Apple – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Apple

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is best known for making some of the world’s most ubiquitous consumer devices, software, and services: the iPhone, iPad, iMac and MacBook computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iOS, iCloud, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and many more. Led by CEO Tim Cook since 2011, Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world alongside Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

Apple hit with $5.7 billion in damages over haptic patents

Apple’s Taptic Engine was found to infringe on two of Taction’s patents.

Terrence O'Brien
These camera apps give you more control over the iPhone 18 Pro’s aperture

Moment Pro Camera II and Blackmagic Camera don’t limit you to just four aperture settings like the iOS’ camera app.

Andrew Liszewski

Latest In Apple

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
The White House wants you to know it was the #1 News app in the App Store.

That revamped Trump admin app (now offering access to Trump TV) apparently bounced up to the top of the News list this week.

You might think that securing access to the Strait of Hormuz or really anything else would be the federal government’s focus, but hey, it had the number one app in a category, and as David Pierce wrote in February, the very best thing about that is “being able to tell people you were number one.” The app has since slipped to #2 in news behind X, and to #96 overall.

White House App Hits No. 1 in News and Cracks App Store Top 20 as Americans Tune Out Fake News
Screenshot: The White House
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
You can customize the EQ on some AirPods now.

After a recent software update, the custom EQ option is now available on a handful of supported AirPods, 9to5Mac reports. You can find it in the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac — on my MacBook Air the new Equalizer feature was under Audio & Routing in my AirPods Pro 3 settings.

A screenshot of AirPods EQ settings in the Mac settings app
Screenshot: The Verge
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Here’s the Apple Music Hall opening lineup.

Ticket sales for the first shows at Apple’s new live music venue in London will open on Monday September 28th at 9AM GMT (4AM ET), but competition will be fierce — there’s only 600 seats to fight over. If you fancy your chances though, these are all the acts announced so far:

Elton John: September 28th
Baby Keem: October 2nd
Skye Newman: October 7th
Troye Sivan: October 13th
Arlo Parks: October 22nd
Burna Boy: October 29th
Chase & Status: November 26th
Charli XCX: December 3rd

Can Apple Home’s AI camera features outsmart Amazon’s and Google’s? I put them to the test

Apple Intelligence has arrived on HomeKit Secure Video. Here’s how its new features compare with Ring and Nest.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Silicon Valley’s power ranking.

If you want to know where the power in tech currently lies, you only need to look at this photo of the head table at Donald Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. I see Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, Apple’s Tim Cook, and SpaceXaiTesla’s Elon Musk seated by the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. The CEOs and / or founders of Alphabet (Google), OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm, Micron, Dell, and… Zoom, were also in attendance.

Xi Jinping, China’s president, speaks during the state dinner.
Xi Jinping, China’s president, speaks during the state dinner.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Everything is spying on you and there’s no opting out

A new wave of AI-enhanced consumer creep-tech disregards the privacy of everyone but the wearer. The people have had enough.

Janus Rose
John Higgins
John Higgins
The Beats 360 are essentially true wireless earbuds disguised as headphones.

As confirmed by Beats product manager Jeff Bruksch, the new Beats 360 headphones use a true wireless architecture with each earcup containing its own battery, antenna, and processing components. It allows Beats to “significantly reduce the cabling between the two sides,” according to Bruksch.

Because we don’t have the traditional system including a charging case, we have a cable for power supply and power management between the left and right sides so that you don’t have to charge both sides and the left and right sides power on/off together.

Having a cable for power management only explains the lack of audio support through the USB-C.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Is Apple Music experimenting with a new logo?

A redesigned wordmark has appeared at the start of a new promotional video for Apple Music Hall, and at the top of the venue’s website. That said, the current version is still being used across the Apple Music website, and displayed inside the new show venue. so it’s unclear if Apple will be using the new logo anywhere else.

A comparison between Apple Music wordmarks.
I rather like the redesigned version on the right, it feels more suited for the Apple style vibe. Thoughts?
Image: Apple
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The new Apple Watches also reduce heart rate readings while Theater Mode is active.

If you’re worried about the green LEDs being a bigger distraction in a dark theater now that the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 measure your heart rate every five seconds, Theater Mode now reduces readings to five minute intervals while still silencing alerts and keeping the screen off. But you can override that new feature in the Apple Watch’s settings to restore the continuous monitoring.

The front and back of the Apple Watch Series 12 with its heart rate reading LEDs activated.
Image: Apple
The Beats 360 are what I’d bring to the gym if I hated earbuds

7

Verge Score

With swappable ear cushions and IPX4 water resistance, the Beats 360 should stand up better to sweat than most headphones.

John Higgins
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Apple is once again soldering the Mac mini’s SSD preventing aftermarket upgrades.

While the Mac mini M4’s SSD was easily removable and upgradeable, the NAND module on the new Mac mini M6 and M5 Pro is soldered to the logic board, according to a blog post by Expand Mac mini. That’s the same approach Apple took with the Mac mini M1, M2, and M3.

A partially opened Mac mini M4 computer.
Replacing the SSD in the Mac mini M4 was relatively simple after some disassembly.
Image: iFixit
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Apple still appears to be working on an “AutoLock” feature for stolen iPhones.

As spotted by 9to5Mac, code in the latest iOS 27.2 beta backs up earlier reporting that suggests Apple may automatically lock iPhones when taken from their owners. Apple may use various signals to determine when an iPhone was stolen, such as a “sharp acceleration” that indicates a device was snatched, the inability to connect to a paired Apple Watch, and a loss of network connectivity.

It’s time for the Mac NeoIt’s time for the Mac Neo
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Apple’s smart display could finally arrive next month.

According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the long-rumored Apple home hub with a screen is now being positioned as an AI hub for the home, working in tandem with your personal AI hub, the iPhone. He writes:

“It will bring together all of your connected-device controls, video calls, intercom capabilities and media, while giving you access to Apple services and apps. It also will feature a new operating system built around Siri AI.”

I shared my ideas for what I want to see Apple do with a truly “intelligent home hub” in this piece, but in the meantime I’ll make do with Apple just shipping something here.

Can CEO John Ternus find Apple’s next big thing?
Play

Bloomberg chief Apple correspondent Mark Gurman on Siri, Tim Cook’s legacy, and what to expect from Ternus.

Nilay Patel
The Mac Mini is still mighty, just not as cheap

It remains the best tiny computer you can buy, but $900 stings compared to the $600 of the last-gen.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
TC Sottek
TC Sottek
iPhone Duo: “it’s sort of the greatest hits.”

The team behind Apple’s new foldable basically gave a second keynote to GQ, and snagged a couple brief statements from new CEO John Ternus. “Steve [Jobs] talked about the intersection of technology and liberal arts, and I think iPhone Duo is a perfect example of that,” Ternus told GQ.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
ICYMI: Apple is charging up to $60 a month for Apple Intelligence features on HomeKit cameras.

You’ll have to pay at least $9.99 a month for Apple Home’s new AI-powered features, including video summaries, for just one camera. If you want access on up to five cameras, it’s $59.99 (included in the 12TB iCloud Plus plan). Is this a sign of more subscription fees on the horizon for Apple’s smart home?

Apple Intelligence can provide written summaries of activity captured by your HomeKit Secure Video-compatible cameras. But it will cost you.
Apple Intelligence can provide written summaries of activity captured by your HomeKit Secure Video-compatible cameras. But it will cost you.
Screenshot by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
What should we test on Apple’s ridiculous $12,299 Mac Studio?

That’s not a typo. The M5 Ultra Mac Studio Apple sent us for review is a doozie. It’s got a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU, 256GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage, making it mind-bogglingly expensive.

Our regular benchmarks aren’t much of a challenge. So what would you like to see us throw at it?

The review configuration of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, priced out on Apple’s site.
The review configuration of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio, priced out on Apple’s site.
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Steve Wozniak launched an online merch shop.

While announcing that he was planning to share more of his adventures on X, Steve Wozniak also revealed a new merchandise store. WozMerch.com carries everything from wireless power banks, to $700 carry-ons, to t-shirts featuring inspirational phrases and colorful images of the Apple co-founder himself.

A black t-shirt featuring a rainbow image of Steve Wozniak.
Image: WozMerch
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Apple will use the iPhone 18 Pro to shoot some of tomorrow night’s Giants vs. Dodgers game.

After using four iPhone 17 Pros during a Tigers vs. Red Sox game in 2025, Apple will use 14 of its new iPhone 18 Pro to capture “unique perspectives that would be difficult to achieve with traditional broadcast cameras” at tomorrow night’s season final of Friday Night Baseball. The cameras will record “positions within the pitch clock, backstop, foul pole, and both bullpens.”

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

An iPhone 17 Pro used to capture a MLB game at a stadium.
One of the four iPhone 17 Pro phones used to capture an MLB game in 2025.
Image: Apple TV Plus
The Apple Watch Series 12 is the start of a new wearable era

8

Verge Score

A surprisingly consequential update for the world’s most popular smartwatch.

Victoria Song
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Tim Cook and Sam Altman are also having dinner with China’s president.

They’ll be joining Nvidia’s Jensen Huang next week at a White House state dinner for Xi Jinping. It’s the first chance for Tim Cook to earn that $47 million pay package in his new role as Apple’s dedicated Trump whisperer: You is smart, you is strong, you is important.

The iPhone 18 Pro: an ambitious new camera on the margins
Play

The Pro camera’s major upgrade offers minor image quality improvements — whether or not you know what an f-stop is.

Allison Johnson
Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are going amphibious.

Two boat manufacturers, Crest Marine and Balise Pontoons (both owned by MasterCraft Boat Holdings), announced today their plans to enable smartphone projection in their upcoming models in 2027. The boats will feature a seven-inch “marine touchscreen” that will display CarPlay or Android Auto alongside marine-specific technology. The manufacturers are also working with marine navigation app Savvy Navvy to offer access to nautical charts, smart routing, GPS tracking, live weather, and tidal data — all displayed on the same screen as other apps. Avast!

Image: Crest Marine / Balise Pontoons
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Apple’s iCloud Plus subscription is adding Apple TV and Arcade for free in over 100 countries.

Apple’s including both in the $0.99/month 50GB iCloud Plus subscription “at no extra cost.” Users in the US and other regions that aren’t on the list will need a pricier Apple One subscription to get a bundle with those services.

The premium AirPods 5 are the best open-ear earbuds Apple has made

8

Verge Score

The $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case have great ANC and finally add swipe volume controls.

John Higgins
TC Sottek
TC Sottek
All dressed up with hardware to go.

Apple cleaned up on stage at last night’s Emmy Awards with big wins for Pluribus and Widow’s Bay. But new CEO John Ternus might have been even more excited about getting to show off the iPhone Duo.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Yes, Apple TV is the new HBO.

Apple just answered the question we raised in June by taking home 28 (plus one for an ad) Emmy awards, the most of any studio. It’s the first time Apple has come out on top thanks to its focus on tentpole titles like Pluribus and Widow’s Bay that created cultural moments this year.