Apple has moved on to a new round of developer beta testing for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and related updates, and the public beta program open to everyone should be kicking off very soon. The next iPhone launch is also just two months away now, and we're continuing to hear rumors about what to expect from the next-generation models, while we've heard more this week about a rumored iPhone SE 4 and an upcoming external Mac monitor that could double as a smart home display. Finally, Meta this week launched its Twitter competitor known as Threads, and it's seen rapid uptake thanks to its integration with Instagram. Read on for all the details on this week's biggest stories! Everything New…

Macworld Apple’s plan to launch a new Apple Watch Ultra model with a microLED display has taken another knock. It’s been reported this week that the device has hit manufacturing problems and is now unlikely to launch until 2026. This isn’t the first setback to afflict the microLED Ultra. When it was first rumored (as recently as January), pundits predicted that the device would appear at the end of 2024. But by April (based on a subscribers-only tweet from reliable displays expert Ross Young) this had been pushed back to 2025. Now research company TrendForce (via Korean-language site The Elec) says it won’t be here until the first quarter of 2026 at the earliest. In other words, within the space…

Macworld The first iOS 17 Developer Beta was released on the first day of WWDC, as is tradition. While it is meant for developers to begin building apps using new frameworks and APIs, and to test and send bug reports if their apps don’t work with the new software, it is technically available to anyone with a developer account. In fact, the Developer Beta used to require a paid membership to the developer program, which costs $99 a year. With iOS 17, Apple changed its policy to allow even those with free developer accounts (which otherwise only provide access to the developer forums and Xcode) to download the iOS 17 Developer Beta. Still, we recommend waiting for the Public Beta…

Macworld Mozilla celebrated the Fourth of July with the release of Firefox 115.0, which includes a number of new features and security fixes. Of note is that this is the final version that supports macOS Mojave 10.14, macOS High Sierra 10.13, and macOS 10.12 Sierra. Users of those operating systems will update to the Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox 115. ESR versions are basically maintenance releases; they get security updates and stability fixes, but Mozilla does not provide new features. If you’re using a version of macOS older than Sierra, then you’ve already been switched to an ESR Firefox release. Here is a list of the new features, according to the release notes. Migrating from another browser? Now…

Rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE have been circulating since just months after the current model launched in 2022. Below, we have recapped rumors about the device, including potential features and release timing. The latest word comes from UBI Research analyst Dae-Jeong Yoon, who this week said that mass production of the fourth-generation iPhone SE has been delayed until 2025, according to Korean publication The Elec. Other sources agree the device will launch in 2025 at the earliest, including analysts Ming-Chi Kuo, Jeff Pu, and Blayne Curtis. In April, Kuo claimed that the next iPhone SE would be equipped with an Apple-designed 5G modem and have a similar design as the standard iPhone 14, suggesting that the device would have…

The iPhone SE 4 has reportedly been delayed by another year, over continuing concerns about OLED quality from a new Apple supplier.Previous iPhone SE modelsThe rumored iPhone SE 4 has been on, off, and back on again in various forms including as a not-for-sale engineering test. Now The Elec says that the low-cost iPhone is coming, but that it has been delayed. Read more...