2026-04-07 22:24:01
Samsung this week announced its newest lineup of The Frame TVs with the 2026 The Frame and The Frame Pro, and you can get a bundle deal of up to $850 in savings when purchasing the new models. Additionally, we're tracking a few other deals on Samsung TVs and monitors below.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The new models of The Frame and The Frame Pro are upgraded with new glare-free technology to further minimize reflections and make artwork appear even more realistic. For gamers, both models feature Motion Xcelerator 144Hz for ultra-smooth motion, while new DLG 240Hz can reach even higher frame rates when connecting a compatible PC.
2026-04-07 22:05:11
Apple's first foldable iPhone may not carry the speculative media-derived "Fold" branding after all, according to Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station.
In a new post on Weibo, the oft-accurate leaker claimed that Apple's book-style foldable could launch as the "iPhone Ultra." Meanwhile, domestic Chinese manufacturers are allegedly deciding whether to follow Apple's lead by tentatively branding their own upcoming foldables as "Ultra" models, but likely with a lighter price tag – Apple's version is expected to cost between $2,000 and $2,500.
If Apple does adopt the Ultra name, it wouldn't be the first time. The company already uses the moniker to designate Apple Watch Ultra and CarPlay Ultra as premium products, not to mention its top-end M1 Ultra and M3 Ultra chips. Indeed, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in March that Apple is considering "Ultra" branding for an OLED touchscreen MacBook and a future AirPods model with cameras, suggesting the label could spread across several product lines.
Based on the latest rumors, Apple's foldable iPhone is widely expected to launch later this year, sometime between September and December. The device is expected to feature an approximately 5.3- to 5.5-inch outer display and a 7.8-inch inner screen, with a front-facing camera in both closed and open orientations, and a dual-lens rear camera.
Digital Chat Station has more than three million followers on Weibo, and has a track record of accurately leaking Apple-related information. Still, as with all such reports, the details remain unconfirmed.
2026-04-07 21:55:50
Anker's new Prime 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station has been marked down to $119.99 on Amazon for Prime members, down from $149.99. This accessory just launched last month, and Amazon's sale today is a solid second-best price.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The Prime 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station features Qi2.2 support, which lets a compatible MagSafe iPhone charge at up to 25W. It's the same speed as Apple's MagSafe charger, and it is 10W faster than the standard Qi2 MagSafe chargers. You can also simultaneously charge an Apple Watch and AirPods with the device.
2026-04-07 21:09:17
Apple has run into "more issues than expected" during the engineering test phase of its foldable iPhone, potentially delaying the device's launch well into 2027.
According to a new report from Nikkei Asia, engineering problems emerging during the foldable iPhone's early test production phase are more complex and taking longer to resolve than Apple anticipated.
The device is currently undergoing engineering verification testing, a critical stage in validating an all-new design before it can proceed toward mass production. Component suppliers have reportedly been notified that production schedules may need to be pushed back, indicating that Apple is already adjusting its timeline as it works to resolve the issues.
The foldable iPhone was already expected to launch later than the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September, potentially following a staggered release pattern similar to the iPhone X, but the newly surfaced engineering setbacks increase the risk of further delays beyond that window.
"It's true that more issues than expected have emerged during the early test production phase, and additional time will be needed to resolve them and make necessary adjustments," a source familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia. "The current situation could put the mass production timeline at risk." The source also stressed the urgency of the next few weeks: "April will mark a crucial stage of the engineering verification test, and this month till early May is extremely critical."
Nikkei cites sources both inside Apple and among component suppliers warning of delays. Issues surrounding the engineering development of the foldable are more complex than expected, and in a worst-case scenario could delay first shipments by months. "Apple and the supply chain are working under a pressured timeline and the current solutions are not enough to completely solve the engineering challenge," the source said. "More time is needed."
Leaker Fixed Focus Digital today claimed that the device is being delayed by ongoing pricing negotiations with manufacturing partners and an unresolved decision over hinge materials. Apple is said to be choosing between liquid metal, which could improve durability and reduce creasing, and a 3D-printed titanium alloy, with a final decision expected during the Production Validation Test phase in July or early August. Meanwhile, unresolved cost discussions with its assembly partner could further impact the production schedule.
2026-04-07 20:57:17
A new book by New York Times labor reporter Noam Scheiber argues that Apple's decade-long erosion of its retail workforce directly contributed to the disappointing launch of the Apple Vision Pro in early 2024 (via WIRED).
The book, Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, draws on interviews with Apple Store employees to document how staffing cuts, reduced training, and a shift toward aggressive sales metrics left Apple retail staff ill-equipped to demo the Vision Pro.
Apple flew hundreds of retail employees to Cupertino in early 2024 for secretive Vision Pro training, requiring NDAs, phone confiscation, and strict silence between colleagues at different stages of the program, to preserve the "novelty" of the experience. Upon their return to their stores, they were tasked with leading four-hour workshops, but many salespeople received only minimal preparation, with some given as little as a 20-minute demo and limited time to rehearse a complex script before presenting to customers. The challenge was compounded by a workforce that included many recently converted employees with little prior experience of scripted product launches, leaving some ill-equipped to deliver the carefully choreographed demonstrations.
The demo itself was technically demanding. Employees had to scan customers' faces, select from roughly 25 different light seals, and guide users through eye- and hand-based controls before working through a script that ran to more than a dozen screens. The training was so haphazard that many employees who received early demos were unknowingly seeing blurry content, the result of small fitting errors that nobody had caught. With stores staffed so leanly, managers struggled to pull employees off the floor for the preparation time Apple corporate had intended, and demo quality varied enormously. Some employees noticed a disconnect between Cupertino's expectations and floor-level reality.
Scheiber traces the deterioration to the transition from Steve Jobs to Tim Cook. Jobs built Apple retail around a permanently employed, generously compensated workforce, on the theory that any worker who felt second-class would make customers feel the same way. Under Cook, that model was progressively unwound: contractor numbers grew, training shifted from multi-week instructor-led programs to brief self-guided modules, and leadership rotated toward cost control. After an unsuccessful attempt to slash staffing under John Browett, Cook installed Angela Ahrendts, whose sensibility was closer to the Jobs era, but her 2019 departure brought in Deirdre O'Brien, who pushed stores toward conventional retail metrics: device activations, accessory attachment rates, and AppleCare+ sign-ups. The "creative" role tracked a similar trajectory, shrinking from unlimited one-on-one customer tutorials to group sessions to what some employees described as barely disguised product marketing.
Apple sold fewer than 500,000 Vision Pro units in 2024, compared to roughly 10 million Apple Watches in their first year on sale and more than 200 million iPhones annually. The book notes that Apple had originally projected first-year Apple Watch sales at around 40 million units before slashing that forecast by more than 70% and that it was store employees who helped rescue the launch, surfacing the health and fitness angle through daily floor-level conversations with managers. This time the dynamic ran in reverse. Whereas retail staff had once helped pull Apple out of a stumbling product launch, the book argues, this time they made one worse.
The Vision Pro's own limitations played a significant role in the shortfall, such as a roughly 1.5-pound weight, a limited selection of apps, and a $3,500 base price rising to around $4,000 with common upgrades and accessories. Because few employees could afford the device even with their 25% staff discount, they had little opportunity to build familiarity with it outside of work. About a week after launch, managers in many stores quietly allowed salespeople to read the demo script from an iPad rather than deliver it from memory, which some staff said degraded the experience.
A few months later, many stores abandoned the script altogether. Managers began asking staff to recruit customers for demos on the floor, and some informally lowered the minimum age requirement from 13. The Vision Pro's sales performance at store level told its own story. By late May 2024, employees at the Towson store were reporting weeks in which they sold no units at all, and occasionally recorded negative sales figures after processing returns.
Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class is out now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. See the full excerpt in WIRED for more information.
2026-04-07 20:39:30
Apple's first foldable iPhone is being held up by pricing negotiations with manufacturing partners and an unresolved decision about hinge materials, rather than component or display problems, according to Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital.
Apple is expected to release its first foldable iPhone later this year, in the form of a book-style device that unfolds to reveal a screen about the size of an iPad mini. Reports suggest it will feature a 7.8-inch main display when unfolded and a 5.5-inch cover display, but claims of when it will launch have yet to arrive at a consensus, with reports suggesting a release could come as early as September or as late as December.
In a post today on social network Weibo, Fixed Focus Digital cited their own supply chain sources claiming Apple is still undecided on the hinge material, with the company still apparently weighing liquid metal against 3D-printed titanium alloy, which was most recently used in the iPhone Air.
Rumors going back to March last year claimed that Apple had settled on the use of liquid metal for the hinge, which could improve durability and reduce screen creasing. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has previously used liquid metal in smaller device components like SIM ejector pins, but the foldable iPhone will be the company's first major use of the material in a critical mechanical part.
Fixed Focus Digital expects Apple to settle on its preferred material during the device's Production Validation Test (PVT) phase between July and early August, which would be the latest time for such a decision to be realistically made – assuming the device is scheduled to ship this year.
The second, potentially more disruptive issue is allegedly price negotiations with Apple's assembly partner, which the leaker suggested could affect the production schedule. Apple's first foldable iPhone could end up costing nearly twice as much as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with retail pricing likely to be somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500.
According to Kuo, the foldable iPhone will include two rear cameras, a single front-facing camera, and Touch ID integrated into the power button. The device could measure just 4.5mm thick when unfolded, and between 9mm and 9.5mm when closed.
Fixed Focus Digital previously broke the news ahead of launch about the iPhone 16e name for Apple's upcoming iPhone SE successor.
