Apple ramps up smart glasses project as it looks past Vision Pro
Macworld With Vision Pro failing to set the market alight-and being officially labeled as “not a mass-market product”–the big question is how Apple plans to build a commercially viable product in the VR/AR space, if that’s even possible. Ultimately, the most appealing option for a mainstream audience would probably be a slimline pair of glasses with smart tech built in, but the state of technology and Apple’s own developments mean this isn’t likely to appear for some years yet. There are signs of progress, however. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, knowledgeable Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman claims that Apple recently commenced focus-group research to explore its options in the smart glasses market, in a sign of real intent. (This follows what was described as a technology investigation earlier this year.) Such groups previously preceded the launch of the AirPods and HomePod, and Vision Pro itself. Rather than seek opinion from the public, Apple restricts focus group discussions to its own employees. This might seem less illuminating, but enables the company to keep a lid on future developments and prevent them from reaching the media… in theory. It isn’t clear how Gurman obtained his information on the proceedings in this case. The groups have been discussing their feelings about currently available smart glasses, which include products from Snap and Meta. Apple is behind in this market, as it is so often–one of Cook’s mantras is “Not first, but best”–but those companies haven’t cracked the formula yet. Indeed, as Gurman observes, their products are far more limited in terms of AR functionality than what Apple is planning. So the question becomes this: should Apple pursue its own more ambitious plan, and attempt to reproduce Vision Pro’s capabilities in a far smaller chassis? Or should it simply create “a version of its AirPods in glasses form,” as Gurman puts it? That’s the dilemma which the focus groups are intended to solve. Whatever conclusion is reached, we won’t officially know about it for some time. Gurman says five years is the minimum before Apple is able to create a “true AR” set of smart glasses that meets its expectations. But Apple isn’t alone in this, with Meta and Snap experiencing similar issues with their own prototypes. Wherever the market is going, it isn’t going there yet.

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Apple Vision Pro’s first killer app debuts
The Apple Vision Pro’s first killer app has arrived in visionOS 2.2. It's the new virtual ultrawide curved monitor mode that serves as a Mac… The post appeared first on MacDailyNews.

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Rumor: iPhone 17 Air might not be as thin as Apple had intially hoped
Apple is widely expected to unveil an all-new iPhone 17 Air next year that puts an emphasis on form over function. The new iPhone 17 Air has been described as “ultra-slim,” but a new supply chain report this week says Apple has hit a roadblock in making the device as thin as it had originally hoped. more…

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My MacBook Pro quantum leap from M1 Pro to M4 Pro [Review] ★★★★☆
Our hands-on M4 Pro MacBook Pro review finds it an upgrade-worthy improvement over older machines like the M1 Pro MacBook. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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Battery problems threaten the iPhone Slim and iPhone Fold
A new rumor claims that both Apple and Samsung are having difficulty making thinner batteries, thereby limiting just how thin phones like the expected iPhone 17 Slim can be.Renders of what the iPhone 17 Slim could look likeWhat's currently rumored to be called the iPhone 17 Slim is believed to be an iPhone with a 6.6-inch screen, and to be significantly thinner than regular iPhones. Just how thin has not been known, but a new rumor says battery problems may mean it can be no less than 6mm.The rumor comes from yeux1122, who has a mixed track record — most recently claiming the Apple Ring project is still on, and regularly if erroneously claiming that there will be a 2TB version of the Pro iPhone models. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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AMD Is Making Great Strides in AI, May End Up Merging With Intel
AMD has made significant strides in AI. Last week, it announced that its first 1-billion parameter large language models are performing exceptionally well. In addition, the U.S. is pushing for AMD and Intel to merge, which could allow both firms to better compete in the growing battle for AI dominance. The post appeared first on TechNewsWorld.

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Apple Watch Ultra 2 one-year review: Even better than at launch
It's been more than a year since Apple Watch Ultra 2 launched, and we've had the wearable that's only gotten better on our wrist the whole time.Apple Watch Ultra 2 long-term review: Even better than beforeI do these extended long-term reviews often on Apple products, often by the time a new model has launched. I see how my opinions have changed with extended use and whether or not it was and is worth buying now.If this was like any other year, I'd probably have the Apple Watch Ultra 2 on one wrist and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on the other - but not this time. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Why a MacBook mini is not the answer
Macworld Thirty years ago, if you asked a member of the public about the future of technology, there’s a fair chance you’d hear the word “miniaturization.” That’s the way things seemed to be headed in the 90s, and you could hardly move for observational comedians doing tight fives about funny little camcorders and funny little music players and funny slightly less massive mobile phones. By 2024, we all assumed, a household’s entire collection of tech products would fit into a matchbox. In any event, it didn’t quite work out that way, which is often the case when you assume current trends will carry on endlessly in the same direction. An iPod nano is an appreciably more portable and convenient product than an iPod mini, but that doesn’t mean we’d get the same benefits from an iPod pico the size of a kidney bean or an iPod femto the size of a grain of rice. There’s a point where getting smaller stops being helpful. The iPhone is a case in point. Our 90s friend would be baffled to discover that the iPhone 16 is taller, wider, and more than an ounce heavier than the original iPhone that came out 17 years earlier—but this is more than compensated for by the much larger screen and battery, and the arsenal of vastly upgraded tech components. Apple’s smartphones have got slimmer, but in other respects, it makes functional sense for them to stay the same size or grow. A 6.1-inch screen is just demonstrably more useful than a 3.5-inch one. Of course, it hasn’t been a simple march upward in size, and Apple has experimented with smaller handsets from time to time. For a couple of generations, the iPhone SE was popular among folk who didn’t especially want or need a phablet. (Now there’s an ugly neologism you don’t hear anymore, mainly because big smartphones are no longer a novelty.) But was it really the small size that was the attraction, or was it the low price and the Home button? The evidence suggests the latter, because the small but mighty iPhone 12 mini and 13 mini, as popular as they were with reviewers, were so commercially unsuccessful that Apple killed off the line in favor of something bigger. I loved (and mourned) the iPhone 12 mini because it seemed miraculous that something so small could contain such a formidable set of specs and features. I loved how unobtrusively it slipped into a pocket, and the lack of compromises its petite form factor appeared to entail. But the problem comes when a user goes from a 5.4-inch screen to a 6.1-inch one, or vice versa. I switched from the iPhone 14 Pro to the 15 Plus last fall and can confirm from personal experience that once you try a bigger screen, it’s very difficult to go back. Perhaps this explains the situation of the iPad mini, which once seemed like the future of the line (following that same 90s logic, I suppose) but quickly became its pariah instead. Apple eventually updated the iPad mini last month, but this came after an astonishing three years in the wilderness and involved precious few worthwhile upgrades: one imagines that Apple spent a lot of that time giving serious thought to mercy-killing the iPad mini like the iPhone mini before it. The device is apparently popular in some professional applications, but I’m not sure there are enough doctors and airline pilots in the world to make it commercially viable when everyone else wants to watch movies on a screen at least the size of the 10th-gen iPad. Does shrinking tech products ever make sense? Of course. Apple’s own Mac mini, now smaller than ever, is the most recent poster child for the mini concept and has proven a great and enduring success. Mainly, I suspect, because the Mac being mini doesn’t require the display to follow suit. It’s one of the few products in Apple’s ecosystem where the screen is unbundled from the rest of the device… and it helps that it’s plugged in rather than battery-powered, so being smaller doesn’t necessitate a reduction in functional life. The two big downsides of smallness don’t affect the Mac mini. (Another such example is the HomePod mini.) What, then, would it look like if Apple tried to mini-fy one of its other products? What would a MacBook mini, for example, look like? Well, we don’t really have to guess because Apple actually used to sell a smaller MacBook Air with an 11-inch display… and the fact that it doesn’t anymore suggests this isn’t the optimal laptop form factor. Even in 2015, we concluded that the screen was too small, although in fairness this was more a function of the extremely thick bezels than the limitations of the chassis. A 2025 MacBook mini would fix that issue, at any rate. And if we’re committing to the miniature concept then we can assume that the chassis would shrink inwards to meet the screen, rather than the screen expanding to meet the edge of the chassis. That would give us an unprecedentedly slim and portable laptop that would fit in Steve Jobs’ manilla envelope with room to spare for a packed lunch, which isn’t an unappealing thought. Chuck in an M3 processor and support for Apple Intelligence, and the MacBook mini would deliver high-class performance in an ultraportable package. Unfortunately, some problems are fundamental to a device’s size. No matter how much we slim down those bezels, the screen can’t get any bigger than the chassis allows. More importantly, neither can the keyboard, which is bad news for people with human-sized hands and a desire to type. And if you’re one of the few people willing to stomach a laptop with a small screen and a small keyboard, there’s already the option to buy an 11-inch iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard and get two products in one. But I’d recommend you steer clear of the iPad mini. Foundry Welcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but it’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too. Trending: Top stories How Apple learned to stop worrying and laugh at the Microsoft Zune. Complaints about the Magic Mouse are missing the point, because there’s a logic to Apple’s laziness. How Apple Intelligence can take over the world (or just the Apple ecosystem). I’m skipping the Apple Watch Series 10 this year, says Mahmoud Itani, and so should you. How small is the M4 Mac mini really? This small. Podcast of the week The internet didn’t become a widely accessible resource for years after the Mac was born, So where did people go to get Mac support? In this episode of the Macworld Podcast, we explore the history of Mac User Groups and their influence on the Mac community. You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app, or our own site. Reviews corner M4 iMac review: This might be the best iMac ever. M4 Pro Mac mini review: Remarkably small and incredibly powerful. 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) review: From ‘meh’ to marvelous. 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) review: Locked in and loaded. iPad mini (A17 Pro) review: A little faster, a little ‘smarter’. The rumor mill The M4 Ultra will reportedly get a massive core upgrade for Apple’s highest-end Macs. Major changes are coming to the MacBook Pro–but not until 2026. Left-field report claims Apple is working on a 90Hz display for iPad Air, iMac. And with that, we’re done for this week’s Apple Breakfast. If you’d like to get regular roundups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.

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M4 Mac mini SSD removal and upgrade are possible (albeit not easily)
The good news is that the new M4 Mac mini features an upgradable SSD that can technically be removed, upgraded, and data can be recovered from it. The bad news is that this is a fairly intricate process. The storage can be upgraded per Quinn Nelson’s teardown video of the new Mac mini desktop on […] Source

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Apple could double iPhone production in India within two years
Apple may need to scale up its manufacturing operations in India if US President Donald Trump imposes significant tariffs on Chinese imports. (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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Amazon drops early Black Friday deals on M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Air 16GB
Apple's 1TB M4 MacBook Pro 14-inch is eligible for a material early Black Friday discount at Amazon, along with savings on the 2024 Mac mini M4 and a record low price on the 13-inch MacBook Air 16GB.Amazon slashed prices on Apple's current Macs - Image credit: AppleIn what is the steepest price drop we've seen on the 14-inch M4 / 16GB RAM / 1TB SSD spec, Amazon has shaved $145 off MSRP when you order the laptop in the Silver colorway. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Standalone ‘Google Gemini’ app spotted for iPhone with Gemini Live
Since launch, Gemini on iOS has been part of the Google (Search) app. That’s about to change with at least one iPhone user today spotting a standalone “Google Gemini” app on the App Store that also lets you access Gemini Live.  more…

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M4 Mac Studio: Here’s what to expect from Apple’s upcoming high-end desktop
Late last month, Apple unveiled the iMac, and . That’s about half of the Mac lineup, leaving the MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Among the two remaining desktops, the Mac Studio is definitely the more popular one – though it’s a bit outdated, still sporting the M2 Max and M2 Ultra. Here’s everything we’re expecting with the next Mac Studio, though it is a bit light. more…

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Apple starts supplying replacement parts for iPhone 16 repairs
Repair parts for the iPhone 16 lineup are now available to order in the US and other countries, including for those wanting to fix their iPhone for themselves.DIY repairs are well-suited to some, but can be labor-intensive and expensive.Following the release of the repair manuals for the iPhone 16 in September, it's now possible to acquire replacement parts for repairs from Apple directly. This is a continuation of a move starting in 2022 towards more user repairability of its products.Batteries, one of the most common replacement parts, sell for $99 for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, or $119 for the iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max. Likewise, replacement camera assemblies cost $169 or $249, depending on the model. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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MacBook Pro M3 $500 Off On Amazon
The MacBook Pro M3 is on sale for $1499.00, down from $1999.00, with a whopping discount of $500 making this one of the best deals for the device. Featuring 1TB of SSD storage, 16GB of memory, and equipped with the M3 chip, the MacBook Pro M3 delivers powerful performances for multitasking at work, editing projects, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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iOS 18.2 anticipated to launch early December 
The iOS 18.2 is anticipated to launch during the first week of December. This update will come with the arrival of the graphics tools Genmoji and Image Playground. Bloomberg’s reports support early claims for an early December Release of iOS 18.2 as well as iOS 18.3, and that the latter will be a bug fix […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Program launched for repairing iPhone 14 Plus rear Camera
Apple started a program for repairing the rear camera for the iPhone 14 Plus, where it addresses the problem that some iPhones experience an issue where the smartphone doesn’t show them a preview of pictures they took. Manufacturing for units that have this problem were during the period of April 10 and April 28, 2023. […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Apple Pay branches out to Paraguay
A blog post by Mastercard gives notice that Apple Pay has been released in Paraguay, becoming the most recent country that supports the mobile payment system. Apple Pay paves the way for completing transactions on iPhones without needing an actual, physical card. The service has been accessible in the U.S. for more than a decade, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Today in Apple history: Microsoft reveals its plans for Windows 1.0
On November 10, 1983, Microsoft told the world about a new product it planned to launch called Windows 1.0. Apple faced a brand-new rival! (via Cult of Mac - Apple news, rumors, reviews and how-tos)

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Apple Vision Pro 2 with M5 chip likely to arrive before budget models
Apple is likely to launch a refreshed Apple Vision Pro headset before a cheaper version of the product arrives, according to a new report.An updated Apple Vision Pro could sport an M5 chip and other improvements.Apple is believed to be working on "several ideas" for its overall Apple Vision product line and its future intentions. Currently, it is expected that an updated Apple Vision Pro will be the first, ahead of a rumored cheaper "Apple Vision" headset.The next Apple Vision Pro would likely sport an M5 processor and other internal changes, but would otherwise be very similar to the existing model. It's expected to arrive in late 2025, reports Bloomberg, or the spring of 2026. Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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