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.

A fresh report from the reliable publication "The Elec" has revealed that the OLED panel destined for the 2026 MacBook Pro is already in the prototyping stage at Samsung Displays. The report adds that the company expects to produce somewhere between three and five million OLED panels yearly, which can be expanded to up to 10 million if demand increases. The MacBook Pro lineup is also expected to boast 2 nm Apple M6-series SoCs in 2026, although details regarding the SoCs are unsurprisingly scarce as of this writing.

Interestingly, as we have already reported on before, the MacBook Air has once again been rumored to receive the OLED treatment no sooner than 2029. An upgraded LCD panel, however, is still on the cards for the entry-level laptop. The iPad Pro was updated with tandem OLED panels last year, although reports since have failed to indicate a substantial jump in demand. Whether the OLED MacBook lineup will meet a similar fate remains to be seen, although there is no denying that OLED panels will bring a plethora of improvements for MacBook Pro customers, especially those who happen to be creative pros.

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.

Apple is off to a great start in 2025, thanks to a record-breaking fourth quarter. Net revenue soared to a whopping $124.3 billion - the highest ever for the Cupertino giant - with iPhones driving 55.6% of revenue. Macs and iPads, as usual, appear to be a drop in the bucket compared to iPhones, with $8.98 and $8.088 billion in net sales respectively. Services witnessed commendable growth, adding $26.34 billion to Apple's pile.

Of course, this does not mean that the grass is all green for the company. Apple Intelligence witnessed a tumultuous launch, suffering from multiple setbacks and lukewarm reviews. Tim Cook does believe that there is still a lot of innovation on the table for the iPhone, which he revealed in a recent interview. Considering that the company is widely rumored to be preparing a major redesign for the iPhone, along with a brand-new Air/Slim variant, it does appear that this year will turn out to be quite an interesting one for iPhone enthusiasts.

MacBook Air aficionados, at least most of them, have been longing for an OLED-equipped variant for quite a while now. OLED displays, especially the tandem-style units that Apple ships with its iPad Pros, have undeniable advantages over tradition LCDs, such as a near-infinite contrast ratio, near-instant response times, and excellent color reproduction. The fear of panel burn-in does exist, although as OLED technology progresses, such fears continue to subside. That said, for those who are holding out for it, the grapevine indicates they will have to hold their horses for a while longer.

A recent report by The Elec has stated that the MacBook Air, which was previously expected to get the OLED treatment sometime in 2027, has now been delayed by another two years. As such, the MacBook Air is now not expected to boast an OLED display before 2029 at the earliest. The Elec claims that the primary cause behind the delay is the lackluster sales boost brought by the OLED upgrade to the iPad Pro lineup, which fell short of what Apple anticipated. That said, the MacBook Air will utilize "Oxide TFT" technology for its LCDs starting 2027, allowing for improved color accuracy, energy efficiency, and contrast. MacBook Pros have already utilized the technology since 2022, and are still expected to boast OLED panels by 2026.

Epomaker brought four of its latest gaming peripherals to the 2025 International CES. We begin our tour with the Epomaker Carbon 60, which as its name suggests, is a 60% format keyboard, with a carbon fiber pattern along its top and body. The keyboard offers three kinds of connectivity—USB, 2.4 GHz RF (1000 Hz polling rate), and Bluetooth 5.0. They included keycaps are PBT. The switches are hot-swappable, and you choose between Epomaker's in-house Mulan or Wisteria Linear switches. Completing its industrial look is yellow pull-tag.

Next up, is the Epomaker Luma84, a slick business-class keyboard which looks like it could go well with a Mac mini or similar-looking NUC. The keyboard features an 84% layout, and comes with low-profile white PBT keycaps. The keyboard comes with an aluminium top and backplate, with a similar curved-edge to a MacBook Pro. Much like the Carbon 60, the Luma84 comes with three kinds of connectivity.

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.

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.

Folks who admire their MacBook Pros can be divided into two broad categories that cannot see eye to eye - those who hate the touch bar, and those who think it did no harm. Either way, Apple felt it was best to send it the way of 3D Touch, after facing constant criticism over its lack of reliability.

To be fair, the touch bar was never a bad idea. It was entirely Apple's implementation and lack of usability updates that made it a chore to use. However, there remain people who miss its presence, as it was somewhat useful when scrubbing through videos or throwing in emojis every now and then. For such people, ENIAC technology has started a kickstarter campaign that promises to bring back the utility - and woes - of the infamous touch bar.

AMD Ryzen AI MAX 300-series processors, codenamed "Strix Halo," have been on in the news for close to a year now. These mobile processors combine "Zen 5" CPU cores with an oversized iGPU that offers performance rivaling discrete GPUs, with the idea behind these chips being to rival the Apple M3 Pro and M3 Max processors powering MacBook Pros. The "Strix Halo" mobile processor is an MCM that combines one or two "Zen 5" CCDs (some ones featured on "Granite Ridge" desktop processors and "Turin" server processors), with a large SoC die. This die is built either on the 5 nm (TSMC N5) or 4 nm (TSMC N4P) node. It packs a large iGPU based on the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, with 40 compute units (CU), and a 50 TOPS-class XDNA 2 NPU carried over from "Strix Point." The memory interface is a 256-bit wide LPDDR5X-8000 for sufficient memory bandwidth for the up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores, the 50 TOPS NPU, and the large 40 CU iGPU.

Golden Pig Upgrade leaked what looks like a company slide from a notebook OEM, which reveals the iGPU model names for the various Ryzen AI MAX 300-series SKUs. Leading the pack is the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395. This is a maxed out SKU with a 16-core/32-thread "Zen 5" CPU that uses two CCDs. All 16 cores are full-sized "Zen 5." The CPU has 64 MB of L3 cache (32 MB per CCD), each of the 16 cores has 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache. The iGPU is branded Radeon 8060S, it comes with all 40 CU (2,560 stream processors) enabled, besides 80 AI accelerators, and 40 Ray accelerators. The Ryzen AI MAX 390 is the next processor SKU, it comes with a 12-core/24-thread "Zen 5" CPU. Like the 395, the 390 is a dual-CCD processor, all 12 cores are full-sized "Zen 5." There's 64 MB of L3 cache, and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The Radeon 8060S graphics solution is the same as the one on the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395, it comes with all 40 CU enabled.

Early benchmark results have revealed Apple's newest M4 Max processor as a serious competitor to Arm-based CPUs from Qualcomm and even the best of x86 from Intel and AMD. Recent Geekbench 6 tests conducted on the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro showcase considerable improvements over both its predecessor and rival chips from major competitors. The M4 Max achieved an impressive single-core score of 4,060 points and a multicore score of 26,675 points, marking significant advancements in processing capability. These results represent approximately 30% and 27% improvements in single-core and multicore performance, respectively, compared to the previous M3 Max. This is also much higher than something like Snapdragon X Elite, which tops out at twelve cores per SoC. When measured against x86 competitors, the M4 Max also demonstrates substantial advantages.

The chip outperforms Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K by 19% in single-core and 16% in multicore tests, surpassing AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X by 18% in single-core and 25% in multicore performance. Notably, these achievements come with significantly lower power consumption than traditional x86 processors. The flagship system-on-chip features a sophisticated 16-core CPU configuration, combining twelve performance and four efficiency cores. Additionally, it integrates 40 GPU cores and supports up to 128 GB of unified memory, shared between CPU and GPU operations. The new MacBook Pro line also introduces Thunderbolt 5 compatibility, enabling data transfer speeds up to 120 Gb/s. While the M4 Max presents an impressive response to the current market, we have yet to see its capabilities in real-world benchmarks, as these types of synthetic runs are only a part of the performance story that Apple has prepared. We need to see productivity, content creation, and even gaming benchmarks to fully crown it the king of performance. Below is a table comparing Geekbench v6 scores, courtesy of Tom's Hardware, and a random Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-00-1DE) run in top configuration.

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 today unveiled the new MacBook Pro, powered by the M4 family of chips—M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max—delivering much faster performance and enhanced capabilities. The new MacBook Pro is built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves, while protecting their privacy. Now available in space black and silver finishes, the 14-inch MacBook Pro includes the blazing-fast performance of M4 and three Thunderbolt 4 ports, starting with 16 GB of memory, all at just $1,599. The 14- and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M4 Max offer Thunderbolt 5 for faster transfer speeds and advanced connectivity. All models include a Liquid Retina XDR display that gets even better with an all-new nano-texture display option and up to 1000 nits of brightness for SDR content, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, along with up to 24 hours of battery life, the longest ever in a Mac. The new MacBook Pro is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning November 8.

Apple today announced M4 Pro and M4 Max, two new chips that—along with M4—bring far more power-efficient performance and advanced capabilities to the Mac. All three chips are built using industry-leading, second-generation 3-nanometer technology, which improves performance and power efficiency. The CPUs across the M4 family feature the world's fastest CPU core, delivering the industry's best single-threaded performance, and dramatically faster multithreaded performance. The GPUs build on the breakthrough graphics architecture introduced in the previous generation, with faster cores and a 2x faster ray- racing engine. M4 Pro and M4 Max enable Thunderbolt 5 for the Mac for the first time, and unified memory bandwidth is greatly increased—up to 75 percent. Combined with a Neural Engine that's up to 2x faster than the previous generation and enhanced machine learning (ML) accelerators in the CPUs, the M4 family of chips brings incredible performance for pro and AI workloads. And they deliver blazing performance for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves, while protecting their privacy.

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.

UGREEN has recently unveiled its latest innovation in fast-charging technology: the UGREEN Uno Charger 100 W USB C Charger. Designed for gamers and tech enthusiasts alike, this compact, four-port charger ensures that gaming never has to stop, offering rapid power delivery to handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally, alongside other devices. The flagship UGREEN Uno Charger 100 W is available to buy for $59.99 from Amazon with UK availability expected shortly on Amazon UK.

The UGREEN Uno Charger stands out with its 100 W fast charging capability, allowing users to charge a MacBook Pro 16-inch to 43% in just 30 minutes, making it equally powerful for gaming consoles and everyday tech. Equipped with three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, the charger can fast-charge up to four devices simultaneously—perfect for those juggling multiple gadgets during extended gaming marathons.

BenQ, the global innovator of visual display technology and digital lifestyle devices, today announced the launch of the MA Series, the industry's first monitors specially designed for MacBook users. With a sleek style that perfectly complements MacBooks, the MA series sets a new standard for external macOS monitors by providing perfect color consistency and seamless integration with Mac devices.

"Most external monitors struggle to replicate the exact colors displayed by MacBooks," said Peter Huang, CEO of BenQ Corporation. "MA Series debuts our proprietary Mac color-tuning technology, ensuring MA Series monitors provide consistent, true-to-life Mac colors that perfectly match those of your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro."

According to Geekerwan, Apple's latest M4 silicon has achieved a remarkable milestone by using liquid nitrogen to chill Apple's M4 iPad Pro. This unconventional approach unlocked great single-core performance, surpassing even the M3 Max and M2 Ultra processors in Geekbench v6 benchmark tests. The setup involved cooling the M4 iPad Pro, equipped with a 3+6 core configuration, using a Kingpin Cooling T-Rex Rev 4 CPU LN2 pot filled with liquid nitrogen. This extreme cooling allowed the M4 processor to operate at an astonishing 4.41 GHz during the benchmark run, resulting in a staggering single-core score of 4,001 points. This score represents a 28% increase over the M3 Max found in the 16-inch MacBook Pro and an impressive 44% improvement over the M2 Ultra powering the Mac Studio.

Notably, the M4's single-core performance is capable of reaching scores in the 3,000s. With liquid nitrogen cooling, it suprases the 4,000-point mark, making this achievement all the more remarkable. While the M4's multi-core performance did not match the lofty expectations set by its single-core power, it still managed to achieve a score of 13,595 points, outperforming both the M3 Max and M2 Ultra, which scored 20,957 and 21,330 points, respectively. This was done on the 3+6 core configuration with three P-cores and six E-cores, which is not the top-end M4 configuration. This shows that with adequate cooling, like MacBooks, the upcoming M4 Pro and M4 Max chips could achieve much higher performance than their predecessors.

Yesterday, Apple launched its next-generation M4 chip based on Apple Silicon custom design. The processor is a fourth-generation design that brings AI capabilities and improved CPU performance. First debuting in an iPad Pro, the CPU has been benchmarked in Geekbench v6. And results seem to be very promising. The latest M4 chip managed to score 3,767 points in single-core tests and 14,677 points in multi-core tests. Compared to the M3 chip, which scores 3,087 points in single-core and 11,702 in multi-core tests, the M4 chip is about 22% faster in single-core and 25% faster in multi-core synthetic benchmarks.

Of course, these results are not real-world use cases, but they give us a hint of what the Apple Silicon design team has been working on. For real-world results, we have to wait a little longer to see reviews and results from devices such as MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, which should have better cooling and possibly better clocks for the chip.

BenQ, a global leader in display technology, announced today the launch of its newest professional monitor, the PD3225U. Featuring IPS Black for 2000:1 contrast ratio, Color Match with Mac devices through M-book mode, and iKeyboard Control, the PD3225U is the perfect creative complement for Mac users in need of color accuracy and enhanced connectivity.

Through IPS Black technology, the PD3225U expresses 35 percent deeper blacks than a conventional IPS monitor by minimizing light leakage, changing and improving liquid crystal array, so colors are more vibrant than ever before. The new design monitor also offers Color Match for Mac devices with its M-book Mode and 98% Display P3 color space, as well as certifications such as Calman Verified, Pantone Validation, and Pantone SkinTone Validation. For corner-to-corner authentic color and consistent luminance, the PD3225U leverages BenQ's exclusive Uniformity Technology. In addition, the monitor incorporates BenQ's exclusive Display ColorTalk software, which effortlessly matches colors between the monitor and MacBook Pro without needing a calibrator.

Apple today announced a new MacBook Pro lineup featuring the all-new family of M3 chips: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. With a next-generation GPU architecture and a faster CPU, the M3 family brings even more performance and remarkable new capabilities to MacBook Pro. The new 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 is not only great for everyday tasks, but also delivers phenomenal sustained performance in pro apps and games. Perfect for aspiring creatives, students, and entrepreneurs, it now starts at $1,599. The 14 and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro provides even greater performance and additional unified memory support, enabling more demanding workflows for users like coders, creatives, and researchers. The 14 and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max delivers performance and capabilities that push the limits of computing. With a monster GPU and a powerful CPU, along with support for up to 128 GB of unified memory, MacBook Pro with M3 Max enables extreme workflows and multitasking across pro apps for users like machine learning programmers, 3D artists, and video editors. M3 Pro and M3 Max models also now come in space black, a gorgeous dark aluminium finish.

All MacBook Pro models feature a brilliant Liquid Retina XDR display with 20 percent brighter SDR content, a built-in 1080p camera, an immersive six-speaker sound system, and a wide array of connectivity options. With up to 22 hours of battery life, the lineup offers the ultimate in pro portability, delivering the same performance whether plugged in or on battery, so users can take their workflows anywhere. Customers can order the new MacBook Pro starting today, with availability beginning November 7.

Belkin, a leading consumer electronics brand for 40 years, today announced 8 new products across its power, audio and connectivity categories, underscoring Belkin innovation, quality and its commitment to building products more responsibly. Belkin International can be found on the IFA show floor, Exhibit Hall 3.2, booth #119.

Wireless Charging

BoostCharge Pro Universal Easy Align Wireless Charging Pad 15 W
Delivers a fast and seamless charge for Qi-enabled devices at up to 15 W. The large charging surface provides easy alignment, and its non-slip grip material keeps it in place if jostled or vibrates from an incoming call. It's designed with two separate thermal protection systems to control temperatures and prevent overheating of the charger and connected devices.

Samsung Electronics has announced that its sub-division, Samsung Display, is planning to invest $3.1 billion until 2026 in Asan, South Korea to manufacture advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panels. The country's ministry stated that Samsung's next generation of OLED display panels will be integrated into tablets and laptops. There are already rumors swirling that Apple has contracted with Samsung Display to produce parts for a refresh of the MacBook Pro range that is set to debut at some point before 2026.

Industry insiders are claiming that the substantial investment into the company's Asan, South Chungcheong factory will help fulfil orders placed by Apple for iPad and MacBook OLED displays - the North American company has not officially confirmed an adoption of that type of screen technology for these product ranges. Samsung is likely trying to secure a long term relationship with the Silicon Valley behemoth, and at the same time outmaneuver its competitors in South Korea as well as those in neighboring nations. It has been reported that domestic rival LG is currently unable to take on new orders, as its display factories are functioning at maximum production capacities.

Kensington, a worldwide leader of desktop computing and mobility solutions for IT, business, and home office professionals, today announced the expansion of its robust portfolio of data protection solutions with the launch of three new privacy screens. The SA270 Privacy Screen for Studio Display (K50740WW), SA240 Privacy Screen for iMac 24" (K55170WW), and MagPro Elite Magnetic Privacy Screen for MacBook Air 2022 (K58374WW), expand Kensington's extensive portfolio of privacy screens that enable businesses to reduce the potential loss of confidential and sensitive data through visual hacking from laptops and computer screens.

Hybrid and remote working policies have expanded the workplace from single, easy-to-secure office environments, to virtually any location, such as homes, coffee shops, and public transportation, where information displayed on a laptop or mobile device can be seen or photographed by anybody in the vicinity. According to the findings of a visual hacking experiment conducted by the Ponemon Institute in 2016, confidential data was accessed in more than 90% of cases where a screen was exposed. The experiment also found that in half of those incidents, it only took 15 minutes to harvest sensitive data, and half of the incidents resulted from the lack of screen protection.