had to weed out lots of ideas. I chose to focus on small changes to existing apps and features.

This afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported that western retailer H&M has disappeared from Apple Maps and other popular online services in China. The company’s locations have been removed from search in mapping apps like Apple Maps and Baidu Maps, as well as ride-hailing apps like Didi. H&M announced that it will no longer be sourcing cotton for its products from Xinjiang, one of the locations in China facing serious allegations of forced labor.

To celebrate today’s season finale of the Apple TV+ show “Servant,” Apple has partnered with two Los Angeles pizzerias to deliver free pizza to fans exclusively through Grubhub this weekend. Starting today, as of 5 p.m. PST, people in Los Angeles can order one free pizza from Gjelina or Milo and Olive.

Today Beats announced a new special edition Powerbeats Pro designed in collaboration with Los Angeles-based eSports organization FaZe Clan. The new design features a slick red tiger camo pattern on the black Powerbeats Pro. Beats and FaZe Clan are also offering a limited number of special bundles with FaZe Clan merch.

As my colleague Zac Hall noted yesterday, the Apple home strategy is kind of a mess. It truly warrants a conversation around what the company wants to accomplish in customers’ homes. Because Apple TV and HomePod are both in weird states, it occurred to me that it might be valuable to imagine how the two product lines could come together. Enter HomePod TV…

Rumors have been swirling around for months about a redesigned iPad mini with thinner bezels and a design inspired by the iPad Pro. Concept artist Michael Ma, otherwise known as Apple iDesigner, has created some beautiful renderings of what this product might look like.

Custom icon packs for iOS and iPadOS have become super popular with the changes made to Shortcuts in iOS 14. Today, we’ve got a round-up of some beautiful iOS icon packs inspired by the 1984 Macintosh and the original version of macOS.

With the discontinuation of the original HomePod on Friday, everyone is wondering what’s next for the HomePod family? Apple plans to now focus on the single $99 HomePod mini. It hits a sweet spot, being affordable and reasonably sized for any space. Apple might still have a larger- or medium-sized HomePod in the works, but I think the answer lies in portability and displays.

Tonight Apple announced via TechCrunch that the original HomePod has been discontinued. The company will shift its focus to the HomePod mini introduced in October. The original HomePod will continue to be available at Apple and other resellers until supply runs out. Apple also notes that the HomePod will continue to get software updates and support from Apple Care.

Audio tech news site 52audio shared some new photos of Apple’s upcoming third generation AirPods. These have been leaked like crazy over the past few weeks but today’s photos are the clearest ones yet. Apple’s third generation AirPods are clearly inspired by AirPods Pro with shorter stems, a shorter charging case, and rearranged sensors.

One thing that has been debated is whether or not these new AirPods will have interchangeable ear tips. Today’s photos make it clear that they won’t and instead will have a similar universal fit to that of the current generation AirPods.

AirPods were introduced nearly 5 years ago and since then they’ve become a mainstay of Apple’s product family. They’re an essential tool that makes the Apple ecosystem infinitely better. But along the way, they’ve become less of an accessory and more of a flagship product, as evident from the top-of-the-line AirPods Max at $549. That’s no accessory. That’s a computer for your head that just so happens to talk to your other devices.

Apple makes great accessories, even for other accessories. Why doesn’t Apple make its own accessories for AirPods?

Design and branding studio TIN has created a series of beautiful new time and date widgets for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 called “Timedash.” The app includes several different analog and digital clock widgets that also incorporate weather and step counting. There are 30 different unique combinations inspired by 70s wristwatches, ranging from fun and colorful to sleek and edgy.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a close ally of President Biden, is now the Chair of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee. With a democrat as influential as Klobuchar at the helm, companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and more will be facing off against a powerful new adversary. Tonight, CNN’s Brian Fung reported that Klobuchar plans to hold “standalone hearings on app store policies” among other things.

It’s been two years since Apple unveiled Apple TV+ for the first time in spring of 2019. It’s taken some time, but it seems as though the service has finally hit its stride with hits like “Ted Lasso” and “Dickinson.” Other shows have developed cult-like followings, such as “For All Mankind,” and major events like the new Billie Eilish documentary have been quite popular. It’s clear that fans are ready for Apple to make some official merchandise for their shows. One of the creators of “Ted Lasso” tweeted a few days ago that merch is indeed on the way. Here’s what that might look like.

Update: As we noted earlier today, despite the iMac Pro being discontinued it would still likely go in and out of stock for a bit. It’s now currently back in-stock in the United States on Apple.com albeit in short supply.

Two days ago we reported that the iMac Pro had been listed as “while supplies last” on the Apple Store. Today the iMac Pro officially became unavailable from the Apple Store and from major third-party retail partners in the US, marking the end of the three-year-old transitional product line.

The popular iOS app Weather Line has been acquired by an unknown buyer and will be shut down in April 2022. Users of their premium SuperCharge service will have their subscriptions extended until the app is shut down next year. All other users who currently use the free service will continue to be able to do so as well.

Popular podcast app Overcast got a major update today that includes an all new Apple Watch app, improved compatibility with Siri, and other improvements. The headline of this release, labeled 2021.1, is undoubtedly the redesigned watchOS app. New watch apps are fairly rare these days, so it’s exciting when an existing one gains a big update. The new app is more streamlined and adds several features previously only available on your paired iPhone.

Over the past few weeks the date of March 16th has been thrown around quite a bit in regards to a potential Spring Apple event. Many of us were already very skeptical about the prospects of a March event both because of the sources and the rumored product mix for such event. Well, Bloomberg reporter and Apple leaker extraordinaire Mark Gurman says a March 16th event is not happening.

Last week, we shared a concept that explored ways Apple could improve the subscription sheet in iOS to help customers better understand what they’re signing up for. The issues with the subscription sheet have been a hot topic lately amongst the community. But tonight, the developer behind Launch Center Pro, David Barnard, has pointed out that in the latest beta of iOS 14.5 Apple has started to make some changes to improve the experience.

The Twitter account AppleDemoYT is notorious for sharing Apple prototypes, and today they’ve shared a first look at some never-before-seen prototype lightning cables. Lightning was marketed as a major improvement over the old iPod 30-pin connector primarily for its ability to be reversible. But this prototype calls into question if that was intended to be the case from the start.