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M4 vs. M5 iPad Pro comparison: What’s different?

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M4 vs. M5 iPad Pro
The M5 iPad Pro offers more than just a faster chip upgrade over the M4.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s newest M5 iPad Pro might look the same as its predecessor, the M4 iPad Pro. But when you compare the two tablets’ internals, you realize a lot has changed. It’s not just a minor processor upgrade.

If you’re on the fence about upgrading or plan to buy a new iPad, here’s how the M5 iPad Pro stacks up against the M4 model.

With this Mac app, PDFs will never flummox you again

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Photo of a person using PDF Converter Pro on a laptop
Try out this Mac-compatible PDF editor and converter instead of the pricey Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Ever been annoyed when someone sends you a PDF instead of a file you can edit? An all-in-one PDF editor like PDF Converter Pro can help, and it doesn’t need to cost a fortune.

Lifetime licenses for the Mac PDF app are on sale for $24.99 with code PDF15 (regularly $99.99) for a limited time.

Blazing-fast M5 MacBook Pro beats Apple’s own performance claim

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M5 performance
The new Apple M5 processor is wicked fast.
Image: Google Gemini

Anyone feeling underwhelmed by Apple’s promise that its new M5 CPU runs up to 15% faster than its predecessor needs to check out the first benchmark score for the M5-powered MacBook Pro. The upcoming notebook CPU’s multithreaded performance actually comes in more than 20% faster than last year’s model. And it blows older models away.

That said, the improvement in single-core CPU performance isn’t as strong, but still respectable.

New rumor details foldable iPhone screen size — and possible delay

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New rumor details foldable iPhone screen size and possible delay
This AI mockup shows a possible look for the first foldable iPhone.
AI image: chatGPT/Cult of Mac

Apple’s highly anticipated first foldable iPhone could face a delay from 2026 until 2027 because Apple needs more time to finalize design elements like the hinge mechanism, according to a new report. And it also offers some new details on screen size and other specs. 

Apple takes the wheel as Formula 1 exclusive US broadcast partner

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Apple TV is the new home of F1 racing
Apple TV is the new home of F1 racing.
Image: Apple TV

All Formula 1 races will stream on Apple TV thanks to a five-year partnership announced Friday.

“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Formula 1 and offer Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. front-row access to one of the most exciting and fastest-growing sports on the planet,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “2026 marks a transformative new era for Formula 1, from new teams to new regulations and cars with the best drivers in the world, and we look forward to delivering premium and innovative fan-first coverage to our customers in a way that only Apple can.”

Get 3 magnetic USB-C cables that won’t slide, snap or fray for just $35

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White magnetic USB-C charging cable on a mounted metal plate
Get 3-pack of magnetic USB-C charging cables at 35% off the retail price.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Magnetic charging cables charge one of tech’s most annoying problems: Cables have a mind of their own. Typical cables slide off desks, wrap themselves into impossible knots and vanish the second you actually need them.

Not so with Function101’s Stay Cables. These USB-C  magnetic charging cables can keep your devices juiced up, your desk clutter-free, and your cables exactly where you want them. And right now, you can get a three-pack of Stay Cables for just $34.99 (MSRP $53.85).

New Mr. Scorsese documentary looks like a winner [Now streaming!]

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Mr. Scorsese documentary series on Apple TV
The new documentary series debuts October 17.
Photo: Apple TV+

Few film directors have more staying power than Martin Scorsese, famous for decades for early work like Taxi Driver (1976), mid-career achievements like Goodfellas (1990) and recent hits like Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). And on Friday you can stream a five-part documentary series about his life and work on Apple TV. 

Reviews so far are positive — to say the least. “Mr. Scorsese is the best behind-the-scenes reel you’ll ever get to see of the famed director,” raved the Los Angeles Times. “Five hours isn’t nearly long enough to do justice to history’s greatest film-maker,” said The Guardian. And The New York Times called the documentary “a captivating and charismatic profile.”

Read more about the series and watch the Mr. Scorsese trailer and previous teaser trailer below.

Today in Apple history: Performa 6360 is a low-cost multimedia Mac

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The Performa 6320CD Mac delivered a great price-to-performance ratio.
The Performa 6320CD Mac delivered great performance for the price, luring new users.
Photo: Shrine of Apple

October 17: Today in Apple history: Apple launches Performa 6360, a low-cost multimedia Mac October 17, 1996: Apple launches its Performa 6360 Mac in North America, sold elsewhere as the Power Macintosh 6300/160.

An impressive multimedia Mac, the Performa 6360 comes bundled with a TV/video card. It also lets users make phone calls, listen to CDs, and watch television — all of which seemed amazingly futuristic at the time. As Macs went, it was pretty affordable, too.

Price drop: Protect up to 10 devices with a lifetime license to FastestVPN

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Save hundreds with this 10-device deal on a FastestVPN lifetime license.
Keep all your Apple devices safe with a low one-time payment.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

The more devices you own, the more difficulty you will encounter in protecting your privacy from malicious actors and sanctioned snoops. This heavily discounted FastestVPN lifetime license guards up to 10 of your devices, from your MacBook to your iPhone, for just $24.97.

New details leak on first touchscreen MacBook Pro — and it sounds awesome

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touchscreen macbook pro
It could be here in late 2026 or early 2027.
AI image: Grok/Cult of Mac

Apple is finally bringing touchscreens to the Mac, marking a major reversal from the company’s longstanding position against the feature in anything but iPads, according to a Thursday report with tantalizing new details. The first touchscreen MacBook Pro reportedly will arrive in late 2026 or early 2027.

NBA 2K26 brings breathtaking basketball action to Apple Arcade

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NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition
You won’t find a better basketball game for Apple devices than NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition.
Graphic: 2K Games/Apple Arcade

NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition brings the latest update to what many consider the definitive basketball game franchise for Apple devices. It goes way beyond just playing the game with amazing graphics — players can also take a different route and manage their favorite NBA team.

The feature-packed offering is now on Apple Arcade for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

M5 vs. M4: Apple’s latest silicon breakthrough explained

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M5 vs M4 chip
Here are the key differences between Apple's latest chip and its predecessor.
AI image: ChatGPT/Cult of Mac

It’s time for an M5 vs. M4 chip smackdown. Apple unveiled its new M5 chip Wednesday, marking a significant leap forward in on-device artificial intelligence performance over its predecessor.

While maintaining the same core architecture as the M4 chip, the M5 delivers dramatic improvements in AI processing, graphics capabilities and memory bandwidth that position it as Apple’s most AI-focused silicon to date. But it enough to temp would-be upgraders?

Get an M4 Mac mini for just $499

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Mac mini deal
M4 Mac mini is tiny and so is the price (especially with this deal).
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Apple’s tiny yet powerful M4 Mac mini is an amazing deal at any time, and a sale on the desktop computer makes it an even better value. You can get the latest model with 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD for only $499. That’s 17% off the list price.

Configure the Mac mini with an M4 Pro or more memory and you can get it starting at $1,301, which is $98 below the usual cost.

Today in Apple history: Apple offers ice water to Windows users in hell

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Screenshot of iTunes for Windows app.
On this day in 2003, Steve Jobs revealed his plan to bring iTunes to Windows.
Photo: Apple

October 16: Today in Apple history: iTunes Music Store comes to Windows October 16, 2003: Six months after opening the iTunes Music Store for Mac owners, Apple expands the service to Windows computers. This gives PC owners a new, legitimate way to download — and pay for — songs at a time when digital piracy threatens the music industry.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs later quips that making iTunes available to Windows owners is akin to “giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell.”

Meta steals top Apple AI exec behind ‘answer engine’ project

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Image representing Apple's AI knowledge
The brain drain from Apple's AI team is real (and likely to accelerate).
Photo: Apple

Meta continues poaching high-profile executives from Apple’s AI team for its Superintelligence group. The latest hire is Ke Yang, who Apple recently appointed to lead its Answers, Knowledge and Information team.

Apple’s team is making an “answer engine” that will crawl the web to answer simple search queries. 

Steve Jobs $1 coin looks nothing like Steve Jobs

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Image of Steve Jobs $1 coin to be produced by U.S. Mint in 2026.
Hey, look — it's Steve Jobs! At least we think that's Steve Jobs ... although it almost looks like he has moobs.
Image: U.S. Mint

A questionable portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sitting cross-legged in a California meadow will appear on a collectible $1 coin from the U.S. Mint in 2026. It’s a great tribute to Jobs and Apple’s innovation — but you’ll need to squint pretty hard to identify the hippie-turned-techpreneur.

“This design presents a young Steve Jobs sitting in front of a quintessentially northern California landscape of oak-covered rolling hills,” the Mint said in a press release Wednesday. “His posture and expression, as he is captured in a moment of reflection, show how this environment inspired his vision to transform complex technology into something as intuitive and organic as nature itself.”

The Jobs coin — which kinda makes Apple’s late leader look like a young Ellen DeGeneres — is one of four featured in the 2026 American Innovation $1 Coin Program, a commemorative series established to honor U.S. inventors and innovators.

Vision Pro owners can get its biggest upgrade for just $99

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Apple Vision Pro Dual Knit Band
The new Dual Knit Band.
Image: Apple

The Dual Knit Band introduced Wednesday with the new M5-powered Vision Pro is compatible with Apple’s original headset, too. You don’t need to shell out another $3,499 — the extra comfort can be had for a fraction of the price.

Other improvements to the new headset are somewhat minor, with nothing else standing out as a must-have for current Vision Pro owners (all 12 of them lol). The Dual Knit Band might be all you need to spice up life in your spatial computer. 

Going large on M5 iPad Pro storage also scores premium performance

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iPad Pro M5 in Use
Configuring your iPad Pro M5 with loads of storage brings additional perks.
Photo: Apple

Those who want the best performance out of their new M5 iPad Pro need to opt for at least a terabyte of storage. That’s because paying out for additional capacity also brings a faster version of the processor and more RAM. There’s no way to configure the tablet with these features other than to choose a version with plenty of storage.

Plus, only the priciest variants can add nano-texture glass.

Phone 18 Pro’s variable-aperture camera will auto-adjust in dim lighting

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Variable aperture camera coming to iPhone 18 Pro models in 2026
A variable-aperture camera will be a first on an iPhone.
Photo: Apple

Is your iPhone photography hindered by low light and a lack of control over depth of field? Well, good news confirmed: Apple plans to equip its iPhone 18 Pro lineup with variable-aperture camera technology. That marks the first time the tech giant implements the feature in any iPhone, according to a supply-chain report Wednesday that appears to prove earlier predictions right.

The technology should debut in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models, slated for release in fall 2026.

Today in Apple history: Former CEO John Sculley bids Apple a $10 million farewell

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Former Apple CEO John Sculley talks at Web Summit 2015 in Dublin, Ireland.
After Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, John Sculley is Apple's most memorable CEO.
Photo: Web Summit/Flickr CC

October 15: Today in Apple history: CEO John Sculley forced out of Apple October 15, 1993: John Sculley, the former CEO responsible for forcing Steve Jobs out of Apple, is forced to leave the company himself. When Sculley resigns as Apple’s chairman, he leaves with a golden parachute.

His parting gifts include $1 million in severance pay, a one-year consulting fee of $750,000, a commitment from Apple to buy his $4 million mansion and $2 million Learjet, and $2.4 million in stock options. Total take: around $10 million.

Apple supercharges iPad Pro with next-gen M5 processor

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iPad Pro M5
The M5 iPad Pro is faster than any of its predecessors.
Photo: Apple

Apple just revealed the 2025 iPad Pro, which gets a speed boost from the new M5 processor, and some variants get 50% more RAM. The premium tablet includes an OLED screen in both the 13-inch and 11-inch versions.

“Powered by the next generation of Apple silicon, the new iPad Pro delivers our most advanced and versatile iPad experience yet,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “iPad Pro with M5 unlocks endless possibilities for creativity and productivity — with a huge leap in AI performance and a big boost in graphics, superfast wireless connectivity, and game-changing iPadOS 26 features, it pushes the boundaries of what iPad can do yet again.”