Top Stories: Apple's 50th Anniversary, New and Upcoming Products, and More

[MacRumors]

After Apple's big week of announcements, this week saw all of the new products officially become available, so reviewers and general users alike are now getting their hands on them and putting them through their paces.

Apple also started ramping up plans for celebrating the company's 50th anniversary coming up on April 1, with Tim Cook sharing a letter addressing the milestone and the company even hosting a brief musical appearance by Alicia Keys at its Grand Central Terminal store in New York City, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!

Top Stories

Apple Announces 50th Anniversary Plans

Apple this week announced that it plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary, which is on April 1. Ahead of the big date, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a "50 Years of Thinking Different" letter.

"While Apple is known for looking forward, this milestone offers a special moment to reflect on the journey that has brought the company here, to celebrate the people and communities who have thought different with us, and to honor the enduring values that continue to guide our work," said Apple, in a press release.

Apple has also launched a new "Hello Apple" account on Instagram where it will share company news, stories, product marketing, and more, while journalist David Pogue has just released a new book chronicling the history of Apple over its first 50 years. And on Friday, Apple hosted a surprise musical appearance by Alicia Keys at its Grand Central Terminal store as part of the anniversary celebration.

Apple Released Seven New Products This Week

As of Wednesday, the seven new Apple products that were announced last week became available at Apple Stores and started arriving to customers.

The colorful MacBook Neo and all of the other new products are on display at most Apple Store locations around the world. Apple Stores have inventory of the new products for both walk-in customers and Apple Store pickup, but availability varies, so make sure to see if your local store has stock via Apple's online store.

Apple Could Launch Three New 'Ultra' Devices This Year

Apple is planning to launch at least three new "Ultra"-class devices this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

While it is unclear whether the new products will carry the "Ultra" name, Apple is planning to launch at least three such devices this year: Apple's first foldable iPhone with an expected price tag of at least $2,000, higher-end AirPods Pro equipped with infrared cameras, and a premium MacBook Pro with touchscreen OLED display that may sit above the current MacBook Pro models in the lineup.

Everything New in iOS 26.4 Beta 4

Apple is continuing to test the iOS 26.4 beta, and the latest update became available for developers and public beta testers earlier this week.

As testing goes on, there are fewer new features in each beta, but this week’s release adds new emoji characters and support for the new iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air, and makes a few other changes.

Apple 'HomePad' to Offer Magnetic Snap-to-Wall Feature and More

Apple's upcoming "HomePad" will offer a magnetic snap-to-wall feature and more, according to the leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami."

In a post on X this week, Kosutami said that one of the HomePad prototypes features a MagSafe-like snap-to-wall capability, along with doorbell integration. It is said to be heavily reliant on Apple Intelligence.

With Apple's ongoing delays for the enhanced Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, it appears the HomePad may not launch until this fall. Updated Apple TV and HomePod models may also be waiting for the upgraded Siri.

iPhone Fold to Feature iPad-Style Multitasking and Layouts

While Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone will run iOS and not iPadOS, it will function as more of a hybrid device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

The iPhone Fold will reportedly be able to run two iPhone apps side by side on the large internal display, which will be roughly the size of an iPad mini display. Apple is also revamping its apps to support sidebars for this mode, and third-party developers will be able to adapt their apps to use them as well. The iPhone Fold will, however, lack the more extensive multitasking capabilities of iPadOS and will not be able to directly run iPad-optimized apps.

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Article Link: Top Stories: Apple's 50th Anniversary, New and Upcoming Products, and More

 

[I7guy]

Apple certainly has been on a roll. And in a good way.

 

[vegetassj4]

Can't wait for the Toppest Story: Tim Cook retirement date

:ducks cabbages and rotten tomatoes:

 

[GM-1]

New XDR studio has hardware issues. Right side of the screen starts to flicker and Mac crashes. This happens after a couple of hours of use.

 

[switz]

Wheeeee! Quality Control to the rescue??????

Oh, I forgot, perhaps QC was on vacation that week when the design was finalized?

At least my new Neo purchased at the opening bell on 11 March still seems to be working okay......

 

[I7guy]

Can't wait for the Toppest Story: Tim Cook retirement date

View attachment 2613373

:ducks cabbages and rotten tomatoes:

Like death and taxes, it will come.

 

[JoeG4]

Where's my 50th anniversary mac?!

 

[zoozx]

Hey Siri, why is Tahoe so awful , Safari so slow and buggy and prices so Hi.
Siri: Kentucky fried chicken is 2 miles to the west and tim cook.
Spinning rainbow wheel........

 

[AntonioTc]

I am still waiting for the new 2026 Apple TV 4k, in that case my tv box will have better chip than my iPhone. And I somehow want it happened so hard. Just like my iPad pro equipped with badass M series chip but only for Youtube, the new TV would probably also just be for YouTube.

 

[GermanSuplex]

Bad timing for the celebration. One the one hand, devices like AirPods, Apple Watch and the MacBooks (and iMac imo) are still top-tier products in their line/class. My M1 iMac is still a no-nonsense capable machine.

On the other, it’s hard to get excited when Siri still can’t handle simple music requests, or even a request to turn on a light reliably.

 

[switz]

What all the comments from all the years suggest is that Apple products are built to last and they do seem to last a long time with a little attention to care. Some products are still running that do not support current operating systems which have been designed for features found only in recent product releases. If a ten year old Mac with vintage software wrote a term paper when new, it still can write an equivalent term paper today. The I/O to a printer may be a challenge getting it to a printer, but the keyboard operation and display of characters did not change. Those last $6,000+ 2019 vintage 16" Intel MacBook Pro computers are still working today (and keeping rooms warm).

My $7,000+ Apple 16" M4 Max MacBook (128GB and 8TB SSD) did not become obsolete the next year. My M1 Ultra Mac Studio with the same memory and storage as my laptop still does what I need it to do. It might take two eye blinks where the laptop does it in a fraction of an eye blink. The performance of the M4 Max generation laptop is the first laptop to equal and exceed that of the M1 Ultra Mac Studio with the same specifications.

Apple made it very clear to me what they thought of their first Mac Studio that cost me over $7,500 at purchase as the next year's trade-in value was about $1,500. They in turn sold the refurbs of this configuration for close to $6,000.

Not buying new ones on a whim.

 

[Scoob Redux]

So, they're doubling down on a 29-year-old grammatical error? Of course, they had to. Can't admit a mistake. lol