Apple retailers have issued steeper discounts on the MacBook Pro for May, resulting in record-low prices on several M5 Pro and M5 Max 14-inch and 16-inch configurations.

Prices have dipped to as low as $1,949 for the 2026 MacBook Pro, with a variety of 14-inch and 16-inch configurations now up to $250 off. You can check out top deals below, with a full rundown of markdowns in our 14-inch MacBook Pro 2026 Price Guide and 16-inch MacBook Pro Price Guide.

14-inch MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max deals

• M5 Pro, 15C CPU, 16C GPU, 24GB, 1TB, Standard Display: $1,949 ($250 off) at B&H
• M5 Pro, 15C CPU, 16C GPU, 24GB, 2TB, Standard Display: $2,394.50 ($205 off) at Amazon
• M5 Pro, 18C CPU, 20C GPU, 24GB, 2TB, Standard Display: $2,637.49 ($162 off) at Amazon
• M5 Max, 18C CPU, 32C GPU, 36GB, 2TB, Standard Display: $3,359 ($240 off) at Amazon

16-inch MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max sale

• M5 Pro, 18C CPU, 20C GPU, 24GB, 1TB, Standard Display: $2,549 ($150 off) at Amazon
• M5 Pro, 18C CPU, 20C GPU, 48GB, 1TB, Standard Display: $2,899 ($200 off) at Amazon
• M5 Max, 18C CPU, 32C GPU, 36GB, 2TB, Standard Display: $3,699 ($200 off) at Amazon
• M5 Max, 18C CPU, 40C GPU, 48GB, 2TB, Standard Display: $4,199 ($200 off) at Amazon

In our M5 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro review, we found the M5 Max chip is blazing fast with great graphics and AI performance. We’re also pleased to see support for Wi-Fi 7 in the 2026 line.

The DJI Osmo 360 is an excellent example of how to do a 360-degree camera system right. Its massive optional selfie stick is overkill for most people.

Apple has, in recent years, made its iPhones more useful for videography. However, while it has features like Action Mode to make it useful for filming fast activities, it’s still not exactly the best choice for some more hazardous situations.

In cases where someone wants to ski down a mountain, the action camera is still king. In cases where you want more control over how a shot is framed instead of a fixed-on-body position that looks bad, you need a 360-degree camera.

The DJI Osmo 360 is DJI’s latest take on the action cam genre is the Osmo 360, a camera with a pair of fisheye lenses and cameras. Each camera and lens pair covers a 180-degree field of view, or half a sphere, which are then combined into a single image.

Like other 360-degree cameras, this can be used to capture footage from all possible angles. The resulting footage can then be viewed as a 360-degree video or cropped into a more standard video frame from the perfect angle.

The DJI Osmo 360 is a pretty good version of this form, and one that could be a viable choice for avid snowboarders and sports enthusiasts.

DJI sent over the DJI Osmo 360 Adventure Combo, which includes the camera, extra batteries and battery case, a rubber lens protector, protective pouch, cleaning cloth, a quick-release adapter mount, a USB-C PD cable, and a 1.2-meter (3.9 foot) Invisible Selfie Stick.

The Standard Combo includes all but the selfie stick, the quick-release adapter mount, and the battery case.

DJI also shipped along two accessories: the Osmo Battery Extension Rod and the Osmo 2.5-meter (8.2 feet) Extension Carbon Fiber Selfie Stick.

DJI Osmo 360 review: Physical design

The actual DJI Osmo camera is a chunky block of plastic, measuring 2.4 inches wide by 3.1 inches tall and 1.4 inches thick. At 6.5 ounces, it’s also pretty dense for a piece of kit, though not necessarily for something that will be used as an action camera.

Some of the thickness is due to the two camera lenses, which stick out from each side.

The front face has one camera lens with an indicator LED and DJI branding, while the other has the second lens and a large 2-inch touchscreen, as well as two physical buttons. That screen is nice and bright when turned on, and gives a view of what the cameras are picking up that you can quickly flick to change.

The two buttons below the screen deal with recording duties and changing the view for the screen, among other functions. On one edge side is the power, as well as a locked panel hiding a USB-C connection.

The other edge side has another locked panel, which houses the battery compartment and a microSD card slot. DJI does include 105GB of built-in storage, which is great to have since you don’t specifically need a microSD card to use it.

Both of these panels are treated to prevent water from seeping in, which helps since it is billed as being waterproof. However, DJI does warn that while it has an IP68 rating, it shouldn’t be used for long underwater sessions, and to stick to a depth of at most 10 meters (32.8 feet).

Of the non-stick inclusions, the battery case is a similar rugged plastic design, and is capable of recharging up to three of the 1,950mAh batteries used by camera.

While the included case is just the right size for the Osmo 360, I get the feeling that the protective rubber lens cover will get more use. It’s easy to think of someone tossing the camera in its rubber cover into a bag along with a selfie stick for a weekend’s recording session.

DJI Osmo 360 review: Main specifications

The main feature of this action camera is that it uses square high-dynamic-range image sensors instead of rectangular versions. Instead of a trimmed rectangular sensor, DJI went with 1-inch image field square sensors to reduce the bulk.

The pixel allocation as a 4K-resolution square means it also uses more of the pixels than a rectangular counterpart.

This gives it quite a few benefits, such as shooting native 8K panoramic videos. It also uses 2.4-micrometer pixels which are quite large, allowing it to capture more light, including to a 13.5-stop dynamic range at 8K 50Hz.

Its connectivity goes further, including shooting at 4K 100Hz for panoramic slo-mo video, which can be pushed to 4K 120Hz for one lens.

DJI also boasts that it has a SuperNight Mode for capturing late-night shots.

This is also recorded using built-in image stabilization systems, including RockSteady 3.0 and HorizonSteady. The former can be used when exporting via the mobile app, while the latter works with regular flat videos in a standard field of view, not 360 video.

When it comes to creating the actual 360-degree video, there’s a minimum stitching distance of 75 centimeters (2.4 feet), otherwise, you get artifacting for anything closer to the lens and at the edge of the image. It also has an invisible selfie stick feature which hides the mount, but that’s quite a standard thing to use now.

DJI Osmo 360 review: In use

Getting up and running with the Osmo 360 is fairly quick and easy when using it directly. Powering it up, you can then press the circle button to immediately start recording 8K 360-degree footage for up to an hour.

The two-inch screen gives one view, which you can scroll around with your finger. It’s a pretty neat system, and can help you visualize shots like a selfie on the fly.

Around the edge of the screen are indicators for different options, like viewing recorded local video, switching between modes, adjusting camera settings, and swiping down for the general settings.

The modes include Panoramic Video and Photo, as well as Supernight, Selfie, Vortex, and Hyperlapse for the 360-degree camera view. There are also single lens modes like Photo, Video, Supernight, and Boost, which is a wider field of view than normal.

Going through the camera settings, there are options to enable Anti Motion Blur and to adjust the texture and noise reduction of an image, while a Pro button takes you to a lot more of the advanced settings. This includes things like exposure and white balance control, and whether you want 10-bit “Normal” color or the D-Log M 10-bit version.

The latter of the two will be of interest to videographers who want more control of the colors of the final clip.

The main settings handles everything from connectivity to a mobile device, locking the orientation, enabling gesture controls, connecting wireless earbuds, if you’re using built-in storage or microSD, and other elements.

While there are four onboard mics that do a fairly good job of environmental recording, DJI does give the option to use its ecosystem of microphones with the Osmo 360. If you happen to own a Mic Mini or Mic 2, you can record two audio tracks with the cameras as well.

In our time with it, we found it to have pretty good image quality overall. You can still see seams where the two camera pictures meet up, but the majority of the time that is for items that are closer than the minimum advised join distance.

As a camera in its own right, it feels intuitive to use, even if you don’t consider using it with other devices. Though, for the purposes of editing, you really should.

DJI Osmo 360 review: Sticks

There are three selfie sticks for this review, including the default 1.2M Invisible Selfie Stick. Made from plastic with a rubber grip, it has a thread in the base and a screw thread at the other end, for attaching to the camera.

It’s a fairly beefy version of a selfie stick, and certainly isn’t flimsy. There’s no articulation at the business end, as you would anticipate with a fairly cheap and run-of-the-mill selfie stick, but you can remedy that with the Adjustable Quick Release Adapter Mount in the Adventure Combo.

While you can attach the camera using the typical thread method, the mount uses two side hooks and strong magnets to pull the camera into position and to dock. Pressing the side buttons to unhook and a small pull releases the camera again.

The mount doesn’t freely move from straight to angled, but instead uses a button to unlock the angular movement. On the one hand, this is really smart and prevents any unwanted movement, but it does also limit the mount to two locked positions.

The second sent for review is the Battery Extension Rod. As a selfie stick, it works like the included Invisible version, with the mount built-in, except it only extends to 2.9 feet.

It’s a chunkier version, because it has a built-in battery that feeds the camera for another four hours.

Handily, it also has limited controls for the camera, letting you start the record or switch the screen’s view without fiddling directly with the camera. This is very useful as a quality-of-life feature, but it’s the only one of the group to have it.

At $99.99, it’s an add-on that is probably worth it for the occasional holiday, especially since it would save you from carrying around extra batteries for the camera.

The 2.5M Extended Carbon Fiber Selfie Stick is the last and somewhat absurd option. It’s an absurd length for a selfie stick, at 8.2 feet, making it taller than anyone actually using it. Few will probably have much use for it, aside from those who want selfies from really far away.

More practically, it could give the effect of having a drone nearby while not breaking any local laws surrounding drone usage. There’s also no buzzing blades either, so feasibly less of a problem for recording animals.

It too is $99.99, but it’s really only useful for a small number of people who want the drone effect without the drone hassle.

DJI Osmo 360 review: Mobile and Mac app

The mobile app that works with the DJI Osmo 360 is DJI Mimo, which handles multiple duties on an iPhone.

For live shooting, it provides a view from the Osmo 360, which you can again scroll around at will.. There are controls for resolution, frame rate, various shooting modes, and advanced “Pro” settings, which are easier to use than having to reach for the camera mid-use.

The mobile app also lets you watch footage stored on the Osmo 360, thanks to its Wi-Fi connection, which you can either stream from the camera or download locally for a better resolution.

In this view, you can scroll around the footage and change the camera angle, which then changes what the final standard non-spherical video shows on export. You can do this manually with swipes and keyframes, but there are options like GyroFrame that uses your iPhone’s movements to change what is in frame, as well as subject tracking.

If you can’t face going through that process, there’s also an AI-based Highlights feature that creates clips for you.

While this is good for sharing and short clips, you can also import the videos to DJI’s Studio for macOS. It’s an application for viewing the files from the Osmo 360, complete with mouse drags to move around the frame, as well as for editing clips.

You can add clips, change the angle and set them with keyframes, and perform more advanced movements than you can on the iPhone app. The results will be much better from this tool, which may not necessarily need any further changes to the exported video in iMovie or Premiere afterward either, if you’re careful.

DJI Osmo 360 review: A good allrounder

DJI’s experience with drone videography and action cameras have resulted in a 360-degree camera that does an awful lot of work. It’s small enough to go on holiday with, and usable enough to treat like a typical action camera, in cases when you wouldn’t want to use your iPhone.

Despite its size, its resolution and capabilites makes it a viable option for videography usage. Its use of 10-bit footage and optional use of Log will be welcomed, along with the more advanced camera settings.

As a good action camera should, the DJI Osmo 360 is user-friendly for the general public, but with enough options to make more adventurous users happy.

The only real problem is finding a justifiable excuse to whip out the massive selfie stick.

DJI Osmo 360 pros

• 8K resolution, 10-bit video
• Easy to use, with expert options
• Mobile and Mac apps are intuitive and useful
• Pocketable design

DJI Osmo 360 cons

• High MSRP, buy on a discount
• Flaps are a litle fiddly to open

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Where to buy the DJI Osmo 360

The Osmo 360 Standard Combo is $549.99, with the Adventure Combo at $699.99.

The two bundles are available on Amazon, at $357.49, discounted from $549 for the standard bundle. The Adventure combo can be bought for $493.70, discounted from $699.99.

Apple has quietly pushed the Mac mini entry price higher, as the once-standard $599 base model is no longer available on its U.S. online store.

As of May 1, the $599 Mac mini configuration isn’t available to order through Apple’s primary online store. The 256GB model doesn’t appear as a selectable option there.

Higher-priced configurations now define the main lineup, with listed pricing starting at $799, though availability across configurations continues to fluctuate.

The 256GB configuration is also absent from Apple’s education and military storefronts, with no way to order or backorder it.

Refurbished listings still include lower-priced Mac mini configurations when inventory is available, but those units are limited and inconsistent.

When the M4 Mac mini launched on October 29, 2024, Apple positioned it as the company’s most affordable Mac, with a $599 starting price, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage.

Other configurations also show extended shipping delays or limited availability, indicating the constraint affects more than a single model.

The base model was out of stock for roughly two weeks before disappearing from the online store. This change aligns with supply constraints affecting the Mac mini lineup.

Going to be months before supply equals demand

During Apple’s fiscal second-quarter earnings call on April 30, 2026, CEO Tim Cook said demand for Mac mini and Mac Studio has outpaced supply and will take months to stabilize. Rising interest in running AI workloads locally has increased demand for compact Macs and added pressure to already constrained supply.

For buyers, the Mac mini no longer offers a reliable $599 entry point into macOS, with that role now shifting to the MacBook Neo. Mac mini configurations now start closer to $799 in most purchasing scenarios.

From Apple’s side, the move reflects a combination of supply constraints and product positioning. Removing the lowest-cost configuration pushes buyers toward higher-priced models and supports higher average selling prices.

Whether the change, as spotted by MacRumors, is temporary or a longer-term adjustment remains unclear. Earlier reporting points to a Mac mini update later in 2026, but exact timing is uncertain and current availability issues may still affect Apple’s supply chain.

A month after Apple’s AirPods Max 2 went on sale, there’s a lot to like, but little of it is new, and there’s not much reason to upgrade from the original model.

That’s the uncomfortable truth that I came to after spending a few weeks with Apple’s premium headphones. But it also shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who took even a cursory glance at the specs sheet.

Any second-generation product takes what the first-gen model did well and then builds upon it. But with AirPods Max 2, Apple took the easy way out. And it’s a real shame that it did.

AirPods Max 2 do improve upon the original model, bringing some AirPods Pro features along for the ride. Still, too many first-gen problems persist, setting users up for the same frustrations.

And that’s the problem here. Those buyers will spend $549 for a pair of AirPods Max 2 headphones. What they’ll get is great audio, but with issues that shouldn’t be there.

If you’re shopping for great audio with some striking design issues, I have good news for you. There are likely some great OG AirPods Max deals available. You should probably buy those instead.

AirPods Max 2 review: Familiar look, familiar mistakes

When I say that AirPods Max 2 look familiar, I’m not kidding. I’m not even exaggerating, because they’re identical.

That even extends to the colors on offer. There are still five for you to choose from. And they’re still Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, and Orange.

I’ve been using the Midnight headphones, and they have a slightly different hue from my original Space Gray model. Those also have a Lightning connector, but apart from that, they’re almost impossible to tell apart.

AirPods Max 2, of course, have a USB-C port for charging this time around. You can also use a USB-C to USB-C cable if you want to enjoy lossless audio.

Like the original and mid-cycle USB-C refresh, AirPods Max 2 use metal as their material of choice. That means they’re still heavy, weighing in at 386.2 grams or 13.6 ounces.

As someone who isn’t a fan of plastic headphones, I’m happy with the metal construction Apple uses. I also don’t mind the weight because it adds an air of quality to the headset.

What I don’t like is Apple’s continued use of a mesh headband. It’s notorious for stretching and sagging, and there’s little to suggest that AirPods Max 2 buyers won’t have the same issue.

The good news is that there are aftermarket accessories that help here. They attach to the headband and use another material to distribute the weight. You’ll likely spot one on my AirPods Max in some of the photos here.

Controls-wise, nothing has changed here. You’ll find holes for the microphone and for air movement on the left ear cup. On the right, there’s a USB-C port on the bottom.

Up top, Apple’s familiar Digital Crown is used for volume and playback controls. The remaining button is used to cycle between the active noise cancellation (ANC) and Transparency modes.

Finally, there’s the case. It’s the same as the original AirPods Max case and one of the main things I expected Apple to fix with this second generation.

Alas, it chose not to. And this case still does almost nothing to protect the headphones during transit. The top and bottom of the metal ear cups are left bare.

Unfortunately, the case is also the only way to put the AirPods Max 2 to sleep. Leave them out, and they’ll never slip into the deep sleep mode that preserves battery life.

That means you’ll need to fiddle with the case and its magnetic flap a lot. The lack of a way to sleep the headphones outside of the case is another issue I expected to be fixed this time around.

Again, alas.

AirPods Max 2 review: The H2 makes its presence felt

One of the few places where Apple has tweaked things is the use of a new H2 chip. The same chip first debuted in Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 from 2022, so it’s not new technology.

It’s new to Apple’s headphones, though, and brings with it some new features. Apple says the new chip is capable of improved audio processing. But as Andrew O’Hara said in his initial review, you’ll be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Apple also says that AirPods Max 2 offer 1.5x more active noise cancellation than the previous generation. I can’t refute the claim, but AirPods Max were already class leaders here, and I’ve found AirPods Max 2 to be just as good.

Thankfully, you will notice a difference if you use any of these new features:

• Adaptive EQ adjusts the sound based on the fit and seal between the ear cups and your head.
• Live Translation that translates languages as someone speaks
• Adaptive Audio that adjusts the ANC and Transparency modes based on the volume of your environment.
• Conversational Awareness that lowers the volume when someone speaks to you and raises it when they’re done.
• Personalized Volume automatically adjusts the volume after learning your preferences.
• Head gestures so you can control Siri by shaking and nodding your head.
• A Camera Remote feature means you can press the Digital Crown to take a photo using your iPhone.

Remember that these features are also available on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3. Some are even present on the entry-level AirPods 4 as well.

The H2 also handles all of the features AirPods owners have become accustomed to. Instant device pairing and switching are still present, and as welcome as ever.

Rounding out the features, Apple’s H2 helps AirPods Max 2 run for up to 20 hours between charges, even with ANC and Spatial Audio enabled. I’ve found that to be a reasonable expectation, and they charge quickly using a USB-C cable.

AirPods Max 2 review: Apple’s audio chops shine again

Apple knows how to make great audio. It’s proven it with all of its most recent AirPods wireless earbuds, and it proved it with the original AirPods Max.

With AirPods Max 2, it’s once again proven that few can compete with its wireless audio capabilities.

AirPods Max 2 sound excellent. They benefit from new high dynamic range amplifiers this time around, marking the one hardware change besides the H2 chip.

The result is the familiar, rich AirPods Max sound. Except, dare I say, turned up to 11 this time around.

Music sounds warm and full of body thanks to a strong bass performance when the audio calls for it. The highs may be a little on the brighter side than some might like, but that’s nitpicking.

With the excellent ANC enabled, AirPods Max 2 make it easy to fall into an album. It envelopes you. In a desert of lackluster wireless headphones, AirPods Max 2 are an oasis of crisp, clear sound.

But then, so are AirPods Max. Even over five years after their 2020 release, I’ve yet to find wireless headphones that have bettered them.

And yes, that applies to AirPods Max 2 as well. They’re every inch as good as AirPods Max, but better? I’ve yet to experience it, unfortunately.

Rounding things out on a more positive note, AirPods Max 2’s ANC and Transparency modes don’t disappoint. Again, Apple’s headphones surely sit at the top of the pile in both regards, although Sony continues to give it a run for its money.

AirPods Max 2 review: A missed opportunity

As I sit here, writing this review while listening to AirPods Max 2, I find myself disappointed. Not because they don’t live up to the original, but because Apple had such a solid foundation to build upon.

And yet, it chose not to.

As great as AirPods Max 2 sound, and as much as I enjoy listening to them, they’re almost impossible to recommend.

For existing AirPods Max owners, there’s little here to warrant spending so much money to upgrade. Not unless one of the new H2-powered features calls to you, and not when all of the same mistakes have been made.

They’re an easier sell to anyone considering AirPods Max 2 as their first Apple headphones. But you absolutely need to be aware of the problems before you put down your $549.

As I write this in 2026, AirPods Max 2 are likely the best-sounding wireless headphones I’ve ever worn. But whether they’re the best, overall, is a harder question to answer.

At $549, they’re a costly purchase. They don’t have a real case to keep them safe, and there’s no way to turn them off. They’re also heavier than most people will be used to, and the headband mesh will likely sag much sooner than it should.

If you’re still happy to throw down $549 for AirPods Max 2 with that in mind, more power to you. You’re going to get a pair of headphones that sound great with excellent ANC for your money.

Or you could save a hundred dollars or more and get the original. They’ll sound great.

AirPods Max 2 review: Pros

• No wireless headphones sound better
• Industry-leading ANC and Transprency mode
• H2 chip adds some nice-to-have features
• Instant pairing and device switching

AirPods Max 2 review: Cons

• They still won’t sleep outside of the case
• Smart case offers little protection
• Same colors as last-gen model
• Costly at $549

AirPods Max 2 rating: 4 out of 5

Scoring something like AirPods Max 2 out of five is difficult. Scoring anything out of five isn’t easy, but when you’re reviewing the successor to a previous release, things get more complicated. In the case of AirPods Max 2, Apple has a good pair of headphones on its hands. They sound great, and are about as premium-feeling as these things get.

On the other hand, AirPods Max 2 don’t improve upon AirPods Max in ways that I think they should have. The improvements that have been made are unlikely to change the game for most headphone buyers, too.

In choosing a score, I’ve gone with a 4 because, in isolation, AirPods Max 2 are a quality product. If AirPods Max didn’t exist, they’d easily get a 4 for their sound and build quality.

If you already own AirPods Max, consider the review score a 3 or 3.5, instead. AirPods Max 2’s score would be reduced by the lack of meaningful improvements to the original’s shortcomings.

For AirPods Max owners, there is little, if any, reason to upgrade to AirPods Max 2.

Where to buy AirPods Max 2

AirPods Max 2 are on sale now at Apple and other retailers, with Amazon and Walmart discounting the headphones slightly.

You can also pick up first-gen AirPods Max with USB-C for $449 at B&H Photo and Walmart while supplies last.

Our AirPods Max Price Guide offers easy price comparison across popular Apple resellers as well.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made it clear, that the company will reinvest any tariff refund it gets into new U.S. manufacturing initiatives, further funding domestic production.

In almost an afterthought at the end of the earnings conference call, Cook made a big announcement. Beyond just going through the recently-announced motions and filing for that tariff refund, Apple has a plan.

While there were no specifics, and nobody left to follow up the statement, Apple will invest what it gets back into US manufacturing.

Tariffs and tariff-related costs continue to pressure results, though Apple hasn’t framed them as a dominant constraint in the March quarter. Prior disclosures show those costs remain significant, and performance indicates Apple is absorbing much of the impact instead of raising prices.

Apple is making a deliberate tradeoff to protect pricing stability and demand. Scale is helping hold volume steady even as rising costs limit margin expansion.

Tariffs are now a recurring cost line

Apple has previously disclosed tariff and tariff-related costs ranging from about $800 million in a single quarter to more than $1.4 billion as rates and volumes shifted during and after the U.S.-China trade war. Figures include more than direct import duties and account for added costs tied to logistics and supply chain adjustments.

So far, Apple has committed $600 billion to domestic manufacturing. While the about $3 billion it will get back from tariffs is a small slice of that, Cook promised new projects will be funded with those refunds.

Tariffs have moved from a policy shock to a more predictable cost structure. Apple now treats them as an ongoing expense alongside currency shifts and component pricing.

Apple has largely absorbed those costs so far and kept pricing stable across most of its hardware while posting strong financial results. Restraint suggests the company is testing how far it can hold prices as demand for premium devices remains strong but not unlimited.

Supply chain shifts reduce risk but don’t remove pressure

Supply chain changes remain one of Apple’s main tools for managing tariff exposure, and the strategy has clear limits. Apple has expanded manufacturing outside China and increased iPhone production in India while shifting more assembly of other products to Vietnam.

Moves reduce reliance on any single region for U.S.-bound devices but don’t remove the underlying cost pressure. Shifts to improve resilience cannot match China’s scale, efficiency, and supplier concentration.

China still plays a central role in Apple’s global manufacturing footprint, particularly for high-volume and high-end production. Moving capacity at scale takes years, which constrains how quickly Apple can rebalance its supply chain even as diversification continues.

The company is turning tariffs from a one-time financial shock into a manageable ongoing cost. Apple is relying on its scale, supply chain adjustments, and financial flexibility to keep growing.

There are no signs of Apple slowing down in Q3 2026, as it is likely to see even more year-over-year growth in spite of a tough comparison for iPad.

Apple just had a record-breaking March quarter that brought in $111.2 billion in revenue. It seems that momentum won’t be slowing going into Q3.

Apple Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh shared forward-looking statements for Q3 2026 that estimate up to 14% to 17% growth year-over-year. That would mean growth from 2025’s $94 billion up to $110 billion for 2026.

In addition to that growth, Apple expects a gross margin of 47.5% to 48.5%. Operational expenditure is between $18.8 billion and $19.1 billion.

Clearly, Apple is going to ride the successes of its current iPhone and Mac lineup all the way into the fall. The iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo, and other recent products have been selling very well with supply being the only constraint to demand.

Growth in China has also been a big lift for Apple due to continued demand for the iPhone 17 lineup. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed this to having devices that resonate with people, not necessarily better government relations.

There’s a chance that Q3 won’t have any new hardware, and that includes the long-expected iPad with A19. Parekh specifically called out that the iPad would have a tough compare in Q3 due to the year-ago release of the iPad with A16.

That’s the closest we’ll get to Apple saying that there won’t be any new iPads without an explicit confirmation.

Services are expected to see similar year-over-year growth. That could be aided in some fashion by the new App Store contract system for annual subscriptions.

The results for Q3 will be revealed at the end of July, which will likely be Cook’s last earnings call. He’s ending on a nice round number of 90 total earnings calls in his career at Apple.

The Iodyne Pro Data 24TB delivers enormous uninterrupted transfer speed, isn’t network attached, and it isn’t limited to one user. It’s also a $14,995 wallet-breaking money-saver for the right audience.

It’s not every day we get a second loaner for a review product years after the fact.

The market has changed, workflows have changed, since we first reviewed the Iodyne Pro Data. Video workflows are getting bigger and bigger with 8K HDR 3D, and so forth. A single iPod like the Lord of the Rings dailies were shuttled around on are a thing of the past.

Thunderbolt 5 isn’t as fast as it could be. The media inside is impacted by cache and slow writes as that cache fills up with large transfers.

The Iodyne Pro Data aims to let the user have their cake and eat it too. It is, in effect, a giant external drive that can be accessed by multiple Macs at the same time.

All at Thunderbolt speeds, uninterrupted by full caches, and not throttled by transferring over a network.

It’s costly, of course. It’s also a money-saver if you’re moving enormous files around.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review: Physical design

The Pro Data is hefty. At 15.39 inches long by 10 inches wide, it has a considerable footprint on any desk. It’s also 1.22 inches thick, or 1.4 inches including the feet.

So, it’s fortunate that there’s a vertical stand included.

It’s physically larger than a 16-inch MacBook Pro. It also happens to be heavier than a MacBook Pro, at 7.3 pounds. Its aluminum enclosure, which helps with thermal management, certainly counts a lot towards that figure.

I tested putting it into the ebags Pro Slim Laptop Backpack, a pretty typical tech bag capable of holding a 17-inch notebook. It fits, but only barely. If your bag is thick enough, you can cram in your 16-inch MacBook Pro, too, but don’t try this with one of the thinner bags.

For single-person use, this is really impractical compared to a much smaller and lighter external drive. And, a single person can store data locally.

But, in the context of being used by a group of people on a project, this is still relatively portable. At least, it’s better than your typical boxy NAS in this respect.

The supplied power brick is relatively small and is a 180W Gallium Nitride (GaN) charger. It’s a merciful addition, given the overall mass of the unit.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review: Connectivity

The interesting thing about the Iodyne Pro Data is that it is intended as a fast storage device that runs off Thunderbolt, for multiple users. That lends itself to the relatively lean connection setup at hand here.

On one edge, there are eight Thunderbolt ports, each of which connects at 40Gbps. They are divided up into pairs, with each consisting of an upstream to a Mac and a downstream for other hardware to be connected.

For the upstream, you’ve got two options. One: four users can access the storage.

And two, the more interesting use case: if you need even more speed, you can connect two of the upstream ports to one Mac.

As originally reviewed, and is still the case today, each port is 40Gbps.

As for the downstream ports, each can be used to daisy-chain more Thunderbolt devices. You can connect up to six devices as a daisy-chain for each Thunderbolt pair, though that chain only works with the host connected to that pair’s upstream port.

That means if you have two upstream connections to one Mac, the host can also use two of the daisy chains, in what is called by Iodyne as Thunderbolt Multipathing.

It’s possible to use all four Thunderbolt connections with one host Mac. That’s really only practical if you want to maximize the daisy-chaining capability, and it isn’t possible at all on the MacBook Pro, since there are only three Thunderbolt ports now.

And yes, to be clear, all computers connected to the upstream ports can access the storage in the device.

As for host connectivity, a pair of 1-meter (3.2-feet) Thunderbolt cables is included. You are going to need to get more — and longer — cables if you want to connect more Macs.

There’s support for macOS 13.0 or later, with Windows 10 version 21H2 and Ubuntu 22.04 or later also capable of connecting to the device.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review: Storage

The Pro Data includes 12 NVMe SSDs, with supplied capacities between 12TB and 192TB. The version supplied to the review is 24TB in capacity, holding 12 2TB drives.

However, it is possible to expand the storage considerably, with Iodyne claiming it can go up to 6.9 petabytes. However, really, it’s a maximum of 576TB using built-in drives, with the petabyte level achieved using daisy-chaining.

This would be an astronomically expensive thing to do, but at least there’s headroom.

If you do want to add more, it is possible to take the enclosure off and replace the NVMe drives yourself. There’s no fixed-in-place storage here.

The panel can be removed by loosening just two screws, with each NVMe M.2 SSD able to be pulled after removing one more. Each module also has its own heatsink to help cool each drive.

All of these drives are connected and configured under RAID-0 or RAID-6. RAID-0 stripes data across all drives with no redundancy, so it’s full-speed but without a failsafe option.

RAID-6 is the more favorable one, as it uses dual parity to allow for two drives in the array to fail and still keep the data intact, while sacrificing some capacity. This provides robust redundancy, which, for the kind of projects this sort of drive would be used for, is the best option.

For the 24TB version supplied to us, that equates to 20 terabytes of usable storage.

The supplied software to manage and configure the device lets you set up separate containers with different properties. For example, one container could have RAID-6 and a large capacity as well as a password, while another could be a RAID-0 scratch disk without a password.

Practically speaking, you can configure storage for specific users or Macs, or for multiple Macs to use, depending on the task.

You can enable per-container passwords, using XTS-AES-256 encryption and a hardware Secure Enclave. Up to 15 containers can be set up per unit, which should be more than enough for small teams.

The software management in the app is also used to monitor the health of each installed SSD, warning of hardware issues when they come up.

You can also register the unit with the Iodyne Cloud, though it’s not a cloud storage service. Really, it takes telemetry reports on the health of the Pro Data itself and the SSD modules, not stored data.

This is very handy since replacements for under-warranty drives can be sent to users automatically at no charge. Users are also guided on how to replace the drive to minimize downtime.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review: Performance

I want to get this in front of this section, as it is key to the entire product, and why it exists.

This unit will run at maximum speed, essentially until the drive is full. You won’t be held back by slow SSD caches as the transfer size increases.

According to Iodyne, it is capable of up to 5.2 gigabytes per second for read speeds and up to 2.4 gigabytes per second for writes.

This sounds impressive, and it is. It’s also something we observed for ourselves, with 5.2 GBps on reads and 2.2 GBps for writes under multi-path RAID-0.

Single-path connections will be a little limited by the 40Gbps Thunderbolt connectivity. However, at 3.1 GBps for reads and 1.8GBps for writes, also under RAID-0, it’s still more than adequate for a single transfer.

If you were to throw multiple users at it, the bandwidth will hit a bottleneck as all that bandwidth will be consumed. But even that is an extreme case.

In our testing, the speeds aren’t linearly cut, but you do see a bit of a drop as more devices connect up. Connecting two Macs using two Thunderbolt cables each and with different containers, reads reached 2.6 gigabytes per second, and writes were at 950 megabytes per second.

At three devices, we saw 2.1 gigabytes per second reads and 700 megabytes per second writes.

Changing over to RAID-6 instead of RAID-0, performance does dip a tiny bit. But, at about 200 megabytes per second down for both reads and writes, and under single- and multi-path modes, this is still a pretty speedy connection here.

One key point to clarify here is that the connection speeds are sustained over several hours. The bandwidth doesn’t dip over time as data is thrown at it.

Single- or dual-drive units will hit a transfer wall quickly. Each SSD has an onboard cache, which absorbs as much of the inbound data as possible and feeds it into the main storage element over time.

Normally, this results in a fast transfer at first, either to DRAM or relatively faster flash media, before slowing as the cache gets full. However, since we’re talking about 12 drives and therefore 12 cache allocations, that’s constant cache availability, especially since the data is striped across drives.

The sheer number of drives and caches means that you’re just about always going to have this high level of transfer speed.

And that’s the key to the Iodyne Pro Data. If you’re moving 20TB of data, it can take half a day on a dual-drive enclosure. It will just take a few hours on this unit.

If you buy one, take advantage of the container capabilities. There’s no versioning in play here, just bare RAID storage, so you have to be careful of users potentially overwriting the work of others if they are all working collaboratively on the same file.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review: It’s expensive and probably not for you

The idea of a massive and fast data store is a very appealing thought for most computer users. That said, the vast majority of people have no real need for this sort of device in the first place.

Partly because of the price, partly because of its utility.

It is safe to say that the cost is prohibitive for your average home user. To get the cheapest configuration at 12TB, you would have to pay $5,995.

The version sent to us, 24TB, would set you back a steep $14,995, with 48TB at $29,995, and 96TB for $58,995. The top-spec option, 192TB, is $117,995. The two new capacities were released after our first review, and the price of the smaller ones was half of what it is now.

Again, thanks AI data farms buying up all the flash media that’s made. This is your fault.

The key to remember here is that it is really specialized gear. It’s Thunderbolt storage designed to work with multiple hosts, with consistent data speeds, which really is something designed for a really narrow use case.

In the course of this second review, I’ve spoken to animation houses that have produced movies you have seen, some military and federal folks that need consistent transfer speeds, and filmmakers who have made movies that you’ve watched. I even threw in a few large YouTube channels to boot.

To a person, they all salivated at the hardware. They uniformly said that this would fix one workflow or another, where data ingestion speeds and access to that data by more than one user were major, major bottlenecks for production.

That said, home users working on just one Mac at home would find getting a NAS or a normal external drive to be a much more fiscally prudent approach.

Really, this sort of hardware is made for groups of people with a need to deal with a ton of data, and therefore need consistently high speed. That, as well as the pricing, puts it firmly into enterprise, federal, and creative industry offices.

If you’re producing a video and need to offload tons of video to a central store, so it can then be worked on by editors who are also on location, this device makes perfect sense. It’s more than fast enough to ingest footage and have that data available instantly for editors to immediately work on it.

Its size is also an advantage, as you can also imagine that same team of people being used to carrying around a lot of other equipment. A seven-pound storage appliance that is shaped like a very large notebook wouldn’t be much of a burden in that instance.

The mention of small teams working closely together on location is also apt, since it’s all based on Thunderbolt connections. If you want to connect at the maximum speed the 40Gbps Thunderbolt connections can manage, you’re going to be limited to keeping your Mac within about nine feet of the device.

A NAS device using Ethernet can cover a very large area, but in 2026 and probably through 2035, will not come close to delivering this speed. If you want the speed, you’re going to have to play within the limitations of the Thunderbolt specifications, and shell out for some expensive cables too.

As it stands, the Iodyne Pro Data 24TB is a great tool for YouTubers and others with data needs in both capacity and speed, and can afford it. In that respect, there’s no complaint to be made.

Calling it overkill for a home user who happens to have the spare cash lying around for it is an understatement. Unless they happen to be working on projects that require high-speed storage access in a locally collaborative fashion, there’s no need for this.

For the kind of groups and situations where it is useful to employ the Iodyne Pro Data, it is worth the weight of your choice of precious metal.

The average user, or even the most prosumer user, should not even begin to think about getting one.

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review pros

• Massive bandwidth, massive fast storage
• User serviceable
• Per-host daisy-chaining

Iodyne Pro Data 24TB review cons

• Usage range is limited by Thunderbolt cable specifications
• Massively expensive

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

I hate giving scores because they will never be universal. It’s clear that this product is not for the home, not for the small office, and not even for most large companies.

To be clear, the score here is based on it being useful for the target market, its intended purpose being to move mass quantities of data around, as fast as possible, for as long as possible.

For that, it is an incredible product. For that, it is best in class, and it is not close right now.

There’s no better product in this capacity to do that. You know if you need it already, and if you’re on the fence, you probably don’t, and have better options.

It’s been incredibly fun showing this off to people, and having that kind of consistent speed has been a joy to play around with. I’m going to miss it when it goes back.

Where to buy the Iodyne Pro Data 24TB

Iodyne sells the Pro Data directly, starting from $5,995 for 12TB. The 24TB model loaned for this review costs $14,995.

It’s also available from B&H Photo, with the 12TB priced at $5,995 and the 24TB at $14,495.

A new rumor suggests Apple Vision Pro hardware may be dead, but the dissolution of a team doesn’t necessarily mean that pipeline is dead. If anything, it’s business as usual.

Whenever Apple releases a new product category, there seems to be this industry drive to find its weak points and jab at it until it dies. Apple Vision Pro may not be a blockbuster, but it is the entry point to Spatial Computing, which Apple still believes to be its future.

According to a report from MacRumors, Apple Vision Pro hardware as it stands in April 2026 may truly be dead. The story suggests that Apple has likely given up on the platform due to a lack of consumer interest after the M5 update.

The evidence presented is an anonymous tip about changes to the Apple Vision Pro team. Apparently, Apple has redistributed the team to other projects, including Siri. We believe what MacRumors has been told, and we know our friends over there do good work.

Let’s examine the big picture.

A reorganization, not a death

The Apple Vision Pro is a very strange product for Apple. First off, it had a dedicated team for developing just this one piece of hardware, which is unusual for Apple.

In short, there isn’t a dedicated iPhone, HomePod, Apple TV, or iPad team and there is or was one for Apple Vision Pro hardware. Everyone contributes to the development of each new product, except for Apple Vision Pro.

The Apple Silicon team develops chips, the design team works on how the product looks, the software team puts together the operating system. They’re all working to create Apple’s next-generation of hardware rather than being siloed into specific product divisions.

Apple Vision Pro was different. It was given special attention by Tim Cook, as he saw it as the future of Apple and Spatial Computing.

Mike Rockwell’s Technology Development Group was renamed the Vision Products Group, notably not the Apple Vision Pro Products Group, when it took up the task of building Apple Vision Pro.

The operating system at the core of Apple Vision Pro, visionOS, is still under Rockwell’s oversight. Even if Apple Vision Pro doesn’t see a hardware revision soon, the OS will continue to be updated.

Tech has to catch up

We still don’t know if Apple Vision Pro is considered a flop internally, but it sold somewhere north of 600,000 units in its first year, and more since. Whatever Apple’s success metrics, the device is out there and being used by consumers and enterprises alike.

After the M5 model was released in October, there was likely little reason to keep a dedicated team to support and expand on this particular form factor. Apple is now in a holding pattern as it waits for modern technology to catch up with its demands for a true second-generation model, or its smart glasses concept.

Jony Ive shared that Apple Watch was in development for years because it couldn’t exist with the available technology. That first iteration couldn’t come out until the display, battery, and housing could all fit into that unit.

The same is true for a next-generation Apple Vision Pro-like product. Apple most likely has plenty of ideas and prototypes for what is next, but getting it smaller, lighter, and keeping it just as powerful likely isn’t possible today.

Also, Apple doesn’t need a dedicated team for research and development. Prototyping occurs within its own department, so keeping a talented group of engineers on a product that could be a year or more away from being realized is wasteful.

Apple’s Spatial Computing ambitions are still high

Rockwell is now overseeing AI and Siri development, and it has been reported that parts of the Apple Vision Pro team joined him as early as April 2025. That’s where Apple’s focus has been since WWDC 2024, so of course the best and brightest are there.

Then there’s Apple’s push into smart glasses. These aren’t a visionOS or Spatial Computing project. If anything, they’re AirPods with frames.

Eventually, smart glasses could collide with Spatial Computing development and result in the long-rumored Apple Glass, or AR glasses. For now, the technology is nowhere near ready.

Apple has clearly not given up on its AR and Spatial Computing ambitions. Its job listings are filled with AR, VR, and Vision positions. There’s some keyword spam in here, but we stopped counting at 200 positions that directly apply to a headset or glasses of some sort.

There is also little doubt that visionOS 27 will get dedicated time during WWDC 26. Also, Apple has spent a lot of time getting an entire streaming and entertainment platform built around Apple Immersive Video.

As always, what Apple Vision Pro lacks the most is developer support. I hope that WWDC shows some signs of life in that area, but only time will tell.

For now, I can confidently say that Apple isn’t abandoning Apple Vision, even if Apple Vision Pro has hit the end of the line in this form factor. The overall “vision” product may not be updated for a year or more as we wait for technology to catch up, but that doesn’t mean Apple has given up on the concept.

Apple will have to comply with previous mandates as it takes its fight with Epic Games back to the Supreme Court, so expect App Store changes soon.

The Apple vs Epic saga is years long and could easily fill a book at this point, but it hasn’t ended yet. The latest update comes after Apple won a stay against enforcing App Store changes as it appealed the Supreme Court.

That stay was short-lived, as Epic immediately appealed the stay and 9to5Mac shared that it has won. The US Ninth Circuit Court has reversed the stay it placed on enforcing a mandate that would require Apple to change how it charges developers for external purchases.

Basically, Apple won on every count in the Epic lawsuit except one. It was ordered to end its anti-steering rules and allow external purchases.

Apple complied, but its new setup for external commissions was constructed in a way that wouldn’t make it worthwhile for developers to adopt. Apple was found in contempt of the order, and an injunction was filed to force Apple to allow external purchases with zero commission.

The injunction was appealed again and again, and eventually an agreement was reached that Apple should be allowed to charge a commission, just not 27%. A later ruling said that Apple and Epic must decide on what would be acceptable, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Apple was taking the case to the Supreme Court again and requested that the negotiations over a new fee and more App Store changes be stayed. It argued that there would be no need for lower court involvement until the Supreme Court appeal was done, and that stay was granted.

Epic appealed that stay order, and that’s where we are today. Even as Apple appeals to the Supreme Court, it will have to go back to the lower courts and work out the new commission structure.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney took to social media to celebrate.

Apple’s delaying tactics have come to an end! Now Epic v Apple returns to Judge Gonzales Rogers for hearings on exactly what fees Apple can charge to recoup costs of reviewing apps using competing payment methods. https://t.co/eukYzpu0dY

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 29, 2026

That’s quite the fall from wanting free and open access to the App Store user base. Even as Epic “wins,” Apple still gets to collect its dues.

Apple has the power to end this

Given that the case was refused at the Supreme Court already, it doesn’t seem like things will go Apple’s way. The company may not be able to charge as much as it wants, but at least the courts have agreed it is owed something.

All of these regulatory cases around the world can’t be avoided when you’re as big as Apple. However, I fully believe that Apple could reduce the pain if it wanted to.

It is well within Apple’s power and resources to come up with a new App Store commission system that would still earn it plenty of money, that governments would approve of, and only a few developers might sneer at. Epic will never be satisfied short of running Apple’s App Store itself for all of the profit, but others would be happy with more revenue.

This ongoing epic began in 2020 with Epic purposefully violating App Store policy so it could goad Apple into a lawsuit. The entire campaign was pitched as Epic taking on big bad Apple and even came with a 1984-style advert.

Like with Spotify and other giants that take on Apple, it’s about maximizing their bottom line while leeching off of Apple’s user base. Users might benefit in the long run, but Epic has paid more than a billion dollars for what could be considered rather small victories.