System requirements and other restrictions

Apple outlines detailed system requirements for each app on its support page here. For most of the Mac apps, all you need is a Mac running macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later; the only Mac app that requires macOS 26 Tahoe is Pixelmator Pro. Most of the apps will also run on either Intel or Apple Silicon Macs, though MainStage is Apple Silicon-exclusive, and “some features” in Compressor may also require Apple Silicon.

The requirements for the iPad apps are a little more restrictive; you generally need to be running either iPadOS 18.6 or iPadOS 26, and both Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro either want an Apple M1, an Apple A16, or an Apple A17 Pro (in other words, it will work on every iPad Apple currently sells, but older iPad hardware is more hit or miss).

Apple also outlines a number of usage restrictions for the generative AI features that rely on external services. Apple says that, “at a minimum,” users will be able to generate 50 images, 50 presentations of between 8 to 10 slides each, and to generate presenter notes in Keynote for 700 slides. More usage may be possible, but this depends on “the complexity of the queries, server availability, and network availability.”

These AI features are all based on OpenAI technology, but don’t require users to have their own OpenAI or ChatGPT account (the flip side is that if you already pay for ChatGPT, that won’t benefit you here). Apple also says that the content you use to generate images, presentations, or notes “will never be used to train intelligence models.”

What apps aren’t getting new versions?

There are three major creative apps that Apple offers that haven’t been bundled into Creator Studio, and also haven’t gotten a major new update: iMovie, GarageBand, and Photomator.

There are extenuating circumstances that explain why these three apps haven’t been given a Creator Studio-style overhaul. The iMovie and GarageBand apps have always sort of been positioned as “lite” free-to-use versions of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, respectively, while Photomator is a recently acquired app that overlaps somewhat with the built-in Photos app.

Apple has nothing to share about the future of any of the three apps. Both iMovie and Photomator received minor updates today, presumably related to maintaining compatibility with the Creator Studio apps, and GarageBand was last updated a month ago. Expect them to stick around in their current forms for at least a while.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/seven-things-to-know-about-how-apples-creator-studio-subscriptions-work/

When Apple stops supporting older iPhones and iPads with the latest version of iOS or iPadOS, it usually isn’t the end of the line—Apple keeps releasing new security-only patches for those devices for another year or two, keeping them usable while their hardware is still reasonably capable.

Once those updates dry up, it’s rare for Apple to revisit those older operating systems, but the company does sometimes make exceptions. That was the case yesterday, when the company released a batch of updates for long-retired iOS and iPadOS versions that otherwise hadn’t seen a new patch in months or years. Those updates include iOS 12.5.8, available for devices as old as 2013’s iPhone 5S and 2014’s iPhone 6; iOS 15.8.6, available for devices like the iPhone 6S, iPhone 7, and iPad Air 2; and iOS 16.7.13, available for devices like the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

Both iOS 15 and iOS 16 were last patched in mid-2025, but iOS 12’s last patch was released in January 2023.

These updates don’t patch security flaws or add new features. According to Apple’s release notes for the iOS 12 and iOS 15 updates, all they do is update a security certificate to ensure that iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple account sign-in will continue working past January 2027, when the operating systems’ original certificate would have expired.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/apple-patches-ancient-ios-versions-to-keep-imessage-facetime-other-services-working/

Additionally, the speaker in the AirTag is now 50 percent louder, Apple says. These two things together address some user complaints that, as useful as an AirTag can be in ideal circumstances, sometimes it is frustrating trying to get things just right to find something. It won’t eliminate all edge cases, but it ought to help.

Apple used this announcement to also talk up some of the features of the AirTag, including the encryption that it says prevents anyone but the AirTag owner from using it, and an arrangement with airlines where users can temporarily give airlines the ability to use Apple’s network to find a specific AirTag to locate lost luggage and the like.

To be clear, the new AirTag doesn’t introduce any major new features that aren’t already offered in the previous generation—this is just an update to the device’s accuracy, volume, and range.

The price remains unchanged, at $29 for one AirTag or $99 for a pack of four. The new model is available for order on Apple’s website now and will hit physical stores later this week.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/apple-introduces-new-airtag-with-better-range-and-a-louder-speaker/

The report didn’t include any information about pricing, but it did say that Apple has fast-tracked the product with the hope to release it as early as 2027. Twenty million units are planned for launch, suggesting the company does not expect it to be a sensational consumer success at launch the way some of its past products, like AirPods, have been.

Not long ago, it was reported that OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) plans to release its own hardware, though the specifics and form factor are not publicly known. Apple is expecting fierce competition there, as well as with Meta, which Apple already expected to compete with in the emerging and related smart glasses market.

Apple has experienced significant internal turmoil over AI, with former AI lead John Giannandrea’s conservative approach to the technology failing to lead to a usable, true LLM-based Siri or other products analysts expect would make Apply stay competitive in the space with other Big Tech companies.

Just a few days ago, it was revealed that Apple will tap Google’s Gemini large language models for an LLM overhaul of Siri. Other AI-driven products like smart glasses and an in-home smart display are also planned.

https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/01/report-apple-plans-to-launch-ai-powered-wearable-pin-device-as-soon-as-2027/

Mac power users waiting on new high-end MacBook Pro models may have been disappointed last fall when Apple released an M5 upgrade for the low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro without touching the M4 Pro or Max versions of the laptop. But the wait for M5 Pro and M5 Max models may be nearing its end.

The tea-leaf readers at MacRumors noticed that shipping times for a handful of high-end MacBook Pro configurations have slipped into mid-to-late February, rather than being available immediately as most Mac models are. This is often, though not always, a sign that Apple has slowed down or stopped production of an existing product in anticipation of an update.

Currently, the shipping delays affect the M4 Max versions of both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. If you order them today, these models will arrive sometime between February 3 and February 24, depending on the configuration you choose; many M4 Pro versions are still available for same-day shipping, though adding a nano-texture display or upgrading RAM can still add a week or so to the shipping time.

Apple could choose to launch new Pro hardware on January 28 to go with the new Creator Studio subscription it announced last week. Aimed primarily at independent content creators who make their own video, audio, and images, the Creator Studio subscription bundles Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, and enhancements for the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps (along with some other odds and ends) for $13 a month or $130 a year. None of these apps require a MacBook Pro, but many would benefit in some way from the additional CPU and GPU power, RAM, and storage available in Apple’s high-end laptops.

Of course, an imminent replacement isn’t the only reason why the shipping estimates for any given Mac might slip. Ongoing, AI-fueled RAM shortages could be causing problems, and Apple probably prioritizes production of the widely used base-model M4 and M5 chips to the larger, more expensive, more complex Max models.

But the only other device in Apple’s lineup that offers the M4 Max and similar RAM configuration options is the high-end Mac Studio, which currently isn’t subject to the same shipping delays. That does imply that the delays are specific to the MacBook Pro—and one explanation for this is that the laptop is about to be replaced.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/signs-point-to-a-sooner-rather-than-later-m5-macbook-pro-refresh/

Last week, news about the adoption rates for Apple’s iOS 26 update started making the rounds. The new update, these reports claim, was being installed at dramatically lower rates than past iOS updates. And while we can’t infer anything about why people might choose not to install iOS 26, the conclusion being jumped to is that iPhone users are simply desperate to avoid the redesigned Liquid Glass user interface.

The numbers do, in fact, look bad: Statcounter data for January suggests that the various versions of iOS 26 are running on just 16.6 percent of all devices, compared to around 70 percent for the various versions of iOS 18. The iOS 18.7 update alone—released at the same time as iOS 26.0 in September for people who wanted the security patches but weren’t ready to step up to a brand-new OS—appears to be running on nearly one-third of all iOS devices.

Those original reports were picked up and repeated because they tell a potentially interesting story of the “huge if true” variety: that users’ aversion to the Liquid Glass design is so intense and widespread that it’s actively keeping users away from the operating system. But after examining our own traffic numbers, as well as some technical changes made in iOS 26, it appears Statcounter’s data is dramatically undercounting the number of iOS 26 devices in the wild.

We’ve taken a high-level look at all iPhone traffic across all Condé Nast websites for October, November, and December of 2025 and compared it to traffic from October, November, and December of 2024. This data suggests that iOS 26 is being adopted more slowly than iOS 18 was the year before—roughly 76 percent of all iPhone pageviews came from devices running iOS 18 in December of 2024, compared to about 45 percent for iOS 26 in December of 2025.

That’s not as cataclysmic a dropoff as Statcounter’s data suggests, even before considering other mitigating factors—iOS 26 dropped support for 2018’s iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, for example, while iOS 18 ran on every iPhone that could run iOS 17.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/are-people-avoiding-ios-26-because-of-liquid-glass-its-complicated/

Civilization VII launched to mixed reception in early 2025. We liked it when we reviewed it at Ars, despite some notable shortcomings in terms of polish and user interface, and it has a decent community of dedicated players. However, it makes enormous changes to the classic series’ formula, drawing ideas from competitors like Humankind. Many players feel it strayed too far, and there are still some frustrations with the user interface not showing enough information to players.

It has gotten a steady stream of updates since launch, though, and 2K seems committed to continuing to release content and patches.

This version of Civilization VII is expected to launch on February 5, and it will run on iPhone, Mac, and iPad. There’s no mention of Apple TV, and the App Store page specifically notes that Intel Macs aren’t supported, so you’ll need an M1 or later Mac.

Apple also announced a few other Arcade releases coming on February 5, including Felicity’s Door and I Love Hue Too+. There will also be Retrocade, a digital arcade that includes Asteroids, Bubble Bobble, Centipede, Galaga, and others. Notably, Retrocade will get a Vision Pro release that will let players play on simulated cabinets in a 3D virtual arcade space.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/01/civilization-vii-is-headed-to-iphone-and-ipad-with-arcade-edition/

RAM prices have soared, which is bad news for people interested in buying, building, or upgrading a computer this year, but it’s likely good news for people exasperated by talk of so-called AI PCs.

As Ars Technica has reported, the growing demands of data centers, fueled by the AI boom, have led to a shortage of RAM and flash memory chips, driving prices to skyrocket.

In an announcement today, Ben Yeh, principal analyst at technology research firm Omdia, said that in 2025, “mainstream PC memory and storage costs rose by 40 percent to 70 percent, resulting in cost increases being passed through to customers.”

Overall, global PC shipments increased in 2025, according to Omdia, (which pegged growth at 9.2 percent compared to 2024), and IDC, (which today reported 9.6 percent growth), but analysts expect PC sales to be more tumultuous in 2026.

“The year ahead is shaping up to be extremely volatile,” Jean Philippe Bouchard, research VP with IDC’s worldwide mobile device trackers, said in a statement.

Both analyst firms expect PC makers to manage the RAM shortage by raising prices and by releasing computers with lower memory specs. IDC expects price hikes of 15 to 20 percent and for PC RAM specs to “be lowered on average to preserve memory inventory on hand,” Bouchard said. Omdia’s Yeh expects “leaner mid to low-tier configurations to protect margins.”

“These RAM shortages will last beyond just 2026, and the cost-conscious part of the market is the one that will be most impacted,” Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC, told Ars via email.

IDC expects vendors to “prioritize midrange and premium systems to offset higher component costs, especially memory.”

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/the-ram-shortages-silver-lining-less-talk-about-ai-pcs/

Apple’s professional creative apps have been slower to jump on the subscription bandwagon than those from Adobe or some of its other competitors, but the company is taking a step in that direction today. Starting on January 28, Apple will offer an Apple Creator Studio subscription for $13 a month, or $130 a year. Subscribers will get access to the Mac and (where applicable) iPad versions of Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage, as well as “intelligent features and premium content” for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone versions of Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform.

Apple says it will also offer a one-month free trial for the subscription and a discounted version for students at $3 a month, or $30 a year.

Most of the apps also seem to be getting small feature updates to go along with the Creator Studio announcement. Final Cut will get a new Transcript Search feature that will allow you to dig through video footage by searching for specific dialogue, and a new Montage Maker feature “will analyze and edit together a dynamic video based on the best visual moments within the footage.” An updated Logic Pro “helps creators deliver original music for their video content” and adds a synth player to the app’s lineup of “AI Session Players.”

The biggest update is probably a new version of Pixelmator Pro for the iPad, designed around the Apple Pencil accessory. When Apple announced it was acquiring Pixelmator in late 2024, the image and vector editing app was only available for the Mac.

As for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers—in another lifetime, the apps formerly known as “iWork”—the core apps remain free, but the Creator Studio subscription adds “premium templates and themes” for the apps, as well as access to a Content Hub that provides “curated, high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations” for the apps. Apple is also offering a handful of OpenAI-powered generative features, including upscaling and transformation for existing images, the ability to generate images from text, and a Keynote feature that will create a slide deck from a text outline.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/apple-creator-studio-bundles-final-cut-pro-logic-and-other-apps-for-129-year/

A third AI-related proof-of-concept attack that garnered attention used a prompt injection to cause GitLab’s Duo chatbot to add malicious lines to an otherwise legitimate code package. A variation of the attack successfully exfiltrated sensitive user data.

Yet another notable attack targeted the Gemini CLI coding tool. It allowed attackers to execute malicious commands—such as wiping a hard drive—on the computers of developers using the AI tool.

Using AI as bait and hacking assistants

Other LLM-involved hacks used chatbots to make attacks more effective or stealthier. Earlier this month, two men were indicted for allegedly stealing and wiping sensitive government data. One of the men, prosecutors said, tried to cover his tracks by asking an AI tool “how do i clear system logs from SQL servers after deleting databases.” Shortly afterward, he allegedly asked the tool, “how do you clear all event and application logs from Microsoft windows server 2012.” Investigators were able to track the defendants’ actions anyway.

In May, a man pleaded guilty to hacking an employee of The Walt Disney Company by tricking the person into running a malicious version of a widely used open source AI image-generation tool.

And in August, Google researchers warned users of the Salesloft Drift AI chat agent to consider all security tokens connected to the platform compromised following the discovery that unknown attackers used some of the credentials to access email from Google Workspace accounts. The attackers used the tokens to gain access to individual Salesforce accounts and, from there, to steal data, including credentials that could be used in other breaches.

There were also multiple instances of LLM vulnerabilities that came back to bite the people using them. In one case, CoPilot was caught exposing the contents of more than 20,000 private GitHub repositories from companies including Google, Intel, Huawei, PayPal, IBM, Tencent, and, ironically, Microsoft. The repositories had originally been available through Bing as well. Microsoft eventually removed the repositories from searches, but CoPilot continued to expose them anyway.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/12/supply-chains-ai-and-the-cloud-the-biggest-failures-and-one-success-of-2025/