It’s a good time to be in the market for a MacBook, between the affordability of the MacBook Neo, the power of the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, and the all-around appeal of the M5 MacBook Air. But Apple’s desktop computers are another story, and not just because they’re all about due for their own M5 upgrades.

Over the last few months, the Mac mini and the Mac Studio have gradually become harder to buy. The 512GB M3 Ultra Mac Studio was removed from Apple’s website, and other models of both desktops have seen their ship times slip from days to weeks to months. In the last couple of weeks, several other configurations of Mac mini and Studio have begun showing up as “currently unavailable” on Apple’s website, which virtually never happens even when Apple is planning an imminent hardware refresh.

This week (as spotted by MacRumors), the baseline $599 M4 Mac mini, which offers 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, earned the “currently unavailable” label for the first time.

You can still place orders for most Mac mini models. An M4 Mac mini with 512GB or more of storage and either 16 or 24GB of RAM will take between 5 and 12 weeks to arrive, depending on the specific configuration you buy. M4 Pro Mac minis with any storage configuration and either 24GB or 48GB of RAM will take a similar amount of time to arrive, with most models showing availability within 10 to 12 weeks.

All M4 Mac minis with 256GB of storage, all M4 minis with 32GB of RAM, and all M4 Pro Mac minis with 64GB of RAM are listed as “currently unavailable.” Mac Studio models with 128GB or 256GB of RAM are also listed as “currently unavailable.” Other Studio configurations list the same five- to 12-week wait times as the minis.

This does not seem to be an issue specific to the M4 chip generation; most M4 iMac configurations, including those with 32GB of RAM, will arrive at your door within a week or two of being ordered. It’s also not being caused exclusively by ongoing RAM and shortage storages—new MacBook Pros with 128GB of RAM and large SSDs will arrive within two or three weeks of being ordered.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/04/apples-m4-mac-mini-including-the-599-one-is-gradually-becoming-impossible-to-buy/

“Once you install the patch, all inadvertently-preserved notifications will be deleted and no forthcoming notifications will be preserved for deleted applications,” Signal said.

Ars could not immediately reach Apple or Signal for additional comments.

User panic remains

On Signal’s thread, however, users debated whether the update was sufficient, with some urging that best practice is likely still to disable message previews entirely to limit device access to sensitive chats. Previously, Signal president Meredith Whittaker had posted on Bluesky to remind users that they can update Signal settings to “Show ‘No Name or Content’” in push notifications and avoid privacy concerns. Some users agreed that enabling message previews on any kind of device—not just Apple’s—seemed unwise in light of 404 Media’s reporting.

“By having message previews in notifications, you’re giv[ing] the OS access to that content without being sure how it will handle those messages,” a Bluesky user “LofiTurtle” wrote. “This patch removes one known method, but for full assurance you should just turn off previews so the OS never sees it in the first place.”

Another Bluesky user, “Alexndr,” speculated that Apple’s update suggested there may be other concerning content stored in ways that might frustrate other app users.

“The notification content surviving app deletion is the wild part,” Alexndr wrote. “Glad it’s patched but makes you wonder what else is sitting in iOS notification caches.”

Somewhat defending Apple, a Bluesky user, “Coyote,” emphasized that Apple’s blog made it clear that it wasn’t a caching issue, but a logging issue.

“Notification content wasn’t supposed to make it into diagnostic logs but sometimes did,” Coyote suggested. “Specifically happened when you get a notification the phone can’t handle, like when the app it is for has been deleted.”

For Apple users, questions likely remain since governments seem keen to access encrypted chats however they can. Apple made headlines last year for pulling end-to-end encryption in the United Kingdom to avoid complying with a law that made it easier for government officials to spy on encrypted chats. 404 Media noted that globally, law enforcement has increasingly relied on “push notifications more broadly as an investigative strategy.” Last year, Apple caved to legal demands that “gave governments data on thousands of push notifications,” 404 Media reported.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/apple-stops-weirdly-storing-data-that-let-cops-spy-on-signal-chats/

Dopo quindici anni alla guida di Apple, Tim Cook lascia il ruolo di amministratore delegato. Il passaggio di consegne avverrà il primo settembre, quando il timone della società passerà a John Ternus, attuale Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering. Cook resterà comunque in azienda nel ruolo di presidente esecutivo, garantendo continuità nella governance.

“È stato il più grande privilegio della mia vita essere l’amministratore delegato di Apple”, ha dichiarato Cook, sottolineando il profilo del suo successore: “John Ternus ha una mente da ingegnere e un’anima da innovatore. È un visionario e i suoi contributi ad Apple negli ultimi 25 anni sono già troppi per essere contati. Senza dubbio è la persona migliore per guidare Apple nel futuro”.

Una transizione preparata da tempo

La successione non arriva come una sorpresa. Ternus è da anni una delle figure chiave all’interno dell’azienda, con un ruolo centrale nello sviluppo hardware dei prodotti Apple. Nei prossimi mesi lavorerà a stretto contatto con Cook per assicurare una transizione graduale, in linea con la tradizione della società.

“Ho trascorso la maggior parte della mia carriera qui”, ha commentato Ternus, “e sono stato fortunato a lavorare sotto Steve Jobs e ad avere Tim Cook come mentore”. Un passaggio che sottolinea la continuità culturale e manageriale all’interno di Cupertino.

L’eredità di Cook

Tim Cook aveva assunto la guida di Apple nel 2011, dopo la scomparsa di Steve Jobs. In questi anni ha trasformato l’azienda in una delle realtà più solide e profittevoli al mondo. La capitalizzazione è passata da circa 350 miliardi a quasi 4.000 miliardi di dollari, mentre i ricavi sono quadruplicati.

Sotto la sua gestione, Apple ha consolidato il proprio ecosistema, puntando su servizi digitali, integrazione hardware-software e nuove linee di prodotto. Cook ha inoltre rafforzato il posizionamento dell’azienda su temi come privacy, sostenibilità e supply chain globale.

Le sfide per il nuovo CEO

Il passaggio a John Ternus arriva in una fase complessa per il settore tecnologico. Apple è chiamata a gestire la transizione verso nuove tecnologie, a partire dall’AI, e a confrontarsi con un contesto geopolitico e regolatorio sempre più articolato.

Per Ternus, la sfida sarà mantenere la crescita e l’innovazione in un mercato maturo, preservando allo stesso tempo l’identità dell’azienda. Il fatto che la successione avvenga all’interno indica la volontà di puntare sulla continuità più che su una rottura strategica.

Un cambio generazionale nel Big Tech

L’uscita di scena di Tim Cook si inserisce in una dinamica più ampia che riguarda i vertici delle grandi aziende tecnologiche. Negli ultimi giorni si è assistito a un progressivo ricambio dei fondatori e dei manager di lungo corso, spesso rimasti alla guida per decenni. Come l’uscita di scena di Reed Hastings, che ha lasciato il ruolo di CEO di Netflix dopo oltre 30 anni, passando il testimone a una nuova leadership pur mantenendo un ruolo nel board.

Leggi le altre notizie sull’home page di Key4biz

https://www.key4biz.it/tim-cook-si-dimette-dopo-15-anni-john-ternus-la-persona-migliore-per-guidare-apple-nel-futuro/570385/

Apple CEO Tim Cook will step down from the job effective September 1, 2026. As has long been rumored, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus will become Apple’s new CEO.

While Cook will no longer serve as CEO, he will remain with the company in a different capacity as executive chairman.

“As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world,” Apple says.

In a statement, Cook offered the usual positive words about his time as CEO:

It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world

Ternus added his own statement in the announcement: “I am humbled to step into this role, and I promise to lead with the values and vision that have come to define this special place for half a century.”

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/04/john-ternus-will-replace-tim-cook-as-apple-ceo/

Valve is bringing Steam Link, its local network game-streaming app, to Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset, allowing Vision Pro users to play traditional games from their Steam library wirelessly from a nearby Mac or PC.

We say “traditional games” because it’s important to clarify that this does not stream VR games—only the sorts of games you would play on a traditional 2D display like a computer monitor or a TV. That said, this could lay some groundwork for VR games sometime in the future. But to be clear, Valve has not made any announcements about supporting SteamVR games on the Vision Pro.

There were previously Steam Link apps for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Users could sync controllers with those devices and play Steam games over the local network—not just games from other Apple devices, but also from Windows or Linux gaming PCs.

It has been possible to do this on the Vision Pro using third-party tools like ALVR, but this is a much more straightforward, tried-and-true path to the same destination.

If you want to try it, you can sign up via TestFlight, Apple’s platform for distributing pre-release apps before they are listed on the App Store. Valve says the current version of the app “allows streaming up to 4K resolutions, and allows you to dynamically adjust the curve of the display in panoramic mode.”

We complained about the Vision Pro’s limited ability to connect to external gaming and media devices or access mixed reality content outside Apple’s walled garden when we reviewed it at launch a couple of years ago. Since then, that situation has markedly improved, though it’s still not always as straightforward as it is on competing headsets.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/04/valve-brings-native-steam-link-app-to-apples-vision-pro/

“While Lenovo has improved somewhat with their compliance with French consumer law by providing more repair score PDFs on their website, we urge the company to resolve this multi-year issue,” this year’s report says.

PIRG’s report concluded that “laptops are pretty stagnant in terms of repairability” across many of the eight most popular laptop brands in the US.

However, Proctor noted to Ars that consumers’ access to parts, tools, and information that vendors have has improved, but improvements around ease of disassembly “take longer to realize.”

He also praised vendors’ efforts to release more repairable designs, such as Apple’s MacBook Neo.

Phone repairability scores

Lenovo’s Motorola brand earned the best grade.

PIRG’s scores for phone manufacturers this year are based on the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL), a scoring system that the European Commission created in June 2025 for scoring smartphone and tablet repairability. It’s based on six factors:

• Disassembly depth
• Fasteners
• Tools
• Spare part availability
• Software updates
• Repair information

US PIRG used different criteria for this year’s report.

PIRG’s report said that Apple and Samsung scored so low under EPREL criteria partially because all of the phones scored are guaranteed to receive updates for five years and not longer.

PIRG noted that Apple made progress in phone repairability by moving away from parts pairing, which is when companies require parts to be verified through encrypted software checks in order to function, and through the introduction of the Repair Assistant. However, the report’s author lamented that third-party Face ID replacements still don’t work. The report adds:

Apple also extended its Activation Lock anti-theft feature to individual parts, which repair advocates warn will strand large numbers of perfectly functional components—locking them out of the repair ecosystem entirely.

Apple isn’t alone: parts pairing and software restrictions remain an industry-wide problem that consumers and independent technicians continue to face across manufacturers.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/04/apple-has-the-lowest-grades-in-laptop-phone-repairability-analysis/

Ollama, a runtime system for operating large language models on a local computer, has introduced support for Apple’s open source MLX framework for machine learning. Additionally, Ollama says it has improved caching performance and now supports Nvidia’s NVFP4 format for model compression, making for much more efficient memory usage in certain models.

Combined, these developments promise significantly improved performance on Macs with Apple Silicon chips (M1 or later)—and the timing couldn’t be better, as local models are starting to gain steam in ways they haven’t before outside researcher and hobbyist communities.

The recent runaway success of OpenClaw—which raced its way to over 300,000 stars on GitHub, made headlines with experiments like Moltbook and became an obsession in China in particular—has many people experimenting with running models on their machines.

As developers get frustrated with rate limits and the high cost of top-tier subscriptions to tools like Claude Code or ChatGPT Codex, experimentation with local coding models has heated up. (Ollama also expanded Visual Studio Code integration recently.)

The new support is available in preview (in Ollama 0.19) and currently supports only one model—the 35 billion-parameter variant of Alibaba’s Qwen3.5. Hardware requirements are intense by normal users’ standards. Users need an Apple Silicon-equipped Mac, sure, but they also need at least 32GB of RAM, according to Ollama’s announcement.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/03/running-local-models-on-macs-gets-faster-with-ollamas-mlx-support/

After more than a decade of flirting with the idea, Apple has finally discontinued the Mac Pro tower. The company confirmed to 9to5Mac that the latest Mac Pro iteration—an M2 Ultra model first released in mid-2023—would be its last, at least for the time being. There are no plans to make another Mac Pro.

The discontinuation of the Mac Pro should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Reporting from late last year suggested that the Mac Pro had been put “on the back burner,” but the desktop has clearly been in danger of falling off the stove since at least the mid-2010s, during the six-year period where the controversial cylindrical “trash can” Mac Pro design languished without updates.

Apple briefly rededicated itself to its pro desktop in 2019 with a new design that hearkened back to more versatile, upgradeable, be-handled versions of the Power Mac and Mac Pro. But by the time it was updated again with M2 Ultra four years later, it was already clear that the idea of a huge and expandable Mac desktop was out of step with the Apple Silicon era. The desktop’s demise confirms that, at least in Apple’s estimation, the Mac Pro was trying to fill a niche that no longer exists.

The Mac Pro is survived by the M4 Max and M3 Ultra versions of the Mac Studio desktop, as well as by the M4 Pro Mac mini. It was preceded in death by the 27-inch iMac (2009–2020) and the iMac Pro (2017–2017).

The fourth quadrant

When Steve Jobs returned to lead Apple in 1997, one of his early initiatives was to streamline and refocus the Mac product family, which at that point had grown into a sprawling and poorly differentiated maze of Quadras, Performas, Power Macintoshes, and even third-party systems. The initial focus was a lineup of four computers to serve four market quadrants: a consumer laptop, a consumer desktop, a more powerful professional laptop, and a professional desktop.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-has-finally-discontinued-the-mac-pro-desktop-after-years-of-fitful-effort/

However, some British iPhone owners are concerned about potential security and privacy risks associated with the proliferation of age checks.

“Myself and everyone I know… are doing everything to bypass these over-reaching age checks,” said one Reddit user in a discussion about Apple’s update. “I definitely do not want to grant my OS permission to decide that I’m happy to share my proven age status, under any situation.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment about which services its new age checks will cover.

After upgrading to the latest version of iOS 26.4, iPhone owners in the UK will be presented with several options to prove their age, including checking the credit card stored in their digital wallet or taking a photo of their driving license or passport. Apple can also use the length of time that digital accounts have been active to confirm a customer’s age.

After installing the update, an on-screen notice tells users: “UK law requires you to confirm you are an adult to change content restrictions.”

Failure to complete the age check will limit which apps the user can access or download, though Apple’s support pages do not specify all of the affected services.

“Adults will have to confirm that they’re 18 or older to use certain services or features, or take certain actions on their account,” an Apple support page states.

Ofcom said it had “worked closely with Apple” and other services to protect users.

“This will build on the strong foundations of the Online Safety Act, from widespread age checks that keep young people away from harmful content, to blocking high-risk sites and stepping up action against child sexual abuse material,” the UK regulator said.

© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/apple-begins-age-checks-in-the-uk-with-latest-ios-update/

“Admitting to receiving an email is materially different from admitting to Musi’s conclusion from the email—that Apple knowingly relied on false evidence,” Lee wrote.

Musi’s law firm presented the theory as an undisputed fact. But the judge determined that an attorney conducting an objectively reasonable inquiry would not have found the allegation to be well-founded.

“Accordingly, the Court finds that Musi’s counsel violated Rule 11 because it was factually baseless to allege that Apple ‘admitted’ that evidence from the NMPA regarding Musi’s intellectual property infringement was false, or that Apple knew that the evidence was false,” Lee wrote.

Lee assessed the awarding of fees and costs in full against the Winston & Strawn law firm, rather than Musi, stating that “counsel is more directly responsible for the Rule 11 violation, and counsel asked the Court not to sanction Musi directly.” Musi is represented by Winston & Strawn lawyers Jennifer Golinveaux, Samantha Looker, and Jeff Wilkerson.

In another wrinkle, Musi asked for an award of attorneys’ fees for defending against Apple’s motion for sanctions. Lee called this request “audacious,” pointing out that “Musi is not the prevailing party, and Apple’s motion has substantial merit.” Moreover, while Lee found that some of the Musi allegations challenged by Apple were not violations of Rule 11, she concluded that each Musi allegation challenged by Apple “was on the verge of baselessness.”

We contacted Musi and its lawyers today and will update this article if we get a response.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/judge-upholds-apple-delisting-of-free-musi-app-that-streams-songs-from-youtube/