According to Nikkei Asia, Apple is talking with its biggest iPhone manufacturing partner, Foxconn, about building new Apple Intelligence servers in Taiwan.
More servers will mean more processing power for Apple Intelligence features, allowing more people to complete more complex tasks. Existing Apple servers are currently powered by the M2 Ultra chip but there are plans to use one of the new M4 chips for future servers.
It’s uncertain yet whether existing servers will be upgraded to M4 chips, and we also don’t know which version of the chip Apple will be using. It could be the base chip, the Pro, the Max, or an Ultra variant that hasn’t been announced yet. Judging by leaked Geekbench scores, the M4 Max blows the M2 Ultra out of the water, so it could easily power new servers and provide a substantial upgrade for existing ones.
However, Foxconn is already fairly busy with all of the Nvidia AI servers it makes, and some sources are doubtful that the company will be able to take on Apple as well. After products like ChatGPT exploded in popularity, Apple was comparatively slow to jump on the AI bandwagon, with its Apple Intelligence features still in the middle of a staggered rollout.
The desire to build more servers implies Apple wants to dive deeper into artificial intelligence products and services, possibly offering more complex features that can’t be processed on-device. When your iPhone or Mac connects to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute models to borrow more processing power, Apple claims that your data is never stored on the servers or shared with the company.
Instead, the powerful M2 Ultra chips powering the server complete the task and send the results back to your device. If you haven’t really noticed any Apple Intelligence features on your iPhone yet, that’s because all the big ones are coming with the iOS 18.2 update in December.
That includes Genmoji, which will allow you to create custom emoji, and Image Playground for generating images within various apps. Siri will also be getting a ChatGPT upgrade, making the AI features on your iPhone much more noticeable.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.