A newly surfaced Steve Jobs-signed check is up for auction, reports AppleInsider. The check is included in RR Auction’s Fine Autographs and Artifacts auction, which includes signatures from American presidents, politicians, authors, royalty, scientists, engineers, innovators, and everyone in between.

The $10 check to “People’s Computer Company,” was written on July 4, 1976, America’s Bicentennial, and was written just months after the official founding of Apple, linking the founding of the company to America’s Bicentennial. The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday this July 4.

The check bears the letters DDJ, indicating that it was payment for a one-year subscription to Dr. Dobb’s Journal, a popular programming magazine at the time.

At the time of this article’s writing, the check has 14 bids and is currently priced at $21,962. It’ll cost you $24,159 if you want to make the next bid. RR Auction expects the check to sell for $25,000.

The auction will run until July 15. Interested buyers must place an initial bid by July 15 at 6:00 pm, with final bidding to take place shortly after.

Apple is planning to release an updated 14-inch MacBook Pro, powered by an M6 chip in late 2026, to be followed by an M7-powered model sometime during the first half of 2027, reports Bloomberg.

The publication says Apple finished work on an M6-powered 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ “months ago,” and is expected to launch the new Mac laptop before the end of the year. Apple’s M6 chip lifecycle will be shorter than prior chip cycles, as it is not planning to offer M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. Apple is looking to quickly transition between M6 and M7 generations because its M7 chips are better optimized for AI workloads.

The M7 ‌MacBook Pro‌ is said to have a new design that’s “in line” with the design that Apple has planned for its much-rumored high-end OLED touchscreen ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, which previous rumors have claimed will boast a slimmed down design.

It’s still unclear when the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ models will be released, Although Bloomberg believes it could launch by the end of 2026 or in early 2027. The timelines are still up in the air, thanks to the increased costs Apple is forced to deal with, due to the ongoing memory chip shortage.

Apple is reportedly engaged in ongoing talks to purchase memory from two Chinese semiconductor companies, even though they are on the Trump administration’s blacklist. Bloomberg, reports that its sources tell it that while talks are going on between Apple and ChangXin Memory Technologies Co. (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), no deal has been finalized yet.

Apple recently was forced to raise prices on several of its products, including Macs, iPads, and other devices, due to the skyrocketing price of RAM. Chipmakers have moved their manufacturing focus to chips for AI servers, leaving less supply for consumer devices. Demand is greatly outpacing supply, meaning memory manufacturers can charge much higher prices.

Both CXMT and YMTC are on the Defense Department’s 1260H list of Chinese companies that the U.S. suspects have ties to the People’s Liberation Army. YMTC is also on a U.S. Commerce Department blacklist that prevents U.S. companies from selling to companies on the list without an export license.

While Apple is not required to get U.S. approval before buying chips from the Chinese companies, doing so will help prevent political upset from the Trump administration. However, some Trump administration officials are said to be against allowing Apple purchase chips from CXMT and YMTC, so it’s not clear if approval will be given.

Apple is hoping to get approval on the deal, while also campaigning to keep CXMT off the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which would prevent it from using CXMT as a supplier.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently spoke with Trump administration officials about using the chips sourced from the companies in devices meant for the Chinese market, which would free up chips from other suppliers for the U.S.

Apple has plans to release new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models in spring 2027, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. No external design changes are expected, as Apple will instead focus on internal improvements.

Gurman says the ‌iPad Pro‌ models could be powered by either M6 chips or M7 chips. Apple is expected to debut the M6 chip as soon as this year in an updated 14-inch MacBook Pro model, and plans a first half of 2027 release for the M7 chip.

While Apple would likely prefer to use the M7 in the new iPad Pro models, Apple will use the M6 if the M7 is not ready. While both chips will be built using Apple’s new 2-nanometer process, the M7 has AI optimizations that the M6 doesn’t have.

Other internal improvements could include a new vapor chamber cooling system that could improve performance. That system is currently undergoing testing.

While little is known about an exact release date, Apple is widely expected to debut its iPhone 18e, iPhone 18, and iPhone Air 2 handsets in spring 2027, so the updated iPad Pro lineup could be unveiled alongside those devices.

Apple has released Safari Technology Preview 247, the latest version of its developer preview web browser. The preview version of Apple’s popular browser offers developers and other interested users the ability to try out features that may or may not, debut in future public release versions of Safari.

‌Safari Technology Preview‌ 247 adds the Safari Model Context Protocol (MCP) server meant to speed up web development and debugging. With the MCP server, an AI agent can emulate what users experience on a website, providing better information for debugging.

Any MCP-compatible client can connect to the Safari MCP server. More information is available on Apple’s WebKit site.

‌Safari Technology Preview‌ 247 also includes fixes and updates for Accessibility, CSS, Fonts, Forms, HTML, JavaScript, MathML, Media, Model Element, Networking, Rendering, SVG, Scrolling, Security, Spatial Web, Text, Web API, WebDriver, and WebGL.

The current ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ release is compatible with machines running macOS Sequoia and macOS Tahoe, the newest version of macOS that launched earlier this year.

The ‌update is available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences or System Settings to anyone who has downloaded the browser from Apple’s website.

Overview

Safari Technology Preview Release 247 is now available for download for macOS Golden Gate and macOS Tahoe. If you already have Safari Technology Preview installed, you can update it in System Settings under General → Software Update.

This release includes WebKit changes between: 314716@main…315846@main.

Accessibility

Resolved Issues

• Fixed VoiceOver jumping to the top of the page when navigating to an element that immediately becomes accessibility-ignored via JavaScript. (315078@main) (179065364)
• Fixed VoiceOver reporting the Recent Events table on parks.wa.gov as empty. (314901@main) (179156593)
• Fixed VoiceOver not exposing aria-actions custom actions when the action target is accessibility-ignored. (315097@main) (179286650)
• Fixed an <a> element with a click handler but no href not being exposed as a link. (315102@main) (179398579)

CSS

New Features

• Added support for calc-mix(). (314719@main) (176199063)

Resolved Issues

• Fixed scroll overcompensation of fixed, nested anchor-positioned elements, so they no longer lose their position when scrolling. (314757@main) (174010503)
• Fixed an issue where font-synthesis incorrectly applied synthetic oblique to variable fonts declared with @font-face. (314814@main) (178698772)
• Fixed synthetic bold not being applied for a variable font whose @font-face font-weight descriptor explicitly restricts it to normal. (314537@main) (179001275)
• Fixed an issue where CSS math functions produced an incorrect signed zero for subtraction, min(), max(), clamp(), and mod(). (315188@main) (179534440)
• Fixed an issue where input[type=hidden] was not set to display: none !important in the user-agent stylesheet. (315559@main) (180137214)

Fonts

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where synthetic bold incorrectly added advance width to zero-advance glyphs. (315157@main) (179418570)

Forms

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where a positive margin-top on a <legend> element inside a <fieldset> did not shift the fieldset down. (315391@main) (141267953)

HTML

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where <link rel=preload as=json> incorrectly triggered a preload. (315422@main) (179843455)
• Fixed an issue where the deprecated align="center" attribute was not treated as identical to align="middle" per spec. (315531@main) (180128710)

JavaScript

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where Temporal.Instant operations were not aligned with the spec’s abstract operations. (315377@main) (179844859)

MathML

New Features

• Added support for embellished operator detection through mrow for underover layout. (314924@main) (173192995)

Resolved Issues

• Fixed MathML operators routed through MathOperator being invisible when their glyph only exists in a fallback font. (314928@main) (178096170)
• Fixed MathML to use MathML Core fallback values for script layout constants. (315004@main) (179177178)

Media

New Features

• Added support for overriding color space for hardware video decoders in WebCodecs. (314887@main) (178717498)
• Added support for mapping nextslide and previousslide MediaSession actions to nexttrack and previoustrack platform commands, so pressing next/previous track invokes a registered slide handler when no direct track handler is registered. (314839@main) (178744268)

Resolved Issues

• Fixed media controls not appearing when tapping videos in the LinkedIn feed on iPad. (315049@main) (171231918)
• Fixed an issue where the MediaSource text-track removal loop always processed only the last track. (315310@main) (179508398)
• Fixed an issue where isValidVideoFrameBufferInit() tested displayWidth and displayHeight presence against themselves instead of the correct properties. (315401@main) (179514279)
• Fixed an issue where MediaMetadata artwork sizes parsing read the wrong substring for the height value. (315402@main) (179523057)
• Fixed an issue where the pictureInPictureElement getter inverted the shadow-host connectivity check. (315403@main) (179675087)

Model Element

Resolved Issues

• Fixed setting the entityTransform on a <model> element while the model is unloaded or hidden. (314951@main) (179114750)
• Fixed <model> elements losing gesture interactivity after the model player is reloaded (for example, when the model scrolls out of and back into the viewport). (315026@main) (179249565)

Networking

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where WebKit refused to load valid ASCII domains starting with xn-- that did not pass strict IDNA 2008 validation, aligning behavior with the WHATWG URL Standard. xn-- is the prefix of a punycode-encoded non-ASCII domain. (314820@main) (177686282)
• Fixed an issue where arbitrary Content-* headers from 304 responses were not used to update cached entries. (315449@main) (179864251)
• Fixed an issue where the Cache-Control request directives max-age, min-fresh, and no-store were not honored. (315447@main) (179865576)
• Fixed an issue where Cache-Control: public was not honored on responses with unknown status codes. (315445@main) (179870099)
• Fixed an issue where the HTTP cache did not store responses with explicit freshness for all status codes. (315450@main) (179871690)

Rendering

Resolved Issues

• Fixed text-wrap: balance not being applied to content with -webkit-line-clamp. (314783@main) (172715503)
• Fixed an issue where text changes that did not modify the text element’s size in a flex layout on a new compositing layer did not trigger re-rendering. (315173@main) (179292409)
• Fixed an issue where an underline was drawn twice on <sup> elements. (315220@main) (179537119)
• Fixed an issue where an underline under a <sup> element was offset by one device pixel from the rest of the line on subpixel displays. (315316@main) (179586525)
• Fixed an issue where the ex unit in text-box-edge misplaced the propagated underline, causing it to be painted twice. (315331@main) (179769451)
• Fixed an issue where min-width was not honored over max-width when sizing a shrink-to-fit container around a replaced element. (315396@main) (179935558)

SVG

Resolved Issues

• Fixed SVG applying text-decoration to elements with display: contents. (314830@main) (85691104)
• Fixed SVG <text> with textLength scaling each glyph separately when x or y is a list. (315146@main) (94161279)
• Fixed an issue where box-shadow was not drawn on fixed-positioned SVG elements. (315468@main) (97098951)
• Fixed an issue where an SVG filter applied via CSS to an element positioned below the viewport rendered a spurious black square at the viewport origin. (315329@main) (177482001)
• Fixed IntersectionObserver not computing intersections for SVG element roots. (314837@main) (177807041)
• Fixed SVG vertical <text> to honor the CSS text-orientation property instead of only the deprecated glyph-orientation-vertical presentation attribute. (315080@main) (178044217)
• Fixed an issue where getRotationOfChar() returned approximately 360° instead of 0° for full-turn rotations after normalisation into the [0°, 360°) range. (315293@main) (178044934)
• Fixed an issue where a non-BMP character before a <tspan> boundary shifted the x and y value lists by one position. (315418@main) (178360036)
• Fixed interpolation of arc flags in the d property to treat them as non-zero booleans. (314745@main) (178950624)
• Fixed pathFromEllipseElement to honor auto values for rx and ry, so APIs such as getTotalLength() return the correct length for ellipses. (314846@main) (178959205)
• Fixed animated GIFs freezing when presentation attributes are changed on an SVG image referenced by a <use> element. (315094@main) (179414226)
• Fixed an issue where getBoundingClientRect() on an SVG <tspan> element returned the bounds of the entire <text> element instead of the <tspan>’s own area. (315234@main) (179626476)
• Fixed an issue where a nested clip-path on a <clipPath> element ignored css zoom. (315562@main) (180162723)

Scrolling

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where scrollIntoView with nearest alignment incorrectly aligned to the far edge for an oversized target positioned before the scrollport. (315225@main) (106356373)
• Fixed a regression on macOS 26 where horizontal rubber-banding interfered with vertical scrolling. (315424@main) (165449829)
• Fixed an issue where scroll snapping selected a snap point that overshot the destination instead of the closest one in the scroll direction. (315522@main) (179549119)
• Fixed an issue where interrupting a smooth scroll with a new scrollTo() call to a different target fired the scrollend event at the wrong position. (315471@main) (179551854)
• Fixed an issue where re-snapping after a layout change moved away from a valid scroll position when the snap area was larger than the snapport. (315291@main) (179553122)

Security

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where Content Security Policy 'self' did not match script sources in opaque-origin HTTP(S) documents. (314912@main) (178638597)
• Fixed an issue where Content Security Policy incorrectly applied script-src to JSON module imports instead of connect-src. (315497@main) (180006320)

Spatial Web

Known Issues

• WebXR might not render when you use Simulator. (178666073)

  Workaround: Use an Apple Vision Pro device instead of Simulator.

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where transforming the camera instead of the model in a <model> element led to undesirable lighting effects. (312407@main) (179522538)

Deprecations

• Removed the Spatial Backdrop developer preview in favor of the Immersive API. (315100@main) (160271766)

Text

Resolved Issues

• Fixed a line break appearing after a U+201D Right Double Quotation Mark. (314829@main) (177952069)

Web API

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where the URL Pattern tokenizer emitted a spurious zero-length Regexp token for empty regexp groups. (315289@main) (179452346)

WebDriver

New Features

• Allow your agent to connect to a Safari browser for development and debugging via the Safari MCP server. (176038457)

Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue where the WebDriver full page screenshot was clipped to the viewport dimensions instead of the full page. (315337@main) (179840186)

WebGL

Resolved Issues

• Fixed a regression where a WebGL canvas was filled with opaque content that hid stacked canvases beneath it. (315018@main) (175352260)

Apple’s aim with ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while it is designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download and use.

Demand for Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup is waning and the Cupertino firm has reduced its production plans by 15%, says a well-known leaker.

In two posts on Weibo, the leaker known as “Fixed Focus Digital” said the information comes from reliable sources within the supply chain.

Exclusive: The current price of the iPhone 17 won’t last much longer. Industry sources indicate that Apple has lowered its expectations, with production plans decreasing by 15%.

[…]

According to the production side, things were normal before the Dragon Boat Festival. After the holiday, they announced a reduction in production volume, and recently directly lowered capacity by 15%.

The leaker added that “major global smartphone manufacturers — Apple included — have all lowered their shipment forecasts.”

Xiaomi has reportedly reduced its shipment targets by approximately 20–30%, while OPPO, vivo, and Honor have also lowered their targets by around 15–30%.

The drop in sales is likely due to the natural iPhone product cycle. SInce the iPhone 17 lineup was unveiled last September, it’s nearly a year into the lineup’s product cycle. Customers are likely holding on to their current iPhones until the iPhone 18 Pro and Apple’s first foldable iPhone debut later this year. However, it should be noted that the rest of the iPhone 18 lineup isn’t expected to debut until spring 2027.

The iPhone 17 has performed well, as TrendForce recently reported that Apple’s iPhone production increased 19.7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, even as the broader global smartphone market contracted 1.7% over the same period.

Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker in May noted the iPhone 17 was the best-selling smartphone globally in the first quarter of 2026, capturing 6% of worldwide unit sales, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ took second and third place.

You can save can save 50 cents per gallon at BP, Amoco, and participating ampm and Thorntons gas stations this 4th of July holiday weekend, but there is a small catch. Here’s how to claim your fuel discount.

From July 2-5, Prime members can save 50 cents per gallon at over 7,500 participating BP, Amoco, ampm, and Thorntons gas stations across the US. The discount is only valid on one purchase during the holiday weekend, so you’ll probably want to use it on the emptiest fuel tank sitting in your garage.

Here’s how to lock in the discount. First of all, you’ll need an Amazon Prime membership (if you’re not already a member, sign up here). Next, if you don’t already have one, you’ll need to open an Earnify account (it’s free to create). Then, you’ll need to link your Prime and Earnify accounts through the activation landing page. Be aware that doing so will provide your Prime membership status, name, and email to Earnify in order to redeem the offer.

You can also use the Earnify app to locate nearby participating gas stations.

The fine print:

An earnify account is free to create and automatically applies 5¢ savings as a baseline offer, 5¢ savings for Prime members, and an additional 40¢ savings during the promotional period to total 50¢ off per gallon during this promotional period. Once the promotional period concludes, Prime members will be able to access a total of 10¢ off a gallon at participating stations. If you haven’t already, simply follow the activation steps to link your Amazon account to bp’s app, earnify™. You can then apply the discount at any participating station by simply entering your phone number at the pump or using the earnify™ app.

The Earnify app is available free, in the iOS App Store. The app is also available for Android devices.

A vulnerability in Apple’s Hide My Email service can allow almost anyone to discover your real email address that is hidden behind a generated alias, according to 404 Media. The report says Apple has not addressed the flaw, even though it was reported more than a year ago.

While the publication is not providing technical details about the vulnerability, as it is still in the wild, it has verified the issue this week with one of its own Hide My Email addresses. Multiple tests by the researcher who discovered the flaw show that any Hide My Email address was vulnerable to the flaw.

Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature that allows users to generate random alias email addresses, hiding their real email address when signing up for online services or when emailing third parties. The feature is promoted as a way for a user to protect their real email address from spam, data breaches, and unwanted identification.

Tyler Murphy, co-founder of EasyOptOuts, discovered the issue and reported it to Apple back in June 2025, along information on how to replicate it. Apple acknowledged the report a month later and said it was investigating.

Murphy said:

Apple Hide My Email is leaking email addresses that are supposed to be hidden. We reported the issue and replication instructions to Apple over a year ago. We don’t know why it hasn’t been fixed, but we don’t feel comfortable waiting any longer. Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses.

Free, publicly accessible people-search sites make it easy to link an email address to other personal details, so people relying on Hide My Email for safety may be at risk.

In March of this year, Apple reported to Murphy that it had “addressed the reported issue in a recent system change.” However, when Murphy checked, he found the flaw had not been closed. He provided further information to Apple, which replied again to say it was still investigating.

Then, in May, Apple once again told Murphy that the issue was still being investigated, requesting that he not share it publicly until they were finished looking into the matter. At that time, Murphy suggested that Apple not allow users to create new Hide My Email addresses until the flaw was fixed. Apple did not respond. However, by the end of May, Apple told him that it expected to address the issue in a security update “expected in the coming weeks.”

“Free, publicly accessible people-search sites make it easy to link an email address to other personal details, so people relying on Hide My Email for safety may be at risk,” Murphy noted.

Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment from 404 Media.

Apple on Tuesday seeded the third public beta releases of its upcoming iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, watchOS 26.6, and tvOS 26.6 operating systems, with the public seeds coming one day after the third developer betas.

Registered public beta testers can download the public betas from the Software Update section of the Settings app on each device.

iOS 26.6 so far has yielded the only new feature among the new betas, with a feature that will let you know when you have blocked too many contacts. Most users will not have to worry about this though, as the limit on blocked contacts is in the thousands. The update reportedly includes a new anti-snatching feature that locks your iPhone if it’s grabbed from your hand.

Apple unveiled iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Tahoe 27, watchOS 27, and tvOS 27 in June at WWDC 2026, so this update to the “26” versions of the operating systems will likely be limited to bug fixes, performance enhancements, or minor new features.

As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on their daily driver iPhone or iPad. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.

Apple today announced updates for its Creator Studio apps, bring new AI features to Pixelmator Pro, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and more.

Apple is integrating Pixelmator Pro with Final Cut Pro, Keynote, Numbers, and Pages, allowing users to open and customize any image placed in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, or even send a key frame from Final Cut Pro directly to Pixelmator Pro to create thumbnails and social graphics.

In Keynote, Numbers, and Pages, users can select an image in a document and open it in Pixelmator Pro to edit, with changes being saved to the original document. The three apps also now support generating vector shapes using AI.

Logic Pro users can elevate their music, thanks to improvements to Chord ID or explore a new Producer Project from a Grammy Award-winning producer.

Pixelmator Pro is also getting advanced image generation and a Content Hub. Users can generate AI images directly in Pixelmator Pro with natural language. A curated collection of images is available in Content Hub. Freeform also integrates with Pixelmator Pro in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate.

Final Cut Pro adds the Generate Captions feature, an on-device AI feature that can automatically add subtitles to videos based on audio. Subtitles can be animated and can use custom fonts, colors, and positions.

Edit Detection analyzes rendered video and splits it back into the original clips on the timeline, allowing editors to use the tool for editing refinements or for assembling a cut-down highlight clip for social media.

On Mac, Final Cut Pro users also benefit from even more tools like Auto Mask, an enhanced Match Color, Advanced Trimming, and more. An Auto Mask feature isolates and refines video elements specific elements of footage. On-device AI recognizes subjects like skin, hair, sky, foliage, and clothing, with no manual tracking needed. A simple hover over a clip brings up a live preview of what has been detected, or users can choose from the list in the inspector, making it seamless to pair the mask with any color correction or effect for precise adjustments.

Auto Mask works hand in hand with Magnetic Mask, which gives editors complete control over exactly what to identify, track, and mask. A reimagined Match Color produces more accurate and natural color matches across a wider range of footage and lighting conditions. Advanced Trimming allows users to fine-tune incoming and outgoing frames one at a time.

Users can hover over a clip and make precise adjustments with no manual tracking. Color Match now produces more accurate and natural color matches in different lighting conditions, plus Advanced Trimming lets users fine-tune incoming and outgoing frames one-by-one.

Motion adds native support to keep vector graphics crisp at any resolution, along with Distribute Layers for a dramatically faster setup of complex animations. Compressor introduces an Immersive Metadata Viewer, 180-degree Apple Projected Media Profile support for Apple Vision Pro, and an Anaglyph View for Stereoscopic Video Preview.

Logic Pro boasts a rebuilt Chord ID feature that is more accurate than before. Session Players will now respond and perform chord changes more quickly. Both Logic Pro and MainStage have a new granular sync mode in Alchemy.

Creator Studio Pro offers access to six Apple apps for $12.99 per month or $129 per year. Students and educators are able to subscribe to Creator Studio for $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. The Creator Studio subscription can be shared with up to five family members on a linked Apple Account.

A “major overhaul” is in store for the 2027 Apple Watch, including a new system for connecting bands, claims a well-known leaker.

In a set of recent posts, the leaker known as “Instant Digital” appears to be repeating previous rumors about an “Apple Watch X” model, which was rumored to sport a fresh design and a brand new system for attaching watch bands.

The leaker repeats rumors about how the way the band attaches to the case would change, creating more internal space for a larger battery. The leaker went on to advise that anyone planning to buy a new Apple Watch in 2027 should hold off on buying extra bands in the meantime.

The “Apple Watch X” rumor goes back to a 2023 report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. He said Apple has plans for a total revamp of its Apple Watch for the popular wearable device’s tenth birthday. Gurman called the device the “Apple Watch X,” which is the same naming convention Apple used for the tenth anniversary iPhone X model.

Gurman said Apple is working on a thinner casing for the Apple Watch X, as well as working on different mechanisms for attaching bands to the device’s casing, which has remained the same since the device’s introduction, allowing bands to be compatible throughout all of the different generations of the Apple Watch.

Gurman said his sources tell him that the existing band system takes up a large amount of space that could be better put to use to allow for bigger batteries or other internal components. He said Apple was investigating a magnetic band attachment system.

The Apple Watch X could also introduce the use of microLED display technology for the Apple Watch X, in place of existing OLED screens. The anniversary model may also be the first Apple Watch to boast blood pressure monitoring.

This year’s Apple Watch Series 12 is expected to use the same design that debuted with the Series 10 in 2024, which included a thinner case, a larger display, and a metal back that folds the antenna into the housing.

Monday’s iOS 26.5.2, iPadOS 26.5.2, and macOS 26.5.2 updates include security fixes that had originally been planned to be released alongside version 26.6 of each operating system. Here’s why Apple chose to push the updates early.

The company details the security content for each update (iOS 26.5.2, iPadOS 26.5.2, and macOS 26.5.2), which includes a full list of vulnerabilities the updates addressed, including fixes for vulnerabilities in the kernel, WebKit, and WebRTC.

Those notes also mention that the updates also included security fixes that had first been made available through the iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6, and macOS Tahoe 26.6 betas, indicating the company decided to release them to the public earlier than it had originally planned.

Apple told Reuters that the early release is a direct response to new threats enabled by increasingly powerful AI models:

The company told Reuters on Monday it was adapting to ​the reality that, given the ability of artificial intelligence ​to speed the development of malicious hacking tools, it ⁠needed to reduce the time between when updates were first ​made public and when they were put into customers’ hands.

Apple added that “while there was no evidence that any of the newly patched vulnerabilities had been taken advantage of,” it still decided to release the fixes early to reduce the amount of time attackers would have to take advantage of them.

Apple usually only releases releases security ‌updates ⁠as part of a move from one version of iOS to the next, unless security experts discover a hacking campaign that uses a previously unknown security hole.

The ​early release of the security fixes is an acknowledgment that Apple realizes that AI is shrinking the ​window attackers need to exploit known flaws. Cybersecurity experts are increasingly expressing concern over the cybersecurity capabilities of powerful AI models.

In May, we reported that researchers at cybersecurity firm Calif had used Anthropic’s new frontier AI model called Claude Mythos Preview to uncover a new macOS security vulnerability.

The researchers used the model to write code that links together two macOS bugs in a way that resulted in what is known as a privilege escalation exploit.

If you have a legacy mobile phone plan through T-Mobile, you might keep an eye out for a notification telling you that you’ve been automatically “upgraded” to a newer (and likely more expensive) phone plan.

CNET reports that several T-Mobile customers on legacy plans, some stretching back as much as 15 years, are being automatically moved to newer phone plans, with no action on the customer’s part. The carrier has been sending out notifications to customers on older plans, notifying them of the move.

The customers being shoved over to new plans could also see an automatic bill increase and will pay as much $6 more for the new plan.

The carrier plans to move legacy customers to comparable modern plans. T-Mobile plan options include Essentials, Essentials Saver, Experience More, and Experience Beyond. Prices for a single line start at $50 per month.

T-Mobile marketing lead Allan Samson claims the majority of customers being automatically upgraded will pay below what the plan sells for, and won’t have the same pricing that a plan would cost a new customer.

T-Mobile warned employees about the transitioning customers, saying it wants to get rid of over 1,100 legacy billing codes. Employees were warned to expect increased customer contact volume in the coming weeks.

Thousands of customers are affected, and can expect to receive alerts about the move from T-Mobile. Plan changes will kick in during the next billing cycle. Customers unhappy with T-Mobile’s decision can choose a different T-Mobile plan or simply switch carriers.

It should be noted that actions like this are not unusual for cellular carriers, as it attempts to discontinue older plans. AT&T added a fee to some of its legacy plans in May, and T-Mobile hiked its prices in March 2025. However, this time around, T-Mobile is taking action automatically, not simply encouraging its customers to upgrade.

Allan Samson, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile, explained during a briefing late last week that “absolutely nothing is required of the customer, and it just is going to happen.”

Over the last few months, we’ve reported twice about leaked images purporting to show a new iPhone 18 Pro color option, dark cherry. Today we were given another peek at an image that appears to back up those previous claims, thanks to the Chinese leaker known as Ice Universe.

In an image posted on Weibo, a SIM tray that is allegedly from the as yet unreleased iPhone 18 Pro is shown in a dark cherry colour, although the lighting isn’t the best and the image is grainy, resulting in a photo of a SIM tray that could be best described as as being a burgundy, brownish, or purple shade.

The new color is widely-expected to be the “special” color for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, much how Cosmic Orange was the “It Girl” color for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The other image leaks showed iPhone 18 Pro mockups in light blue, dark cherry, dark gray, and silver.

Later in the Weibo thread that contained the SIM tray image, Ice Universe responded to another user that had asked if the iPhone 18 Pro would be available in black. The leaker replied simply, “No.” This jibes with previous rumors that there will not be a black color option for Apple’s upcoming Pro handset.

Apple is expected to unveil its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro handsets in September, alongside its first foldable iPhone. Only then will we know the devices’ color options for sure.

Apple on Monday seeded the third betas of watchOS 26.6, tvOS 26.6, and visionOS 26.6 to developers for testing purposes. The new betas come two weeks after the second betas.

The betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on each device. While the visonOS 26.6 beta will be restricted to developers, watchOS 26.6 and tvOS 26.6 betas should be made available to public beta testers in a week or two.

We don’t yet know what’s included in the beta software. watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS updates often focus on bug fixes and performance improvements.

As usual, Mactrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on their daily driver Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Vision Pro. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.

Apple on Monday seeded the third developer beta of its upcoming macOS Tahoe 26.6 update. The new beta comes two weeks after the second developer seed.

Registered developers can download the new beta software through the System Settings app. The ‌macOS Tahoe 26‌.5 beta is currently limited to developers, but it will likely soon be released to public beta testers sometime in the next few days.

So far, we don’t know exactly what is included in the new beta. Apple has already previewed its upcoming macOS 27 operating system, meaning it is focusing primarily on that. So it is likely that Tahoe 26.6 will focus on bug fixes and performance improvements.

As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on their daily driver Mac. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.

Apple on Monday seeded the third betas of its upcoming iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 updates to developers for testing. The new betas come two weeks after Apple released the second beta seeds.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6 beta software using the Software Update section of the Settings app.

The update adds new wording around blocked contact limits, letting users know when they have exceeded the maximum number of blocked contacts. The update reportedly includes a new anti-snatching feature that locks your iPhone if it’s grabbed from your hand.

Apple will unveil iOS 27 in June at WWDC26, so the updates to iOS 26 are quickly reaching the end.

As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas on their daily driver iPhone or iPad. Instead, only install betas on a device set aside for testing purposes.

Apple on Monday released macOS Tahoe 26.5.2, a minor update to the ‌macOS Tahoe‌ operating system. ‌The update comes three weeks after the release of ‌macOS Tahoe‌ 26.5.1.

Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of the System Settings app.

Apple’s release notes for the update state it includes security fixes for the Mac.

Apple on Monday released iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2, minor updates to the iOS and iPadOS 26 operating systems. ‌The updates comes three weeks after the release of ‌iOS 26.5.1, an update that added a charging fix for the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 models.

The new software can be downloaded on compatible iPhones and iPads by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update.

Apple’s release notes say iOS 26.5.2 includes security fixes for the iPhone and iPad.

An leaked image that is claimed to be of the iPhone 18 Pro motherboard has appeared online, and the image shows the A20 Pro chip that will power the new device will offer impressive performance gains over the previous model.

The leaked image, shared by two Weibo accounts, “WHYLAB” and “Ice Universe,” appears to show the A20 Pro chip is integrated into TSMC’s new packaging architecture, known as Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) technology.

In the past, Apple has used package-on-package (PoP) designs, where the DRAM sits directly on top of the application processor. While this method has advantages, including lower power consumption and reduced latency, it also concentrates heat in the chip packaging area.

In the leaked image, the DRAM has been moved to the side of the package, which should reduce thermal coupling between the processor and DRAM likely improving heat dissipation during heavy workloads. The design is said to use LPDDR6 memory with a 96-bit memory bus, which should prove to be more energy-efficient.

While the new chip’s size is reportedly roughly the same as the A19 Pro, the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) appears to be significantly larger, suggesting that Apple has made moves to improve AI performance.

The A20 Pro chip, which is expected to power the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone models, is expected to use TSMC’s new 2nm process, also known as N2. The new ship is expected to be as much as 15% faster and 30% more efficient than A19 chips.

The new N2 process also introduces new super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal capacitors into the chip’s power delivery system, providing more than double the capacitance density of the previous generation, which should boost performance and improve power stability and energy efficiency.