The MacRumors Show

Apple this week finally announced the HomePod mini 2, a new Apple TV 4K, and its "HomeView" smart home hub. On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through our reactions to the announcements.00:00 Intro01:51 HomeView First Impressions11:53 HomeView Apps and Ecosystem21:22 HomeView Pricing and Wall Mounting24:55 Apple TV and HomePod Price Hikes30:21 Apple Home Collection39:11 HomeView vs. iPhone Duo43:05 Siri AI and HomePod mini 248:22 Apple TV 4K Upgrade Debate52:06 Apple’s Smart Home Roadmap54:05 OLED MacBook Ultra RumorsApple's HomeView costs $299 and combines a 7-inch square display with Siri AI, FaceTime, music playback, and smart home controls. It has had something of a mixed reception from YouTubers and the wider Apple community, with some of the criticism centering on what it adds for someone who already owns an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or HomePod.A screen for timers, photos, music, and home controls will be useful for many, but it is harder to explain why someone wearing an Apple Watch would reach across a kitchen counter to set a timer, or why they would type a message on HomeView instead of taking out their iPhone. Apple's promotional video puts some of those less convincing uses front and center.There are many details to like about the design. The display can show photos and customizable faces, dim to just 0.3 nitsin the dark, and adjust its interface as someone approaches. In the kitchen, guided recipes turn webpages into step-by-step instructions, with voice-controlled timers available while cooking.HomeView makes more sense as a replacement for an Echo Show or Nest Hub, particularly for anyone tired poor ecosystem integration and ads on their smart display. For people who have never wanted one, it may be less obvious what Apple has added to change their minds.HomeView recognizes up to six people and switches to their apps and personal information. Its privacy protections mean personal content normally appears only when the user is recognized and their paired device is nearby and recently unlocked. ‌Siri‌ AI can answer general questions without an Apple Intelligence-compatible device, but personal requestsstill require one.There is no App Store, either. Compatible third-party audio and video apps appear through a connected iPhone or ‌iPad‌, using a CarPlay-like system. For services such as Spotify and Audible, that means relying on another device rather than installing an app directly on HomeView.The wall-mounted version costs the same $299 despite losing the tabletop model's speaker base, woofer, and passive radiators. Mounts start at $59.95, and the box includes no power adapter or cable. It could be a welcome replacement for an ‌iPad‌ mounted on a wall, but putting several around a home quickly becomes expensive.Six years after the original ‌HomePod‌ mini, the HomePod mini 2 adds an S10 chip, Sound Glowlighting, and support for ‌Siri‌ AI while retaining the same basic speaker hardware. Its $149 price is roughly 50% higher than the original's $99 launch price, following a June increase to $129.The new model can serve as a default Mac speaker on models with Wi-Fi 6E or later. ‌Siri‌ AI is likely to make a bigger difference to everyday use, but it will arrive later, after the speaker launches on October 30.The new Apple TV 4K also asks buyers to pay more for a familiar product. At $299, it adds the A19 chip, built-in microphones, and an updated ‌Siri‌ Remote. ‌Siri‌ AI is also coming to older models, while the new remote can be bought separately for $59.The starting price is now more than twice the $129 entry point available before June's increases. The new model includes 128GB of storage, Ethernet, and Thread, and the equivalent outgoing model had already reached $249. Even so, $299 is a substantial outlay for a streaming box when many existing owners have little reason to replace theirs.Support for four HomePods is one reason to upgrade. The new ‌Apple TV‌ can use matching front and rear pairs of ‌HomePod mini 2‌ or second-generation full-sized HomePods for surround sound. Buying the box, two full-sized HomePods, and two ‌HomePod mini 2‌ speakers at Apple's U.S. prices totals $1,295. These are products people can keep for years, but that also makes keeping an existing setup an attractive option.The Apple Home Collection, developed with LG and Schneider Electric, adds another set of expensive purchases. One-tap setup and a lock that uses Ultra Wideband to unlock as someone approaches are useful features. Whether they justify paying more than for other HomeKitaccessories is another matter, especially when buying equipment for an entire home.Apple is reportedly still working on a robotic home display and its own camera, separate from the LG and Schneider products. The camera is said to detect activity and presence without recording video.We also look ahead to the rumored OLED MacBook, where a lighter design and a new display could matter more than the touchscreen. It is expected to be announced later this month. We also briefly return to the iPhone Duo, including whether its folding display and software changes make a more convincing case for trying a new kind of Apple device.Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/mac #rulapodReady to launch your business before Black Friday? Start your free trial at https://shopify.com/mac

Photographer and videographer Tyler Stalman joins us on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show to examine whether the iPhone 18 Pro's camera is a compelling reason to upgrade, how its new features affect everyday shooting, and what photographers gain or give up with the iPhone Duo.The ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s Main camera combines a new 48-megapixel sensor, a faster variable-aperture lens, and updated image processing. The variable aperture offers settings of ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4.0. The iPhone 17 Pro has a fixed ƒ/1.78 aperture, so the new lens's widest setting admits about 45% more light on aperture values alone, or just over half an exposure stop. Apple claims around 50% better low-light performance for the complete Main camera system.At ƒ/2.8 or ƒ/4.0, people standing at different distances in a group shot can remain sharper, provided there is enough light to compensate for the smaller opening. A narrower aperture can also let video use a slower shutter speed in bright conditions, producing more natural motion blur. At ƒ/1.48, the camera has more light for indoor photos and potentially shorter Night mode exposures. The wider opening should also reduce the need for Night mode at all in some situations. The camera defaults to ƒ/1.8, close to the 17 Pro's fixed aperture, but the new sensor and processing still affect photos taken at that setting.The Pro Controls add manual aperture, shutter speed, and white balance adjustments, plus a live histogram directly in the native Camera app. Users can pin their most-used settings to the top of the viewfinder, which is a major practical improvement for professionals. For example, shutter speed offers control over frozen action or intentional motion blur, while white balance can help stop greenery being made too blue by automatic settings or maintain a consistent look between video clips.Photographic Styles 3 goes further with the ability to adjust tone and color while preserving skin tones, and new controls add Soft Skin, Glow, and Film textures, with grain that can be paired with any of them. The Film setting aims to reproduce more of an analog photograph's character, including its grain and the glow around bright highlights. The strength of the effects can be adjusted, and the style can be changed after capture. Tyler has tested the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s film look against a film SLR loaded with Kodak Portra 400. Apple Reference Image signs data from the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌'s new Main camera sensor at capture, creating a secure digital negative that can be compared with an editable photo. Meanwhile, iOS 27's Photos tools can change perspective with Reframe, generate scenery beyond a picture's original edges with Extend, or remove larger objects with Clean Up. Reference Image leaves room for creative editing while giving photographers a way to show what the sensor captured, provided they enabled the mode before taking the shot.Meanwhile, the iPhone Duo's camera system has a 48-megapixel Main camera with a fixed ƒ/1.6 aperture and the same 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera as the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌. Its Main camera shares a 26mm focal length, ƒ/1.6 aperture, and Hybrid Focus Pixels with the iPhone 17e, leading some to question why Apple's most expensive iPhone appears to have camera hardware similar to an entry-level model. That being said, the Duo has sensor-shift optical image stabilization, which the 17e lacks, and Apple has not disclosed enough sensor details to establish that the two phones use identical hardware.Compared with the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌, the ‌iPhone Duo‌ also lacks a dedicated Telephoto lens, variable aperture, manual Pro Controls, Reference Image, and professional formats including ProRAW and ProRes. The ‌iPhone Duo‌'s folding design makes a different case for its camera. Smart Take can capture a group photo when everyone is posing, Kid Cue plays animations on the outer display to draw a child's attention, and Duo Preview lets subjects see a live view of a photo being taken of them with the rear camera. The phone can also stand partly open for hands-free shots.Looking to the future, Apple is rumored to be working on a custom image sensor that could arrive as soon as next yearwith the 20th-anniversary iPhone.Ready to tackle bigger problems? Get started with Claude today at — https://www.Claude.ai/macRula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at https://www.rula.com/mac #rulapodCheck out Tyler's podcast here - http://www.fullstackcreatorshow.com/00:00 Intro01:02 iPhone 18 Pro Camera Upgrades and Variable Aperture08:42 Is the iPhone 18 Pro Worth Upgrading To?16:22 New Pro Camera Controls and White Balance20:20 Photographic Styles and Film Grain28:35 AI Photo Editing and Reference Images31:53 Will the iPhone Duo Camera Be Good Enough?40:40 Can the iPhone Duo Replace an iPad?43:19 What’s Next for iPhone Cameras?

Apple just had one of its biggest product launches in years. On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we share our first reactions to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, AirPods 5, and Apple’s long-awaited first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo. 00:00 Introduction01:52 iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max13:28 Sponsor: DraftKings14:51 iPhone 18 Pro cameras22:30 AppleCare One Family24:39 AirPods 528:28 Sponsor: Quince29:59 Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 439:43 iPhone Duo: design, display, and software52:52 iPhone Duo: price, compromises, cameras, and verdictWe discuss the biggest upgrades, including the iPhone 18 Pro’s new camera system and A20 Pro chip, the Apple Watch’s new health and Audio Intelligence features, AirPods 5 getting ANC as standard, and what it’s actually like to see Apple enter the foldable market. We also talk pricing, some surprising omissions from the iPhone Duo, and whether Apple’s latest products are worth getting excited about.Football is back! New DraftKings customers can sign up with code MAC, spend $5, and get $200 in rewards within 21 days. Get started at https://www.draftkings.com/ with code MAC. Terms and eligibility apply.Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or visit https://www.quince.com/MAC. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.