38: Where Is Apple in the AI Race?

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk about Apple's recent announcement that several of its most highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features are to be delayed. Last week, Apple quietly announced that it is further delaying some of Siri's ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features that it expected to release in iOS 18. The functionality includes wide-reaching enhancements to ‌Siri‌ that leverage personal context and onscreen awareness to take complex actions in apps. It was unveiled as a key part of ‌Apple Intelligence‌ at WWDC in June last year, but has yet to be seen outside of Apple's pre-recorded demo videos and a series of now-pulled TV ads. Yesterday, Daring Fireball's John Gruber penned a blistering attack on the missing features and Apple's management decisions, triggering a wave of subsequent criticisms and calls for Apple CEO Tim Cook to directly acknowledge the situation. We reflect on the delay and the unusual circumstances surrounding the features, pondering how this happened and what it means for Apple going forward. Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code MAC at shopmando.com! #mandopod #ad

14 Maalis 1h 2min

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of Apple's latest announcements for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineups. Now that the iPhone 16e is available, we explore first-hand impressions of the device, including its design, camera, display, and custom modem. Apple this week unveiled a new iPad Air featuring the M3 chip, a refreshed entry-level ‌iPad‌ with the A16 chip, and a redesigned Magic Keyboard for the ‌iPad Air‌. The MacBook Air now offers the M4 chip and an all-new "Sky Blue" color option, now starting at just $999. Meanwhile, the Mac Studio has been refreshed with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options. We take a look at why the ‌iPad Air‌'s refresh is relatively small and who should buy it, the entry-level ‌iPad‌'s peculiar omission of Apple Intelligence support, and differences between the ‌iPad Air‌'s Magic Keyboard and that of the iPad Pro. We also discuss thoughts on the ‌MacBook Air‌'s unexpected new finish, as well as the unusual chip generation difference among the new ‌Mac Studio‌'s options.

7 Maalis 47min

On this week's special episode of The MacRumors Show, we answer your listener questions. We talk pocket cameras, our own devices, the Mail app, visionOS, foldables and our dream iPhones, TV shows, hobbies, and more.

28 Helmi 45min

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we unpack Apple's announcement of the all-new iPhone 16e. The ‌iPhone 16e‌ is the newest member of the iPhone lineup, offering a massive upgrade over the now-discontinued third-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. It features a 6.1-inch OLED display with a notch for Face ID, a Ceramic Shield front cover, a USB-C port, and an Action button, and much more. It is powered by an A18 chip, enabling support for Apple Intelligence features, such as notification summaries and Genmoji for creating custom emoji. It also supports Visual Intelligence. In the ‌iPhone 16e‌, the A18 chip has a 6-core CPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, but a binned 4-core GPU, making it slightly less powerful than the iPhone 16 and ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus. It also has IP68-rated water resistance, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3. The device is equipped with an Apple-designed 5G modem called the C1, whereas other iPhones have a Qualcomm modem. Apple says its own modem is so power efficient that the ‌iPhone 16e‌ offers the longest battery life of any 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌ model ever at up to 26 hours. On the back of the ‌iPhone 16e‌ is a single 48-megapixel Fusion camera, which provides a 2x "optical-quality" Telephoto option, according to Apple. On the front, there is a 12-megapixel camera with autofocus. The device does not have the Camera Control button that was introduced across the rest of the ‌iPhone 16‌ lineup last year. It also lacks MagSafe. ‌iPhone 16e‌ supports Apple's satellite features. When outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, the ‌iPhone 16e‌ supports Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages, and Find My via satellite. The device is available in white or black, and with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB storage capacities. In the U.S., pricing starts at $599. We talk through how the ‌iPhone 16e‌ compares to the iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 16‌, which sit at $699 and $799, respectively. We also contemplate what the discontinuation of the ‌iPhone‌ SE line means for the Apple Watch SE later this year. Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code MAC at shopmando.com! #mandopod #ad

21 Helmi 37min

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the imminent Apple product "launch" that is widely expected to be the fourth-generation iPhone SE. In a social media post on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. We talk through the possibilities for the announcement and why it's most likely to be a new ‌iPhone SE‌, with rumored features including the A18 chip, a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, a USB-C port, Apple Intelligence support, and more. The launch of other new devices, such as the M4 MacBook Air, also appear to be right around the corner. We also discuss Apple's new Powerbeats Pro 2 earphones, touting Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) with Transparency mode, Personalized Spatial Audio, an H2 chip for improved power efficiency and Apple ecosystem integration, and Heart Rate Monitoring–a first time for an Apple audio product. We talk through the utility of the heart rate monitoring feature, fit, and how they compare to the AirPods Pro 2. This episode is sponsored by Incogni. Use code THEMACRUMORS at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/themacrumors (00:00) - Tim Cook Confirms Apple Launch for February 19th (06:39) - Sponsor: Incogni  (08:04) - More iPhone SE/New Product Launch (23:29) - M4 MacBook Air Coming Soon (29:16) - Powerbeats Pro 2 with Heart Rate Sensor  🎙️ FOLLOW THE MACRUMORS SHOW https://twitter.com/macrumorsshow  https://www.instagram.com/themacrumorsshow https://www.tiktok.com/@themacrumorsshow 🔗 CONNECT WITH DAN https://twitter.com/danbarbera https://www.instagram.com/danbarbera1 https://www.tiktok.com/@dan_barbera https://music.apple.com/profile/danbarbera89 🔗 CONNECT WITH HARTLEY https://twitter.com/hxrtlxy https://www.instagram.com/hxrtlxy_ https://www.tiktok.com/@hxrtlxy_ https://music.apple.com/profile/hxrtlxy

14 Helmi 41min

Earlier this week, Apple announced "Invites," which is designed to help users plan group events like birthday parties, graduations, vacations, baby showers, and more. Users can choose a background image or generate one using Image Playground and customize the look of the invite with different fonts. Apple automatically adds in data from the Maps and Weather apps so that invitees have all of the information they need for an event. People who receive invites can RSVP and the sender can track who has responded. There are options to create a dedicated shared Photos album and a collaborative Apple Music playlist for the event.  Invites is an iCloud+ service, which means that it is available to iCloud+ subscribers only. ‌iCloud‌+ is priced starting at $0.99 per month, and it provides users with additional ‌iCloud‌ storage over the free 5GB that comes with any device. While anyone is able to respond to an Invite that's sent out, creating invites is limited to ‌iCloud‌+ subscribers. We discuss Apple's ‌iCloud‌ website and accessing the company's services from non-Apple devices, since Invites is also available via icloud.com. In addition, we reflect on the other apps that Apple has introduced in recent years, including Clips, News, Journal, and Sports.

7 Helmi 42min

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the latest rumors about the iPhone SE 4 as it nears launch. The fourth-generation ‌iPhone SE‌ is widely rumored to feature an iPhone 14-style all-screen design with a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, and USB-C. Images of dummy models showcasing the new design were recently shared online. Recent reports suggest that the fourth-generation ‌iPhone SE‌ is expected to support Apple Intelligence thanks to the A18 chip and 8GB of memory. Both the main and front-facing cameras are expected to receive major upgrades to 48- and 12-megapixel sensors, respectively. Contrary to earlier rumors, the device is no longer expected to feature the Camera Control, Action Button, or Dynamic Island. The fourth-generation ‌iPhone SE‌ is highly likely to be the first to feature Apple's custom 5G modem. While it won't feature mmWave connectivity and may be slower than the Qualcomm components currently used in iPhones, it is expected to offer lower power consumption, improved cellular network scanning, and satellite connectivity enhancements. The ‌iPhone SE‌ 4 is due to be released before iOS 18.4, sometime around March or April. It is expected to be slightly more expensive than the current model with a price point of about $470. We also look ahead to the Apple Watch SE 3, which is expected to debut later this year. With an all-new plastic casing that evokes the ‌iPhone‌ 5C, we reflect on the direction of Apple's entry-level devices Upgrade your wardrobe instantly and save 20% off with the code MAC at https://www.publicrec.com/MAC #publicrecpod Head to acorns.com/mac or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future today!

31 Tammi 36min

The MacRumors Show is back for 2025! On this week's episode, we look at how Samsung's latest announcements challenge Apple. Samsung this week announced the Galaxy S25, the Galaxy S25+, and the top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra. The new devices will directly compete with Apple's iPhone 16 and upcoming iPhone 17 lineup. Similar to the ‌iPhone 16‌, AI is a major focus for the S25 lineup, with Samsung touting a new "Personal Data Engine" with a Dynamic Island-like "Now Bar" with a "Now Brief" that guides users through their day, Circle to Search, generative photo editing, context-aware searches with suggested actions, improved natural language understanding, third-party integrations via Gemini, Portrait Studio, and more. Samsung also previewed the all-new "Galaxy S25 Edge," a super-thin variant of the S25 set to launch in the first half of 2025. It appears to be positioned as a direct rival to Apple's upcoming "‌iPhone 17‌ Air," which is expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever at just 6mm and a radical departure from previous devices with a 6.6-inch display with ProMotion, a single speaker, a single rear camera, and Apple's custom 5G modem. Finally, Samsung unveiled its upcoming "Project Moohan" AR/VR headset, which it has designed in collaboration with Google. It is designed to compete with Apple's Vision Pro bears a striking similarity to the it in terms of design. Use code THEMACRUMORS at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/themacrumors Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code MAC at shopmando.com! #mandopod #ad

24 Tammi 49min