Kate Matthews has an on-going project that I just love:
I’ve been sketching size comparisons for the new iPhone models since 2017, so in 2026 I’m celebrating ten years of iPhone size sketches!
This is just a sample of what awaits you:
Category: Apple
iPhone Duo Developer Videos⇢
If you have an iPhone, you’ll want to check these out.
Thankfully, there’s some time between now and when the iPhone Duo ships next month.
iPhone 16, 17, 17e, and Air See $100 Price Increases⇢
The new starting prices for the three models now look like this:
- iPhone 16: $799 (+$100)
- iPhone 17e: $699 (+$100)
- iPhone 17: $899 (+$100)
- iPhone Air: $1099 (+$100)
So that’s a $100 price hike on all four existing models in Apple’s iPhone lineup. With the debut of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple has discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
The Ternus Era Has Begun⇢
Today is September 1, 2026 — the day that John Ternus becomes CEO of Apple.
As you would assume, Apple has now updated its executives page with Ternus as CEO, along with a refreshed profile for him.
I wanted to note three narratives that I spotted in this profile that I think tell the story of the kind of CEO he wants to be, and how Apple wants to communicate this to us. All three of these are very interesting to me.
Tim Cook Says Goodbye as CEO
Tim Cook, on X (gross):
Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO. My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I’m excited for the next chapter!
This followed an “internal” memo in which he wrote:
There is something truly special about Apple. I am most proud of what an annual report could never capture. This place is proof that culture triumphs over everything. We share a belief that what we build matters, and that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it. That purpose is part of what makes this place extraordinary. Apple helps nurture it, but I believe it lived within each of you long before you arrived here. It is what brought you to this company and what continues to drive the work you do every day. Together, we have created something far greater than any one of us could have imagined or accomplished alone. And that’s the secret to our success. We bring out the best in each other. We lift each other up. We have made it possible to leave our “dent in the universe,” as Steve once described it, because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world. How fortunate we are. How fortunate I am.
Apple’s New Polishing Cloth is Thinner and Softer Than Previous Versions
…it is also smaller than the one that shipped with the Pro Display XDR, but I guess having a zillion-dollar monitor has to come with some perks.
(It turns out there have been several versions of this thing.)
That is basically the whole story here. For more hard-hitting Apple journalism, get subscribed.
The Once and Future iPad mini
2012 was a weird time for iPad fans. That spring, the 3rd-generation iPad debuted with a Retina display. It was slightly heavier and thicker than the iPad 2 before it, but the screen looked amazing. Sadly, the performance of the A5X wasn’t always up to the job of pushing all those pixels, so Apple revised the full-sized iPad again in the fall.
The 4th-gen iPad shipped just seven months later. It kept the same heavier and thicker design, but the A6X inside was “up to twice the CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of the A5X chip,” and it showed. It smoothed out all the little hiccups its predecessor showed, except for those in the then-new Apple Maps.1
Surprise and Shine⇢
Polishing Cloth Updated⇢
Apple’s Polishing Cloth is now just $9. It is unclear if this cloth is in any way different from what debuted five years ago for $19.
According to Apple, it is compatible with these products:
iPhones:
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 17 Pro
- iPhone 17 Pro Max
- iPhone 17
- iPhone 17e
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone SE (1st generation)
- iPhone 5s
- iPhone 5c
- iPhone 5
iPads:
Mac mini, Mac Studio Updated⇢
There’s big news in the land of small desktops. Jason Snell at Six Colors:
In a bit of a late-August surprise while the world awaits word on the next generation of iPhones, on Tuesday Apple announced two new processors, the M5 Ultra and M6, which help power new iterations of its Mac Studio and Mac mini desktop computers.
Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro
The M6 is built with a new 2-nanometer process and comes with 12 CPU cores, up from the 10 found in the base M4 and M5. It packs six efficiency cores, four performance cores, and two super cores. Snell explains:
Tap to Pay Coming to Wal-Mart⇢
Golden Gate Beta 6 Turns Stoplights into Liquid Glass
Developer Beta 6 of the 27 OSes is out today, and the macOS build has something I didn’t really expect this late in the game: redesigned window controls!
Like before, hovering over the “stoplight” controls with the cursor reveals the close, minimize, and junk drawer that has become the former maximize button.
Tahoe is on the left; Golden Gate Beta 6 is on the right:
(Trying to line up screenshots between a MacBook Neo and a MacBook Pro using a Pro Display XDR was …fun. Click the image to enlarge it.)