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Apple increases iPhone Duo orders by 30%
Apple has adjusted the mix of its order volumes for fall 2026 iPhone models, according to an exclusive report citing supply-chain sources.
The company increased orders for the iPhone Duo by 30%. Even after the increase, total Duo orders remain below 10 million units. At the same time, Apple adjusted orders for the iPhone 18 Pro lower by 10–15% and raised orders for the iPhone 18 Pro Max by 10–15%. The overall order volume for the iPhone 18 Pro series is unchanged.
Supply-chain sources told reporters that the shifts indicate sales are tilting toward higher-value products. They described the adjustment as generally positive for the performance of companies in Apple’s supply chain.
The report, published by Securities Times (证券时报) and sourced to People’s Finance News (人民财讯), is based on information obtained from Apple’s supply chain. No further details on pricing, launch timing, or specific component suppliers were disclosed.
MacDailyNews Take: The mix is being adjusted toward the higher end which will benefit iPhone ASP.
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Apple TV debuts trailer for ‘Heart,’ new Apple Original Podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff
On Monday, Apple TV debuted the trailer for “Heart,” a new eight-episode Apple Original Podcast hosted by acclaimed podcast host Karen Kilgariff. Premiering October 19, 2026 on Apple Podcasts, the series recounts the extraordinary true story of two men linked by a single heart — and the families left to make sense of their loss.
When Sonny Graham receives a lifesaving heart transplant, he falls in love with his donor’s widow. What local newspapers hail as a miraculous love story takes a tragic turn when Sonny dies — the same way as his heart donor, Terry Cottle. In both cases, the official conclusion is suicide. As friends and family recall changes in Sonny’s behavior after the transplant, some question whether the heart he received could have carried traces of the donor’s trauma.
Drawing on three years of reporting, “Heart” follows the families’ search for answers through court filings, public records and personal accounts. The series examines the connections between the two men’s lives and deaths, exploring questions of trauma, identity and the mysteries of the heart.
Host Karen Kilgariff shared in a statement, “Working with such a talented production team has made hosting ‘Heart’ an absolute dream. I’m so proud to be a part of this show.”
“Heart” is an Apple Original Podcast from Plan B and Blanchard House. It’s the latest collaboration between Apple and Plan B, helmed by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, following the Pitt racing feature “F1 The Movie,” as well as an upcoming father-son dramedy film starring Mark Wahlberg and the feature “Waffle House.” Blanchard House is the acclaimed British audio studio behind Apple Original Podcasts “Extrasensory,” “The Pirate of Prague” and “Adrift.” Kilgariff is a writer, producer, podcast host and comedian known for co-hosting the acclaimed podcast “My Favorite Murder.” Follow “Heart” on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/Heart
Apple TV subscribers will be able to listen to all eight episodes of “Heart” on October 19, 2026 on Apple Podcasts. Nonsubscribers can listen to the first three episodes for free that day, with one new episode released weekly through the finale on November 23, 2026.
The podcast joins a growing offering of originals now streaming on Apple Podcasts, including “Unicorn Girl,” “Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story,” “Adrift,” duPont-Columbia Award-winning “The Line,” Webby Award-nominated “Hooked,” “Run, Bambi, Run,” “Operation: Tradebom,” “My Divo,” “The Pirate of Prague,” “Magnificent Jerk” and “Missed Fortune,” as well as official companion podcasts for Apple TV series “Foundation,” “For All Mankind” and the docuseries “The Big Conn.”
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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Apple’s App Store Indie Games Week kicks off today
Apple has launched Indie Games Week on the App Store, shining a spotlight on the creative, boundary-pushing titles developed by independent studios. Starting today, players can dive into seven highly acclaimed indie games making their debut (or mobile debut) on iPhone and iPad, with daily features, curated collections, and editor spotlights running all week.
“Indie games are constantly pushing the boundaries of creativity to deliver unique gameplay experiences to Apple users, and we wanted to take a moment to celebrate these games and the teams that take creative risks to push gaming forward,” said Carson Oliver, Apple’s head of App Store Worldwide, in a statement. “Whether from a solo developer or a growing studio, the App Store gives bold ideas a global stage — turning daring visions into worldwide hits. We’re thrilled with the incredible games launching on the App Store this week and amazed by their breathtaking artistry, brilliant design, and deeply moving stories.”
The lineup offers a wide range of experiences, from intense martial arts combat and strategic deck-building to open-world exploration, kingdom management, and moral storytelling. Most titles are available to download now, while one major release arrives later this month.
Sifu brings cinematic kung fu combat to mobile
The critically acclaimed Sifu (from Sloclap and Kepler Interactive) leads the celebration with its stylish third-person brawler gameplay. Players follow a young kung fu student seeking revenge through ferocious, unforgiving battles that demand precise parries, combo chaining, and environmental improvisation. Fully adapted for iPhone and iPad, the game features custom-tuned touch controls, a reworked camera system, and full controller support.
Vampire Crawlers offers gothic strategy and dark humor
Fans of Vampire Survivors will want to check out Vampire Crawlers (from poncle and Nosebleed Interactive). This spin-off swaps frantic bullet-dodging for tactical card battling in a gothic setting. Players build decks, uncover powerful card combos and secret relics, and battle skeletons, bats, and other creeps across chaotic dungeon runs filled with dark humor and high-stakes draws.
No Man’s Sky lands on iPhone and iPad later this month
After a decade of continuous updates, Hello Games’ groundbreaking space odyssey No Man’s Sky makes its mobile debut on October 28. The iPhone and iPad version includes every major content expansion to date, including the recent Cosmos update that lets players command their own space stations. Explore, trade, fight, and survive across an infinite, procedurally generated universe—all rendered at runtime and playable in the palm of your hand.
More indie adventures available now
Also featured throughout the week and available for download today:
• Little Kitty, Big City (Double Dagger Studio): Guide a curious feline through an open-world metropolis filled with discovery and mischief.
• 9 Kings (Sad Socket and Playdigious): Assemble card armies and outmaneuver royal adversaries in this strategic kingdom builder.
• Dome Keeper (Bippinbits and Raw Fury): Dig deep, manage resources, and fend off alien threats in this tense mining simulator.
• Yes, Your Grace 2: Snowfall (Brave At Night and Noodlecake Studios): Make agonizing moral choices as you try to save a crumbling empire.
These titles showcase the diversity of indie development—from solo creators to growing studios—and highlight the App Store’s role as a global platform for bold ideas.
Indie Games Week runs all week with daily App Store features and curated collections. For more indie recommendations, check out the App Store editors’ in-depth overview of indie gems or the dedicated Mac indie games guide.
MacDailyNews Take: Whether you’re looking for intense combat, clever strategy, just some fun exploration, or heartfelt stories, there’s a new adventure waiting on Apple’s App Store starting today.
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Gene Munster: Elon Musk’s SpaceX will eventually build a Starlink smartphone
Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster argued on X that SpaceX will eventually produce its own handset, even as Elon Musk has repeatedly said he does not want to make a phone. The comment came in response to SpaceX’s announcement of a deal to acquire nationwide low-band spectrum that strengthens Starlink’s path toward becoming a major U.S. mobile carrier.
Elon says he doesn’t want to make a phone. I still think $SPCX eventually will.
A vertically integrated handset on a Starlink mobile network could deliver features carriers can’t match, and cheaper service.
That’s a bigger problem for Samsung than Apple. $AAPL’s device and services tie-in is harder to break.
— Gene Munster (@munster_gene) October 9, 2026
On October 8, 2026, SpaceX said it had reached an agreement to acquire Grain Management’s nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses—up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band. Grain had obtained the licenses from T-Mobile earlier in the year under conditions tied to the T-Mobile–Sprint merger. Combined with the roughly 65 MHz of mid-band spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from EchoStar and the company’s next-generation Starlink constellation (including FCC authorization for thousands of additional satellites), the low-band airwaves address a key technical gap: better signal penetration indoors and through obstacles such as walls and foliage. SpaceX stated that the combination positions Starlink Mobile to offer reliable service “indoors, outdoors, in cellular dead zones, and everywhere in between,” with existing phones already supporting the 800 MHz band. Elon Musk called the development a “very big deal.”
Munster wrote: “Elon says he doesn’t want to make a phone. I still think $SPCX eventually will. A vertically integrated handset on a Starlink mobile network could deliver features carriers can’t match, and cheaper service. That’s a bigger problem for Samsung than Apple. $AAPL’s device and services tie-in is harder to break.” He contends that controlling both the network and the device would let SpaceX offer capabilities and pricing that traditional carriers and handset makers cannot easily replicate.
Musk has long expressed reluctance. At a 2024 Pennsylvania town hall he said, “The idea of making a phone makes me want to die. But if we have to make a phone, we will. But we will aspire not to make a phone,” framing the decision as a potential response to heavy-handed app-store or platform controls by Apple or Google. In February 2026 he stated “We are not developing a phone” after reports suggested otherwise. In late January he allowed that such a device was “not out of the question at some point” but would be “a very different device than current phones,” optimized purely for running high-performance-per-watt neural nets. In July he dismissed as “utterly false” a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX had shown investors a slim, AI-oriented handset prototype ahead of its IPO. He has also described future phones more broadly as AI “edge nodes” rather than traditional smartphones.
SpaceX went public in June 2026 in the largest IPO in history, pricing at $135 per share under the ticker SPCX and achieving an initial valuation near $1.8 trillion. Starlink has been a major growth driver; the company has been building both satellite direct-to-device capabilities and, with the new spectrum, plans for hybrid terrestrial infrastructure. The spectrum deals move SpaceX from primarily partnering with existing carriers toward operating its own significant mobile network presence in the U.S.
Whether SpaceX ultimately ships a conventional phone, an AI-first device, or neither remains speculative. Munster’s view highlights the strategic logic of vertical integration once Starlink Mobile has nationwide low- and mid-band spectrum and a large constellation. Apple’s tight hardware-software-services ecosystem is widely viewed as more resilient to disruption than Samsung’s more open Android-based approach, which is why Munster sees the greater risk for the Korean manufacturer.
MacDailyNews Take: For now, Musk himself continues to signal that a homegrown smartphone is not a priority, unless competitive or platform pressures make it necessary. Apple simply needs to make sure that iPhones always work well with Starlink Mobile and SpaceXAI’s Grok.
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Apple to unveil HomeView Smart Home Hub on October 13th
Apple is preparing to launch a new smart home strategy at its “Welcome home” event on October 13, centered on a device called HomeView that aims to fill a longstanding gap in its product ecosystem, according to Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman.
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reported that HomeView will serve as a Siri-powered command center for homes built around Apple devices. The hub pairs a display with an A18 chip and is designed primarily for voice control, with touch input supported on the screen. It will run a limited set of Apple apps and will not include an App Store, with Apple instead directing users toward Siri, the Home app, and connected accessories for control.
The device is expected in two versions. The countertop model features a metal speaker base and will be offered in space gray, silver, starlight, and pink; Gurman indicated it should deliver better sound quality than the refreshed HomePod mini. A wall-mounted version uses a flat, square base and will be limited to space gray and silver. HomeView is currently planned to ship around mid-November, roughly a month after the October 13 unveiling.
Alongside the hub, Apple is expected to introduce an updated HomePod mini powered by the S10 chip and a new Apple TV set-top box using the A19 chip. Those two products are on track to reach customers and Apple stores on October 30, with preorders expected to open this week, Gurman said.
The broader push also includes partnerships for accessories sold under an “Apple Home Collection” banner. These encompass products codeveloped with LG Electronics, such as a smart doorbell, deadbolt lock, thermostat, temperature sensor, indoor and outdoor security cameras, and a floodlight camera, as well as items developed with Schneider Electric for the European market. Gurman has described the overall effort as an attempt to make the home a more meaningful part of Apple’s lineup and reduce the likelihood that customers leave the ecosystem.
MacDailyNews Take: We know for sure very soon!
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Apple marks original Apple TV 4K as ‘vintage,’ days before expected successor
Apple today added the first-generation Apple TV 4K, released in 2017, to the vintage products list on its website, four days before a new model is expected to debut.
The listing, spotted by MacRumors, covers the original 4K set-top box (model A1842), which Apple introduced on September 12, 2017, with an A10X Fusion chip, support for 4K HDR and Dolby Vision, and the original glass-top Siri Remote. Apple stopped selling the model on April 20, 2021, when the second-generation Apple TV 4K arrived.
Under Apple’s definitions, a product becomes vintage once more than five years have passed since it was discontinued, and obsolete after seven years. Vintage status does not end support outright. Apple and authorized providers can still service the hardware, but only while parts remain available. Once a product is marked obsolete, Apple no longer offers hardware service.
The timing is pointed. A fourth-generation Apple TV 4K is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, October 13th, as part of Apple’s “Welcome home” launch, which the company confirmed yesterday with a teaser from marketing chief Greg Joswiak and invites to a hands-on experience in New York. Reporting from various sources points to a refreshed set-top box alongside a new smart home hub and an updated HomePod mini. The new Apple TV 4K is widely expected to keep the current box design while moving to a much newer chip, an N-series networking component, and a revised Siri Remote, with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features for the living room among the rumored additions.
Owners of the 2017 model have already been left behind on software. The box is not eligible for tvOS 27, which Apple limited to the 2021 and 2022 Apple TV 4K models. Streaming apps continue to run on the older software, but the vintage designation is a further signal that the first 4K Apple TV is entering the late stage of its support life just as a replacement is about to be announced.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve been waiting for what feels like forever to order a bunch of new Apple TV units!
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Apple’s Mac increases share of worldwide personal computer market to 11.7% – Omdia
Apple’s Mac gained more than one percentage point of worldwide personal computer market share in the third quarter of 2026, reaching 11.7%, even as global PC shipments fell sharply, according to new research from Omdia.
Worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations declined 21.2% year on year to 58.1 million units in the third quarter, Omdia said Friday. Desktop shipments, including desktop workstations, fell 23.5% to 11.7 million units, while notebook shipments, including mobile workstations, declined 20.6% to 46.4 million units.
Apple held fourth place, shipping 6.8 million units, down 11% from a year earlier. Its share rose to 11.7% as its premium positioning helped limit the impact of higher prices.
“After sustained pull-forward activity buoyed the PC market in the first half of the year, this sharp drop in shipment volumes comes as no surprise,” Ishan Dutt, research director at Omdia, said in a statement. “The scale of the decline is consistent with what the industry signaled throughout the last earnings cycle, with leading OEMs forecasting double-digit unit contractions in H2 and retailers reporting double-digit increases in average selling prices (ASPs) alongside falling sales. The impact of upstream component cost increases has now fully worked its way through to end-market pricing, with consumers and IT decision-makers responding accordingly. On the supply side, vendors and their ODM partners began scaling back production in 3Q, while channel partners continued working through elevated inventory levels.”
Supply-chain pressure has intensified in recent months. Along with continued increases in memory and storage prices, shortages of processors, graphics cards, and numerous IC components have made supply-chain and inventory management more difficult for PC vendors.
“The cost share of DRAM and SSDs in PCs has risen sharply from a typical level of around 15% to nearly 40%, with price increases more than fourfold,” Ben Yeh, principal analyst at Omdia, said in a statement. “Although PC vendors have raised prices multiple times over the past few quarters, these increases have yet to fully offset the impact. These pressures are expected to persist, and the current decline may be just the beginning of a new downward cycle.”
Omdia forecasts the PC market will decline 24% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a further 7% decline expected for full-year 2027.
Rankings among the leading vendors were largely unchanged both sequentially and year on year. Lenovo remained in first place, shipping 14.9 million units and holding a 26% market share. HP recorded the largest decline among the top vendors, at 31%, and ranked second with 10.3 million units. Its share fell to 18%, nearly three percentage points lower than a year earlier.
Dell remained third, shipping 7.6 million units and accounting for 13% of the market. Asus rounded out the top five with the smallest decline among the leading vendors, shipping 5.4 million units as its market share improved to 9.3% year on year.
MacDailyNews Take: Different, and better, numbers than IDC managed to divine.
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Apple’s indomitable Mac gains in global personal computer market share
Apple’s Mac gained ground in the global personal computer market in the third quarter of 2026, even as unit shipments fell, according to preliminary estimates from IDC.
Apple shipped an estimated 5.9 million Macs between July and September, down from 6.7 million a year earlier, an 11.3 percent decline. Its share of worldwide PC shipments nonetheless rose to 9.5 percent from 8.5 percent in the third quarter of 2025. The company held fourth place in IDC’s worldwide vendor rankings.
The share gain came because the rest of the market contracted faster. Across all brands, shipments dropped to 62.7 million units from 78.5 million a year earlier, a 20.1 percent decline. The downturn followed a 3.8 percent annual decrease in the second quarter. Third-quarter shipments were also 9.1 percent below the second-quarter total, even though the period is usually busier for the industry.
Lenovo led with 14.9 million shipments, down 22.6 percent. HP followed with 10.3 million, down 30.9 percent, and Dell with 7.6 million, down 25 percent. ASUS, fifth with 5.5 million shipments, fell 8.6 percent — the only top-five vendor with a smaller percentage decline than Apple.
IDC attributed the weak quarter partly to the timing of earlier orders. Manufacturers and distribution partners secured stock sooner than usual to limit exposure to RAMageddon’s rising memory costs, leaving less volume for later in the year. With sellers still holding that inventory, there was less need to order additional devices in the third quarter.
The firm also cited component shortages and higher prices, linking pressure on supply and costs to the expansion of AI data centers. Apple raised prices in June; management pointed to sharply rising memory expenses on the company’s July earnings call.
MacDailyNews Take: The fact that only one in ten people are smart enough to buy a Mac over a crappy PC will forever boggle our minds.
Macs have significantly lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than crappy Windows PCs. This has been known and widely documented now for decades.
See also:
• Study: Apple Macs have lower Total Cost of Ownership than Windows PCs – October 7, 2021
• IBM now has over 290,000 Apple Macs and other devices deployed – November 12, 2019
• The debate is over: IBM confirms that Apple Macs are $535 less expensive than Windows PCs – October 20, 2016
• IBM realizes huge savings with largest-ever enterprise Mac deployment: 100,000 Macs by end of year – October 19, 2016
• Enterprise Desktop Alliance: Apple Macs cost a lot less than Windows PCs to manage – March 9, 2010
• IT survey finds Macs in the enterprise easier, cheaper to manage than Windows PCs – March 18, 2010
• Pfeiffer Consulting: Mac vs Windows: Total Cost of Ownership, Productivity and Return on Investment – March 30, 2006
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Apple TV unveils first look at ‘Prodigies,’ new series starring Will Sharpe and Ayo Edebiri
Apple TV on Friday unveiled a first look at “Prodigies,” a romantic comedy series starring, created, written, directed and executive produced by BAFTA and Actor Award winner Will Sharpe (“The White Lotus,” “A Real Pain”) alongside Emmy and Actor Award winner Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear,” “Bottoms”), who co-stars and executive produces. The series is produced by the Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning SISTER Pictures. The seven-episode season premieres globally on Wednesday, February 10, 2027 with two episodes, followed by one episode weekly until March 17, 2027.
The new romantic comedy series “Prodigies” premieres February 10, 2027 on Apple TV.
“Prodigies” follows Didi (Edebiri) and Ren (Sharpe), two former child prodigies now in their 30s, as they reexamine the relationship they’ve been in since they were nine. From London to Tokyo by way of Virginia, this unconventional take on a romantic comedy explores ideas of potential, ambition and the universal complexities of long-term relationships. As they begin to question whether their very ordinary existence is living up to the extraordinary promise of their childhood, they find themselves in a new and terrifying kind of chaos.
The new romantic comedy series “Prodigies” premieres February 10, 2027 on Apple TV.
The ensemble cast includes John Malkovich, Tobias Menzies, Yumi Asō, Maria Bakalova, Sophia Di Martino, Rina Sawayama, Reece Shearsmith, Dame Meera Syal and Andrene Ward-Hammond.
“Prodigies” is executive produced by Naomi De Pear (“This Is Going to Hurt,” “Flowers”), Katie Carpenter (“Waiting for the Out”, “Landscapers”) and Jane Featherstone (“Black Doves,” “Giri/Haji”), for SISTER Pictures, alongside Sharpe for Fukuda Films, and Edebiri.
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 919 wins and 3832 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award winner “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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SpaceX buys 800 MHz spectrum, aims to make Starlink Mobile a major U.S. carrier
SpaceX said this week it has agreed to acquire a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum that it calls one of the last technical pieces needed for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the United States.
The deal covers up to 14 megahertz of paired spectrum in the 800 MHz band. SpaceX said the airwaves are meant to fill a coverage gap that higher-frequency spectrum does not: penetration through walls and other obstacles so phones can stay connected indoors. The company also noted that most existing mobile devices already support the band, which it described as underused.
The purchase still needs final approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Once that is in hand, SpaceX said Starlink Mobile will use a hybrid architecture that combines its satellite-to-mobile constellation with a terrestrial network so devices can hand off between space and ground. Mid-band spectrum around 2 GHz, which SpaceX has previously lined up for global use, would supply capacity, while the new low-band licenses would act as a coverage layer for buildings, rural areas, and dead zones.
Separately, the FCC approved Starlink Mobile’s Gen2 constellation application, authorizing SpaceX to launch 15,000 satellites optimized for 2 GHz spectrum worldwide. SpaceX said those V2 satellites will deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current generation and bring high-speed service directly to unmodified phones. The FCC also authorized the full range of Ka-, V-, E-, and W-band backhaul frequencies used by Starlink’s V3 broadband satellites so they can work with the existing gateway network.
SpaceX framed the two steps as a path to a single network that works indoors, outdoors, and in places conventional cellular coverage does not reach. “With this new low-band spectrum and our Gen2 constellation, Starlink Mobile can now become the first network operator to deploy both satellite and terrestrial spectrum,” the company said.
The announcement identified the seller as Grain Management, which had acquired the 800 MHz licenses from T-Mobile earlier this year. No purchase price was disclosed in SpaceX’s update. Carrier shares fell after the news, and Verizon said spectrum alone is not a network.
MacDailyNews Take: The EchoStar spectrum deal that underpins much of Starlink Mobile’s mid-band plan is not expected to fully close until late 2027, so commercial use of that capacity remains on a longer timeline than the announcement’s framing suggests.
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Apple taps insider Steve Smith to lead M&A as Adrian Perica shifts fully to services
Apple has named longtime insider Steve Smith as its new head of mergers and acquisitions, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, in one of the latest management moves under Chief Executive John Ternus.
Adrian Perica, who led Apple’s M&A and corporate development work for more than 17 years, is moving full time onto the services leadership team and will report to services chief Eddy Cue. Perica had already taken oversight of iCloud, Fitness+, News, and other businesses in 2023 while remaining involved in dealmaking. Cue wrote that the company has “big plans for services” and that he was “thrilled to be getting more of Adrian’s time.”
Smith will report to Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the change.
Separately, Bloomberg News, which first reported the broader reorganization earlier in the day, said Apple is promoting Carson Oliver to vice president of the App Store. Apple shares rose about 1.4% on Thursday.
MacDailyNews Take: Bottom line, the reshuffle splits M&A dealmaking from the services portfolio that Perica had straddled, putting M&A firmly under Apple’s finance arm while allowing Perica to concentrate on his work within Cue’s services group.
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Right on cue: Nikkei’s annual ‘Apple cuts iPhone production’ hit piece is back
Nikkei Asia claims that Apple has told some of its suppliers to cut production of components for its newly launched iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, after soaring memory chip costs forced price increases that have dampened consumer demand.
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, “dampened.” So scary!
Nikkei Asia continues:
The iPhone 18 Pro was launched in September, but its reception from consumers is reported to be cooler than expected, with a higher price tag a factor.
Suppliers blame the premium handsets’ price hike for weaker consumer uptake. Apple has turned more conservative on shipments since early September, with component orders for October cut by at least 15% — and, by some accounts, 15% to 20% — versus what Apple originally requested, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
“In October alone, we are seeing orders from Apple reducing by 15% to 20% for both the premium models; we don’t know how things would develop from here,” said one executive-level source.
MacDailyNews Take: Anonymous supply-chain whisperers. The gold standard of worthless “channel checks.”
Nikkei Asia continues:
The order cuts will affect production volumes for some, but not all, suppliers in October due to differing production lead times. It is not immediately clear whether Apple will make further adjustments from November onward.
Another supply-chain manager said demand is “not as strong as previous years when all the new models are introduced all together.” Apple launched the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone Duo in September, and is holding the base iPhone 18 and an updated iPhone Air for early 2027.
Still, the suppliers say the staggered launch alone does not account for the lower demand. One source added that they expect a “similar fate” for the iPhone Duo after it ships.
Apple raised prices on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max by $100 versus their predecessors. Nikkei notes that, even if unit demand is softer, that higher price means the impact “won’t immediately translate to lower revenue for Apple.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh. So it’s a mix adjustment, a staggered launch, a memory-cost squeeze, and a price increase — and revenue may not even take a hit. But how is that going to talk down the stock?
MacDailyNews Take: For how many years will suckers fall for this?
In what has become the Nikkei’s annual shocker: Apple is adjusting production after launch. Cue the horror!
Same byline. Same “exclusive.” Same unnamed suppliers. Same leap from “some component orders for October are lower than an earlier internal plan” to “soft demand.” No sell-through. No Apple statement. No distinction between a product-mix tweak, a launch-calendar change, and an actual demand collapse. Just conjecture, estimates, and FUD, dressed up as “news.”
This report — as with so many of Nikkei’s Apple-related reports — smacks of a plant designed to depress the price of AAPL. Plain and simple. And Nikkei remains the preferred place to do it. Last October it was “drastically cutting” iPhone Air orders while the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup was strong enough that the overall forecast barely moved. Before that it was the iPhone X “halved,” the XR “disappointing,” the 6s “slashed 30%.” The pattern is older than some of the people trading on it.
Even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to accurately interpret that data point as a proxy for the overall business. There is an inordinately long list of things that would make any single supplier anecdote not a great read on what’s going on.
Don’t panic from the FUD, profit from it!
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to lose money in the stock market. History lesson below. — MacDailyNews, December 30, 2016
• Right on cue, yet another misleading ‘Apple slashes iPhone production’ story from Nikkei – October 22, 2025
• Another January, another misleading iPhone supply cuts story from Nikkei – January 29, 2018
• Apple stock drops after Nikkei report of iPhone X production cut – January 29, 2018
• Reports of Apple cutting iPhone X orders make no sense – January 2, 2018
• Apple stock tumbles on one poorly-sourced report of low iPhone X demand – December 26, 2017
• Apple and suppliers shares drop on report of weak iPhone X demand – December 26, 2017
• Nikkei: Apple to decrease iPhone production 10% in first quarter of 2017 – December 30, 2016
• Nikkei proclaims ‘iPhone 7’ Dead On Arrival; bemoans Apple’s ‘lack of innovation’ – May 12, 2016
• Japan’s Nikkei, The Wall Street Journal blow it, get iPhone demand story all wrong – January 16, 2013
• Did Apple reduce 4-inch Retina display orders due to improving yields? – January 15, 2013
• Analysts: iPhone 5 demand ‘robust;’ ignore the non-news noise – January 15, 2013
• Apple iPhone suppliers decline on report orders cut by 50% – January 15, 2013
• Apple swoon erases $17 billion from stock market – January 14, 2013
• Apple iPhone 5 production cut signaling a new product release? – January 14, 2013
• Apple drops to 11-month low on old reports of component cuts – January 14, 2013
• The strange math of Apple’s alleged massive iPhone 5 component cuts – January 14, 2013
• UBS analysts: Apple iPhone component order reduction ‘old news’ – January 14, 2013
• Apple pulls down U.S. futures – January 14, 2013
• Apple shares drop below $500 after reported cuts in iPhone 5 parts orders – January 14, 2013
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watchOS 27 adds three new Apple Watch apps: Siri, Find My, and Readiness
watchOS 27 brings three new apps to the Apple Watch, according to 9to5Mac’s Ryan Christoffel: a dedicated Siri app, a unified Find My app, and a Readiness app limited to newer hardware.
The Siri app arrives as part of a broader AI overhaul of the assistant. Users can still summon Siri with the Digital Crown, but the app gives them another place to start a conversation and, more usefully, a place to review past ones. Because the updated Siri keeps a cross-device history, the Watch app surfaces conversations from the iPhone, Mac, and other Apple devices, not only those started on the wrist.
Find My is also redesigned. In watchOS 26, location features were split across three apps—Find Devices, Find Items, and Find People. watchOS 27 folds those into a single Find My app with a map-centered view. A menu in the top-left corner switches between what you’re looking for, while the interface otherwise stays consistent, covering the same ground as the three older apps in a more compact layout.
The third addition, Readiness, is only for Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. As described in the App Store listing cited by Christoffel, the app analyzes recent activity, vitals, and sleep to estimate how ready the wearer is for the day. It returns a score with one of four labels—Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It—plus explanations of the factors behind the score and links into related apps. Complications and Smart Stack widgets surface the score at a glance, and more detail is available in the Fitness app on iPhone.
MacDailyNews Take: In a nutshell, the three apps extend conversational AI history to the wrist, simplify locating people and items, and add a recovery-style daily score on the newest watches.
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Apple TV debuts trailer for the second season of sports comedy ‘Stick’
Apple TV on Thursday unveiled the trailer for season two of the beloved sports comedy “Stick,” starring and executive produced by Owen Wilson and created by Jason Keller. The 10-episode second season premieres Wednesday, November 4, 2026 with two episodes, followed by one episode weekly until December 30, 2026 on Apple TV.
“Stick” is a feel-good comedy about a found family and their relationships, set within the world of golf as it has never been shown before. Wilson stars as Pryce Cahill, an over-the-hill, ex-pro golfer whose career was derailed prematurely 20 years ago. After the collapse of his marriage and getting fired from his job at an Indiana sporting goods store, Pryce hedges his bets, and future, entirely on a troubled 17-year-old golf phenom named Santi (Peter Dager).
In season two, Santi takes the next step in his pursuit of professional golf, only to discover how quickly the game changes when talent becomes expectation. As Santi chases his dream, Pryce finds himself wondering what might still be possible for him. Urged on by his former rival Clark Ross (Timothy Olyphant), Pryce does something nobody expects: he bets on himself, launching an improbable comeback in hopes of becoming the oldest golfer ever to win a major. But the road back proves far harder than he imagined. And the closer Pryce gets to the golfer he once was, the more he is forced to confront why he never fulfilled the promise everyone once saw in him. With brilliant new coach Amanda (Rhea Seehorn) and trusted caddie Mitts (Marc Maron) in his corner, Pryce sets out to prove — to the golf world and, more importantly, to himself — that maybe he really was as good as everyone always said he was.
Led by an ensemble cast that includes Wilson, Dager, Maron, Mariana Treviño, Lilli Kay, Judy Greer and Olyphant, the second season of “Stick” welcomes Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Seehorn, alongside John Higgins, Billy Zane, Rex Linn, Sasha Alexander, and Missi Pyle, and features return guest appearances from legendary broadcasters Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman, and golf enthusiasts Matt Scharff and Dan Rapaport.
Hailing from Apple Studios, “Stick” is showrun by Keller, who also serves as executive producer alongside Wilson, Ben Silverman for Propagate Content and Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady. The series is also executive produced by Christopher Moynihan, Rodney Ferrell, Howard T. Owens, Drew Buckley, Lee Eisenberg and Bill Callahan.
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 919 wins and 3,832 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award winner “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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Apple smart home ‘second-party’ lineup reaches beyond LG, with Schneider also in the mix
Apple’s planned smart-home push appears to include a new class of partner-built accessories, not just products from LG. According to AppleInsider’s Wesley Hilliard, code tied to a “second-party” product table lists devices from both LG and Schneider Electric, with setup perks that go beyond ordinary Matter support.
Hilliard reports that the table, surfaced by code researcher pdfu, covers ten products so far. The LG entries include a smart thermostat, a GEMS smart thermostat, a smart deadbolt, a GEMS smart door lock, and temperature/humidity sensors in standard and GEMS versions. Schneider’s entries include two thermostat variants, a temperature/humidity sensor, and a fourth accessory that may be a sensor variant.
Those products are described as receiving special treatment in Apple’s software, including NFC pairing and a setup animation. The designation implies the devices are built with closer ties to Apple Home than typical third-party Matter gear, while still shipping under the partner’s brand rather than Apple’s.
That reading fits earlier reporting that Apple and LG co-developed a broader accessory set — cameras, a video doorbell, a floodlight camera, a lock, a thermostat, and sensors — with LG handling manufacturing and support. Those LG products have been tied to early 2027 availability, not an immediate launch.
Hilliard notes the Schneider entries do not by themselves prove a wide program, but they suggest the effort is larger than a single partner. The code is already appearing in current betas, which raises the chance Apple will outline the initiative at its October 13th event, expected to focus on a refreshed HomePod mini, an Apple TV update, and a new home hub. LG accessories are still expected later, so any announcement would likely mark the start of the program rather than immediate retail availability.
MacDailyNews Take: The approach echoes Apple’s earlier pattern of working with outside manufacturers on accessories it shapes, but does not sell under its own name. Unlike the original HomeKit model, which required special hardware and later relaxed into software and Matter/Thread compatibility, these “second-party” products look intended to expose more of Apple Home’s features without forcing users into a separate companion app for core controls.
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It’s official: Apple to hold ‘Welcome home’ product event on October 13th
Apple has set October 13th for a product launch under the tagline “Welcome home,” pointing to a long-delayed push into the smart home.
On Thursday, October 8th, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, posted a short teaser on X. The clip shows hands stitching the company’s retro rainbow logo into fabric, then cuts to the line “Welcome home. October 13.” At the same time, the company sent media invitations to an “Apple Experience” in Tribeca, New York, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. ET that day. Apple has not said whether the session will include a full keynote livestream or mainly hands-on time with new hardware.
Welcome home. October 13. https://t.co/ChelGSDOTI
— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 8, 2026
What’s expected
Reporting from MacRumors, 9to5Mac, and Bloomberg News’ Mark Gurman centers on three home products that have been delayed, in part while Apple waited on a more capable version of Siri.
The centerpiece is a new smart home hub, often referred to in coverage as a HomePad or under the internal code name J490. It is described as a cross between an iPad and a HomePod: a roughly 6-inch square display meant for multiple people in a household. Voice is expected to be the main way to interact with it, with Siri AI handling control of lights and other accessories, FaceTime calls, video, news, weather, and calendar items. A camera and presence sensor are rumored to recognize who is in the room and surface a personalized layout of widgets and apps.
Two form factors are widely expected: a wall-mountable version and a tabletop model with a half-dome speaker base reminiscent of the iMac G4. Apple is said to picture buyers placing one in several rooms. Pricing has been floated around $350, though that figure is unconfirmed.
Alongside the hub, Apple is expected to refresh two existing products that have gone years without major updates:
• HomePod mini. The first revision since the 2020 original. Reports point to new colors (including green, pink, and blue in software leaks), an N1 networking chip for stronger Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a faster S-series processor built to run Siri AI.
• Apple TV 4K. The first new model since 2022. Expectations include an A19 or A19 Pro chip, more RAM, the same N1 networking chip, and an updated Siri Remote, with the existing design largely unchanged.
What’s not expected
Macs that Gurman and others have said are still planned before the end of the year are not expected at this launch. An OLED iPad mini has also been in development rumors, but it is not tied to the October 13 home event. A larger HomePod update and a higher-end hub with a motorized arm have been described as later projects.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple has not confirmed any product names, prices, or specs. The “Welcome home” framing and the New York invitation are the only official details; everything else comes from prior supply-chain and software-code reporting that lined up with the date weeks before Joswiak’s post.
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Apple TV lands crime drama ‘Dustfall’ starring Anna Torv
Apple TV on Thursday announced that it has landed “Dustfall,” the gripping six-episode crime drama starring Emmy Award nominee Anna Torv (“The Last of Us,” “Mindhunter”), from Soapbox Pictures and Moonriver Television. “Dustfall” is written for the screen by Dianne Taylor (“After the Party”), based on the Davitt Awards Readers’ Choice-winning novel “The Unbelieved” by Vikki Petraitis and directed by Emma Freeman (“The Family Next Door,” “The Newsreader”). Apple TV will premiere “Dustfall” in 2027, excluding in Australia, where it screens on ABC and ABC iview, and is subject to premiere rights held by the BBC and ZDF in their respective territories. Apple TV acquired the series from distributor Federation International.
“Dustfall” is a propulsive, atmospheric tropic noir that follows a seasoned detective, Antigone “Tig” Pollard (Torv) whose deep sense of justice is challenged by a world where victims are doubted, predators hide in plain sight and the legal system too often falls short. Tig is called in to investigate a harrowing sexual assault case that spirals darker after a key suspect turns up dead. As Tig hunts for the truth, she’s forced to confront long-buried secrets from her own adolescence.
The cast also stars BAFTA Award and Emmy Award nominee Juliet Stevenson (“Truly, Madly, Deeply”), Peter Fenton (“Love Is a Four-Letter Word”), Bert LaBonté (“Last Seen”), Zoe Phillips (“East of Eden”), Kate Box (“Deadloch”), Lila McGuire (“Goolagong”), Harry Gilchrist, Ling Cooper Tang (“Troppo”), Gemma Chua-Tran (“Heartbreak High”), Alice Ansara (“Black Snow”), Martin Sacks (“The Survivors”), Theo Haitana (“Heart of the Man”), Conrad Coleby (“All Saints”), Ben Knight (“Bay of Fires”), Kirsty O’Connor (“A Little Resistance”), Jay Ryan (“Territory”), Ed Wightman (“Last Days of the Space Age”), and Luke J. Morgan (“NCIS: Sydney”).
“Dustfall” is adapted for television by Taylor, Stuart Page (“Total Control”), Belinda Chayko (“The Survivors”), and Beatrix Christian (“Black Snow”). The series is directed by Freeman, who also executive produces alongside Xavier Marchand (“A Gentleman in Moscow”) and Daisy Gilbert (“Nautilus”) for Moonriver, Deb Balderstone (“Ticket to Paradise”) for Soapbox Pictures, and Torv, as well as Brett Sleigh and Rachel Okine for ABC.
“Dustfall” is a Soapbox Pictures and Moonriver co-production for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in association with the BBC, ZDF, and Screen Australia, and distributed worldwide by Federation International. The series is set and filmed on the Gold Coast in Australia.
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 919 wins and 3,832 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies “Widow’s Bay,” “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” global cultural phenomenon “Severance,” Apple’s most-viewed drama “Pluribus,” Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Academy Award winner “F1,” the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple Vision Pro, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $14.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new subscribers. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K or Mac can enjoy three months of Apple TV for free.
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Apple, The King’s Trust launch initiative to support young creatives
Apple and The King’s Trust are building on their longstanding partnership by launching an immersive new education program to help young people build careers in the creative industries. The Apple x King’s Trust Creative Labs will offer young people meaningful engagement with Apple experts across industries as they explore a variety of career pathways, equipping them with the technology, resources, skills, confidence, and expertise needed to realize their potential.
A first cohort of up to 20 young people ages 18 to 30 will join specialized workshops to learn valuable, industry-aligned skills using Apple technologies. The immersive educational experience began this week with music industry and creative workshops, aligned to the recent opening of Apple Music Hall at Battersea Power Station in London, with more sessions and cohorts to come over the course of the next year.
Prophet Guillory — Apple Music’s head of Artist Services, Tools, and Community — speaks with lab participants.
Apple has long supported educational programming for learners of all ages and backgrounds in the UK and around the world. Its offerings aim to help participants gain needed skills, access a wide range of resources, and succeed in the workforce.
“At Apple, we believe education is a powerful force for equity and opportunity,” said Alisha Johnson Wilder, Apple’s senior director of Global Community Impact, in a statement. “For years, we’ve been proud to work alongside The King’s Trust to spark creativity and open doors for young people across the UK. With the launch of the Apple x King’s Trust Creative Labs, we’re taking that commitment further, connecting the next generation of creators and innovators directly with our experts, technology, and mentorship to help them build vital skills, discover their passions, and thrive in the workforce.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The King’s Trust. Since it was founded by His Majesty The King, as the Prince of Wales, in 1976, it has helped 1.3 million young people across the UK reach their potential by developing life skills, preparing for employment, accessing job opportunities, and launching their businesses. At least $15 billion of social value can be attributed directly to the impact of The Trust’s programs over the last 50 years, and many of the participants it has supported over the last five years have moved into work, education, or training.
“Together with Apple, we have already opened up valuable opportunities for thousands of young people across the UK through our longstanding partnership,” said Jonathan Townsend, The King’s Trust’s UK chief executive, in a statement. “We are proud to build on this work with the Creative Labs program, an exciting new chapter in our partnership that will help even more young people develop the confidence and creative digital skills they need to take their next steps toward employment. We cannot wait to see how they use these experiences to realize their potential and discover where their talents can take them.”
Young artists get hands-on with Apple technology while taking part in the first Apple x King’s Trust Creative Labs session.
Since 2019, Apple’s support has enabled The King’s Trust to expand STEAM programming to schools in every region across the country through the Achieve program. Using Apple’s coding education resources, young people work collaboratively and think strategically to develop apps that address the needs and goals of their communities. Additionally, The King’s Trust’s 12-week Team program offers young adults access to Apple technology and learning resources to support their efforts to earn a Personal Development and Employability qualification.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple is also working with The King’s Trust to develop resources that build AI literacy, creativity, and agency among educators and young people, and to support educators to integrate the latest technologies within their teaching practices.
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Thinner iPhone Air 2 could match unfolded iPhone Duo at 5.2 mm, leak claims
Apple’s next ultra-thin iPhone Air could shrink to the same 5.2 mm thickness as an unfolded iPhone Duo while packing a larger battery, according to a new leak reported by MacRumors’ Tim Hardwick.
The claim comes from the Korean Naver blog account “yeux1122,” which says the iPhone Air 2 will be about 0.4 mm thinner than the current model even as battery capacity rises. Apple lists the original iPhone Air at 5.6 mm thick (more precise measurements put it at 5.64 mm), so a 0.4 mm cut would land the successor near 5.2 mm — roughly a 7 percent reduction. That figure lines up with the thickness Apple quotes for the iPhone Duo when it is fully open.
The Duo, which Apple introduced in September 2026 as its first foldable iPhone, measures 5.2 mm unfolded and 11.3 mm closed, and weighs 254 grams. Apple has called the open Duo the thinnest iPhone it has made. The current Air, by contrast, is a non-folding titanium slab that weighs about 165 grams and is only fractionally thicker than the open Duo. Matching that open thickness in a conventional phone would erase the Air’s one remaining dimensional disadvantage against Apple’s own foldable.
A separate earlier rumor, also noted by Hardwick, puts the Air 2’s battery at 3,500 mAh, up from the 3,149 mAh cell in the present Air — an increase of roughly 11 percent in raw capacity. Fitting both a thinner chassis and a larger battery is the notable engineering claim; ultra-thin phones usually trade internal volume, and therefore endurance, for slimness. The leaker’s track record is mixed, so the numbers remain unverified.
MacDailyNews Take: The Air 2 is expected in the first half of 2027, alongside the standard iPhone 18 and the lower-cost iPhone 18e, under Apple’s split release schedule that put the iPhone 18 Pro models and the Duo on stage in September 2026. Other circulating reports have suggested additions such as a second rear camera and improved thermal cooling hardware.
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Apple supplier TSMC posts record third-quarter revenue
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reported record third-quarter revenue of T$1.49 trillion ($46.71 billion) on Thursday, a 50% increase from a year earlier and slightly ahead of market expectations, as demand for artificial-intelligence chips continued to lift the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
Revenue for July through September compared with T$989.92 billion in the same period last year, according to Reuters calculations based on the company’s figures. An LSEG SmartEstimate compiled from 19 analysts had pointed to about T$1.46 trillion.
The result also topped the range TSMC gave in July, when it forecast third-quarter sales of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion. The company issues guidance only in U.S. dollars. September sales alone rose 54.6% from a year earlier to T$511.86 billion.
TSMC is a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia. It did not give further detail or an updated outlook in the brief monthly revenue statement. Full third-quarter earnings are due next Thursday, when the company is expected to refresh its view for the current quarter and the rest of the year. Analysts tracked by LSEG expect net profit to rise about 64% year on year to T$740.8 billion.
The report landed on the same day Samsung Electronics projected quarterly operating profit above 100 trillion won (US$74.4 billion) — a first for a technology company — citing strong memory sales tied to AI demand. TSMC, Asia’s most valuable listed company with a market capitalization of about $2.1 trillion, saw its Taipei-listed shares close down 1.35% before the revenue figures were released. The broader Taiwan market fell 1%. The stock is still up 64.52% this year, roughly in line with the wider market.
MacDailyNews Take: AI-related business is good.
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