Top Stories: MacBook With A18 Pro Chip, iPhone 17 Rumors, and More

More details on iOS 26 and related updates continue to surface as Apple moves through beta testing in the wake of last month’s WWDC, but this week also saw a number of hardware-related rumors for later this year and beyond.

The most intriguing rumors were in reference to a mysterious MacBook running an A18 Pro chip, but we also shared details on the iPhone 17 Pro models, AirPods Pro 3, and an array of vision-related products ranging from future Apple Vision Pro-like devices to smart glasses.

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Apple is working on a new low-cost MacBook model powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone, according to both analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and backend code discovered by MacRumors.

The A18 Pro has performance roughly on par with the M1 chip found in the 2020 MacBook Air model that is still being sold by Walmart for $649. This A18 Pro-powered MacBook could be a successor to the M1 MacBook Air with some additional updates and be sold directly by Apple and across other sales channels.

iPhone 17 Pro’s New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

The much larger camera bump coming on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will lead to moving the Apple logo lower on the rear of the devices, according to recent rumors. That change will force accessory makers to use a new MagSafe ring layout for their products, although existing MagSafe accessories should remain compatible with the iPhone 17 Pro models.

In other iPhone 17 news, a new report claims that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of approximately 5,000 mAh, which would make it the biggest battery ever in an iPhone. The upcoming Pro models are rumored to be a bit thicker than the current versions, which will make room for bigger batteries.

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

If you’re frustrated by having to enter your information on each of your devices whenever you join a captive Wi-Fi network like those found in hotels, gyms, airports, and other public places, a new feature in iOS 26 and related releases will sync the details across your devices to make it easier to get everything up and running.

We’re continuing to take a look at other iOS 26 developments in our recent feature guides, including a number of Lock Screen changes and a host of enhancements for Safari.

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Aside from a shift from Lightning to USB-C on the case in 2023, the AirPods Pro haven’t been updated since 2022, but it looks like a more substantial update may be arriving later this year.

We’re expecting some new features like the heart rate monitoring that debuted in the Powerbeats Pro 2 earlier this year, improved Active Noise Cancellation, and some design tweaks, so they should be a worthwhile purchase for both new and existing users.

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Apple celebrated the 10th anniversary of Apple Music this week with some special shows and countdowns on Apple Music 1, as well as a new personalized “Replay All Time” playlist for all Apple Music subscribers.

Building upon the annual Replay playlists that feature your most-played tracks for a given year, Replay All Time includes your 100 most-played songs across the entire time you’ve been an Apple Music subscriber, and it will dynamically update based on your ongoing usage.

Report Reveals Apple’s Secretive Vision Products Roadmap

While the Apple Vision Pro headset hasn’t exactly become a mainstream product since it launched nearly a year and a half ago, Apple still has a lengthy pipeline of vision-related products in the works, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Aside from a spec bump to the M5 chip for the Vision Pro later this year, we’ll apparently have to wait until 2027 to start seeing more of these products hit the market, but expect lighter and cheaper models of Vision headsets, smart glasses similar to the Meta Ray-Bans, and eventually more powerful mixed-reality glasses with built-in displays.

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