Macworld Digital Magazine U.S.

I’ve been using the iPhone Air nonstop for over a week and I still can’t tell if I love it or hate it. In so many ways, it just feels like the future. But every day I run into some compromise or cut corner that frustrates me. In a very real sense, the iPhone Air asks you to pay more for less. It’s less in good ways: It’s the slimmest iPhone ever and is so light for its size that it surprises you every time you pick it up. But it’s also less in bad ways: a single rear camera, one poor earpiece speaker, and significantly less battery life. It delights and disappoints in equal measure, especially for an iPhone that costs a thousand dollars or more. THE iPHONE AIR…

Apple’s macOS 26 public betas are now out, marking another major milestone on the road to their release this fall. While all the social-media discourse has been about Apple’s new Liquid Glass design, that talk obscures some of Apple’s other interesting choices in this year’s operating system cycle. While Apple would probably insist (like a proud parent) that it doesn’t have favorites among its platforms, the choices Apple has made in this cycle say an awful lot about the company’s priorities, especially when it comes to the Mac. LIVING IN GLASS HOUSES Let’s start with the Liquid Glass design itself. The entire premise of this design is that Apple’s devices are largely featureless glass slabs, so creating a software interface that plays on the illusion that it’s actually a set of glass…

Certainly one of the main highlights of iOS 26, which was announced in June at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, is the new Liquid Glass interface. But the update also comes with a lot of other new features—such as many new application programming interfaces that open up a lot of possibilities for app developers. While Liquid Glass is the most notable change for anyone trying out the iOS 26 public beta, it’s not the only one. With smarter battery tools, improvements for AirPods and Apple Music, and more capabilities powered by Apple Intelligence, the update brings improvements to everyone. So even if you’re not a fan of the new Liquid Glass interface or are wondering what else iOS 26 has to offer, we’re here to show you that the update…