Apple News 3d Briefing
×MacBook Neo Arrives
Apple's MacBook Neo appleinsider.com debuts with the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, positioning it as a capable budget machine. The device starts at $599, but education pricing 9to5mac.com drops it to $499, matching the Mac mini's education price. However, securing the popular Touch ID feature requires a $100 upgrade to a specific configuration macrumors.com. The notebook's external display support mirrors limitations seen on the iPhone and original M1 Macs due to its GPU constraints appleinsider.com, and its two USB-C ports are not identical macrumors.com; one is limited to USB 2 speeds. Pre-orders are live with some retailers offering up to $100 in gift cards 9to5mac.com.
Studio Display Update
Apple's new Studio Display 9to5mac.com and Studio Display XDR are now available, but owners of older Macs face compatibility issues. The displays do not work with Intel Macs macrumors.com at all. Even for newer Macs, achieving the XDR model's full 120Hz refresh rate requires specific M-series chips macrumors.com. The premium XDR version adds support for DICOM medical imaging presets, targeting diagnostic radiology professionals macrumors.com. In a sustainability push, both displays' shipping boxes are designed to collapse macrumors.com for easier recycling.
iPhone 17e and iPad Air
The new iPhone 17e 9to5mac.com officially launches, featuring the C1X chip and Mag Safe charging. Carrier pre-order deals can reduce the cost to zero macrumors.com with trade-in and plan commitments. Its design is largely identical to the iPhone 16e, meaning older cases will fit appleinsider.com. The updated iPad Air 9to5mac.com arrives with an M4 chip, but early benchmarks reveal a binned version with only three performance cores, differentiating it from the iPad Pro's chip. Pre-order discounts reach up to $50 at some retailers.
M5 MacBook Line
The M5-generation MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are now available. The Air's starting price increased, but its included charger is more powerful 9to5mac.com than previous models. For the Pro, Apple removed the 512GB storage option macrumors.com from the base M5 configuration and lowered SSD upgrade costs. A maxed-out M5 Max MacBook Pro appleinsider.com tops out at $7,349. Notably, the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips use a new three-core architecture 9to5mac.com, yet battery life remains unaffected by the change 9to5mac.com.
Software and Services
Apple seeded the third betas of iOS 26.4, iPad OS 26.4, watch OS 26.4, and vision OS.4 to developers macrumors.com. A future iOS 26 update will add a standalone "Preview" app to the iPhone 9to5mac.com, while the Always On Display behavior is being subtly altered 9to5mac.com. On the services front, Apple TV+ macrumors.com is now available as a standalone subscription through the Roku Channel. A shareholder lawsuit alleges Apple executives engaged in anticompetitive behavior to maintain App Store dominance appleinsider.com.
Other Tech News
Google announced its Chrome browser will shift to a two-week release cycle 9to5google.com later this year. Anthropic is adding a voice mode to Claude Code and launched a free memory import tool to attract ChatGPT users macrumors.com. VSCO released a new standalone Galleries app 9to5mac.com for sharing photo collections. A report claims Apple asked Google to explore running a future Gemini-powered Siri macrumors.com on Google's servers. Meanwhile, Apple updated its trade-in values for i Phones, Macs, and other devices macrumors.com.
Discontinuations and Accessories
Apple discontinued seven products this week, including the Pro Display XDR appleinsider.com, replaced by the new Studio Display XDR. New seasonal colors arrived for iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands macrumors.com, including three additional Hermes bands appleinsider.com. The MacBook Neo 9to5mac.com itself contains the highest percentage of recycled material of any Apple product. Finally, developers can download the new MacBook Neo wallpapers 9to5mac.com ahead of shipments.