We start today’s episode of the podcast by discussing pre-orders for the iPhone Duo. Either demand is high, supply is short, or both, because after just a few minutes, the delivery dates for orders slipped back quite a bit. After a few hours, the earliest ship dates were in late January—which is certainly awkward if you were buying one as a Christmas present. Next, we talk about the new Apple HomeView, which is a huge topic because there is so much new to discuss. We also talk about the new HomePod mini 2, the new Apple TV 4K, and the Apple Home Collection products being sold by third parties.
Fall 2026 will be remembered as a time with a lot of new stuff from Apple. Siri AI has completely changed Siri, and while this first version is far from perfect, I’m frequently amazed by how useful it is. As Andrew Chow of Time notes, Apple’s goal is to build a “modest but personalized and privacy-preserving form of AI that will actually help ordinary people as opposed to merely dazzling Silicon Valley’s ‘lunatic fringe,’ as Greg Joswiak, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, puts it.” Meanwhile, pre-orders for the iPhone Duo started earlier this morning. A few days ago, Apple announced the Apple HomeView, a new type of home device that will either be exactly what your home is missing or completely unnecessary because, as Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels noted, some people will insist you can already do all of that on your iPhone. While I think that Siri AI is a win for Apple and its customers, the jury is still out on the iPhone Duo and the HomeView. Nevertheless, I have to give Apple credit for trying something new. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Andrew O’Hara of AppleInsider got a chance to try out the HomeView at Apple’s event in New York this week, and he is so impressed that he plans to buy three of them: one for his kitchen, one for his bedside, and one for his office.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge is impressed by the elegant simplicity of the HomeView. She also notes that because it can give you useful information without you needing to check an iPhone, it may help you avoid those situations when one parent checks an iPhone for something and then, the next thing you know, every kid sees that as permission to use their iPhone at the dinner table as well. Yes, I’ve been there.
Juli Clover of MacRumors notes some of the HomeView features that you might have missed, such as the adaptable interface that changes what is on the screen based on how close you are to it.
Julian Chokkattu of Wired calls the HomeView “a giant Apple Watch for the home.”
Wesley Hilliard of AppleInsider predicts that third parties will release HomeView accessories that will make the device portable: the same thing that we have seen with the HomePod mini.
Companies have been making small kitchen electronic devices for a long time. For example, as a Palm user over 20 years ago, I was intrigued by the short-lived 3Com Audrey in 2000. And of course, devices like the Amazon Echo have been around more recently. Kate Kozuch of Tom’s Guide notes two reasons that Apple’s HomeView may be the first device in this category to finally get it right. First, it works with the content that you already have instead of forcing you to find something within a device’s own ecosystem. Second, the HomeView doesn’t show promotional content, which many people hate about Amazon’s products.
Keeping a HomeView in a kitchen makes good sense to me, but I can also see how it might get some abuse in that room. William Gallagher of AppleInsider notes that without AppleCare, a repair costs $279—basically the cost of a new device. But with AppleCare, the repair charge is a flat rate of $39.
I liked the video Apple released to show how a HomeView can be used in a kitchen, but Allison Johnson of The Verge believes you have to be a parent to really appreciate the commercial. She may be right.
Charlton also compares the new HomePod mini 2 to the prior model, which was introduced six years ago. Charlton notes numerous technical improvements, but acknowledges that support for Siri AI is the most important change. I’m still waiting to learn how Siri AI works when you have a mix of old and new models in your home.
Apple used to use a Broadcom network chip to provide Wi-Fi and other networking features for the iPhone. In 2025, Apple instead started using a new chip it designed called the N1. It supports the latest standards for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread. Because it uses Bluetooth 6, it supports Bluetooth channel sounding to find other devices that support the standard with precise tracking. (Before the N1, Apple used a separate UWB chip for that tracking.) One of Apple’s announcements this week was a new Apple TV remote that you can find using Find My. But instead of working with UWB for precision tracking, it only works with the N1. Stevie Bonifield of The Verge reports that this means you can use just about any iPhone to track this remote with hints like “far” or “near,” but if you want precision tracking—details like how many feet away the remote is—you’ll need to use an iPhone Duo, iPhone Air, or iPhone 17 or later (because those are the models that have an N1 chip).
I’m not a fan of horror movies, but I won’t be able to resist at least starting to watch a new immersive horror film in immersive video for the Apple Vision Pro called Remnants. I’m sure that horror is even scarier when it is that much more lifelike. Apple shared a video showing people screaming as they experienced the movie. (As a reminder, here is the list that I keep up to date of all of Apple’s immersive content.)
Glenn Fleishman of Six Colors explains how, in iOS 27, you can share your location with someone else for a custom period of time that you choose, up to 30 days.
I enjoyed the Apple TV show Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, so I was pleased to see this report from Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac that Apple has renewed the show for a second season.
And finally, if you want to see an Apple promotional video for the HomeView that follows a more traditional style than the video I referenced above, then this video is for you:
Yesterday, Apple announced many new smart home products. One of them is a brand-new product, the HomeView. Apple also updated two of its current home products (Apple TV and the HomePod mini 2) and introduced the Home Collection: products made by other companies in collaboration with Apple. Considering that Apple also added a new “Home” tab to the top of its website, this looks like the start of a new area of Apple products for the home.
Apple HomeView
When I wear my Apple Vision Pro while sitting in my Living Room, I see a clock and other items on my wall that are not there in real life. You can see an example of what I mean in this part of Episode 202 of the In the News podcast. Having a beautifully designed Apple widget on my wall is very useful, and I am so used to glancing at that clock while I am watching a movie or TV show in the Vision Pro that I often find myself looking over there to check the time, even when I am not wearing it. With the introduction of the new Apple HomeView, I can now have a physical object in my home that is similar to the virtual one I only see while wearing my Vision Pro.
The Apple HomeView has a square display that is 7" diagonal (5.73" on each side). The screen has rounded corners—just like a widget on an iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro—that can display all sorts of useful information. It can show many different clock styles. It can show pictures, like a digital picture frame. It can show your personal content, such as your calendar. What it displays can change based on how close or far you are from the HomeView, with smaller text and items only being displayed when you are close enough to be able to see them.
It can show a timer. The touchscreen is fully interactive, and you can also use it to play music (with lyrics, if you want), a podcast, a video, an audiobook, and more.
It can also display a recipe. When you open a recipe from a website in Safari, HomeView can convert it into a format that works best on its screen, with step-by-step instructions and timers for specific steps.
It has a built-in camera, so you can also use it for FaceTime calls. Like many modern Apple devices, FaceTime uses Center Stage to keep multiple people in the frame, even when they move around the room.
It can act as a central hub for your smart home devices, letting you adjust the thermostat, watch security cameras, control devices like lights and fans, and more.
It also supports the new Apple Intelligence. Just like an iPhone running iOS 27, you can ask it questions about your personal life, although you need to be using an iPhone 15 Pro or newer for this to work. Or, you can ask the HomeView questions about world knowledge, so it acts like a friendly know-it-all in your home. You can even go back and forth between talking to Siri on your iPhone and talking to Siri on the HomeView.
Much like an Apple Watch, you can swipe left-to-right or right-to-left to change the face. If you swipe down from the top, Siri is triggered so you can ask a question. If you swipe up from the bottom, you see a mix of app icons and widgets, similar to an iPhone screen, and you can select a specific app. In the Home app, you can swipe right to left to view a live stream of up to nine home security cameras at once.
I feel comfortable with my iPhone knowing all my personal details (emails, messages, calendar, notes, etc.) because my iPhone is locked and only I can use it. Even though the HomeView is a device in your home that anyone can access, privacy is baked in. HomeView recognizes you (and up to five other people) and syncs with your iPhone, so it uses your personal information only when it sees you using the device and when your iPhone is in your house and has been unlocked recently. If you step away, your personal information on the screen—such as your calendar or messages—disappears.
The HomeView comes in two versions. The main version contains a base, so it sits on a kitchen counter, nightstand, or table. Speaking of using it on a nightstand, Apple says that the brightness can automatically adjust from as bright as 500 nits to as little as 0.3 nits—which is even better than the latest versions of the Apple Watch, which can go down to 1 nit.
You can also get a version without a base that mounts on the wall, although you need to pay extra for mounting options. That version can either have a cord running down the wall to an outlet, or you can have a professional installer run a cord behind your wall using either AC or Power over Ethernet (PoE). To make it easy to find a professional installer, Apple has partnered with ADT, so you can simply book an appointment on the ADT website.
The HomeView display includes two speakers. If you use the model with a base, the base adds a downward-facing woofer and has other features to improve the sound quality.
Speaking of the speaker, a HomeView can use AirPlay so that it can play the same audio that is being played by your HomePods, HomePod minis, and Apple TV, making it part of a full-home speaker experience.
For an example of how a HomeView might be used in a kitchen with a busy family, check out this cute video from Apple:
The HomeView doesn’t have an App Store. Some of the apps that it uses are built in, but it is also possible for third-party developers to add apps to the screen, much like third parties can currently request permission from Apple to have a CarPlay app. Indeed, Julian Chokkattu of Wired says that “developers can bring over existing CarPlay apps” and they will “automatically appear on the HomeView after setup.” I feel like there is a lot that we still need to learn about how this device works with different apps, but what I am hearing so far sounds promising.
It comes in four colors: silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray.
The HomeView is both something old and something new. As I mentioned above, because it can display a widget such as a clock, it is similar to what I see when using my Vision Pro. The face is also similar to a (larger) Apple Watch or CarPlay screen in that it focuses on giving you just the key information that you need. But you can also use it to watch videos, like an Apple TV, and it taps into the new and powerful Siri AI, just like an iPhone. It also works as a speaker, like a HomePod. As a result, I suspect this product will feel like something new in your home while still feeling familiar and intuitive to use.
The cost is $299. You can pre-order it now, either from Apple or on Amazon, and it will begin shipping and be available in stores starting November 13, 2026.
Apple TV 4K (4th generation)
On April 20, 2021, Apple introduced the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) (my review) to provide support for 4K televisions and an upgraded Siri Remote. On October 18, 2022, Apple announced the Apple TV (3rd generation), which was a little faster but otherwise was very similar.
Yesterday, Apple announced the Apple TV 4K (4th generation). It uses an upgraded chip, so I presume it is a little faster. It supports the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards. There are built-in microphones, so you can talk to Siri, and it can hear you and respond even without you talking into the Siri Remote. It also comes with an improved Siri Remote that looks very similar to the prior model but supports Find My; that way, if you lose your remote (perhaps between couch cushions), you can locate it by using another Apple device. You can also connect four HomePods or HomePod minis for surround sound, if you are using the newest models.
Unfortunately, like so many other Apple devices this year, it is more expensive. An Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) was sold for as little as $169 back in 2021. This new version doesn’t have that many more features, but it costs $299.
Perhaps the biggest new feature of the Apple TV 4K (4th generation) is support for the improved Siri that also comes with iOS 27. For example, you can ask questions about the show that you are watching, and responses appear in a compact overlay on the screen. However, as Apple notes in its press release, you can also use the new Siri with the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and the Apple TV 4K (3rd generation). Thus, if you already use an Apple TV and don’t want any of the unique new features, such as using four HomePods for surround sound, you can stick with what you already have. And if all that you want is the new Siri Remote with support for Find My—which I can see being pretty useful if you have young kids who like to hide things—you can purchase just the new Siri Remote for $59, and it works with older models of the Apple TV.
HomePod mini 2
I’m a big fan of the HomePod mini. I have two in my living room as a stereo pair, and another in a different room so I can play music throughout the downstairs. And my daughter has one in her bedroom that I sometimes borrow to use outside when we have parties, so that the music plays both inside and outside.
The big new feature is support for the new Siri. With my HomePod mini, if I ask a question that requires tapping into knowledge of the world, I often get that unhelpful original Siri response that just offers to show me websites with the answer on my iPhone. The new HomePod mini 2 will give me the answer, much like using the new Siri on an iPhone. Curiously, the word “will” in that sentence is a prediction of the future; Apple is shipping this device starting October 30, but Apple said that support for Siri AI will be available in a future software update. We don’t know when. That’s odd since it is the major reason to get this device.
One question I have: if you already have several HomePod minis and you add a single HomePod mini 2, what happens when you talk to Siri? Will the newer model handle the request and give you the new Siri AI experience? Or, if you’re closer to an older model, will it handle your request and provide a less satisfactory response?
This update includes a few other small changes. For example, the display on the top of the HomePod mini 2 can use something called Sound Glow to display colors based on the sound and album art of whatever is playing. But since I never look at the top of a HomePod mini, that feature doesn’t matter to me.
Apple Home Collection
The Apple HomeView was the star of yesterday’s announcements, but I was just as interested to learn about something called Apple Home Collection. There have been times in the past when Apple has worked with other companies to produce an accessory for an Apple product, such as Apple working with Logitech to design the Logitech Crayon Digital Pencil for use with an iPad.
Apple is now doing something similar by working with companies that create smart home products: LG and Schneider Electric. It is unclear if Apple will be working with additional companies in the future. Unlike other smart home products that work with the Apple ecosystem (because they support HomeKit or the Matter open standard) but offer a subpar experience, products that are part of the Apple Home Collection all feature what Apple calls a “clean, minimal aesthetic and premium materials, with every detail considered, from how they mount and adjust to how they look and feel alongside Apple products throughout the home.” For example, you won’t see the big letters “LG” or similar logos on these products. And they are designed to respect privacy, a key concern for Apple.
For now, the lineup is limited, but it hits the high points. There is an LG video doorbell, LG floodlight camera, LG outdoor camera, LG indoor camera, LG smart deadbolt lock, and thermostats and home room sensors from LG and Schneider Electric.
Perhaps the most interesting design among these is in the LG indoor camera. Many people are sensitive about a camera inside their house that looks at them. This camera tilts downward so it cannot see anyone when it senses a user is in the home—I presume because their iPhone is in the house. When nobody who lives in the home is home, the camera tilts back up so that it can show pets, intruders, etc.
Note that all these cameras are wired. One thing I like about the Eufy outdoor cameras at my house is that I don’t need to run a wire to them; they have a battery. Yes, that means that I need to take them down and charge them occasionally—except for one of my cameras, which is in a location where it gets enough sunlight on the solar panel on its top to stay charged—but that tradeoff is acceptable to me. Of course, wired cameras have many advantages, such as staying on all the time, so you may decide a wired setup is a better option for you.
I’m glad Apple announced the Apple Home Collection, and I hope they add more products to the collection in the future. It is nice to be able to choose a product you know will work well because it has Apple’s seal of approval.
Welcome home
Some of these individual announcements are bigger than others, but taken together, they show a new emphasis from Apple on helpful smart home products. And that new emphasis is probably more exciting to me than any of the specific products. Except, perhaps, for the Apple HomeView: it not only seems useful, but you have to admit, it also looks adorable.
Most cars that support Apple CarPlay require you to connect a USB cable from your car to your iPhone. Some newer cars support wireless CarPlay, which is nice because your car connects to your iPhone automatically. Twelve South—a company with a long history of making excellent accessories for Apple products—recently released the AirFly Drive ($39.99 on Amazon), a tiny device that plugs into your car’s USB port to add support for wireless CarPlay. I bought one, and I’ve been using it for about a week. I love it, and I recommend that you check it out.
The device is tiny, less than an inch long and wide. The idea is that once you plug it into your USB port, you can barely even see it.
In my car (a Honda Accord), my USB port for CarPlay is in a compartment in my center console with a cover that lifts up and then closes. Thus, you definitely cannot see it in my car, once I close the cover.
If your car uses USB-C instead of USB for CarPlay, the AirFly Drive comes with a USB-C to USB dongle.
When your car starts up, just before you see the CarPlay screen, you see the AirFly Drive screen for about a second or so. That screen gives you directions for connecting to your iPhone via Bluetooth, but you only have to do so once. After that initial pairing, your iPhone connects automatically after you start your car.
Once connected, you get the same CarPlay experience you have probably used for years. Everything just works. The only change I have noticed is that when I use the buttons on my steering wheel (for example, to fast-forward), there is a very tiny delay before my iPhone responds. I don’t find it annoying, but it is something that I can notice.
Wireless CarPlay is nice because you can get in your car and start driving without worrying about pulling out your iPhone, connecting it with a cable, and finding a place to store your iPhone with that cable connected while driving. I typically keep my iPhone in my shirt pocket, and it is nice to just leave it there while I am driving. When I arrive at my destination, I can just turn off my car and go, without having to deal with the cable. If you keep your iPhone in a purse, briefcase, etc., you’ll appreciate the convenience even more than I do. As a bonus, I don’t have to worry about the cable getting in my way while I am driving.
I used to think I would always prefer a wired connection so I could charge my iPhone while I use CarPlay. If you rely on the time in your car to keep your iPhone sufficiently charged, this product is not for you. But I typically have plenty of battery life on my iPhone. Moreover, most of my car trips are so short that the time I would spend charging doesn’t make much difference anyway. When I am in my office, I often put my iPhone on a charger to take advantage of StandBy mode (to see a clock, my calendar, etc.), and that mode keeps my iPhone fully charged.
The next time I take a very long drive, I may disconnect the AirFly Drive and use the cable to keep my iPhone charged over that extended distance. But for my daily driving, I prefer the wireless CarPlay experience.
If you share your car with someone else, a small button on the AirFly Drive lets you switch between two Bluetooth connections. Now that my daughter is in college, I’m not sharing my car with anyone, so I haven’t tested that button.
Twelve South is not the first company to make a product like this, but Twelve South is a company that I trust because I’ve used its products for years. For example, the original AirFly device (here is my 2018 review; the product has been updated since then) plugs into the audio port on an airplane so that you can use your AirPods with the plane’s built-in entertainment system.
If you want to try out wireless CarPlay even though your car doesn’t natively support it, this small and inexpensive device is worth checking out. I think that you will like it.
It is always exciting to anticipate new products from Apple, and we are just a few days away from Apple’s newest smart home products. Thus, Brett Burney and I begin this week’s episode of the podcast discussing what we hope and expect to see from Apple on Tuesday. We also talk about Tim Cook with the King, why the newest AirPods may be a good alternative to the AirPods Pro, Florida’s decision not to support a digital driver’s license for the Apple Wallet app, and more.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for accessing apps on the Apple Watch, and I share some backup tips that can save your bacon if a hard drive fails—which happened to me this week.
Welcome home! On Tuesday, October 13 at 9:00 Eastern, Apple is holding an event in Tribeca, New York, to announce new products for the home, as reported by Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac (and many others!). Rumors suggest we will see a new version of the HomePod with a screen—maybe they will call it a HomePad?—that can act as a central hub for your home. Also expected are new versions of the HomePod mini and a new Apple TV 4K. Lewis Wallace of Cult of Mac suggests we may also see smart home devices like a door lock, thermostat, video doorbell, indoor camera, outdoor camera, floodlight camera, temperature sensor, or more. John Gruber of Daring Fireball discusses the rumor, from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, that Apple partnered with LG to create those devices. I’ve long been a fan of smart home technology that improves my quality of life, and I’m very excited to find out what Apple has been working on. And now, the news of note from the past week:
I hate to put too much credence in rumors, but since we are talking about October Apple announcements, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention that Mark Gurman of Bloomberg is predicting that around October 27, Apple will announce a new iPad mini, MacBook Pros with touchscreens (a first for a Mac), and perhaps more, as noted by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac. We’ll see.
If you haven’t yet upgraded to iOS 27 because you are waiting for your iPhone to tell you to do so, your iPhone apparently waited longer than normal, as noted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball, in an effort to let Apple slow the ramp-up to Siri AI. But according to Joe Rossignol of MacRumors, Apple is now starting to encourage people to upgrade. You really should upgrade because there are so many great features. Indeed, if you haven’t checked out last week’s episode of the In the News podcast (YouTube link), you should because it’s made up entirely of great iOS 27 tips.
David Phelan of The Independent interviewed Tim Cook to talk about his new job at Apple now that he is no longer CEO. The article also mentions how some creative kids in London got a chance to meet Tim Cook, the King, and Elton John.
Text messages between two iPhones—the blue bubbles—are typically encrypted and secure. But as noted by Glenn Fleishman of Six Colors, there are certain circumstances in which the messages are not encrypted.
If you use an iPhone 18 Pro Max on AT&T, update to iOS 27.0.1 now if you haven’t already to prevent a problem that could stop your iPhone from making cellular calls, as explained by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac. (That update was released on September 28, 2026.) Note that the iPhone 18 Pro—without the “Max”—doesn’t have the problem because it uses Apple’s C2 modem instead of a Qualcomm modem.
I’ve long been a fan of TextExpander. I use it on my PC at work, my Mac at home, and my iPad and iPhone. Marcus Mendes of 9to5Mac reports that TextExpander now has a free version, a great way to try it out. The free version only supports five snippets, but that is more than enough to try it out and see what you think.
Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac reports that Florida won’t adopt Apple Wallet driver’s licenses because Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says: “The convenience of a digital driver’s license is outweighed by the potential for government to abuse it.” Meanwhile, everyone who lives in a state that has long supported a digital driver’s license in Apple Wallet is saying: What in the world are you talking about?!? To be fair, I know some privacy advocates, like the ACLU, have warned that digital licenses could be abused by a government if the government also gained the ability to monitor where you were and what you were doing every time you present a digital license. But the Apple Wallet app specifically does not do that.
Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac reports that a new show on Apple TV called Small Prophets has been getting a lot of great buzz. The show debuted in the UK earlier this year, and Apple purchased the worldwide distribution rights. This is the first time that Apple has done something like this.
And finally, I enjoyed the first season of the Apple TV show Stick, and Season 2 starts on November 4th. The following trailer does give away some details about a big plot twist in Season 2, but my guess is that it is all stuff that we will learn in the first episode, and it is a fun trailer that gets me excited for the new season.
Even if you did not purchase a new iPhone this year, you now own a device with many new features thanks to the new operating systems that were released last month: iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. For this week’s episode of the podcast, Brett Burney and I recorded a special edition focused on our favorite features that we have found so far. Brett happened to be in New Orleans when we recorded this episode, which was fun and meant that we were not using our normal podcast setup. Unfortunately, we learned after the recording that one of the two microphones that we were using was not working correctly, so as a result, Brett’s voice sounds louder than my voice on the recording. The sound quality of the episode is not quite as good as we intended, and I apologize for that. Nevertheless, if you want some fantastic tips for new things that you can now do, I think that you will really enjoy this special episode.
If something goes wrong with an Apple product—such as if you drop it—fixing the product can be easier and cheaper if you have AppleCare. But just like any type of insurance, if nothing goes wrong, you may feel like you didn’t need it. I have gone back and forth over the years about whether I purchase AppleCare, but for the last few years, I have started to purchase it to provide peace of mind. There are many different kinds of AppleCare services, as noted by Hartley Charlton of MacRumors. Most recently, Apple released AppleCare Family, a service that costs $49.99 per month and covers every eligible device owned by the subscriber and five other family members. I recently realized that my family and I were already paying close to that much every month anyway, so by spending just a little more on AppleCare Family, we now have coverage for many more devices for a single monthly payment. In a perfect world, nothing would ever go wrong with an Apple product owned by me, my wife, and my two kids. But the world is not perfect, and I sleep a little better at night knowing that we have protection just in case. And now, the news of note from the past week:
There has been a lot of recent discussion about the future of the Apple Vision Pro, mostly because of some articles by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg suggesting that Apple may be giving up on the project. I don’t think that is true at all, based on what we have been seeing from Apple lately. Instead, I think that Apple is just taking a slow-and-steady approach to this technology that is still in its early stages but has enormous potential. I agree with much of what Wesley Hilliard of AppleInsider says in this article on the topic.
Apple built a music venue, Apple Music Hall, inside of its Battersea Power Station building in London. The first artist to perform was Elton John, and you can click here to watch him perform Your Song in the Apple Music app.
And finally, in this video, Joanna Stern tests the improved battery life in the iPhone 18 Pro, with the help of a pickle.
Now that people have had the ability to spend more time with Apple’s latest product releases, there is more to say about them. We begin this week’s episode of the podcast discussing the new iPhone 18 Pro, including my experience with the iPhone 18 Pro Max. We also talk about those tiny “hello” signs that started appearing in Apple Stores, the Apple Watch Series 12 and why I am waiting to write my own review, the new Mac models that arrived in stores this week, and more.
In our In the Know segment, I share a tip for anyone who uses the Windowed App mode on the App Store as an occasional way to be more of a power user: the new ability to keep the menu bar visible all of the time.
For the past week, I have been using a new Apple Watch Series 12. The battery life improvement has been substantial, not only because Apple has improved battery life with each new generation of the Apple Watch, but also because the battery in my former Apple Watch was past its prime. That has been nice. But the features I’m most curious to try in the 2026 Apple Watch models are Audio Intelligence features, such as Siri Recap and Live Rewind, which aren’t available yet. However, one Audio Intelligence feature already works: Music Recognition with Shazam. The Apple Watch Series 12 (and Ultra 4) is always listening to see if music is playing. If it is, it automatically recognizes the song, without you having to do anything. Simply scroll up to see the Smart Stack, and you will see a Shazam widget that already knows what music is playing. No need to wait. It’s a useful, neat feature, and it makes me eager to try the additional upcoming Apple Intelligence features. One thing I didn’t like about my new Apple Watch was that it randomly restarted at some point each day. It turns out, this was a bug affecting a lot of people, and as Marko Zivkovic of AppleInsider notes, Apple released watchOS 27.0.1 on Wednesday to fix the bug. (The update seems to have fixed the bug for me.) And now, the news of note from the past week:
Battery life is fantastic on the iPhone 18 Pro Max—so much so that it actually exceeds international shipping restrictions. But as Jess Weatherbed of The Verge notes, Apple came up with a solution. The firmware on new iPhones keeps the battery capacity below a 20Wh limit while units are shipped. Once a user activates the iPhone, the battery is restored to its full capacity of over 21Wh. As Weatherbed further notes: “If the user needs to send off their phone for repair or resale, the charging limitation can be restored using the ‘Prepare to Ship’ feature, which caps charging to 80 percent for 14 days. The restoration feature can be found under the settings menu by opening General settings, tapping Transfer or Reset iPhone, and then Prepare to Ship.” Very clever.
I know that I did it, but most people won’t upgrade from an iPhone 17 Pro to an iPhone 18 Pro. The improvements are nice, but far from essential. But if you are considering it anyway, Jeff Parsons of Tom’s Guide explains what is improved.
Jason Cross of Macworld reviews the iPhone 18 Pro, and says that it is “just like last year’s iPhone, but faster and with a slightly better camera. That’s it.” There are a few more improvements—like the improved Dynamic Island, better battery life, and Apple Reference Image—but for the most part, I agree with him.
If you have an iPhone 18 Pro and you notice that it sometimes freezes and reboots, Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that Apple has figured out the cause of the problem and a software update to fix it is coming out next week. (I haven’t seen this bug on my new iPhone.)
If you go to an Apple Store right now, you might notice that each one has a tiny sign that says “hello” in script, but you have to look hard to find it. Amber Neely of AppleInsider says that they are a way for iPhone 18 Pro users to try out the telephoto feature. I didn’t notice it when I picked up my iPhone 18 Pro Max at my local Apple Store a week ago, but now that I look back at a picture I took while waiting in line to enter the store, sure enough, it is there.
If you want to use two iPhones—such as an iPhone 18 Pro and an iPhone Duo—don’t use AT&T if you want to take advantage of the new iPhone Handoff feature that lets you share a single phone number across two devices. Jeff Carlson of CNet reports that AT&T has no current plans for supporting this feature.
Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac shares a video from Adrián Santos that compares the size of the upcoming iPhone Duo and an iPad mini. They are similar, but the iPad mini is a little bigger.
Christoffel also says his favorite new features of the Apple Watch Series 12 right now are the faster processor, new health features, and faster charging.
Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac notes that the new Macs that Apple announced last month are now available: the Mac mini M6, the Mac mini M5 Pro, and the Mac Studio with M5 Max or M5 Ultra. I’m typing this on my new Mac mini M5 Pro, which I received this past Tuesday, and it is so very fast.
In addition to releasing new iPhones, new Apple Watches, and new AirPods, Apple also released a ton of accessories in the past week. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac shows off all of the new Apple accessories on a single page.
If you want to use over-the-head headphones from Apple, you have two choices: the Beats 360 vs AirPods Max 2. Malcolm Owen of AppleInsider compares the two. In short, the Beats 360 are less expensive and better for the average user; the AirPods Max 2 are more expensive and better for audiophiles and/or people who want a more refined style.
Apple announced that it opened Apple Music Hall, a beautiful, state-of-the-art, live music venue in London. It looks great, and artist performances can be recorded in spatial audio. I hope Apple also records some immersive video for the Vision Pro in this venue; Apple has released only a few immersive music videos so far, but they are amazing.
October is right around the corner, and Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac explains what is coming to Apple TV next month, including a new comedy series called Small Prophets, as well as new episodes of Slow Horses.
The Apple TV show The Savant, which was originally scheduled to air in 2025, has been on again, off again, since then, presumably because some people thought the show could be deemed inappropriate after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Nellie Andreeva of Deadline reports that the show is now scheduled for release in Spring 2027. Apple still hasn’t said anything officially.
And finally, Mouloud Achour of the French program Clique TV on CANAL+ had the opportunity to interview Apple’s new CEO John Ternus for 30 minutes last week. The video (which is in English) is interesting not only because of the products Ternus discusses—everything from the iPhone Duo to the Vision Pro—but also because it gives us all a chance to get to know the new CEO a little better. Worth watching.
