This week, Apple released its first new hardware product of 2026, the second-generation model of the AirTag. The original AirTag was released almost five years ago. The new model looks virtually identical—so it fits in all of the numerous AirTag cases that are currently on the market—but improvements to Bluetooth and an improved Ultra Wideband chip mean that you can find a lost item from even farther away and locate it with more precise arrows showing you where to go to find it. The speaker is also 50% louder, which also makes it easier to find a lost item. The price is the same as before ($29 for one, $99 for four), although I see that Costco will currently sell you five for $99.99, which is an excellent deal. I ordered a set from Apple and received mine last night. I’ll have more to say about them after I have put them through their paces, but so far, so good, and it is nice to start to see new Apple products for 2026. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Yesterday, Apple confirmed to Stephen Nellis of Reuters that it purchased an Israeli company called Q.ai. This startup was working on artificial intelligence technology for audio that would let a device understand audio even when something is said very quietly in a whisper, even when in a noisy environment. Nellis reports that this technology doesn’t rely solely on sound; Q.ai also has a patent for monitoring subtle facial movements to detect spoken words—it sounds to me like reading lips—and for monitoring heart rate and respiration.. The CEO of Q.ai sold another company to Apple in 2013 called PrimeSense, and Apple used that technology to introduce Face ID in 2017.
- Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac notes that the Q.ai acquisition reportedly cost Apple $2 billion, which makes it the biggest acquisition in the history of Apple except for the $3 billion acquisition of Beats in 2014. Christoffel says that he hopes that Apple uses this technology to let you speak to an AI, such as a future version of Siri, in a very low voice so that you are not obnoxious to the people around you.
- With this acquisition and the recent announcement that Apple is using Google’s Gemini AI technology, it seems obvious that Apple has plans to do something big with AI. In an article for Six Colors and Macworld, Jason Snell notes that Apple has traditionally been a company that excels at taking complicated technology and making it simple and accessible, and he hopes that Apple does the same for AI. I couldn’t agree with this more. I want Apple to deliver AI to me in a way that is useful and compelling, not just impressive from a technology standpoint.
- Hartley Charlton of MacRumors notes the differences between the first-generation AirTag and the new second-generation AirTag.
- If you lose an AirTag and make it play a sound to locate it, the original AirTag played an F note. Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac notes that the new version plays a G note, and you can hear the difference thanks to a video embedded in his post.
- Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reviews the new AirTag.
- Apple’s press release announcing the new AirTag notes that over 50 airlines can now use the Share Item Location feature to locate a lost bag that has an AirTag. It also says that this feature has “reduced baggage delays by 26 percent and reduced incidences of ‘truly lost’ or unrecoverable luggage by 90 percent.”
- To support the new AirTag, this week Apple released iOS 26.2.1 and iPadOS 26.2.1, as noted by Juli Clover of MacRumors.
- This week, Apple debuted the Apple Creator Studio. Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote an excellent, in-depth article to describe what is new. Note that when you sign up for Apple Creator Studio for either $13/month or $129/year, Apple gives you the first three months for free, and you can cancel before you are charged anything. So it is easy for everyone to decide if this bundle makes sense for you.
- With the Apple Creator Studio, you can use a new app on the iPad: Pixelmator Pro. Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac describes what this app can do. So far, I’ve only spent a few minutes with this app, but I like what I see.
- Chance Miller of 9to5Mac provides an overview of, and links to, many other reviews of Apple Creator Studio.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball shares Apple’s list of the top 20 free iPhone apps and top 20 paid iPhone apps of 2025.
- In an article in The Times, Stephen Pollard describes how his Apple Watch saved his life. It did so in a way that I haven’t heard of before: it warned him about his heart rate rising to dangerous levels as a result of a bad interaction between drugs that he was taking. It is a well-written and compelling article, and I encourage you to read it.
- Marko Zivkovic of AppleInsider reports on a new study confirming that an Apple Watch improves the detection of atrial fibrillation.
- M.G. Siegler of Spyglass writes about how bad it looked for Apple CEO Tim Cook to travel to the White House to attend a screening of the documentary movie about Melania Trump on the same day that an ICE agent killed the ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Presumably, Cook realizes that President Trump is vindictive and will punish Apple—and, by extension, its shareholders and the users of its products—if Cook doesn’t show up for things like this. Indeed, Nicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes of the New York Times explain why the movie itself was essentially a bribe paid by Amazon to Trump. I understand the argument that this is all a necessary evil, and of course, each of us needs to find a way to get through the next three years, but that doesn’t make the situation any less frustrating. For what it is worth, Siegler notes in an addendum to his article that Cook subsequently wrote a memo to Apple employees to note that Cook tried to use the occasion to have a “good conversation with the president.”
- There is a new Immersive Video from Apple available today for the Apple Vision Pro: Top Dogs. In this two-part video (15 minutes each), you “can get up close with cute, fiercely competitive canine stars (and their humans) as they face off at Crufts, the world’s biggest dog show.” Jason Snell of Six Colors got a sneak peek earlier this week, and he says that while some parts of it are great, the director also made some use of immersive video that Jason disagrees with, such as “distracting quick cuts” and “some vertigo-generating dramatic camera moves.” This is a brand new type of video, and people are just starting to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for immersive 3D movies.
- The popular show Shrinking returned to Apple TV this week, and Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac says that the reviews of Season 3 say that it is excellent.
- February starts in a few days. In another article for 9to5Mac, Christoffel notes what is coming to Apple TV next month, including the movie Eternity, Season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me, and Season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
- And finally, here is a short video from Apple promoting the new Apple Creator Studio: