Enjoy the discounts before they disappear. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Black Friday is over for another year, but Cyber Monday has just begun, which means there’s still time to enjoy big discounts on Apple devices.
AirPods, Apple Watch, iPad and more are currently available at tasty discounts from third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. And to make shopping a little easier, we rounded up all the best deals on Apple’s hottest gear.
Apple is offering customers up to $200 back in Apple Store gift cards when they buy eligible products this Black Friday. Its four-day shopping event runs from November 26, and you can enjoy in in-store, online, and over the phone.
Find out what you’ll get back on certain products right here.
The new OWC miniStack gives your Mac mini (or any Mac) three Thunderbolt 4 ports and additional storage options. Photo: OWC
The new OWC miniStack STX hub stacks seamlessly with a Mac mini, adding storage capacity and a trio of Thunderbolt 4 ports. But it can be used to expand connectivity and add storage space to any Mac or iPad.
Qualcomm will eventually get the boot. Photo: Apple
Apple is expected to start shipping its own 5G modems for iPhone in 2023. The chips will reduce the company’s reliance on Qualcomm — which is currently a major supplier of cellular chips for Apple devices.
Sources say the modems won’t be integrated into Apple’s primary A-series chipsets for iPhone, but will instead be separate components.
You no longer have to update storage locations for each Shortcut. Photo: Apple
Apple’s newest betas for iOS, iPadOS and macOS make a simple Shortcuts change that greatly improves the user experience across different devices.
Shortcuts now know which storage folders to use automatically — depending on your device — negating the need to manually update them individually for different hardware.
It still doesn't have a release date yet. Photo: WABetaInfo
WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new app that will work on both iPad and Mac. It’s thought to take advantage of Apple’s Catalyst platform, which makes it easier for developers to build universal applications.
The popular messaging service is already available on macOS, but this would be the first native WhatsApp client for iPad. WhatsApp has already started rolling out improved multi-device support that is less reliant on a smartphone.
Apple doesn't want AirTags and other devices to be used to track others. Photo: Apple
Apple’s new iOS 15.2 beta gives iPhone and iPad users the option to scan for nearby AirTags and Find My devices that may be tracking their movements.
The beta adds a new “Items That Can Track Me” button to the Find My app. Tapping it will display a list of “Unknown Items” — if there are any nearby. The app then provide users with instructions on how to disable anything that shows up.
The Apple Holiday Gift Guide 2021 is out with plenty of suggestions for hard-to-buy-for people. Image: Apple
The Apple Holiday Gift Guide 2021 is out with suggestions for phones, computers, audio accessories and exercise gear for a variety of people on your shopping list.
As a bonus, Apple is offering downloadable templates to make personalized holiday cards.
The new Rode AI-Micro turns your iPhone, iPad or MacBook into an audio recording studio. Photo: Rode
Popular audio gear maker Rode just launched the affordable AI-Micro, a compact, dual-channel interface for recording to a mobile device or computer. Using the small gadget, one or two mini microphones, headphones and a choice of apps, your iPhone, iPad or MacBook becomes a mobile audio recording studio.
But we'll be waiting years for the switch. Photo: Apple
Apple has enlisted Samsung’s help in its effort to bring OLED displays to future MacBook and iPad models, according to a new report. It is also said to be in talks with LG, one of Samsung’s biggest competitors in the display industry.
It is believed Apple originally planned to launch its first OLED MacBook in 2025, but thanks to complications surrounding the display manufacturing process, the plan is “likely to be postponed,” sources familiar with the matter said.
Apple is doing its best to ensure a steady supply of iPhone 13 units. Photo: Apple
Apple has “cut back sharply” on iPad production in an effort to combat component shortages affecting iPhone 13, according to a new report, which suggests chip supply problems are hitting Cupertino harder than expected.
Sources say iPad production over the last two months was down 50% from Apple’s original plans. The company has also cut production of older iPhone models so their components can be used in the latest handsets instead.
iPad shipments are up. The same can’t be said about Android tablets, though. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
iPad shipments boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic but there were predictions of steep declines as people returned to offices and classrooms. If that’s going to happen, it didn’t start in the third quarter of 2021 as iPad shipments actually rose year over year.
Shipments of Android tablets did drop during the July-to-September period, however.
Save others the shock and misery of stumbling across your nudes by keeping them protected inside Google Photos. The service’s handy Locked Folder features is making the leap from Android to iOS “early next year.”
Locked Folder gives you a place to put sensitive photos and videos where are secured by a passcode or biometric security protections.
Supply chain woes cost Apple an estimated $6 billion in revenues last quarter. Photo: Alireza Khoddam/Unsplash CC/Cult of Mac
Apple made a record $20.6 billion in profits last quarter but is getting punished because $83.4 billion in revenue didn’t meet Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Turns out even the Cupertino juggernaut is not immune to supply chain problems — $6 billion worth of them.
Here’s the bad news — and the good — from Apple’s September 2021 earnings report and a Q&A session with analysts afterward.
Copy a raw image off your camera and open it in Photoshop 3.0 for iPad. Graphic: Adobe
The just-released version of Photoshop on iPad lets users work with raw photos, making adjustments to images right out of the camera. And the new Illustrator on iPad adds a Vectorize feature, converting any image into a crisp, vector graphic.
Apple released iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 on Monday. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple rolled out iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 on Monday with the anticipated inclusion of SharePlay, a feature missing from the recent iOS 15 release. Today’s update also brings camera improvements for iPhone 13 Pro models, enables adding COVID-19 vaccination records to Wallet, and includes a bunch of other features.
It's expected to fetch up to $12,000. Photo: Bonhams
An incredibly rare Apple VideoPad 2 prototype is headed to auction after it was purchased from an Apple engineer back in 1999. It comes with a black leather carrying case that features the Newton logo, and is expected to fetch $12,000.
The VideoPad, which was scrapped by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in 1997, was a personal digital assistant (PDA) similar to the Newton that would have allowed users to carry out video calls. But it never made it to market.
Apple has finally put us out of our misery and confirmed Universal Control for macOS Monterey will be delayed until “later this fall.”
The new feature, which lets you seamlessly control a Mac and iPad with a single keyboard and mouse, has been missing from most macOS Monterey betas. It has popped up in more recent builds, but it still cannot be activated.
Working with multiple Macs and iPads get a lot easier with Universal Control. Screenshot: Apple
Apple released the tenth and possibly final beta of macOS Monterey on Wednesday and it still doesn’t allow testers to try out Universal Control. Apple will either have to delay the introduction of one of the highlights of macOS 12 or release it without it having gone through the usual beta testing program.
Apple normally announces when the debut of a major feature has been delayed. But it has not done so with Universal Control.
The collection will include GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas. Photo: Rockstar Games
After months and months of leaks and speculation, Rockstar Games today confirmed it is bringing Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition to consoles, PC, and mobile devices — including iPhone and iPad.
The collection includes all three PlayStation 2-era GTA games — GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas — which “will feature across-the-board upgrades including graphical improvements and modern gameplay enhancements … while still maintaining the classic look and feel.”
Keep your Mac, iPad and iPhone working like they should with a macOS Device Support Update. Photo: Apple
Apple released a rare Device Support Update on Thursday for macOS Big Sur. While details are thin, the patch fixes a problem with Macs communicating with iPhones and iPads.
Center Stage is Apple’s best creation in years. Photo: Apple
A highlight of the just-released budget iPad and iPad mini is the addition of Center Stage, a feature that lets the front-facing camera follow someone on a video call. It’s brilliant. It makes FaceTime and Zoom calls so much simpler.
This is perhaps the best new feature Apple has come up with in years. If you have a recent iPad and aren’t using this videoconferencing feature, you’re missing out. And here’s hoping it gets built into the 2022 iPhone.
Not a lot, apparently. Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
Siri is widely considered the dumbest of the smart assistants (although I would argue that Samsung’s Bixby easily takes that crown) and it just got a little dumber. Apple has removed a whole bunch of useful Siri features that iPhone users — particularly those with vision impairment — relied on.
Siri can no longer play your voicemail messages, check your call history, send an email, and more. “Sorry, I can’t help with that” is the response that greets iPhone users who attempt to use the features that were available before iOS 15 made its public debut almost two weeks ago.
Improvements are nice, but just not enough. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Apple somehow created the world’s greatest and most disappointing tablet operating system. iPadOS is by far the best you’ll find for larger touchscreens, and yet, it leaves us wanting so much more.
This year’s iPadOS 15 release is an incremental upgrade over its predecessor. It improves upon the split-screen multitasking system, adds some new features like Focus mode, and finally allows us to put widgets anywhere.
But it’s still iPadOS as we know it, and it’s still holding back iPad Pro. We could be doing so much more with the hardware, especially now that the newest models pack even-speedier M1 chips. But Apple won’t let us.
Here’s our full iPadOS 15 review. It lays out what’s good about the new operating system — and explains why we think it’s time for a little more ambition.