MacRumors

The Sonos app is currently unavailable to download on the iPhone and Mac App Stores owing to a mysterious problem that the company is currently looking into.

The app disappeared as of about two hours ago, and the app's URL link currently throws up the message: "The page you're looking for can't be found," while a manual search in the App Store returns no results.

A red banner across the Sonos status page reads: "We have identified a problem with the Sonos App availability in the iOS / Mac App Stores and are working on a solution. You may experience issues downloading or updating the Sonos app from the App Store until this issue is resolved." The same page shows a major outage of Sonos Account, suggesting the problems are related.

The last info we had on the app's future came in a February Bloomberg report that said Sonos was preparing a major update that would aim to simplify navigation and introduce iPhone Lock Screen controls using Live Activities.

Those changes were supposed to be rolled out gradually "in the coming months," as part of a broader effort to rebuild confidence after the company's troubled 2024 software overhaul.

We'll update this story as soon as we know more.

Update: After several hours of outage, the Sonos app is back on the App Store, and the Sonos status page says that all systems are operational.

Apple is rumored to be adding an AI feature for creating shortcuts with natural language to the Shortcuts app in iOS 27, but MacStories' Federico Viticci has a clever AI tool for making shortcuts that you can use today.

Shortcuts Playground is a plugin for Claude Code and OpenAI Codex that can create shortcuts for the Apple Shortcuts app using natural language input. It's set up to let users type in a short sentence requesting a shortcut, with the final version output to Finder and ready to upload to Apple's Shortcuts app in a few minutes.

Viticci made Shortcuts Playground free and open source, and the plugin is available from GitHub. Viticci provided detailed documentation on how it works, plus anyone can inspect the code. While Claude Code or Codex can correct errors during the shortcut creation process, Viticci warns that shortcuts generated are not guaranteed to be 100 percent accurate, and users should always check the AI's work.

To get Shortcuts Playground, give Claude Code or OpenAI Codex a link to the GitHub repo, and the agent will find the plugin marketplace and install it. Viticci has several example shortcuts, including one that remembers the location of a parked car and guides the driver back to it, and another that adjusts several display settings at night while also turning on a Focus mode.

Club MacStories+ and Premier members can get Shortcuts Playground as a generative shortcut. Once the main plugin is installed on a Mac, there's an option to make more shortcuts using a shortcut and install them directly on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Viticci is also debuting a redesigned MacStories Shortcuts Archive that features over 400 pre-built shortcut options. More information on Shortcuts Playground can be found on MacStories.

There are multiple companies making bird feeders with AI identification that send you pictures and info on the birds visiting your home, and Birdfy is one of the better-known brand names. I've reviewed and regularly use multiple Bird Buddy products, so when Birdfy asked if I wanted to give their bird feeders a look last winter, I said yes.

Birdfy has a lot of bird feeder options at different prices, along with camera-equipped bird baths and bird houses. I've been testing the standard Birdfy Feeder ($170 with solar panel and lifetime AI included), the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo ($360), and the Birdfy Bath Pro (currently $280) for the past five months, so I'm very familiar with the product options and the Birdfy software, which is a major factor when choosing a smart product.

Birdfy products record bird visits, providing AI species identification and photos and videos that you can watch. You just need to put them in a spot that gets a decent Wi-Fi signal to view the birds that are coming to your area.

Birdfy Feeder

The Birdfy Feeder is a good starting point for someone new to bird feeders. There's a cheaper model that starts at $80, but the Birdfy Feeder has a 2K high-definition camera and an option to buy it with lifetime AI bird identification.

The lower-priced Birdfy options can be purchased with or without a solar panel, and I think the solar panel is worth getting. It's an extra $40, but as long as your feeder is somewhere with partial sun, the solar panel provides enough power to prevent the camera from having to be manually charged.

My Birdfy Feeder is in a spot with morning and afternoon sun, and it has never dipped below a 90 percent charge. I have the other Birdfy feeder in a wooded area, also with solar panel, and it hovers at about 50 percent battery. I had to charge it once in the winter, but I haven't needed to do so again.

The solar panel that comes with the Birdfy Feeder is not attached to the feeder itself, so it can be positioned a couple of feet away if necessary. There are pros and cons to that setup compared to the Bird Buddy, where the solar panel is on the roof of the feeder. The Bird Buddy is a more compact, all-in-one design with no extra cords, and I prefer that look. The Birdfy solar panel is larger and more versatile, but it's also more visible and there is a cable to contend with.

While the Bird Buddy hangs or can be mounted, Birdfy's feeders are all meant to be mounted to a pole, tree, wall, or post. There's no loop for hanging one up, and feeder designs don't work for hanging. Birdfy includes multiple mounting options, which is nice, but also more complicated than the Bird Buddy.

There are a lot of components in the box, and for someone that just wants to put up a bird feeder and connect to an app, Birdfy products might feel overwhelming. I've gifted a Bird Buddy to older family members and it's been a hit, but I'd be more hesitant to gift the Birdfy to those same people.

Unless you live somewhere with no tree-climbing seed-loving creatures, mounting to a tree with the included tree straps isn't ideal because it makes access too easy.

Mounting on a wall or a post can work, but my squirrels will climb the side of my house to leap over to bird feeders. I like hanging feeders like the Bird Buddy because I can put them on a pole with a baffle without a hassle and keep them away from squirrels. Birdfy also supports pole mounting, but it uses adjustable metal hose clips that take longer to install.

I can't put the Birdfy Feeder on one of the hanging branches because of its design, so it has to be on the pole itself just above the baffle that I have. It's sturdy and works fine. All of the mounting options work in the same way, in that you install a metal plate that the Birdfy Feeder then attaches to. That lets you remove it without having to unmount it for cleaning, filling, and charging.

The Birdfy Feeder has a simple design where the seed goes into a reservoir at the sides of the camera, which is in the middle of the feeder. The top pops up so you can fill it, and it holds a good amount of seed. I fill it about once a week, and I have a lot of birds visiting.

The roof keeps the seed dry for the most part, and there is an included perch for the birds to land on. The camera slots into the feeder, and then the solar panel plugs in at the back of the camera (if you have the solar panel). If you don't have a solar panel, you take the Birdfy Feeder off the mount and charge it with USB-C.

Birdfy uses white plastic for the standard Feeder I tested (with blue or yellow accents), though there are wood options for those that prefer that look. The plastic has held up well so far through rain, sun, and freezing temperatures over the winter, and Birdfy says it's IP65. Since the Feeder can be removed from the mount, it's simple to clean. Bird feeders need to be cleaned every two weeks or so, and I typically rinse them in hot water, spray them with alcohol, give them a bit of a scrub where necessary, rinse again, and let them dry. Refilling the seed is simple, and I don't even take it down for that. I just need to pop open the roof and pour the seed in. I do wish Birdfy included a seed pouring device like the Bird Buddy does, but a measuring cup or a 3D-printed solution works fine.

The camera in the Birdfy Feeder is 2K, and the image quality is on par or better than the Bird Buddy. I get clear images and videos, but the camera doesn't handle direct sun well, so when it's sunny, video quality suffers. I don't think the Birdfy Feeder has the best video I've seen from a camera, but it's similar to the Bird Buddy and my outdoor security cameras.

I don't have many night visits from birds, but there are night vision modes. There's an infrared mode for black and white recording, or a mode that uses white light to provide illumination for recording in color. Neither mode is very clear, so it's just a matter of whether you'd prefer to have more detail in infrared mode or color with less detail.

Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo

The Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo has a different design than the Birdfy Feeder, and it's expensive, so this is an upgrade version for someone who loves bird watching. The Duo has two cameras instead of one, with three lenses between them. One camera is located in the center and it has a wide-angle lens and a close-up portrait lens, while another camera captures side angles.

The portrait camera is 2K and some bird shots come out crisp and vivid, and I've also been happy with the wider-angle videos and images. Photo and video quality depend on the lighting conditions, connection, the length of time a bird stays, when the camera captures the shot, whether the lens is clean, and the weather conditions outside, so results are always variable with all of my bird feeders.

Getting multiple angles is fun, because if one camera doesn't pick up a bird, it's likely going to get captured from the other camera. It's ideal for birds that tend to stick to the sides of the feeder and just flit in to grab a quick seed. My Bird Buddy is unable to capture visits when the bird is not in the center of the feeder.

I wish that at the $360 price point, the camera quality was even better. Videos come out well and look good for the most part, but the portrait lens is not as crisp as I would have hoped.

Seed goes in a hopper that splits around the central camera. The lid flips open and the seed is poured inside, and it fills the feeder tray. The tray has bars at the bottom that can prevent larger birds from getting to the seed, and some people use those kinds of barriers on bird feeders to cut down on mess.

The Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo is made of plastic, but it is black and green, so it blends in better outside. It too has held up well through the winter, and it has IP66 water and dust resistance rating. It mounts the same way as the Birdfy Feeder, with multiple mounting options. I tried this one strapped to a tree to begin with, but it was too easy for squirrels to reach, and they ate all the seed. They also chewed through the USB-C cable that connects the cameras to the solar charger, and I had to get a replacement. I moved it to a bird feeder pole with a baffle that's a good eight feet from trees, and the squirrels can no longer reach it.

The solar panel for the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo is a separate component, and it connects to the feeder with a USB-C cable. To power more than one camera, it uses a split USB-C cable. I have the feeder in a spot with little direct sunlight, and I have had to manually charge the cameras twice. Since they charge over USB-C, I bring a USB-C battery pack out and charge them at the feeder, but it's also easy to remove the feeder from the bracket that holds it in place for charging and cleaning.

Bird Bath Pro

I first put the Bird Bath Pro out in December, and I thought it was a failure. I had no bird visits for the first two months it was outside, but when spring came, it became a wildlife favorite.

While I do occasionally see birds taking a bath in the Bird Bath Pro, it's used more often as a drinking fountain. Even though the bird bath is next to a fountain and also close to my pond, it is the preferred drinking spot for every creature nearby.

The crows that come to my house like to take a mouthful of food, spit it into the bird bath, and eat it like bird cereal. A raccoon that comes by every night drinks from it, as does a local fox. The squirrels are especially fond of the bird bath and drink from it every day.

The Bird Bath Pro is made from plastic, and it has an optional base that you can get from Birdfy. I thought it might be a little low, but it's a height birds seem to like. It holds maybe an inch of water, or a little more if I fill it to the top. A built-in solar-powered fountain comes on when the sun is out to move the water, which prevents mosquitoes.

I don't see the fountain run when it's not in direct sunlight, so it's not on all the time. I'd like to see it run more often, but it seems to be designed to work only some of the time. The birds will use it either way. There is a filter in the fountain part of the Bird Bath Pro to keep the mechanism from getting jammed up with debris, and that should be replaced or cleaned regularly. Speaking of the fountain, there are interchangeable nozzles with different spray patterns to choose from. I use the flower that has gentle water movement.

The Bird Bath Pro tends to get dirty quickly, so I wipe it out and change the water every other day. Other than the cleaning and the filling, it doesn't take much more work, and I think I like it even more than my bird feeders.

Like the other Birdfy cameras, it struggles somewhat in direct sun and the image gets washed out. It's also not crystal clear because birds don't stay still for glamour shots, but I enjoy the photos and videos.

Setting up the Bird Bath Pro is simpler than setting up the cameras, because it's mostly all one piece. The camera fits into a slot in the bird bath, and then it's ready to go. No attaching it to a pole with clips or straps, and the filter and fountain parts are easy to figure out.

Birdfy App

All of the Birdfy products use the Birdfy iOS and Android app for bird identification and visit alerts. The Birdfy app works, but I think it's confusingly designed and not as intuitive as the Bird Buddy app. It's used for everything from setup to viewing bird images.

I did not like the Birdfy setup process. It's the standard connect, enter Wi-Fi password, and add to app system that most products use, but when you put the Birdfy cameras into pairing mode, they beep incessantly until successfully paired. It was by far the most irritating setup process I've ever gone through just because of the noise. Once connected to Wi-Fi, Birdfy's devices work fine, and I haven't had interruptions in service.

The app opens to a Home section that shows a view of each Birdfy camera, and you can tap in to see captured moments or get to a live view. Tapping into a camera provides an overview of the day with a readout of the total number of bird visits and the bird visits by species. Scrolling down lets you watch all of the videos for the day, and if you keep scrolling, you can swap to prior days. There's also a calendar icon you can use to get to previous recordings.

Birdfy's app gets a lot of birds right, but it makes errors regularly and there are some fleeting visits where it can't identify the bird type. As I'm writing this review, I've had 47 visits, some of which involved more than one bird at a time. The app correctly identified 38 birds, but marked 14 unknown. Two birds were incorrectly identified. It called a house finch a canyon towhee (despite correctly identifying finches the rest of the time), and marked a white-breasted nuthatch as a brown-headed nuthatch.

Yesterday, I had 73 visits. Of those visits, 12 were unidentified, one house finch was misidentified as a canyon towhee again, and a tufted titmouse was incorrectly named an oak titmouse. It's not able to identify crows, and it sometimes struggles with the raccoons and squirrels that visit the bird bath. I can tell when it's wrong because I know the local birds by sight, but misidentification is a bigger problem for users that aren't aware of what's around. On the plus side, it's right much more often than it's wrong, and it is able to tell male or female for some birds. Birdfy says it is able to identify over 6,000 bird species.

The camera does not use AI to decide when to record. If it detects motion, it records. It will pick up people walking by and other random movement. Unlike the Bird Buddy, it does send a notification for every bird visit, and that's a lot of notifications.

I wish there was an option for daily highlights instead of a notification for each visit. I can exclude certain types of birds in the app, but since it sometimes misidentifies birds, I don't want to do that. I mostly ignore the notifications now though, since I'm getting 50+ per day. The Bird Buddy sends occasional postcards from the best bird visits, and I think that's a much better way to do it.

Birdfy does have a useful recap feature, but it's not obvious. You need to tap on your profile and then tap on Highlight. It opens a recap on the web rather than in the app, which is a weird choice. It gives an overview of everything that visited in a day, and lets you know when you've had a certain type of bird visit for the first time. You also get overall monthly recaps.

There is no fee for the Birdfy AI if you buy it upfront with the camera. Cameras with "lifetime" AI are around $20 higher, and I think that's worthwhile not to have a subscription. You get free AI, 5GB storage, and 20-second video recordings that are kept for a month, but you can also pay for a subscription for expanded cloud storage.

The $6.99/month Plus plan keeps videos for 60 days and expands recordings to 30 seconds each, plus it provides 20GB storage and 15 percent off Birdfy products. There's also a Bird Data feature for visit statistics, activity patterns, and time-of-day analysis. Since the Plus plan only extends recordings by 10 seconds and it is limited to two Birdfy devices, it doesn't seem like a good value. It makes more sense to pay for AI access when making an initial purchase and doing without the extra features. Birdfy does have a 50 percent discount for those who bought the lifetime AI, but the device limit still doesn't feel worth it even at $3.50/month.

Local storage is not an option as an alternative to cloud storage, but video clips and images can be downloaded and shared.

Bottom Line

Smart bird feeders can feel repetitive because most people get the same birds with the exception of seasonal migration, but it's still fun to see the antics that the regulars get up to. I have bird spats, bird couples that come in pairs and check in often, little wrens that like to carry around large peanuts, and silly doves that like to just sit on the food. It's also always a treat to see colorful bluebirds and goldfinches that I don't get as often as cardinals, mourning doves, and sparrows.

Birdfy has an extensive product line with different feeder styles and multiple price points, which makes it easy to recommend. The app and the setup are not as simple as the Bird Buddy and I'd be a little hesitant to get a Birdfy Feeder as an option for someone who isn't app and iPhone savvy, but it's not impossible to figure out.

For any bird watcher that can figure out an app that's somewhat convoluted, it's a fun product for keeping tabs on what's around your home. There are lifetime AI options that don't require a subscription, and the AI had a good (but not perfect) accuracy rating in my testing. The feeders are easy to fill and clean because they all use the same easy-access mount, but there is no hanging option and that makes them a target for squirrels and other critters depending on location.

The standalone solar panels are useful for finding just the right sun spot for charging, though it does introduce extra cabling to deal with compared to an all-in-one solution.

Of the Birdfy products I tested, I liked the Bird Bath Pro best. It's been a hub of activity, and it provides a look at birds doing something other than eating. If you live somewhere that you can't have bird feeders (like somewhere with rat or mouse concerns), the Bird Bath Pro is a product that will still let you see local birds.

How to Buy

Birdfy's products can be purchased from the Birdfy website. The Birdfy Feeder is $170 for the lifetime AI and the solar panel, the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo with three lenses is $360, and the Bird Bath Pro is priced at $280 for the version with lifetime AI and an included stand. The stand-free model is $200.

Note: Birdfy provided MacRumors with a Bird Bath Pro, Birdfy Feeder, and Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Apple today formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the series of rulings that led to changes to App Store linking rules and fees in the United States.

In 2021, Apple largely won its legal dispute with Epic Games, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to relax its anti-steering rules and let developers link to alternate payment options in apps. Apple complied, but charged a 12 to 27 percent fee on link-outs instead of its standard 15 to 30 percent fee. When taking into account fees from payment processors, there was little to no discount to developers, and few opted in. Apple also restricted button design, limiting developers to a single plain text link.

‌Epic Games‌ went back to Gonzalez Rogers and said Apple was in violation of the court's order, and she agreed. In April 2025, she found Apple in contempt of court for willfully violating that 2021 injunction. Apple was then barred from collecting any fees on links in the U.S. ‌App Store‌, and it has collected no money for link-outs in third-party apps since then.

Apple appealed, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Apple was in contempt of court, but said Apple should be able to charge a reasonable fee for its intellectual property. Apple does not want courts deciding the fees it is able to collect, so it is now asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.

Apple has two main issues with the appeals court ruling. First, Apple says holding it in civil contempt was not appropriate because the original injunction did not prevent it from charging developers a fee when linking to third-party payment options. The district court and the appeals court agreed that Apple violated the "spirit" of the injunction by charging a high fee. Apple argues that prior court decisions have only held a party in civil contempt when an order has been "clearly and unambiguously" violated. A contempt ruling based on "spirit" is a "recipe for abuse," Apple says.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65 reinforces this understanding by demanding specificity in injunctions to ensure clear notice. The Ninth Circuit's spirit-based inquiry is antithetical to these requirements. Under that rule, the potent weapon of contempt turns on an amorphous, know-it-when-you-see-it inquiry that permits a court to impose contempt merely by declaring a violation of an order's "spirit."

As it has done in several other court filings, Apple also cites Trump v. CASA, a ruling that said lower courts do not have the authority to issue universal injunctions to block nationwide policies. Apple says the court ruling requiring it to drop fees for all developers goes far beyond the scope of the ‌Epic Games‌ case, and any relief ordered by the court should be limited to ‌Epic Games‌.

Yet the injunction here enjoins Apple and the commissions it can charge with respect to millions of registered worldwide developers that are not parties to this case. It does so even though Epic never brought a class action and never attempted to show that enjoining Apple's conduct against all other developers—like Microsoft or Spotify, who have nothing to do with Epic—was somehow necessary to provide relief to Epic.

According to Apple, the contempt ruling based on "spirit" and the order applicable to all developers "have combined to create an injunction that may reshape the global app marketplace."

‌Epic Games‌ and Apple agreed to an expedited schedule and Apple's petition will be considered on June 25. Apple expects a decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear the case by the time the justices recess for the summer in late June or early July.

Apple previously asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on its legal fight with ‌Epic Games‌ in January 2024, but the justices declined to hear the case. Justice Elena Kagan also recently denied Apple's request for a stay of the fee calculation mandate while Apple waits to hear from the Supreme Court.

Update: In a statement to MacRumors, ‌Epic Games‌ Director of Corporate Communications Natalie Munoz said the following:

The Supreme Court has already rejected Apple's attempt to overturn the injunction in this case. This challenge to the contempt order is one last Hail Mary to delay a conclusion to this case and avoid opening up the gates to payment competition for the benefit of consumers. The court proceedings and Apple's own documents made it clear that Apple intentionally designed its sham compliance with the District Court's order to prevent competition, clearly violating the District Court's injunction.

Apple today announced that this Saturday's Major League Soccer match between the LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo FC will be captured entirely with the iPhone 17 Pro.

Apple said this will mark the first time an iPhone will be used to capture the entirety of a major professional live sporting event broadcast, rather than studio cameras, so the iPhone 17 Pro will make sports history this weekend.

"iPhone 17 Pro will capture live footage throughout the match, including team warmups on the pitch, player introductions, in-net goal angles, and the atmosphere inside the stadium," said Apple. "With cameras positioned throughout the venue, the broadcast will deliver the pristine video quality fans expect, alongside dynamic new perspectives that bring viewers closer to the action, made possible by the small form factor of iPhone."

Apple TV subscribers will be able to stream the match live on Saturday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time. For the 2026 season, only an Apple TV subscription is required, with a separate MLS Season Pass subscription no longer necessary.

Apple already used the iPhone 17 Pro to capture select moments and cinematic Fenway Park footage during a Major League Baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers last year, but other cameras were also used. For the Major League Soccer match this weekend, the iPhone 17 Pro will exclusively capture all footage.

Earlier this year, the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum added one of the four iPhone 17 Pro devices that captured the Red Sox's thrilling walk-off win over the Tigers to its permanent collection in Cooperstown, New York, so the device already made sports history, and now it will repeat the feat in an even bigger way.

Amazon has sweetened its deal on the 512GB 15-inch M5 MacBook Air today, dropping the price of the notebook down to $1,099.99, from $1,299.00. This is a new record low price on the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air, and it's available in three colors.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Amazon is providing delivery by the end of this week for many locations, and Prime members should see same-day or overnight options as well. Additionally, you'll find $150 markdowns on both 1TB models of the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air this week on Amazon, but we aren't tracking any major discounts on 13-inch models right now.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Apple has announced the rollout of two new device features in India: sleep apnea notifications for Apple Watch, and Hearing Test for AirPods Pro.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, often leading to poor rest. The Apple Watch detects signs of the disorder by using its accelerometer to track subtle wrist movements associated with irregular breathing patterns. When these disturbances occur repeatedly across several nights, the watch can flag a potential case of sleep apnea.

The feature is supported on the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch Ultra 3, and is available in more than 150 countries worldwide. To receive an initial reading, users need to wear the watch consistently for several nights, although nightly breathing disturbances are logged in the iPhone's Health app.

Hearing tests can be conducted by connecting AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Pro 3 to an iPhone running iOS 18.1 or later or an iPad running iPadOS 18.1 or later. The hearing test mimics the hearing tests one might encounter at a doctor's office or when visiting an audiologist.

Tones at different frequencies and sound levels play in each ear, with users instructed to tap the iPhone's display whenever a sound is heard. Apple tests four frequencies, including 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, and 4kHz. Results up to 25 dBHL indicate little to no hearing loss. 26 to 40 dBHL is a sign of mild hearing loss, while results of 41 to 60 dBHL suggest moderate hearing loss. 61 to 80 dBHL is severe hearing loss, and a result above 80 dBHL is considered profound hearing loss.

The results, which include an audiogram, are stored in the Health app, and can be shared with a healthcare provider to have more informed conversations.

Apple Health features are now available in over 160 countries and regions globally, according to a post on X by Apple's Greg Joswiak. Joswiak's post also suggests that Apple recently brought its Hearing Aid feature to Italy and hypertension notifications to Taiwan.

Apple is testing an iPhone 19 Pro with a display that curves around all four edges of the device, a leaker out of China has claimed.

According to Weibo-based Digital Chat Station, the 2027-generation Pro device, currently at the evaluation stage, has a hole-punch cutout in the display for the front-facing camera, but Face ID is completely hidden under the panel.

The claim is notable because multiple reports suggest Apple is aiming to launch a 20th-anniversary iPhone next year featuring a quad-curved display with no cutouts. Whether Apple plans to position the commemorative model as an ultra-premium tier above its Pro and Pro Max lineup has remained unclear, but the leaker's latest comments suggest that could be the case.

That said, if Apple is planning to use quad-curved panels across both the iPhone 19 Pro and iPhone 19 Pro Max, it would leave the company less room to differentiate them from the rumored commemorative iPhone.

One way Apple could play it is to keep the uninterrupted display exclusive to the 20th-anniversary iPhone while leaving a hole-punch cutout in the 19 Pro models – an option that the leaker's comments do seem to imply. However, Apple is said to be finding it particularly challenging to get both the Face ID system and the front-facing camera under the panel, with the selfie camera proving to be the most difficult to hide.

If existing technologies can't hide the camera under the panel without degrading quality, Apple is unlikely to go ahead with it – which would leave the 2027 iPhone series' differentiation outlined here unresolved.

Digital Chat Station has more than three million followers on Weibo, and has a track record of accurately leaking Apple-related information. For example, they accurately revealed the overall design of the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, as well as the triple 48-megapixel rear camera system of the ‌iPhone 17 Pro.‌ Recently, the leaker claimed Apple's first foldable, expected to arrive alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models, will be called "iPhone Ultra."

Apple's first OLED MacBook Pro models have cleared a major manufacturing hurdle, with panel supplier Samsung Display having reportedly achieved yields above 90 percent on its Gen 8.6 OLED production line.

According to Korean publication The Elec, some individual process stages are now reaching yields as high as 95 percent, a level that the display industry considers "golden yield" territory for stable mass production.

The report says Samsung could begin shipping OLED laptop panels through the supply chain as early as June. The panels are expected to be used in future 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, with estimated supply volumes of around 2 million units this year.

The rapid yield improvement is notable because OLED laptop panels are a lot harder to manufacture than smartphone displays due to their larger size and stricter brightness and lifespan requirements. For example, MacBook Pro panels are expected to use brighter tandem two-stack OLED technology like Apple's OLED iPad Pro models, oxide TFT backplanes for improved battery life, and an anti-moisture sealing protection method called hybrid encapsulation.

Samsung began its Gen 8.6 IT OLED investment in 2023 and is currently operating one of two planned production lines. Depending on demand for the OLED MacBook Pro models, which will reportedly have touchscreen capability for the first time, Samsung could activate the second line and expand capacity further.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has repeatedly stated that 14-inch and 16-inch OLED MacBook Pro models are slated to launch in late 2026 to early 2027, but the latter time frame is now said to be more likely due to the industry-wide chip shortage.

Every May, Apple previews new accessibility features coming to devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The announcement typically occurs a few days before Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and it offers a glimpse into what will be included in the next major releases of Apple's software platforms, such as iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

This year, one of the new capabilities shown off by Apple is natural language support for the Voice Control feature on the iPhone and iPad.

Voice Control is receiving an Apple Intelligence upgrade that will make the feature "more intuitive than ever," according to Apple. Specifically, iPhone and iPad users will be able to describe on-screen buttons and controls with natural language, instead of having to remember exact labels, numbers, or descriptions like before.

For example, users will be able to say things like "tap the guide about best restaurants" in Apple Maps or "tap the purple folder" in the Files app.

Voice Control powered by Apple Intelligence will initially be available in English in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia, according to Apple.

AI-powered Voice Control hints at the more personalized version of Siri that Apple first announced all the way back at WWDC 2024. At the time, Apple said Siri would gain on-screen awareness, which would essentially turn the assistant into an AI agent that is capable of understanding natural language and taking action for you.

Apple's own example was an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info retrieved from the Mail and Messages apps, and it was later reported that Siri will be able to do things such as comment on an Instagram post, or scroll through a shopping app and add something to your cart.

Overall, the revamped Siri is expected to have a better understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. In March 2025, Apple announced that these capabilities were delayed until later this year. The new-and-improved Siri is expected to be a tentpole feature of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, which will be unveiled on June 8 and should be released to the public in September.

The more personalized Siri will likely require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, a Mac with an M1 chip or newer, or an iPad with an A17 Pro or M1 chip or newer.

Apple this week previewed new accessibility features that are coming later this year, and one is particularly notable: automatic captions for personal videos.

For videos that do not already have captions, Apple said a new on-device speech recognition model can automatically generate them for spoken audio. According to Apple, this feature will be available for videos that you record on your iPhone, videos that you receive from friends and family, and videos that are streamed online.

The automatic captions will initially be limited to English in the U.S. and Canada.

Apple ensured that the captions are generated privately, and you will be able to customize their appearance in the video playback menu or in the Settings app. The feature will be supported across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, with the "later this year" timing pointing to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27.

Apple will unveil those software versions during its WWDC 2026 keynote, which begins on Monday, June 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, so we expect to learn more about this feature and its exact implementation in a few weeks from now.

Samsung has edged past Apple for the top spot in customer satisfaction for cell phones, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index's 2026 Telecommunications, Cell Phone, and Smartwatch Study, published this week.

Samsung scores 81 in the ACSI's cell phone rankings while Apple posts 80, breaking last year's tie between the two companies for satisfaction leadership. The overall cell phone industry score rose 1% to 79 this year, recovering from a sharp 4% decline in 2025 that had pushed it to its lowest point in a decade.

The ACSI says satisfaction improves most when new features translate into everyday value without introducing new pain points, citing battery life tradeoffs as an example. AI integration, measured by the ACSI for the first time, scores 85 overall, signaling that customers are not only aware of AI features but find them useful, while improvements in battery life, up 5% to 81.

For the cell phone industry, the highest-rated customer experience metrics are the fundamental functions of making phone calls and sending text messages, both scoring 86. AI feature performance debuts at 85, nearly matching those top table-stakes interactions, suggesting that AI is moving from novelty to practical utility for many customers.

Among new flagship owners, Samsung's latest Galaxy S-series leads at 84, followed by new iPhone owners at 82, with Google's flagship models scoring 80. Satisfaction with flagship models overall scores 82, far outpacing legacy phones at 76 and foldables at 72.

In the foldable segment, Samsung holds a clear lead with an ACSI score of 80, which is 8 points ahead of Google at 72 and 10 points ahead of Motorola at 70. The ACSI notes that foldable owners are three times as likely to complain as non-foldable owners, and says competitive dynamics in the segment may shift as Apple's rumored entry into the foldable market is anticipated for later this year. Apple is widely expected to debut a foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models this fall, featuring a 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch cover screen, priced at around $2,000.

In the smartwatch category, Apple holds steady at 80, while Samsung drops 4% to create a first-place tie at the top of the leaderboard. Customer experience characteristics of smartwatches are universally rated higher this year at the industry level, with the biggest gains including ease of navigating menus and settings, up 7% to 80, and app and accessory connectivity, up 5% to 83.

The ACSI study is based on 26,963 completed surveys, with customers contacted via email between April 2025 and March 2026.

Apple today shared stats that paint the App Store as a safe and trusted place for both customers and developers, even though the reality is that fraudulent or deceptive apps continue to make it past Apple's review process from time to time.

In 2025, Apple said its App Review team evaluated more than 9.1 million App Store submissions, with a mix of human review and AI. The company rejected over two million of these submissions, including over 1.2 million new apps and nearly 800,000 pending app updates, for failing to adhere to the App Store's Review Guidelines.

As bad actors continue to evolve their methods, Apple said it continuously improves its multilayered defenses, leveraging a combination of human review and advanced machine learning in an attempt to detect and prevent malicious activity.

"By utilizing AI to rapidly identify complex malicious patterns, analyze app similarity, and flag potentially problematic changes in app updates, Apple's systems help human reviewers focus their expertise where it matters most," said Apple. "This not only improves the customer experience by ensuring a high-quality, curated storefront, it also helps legitimate developers get their great apps and updates to users faster."

Apple added that it terminated 193,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and prevented over $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2025.

In 2025, Apple processed over 1.3 billion App Store reviews and ratings. Using a mix of human review and AI, the company said it identified and blocked close to 195 million fraudulent reviews and ratings from ever appearing.

"Apple's Trust and Safety teams integrate AI throughout the entire moderation process to detect spam, offensive content, and inauthentic reviews at scale," the company explained. "Additionally, AI-powered dashboards and rapid data analysis tools accelerate the discovery of new fraud vectors, enabling Apple's teams to react quickly to deceptive activity and protect the integrity of the platform."

Apple's press release contains many more stats that highlight the company's efforts to ensure the App Store is secure, even if they are not perfect.

Accessory maker Ugreen has expanded its Nexode and MagFlow Air lineup of chargers with a set of compact units aimed squarely at Apple users.

First up is the Nexode Air 65W charger, which Ugreen is pitching as a travel-friendly option for MacBook Air owners, but it should work just as well for iPhones, iPads, and other USB-C devices. (Its Cosmic Orange-style finish twins particularly well with the iPhone 17 Pro.) Ugreen describes the unit as pocket-sized while still delivering up to 65W of fast charging, and it features the company's Ugreen's Thermal Guard temperature control for safety.

For users who want a thinner option, Ugreen is also touting its Nexode Air 45W Charger Slim, plus there's a new MagFlow Air Magnetic Power Bank 10000mAh – a Qi2-certified 15W magnetic battery with a built-in USB-C cable, a second USB-C port, and ATL battery cells inside.

The company's broader existing Air lineup includes a thicker Nexode Air 65W Charger Slim and a less bulky 5000mAh version of the MagFlow Air.

The Nexode Air 65W Charger and 45W Slim are priced at $39.99, with the 10000mAh MagFlow Air at $79.99. All the chargers are available now over on Ugreen's official site as well as Amazon.com.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue will be honored as "Entertainment Person of the Year" at the Cannes Lions festival next month, recognizing his leadership of the company's entertainment and services business (via Variety).

Cue will deliver a keynote on the opening day of the festival, which runs from June 22 to June 26 in the south of France. He will be joined by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose film "F1: The Movie" was released by Apple last year. In a statement, Lions CEO Simon Cook said:

Eddy Cue has consistently pushed the boundaries of entertainment and storytelling, building platforms and experiences that have redefined how audiences engage with culture. Under his leadership, Apple has not only produced world-class content but has also shaped the future of entertainment through innovation, creativity and an unwavering commitment to quality. We're delighted to honor Eddy as our 2026 Entertainment Person of the Year.

Cue told Variety last year that as streaming platforms multiplied, Apple saw an opportunity to focus on quality over volume. "We saw that the world was changing, and it seemed like everybody was going after quantity. We thought there was an opening for us, if we really focused on high quality," he said.

Apple TV+ launched in November 2019 and has since compiled an impressive awards record. The streamer earned best picture at the Oscars for its 2021 drama "CODA," and "The Studio" set records at last year's Emmy Awards with 13 wins, which is the most by a comedy series in a single year and the most by a first-year series.

Amazon today has every model of the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air on sale at record low prices, starting at $1,149.00 for the 512GB model, down from $1,299.00. This sale includes all three configurations of the 15-inch M5 MacBook Air on sale in most color options.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

You'll find $150 off every model on Amazon, also including both 1TB models. Best Buy is matching these deals as part of its ongoing Memorial Day sale, which we began tracking yesterday. As of writing, we aren't tracking any deals on the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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Discord says it has switched on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default for every voice and video call across its platforms, including desktop, mobile, web, and consoles like PlayStation and Xbox.

The rollout covers DMs, group DMs, voice channels, and Go Live streams. There's no opt-in required, or any setting to change. Stage channels are the only exception, given that they're built for broadcasting to larger audiences rather than personal chats.

The protection runs on DAVE, an open-source protocol Discord first introduced in September 2024. In a blog post, Discord's Mark Smith said building it was slow and complicated, partly because a single Discord call can mix people on phones, laptops, browsers, and game consoles in the same conversation. Announcing the change, Smith said:

"Building an E2EE protocol that works seamlessly across all of those surfaces simultaneously is, to my knowledge, unlike anything else that's been shipped. DAVE is likely one of the internet's most platform-diverse E2EE voice and video implementations."

Discord says it's now stripping out the remaining client code that allowed unencrypted fallback, so that encrypted calls will be the only option rather than a default. "We have no current plans to extend E2EE to text messages," added Smith.

The completed rollout stands in stark contrast to policy changes by Meta, which recently removed its encryption feature for Instagram DMs.