Apple News 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 13, 2026, 3:37 PM ET
Legal & Business
Adobe agreed to a settlement 9to5mac.com with the US Department of Justice, which includes a $75 million payment to the DOJ, due to the company making it difficult to cancel subscriptions. Apple is lowering App Store developer fees macrumors.com in China starting March 15, changing commission rates for in-app purchases to 25% from 30%. In other news, Apple’s retail store at the Grand Central Terminal in New York is temporarily closed, with the reason still unknown macrumors.com.
Apple Products & Launches
Seven new Apple products became available today macrumors.com, including the M4 iPad Air, MacBook Neo, and M5 MacBook Air. Launch day discounts arrived macrumors.com for the MacBook Neo, M4 iPad Air, and other products. According to a reliable source, Apple saw an unusual surge of Mac trade-ins macrumors.com this week amid the launch of the MacBook Neo. With the release of the new MacBook Neo, all configurations and colors are available in Apple Stores appleinsider.com as of March 11.
MacBook Neo & Mac Updates
The MacBook Neo has been met with significant attention, with MKBHD calling it potentially “Apple’s most disruptive product” in over a decade 9to5mac.com. An ASUS executive admitted that the MacBook Neo is a "shock" to the PC industry macrumors.com. A teardown of the new MacBook Neo by Australian YouTube repair channel Tech Re-Nu reveals what may be the most modular and repair-friendly Mac laptop macrumors.com. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the MacBook Pro will receive a "major upgrade" with an OLED display by early next year macrumors.com. The MacBook Neo also proves that mac OS can run appleinsider.com on an iPhone processor, showcasing Apple's potential for future device integration.
MacBook Neo Specs & Performance
While the MacBook Neo achieves a breakthrough starting price of $599, it comes with some compromises macrumors.com, including slower SSD speeds compared to the new MacBook Pro. The MacBook Neo doesn’t officially support fast charging, although a beefier charger can help with charging speed 9to5mac.com. Andrew Tsai tested the MacBook Neo and found that it can handle more demanding photo and video production workflows than he initially thought 9to5mac.com. Apple has updated its support documentation to confirm the maximum battery cycle count 9to5mac.com for the new MacBook Neo.
iPhone & iOS News
iOS 26.4 is launching soon and bringing many new features 9to5mac.com, including three new ways to customize your iPhone. According to a new rumor, Apple’s forthcoming iPhone Fold will instead be named the iPhone Ultra appleinsider.com. The iPhone 17e just joined the iPhone lineup, and T-Mobile is making it easy to upgrade appleinsider.com with no trade-in needed. The iPhone 18 Pro Max will be slightly thicker than its predecessor, measuring.8mm macrumors.com. The iPhone 18 Pro models may not have a smaller Dynamic Island macrumors.com.
iPhone Fold Rumors
Apple's first foldable iPhone will feature 12GB of RAM supplied by Samsung, with the latter set to begin DRAM shipments in the second quarter of this year macrumors.com. Rumors suggest the iPhone Fold will come in three storage options, with their pricing allegedly leaked macrumors.com. The storage capacity options for Apple's upcoming book-style foldable iPhone have allegedly leaked, along with their approximate pricing macrumors.com.
Apple TV & Entertainment
A new Apple TV series, Twisted Yoga, just premiered today 9to5mac.com. Apple TV is airing the first Formula 1 race of the 2026 season this weekend following an exclusive streaming rights agreement macrumors.com. The Apple TV service's broadcast of the pivotal Boston Red Sox vs. Detroit Tigers game at Fenway Park incorporated live footage captured with the iPhone 17 Pro macrumors.com. The new Apple TV prestige thriller, Imperfect Women 9to5mac.com, is coming next week and reviews are in.
Apple's 50th Anniversary
Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a letter macrumors.com ahead of the company's 50th anniversary. David Pogue, author of "Apple: The First 50 Years," is the special guest talking about what did and did not make it into the book appleinsider.com. The Computer History Museum hosted a panel featuring several veteran Apple executives, moderated by journalist David Pogue, to kick off Apple’s 50th-anniversary celebrations 9to5mac.com.
Apple Software & Services
Apple’s Passwords app has become a full-time password manager thanks to several iOS 26 changes 9to5mac.com. The Apple Invites app's Home Screen widget received a small but useful upgrade macrumors.com. Apple Arcade is adding three new games in April macrumors.com. TikTok and Apple announced that Apple Music and TikTok are introducing new features macrumors.com to bring seamless music discovery and listening together.
Third-Party Apps & Accessories
The DIRECTV app updated with a live sports hub 9to5mac.com feature to iOS. OpenAI’s Atlas browser adds support for multiple ChatGPT accounts 9to5mac.com. The developers behind Bartender seem to have, at last, gotten a handle on the bugs stemming from changes Apple made 9to5mac.com. An app lets any Mac unlock the special color options 9to5mac.com specific to the iMac and MacBook Neo.
Hardware & Accessories
Amazon has the Air Pods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation for $119.99 macrumors.com. The Valerion Vision Master Max is a super-premium 4K home theater projector that manages to get extremely close to the professional-grade experience for less than half the cost appleinsider.com. Samsung introduced the newest line of Galaxy products last month, including the S26 smartphones macrumors.com.
Security & Privacy
Apple released iOS 16.7.15 and iOS 15.8.7, updates designed for older iPhones and iPads that are not able to run newer versions of iOS and iPad OS macrumors.com. Meta says that it has removed over 159 million scam ads and taken down 10.9 million scam accounts on Facebook 9to5mac.com. Hackers have a new tool called Click Fix that combines fake human-verification prompts with malware, trying to trick users into running Terminal commands that bypass mac OS security appleinsider.com.
Industry Trends & Partnerships
EV maker Lucid is bringing Apple Car Play support to its Gravity SUV starting tomorrow 9to5mac.com. Apple and Samsung produced nearly the same number of smartphones in 2025, tying for the top position macrumors.com in global smartphone production. India is considering new manufacturing incentives in an effort to shift production of the iPhone and other smartphones out of China appleinsider.com.
Other Apple Developments
Apple is already on Instagram macrumors.com, but the company is expanding its horizons with a new account. Apple’s Air Tag 2 expands its best feature, now available on Apple Watch 9to5mac.com. Apple trained an AI to recognize previously unseen hand gestures from wearable sensors 9to5mac.com. Parallels confirms the MacBook Neo can run Windows in a virtual machine macrumors.com.