Apple has updated its Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops with new internals while keeping their exterior designs unchanged. The Mac Mini now ships with either the M5 Pro or the all-new M6 chip, Apple's first built on 2-nanometer technology, featuring a 12-core CPU, a 12-core GPU, and a dual 16-core Neural Engine for improved AI performance. The Mac Studio gains an M5 Ultra option, and both machines return to steady availability after months of limited stock.
wired.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple unveiled two new chips, the 2nm M6 and the quad-die M5 Ultra, alongside refreshed Mac desktops built around them. The M6 combines super, performance and efficiency cores for the first time and adds a Neural Accelerator to each GPU core, while the M5 Ultra fuses two M5 Max chips into one processor with up to 36 CPU cores, 80 GPU cores and 512GB of unified memory. Neither desktop gets major new features beyond faster specs and higher pricing.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-25
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast interview that AI has not yet had a transformative breakthrough moment comparable to the iPhone's impact on smartphones, despite having the underlying technology in place. He also acknowledged struggling with a lesson from Steve Jobs' Apple playbook: saying no to good ideas to focus resources on great ones, and admitted he was too optimistic about how fast AI would reshape the economy.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-25
Parallels Desktop 27 introduces a new Metal-based graphics driver enabling hardware-accelerated OpenGL 4.3 for Windows virtual machines running on Apple Silicon Macs. This unlocks professional Windows applications like ArcGIS Pro, ZWCAD, and Blender 4.3 that previously required this graphics baseline to function. Parallels also touts faster AI workload performance and new enterprise management tools aimed at IT departments.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-25
A CNET poll of 2,605 US adults found that three-quarters have no interest in purchasing a foldable Apple device, even as rumors point to Apple unveiling its first foldable iPhone, dubbed the iPhone Ultra, at a September event. Analysts expect the device to cost between $2,000 and $2,500, but survey respondents said they'd only be willing to spend an average of $781 on such a phone.
cnet.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple has carried its beta-only Siri AI waitlist system into the release builds of iOS 27 and macOS 27, meaning users won't get instant access to the new Siri features once they update. Code found in Beta 7 shows Apple now sends a personalized, server-generated wait-time estimate after someone joins the queue, with a push notification once access is granted.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-25
A longtime Spotify subscriber says the company canceled his legacy Premium Duo plan in July, citing a payment issue despite no changes on his end, after already phasing out the Duo tier in India months earlier. He suspects Spotify was quietly pushing users onto pricier plans, and in response he tried YouTube Music's free trial bundled with YouTube Premium, finding its app and recommendations surprisingly solid.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple has quietly reissued its polishing cloth accessory, keeping the same nonabrasive material and compatibility with a long list of Apple displays dating back to the iPhone 5. The only real change is price, which drops from $19 to $9, while the product description otherwise matches the previous listing.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-25
In the latest episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, host Bradley Chambers and 9to5Mac's Arin Waichulis discuss Apple's move to impose caps and cool-down periods on submissions to its bug bounty program. The episode explores how these restrictions could change the way security researchers interact with Apple's vulnerability reporting system.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple introduced two new chips, the M6 and M5 Ultra, alongside refreshed Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops built around them. Preorders are open now through Apple, with most configurations shipping September 22, 2026. The Mac Mini starts at $899 and the Mac Studio starts at $2,499, matching pricing tiers from prior generations while adding faster processors and better connectivity.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple has updated the Mac Studio lineup, moving both models back onto the same chip generation after last year's mismatched M4 Max and M3 Ultra split. The M5 Max version starts at $2,499 with 36GB of memory and 512GB storage, while the new M5 Ultra model begins at $5,499 with 96GB of memory and 1TB storage. Both ship September 22nd with macOS 27 Golden Gate, though a 512GB memory M5 Ultra configuration won't arrive until late October with pricing still unannounced.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-25
Apple has refreshed the Mac Mini with new M6 and M5 Pro chip options while keeping the same compact design as the 2024 models. The base M6 model starts at $899 and the M5 Pro version at $1,699, each $100 more than before, with preorders open now but shipping delayed until September 22nd.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-25