Apple today revealed the A20 Pro chip in the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, built on a brand new architecture using 2nm process technology.


Apple described the A20 Pro as "an exceptional chip that sets a new bar for mobile computing." The chip has a 6-core CPU design with two new super cores that Apple says are up to 20% faster, calling them "desktop class" and "the fastest in any smartphone," alongside four new efficiency cores.

The GPU has also been redesigned with a 7-core layout that Apple says delivers up to 40% faster graphics performance and increased memory bandwidth. New neural accelerators built into the GPU offer twice the FP8 performance of the previous generation, which Apple said helps the chip run large language models locally on the device.

The A20 Pro features an additional Neural Engine, bringing the total core count to 32. The company says the redesigned Neural Engine delivers 2x the compute of its predecessor, is more efficient, and now supports 8-bit floating point math. Apple called the A20 Pro "the ultimate chip for running advanced on-device models," adding that it ships with "the widest memory interface we've ever shipped in an iPhone."

The company said effective thermal management in the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ is critical to unlocking the chip's maximum performance, since efficient heat dissipation determines how much of that performance can be sustained. To support this, Apple redesigned the chip's silicon packaging, describing it as "custom packaging inspired by our M-series chips" that connects the silicon and memory directly to the vapor chamber for improved thermal performance.

Apple compared sustained performance directly against previous generations, citing 40% more sustained performance in ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s A20 Pro compared with the A19 Pro in the iPhone 17 Pro, and twice the sustained performance compared with the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro.
This article, "Apple Unveils A20 Pro as First 2nm Smartphone Chip" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple announced new Mac mini and Mac Studio models last month, with both available to pre-order now. It is the first time in years that Apple has revised its two desktop Macs simultaneously, so which should you choose?


There are now two desktop Macs to choose from following the discontinuation of the Mac Pro, but the prices have moved sharply. The ‌Mac Studio‌ starts at $2,499 and rises to $5,499 for the M5 Ultra model, while the ‌Mac mini‌ starts at $899 with the M6 chip and $1,699 with the M5 Pro.

Those prices come on top of the across-the-board Mac and iPad increases Apple made in June, which took the ‌Mac mini‌ from $599 to $799, the M4 Pro configuration from $1,399 to $1,599, and the ‌Mac Studio‌ from $1,999 to $2,499. The M5 Ultra adds a further $200 to the post-June M3 Ultra price, putting it $1,500 above what the M3 Ultra cost at launch.

Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two desktop Macs is best for you. The two machines now share a large number of key features, including:

• A boxy silver aluminum enclosure with no color options


• Apple's N1 chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to both machines for the first time


• Neural Accelerators built into every GPU core


• Hardware-accelerated ray tracing


• A Media Engine with hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW, plus AV1 decode


• A next-generation SSD architecture that Apple says is up to twice as fast as before


• Genlock support over USB-C for synchronizing a display with a camera, including the iPhone 17 Pro


• An HDMI port with multichannel audio output


• A 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones

Beyond that, the two lines diverge on chip generation, memory capacity, ports, and external display support.

‌Mac mini‌ (M6)	‌Mac mini‌ (M5 Pro)	‌Mac Studio‌ (M5 Max)	‌Mac Studio‌ (M5 Ultra)
M6 chip	M5 Pro chip	M5 Max chip	M5 Ultra chip (two dual-die M5 Max chips joined by UltraFusion)
Made with TSMC's 2nm process	Made with TSMC's 3nm process	Made with TSMC's ‌3nm‌ process	Made with TSMC's ‌3nm‌ process
12-core CPU (2 super cores + 4 performance cores + 6 efficiency cores)	15- or 18-core CPU (up to 6 super cores + 12 performance cores)	18-core CPU (6 super cores + 12 performance cores)	30- or 36-core CPU (up to 12 super cores + 24 performance cores)
12-core GPU	16- or 20-core GPU	32- or 40-core GPU	64- or 80-core GPU
Dual 16-core Neural Engine	16-core Neural Engine	16-core Neural Engine	32-core Neural Engine
Up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth	307GB/s memory bandwidth	Up to 614GB/s memory bandwidth	1.2TB/s memory bandwidth
16GB, 24GB, or 32GB unified memory	24GB, 48GB, or 64GB unified memory	32-core GPU: 36GB unified memory 40-core GPU: 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB unified memory	64-core GPU: 96GB or 256GB unified memory 80-core GPU: 96GB, 256GB, or 512GB unified memory
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage	512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage	1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, or 16TB storage
Video decode engine	Video decode engine	Video decode engine	Two video decode engines
Video encode engine	Video encode engine	Two video encode engines	Four video encode engines
ProRes encode and decode engine	ProRes encode and decode engine	Two ProRes encode and decode engines	Four ProRes encode and decode engines
Support for up to three displays: two at 6K 60Hz or 4K 165Hz, plus a third at 5K 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K 60Hz over HDMI	Support for up to three displays, all at 6K 60Hz or 4K 165Hz	Support for up to five 4K displays, four 6K displays, or two 8K displays	Support for up to eight 4K displays, eight 6K displays, or four 8K displays
Two displays per Thunderbolt port	All three displays through a single Thunderbolt port
Three rear Thunderbolt 4 ports	Three rear Thunderbolt 5 ports	Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports	Four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports
Two front USB-C ports	Two front USB-C ports	Two front USB-C ports	Two front Thunderbolt 5 ports
		Two rear USB-A ports	Two rear USB-A ports
2.5Gb Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port	2.5Gb Ethernet or 10Gb Ethernet port	10Gb Ethernet port	10Gb Ethernet port
		SDXC card slot (UHS-II)	SDXC card slot (UHS-II)
Bottom power button	Bottom power button	Rear power button	Rear power button
Starts at $899	Starts at $1,699	Starts at $2,499	Starts at $5,499

Both enclosures carry over unchanged, so the dimensions of the two devices remain radically different, with the ‌Mac Studio‌ dwarfing the ‌Mac mini‌ in every way.

	‌Mac mini‌	‌Mac Studio‌
Height	2.0 inches (5.0 cm)	3.7 inches (9.5 cm)
Width	5.0 inches (12.7 cm)	7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Depth	5.0 inches (12.7 cm)	7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Weight	M6: 1.5 pounds (0.67 kg) M5 Pro: 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg)	M5 Max: 6.0 pounds (2.7 kg) M5 Ultra: 8.0 pounds (3.6 kg)

Most customers should choose the M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ over the M5 Max ‌Mac Studio‌, saving $800 on the base models. The gap widens across custom configurations, since the ‌Mac Studio‌'s memory and storage tiers start higher and climb further.

There is an unusual situation at the bottom of the lineup this year. The $899 ‌Mac mini‌ is the only machine of the four with a latest-generation chip, and the M6 is Apple's first 2nm chip. Its Dual 16-core Neural Engine, which Apple says system frameworks can drive simultaneously, is also more Neural Engine hardware than either the M5 Pro or the M5 Max provides. If your workload leans on on-device machine learning rather than sustained CPU or GPU throughput, the cheapest Mac in this comparison is not obviously the weakest one for the task. The trade-offs are Thunderbolt 4 rather than Thunderbolt 5, a 32GB memory and 2TB storage ceiling, and a single video encode engine.

You should only consider the ‌Mac Studio‌ if you have a professional workflow that can genuinely leverage the M5 Max or the M5 Ultra, along with the additional ports, display outputs, and memory capacity. If you need the ‌Mac Studio‌, you will likely already know that you are looking for a highly powerful machine capable of supporting a specific intense workload. The M5 Ultra is Apple's first quad-die M-series chip, and its four ProRes engines, four video encode engines, and 1.2TB/s of memory bandwidth are aimed squarely at multi-stream video work and large local AI models. The 512GB memory ceiling has no equivalent anywhere else in the Mac lineup, and it is what allows models with hundreds of billions of parameters to run entirely on device.

The ‌Mac Studio‌ still has a superior selection of ports, with four rear Thunderbolt 5 ports on the M5 Max and six in total on the M5 Ultra, plus an SDXC card slot, USB-A, and 10Gb Ethernet as standard. This makes a practical difference for anyone working off fast external storage or camera media. The ‌Mac mini‌ has closed part of the distance by moving to 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard, up from Gigabit.

Clustering over Thunderbolt 5 and RDMA is not a point of difference between the two machines, since it arrived in macOS 26.2 last December and works on any Mac with Thunderbolt 5, including the M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ and the previous-generation ‌Mac Studio‌. The exception is the M6 ‌Mac mini‌, which has Thunderbolt 4 and cannot take part.

Both ‌Mac mini‌ models still cap out at three external displays, but they now reach 165Hz at 4K, up from 144Hz on the M4 generation, and the M5 Pro model drives all three through a single Thunderbolt port. For a three-display desk setup at high refresh rates, the M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ is sufficient. It is only above three displays, or at 6K and 8K, that the ‌Mac Studio‌ becomes necessary.

A notable exception arises at the top of the ‌Mac mini‌ lineup. An M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ configured with additional memory and storage moves close enough to the $2,499 ‌Mac Studio‌ that the comparison changes somewhat. For an increment of a few hundred dollars, the ‌Mac Studio‌ substitutes a chip with roughly twice the memory bandwidth, a second video encode engine, far greater display support, and headroom to 128GB of unified memory. If you are already spending heavily on a ‌Mac mini‌, price the ‌Mac Studio‌ before committing.

If you plan to keep the machine for many years, the ‌Mac Studio‌'s ceiling matters more than its starting price, because it is the only one of the two that can be configured beyond 64GB of unified memory. Buyers weighing the M6 ‌Mac mini‌ against the M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ should note that the newer chip generation and the newer process node both sit in the cheaper machine, and that the M5 Pro's advantages are concentrated in multi-core and graphics performance rather than in longevity.

To some extent, purchasing decisions should be driven by budget, but any savings on the computer itself can be put toward a good external display such as Apple's Studio Display, which starts from $1,599 and was one of the few products spared June's price rises. An M6 ‌Mac mini‌ paired with a ‌Studio Display‌ comes to $2,498, a dollar less than a bare M5 Max ‌Mac Studio‌ with nothing to plug into. An M5 Pro ‌Mac mini‌ and a ‌Studio Display‌ together come to $3,298, which is $799 more than the base ‌Mac Studio‌ and $2,201 less than the M5 Ultra ‌Mac Studio‌ with no display at all.

Both machines are available to pre-order now and arrive on Tuesday, September 22, with education pricing of $799 and $1,599 on the two ‌Mac mini‌ models and $2,299 and $5,099 on the two ‌Mac Studio‌ models. ‌Mac Studio‌ configurations with 512GB of unified memory are not due until late October.
This article, "Mac Mini vs. Mac Studio Buyer's Guide: 20 Differences Compared" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Leaker "pdfu" today shared additional code-level details about the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4's new day summary feature, offering a clearer picture of what the AI tool will actually track.


In a new post on X, pdfu said that the summaries generated by the feature, referred to in code as "Ambient Sensing," include fields for time and date, location, meal information, and the people present along with their relationship to the user.

The leaker also listed dozens of activity categories the underlying code supports, covering everything from meal prep and household chores to workouts, commuting, shopping, and screen time, alongside a catch-all "Unknown" category. The full list of activity categories is as follows:

• Eating Meal


• Snacking


• Preparing Meal


• Making Drinks


• Baking


• Plating


• Vacuuming


• Taking Out Trash


• Washing Dishes


• Loading Laundry


• Folding Laundry


• Mowing Lawn


• Watering Plants


• Gardening


• Mopping


• Dusting


• Cleaning


• Walking


• Running


• Cycling


• Strength Training


• Yoga


• Elliptical


• HIIT


• Cardio


• Hiking


• Regular Commute


• Driving


• Flying


• Riding Train


• Riding Bus


• Grocery Shopping


• Clothes Shopping


• Home Goods Shopping


• Hardware Shopping


• Taking Break


• Waiting


• Relaxing


• Social Dining


• Meeting


• Partying


• Gathering


• Family Time


• Brushing Teeth


• Flossing


• Getting Dressed


• Applying Lotions


• Watching TV


• Using Tablet


• Using Laptop


• Using Desktop


• Reading E-Reader


• Using ATM


• Attending Class


• Attending Sermon


• Attending Keynote


• Reading Book


• Doing Homework


• Taking Notes


• Working


• Drinking


• Unknown

The post builds on a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who said the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 would ship with a feature that analyzes a user's day, including conversations they've had, and provides a summary of what took place. Gurman noted the system apparently does not record or store audio and cannot produce a transcript to preserve privacy, and it is unclear how exactly it works.

The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are expected to be announced later today alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and the first foldable iPhone, dubbed the "iPhone Duo."
This article, "Apple Watch's New AI Day Summary Tracks These Activities" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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A leaker has activated Apple's upcoming three-item Dynamic Island mode inside the iOS 27 simulator, offering the first video demonstration of the new iPhone 18 Pro feature.


The leaker, known as pdfu, posted a video showing the ‌Dynamic Island‌ toggling between three simultaneous Live Activities, matching what Bloomberg's Mark Gurman described in his report earlier today. "The new ‌Dynamic Island‌ with 3 items is already supported in ‌iOS 27‌," pdfu wrote.



According to pdfu, the underlying code requires a sensor region less than 100 layout points wide to enable the new mode, or below 16.57mm. Layout points are Apple's device-independent unit for describing on-screen dimensions, and they scale differently depending on a display's resolution. By comparison, pdfu notes that the sensor region on the current iPhone 17 Pro measures 20.76mm, meaning Apple would need to shrink the hardware by roughly 20% to unlock the new software behavior.

The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max have been rumored to feature a smaller ‌Dynamic Island‌ for months, but reports about support for a third, additional ‌Dynamic Island‌ Live Activity is new. Since the iPhone 14 Pro launched in 2022, the ‌Dynamic Island‌ has only supported two Live Activities, so adding a third seems like a worthwhile way to demonstrate the utility of shrinking the region.
This article, "Leaked Video Shows iPhone 18 Pro's 3-in-1 Dynamic Island in Action" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Code found in iOS 27 suggests the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max could support a 33% higher charging rate than the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a new discovery from the leaker known as "pdfu."


The findings apparently come from Apple's charging optimizer settings buried in ‌iOS 27‌, which show the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max charging at a rate 33% higher than the iPhone 17 lineup. If Apple can maintain that higher rate throughout a charge, pdfu estimates it could cut around 25% off the time it takes to complete a typical fast-charging session.

Apple's first foldable iPhone does not appear to get the same treatment. The same code purportedly shows it charging at the same rate as the ‌iPhone 17‌ and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌, rather than the faster rate expected for the new Pro models.

The research also points to further charging improvements arriving with future models. The standard iPhone 18 is said to match the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ faster charging, while the iPhone 18e is said to see an even bigger jump of around 69% over the current iPhone 17e. The iPhone Air 2 is said to charge about 27% faster than today's ‌iPhone Air‌.

Actual charging speeds depend on a multitude of real-world factors, such as the phone's temperature and how full the battery already is, so the improvement buyers notice day-to-day could end up being smaller than the numbers suggest.

Apple is expected to unveil the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, along with its first foldable iPhone, at its "Surprise and shine" event today, while the iPhone 18e, ‌iPhone 18‌, and ‌iPhone Air‌ 2 are rumored to follow in the spring of 2027.
This article, "iPhone 18 Pro Could Charge 25% Faster" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple will today expand its trade-in program to offer better pricing for devices with minor cosmetic defects, MacRumors understands.


Under Apple's current trade-in system, cosmetic issues such as small chips in the display glass have generally been treated the same way as far more serious damage, such as a cracked or smashed screen, resulting in a similarly steep cut to a device's trade-in value. That is set to change from today, with Apple introducing more granular pricing that better reflects a device's actual condition. Customers will apparently not receive less for their device under the new system.

The update is expected to take effect today once Apple's trade-in website comes back online. The change is said to apply in the vast majority of countries where Apple's trade-in program is offered, with only a small number of markets excluded.

Apple last adjusted its trade-in values in August, when it raised pricing across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch lineups. It is unclear whether today's change will coincide with a broader refresh of those values.
This article, "Apple to Offer Better Trade-In Pricing for Minor Cosmetic Damage" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple planned to introduce high-end in-ear AirPods with built-in cameras for analyzing the surrounding environment at today's event, but the launch has been pushed to next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

In early August, Gurman said the earbuds were progressing well enough to potentially ship before the end of the year. By mid-August, though, he reported that Apple had pulled the model from its 2026 road map, pushing the camera AirPods to a 2027 launch alongside the 20th-anniversary iPhone instead. Today's event will still include new AirPods 5 models.
This article, "AirPods With Cameras Were Supposed to Debut Today, Now Delayed" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple will increase the price of its high-end iPhones by just $100 per model upon the announcement of the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports, which is a smaller bump than many had been bracing for ahead of today's event.


In June, Apple hiked the cost of all of its Macs, iPads, and home products in response to the global memory shortage, but chose to keep iPhone pricing intact at the time. That is widely expected to change today, with the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max expected to come in at a higher price than their predecessors.

Gurman's $100 figure comes in well below some of the more dire predictions floated over the summer. Analytics firm IDC had suggested increases of up to $200 for the Pro models, while GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu warned costs for the A20 Pro chip, RAM, and storage could push prices as much as $300 higher. TrendForce, citing memory chip costs that have risen nearly 400% year-on-year, had also modeled a $150 to $200 jump. Apple appears to be absorbing more of that cost itself rather than passing all of it on to buyers.

Earlier this year, Apple took steps to soften the blow of rising prices by launching the Apple Upgrade program in the U.S. The Klarna-backed leasing plan allows customers to pay a monthly fee in perpetuity and swap their device out annually for the newest version. Wireless carriers could also help to ease iPhone "sticker shock" by offering aggressive installment plans and trade-in incentives, Gurman added.
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The Apple Watch Ultra 4 will feature improved battery life over the Ultra 3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple has highlighted a battery boost with each new Ultra model. Last year, the Ultra 3 was rated for up to 42 hours of normal use, up from 36 hours on the Ultra 2.
This article, "Apple Watch Ultra 4 to Get Improved Battery Life" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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