According to reliable tipster Mark Gurman, the M4-equipped MacBook Air is now expected to launch sometime next month. Earlier leaks had hinted at a spec bump for the iPad Pro with the M5 chipset sometime in the middle of this year, although the grapevine now states that the M5 iPad Pro will only arrive sometime in 2026, with the M5 SoC first seeing the light of day in a refreshed MacBook Pro in the third quarter of this year. Unfortunately, no major design changes are expected for either of the upcoming devices - which makes sense, since the iPad Pro received a major update less than a year ago, and the MacBook Pro is expected to boast a major overhaul next year.

Interestingly, however, the M4-powered Mac Studio and Mac Pro are still on track for launch in the middle of this year, likely during WWDC. Of course, the M4 'Ultra' - and perhaps an even higher-end M4 SoC - will offer significantly higher core counts than M5-powered MacBook Pros, but it would certainly be quite off-putting to see Apple's highest-end Macs lag a full generation behind MacBook Pros less than half a year after launch. Although the M5 SoCs will continue leveraging TSMC's 3 nm process, the high-end Pro and Max SKUs are expected to integrate TSMC's SoIC technology, enabling 3D chip-stacking, with discrete GPU and CPU units for improved efficiency and cost-savings.

According to a recent report, Apple has apparently finalized on a partner to bring Apple Intelligence features to its second-largest market, China. Of course, China has strict regulations in place, which have clearly turned out to be rather difficult to navigate for Apple. Previous leaks have revealed that a Deepseek partnership was on the cards for the Cupertino giant, although that did not lead to fruition, with Apple settling for Alibaba as its primary partner. As MacRumors notes, Alibaba will function as a censorship layer of sorts, thereby complying with government-directed filtering and information control. Basically, if the Chinese government deems a certain kind of information inappropriate in any way, it can simply direct Alibaba to have it removed and not served again.

Baidu, Safari's default search engine in China, will function as a secondary partner, aiding Apple Intelligence's 'Visual Intelligence' features. If things go to plan, the AI features should roll out in China sometime towards the middle of this year. Apple Intelligence has faced quite a contentious launch, having struggled with multiple delays and widespread criticism regarding not only the real-world efficacy and usefulness of its features, but also the multiple times that its AI-generated notifications have wildly misrepresented real-life events. The report further states that iPhones sold outside of China will not have access to the China-specific AI system, which is to be expected. It is yet to be seen how the Apple Intelligence launch plays out in China, although we should be able to find out soon enough.

A recent rumor appears to have some good news in store for Apple display aficionados. The Cupertino giant has largely ignored its display lineup for several years at this point, considering that its $5,000 Pro Display XDR is almost six years old, while the $1,599 Studio Display is about to complete its third year on sale next month. According to reliable display analyst Ross Young, Apple is working on a mini LED upgrade for the Studio Display, which is expected to hit shelves towards the end of this year. It is unclear whether the rumored mini LED Studio Display will boast Apple's ProMotion technology, although it does seem quite likely given Apple's track record.

So far, only three Apple devices have boasted mini LED displays - MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and the Pro Display XDR. The iPad Pro has moved to an OLED solution, and the MacBook Pro lineup is expected to follow in its footsteps towards the end of next year. While mini LED displays are not quite as contrast rich or fast as OLED displays, they sure are a massive improvement over the traditional LED-backlit displays found in Apple's iMacs and the Studio Display in terms of brightness, contrast, and if the ProMotion rumors are true, then refresh rate as well. Unsurprisingly, the affordable iMac 24" is not expected to sport mini LED technology anytime soon. As for the pricey Pro Display XDR, it is unclear what the future has in store for it, going by the absence of information.

The premium digital tablet familiar to the desks of the world's top illustrators, photo editors, videographers and 3D sculptors is now in perfect harmony with today's high-end creative applications thanks to its updated design featuring tactile controls and the industry defining Pro Pen 3.

Creative workflows are part work and part flow. The work requires a combination of operating complex software controls and processes. The flow is the act of creation. The new Intuos Pro is designed to help artists accomplish their work as quickly and intuitively as possible so they can immerse themselves in the creative flow. The newest Wacom Intuos Pro remains true to its heritage as the preeminent tablet for anyone accustomed to professional workflows. In fact, it has been the industry standard for so long, its precursor, the Intuos 3, was sent to space to support astronauts on the space station as they adjusted to microgravity.

Last October, Apple introduced its modernized range of MacBook Pro models; featuring the M4 family of chips. Ultra-thin notebook enthusiasts wondered whether the MacBook Air range series would receive similar treatment in the near future. Apple provided an answer around December-time, by accidentally publishing "Mac16,12" and "Mac16,13" machine listings within their macOS Sequoia 15.2 release. MacRumors believed that the referenced models are MacBook Air M4 13-inch and M4 15-inch products. At the time, industry moles suggested that Apple had settled on a possible April (2025) launch window. A fresh follow-up report points to an earlier than anticipated release—MacRumors reckons that a recent leak indicates an "imminent" launch.

Yesterday, the publication discovered intriguing information online; posted by an anonymous source on X. Based on said leak, MacRumors reports that the updated MacBook Air models: "will be equipped with Apple's T8132 chip." Apple's internal reference code points to both 13-inch and 15-inch models housing a 10-core M4 chipset (part number: APL1206). Mark Gurman—Bloomberg's resident technology guru—has picked up on signs of dwindling current-gen MacBook Air M3 stock. His weekend detective work suggests that successors are only weeks away from launch.

Satechi has finally made its M4 Mac Mini Stand and Hub available for purchase, albeit with limited stocks for the time being. With a premium aluminium enclosure and decent expandability, the hub sure does appear to be a solid choice for Mac mini customers looking out for some much-needed expansion potential. The product is available on Satechi's website, with a starting price of $99.99.

In terms of the ports on offer, the Satechi hub does not disappoint. The product sports dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports on the front, an UHS-II SD card slot, as well as a single USB 2.0 Type-A port. Storage expansion is also an option, thanks to the M.2 SSD enclosure with support for 2230/2242/2260/2280 drives. The built-in USB-C cable takes care of host connection, and the corner cut-out allows for easy access to the Mac mini's 'undeniably well-placed' power button. At just over 2 cms tall, the Satechi hub is well-sized and fits in pretty well with the Mac mini. A thermal pad is also provided for efficient heat dissipation.

Apple's M4 SoC was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews, particularly regarding the commendable performance and efficiency benefits it brought to the table. The chip first appeared in the OLED iPad Pro lineup last May, arriving in the company's MacBook Pro lineup only much later, giving Intel's Lunar Lake and AMD's Strix Point a run for their money. Now, it appears that the company is cognizant of the heat brought by AMD's Strix Halo, and has already commenced mass production for the first SoC in the M5 family - the vanilla M5, according to Korean news outlet ET News.

Just like last time, the M5 SoC has been repeatedly rumored to first arrive in the next-generation iPad Pro, scheduled to enter production sometime in the second half of this year. The MacBook Pro will likely be next-in-line for the M5 treatment, followed the rest of the lineup as per tradition. Interestingly, although Apple decided against using TSMC's 2 nm process for this year's chips, the higher-tier variants, including the M5 Pro and M5 Max are expected to utilize TSMC's SoIC-mH technology, allowing for vertical stacking of chips that should ideally benefit thermals, and possibly even allow for better and larger GPUs thanks to the separation of the CPU and GPU portions. Consequently, yields will also improve, which will allow Apple to bring costs down.

Parallels has announced the introduction of x86 emulation support in Parallels Desktop 20.2.0 for Apple Silicon Macs. This new feature enables users to run x86-based virtual machines on their M-series Mac computers, addressing a longstanding limitation since Apple's transition to its custom Arm-based processors. The early technology preview allows users to run Windows 10, Windows 11 (with some restrictions), Windows Server 2019/2022, and various Linux distributions through a proprietary emulation engine. This development particularly benefits developers and users who need to run 32-bit Windows applications or prefer x86-64 Linux virtual machines as an alternative to Apple Rosetta-based solutions.

However, Parallels is transparent about the current limitations of this preview release. Performance is notably slow, with Windows boot times ranging from 2 to 7 minutes, and overall system responsiveness remains low. The emulation only supports 64-bit operating systems, though it can run 32-bit applications. Additionally, USB device support is not available, and users must rely on Apple's hypervisor as the Parallels hypervisor isn't compatible. Despite these constraints, the release is a crucial step forward in bridging the compatibility gap for Apple Silicon Mac users so legacy software can still be used. The feature has been implemented with the option to start virtual machines hidden in the user interface to manage expectations, as it is still imperfect.

The Apple M4 hardly needs any introduction - the latest desktop-class SoC from the Cupertino giant is remarkably fast, while being impressively efficient. Its recently unveiled Pro and Max variants are equally praiseworthy, although none of the 4th generation Apple Silicon goodness is available on the extremely popular MacBook Air as of right now. However, that is about to change soon according to a reliable recent report.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the M4-powered MacBook Air has already entered production, and is scheduled to witness the light of day by the spring of next year, possibly even earlier. However, it is certainly worth noting that unlike the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air does not feature active cooling, making its performance rather limited in demanding, sustained scenarios as compared to the MacBook Pro. Even then, the M4 is likely to be much snappier than its primary x86 rival, Intel's Lunar Lake, if the M4 iPad Pro's performance is anything to go by.

In October, we reported that Asahi Linux had made some pretty substantial progress in getting Linux working on Apple Silicon, with a custom GPU driver counting itself as the first OpenGL 3.0 compliant graphics driver for Apple Silicon. Now, according to a recent Fedora Magazine post, Asahi Linux now has a Fedora 41 Remix. The Fedora Asahi 41 Remix is still based on that same Asahi version from October 10, but it incorporates the myriad advancements from Fedora 41 and an improved Vulkan 1.4-conformant driver.

By default, Fedora Asahi Remix 41 ships with Plasma 6.2, although a GNOME 47 version is also available. However, despite using a Wayland-first dekstop environment as its default, Fedora Asahi 41 Remix will still be X11-first, for compatibility reasons. The Asahi team plans on getting Wayland working eventually, but there are technical hurdles to overcome before that is possible. Fedora Asahi Remix also ships by default with the improved DNF 5 package manager and the massively improved GIMP 3.0 image editor pre-installed as part of Plasma 6.2. Having a Fedora Remix for Asahi also provides a familiar experience for gamers on Apple Silicon Macs to get Windows games up and running via a mix of tools like Valve's Proton dxvk, FEX emulator, and vk3d-proton—check out our previous coverage of Asahi to find out more about which games are currently working. There are still a handful of hiccups when it comes to running Linux on Apple Silicon, including hardware incompatibilities, like a lack of Thunderbolt, microphone, Touch ID, and USB-C Display support.

MacBook Pro users have long demanded the benefits of OLED screens - an upgrade that has been rumored innumerable times in the past. A recently leaked report from the market analysis firm Omdia claims that the MacBook Pro is set to feature an OLED screen by 2026, whereas the MacBook Air will receive the update in 2027.

However, considering that a similar timeframe has been rumored multiple times in the past, this fresh leak may not sound so enticing. That said, the roadmap does contain some information that is fascinating to say the least. According to Omdia, OLED MacBook Pros will no longer be burdened by the infamous notch, instead opting for a punch-hole camera setup. Now of course, as MacRumors points out, this could easily mean that Apple will use the pixels around the punch-hole to make it function something like the iPhone's dynamic island, which may not be welcomed by everyone.

Corsair, a leading global developer and manufacturer of high-performance gear and technology for gamers, content creators, and PC enthusiasts, today announced that the award-winning K65 PLUS WIRELESS keyboard and the M75 WIRELESS mouse will be available in exclusive Glacier Blue and Frost colors for the Mac. Whether playing games on a desktop or a laptop, users will enjoy unrivaled design, quality, and performance. Both products are available now at Apple Store Online. The Frost variant is also available at U.S. Apple Store locations, with Glacier Blue coming soon.

"We are thrilled to bring Corsair high-performance input devices in exclusive and fun new colors to Mac users," said Thi La, President and COO of Corsair. "Purpose-built for gaming and productivity on Mac, everyone from students, creators, businesses and more are going to love them. The K65 PLUS WIRELESS Keyboard and the M75 WIRELESS Mouse truly are the perfect blend of Apple aesthetics and performance."

Both pictures and videos of a partial teardown of Apple's recently launched Mac mini with the M4 SoC have appeared online courtesy of various Chinese sources. There are at least two interesting parts to these partial teardowns and they're related to storage and WiFi. On the storage front, Apple has moved away from having soldered NAND chips straight on the main PCB of the Mac mini, to instead having them on a custom PCB which is similar to M.2, but a custom Apple design. The PCB pictured contained a pair of 128 GB NAND chips and with the source of the teardown being from China, there's also a video showing a repair shop desoldering the two chips and replacing them with two 1 TB chips, or in other words, the SSD was upgraded from 256 GB to 2 TB.

The upgrade brought with it some extra performance as well, even if the write speed remained at a comparatively slow 2900 MB/s, the read speed went up from 2000 MB/s to 3300 MB/s which is a significant gain in performance. This is obviously not a consumer friendly upgrade path, but we'd expect to see third party upgrade options at some point in the future, assuming there's no black listing of third party storage modules. The NAND controller is still likely to be integrated into Apple's SoC, but the PCB that the NAND flash chips are mounted onto appears to have some kind of SPI flash on it as well, which might make third party upgrades a lot harder.

CD PROJEKT RED today announced Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will be arriving natively on Macs with Apple silicon, including the new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro, powered by the M4 family of chips. The game is optimized to take full advantage of Apple silicon and Metal to bring the immersive world of Night City - and the deadly district of Dogtown - to Mac gamers for the very first time.

The game will include advanced features like path tracing, frame generation, and built-in Spatial Audio for even more immersive gameplay and stunning visuals. Coming to Mac early next year, it will be available to purchase via both the Mac App Store and Steam, and existing Steam PC purchases will carry over to the Mac. More details and a release date for early next year will be announced at a later time.

Apple's M4-equipped MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24" iMac lineups are set to debut next week. The M4 family of desktop-class SoCs, which will soon be joined by the M4 Pro and M4 Max, is likely to bring substantial performance improvements to the aforementioned Mac models. If the recently leaked benchmarks are anything to go by, the M4-powered lineup appears poised to outperform Intel's "Lunar Lake" rather comfortably, while bringing the heat to AMD's "Strix Halo" as well as Intel's upcoming "Arrow Lake-H"-powered notebooks.

For those interested in the thin-and-light segment, the MacBook Air has always presented itself as a very decent option. According to recent reports by Mark Gurman, the M4-equipped MacBook Air is scheduled for launch sometime during January to March of 2025, with mass production set to start soon. The Mac Studio, which was supposedly slated to launch alongside the MacBook Air, is now delayed by a few months and will possibly see the light of day during the second quarter of 2025.

Apple's M4 is an impressively powerful SoC that made its debut in the OLED iPad Pro launched earlier this year. Despite being held back by a passively cooled system, the M4 performed rather well, punching well above its weight class in both CPU and GPU benchmarks. The potent SoC will soon make its debut on the 14" and 16" MacBook Pro lineup, which, along with a redesigned Mac Mini and a refreshed 24" iMac, is set to see the light of day by the 30th of this month according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Gurman expects the new Macs to be unveiled via a pre-recorded live stream with a press release following soon after. His sources indicate that Apple is planning a hands-on event with creators next Wednesday, similar to what we witnessed last year. If his previous prediction holds true, Apple will finally unveil the higher-end M4 Pro and M4 Max SoCs for the MacBook Pro lineup. The redesigned Mac Mini will likely boast the M4 and M4 Pro SoCs, along with a major redesign that will entirely eliminate USB-A ports, opting instead for a USB-C-only solution. The 24" iMac, however, will be refreshed with the standard M4 alone.

Even though the global economy shows signs of recovery, worldwide shipments of traditional PCs dipped 2.4% year-over-year (YoY) to 68.8 million units, during the third quarter of 2024 (3Q24), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Factors including rising costs and inventory replenishment led to a surge in shipments in the previous quarter, resulting in a slightly slower sales cycle.

"Demand, without a doubt, has returned for PCs amongst consumers and commercial buyers," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "However, much of the demand was still concentrated at the entry-level thanks to a recovering economy and the back-to-school season in North America. That said, newer AI PCs such as Copilot+ PCs from Qualcomm along with Intel and AMD's equivalent chips as well as Apple's expected M4-based Macs are expected to drive the premium segment in coming months."

A new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker shows shipments of personal computing devices are expected to grow 2.6% year over year in 2024 to 398.9 million units. The traditional PC market will remain flat in 2024 with 261 million units shipped while the tablet market is forecast to grow 7.2% year over year as a refresh cycle and project investments are expected to drive the market.

For traditional PCs, the global market excluding China is expected to grow 2.8% in 2024 as China continues to suffer through a confluence of macroeconomic challenges, including high youth employment, deflation, and a tumultuous real estate market. However, China's economic concerns have largely impacted just the PC market as tablet demand has proven to be more resilient thanks to Huawei's efforts.

Logitech announced the launch of MX Creative Console, a new product category that allows digital creators to focus on their artistry. With instant access to essential controls and ultimate customization, the MX Creative Console streamlines workflows and automates repetitive tasks.

"Digital creativity is undergoing a massive transformation, constantly evolving the way people create. The MX Creative Console is designed to help people redefine their workflow, enabling them to work smarter and faster," said Anatoliy Polyanker, general manager of the MX Business Unit at Logitech. "With the latest additions to the Logitech MX Ecosystem, the MX Creative Console and recently-announced MX Ink, we are tapping into the key trends of democratizing digital creation, 3D design and spatial computing, and AI-enabled workflows."

Magewell's USB Capture family has long been the gold standard for professional video capture devices, earning a reputation for being the easiest and most reliable way to bring video and audio signals into software for live streaming, video conferencing, medical imaging and more. Magewell has expanded the renowned product line with the unveiling of a new model that captures video sources up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second - the USB Capture HDMI 4K Pro. The new model will be demonstrated alongside other Magewell innovations in stand 7.A44 at the IBC2024 exhibition in Amsterdam from September 13 to 16.

Magewell's compact USB Capture devices enable computers including laptops to capture high-quality AV signals through a USB interface, with no additional power source required. The new USB Capture HDMI 4K Pro offers everything that users love about the existing USB Capture HDMI 4K Plus model, while leveraging 20 Gbps USB transfer performance on compatible host systems to enable the capture of 4K video at higher frame rates and color precision.

The demand for AI accelerators is going strong, and the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, has just confirmed that with its July 2024 revenue report. According to its latest July 2024 data, TSMC has reported a consolidated revenue of NT$256.95 billion, or about $7.94 billion at the time of writing. This represents a massive 23.6% jump from June 2024 and a 44.7% from July 2023, when revenue came in at NT$207.869 billion and NT$177.616 billion, respectively. For revenue throughout the year, measured from January to July, TSMC booked NT$1.523 trillion, or about $47 billion at the current rate. For this 7-month period, TSMC's revenue has increased by 30.5% Year-on-Year (YoY), showing great demand and an uptick in the company's production capabilities.

Of course, this is possible thanks to the massive demand driving AI chip sales from various startups and established giants like NVIDIA and AMD. Another vital customer for TSMC is Apple, which produces smartphone and Mac chips at Taiwanese facilities. The solid financial results from TSMC suggest that other fabless chip designers in its ecosystem may also experience positive outcomes in their earnings. It's worth noting that the semiconductor supply chain operates on a long-term planning basis, with arrangements made months in advance. As such, we can expect advanced silicon solutions to reach new customers in the coming months, further driving growth in the sector.

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2024 third quarter ended June 29, 2024. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.40, up 11 percent year over year. "Today Apple is reporting a new June quarter revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "During the quarter, we were excited to announce incredible updates to our software platforms at our Worldwide Developers Conference, including Apple Intelligence, a breakthrough personal intelligence system that puts powerful, private generative AI models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We very much look forward to sharing these tools with our users, and we continue to invest significantly in the innovations that will enrich our customers' lives, while leading with the values that drive our work."

"During the quarter, our record business performance generated EPS growth of 11 percent and nearly $29 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return over $32 billion to shareholders," said Luca Maestri, Apple's CFO. "We are also very pleased that our installed base of active devices reached a new all-time high in all geographic segments, thanks to very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty."

The PC market gathered momentum in Q2 2024, with worldwide shipments of desktops and notebooks up 3.4% year-on-year, reaching 62.8 million units. Shipments of notebooks (including mobile workstations) hit 50 million units, growing 4%. Desktops (including desktop workstations), which constitute 20% of the total PC market, experienced a slight 1% growth, totaling 12.8 million units. The stage is now set for accelerated growth as the refresh cycle driven by the Windows 11 transition and AI PC adoption ramps up over the next four quarters.

"The PC industry is going from strength to strength with a third consecutive quarter of growth," said Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst at Canalys. "The market turnaround is coinciding with exciting announcements from vendors and chipset manufacturers as their AI PC roadmaps transition from promise to reality. The quarter culminated with the launch of the first Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon processors and more clarity around Apple's AI strategy with the announcement of the Apple Intelligence suite of features for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Beyond these innovations, the market will start to benefit even more from its biggest tailwind - a ramp-up in PC demand driven by the Windows 11 refresh cycle. The vast majority of channel partners surveyed by Canalys in June indicated that Windows 10 end-of-life is likely to impact customer refresh plans most in either the second half of 2024 or the first half of 2025, suggesting that shipment growth will only gather steam in upcoming quarters."

Keychron prides itself in bringing the typing comfort and performance of gaming keyboards to the productivity and creator space. At the 2024 Computex, the company showed us their latest performance productivity keyboards. The first of these is the Q HE. This keyboard features magnetic switches for configurable actuation point; hot-swappable keyswitches and keycaps, a gasket mounting design for the switches; a CNC milled aluminium unibody, and 1000 Hz interface polling rate. This is a wireless keyboard, and features both 2.4 GHz RF (better latencies) and Bluetooth (more convenient). You can even plug it in and use it as a wired keyboard. The model shown is optimized for Macs, as you can tell from the Command keys, but there is a physical switch to enable a "Windows mode," which turns the Command keys to Win keys.

The Keychron B Pro series is a lightweight keyboard, with low-profile keys that use scissor-type mechanical keyswitches. The keyboard is barely half a centimeter thick, and since there's no lighting, the battery life is as high as 9 months. Interfaces include USB (type-C), 2.4 GHz RF, and Bluetooth. Just like the Q HE, this keyboard is Mac-friendly, and a switch lets you toggle between Mac and Windows modes.

Logitech today announced a new lineup of Logi for Mac products aimed at enhancing the experience for Mac users while enabling more sustainable lifestyles without compromise. Adding in the latest MX series and ergonomic innovations, the lineup includes MX Keys S for Mac, MX Keys S Combo for Mac, MX Anywhere 3S for Mac, MX Keys Mini for Mac (in Space Gray), and Ergo Series Wave Keys for Mac, a new ergo keyboard. These solutions are tailored to improve performance, productivity and comfort at the desk, catering to the diverse needs of users across macOS and iPadOS with dedicated macOS keyboard layouts and colors that complement the Apple ecosystem.

"Logitech is committed to delivering innovative, user-centric solutions that seamlessly integrate with the Apple ecosystem and are designed with sustainability in mind," said Delphine Donné, vice president and general manager of Personal Workspace Solutions at Logitech. "With a focus on optimizing workflow, productivity, and comfort, our Designed for Mac portfolio empowers Apple users to unleash their creative potential and enjoy day-long comfort at the desk without sacrificing Mac compatibility and look."