O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Apple

  • macOS Tahoe 26.4 beta 4, iOS 26.4 beta 4, and iPadOS 26.4 beta 4 distributions highlight nine upcoming emoji characters

    macOS Tahoe 26.4 beta 4, iOS 26.4 beta 4, and iPadOS 26.4 beta 4 distributions highlight nine upcoming emoji characters

    You may love or hate emoji, but they’re here to stay and more are coming with each software update of any operating system.

    According to MacRumors, the fourth iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, and macOS Tahoe 26.4 betas released to developers today introduce nine new emoji characters:

    • Trombone
    • Treasure Chest
    • Distorted Face
    • Hairy Creature (aka Bigfoot or Sasquatch)
    • Fight Cloud
    • Orca
    • Landslide

    The updates also include new skin tone modifiers people wrestling and dancers with bunny ears, as well as a gender neutral option for the ballet dancer emoji.

    The emojis are part of the Unicode 17 update that the Unicode Consortium debuted in fall 2025. Apple generally takes several months to implement the new characters given that art needs to be drawn for each one.

    Apple last added new emoji characters in iOS 18.4, introducing bags under eyes face, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, and splatter.

    iOS 27, which is expected to debut next year, is expected to get a squinting face emoji, a monarch butterfly, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a meteor, an eraser, and a net with a handle.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors

  • Rumor: Apple developing “MacBook Ultra” notebook with OLED display and touchscreen to be released this year

    Rumor: Apple developing “MacBook Ultra” notebook with OLED display and touchscreen to be released this year

    If you’re hankering for the highest-end MacBook Pro, it may be en route.

    Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and MacRumors, Apple is planning to launch a “MacBook Ultra” model this year that will feature an OLED display, touchscreen, and a higher price point.

    Gurman revealed the potential for this new notebook in his latest “Power On” newsletter, citing the potential for an M6 processor, OLED display, touchscreen functionality, and a thinner design that could be released in the fourth quarter of 2026 as a MacBook as opposed to a MacBook Pro.

    Instead of succeeding the newly announced M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, the “MacBook Ultra” will be a new, top-tier Apple laptop. Gurman added that the device is likely to sit above the current M5 MacBook Pros, rather than replace them, suggesting that they will remain on sale.

    Gurman also noted that the machine, given its OLED display, could command a higher price point, which may see as much as a 20 percent increase (as was seen when Apple brought OLED displays to the iPhone X in 2017 and the iPad Pro in 2024). Should the rumor prove true, it would mark the first time an OLED display was found on a MacBook.

    Gurman also noted that this would fit into a broader trend at Apple, wherein the company is seeking to offer more models at different price points. To this end, the MacBook Neo has debuted at an unprecedented $599 price point to rival low-cost Windows and Chromebook devices. The same is occurring at the high-end, with more premium options available than ever before.

    Apple is also thought to be developing its first foldable iPhone, which could be available around a $2,000 price point, and feature a large inner display and under-display sensors, while also offering new AirPods priced above the current AirPods Pro at the top of the lineup with computer-vision cameras to feed Visual Intelligence data to Siri. Gurman even suggested that these products may be called the “iPhone Ultra” and “AirPods Ultra.”

    It’s unknown if the name “MacBook Ultra” is certain, and Gurman has apparently avoided calling it the MacBook Pro, instead dubbing it “the touch-screen and OLED high-end MacBook.”

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and Bloomberg

  • Apple announces updated Studio Display, Studio Display XDR monitors

    Apple announces updated Studio Display, Studio Display XDR monitors

    If you’ve been hankering for Apple’s updated Studio Display monitors, they’re about here.

    Apple has announced the next-gen Studio Display XDR, which features a 27-inch 5K Retina XDR display with 5120-by-2880 resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and more.

    Here are the specs of the Studio Display XDR:

    • 27-inch (diagonal) 5K Retina XDR display
    • 5120-by-2880 resolution at 218 pixels per inch
    • Mini-LED backlight with 2304 dimming zones
    • Up to 1000 nits brightness (SDR)
    • 2000 nits pea brightness (HDR)
    • 120Hz refresh rate and Adaptive Sync
    • Support for 1 billion colors
    • P3 + Adobe RGB wide color gamuts
    • True Tone technology

    The Studio Display XDR has a 12MP Center Stage camera and supports Desk View. This is accompanied by a six-speaker system with Spatial Audio support and a three-mic array for “studio-quality” recording.

    The display also offers the following ports:

    • One upstream Thunderbolt 5 port for host (with 140W host charging)
    • One downstream Thunderbolt 5 port for connecting high-speed accessories or daisy-chaining additional displays
    • Two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s)

    The overall design of the Studio Display XDR is basically identical to the standard Studio Display. For instance, it does not carry over the iconic lattice pattern from the Pro Display XDR.

    The new Studio Display with a tilt-adjutable stand starts at $1,500, while the Studio Display XDR with a tilt and height-adjustable stand starts at $3,299. Both units are available in standard or nano-texture glass options, and have been available for pre-order since Wednesday. The units will be available for retial purchase on Wednesday, March 11.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and Apple

  • Apple announces M5 MacBook Air, cites 512GB SSD storage for the base model

    Apple announces M5 MacBook Air, cites 512GB SSD storage for the base model

    If you’ve loved the MacBook Air since it first debuted in 2008, you’re going to like this.

    Per MacRumors, Apple on Tuesday announced its refreshed MacBook Air models, the new units boasting the M5 chip and a higher SSD storage capacity.

    The M5 chip in the ‌MacBook Air‌ features a 10-core CPU, with what Apple calls the world’s fastest CPU cores. It offers configurations with up to 10 GPU cores with Neural Accelerators in each core, delivering up to 4x faster performance for AI tasks than the ‌MacBook Air‌ with the M4 chip.

    Apple has also stated that the M5 features enhanced shader cores and a third-generation ray-tracing engine, along with a faster unified memory system that offers 153GB/s of bandwidth, thereby offering a 28 percent improvement over the M4 chip.

    The updated notebook also ships with Apple’s customer N1 wireless chip, which supports both the Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 protocols. The M5 MacBook Air now starts at 512GB of storage and continues to be configurable up to 4TB. The SSD also has 2x faster read and write performance compared to the previous generation.

    The M5 MacBook Air was made available for pre-order on Wednesday, March 4, and will be available for retail sale on Wednesday, March 11. The notebook starts at $1,099, $100 more than the previous generation.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and Apple

  • Apple announces MacBook Neo notebook, offers $599 price point for entry-level model

    Apple announces MacBook Neo notebook, offers $599 price point for entry-level model

    The low-cost MacBook you’ve been waiting for has arrived.

    Following months of rumors and speculation, Apple on Wednesday announced the MacBook Neo, a new notebook featuring the A18 Pro chip with a retail price starting at $599.

    The notebook is the first Mac to be powered by an iPhone chip, the A18 having debuted in 2024’s iPhone 16 Pro models. Apple has stated that the chip is up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks than the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5, up to 3x faster for on-device AI workloads, and up to 2x faster for tasks like photo editing.

    Where specs are concerned, the MacBook Neo boasts a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2408-by-1506 resolution, 500 nits of brightness, and an anti-reflective coating. The display itself lacks a notch, and instead features uniform, iPad-style bezels.

    The MacBook Neo is available in Silver, Indigo, Blush, and Citrus color options, with the colored finishes extending to the Magic Keyboard in lighter shades and come with matching wallpapers. The notebook itself weighs 2.7 pounds, and features two USB-C porrts (one being a USB-C 2 port with support for speeds up to 480 Mb/s and one is a USB-C 3 port with support for speeds up to 10 Gb/s), along with a headphone jack.

    The MacBook Neo also offers a 16-hour battery life, 8GB of unified memory, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, a 1080p front-facing camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and dual side-firing speakers with Spatial Audio.

    The retail price starts at $599 for the entry-level MacBook, which offers 256GB of storage along with the Magic Keyboard or $699 for the 512GB model, which arrives with the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. Education customers can purchase the notebook at a $499 price point.

    Apple also pointed out that the MacBook Neo is Apple’s lowest-carbon Mac, and that it’s composed from 60 percent recycled materials. These materials include 90 percent recycled aluminum and 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery.

    The MacBook Neo is available to pre-order starting today, with availability beginning on Wednesday, March 11.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and Apple