We are starting to learn more about the hardware Apple is likely to announce this fall. First, the new iPhone will be more expensive. Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal’s Rolfe Winkler that surging costs of computer memory and storage chips will force Apple to raise prices. How much? Apple hasn’t revealed that yet, but Nicole Nguyen and Rolfe Winkler crunched some numbers, and they believe that Apple will increase the cost of iPhone models by $200. John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that this is the first time that Apple has ever issued a warning about price increases. Second, new tools released by Apple are further evidence that it will soon release a foldable iPhone and a Mac with a touchscreen, as noted by Malcolm Owen of AppleInsider, who shares reporting from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg. Between operating system updates and new hardware, it looks like there will be a lot going on in just a few months. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- The title of this article from David Sparks of MacSparky says it all: The new Siri doesn’t suck.
- Harry McCracken of Fast Company seems to agree, noting that Siri AI is a big step forward.
- Stephen Robles agrees as well, showing off the new Siri AI in a video on his YouTube channel.
- Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac says that thanks to the AI improvements, the Image Playground app in iOS 27 is actually useful.
- Anurag Chawake of Cult of Mac says that the search function in Apple’s Mail app works much better in iOS 27. Amen!
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors notes the new features coming to Find My this fall, including a new Hide Location option that will discreetly pause your location sharing with specific people for the day. Apple suggests that this new feature could be used to avoid spoiling surprise birthday parties.
- Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac describes the new features for Apple Photos in iOS 27.
- Christoffel also notes the new features of the Apple One subscription in iOS 27.
- Juli Clover of MacRumors notes the new features for the Apple Watch coming in watchOS 27. Her post includes a video from Dan Barbera that shows off the beta version.
- It isn’t available in the beta yet, but Zac Hall of 9to5Mac predicts that Siri AI will be one of the biggest new features in watchOS 27 because it will turn the Apple Watch into an AI wearable device.
- In a similar article, Clover describes the new features coming in iPadOS 27.
- Adam Engst of TidBITS notes all of the tiny details that Apple revealed—very quickly—during the WWDC keynote.
- If you have ever felt carsick while looking at an iPhone or iPad in a moving car, there is a solution. Thomas Ricker of The Verge notes that you can turn on Vehicle Motion Cues, a feature added by Apple in 2024, to put tiny dots on your screen. Ricker says that they really work.
- Last week, I began this Friday post talking about the Apple Vision Pro. Here are two new interesting uses for that device. First, I want to highlight a great comment on last week’s post from Jan that links to a video from Disney that shows off how it is designing the next version of the Soarin ride at EPCOT. Around the 9:30 mark, you can see one of the engineers using a Vision Pro—not to visualize the ride, but instead to access multiple virtual windows so that she can adjust things without carrying heavy monitors on the ride. Thanks, Jan, for the cool link.
- Second, here is an interesting video from a software company in Brazil, R2U | Realidade Aumentada, which uses Vision Pros to help real estate customers visualize apartments under construction.
- The first season of Window’s Bay on Apple TV wrapped up this week, and it was fantastic. The show is funny, quirky, scary, and incredibly well-acted. After you have watched the final episode, I recommend this article by Alison Herman of Variety, in which she interviews star Matthew Rhys.
- Also, Andrew Orr of AppleInsider notes that Apple released a Widow’s Bay playlist on Apple Music. It is called Patricia’s Sunset Cocktails Playlist—which is a reference to Episode 4—and it includes a stunning 811 songs with a total runtime of 60 hours and 32 minutes.
- And finally, in a new video from Joanna Stern called The New Siri is Actually Good, Stern does a fantastic job of showing how Siri AI works, what it does well, what Apple won’t let it do (like diagnose medical issues or have romantic conversations with you), and why it is such a major improvement.