Top Stories

This week’s top stories: AirPods Max officially announced, Apple Fitness+ launch date, more

Chance Miller | Dec 13 2020 - 1:45 pm PT

In this week’s top stories: Apple officially announces AirPods Max, Apple Fitness+ gets a release date, Apple surveys iPhone 12 users, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.

AirPods Max

Apple this week officially announced its new AirPods Max, bringing a higher-end over-ear headphone option to the AirPods lineup. The AirPods Max feature a stainless steel design and they come in at $549 — but they’re already back ordered until into 2021.

AirPods Max up to 20 hours of high-fidelity audio, talk time, or movie playback with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled. There is also support for head detection, so AirPods Max can intelligently detect when they are placed on a user’s head and pause playback when removed.

You can learn more about AirPods Max in our full coverage right here.

Apple Fitness+

Apple Fitness+ will launch to the public on December 14, Apple announced this week. Apple Fitness+ will cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. It is also included in the Apple One Premier bundle for $30 per month.

Apple Fitness+ will be located inside the Fitness app on the iPhone, running iOS 14. You can also get the workouts on the Apple Watch, and Apple is also launching a Fitness app for the Apple TV. For the initial launch, Apple Fitness+ is available in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Apple Silicon rumors

A new report from Bloomberg this week described that Apple is working on successors to the M1 with up to 20 CPU cores, made up of 16 high performance and 4-efficiency cores. In 2021, the company is expected to roll out ARM versions of the higher-end MacBook Pro, “both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops”. An ARM Mac Pro is scheduled to follow in 2022.

Find more details in our full coverage.

Holiday buying guides

Finally, we continue to offer holiday gift guides and buying guides at 9to5Mac. So far we’ve offered detailed advice on Apple Watch gifts, AirPods vs AirPods Pro, and more.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS | tvOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

Mac and iPad |

AirPods|

Apps |

This week’s top videos |

9to5Mac Daily |

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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Apple + OpenAI rumors, iPad durability testing – 9to5Mac Daily

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Subscribe to support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock: Ad-free versions of every episode Bonus content New episodes of 9to5Mac Daily are recorded every weekday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they’re available. Stories discussed in this episode: New iPad Pro performs well in extreme bend test, beats previous-gen Here’s how the new iOS Cross-Platform Tracking Detection works iOS 18: Apple finalizing deal to bring ChatGPT to iPhone Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Overcast RSS Spotify TuneIn Google Podcasts Subscribe to support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock: Ad-free versions of every episode Bonus content Catch up on 9to5Mac Daily episodes! Don’t miss out on our other daily podcasts: Quick Charge 9to5Toys Daily Share your thoughts! Drop us a line at happyhour@9to5mac.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

9to5Mac Watch Time |

Jeff Benjamin joins Zac Hall to give Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 5 an exit interview before new models are announced. 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives.

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Week 6 – 9to5Mac Watch Time

This week on Watch Time join 9to5Mac's Zac Hall and Tempo developer Rahul Matta in the final episode of this podcast "season". 9to5Mac Watch Time is a podcast series hosted by Zac Hall. In this series, we talk to real people about how Apple Watch is affecting their lives. Subscribe now to catch up with each episode and automatically hear new episodes as soon as they’re released every two weeks: 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🟠 Overcast | 🟢 Spotify Follow Zac Instagram @apollozac Twitter @apollozac SpaceExplored.com Follow Rahul Matta Twitter @rmatta Twitter @TempoLog Blog indie.sh Follow 9to5Mac Instagram @9to5mac Twitter @9to5mac Facebook YouTube.com/9to5Mac Listen & Subscribe Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast RSS Read More Toning down the Apple Watch: Tips and feature requests to avoid being overwhelmed Apple releases watchOS 7.4.1 with security improvements Apple Watch blood sugar and blood pressure measurement could be a step closer watchOS 7.4 brings iPhone mask unlock feature for Apple Watch Enjoy the podcast? Shop Apple at Amazon to support 9to5Mac Watch Time!

9to5Mac Happy Hour Podcast |

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New iPad Pro released, iOS 18 accessibility features, Apple AI servers – 9to5Mac Happy Hour

Benjamin gives his thoughts on his brief experience using the new M4 iPad Pro hardware, while Chance ponders a purchase. Apple previews some exciting new iOS 18 accessibility features, and we gist more insight into Apple’s AI plans with reports that the company is already hosting Apple Silicon chips in its server farms. And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin and Chance react to the increasing likelihood that John Ternus becomes Apple’s next CEO, in the fullness of time. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join. Sponsored by Incogni: Limit public access to your private information, mitigate the risks of identity theft, and keep your data from being sold. Use code “happyhour” at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/happyhour Sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs: LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/HAPPYHOUR. 9to5Mac Happy Hour Plus Introducing 9to5Mac Happy Hour Plus! Support Benjamin and Chance directly with Happy Hour Plus! 9to5Mac Happy Hour Plus includes: Ad-free versions of every episode Pre- and post-show content Monthly bonus episodes Join for $5 per month or $50 a year at 9to5mac.com/join. Hosts Chance Miller @ChanceHMiller on Twitter @chancehmiller@mastodon.social @ChanceHMiller on Instagram @ChanceHMiller on Threads Benjamin Mayo @bzamayo on Twitter @bzamayo@mastodon.social @bzamayo on Threads Subscribe, Rate, and Review Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Feedback Submit #Ask9to5Mac questions on Twitter, Mastodon, or Threads Email us feedback and questions to happyhour@9to5mac.com Links Here’s how the new iOS Cross-Platform Tracking Detection works Apple announces new accessibility features, including Eye Tracking – Apple iOS 17.5 is now available: Here's everything you need to know Apple previews iOS 18 accessibility features including eye tracking and music haptics CarPlay in iOS 18 will add these new accessibility features iOS 18 will let you use custom voice phrases to trigger actions Vision Pro will soon be able to show live captions of everything being spoken around you M4 iPad Pro reviews praise OLED display; criticize price, software Hands-on with the nano-texture M4 iPad Pro [Video] Here's how much lighter the iPad Pro's new Magic Keyboard actually is Not an iPad Pro Review: Why iPadOS Still Doesn’t Get the Basics Right Apple reportedly developing new dedicated chip for AI data centers Bloomberg: iOS 18 AI tech to rely on data centers with Apple silicon iOS 18: Apple finalizing deal to bring ChatGPT to iPhone Apple to unveil brand new Siri at WWDC powered by generative AI iPhone 17 rumors: New design, 'Slim' model to replace 'Plus’, more Apple allegedly planning foldable 20.3-inch hybrid for 2025, foldable iPhone in 2026 John Ternus emerging as most likely successor to Tim Cook as Apple CEO

Stacktrace Podcast |

Stacktrace by 9to5Mac is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Stacktrace has moved! – Stacktrace

As we've mentioned in the last episode, the Stacktrace podcast is no longer a part of the 9to5Mac network. If you're seeing this entry in your podcast player, then you probably need to unfollow Stacktrace and follow the podcast again. Start by unfollowing the show in your podcast player, then just search for "Stacktrace" and follow the show again. You'll notice that the updated show has a new artwork and that episode 179 has already been released there. To learn more about how to listen to Stacktrace, check out our new website. Thanks for listening!

Apple @ Work Podcast |

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Pull requests are welcome – Apple @ Work

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