2026-03-03 22:52:33
Pairing with the newly announced MacBook is a new pair of external displays that Apple has also unveiled: the Studio Display and the Studio Display XDR.
The 27-inch Studio Display is largely unchanged from its predecessor, introduced in 2022: it’s a 5K Retina display with a 5120-by-2880 resolution at 218 pixels per inch, 600 nits of brightness, a 60Hz refresh rate, and an optional nano-texture glass coating.
The XDR model, which seems to replace the old Pro Display XDR, is a souped up version of the Studio Display, but it’s also a 27-inch 5K Retina display with the same resolution. However, it offers a Mini-LED backlight with 2304 dimming zones, up to 1000 nits of brightness in SDR and 2000 nits of peak brightness with HDR. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate and Adaptive Sync technology that adjusts frame rates on the fly to suit the content being shown, such as video or games.
Both models offer a 12MP Center Stage camera, which Apple says offers “improved image quality”, a sore spot for some on the previous Studio Display—how true that is remains to be seen. Like the 2022 Studio Display, there are six speakers with Spatial Audio, a three-microphone array. About the only major difference in the base level Studio Display is the addition of Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, with one upstream port and one downstream port. There remain two USB-C ports.
By default, the Studio Display still comes with a tilt-adjustable stand, though there are options for both a height-adjustable stand or a VESA mount. The Studio Display XDR gets the height-adjustable stand by default, and can also be configured with a VESA mount.
The pricing is, as always, a big question: the Studio Display starts at the same $1599 price point as its predecessor, with the nano-texture option jacking that up to $1899, and the height-adjustable stand adding an additional $400. (The VESA mount version starts at the same base $1599.)
The XDR is a pricey one: it starts at $3299, with the same $300 premium for nano-texture though, hey, at least you get that height-adjustable stand by default. That’s cheaper, at least, than its predecessor, the Pro Display XDR, which started at $4999, with an additional $999 for the stand.
2026-03-03 22:28:25
Day two of March’s Apple product extravaganza, uh, marches on with the announcement of MacBook Pro models bearing new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, updated wireless capabilities, and both more and faster storage.
These models join the base level M5 MacBook Pro, released last fall, but offer more power, starting with a 15-core CPU and 16-core GPU on the M5 Pro model, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB of SSD storage. The M5 Max-equipped MacBook, meanwhile, starts at 18-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and 36GB of RAM, with 2TB of storage. That’s double the storage for both models over their counterparts for last year, and Apple says the SSDs are twice as fast as well.
But the M5 Pro and Max are undoubtedly the stars of the show. Like the M5 chips we’ve seen so far, they feature a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator. But Apple says they also use an all new Fusion Architecture, which connects two three-nanometer dies on a single system on a chip that bundles CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and more.
In their base configurations, they both feature what Apple is now branding super cores, alongside all-new performance cores. This is perhaps a bit of nominative legerdemain—Apple says the super core is the rebranded name for the performance core that already existed on the base M5 chip. The new performance cores aren’t the same as the M5’s efficiency cores—they’re a new design that is intended to balance multithreaded performance and power efficiency. But it’s probably true that they’re really an evolution of Apple’s previous efficiency core design, with an upgraded name.
Wirelessly, the new models are powered Apple’s N1 chip, bringing support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 across the line, like the new M4 iPad Air and iPhone 17e introduced earlier this week.
There are a handful of other improvements: the microphones add Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes, and the M5 Pro MacBook Pro is now configurable with up to 64GB of memory. The 16-inch M5 Max gets slightly better battery life—up to 16 hours of wireless web browsing, compared to 14 hours on its M4 predecessor, and 22 hours of video streaming, compared to 21 hours. The 14-inch M5 Max ekes out two additional hours of video streaming, up to 20 hours.
The 14-inch M5 Pro starts at $2199, while the 16-inch stats at $2699; the 14-inch M5 Max model starts at $3599, with its 16-inch counterpart at $3899. All models will be available for pre-order on March 4, and will start shipping on March 11.
2026-03-03 06:40:45
Jason and Myke try to predict what Apple will be announcing this week, except for the stuff that was announced Monday. But they discuss the new iPad Air and iPhone 17e too! Also: Apple’s F1 plans and some Report Card follow-up.
2026-03-03 01:45:19
A reader of my book Take Control of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 had a perplexing problem. I had written of the menus available in iPadOS 26’s Windowed Apps and Stage Manager modes in Settings: Multitasking & Gestures:
With a mouse or touchpad, pushing the cursor to the top edge above the status bar reveals the menu bar.
Yet, for this reader, they were unable to use a pointing device to get the menu to appear in that fashion. The cursor sometimes disappeared, and clicking didn’t help. They had to swipe, like some kind of animal, to have the menus appear. This is less than ideal when you’re using an input device and a keyboard on an iPad, as you typically position it differently than when you’re using it with touch input.
We went through some troubleshooting steps, but then it occurred to me that the culprit might be their Mac. That’s right—Universal Control could be the issue! Universal Control is Apple’s name for using a keyboard and mouse or other input devices on a Mac with one or two nearby Macs or iPads. (Follow that link to see the minimum system and hardware requirements.)1
You configure Universal Control on your Mac in System Settings: Displays. Click Advanced, and three Link to Mac or iPad options appear if the feature is available:
With the first setting enabled, the second is the key issue: Push through. I asked my email correspondent if they had this feature enabled and, more crucially, when they clicked the Arrange button at the bottom of the Displays setting, did they see their iPad below their Mac (see figure).
The answer was yes. Which is why they couldn’t move their pointer to the top of the iPad and have menus appear: when they did this, they slid through to the bottom of their Mac. I was able to reproduce this, and with some fine motor control, could sometimes get the menu to appear before I slid onto my Mac display.
They moved the iPad to one side of their Mac in Arrange, and the problem went away.
[Got a question for the column? You can email [email protected] or use /glenn in our subscriber-only Discord community.]
2026-03-02 22:42:52
Continuing its cavalcade of product announcements, Apple also rolled out an updated iPad Air on Monday, upping the tablet’s processor to the M4 and increasing its RAM and memory bandwidth.
Don’t expect the iPad Air to look much different to its predecessor: not only does it feature the same dimensions1, but it comes in the same Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight colors as the M3 model and the M2 before it. Battery life is unchanged as well, with up to 10 hours. The new models remain compatible with all the accessories of the previous versions, including the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C), and the 11-inch and 13-inch Magic Keyboards.
All the major improvements are under the hood. In addition to the M4 processor’s 30-percent performance improvement, there’s now 12GB of unified RAM—up from 8GB of memory in the M3 Air—and memory bandwidth of 120GB/s, compared to the 100GB/s offered by the earlier model. The M4 also unlocks hardware acceleration for 8K in more formats, including H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW.
There are some improvements on the connectivity side as well. The M4 Air also gets Apple’s own N1 wireless chip, adding support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 and better performance for 5GHz Wi-Fi networks. And cellular models will use Apple’s C1X, the same chip inside the new 17e, which Apple says offers more energy efficient performance.
As with the iPhone 17e, Apple is continuing to tout its environmental friendly construction. The new iPad Air is made with 30-percent recycled content, including 100 percent recycled aluminum for the exterior, and 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery.
The new iPad Air will be available for pre-order on Wednesday, March 4, and will arrive on Wednesday, March 11. The 11-inch model starts at the same $599 price point, with the 13-inch beginning at $799.
2026-03-02 22:25:24
Apple on Monday kicked off its week of announcements by rolling out the new iPhone 17e, the successor to last year’s lower cost 16e.
The 17e boasts the same A19 chip that powers the iPhone 17, a step up over the A18 in the 16e, including with a 4-core GPU enhanced with Neural Accelerators. The 17e also has the same C1X Apple cellular chip as last year’s iPhone Air, the successor to the C1 that debuted in the 16e; Apple says the C1X provides up to 2x better performance and uses 30 percent less energy.
Apple’s also bumped the storage this year, with the 17e now starting at 256GB, twice the 16e’s base level, at the same $599 price point. Upgrading to 512GB will raise the price to $799.
Perhaps the biggest addition to the 17e is the inclusion of MagSafe, a feature that was strangely missing from the 16e. That includes charging up to 15W with a compatible charger, and full compatibility with MagSafe accessories as well as support for Qi2 wireless charging.
In addition, the 17e’s front display has been updated with Ceramic Shield 2 technology to help protect against cracks and breaking as well as reduce glare.
Otherwise, the specs remain largely unchanged, including the same 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, up to 26 hours of battery life, and support for both Emergency SOS features and Apple Intelligence.1
Apple also says that the 17e has a 48MP Fusion camera system, which on the face of it seems identical to last year’s “2-in-1 camera system” although Apple touts the 17e’s “next-generation” portrait mode that adds the ability to recognize people, dogs, and cats as well as to add portrait mode effects after the fact. The 12MP TrueDepth camera in front likewise has the same specs as last year, with the same addition of “next-generation portraits.” Apple attributes this ability to improvements in its image pipeline.
And in case you thought Apple’s environmental promises were out the window in this day and age, the company does say that the 17e is made with 30 percent recycled content. That includes 85 percent of its enclosure, made with recycled aluminum, and 100 percent recycled cobalt in its battery.
The iPhone 17e is available in three colors: black, white, and what Apple is calling “soft pink.” It goes up for pre-order this Wednesday, March 4, and will be available for sale next Wednesday, March 11. There are also six colors of Silicone Case with MagSafe—black, anchor blue, light moss, vanilla, bright guava, and soft pink—as well as a clear case, each retailing for $49.
