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Rather than resolutions, Bart starts his photographic year by setting himself a challenge. It went great in 2024, so how did it go in 2025? And what about 2026? Could this approach work for you?

While this podcast is free for you to enjoy, it’s not free for Bart to create. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.

Two years ago, based on various discussions of why new year resolutions generally fail, I tried a new approach — a yearly challenge. The idea was to pick a photographic technique or style that I know I’m weak at, and try to practice it more for the year. The hope was that I’d expand my photographic toolbox each year.

My first challenge was wildly successful — this time two years ago I shot almost no monochromes. Worse, I didn’t really have a feel for what would make good monochrome shots that felt truly mine. I'd already developed a style I'm was comfortable with for my colour work, could I ever get to the same level of comfort with monochrome? After a year of intentional practice, I got monochrome like never before. I got to the point where I feel completely comfortably shooting monochromes, and that I'm doing it my way. I don't feel like I'm imitating others, and I now shoot monochromes regularly, as and when the opportunities arise.

Delighted with the success of my first challenge, is set another one for 2025 — colour itself as a primary subject. Different landscapes and places have very different colour pallets, and my Dad was doing great work capturing the unique colour pallet of Flanders, but none of my work was capturing any of that. If I could learn to shoot without colour, surely I could learn to let the colour itself be the subject?

To help me track my progress on my first challenge I created a series on Glass and aded to it as I posted my monochromes throughout 2024. That worked very well — it let me watch my own progress and kept me motivated throughout the year. So, last January I started a new series for my new challenge.

So how did it go? You can scroll through the series yourself and form your own opinions, but I don’t think it went great. It was not a failure, but I don’t think it went nearly as well as my first challenge. If the first challenge was an A, then the second is a C at best. Not a failure, but I don’t feel transformed in the same way, at least not yet.

Reflecting on the series as a whole now, there are definitely some shots in there I really like, and they're very different to anything I would have shot before I started on the challenge, so I am seeing the world a little more broadly. Ultimately, I think this challenge has been a starting point for a longer term evolution, which is useful, but nowhere near as rewarding as learning to feel comfortable shooting a whole new way.

Something I'm definitely taking comfort from is that my favourite shots are the ones least like my typical colour work. My usual style is very punchy — strong vibrant primary colours, and plenty of contrast and texture. But the challenge shots that strike me as particularly novel are the very opposite of that — much lower contrast, much softer pastel tones, and fewer strong textures.

I think this shot sums up that evolution towards more subtle shots best:

https://glass.photo/bbusschots/5fE3RGItFu0MAcGnJqk6kc

In the past I'd have given up on this shot because of how little contrast there is in the landscape itself, and if I hadn't given up entirely, I'd have pushed those orange tones much harder. But this more subtle and natural shot really does capture the muted but strangely warm tones of a Kildare winter afternoon. Maybe there was some creative growth after all!

Before I pat myself on the back too hard, when I avoid cherry-picking, the overall picture is much less gratifying. The truth is I fell right into the trap I feared I would — fall leaves dominate the series as a whole. Those were the only colour-as-subject shots I was already very comfortable shooting, and really, can you get more cliché when it comes to shots where the colour is the subject? Also, if I was going for more subtle colour pallets, autumn colours are anything but subtle!

I don't want to end on the down-note, so let my highlight three other shots that really stand out to me.

Let's start with those autumn leaves — sure, most of them were very clichéd, very like what I was shooting before, but not all of them. This one one really catches me eye as a I scroll the series:

https://glass.photo/bbusschots/6zKVp0WKP353us9RbIJFSl

Previously, I would not have thought to zoom out like this. But, because I had the challenge in my mind, I noticed both the amazing yellows of the Maple leaves, and the contrast they made with the blue sky. That inspired me to zoom out, to have the contrast as the primary subject, not a single particularly perfect leaf, which is what undoubtedly what I'd have done otherwise. It may not be the kind of shot I intended the challenge to push me towards, but I really like it!

The second shot I want to highlight is also of leaves, but not autumn leaves. The beautiful wild geranium Herb Robert has intricate leaf clusters that start as a light spring green before slowly turning pink, and finally bright red. By mid summer they can be really something special:

https://glass.photo/bbusschots/WRGibssBUePU195v5ZyD8

This wild flower has been one of my favourite muses for years, but I'd always focused on it's wonderful powdery pink flowers. Sure, I'd try to incorporate the leaves too, but always as an secondary subject, always as background rather than subject.

But, because of the challenge I really paid attention to the colourful leaves last summer, and the let me notice the amazing colour contrasts the lush greenery all around the Herb Robert plants provide. I'd never before shot this plant without a single flower in the frame, but wow, was I ever missing out!

The final shot I want to highlight is from early in the year, but it captures my aspirations perfectly — the colour truly is the one and only subject:

https://glass.photo/bbusschots/3oAQOwznjfRj9cjro3CkwQ

This is an utterly unremarkable line of bare trees along a canal. Without the colour pallet, this would be an utterly mundane shot!

The bottom line is that the challenge did inspire me to shoot a few keepers I’d have otherwise missed, but I don’t feel I’ve developed a new skill. It’s more that I’ve started to chip away, slowly, and an underlying weakness that I'm now even more aware of. Ultimately, this challenge is not over, I'm going to keep working on it, possibly for many more years. Maybe it was more successful than I realised at first blush?

For many years I created my own calendars as gifts — I would find 12 photos or groups of photos in keeping with some chosen theme, and each shot in a different calendar month. This was a lot of work, but it helped me develop the skill of curating my own work — it forced me to be critical in much more honest way that I was yet comfortable with. Thinking back on it, that enforced yearly self-reflection really helped improve my work.

As rewarding as this was, I just don’t have that kind of time anymore! Also, my family don't really use physical calendars anymore, so these gifts fell out of favour. I retained the idea of using my photography to create truly personal creative gifts, but I branched out from calendars to other things with photos on them. For a few years I did coasters. They were really popular, but but also very robust, so everyone has enough coasters now! Last year I experimented with a custom spiral-bound notebook featuring one of my best monochrome shots from the year's challenge, and those proved really popular. It turns out lots of the people in my life still like writing on actual paper, and they really love having spiral bound notebooks lying around to scribble things down. Unlike coasters, notebooks are consumables, so I think I'll be designing a new notebook each year for at least the next few years!

However, it was while designing this winter's notebook that I noticed a big gap in my portfolio — I loads of shots of the places that are important in my life, and I'm really happy with many of them, but they're almost all landscape-oriented! Almost none of my shots of places are portrait-oriented, so almost none of them are suitable for notebook covers! I had literally just 3 or 4 to choose between for this year’s notebook.

I think this is an example of how small things can have big consequences due to small nudges. I think the placement of the iPhone's physical buttons has been subtly nudging me toward the landscape orientation for years! Now that I've noticed this bias, time to pro-actively tackle it! So, my challenge for 2026 is to shoot more portrait-oriented shots of places.

Challenges have proven very rewarding for me. No resolution ever worked for me, but these challenges, they seem to. I’m trying a third time, maybe you might consider something similar for yourself this year?

The show starts with a few followups to previously covered stories, followed by a rundown of Apple’s interactions with regulators and the courts, before quickly summarising some developments in Apple’s services and original content business. The three main stories are India’s failed attempt to force-install a government app on all cellphones, an eventful month for apple’s App Stores, and an even more eventful month for Apple’s HR department. The show finishes with a quick rundown of a few other smaller stories that made the news in December.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

Trumplandia Update:

Apple will supply senior managers to advise feds on new US Tech Force — appleinsider.com/… (Tech industry to lend US government technical leaders to replace those over-enthusiastically fired by DOGE)

Visa-holding staff should not leave the US, warns Apple — appleinsider.com/… (Going home for Christmas could land fully legal foreign workers in prison for weeks while they prove they are legal)

Some tariff news: Steep US tariffs on Chinese chip imports won't hit Apple until 2027 — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Manufacturing Academy goes nationwide with new online training — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)

Apple's rollout of digital IDs in the US is continuing apace: Apple Wallet Plans Driver’s License Support in 7 Additional States — www.macobserver.com/… (Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas & Virginia)

Two more EU countries take issue with App Tracking Transparency

App Tracking Transparency under the gun by German antitrust investigators — appleinsider.com/…

Italy fines Apple $115 million over App Tracking Transparency — appleinsider.com/… (they claim Apple does not apply App Tracking Transparency to themselves, which I can't correlate with reality)

Switzerland opens antitrust probe over iPhone NFC access — appleinsider.com/…

The push for age verification continues:

Apple marked the end of the year by showing users their year, releasing charts, and presenting awards

ApplePay: Tap to Pay for incoming transactions continues to roll out around the world

Apple Car Key continues to roll out:

Apple's Fitness+ Comes to New Countries and Gets New Language Support — www.macstories.net/… (28 new markets, and Spanish, German & Japanese dubs)

Messages via Satellite has launched in Japan — appleinsider.com/…

Apple TV dominates Golden Globes race, eclipsing Netflix and HBO in prestige TV — www.cultofmac.com/…

Dive deeper into Sneaky Sasquatch on Apple Arcade this holiday season — Apple PR

Apple Health: Australians will be soon able to use Apple Watch hypertension notifications — appleinsider.com/… (approved by regulators, no date announced by Apple)

India tried, but failed, to become the first country to succeed in forcing a government app to be pre-installed on effectively all smartphones — appleinsider.com/… & www.macobserver.com/… (Specifically Apple, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo & Xiaomi phones)

An eventful month for Apple's App Stores

Two additional regions gain 3rd-party App Stores & External payment options

To comply with Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA), Apple is allowing 3rd-party App Stores and external payment options in their app store — 9to5mac.com/… ( Apple PR)

Apple Accepts New App Store Rules to End Brazil Antitrust Probe — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple -v- Epic: an three-judge panel on the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld up most, but not all, of the injunction preventing Apple from charging any commission on external in-app payments in the US app store — appleinsider.com/… & arstechnica.com/… (this was Apple's appeal)

The ruling is nuanced, but on the whole, seems like a loss for Apple:

Predictably, Epic thinks anything more than zero is too much — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Faces Huge Dutch Antitrust Damages After EU Court Ruling — www.macobserver.com/…

A month of Staffing Changes, planned and Unplanned

Apples planned, orderly, transitions:

Amar Subramanya is replacing John Giannandrea as Apple's VP of AI — www.cultofmac.com/…

John Giannandrea to retire from Apple — Apple PR

Subramanya spent 16 years with Google before spending the last year with Microsoft — www.macstories.net/…

Interesting Opinion & Analysis:

Related:

Apple announces departure of both general counsel and environmental chief — sixcolors.com/… ( Apple PR)

Apple's Christmas Surprise: VP of Human Interface Design Alan Dye leaves Apple to join lead Meta's design team, to be replaced at Apple by veteran designer Steve Lemay — www.macstories.net/…

Unnamed current and former Apple staff have told John Gruber they are both delighted to see Dye leave, and by the choice of Lemay to replace him — daringfireball.net/…

Opinion & Analysis:

Apple's chip boss squashes exit rumors, says he's not leaving the company — www.cnbc.com/… (Johny Srouji, SVP of Hardware Technologies)

Opinion & Analysis:

4 top executives who ditched Apple to join Meta in 2025 — www.cultofmac.com/…

Dozens of staffers quit Apple, leaving behind only 164,000 — appleinsider.com/… (Best headline of the month!)

Apple release their OS 26.2 OSes — tidbits.com/…

iOS 26.2 is here with one-time AirDrop codes, alarms in Reminders, more — appleinsider.com/…

iPadOS 26.2 brings better Split View, AirDrop codes to iPad — appleinsider.com/…

New Edge Light and urgent Reminders come to macOS Tahoe — appleinsider.com/…

Sleep scores sharpen and EU Wi-Fi setup shifts in watchOS 26.2 — appleinsider.com/…

tvOS 26.2 brings kids mode to the Apple TV app — appleinsider.com/… (Profiles not linked to an Apple ID)

Shazam unlocks what makes chart-topping songs unforgettable — www.cultofmac.com/… (new Popular Segments feature)

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.

Bart shares his experiences chasing steam trains in the run up to Christmas 2025 as an illustration of how adversity can be a learning opportunity if you approach it with the right mindset.

While this podcast is free for you to enjoy, it’s not free for Bart to create. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.

Reminder – you can submit questions for future Q & A shows at http://lets-talk.ie/photoq

Every year the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland run a series of Santa Special steam trains over three weekends in late November and early December. I like to make the most of these scarce opportunities to photograph steam locomotives in the wild, and my hope is always to get something nice to use for my New Year's cards. Most years the wether plays ball a few times, and I get some chance for the picture-postcard idyllic shots. But this year the weather really didn't play ball. Almost no sun, no stereotypical winter weather like snow or even frost, mostly, it was just windy, overcast, and often wet.

I did get one chance at a picture-postcard shot, and I was able to get something nice to use for my cards, but my most memorable shots were taken in the worst of the weather. This inclement weather combined with the new possibilities opened up by the iPhone 17 Pro's massively improved telephoto lens proved to be fertile ground for development. I've been shooting trains in general and steam trains in particular for decades, and yet, almost all of my best shots from this season are novel. I learned quite a few lessons, and I think I've found my photographic challenge for 2026.

You can see all my keepers in the series I posted on Glass.

It sure sounds obvious when you say it, but steam trains are not diesel trains!

Over my many years of shooting along the former Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) line through Maynooth I've gotten to know it very well. I've discovered my favourite places where I can get the most good shots. The overwhelming majority of trains on this live are diesel railcars, so I've implicitly learned the best places to photograph diesel trains.

Diesel trains can sneak up on your quietly, and when they're running at full speed they can be difficult to capture at the perfect moment for the optimum composition, so the places I get the most successes are actually places where the trains have to slow down for a turn or a signal, so they're often coasting at very low speeds. A diesel train at 100km/h and 0km/h looks the same, so this approach works great!

Steam trains however do not look the same at any speed, or even more importantly, any acceleration. What makes a steam train look like a steam train? Steam! A steam train at regular line speed puts out a decent cloud of steam and it will trail nicely behind the engine over the carriages, but a steam train running at a slower steady speeds puts out less steam, and a steam train coasting puts out no steam! On the other hand, a steam train accelerating puts out the most steam, and even with the regulator wide open and the driver working the engine as full steam it won't accelerate quickly, so it will keep steaming hard for quite some time after it's forced to stop or even slow down a lot.

My favourite diesel spots are at turns or signals where the trains slow or stop, approaching those turns or signals, where they slow down, or just beyond those turns of signals where they're still accelerating, so are not a full speed yet. Two thirds of those locations give you steam trains with little or no steam! On the other hand, there are places the diesels have already made it to full speed and are difficult to photograph that are perfect for steam trains because they're not up to speed yet and still working hard!

Thankfully this penny dropped on the first weekend of the season, so I really got value from my new insight, and almost all my shots from this year have nice clouds of steam!

Boring, flat-feeling railway compositions are easy — just stand next to the line and shoot the trains from the classic three-quarter angle so you see some of their front and lots of their side with nothing of interest in the foreground or background and you're done!

Trying to find compositions where a train that is literally running on rails lines up with a good foreground and background to give a compelling composition is the tricky bit!

iPhones before the iPhone 17 Pro offered two high-quality options — standard lens, and a really nice wide angle lens. I've relied heavily on that wide angle lens for compelling compositions in previous years, but this time, I had a third option — the amazing new 4x telephoto.

BTW, in case you're wondering, no, the 8x is not a good fit for railway photography! Why? Because trains move and that lens is so powerful you need a steady hand to get a sharp shot at the best of times, add the potential for motion blur on longer exposures and you're just asking for disappointment!

My new-found realisation that the single best opportunity for trains approaching Maynooth station is the stretch of line just beyond the signal controlling the approach to Maynooth station forced me to experiment with the telephoto lens, and I soon realised I was on to a winner!

Maynooth station is a little unusual because it's the point where the double track line from Dublin becomes the single track line to Sligo. This means that a trains failing to slow down would be extra dangerous, so the approach signal has a special feature — even when the line is clear, it will not turn green until a train has been slowed right down to a near stop. So, every single train approaching Maynooth from Dublin has to accelerate away from that signal before they can coast into the station itself. Perfect, a guaranteed big head of steam!

Unfortunately, while the steam is guaranteed, the view is not. The signal is on a stretch of line that's not visible from the public path, but it is close to a sharp turn in the line, so if you go further down the path there is a short gap in the trees where you can look through the base of the turn and up the straight where the signal is, but the signal is a long way away, too far to make the composition work well without a telephoto lens. Aha, I have one of those at my disposal now!

The fundamental concept of the shat was planned, but serendipity gave me a bonus lesson in the form of a well-timed downpour. As the train approached the heavens opened and suddenly the canal was full of spiky little crowns from the big rain drops. With a wider lens they would have been too small to make a good foreground, but with a telephoto? Perfect!

On the very last train of the season the telephoto worked it's magic again at Pike Bridge. This is a two-arched stone bridge across the canal and the railway, and just beyond it is a small harbour with a stone quay. The canal widens and then narrows again, and if you stand at the very end of the stone quay you get a point-of-view that makes it look like you're in the middle of the canal. Not only can you get a shot with water dominating the centre of the composition and boats framing one side, you can also see through the bridge to see the approaching trains framed in the arch across the canal. Without a telephoto lens this is useful for avoiding the train sneaking up on you, but not much more. This time, with the telephoto I was able to frame the approaching train under the arch and use the barges moored in the harbour to add framing and foreground interest!

Oh, and a little bonus extra fact, diesel trains are up to full speed long before they reach Pike Bridge, but steam trains are still accelerating a little, so the're passing with a nice head of steam!

Yes, there are three weekends of steam trains, that's six days, but there are just two round-trips a day, so that's two chances to see the train with the locomotive facing forwards as it heads out to Maynooth, and two to see it pulling the train but facing backwards with it's coal tender in front and chimney trailing. I'll happily shoot engines running tender-first like this, but many purists won't. Still, that means if I find the time to chase the trains every day (not likely), I can get no more than 24 opportunities. That's not a lot!

But I had another epiphany — now that the total usable zoom range has expanded to stretch from the 4x telephoto all the way to the 0.5x wide angle, with enough preparation and practice it's often possible to find two compelling compositions in a single location at different zoom levels. Not always, but sometimes, and you do need to practice the move from one composition to the other — you really don't enough time to faff about!

This worked great for me on a few occasions, helped by the fact that for opperational reasons there is almost always a regular passenger train running five to ten minutes ahead of the steam trains, so you get to practice on a slightly faster train!

However, you can end up biting off more than you can chew, so you do risk losing one or both shots if you mess up.

That last observation set the perfect pivot to mentioning two old lessons that were re-enforced for me this year.

Firstly, serendipity, or luck, can always surprise you, and the more you shoot the more opportunities there are for those lucky accidents to make your day!

I mentioned the danger of bitting off more than you can chew when you try to get more than one shot at more than one zoom level from a single pass. It worked great for two compositions, so I got a little too full of myself and planned three, a 4x, a 2x, and a 0.5x, all at Pike Bridge with it's arches and harbour. I'd get the train through canal arch at 4x, then through the railway arch at 2x, then along the harbour at 0.5x. I nailed the first one, technically nailed the second, it just proved boring, and then my finger slipped, and I was too slow for this third. I thought I'd failed utterly, but in the moment I fired the shutter anyway, more our of frustration than expectation, but that's when serendipity struck!

I was too slow for my planned shot — a wide view of the entire harbour with the curve of the quay on the foreground, the barges to the left, the bridge as a nice background, and the steam loco at full steam on the far bank dominating the left middle of the shot with a nice clouded sky above. I figured the train was long enough it would still be passing under the bridge, and just maybe, it's tail might be visible through the canal arch. That was my primary target, the 4x and 2x were supposed to be the bonus extras. But I was too slow for that planned grand finale to the season (did I mention it was the last leg of the last train of the last day?). And yet, I got a great final shot that is indeed a real keeper, how? Turns out, by firing too late I was forced to do a much much tighter crop than I would usually dare, and guess what, it worked great! Very dramatic and compelling!

Less dramatically, the poor weather also reminded me that while the sun makes for more picturesque shots, it also cuts down your options massively. When the sun is shining you need to find spots where at least the front or the near side of the train are sunlit, but when the sky is overcast, you can shoot from any angle, so you literally have twice as many angles available, which opens up a lot more potential locations. 'Bad' weather can be a blessing in disguise

The show starts with a few quick followups to some stories from October before moving on to some regulatory and legal stories, a few HR stories, and some services and original content highlights before moving on to the four main stories; Apple’s re-negotiated deal with the MSL, digital IDs, the O26.1 updates, and a pair of unusual new accessories, before finishing up with just one other quick story that made the news in November.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

The AppleTV rebrand continues:

Following last month's collapse of the class action against Apple & Amazon for supposed price fixing due to misconduct by the law firm, Apple & Amazon are now demanding $2M to compensate them for their expenses in having to defend the case — appleinsider.com/…

Following last months announcements of major renewables investments in the EU and China, Apple have announced similar investments in Australia & New Zealand — appleinsider.com/…

Having previously praised Tim Cook for not travelling with President Trump to Saudi Arabia to meet with their murderous crown prince, I was very disappointed to see him join other tech leaders to meet him in the White House — appleinsider.com/…

The European Commission is now investigating if Apple is putting the security of their users at risk under the Digital Services Act (DSA) — 9to5mac.com/…

The two accusations, as per the letter the Commission sent to Apple:

Apple has responded angrily: “We find it difficult to square the premise of these [concerns] under the DSA with the Commission’s radical enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which has continually undercut Apple’s ability to protect its users. … Through the App Store and App Review, Apple has worked to keep fraud and scams, as well as apps that could be harmful to minors (like those dedicated to distributing pornography), off its platforms."

Related: an Apple-funded study finds that European developers are not passing the savings from lower fees on to consumers, suggesting the DMA is not achieving it's goal of saving consumers money by enforcing competition — appleinsider.com/…

Related Analysis: Exploring, in Detail, Apple’s Compliance With the EU’s DMA Mandate Regarding Apple Watch, Third-Party Accessories, and the Syncing of Saved Wi-Fi Networks From iPhones to Which They’re Paired — daringfireball.net/…

UK refuses Apple's request to appeal $2 billion App Store ruling — appleinsider.com/…

Apple & OpenAI must face baseless xAI lawsuit about alleged anticompetitive collusion — appleinsider.com/…

Poland probes Apple again over App Tracking Transparency rules — appleinsider.com/…

EPA fines Apple $261,000 to settle hazardous waste complaint — appleinsider.com/…

Masimo -v- Apple: November was a good month for Masimo, and a bad month for Apple!

Apple wins camera patent dispute, as Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal — appleinsider.com/…

Apple COO Jeff Williams is now officially retired — appleinsider.com/…

Apple has unexpectedly laid off a small amount of its sales force — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Layoffs point to major changes in how it sells products — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple TV:

SpongeBob Patty Pursuit 2, the follow-up to one of Apple Arcade’s biggest hits, launches on December 4 — Apple PR

Apple Pay:

Tyler, The Creator is Apple Music’s Artist of the Year for 2025 — Apple PR

App Store:

MLS & Apple re-negotiate their deal — appleinsider.com/…

Apple's Digital ID continue to grow in the US (but not beyond )

US Passports can now be added to Apple Wallet and the TSA is adding readers in 250 airports — appleinsider.com/…

How to use digital IDs in Apple Wallet & where they are supported — appleinsider.com/…

Public anxiety about Apple's Digital ID greatly overstates actual risks — appleinsider.com/…

Related:

Apple releases OS 26.1 — www.macstories.net/…

iOS 26.1 — www.macobserver.com/… & www.cultofmac.com/…

Tinted Liquid Glass also comes to macOS 26.1— www.macobserver.com/…

Slideover returns with iPadOS 26.1 — www.macobserver.com/…

VisionOS 26.1 adds support for Sony VR controllers, and Apple starts selling them in their online store — appleinsider.com/…

Other Software Updates From Apple:

Apple release an unusual pair of new accessories:

Apple releases the iPhone Pocket, a limited edition range of knitted iPhone sleeves in two sizes and various colours designed by ISSEY MIYAKE and selling for $150 & $230 — Apple PR

Apple launches accessibility-focused iPhone accessory — sixcolors.com/…

Apple Stores extend return policy into January for holiday buyers — appleinsider.com/… (as usual)

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.

Phone cameras don’t change that much year-to-year, but those changes really add up over two or three! In this solo show Bart illustrates this point with his experiences upgrading from an iPhone 15 Pro Max to a 17 Pro Max.

While this podcast is free for you to enjoy, it’s not free for Bart to create. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.

Reminder – you can submit questions for future Q & A shows at http://lets-talk.ie/photoq

I don’t update my phone every year, and I prefer to keep the topics for this show platform-agnostic, but this year I upgraded my phone from an iPhone 15 Pro Max to an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I’m impressed by the level of improvement. I want to share my experience as an example of how much phone cameras are still evolving, even this far into the category's development. The specifics will be different with similar high-end phones from other vendors like Google and Samsung, but given how competitive this market is, the experiences should be similar. Two years of Google Pixel evolution should feel as impressive as two years of Samsung Galaxy evolution which should feels similar to my experience with two years of iPhone evolution.

Let's just get this out of the way, yes, everything got a little better! The whole interface is a little faster, the screen is a little nicer, there is a little less lag saving complex images like night mode shots, and all the improvements in Machine Learning and the normal sensor evolution means the final images all look a little nicer.

If any of that wasn't true I'd feel disappointed!

What interests me are the changes that are more than just 'similar but better' — the changes which make meaningfully affect how I shoot with my phone.

The only new camera feature the iPhone 16 Pro lineup offered that even briefly tempted me to upgrade last year was the introduction of Apple's new Camera Control button. This wasn’t enough to justify upgrading, but I was looking forward to experiencing it next time I did upgrade. Especially because what Apple created sounded spookily like what I described in LTP 132 "Phone Camera Wishlist".

I spent the last year watching others experiment with Camera Control without being able try it myself. I had very high hopes for the feature initially, but watching people I trust and respect try and then abandon it my expectations had been tempered.

I won't bury the lede — I like it, and what's more, I use it! But I needed to tweak the settings to make it work well for me.

I think that might be at the root of a lot of people's disappointment — camera ergonomics are deeply personal, because we all shoot differently, so different controls matter more and less to each of us. No one standard setup can ever be perfect for us all!

Other vendors beat Apple to providing a simple hardware button to launch the camera and take a photo. Apple let you do that with the Action Button before adding the Camera Control button, but they were following other vendors' lead. Strangely, by default, that's also all the new Camera Control button does.

But the button can do a lot more because it’s actually a small capacitive strip with pressure sensitivity. The ‘button’ can detect two levels of ‘click’, and two directions of swipe gesture. I believe all the advanced features were actually enabled by default when the iPhones 16 launched, but they caused so much confusion for regular phone users who just wanted a button to snap their kid being cute quickly and easily, that Apple changed the default. For casual camera users the advanced capabilities are a hindrance rather than a help, so I think having them opt-in makes sense.

Today, photographers that want to enable all the camera control button’s super powers need to open the camera settings in the system settings app to enable it. This has the nice side-effect ensuring that everyone who enables the advanced mode sees that it’s configurable, but you don’t just fine a single on-off toggle in there!

With the button flipped to advanced mode clicking the button still opens the camera, and clicking again fires the shutter. In other words, the basis behaviour remains the same (good!).

What has changed is that the camera control button is now associated with a specific photographic setting. To start changing that setting half-press on the button until a new menu appears directly under the button. This shows you the setting you're controlling, and what will happen when you swipe in either direction. For example, if the selected setting is exposure compensation then half-pressing will reveal the exposure compensation icon and show your current compensation value and a scale you can scroll along.

To change the active setting you need to do something I find difficult — double-half-press. Doing that weird gesture changes the menu to a setting picker which you swipe through and select a new setting by half-clicking or just dwelling for a few seconds.

Different people will have different experiences with the ergonomics of this button. I have no problem half-pressing or swiping, but I find double-half-pressing fiddly. I can do it pretty reliably now after some practice, but I still don't like it!

So, that means I want to minimise my use of that gesture.

As I experimented with camera control I learned what I found natural and what I didn't, and because I had been forced to open the setting to enable the advanced mode in the first place I knew I had options to tweak it.

Firstly, you can actually disable the gestures you don’t like, so there’s actually a spectrum of complexity available. I decided to leave all the top-level gestures enabled, and to make my changes at a more fine-grained level.

The big change I made was to re-order and filter down the setting that appear in the setting selector when you double-half-tap. Each setting can be toggled on and off, and there are drag bars to re-order the ones you keep. By default all the settings are enabled, but I really don't care about many of them. I don’t use photographic styles, so why would I them cluttering up that fiddly list?

The thing I want to do most often is flip between the optical-quality zoom levels, which Apple refers to as cameras, so I need that setting to always be the default when I half-click, so I moved that to the top of my list. Sometimes I want to add some exposure compensation, so there is value for me in having that setting available via the fiddly double-half-click gesture, so that got moved up to second. After some procrastination I also left the depth-of-field setting enabled, but I disabled all the rest. Having this list pared right down and ordered my way has greatly reduced the times I accidentally switch to the wrong setting!

It took me a little while to get comfortable with Camera Control, and not until after I realised the importance of fine-tuning its configuration, but it’s now proving genuinely nice to have. Not a must-have, but I’d be quite cranky if Apple killed it!

Oh — I should also mention that Apple’s own lanyard case works perfectly with the camera control button, at least for me. More impressively still, both the bare button and the button through the Apple case are proving to work reliably, even for half-clicking and swiping, when I have capacitive gloves on — very important for me in winter!

I think every serious iPhone photographer should try the advanced mode for a week or two, being sure to refine the settings every few days as they gain experience. If after a few weeks it's still more of a hassle than a help, flip it back to the default mode and enjoy having a button that always gets you to a photo in two clicks!

The reason I upgraded last time was mostly due to the iPhone 15 Pro Max introducing a periscoping telephoto lens to the iPhone for the first time. Again, Apple were not the fist to try this, but their tetraprism design was original, and on paper at least, it looked very interesting.

After two years of real-world use it seems clear to me that Apple were at the very edge of their capabilities with that 5x telephoto. While the lens isn’t useless, it has proven a lot less useful than I’d hoped.

The sensor behind the 5x telephoto is less capable than the on on the primary lens, having just a quarter the resolution, and 5x of optical zoom had proved both too much and too little. Remember that the laws of physics dictate that The more you zoom the dimmer the light hitting the sensor gets. This is because you’re stretching less of the real world across more of the frame so there is less light per pixel. Again, physics tells us that less signal means a worse signal-to-noise ratio, so noise was always a concern, and it proved to be a real limiting factor. It’s not that you saw the noise directly, it’s that the noise was too much for the image processing pipeline to handle elegantly, so it resulted in unpleasant artefacting in anything less than perfect light.

I’d expected to use the 5x to take my macros to the next level, but that proved impractical in the real world. My experience was that there was rarely enough light when I wanted to capture an insect or something like that, so the noise suppression destroyed all the detail, leaving fake-looking cartoony images.

What makes it worse is that a lot of the time 5x is actually more zoom than I really want! Worse, when I do need as much as 5x I almost always need more than 5x. So, most of the time the real world was too dark for the zoom to take good macros or too far away for 5x to be enough!

The telephoto on the iPhone 16 Pro Max was mostly un-changed, so I had no interest in that upgrade, and friends and family who did update confirmed my expectations — the lens remained as compromised as ever.

With the iPhone 17 Pro line Apple had a really big re-think, and they nailed it!

Optically they stuck with their innovative tetraprism design, but they reduced the optical zoom level to 4x, and quadrupled the sensor resolution so it has enough pixels to make use of pixel binning. The sensor is also two years more advanced, so it’s inherently less noisy too.

By reducing the optical zoom to 4x the camera feels natural far more often. Those situations where the 5x was just a little too much work wonderfully at 4x.

More importantly though, the fact that the light is being stretched less makes it inherently less noisy, and when you combine that with the power of pixel binning when multiple physical pixels feed into individual logical pixels, the signal-to-noise improves even more. Those two factors combined mean the 4x telephotos captures amazing detail in real-world lighting conditions, making it a truly useful lens!

But wait, there’s more! Now that there are so many physical pixels, the centre quarter of the sensor can be used as individual logical pixels to give an optical quality 8x zoom at the same resolution we previously got from the 5x telephoto. The 8x zoom struggles more in low light than the 4x, but with the more modern sensor I’m finding it a little less noisy than the 5x in the real world. This doesn’t feel like a near miss at the edge of what’s possible, but a genuinely useful bonus extra when conditions allow.

The end result is that I find myself using the 4x telephoto a lot. In fact, the 4x has all but replaced my use of the cropped 2x lens (the centre pixels of the main sensor).

Meanwhile, the 8x telephoto continues to surprise me. My initial take was that it was more zoom at the same quality as the 5x, but now I think it’s actually less noise at a greater zoom. It’s not a lens I need often, but when I do it‘s working well for me.

The end result is that the three zoom levels I now use most often line up with the in-cropped versions of the three physical camera — I love the 0.5x wide angle as much as ever, the 1x primary remains my most used lens, and I now use the 4x telephotos about as much as the wide angle. This is similar to my usages pattern the first time Apple gave us three lenses when I regularly used 0.5x, 1x & 3x.

In hind sight, I think Apple messed up by making the step from 1x to 5x too big. Think about it, the physical lenses on the iPhone 15 and 16 Pro Max models jumped 0.5x → 1x → 5x, and even when you merged in the one supported crop mode the last step was still quite the leap, going 0.5x → 1x → 2x → 5x. But the iPhones 17 Pro give a much more equal progression from 0.5x → 1x → 4x, and it looks even better when you merge in the two crop modes to give 0.5x → 1x → 2x → 4x → 8x.

The details will differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the pattern should be the same — phone cameras are still in the rapid development stage of their life cycles. Some day that will plateaux, and the changes will become purely incremental quality of life tweaks, but we’re clearly not there yet, at least not at the high end of the smartphone market!

Upgrading every year seems excessive to me, but after two or three years you’ll really get meaningful improvements!

The show starts with a few quick followups on stories from last month before catching up with the month’s regulatory, legal, and HR news. That’s followed by a quick look at Apple’s services news for the month. There are just two main stories, Apple’s Q4 2025 earnings, and Apple’s M5 hardware refreshes. The show wraps up with a few other quick stories that made the news in October.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

The ICEBlock story got a little more icky early in the month:

‘Apple Is Better Than This’: Ex-Apple Exec Condemns ICEBlock Removal — www.macobserver.com/… (Wiley Hodges, 20 year veteran)

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses — www.404media.co/…

"Speaking to 404 Media, the app’s administrator, identified only as Mark, said Eyes Up was designed to promote transparency. 'Our goal is government accountability. We aren’t even doing real-time tracking,' he said. Mark asked to be identified by his first name to avoid potential retaliation. He argued that the decision reflected political discomfort rather than legitimate safety concerns. 'I think the administration is just embarrassed by how many incriminating videos we have,' he added." — from TMO's summary (www.macobserver.com/…)

Apple also removed DeICER, a civic-reporting app used to log immigration enforcement activity, and their justification was perverse: "[the app's] purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group" — daringfireball.net/…

"There’s not one story about any of these apps being used to harm ICE agents. And even if such an attack happened, that wouldn’t imply it’s the purpose of these apps. The purpose of these apps is to protect people — citizens and non-citizens alike — from ICE." — John Gruber

Apple & Tim Cook continue to pander to President Trump, but it seems to be paying off

Apple amongst US tech giants backing Trump's White House ballroom reno — appleinsider.com/…

Apple CEO Tim Cook dines with Trump in Tokyo — appleinsider.com/…

Presidents Trump Xi agree to reduce tariffs in exchange for more rare earths — appleinsider.com/… & www.cultofmac.com/…

Rollouts continue for Apple's recently released products and features:

US States continue to roll out age verification laws:

Apple sets new Rules for Texas under State’s Age Verification Law — www.macobserver.com/…

If you create a new Apple account in Texas next year, you’ll have to confirm whether you’re 18 or older. Anyone under 18 must join a Family Sharing group, and parents will need to approve every app download, purchase, and in-app transaction.

Apple faces new App Store age-verification rule in California — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple takes EU to court, calling Digital Markets Act “intrusive and unlawful” — www.macobserver.com/…

“the DMA requires security and protection for consumers. But the enforcement of this law has seen the EU demanding Apple make changes that unquestionably do undermine or even remove such security” — Good summary from appleinsider.com/…

Apple warns it could disable App Tracking Transparency across Europe — www.macobserver.com/…

UK follows EU path, labels Apple and Google as ‘Strategic Market Status’ Firms — www.macobserver.com/… (nothing will happen in the short term)

Apple has lost a massive $2Bn class action suit in the UK, the

Apple has already announced it's intention to appeal — www.macobserver.com/…

“A separate hearing next month will set the damages method and consider Apple’s request to appeal.”

Opinion: John Gruber — daringfireball.net/…

Apple has approached all this regulatory conflict from a perspective that they’re right, and the regulators are wrong … But even if Apple is correct about that, at some point, after being handed loss after loss in rulings from courts and regulatory bodies around the globe, shouldn’t they change their strategy and start trying to offer their own concessions, rather than wait for bureaucrat-designed concessions to be forced upon them?

Apple -v- John Prosser: things get interesting!

Apple -v- Epic: oral Arguments were held in the federal appeals court in Apple's case seeking the reversal of the recent contempt runing that forced it to allow linkouts for payment in the US — appleinsider.com/…](https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/10/23/judges-seems-sympathetic-to-apple-in-app-store-appeal-hearing)

The panel of judges didn't immediately rule on the matter. A decision is expected in the coming months, but probably not in 2025.

It was a good month from Apple in US courts, as lots of cases agree with the company and reject cases:

Apple, Amazon Lawsuit Over iPhone and iPad Prices Dismissed — www.macobserver.com/…

The case unraveled when Floyd decided to withdraw from the lawsuit. Instead of informing the court, his attorneys told U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson that Floyd had become “difficult to reach” while they searched for new plaintiffs. This misrepresentation prompted the judge to revisit earlier rulings.

'Alarming errors' lead to App Store class action decertification — appleinsider.com/…

Apple fends off part of AirPods Pro defect lawsuit, judge narrows scope — appleinsider.com/…

Judge Wise dropped the claim that Apple made unfair profits but let the rest of the case move forward.

Siri's voice recording scandal lives on in new French probe — appleinsider.com/…

Meta steals top Apple AI exec behind ‘answer engine’ project — www.cultofmac.com/… (Ke Yang)

NPR’s Podcasting Lead Leaves for Reported Role at Apple — www.macobserver.com/… (Collin Campbell, was NPR SVP of Podcasting Strategy & Franchise Development)

Apple reshapes health, fitness and Apple Watch leadership as Jeff Williams nears retirement — www.cultofmac.com/…

As part of the rejig, Eddy Cue will oversee the health and fitness team … the watchOS division will come under Craig Federighi, the current head of software engineering.

Apple's gaming efforts continue apace:

Apple TV:

Apple TV+ Rebranded to Just Apple TV — tidbits.com/…

'F1 The Movie' crosses the finish line, hits Apple TV December 12 — appleinsider.com/…

MLS playoff matches free to all Apple TV subscribers — appleinsider.com/…

Apple TV and Peacock bundle starts at $15/month, available on Oct. 20 — arstechnica.com/…

Apple TV Apprenticeships: A Gateway to Production Careers — www.macobserver.com/… (partnership with the UK National Film and Television School AKA the NFTS)

Related: A surprisingly frank long-form interview with Eddie Cue: The Town with Matthew Belloni: Apple’s True Intentions in Hollywood — overcast.fm/…

West Virginia becomes latest state to allow driver’s licenses in Apple Wallet — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple's Q4 2025 Earnings — Apple PR

M5 Hardware Refreshes (now shipping — Apple PR)

Apple unleashes M5, the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon — Apple PR

Apple unveils new 14‑inch MacBook Pro powered by the M5 chip, delivering the next big leap in AI for the Mac — Apple PR

Apple Quietly Made the Best Laptop Speakers Even Better — www.macobserver.com/…

New 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 ships without a charger across Europe — www.macobserver.com/…

Analysis: A lot of the reporting on the charger thing is missing important nuance — www.macobserver.com/…

Legal language does not forbid multiple charging methods on the device itself, which explains why MacBook Pro supports both MagSafe and USB-C. Legal language also does not forbid bundling a charger for free, as long as buyers can pick the version without it. The core requirement is choice at the point of sale, not a penalty for including an adapter.

iFixit teardown shows small repair wins in M5 MacBook Pro — www.macobserver.com/…

Review Roundup: First reviews call M5 MacBook Pro a beast — but M4 owners can skip this upgrade — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple introduces the powerful new iPad Pro with the M5 chip — Apple PR

Apple launches M5 powered Vision Pro with new Dual Knit Band — sixcolors.com/…

Related: Apple adds a black Magic Keyboard option for the iPad Air — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Clips social video app killed after eight years — appleinsider.com/…

Beats Solo 4 and Solo Buds both gain Walmart-exclusive color options — appleinsider.com/… ('Drenched Gray')

Apple expands renewable energy projects across Europe — Apple PR

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.

Fresh off presenting to a Mac Users Group, Bart shares his basic advice for getting better photos in general, being careful to pay extra attention to getting the most from phone cameras because those are the cameras most of us have with us most of the time. No matter what your experience level, you can always benefit from a refresher on some of the basics!

While this podcast is free for you to enjoy, it’s not free for Bart to create. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.

Reminder – you can submit questions for future Q & A shows at http://lets-talk.ie/photoq

As I’ve mentioned on the show a few times, I’ve been putting a lot of work into a presentation to the wonderful Napels Mac Friends MUG on getting great photos with your iPhone. I finally gave that talk at the start of the month, and I think it went well. By its very nature much of the talk was very iPhone specific. Since this is explicitly not a gear show, those parts of the slides would not be a great fit here. But, one section of the talk really isn’t iPhone specific — the generic advice for getting better photographs, and that’s what I’ll be sharing here.

Rather than more traditional show notes here are the relevant slides from my presentation (LTP145-PresentationSlides.pdf):

The show starts with a quick update on the UK iCloud saga, a handful of regulatory and legal stories, a little HR and acquisition news, and rundown of the notable Apple services and original content news before digging into the three main stories. The first main story is a short look at some Trump-related developments in the US before getting stuck into the the twin big stories, the new hardware from the ‘Awe Dropping’ event, this year’s big new OS releases.The show finishes with the usual rundown of a few other quick Apple-related stories that made the news in September.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

More reporting from the Financial Times confirms my fears that the UK super-secret iCloud backdoor drama is not over: cyberinsider.com/…

“According to sources familiar with the matter, the latest Technical Capability Notice (TCN) issued under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) asks Apple to break encryption solely for UK citizens’ data stored in iCloud.”

EU investigates Apple, Google, and Microsoft over handling of online scams — arstechnica.com/… (Are these companies meeting their Digital Services Act obligations to add effective protections?)

Apple has filed an official response to the European Commission's request for feedback on the Digital Markets Act — Apple PR

"Under the DMA, the European Commission’s interpretation of the rules is constantly changing. And that makes it nearly impossible for companies to know how to comply.”

Apple says more features would be delayed in EU under DMA — www.macobserver.com/…

EU Digital Markets Act benefits only other big tech companies and hurts customers, says Apple — appleinsider.com/…

EU Says Apple Must Comply with DMA Rules — www.macobserver.com/…

Opinion:

Dan Moran: Apple posts thoughts on the DMA — sixcolors.com/… (excellent article, can't disagree)

John Gruber: Apple on the Digital Markets Act — daringfireball.net/…

"If Apple just shipped all EU iPhones with Android instead of iOS, all of their DMA problems would go away … How in the world would that increase competition?"

Apple TV+:

Another good year for Apple at the Emmys:

Apple TV+ secures 10-episode follow-up to BBC's 'Gavin and Stacey' — appleinsider.com/…

Seven new Apple Immersive films let Apple Vision Pro users explore sports, music, and culture — appleinsider.com/…

The Peanuts gang will have a home at Apple until 2030 — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple Music:

'NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition' arrives on Apple Arcade this October — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)

Apple News+ added The Washington at no extra cost — www.macobserver.com/… (Probably US-only, but not sure)

Apple Pay & Apple Wallet:

Apple Health: Apple Expands Sleep Apnea Notifications to South Korea — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple Sports app adds widgets and expands to 8 new countries — www.cultofmac.com/… (All in Europe)

Apple Invites adds calendar syncing and video playback — appleinsider.com/…

Trumplandia Update

It's not clear how badly Trump's 100% tariffs on films will hit Apple TV+ — appleinsider.com/… (it's not even clear what is going to actually happen!)

Apple removes ICEBlock, won’t allow apps that report locations of ICE agents — arstechnica.com/… (Apple's US app store is now like their app stores in other authoritarian countries)

Opinion:

Complying With ‘Demand’ From Trump Administration, Apple Removes ICEBlock From App Store — daringfireball.net/…

"No one, not even Bondi, is claiming any aspect of ICEBlock is illegal. Thus it’s not merely inappropriate but outrageous — and yet another among dozens of other causes for alarm regarding Trump 2.0’s decidedly authoritarian turn — for the DOJ to 'demand' Apple do anything about it. But demand they did, and comply did Apple." — John Gruber

Apple’s ICEblock capitulation is business as usual — sixcolors.com/…

“Do not expect corporations to be your proxy in the fight against authoritarianism. They are, simply put, not designed for it. They are machines designed to return profit to shareholders and that means they fundamentally rely on a stability that you’re not going to get from making waves. You will always be disappointed.” — Dan Moren

Related: Apple CEO Tim Cook attended UK state dinner with President Trump — appleinsider.com/…

Apple's Awe Dropping event

Apple’s September 2025 Event: Replay Today’s Keynote — www.macstories.net/…

Apple's September 2025 Event: All the Small Things (Bento Box Version) — www.macstories.net/…

What Apple Chose to Highlight — their press releases, in order:

Apple's September 2025 Event: By the Numbers — www.macstories.net/…

New AirPods Pro 3:

AirPods Pro 3 arrive with heart rate sensing, and best-ever ANC — appleinsider.com/…

AirPods Pro 3 Can Run 8-10 Hours on a Single Charge — www.macobserver.com/…

Hands on: AirPods Pro 3 Live Translation and heart rate monitoring are compelling — appleinsider.com/…

Apple drops USB-C cable from AirPods Pro 3 packaging — www.cultofmac.com/…

AirPods Pro 3 review roundup: A ‘no-brainer upgrade’ — www.cultofmac.com/…

New Apple Watches:

Most new Apple Watches get Hypertension Alerts (not SE 3)

New Apple watches get Sleep Scores

Apple Watch Series 11 hides hypertension monitoring & better battery in a familiar shell — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Watch Ultra 3 brings bigger screen, better battery and new health tricks — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple Watch SE 3 refreshed with modern design, features, and budget-friendly price — appleinsider.com/…

Related: There are an incredible amount of new Apple Watch bands with new colors and styles — appleinsider.com/…

iPhones

The A19 chips add hardware to dramatically boost security on all this year's new iPhone models — appleinsider.com/…

New iPhones use Apple N1 wireless chip—and we’ll probably start seeing it everywhere — arstechnica.com/…(Apple's own WiFi + bluetooth chip)

Related: iPhone Satellite Features Remain Free for Another Year — tidbits.com/…

iPhone 17

Center Stage camera turns iPhone 17 into super selfie machine — www.cultofmac.com/…

Analysis: iPhone 17 Camera: What’s New and Why It Matters — www.macobserver.com/…

Specs sound nice, but the real win is in everyday use. Photos taken at night look cleaner without the grain that older iPhones struggled with. Motion blur is reduced, so kids, pets, or street scenes come out sharp. Video feels steadier, making it easier to capture moments without extra gear.

Reviews:

iPhone 17 review roundup — the best iPhone for almost everyone — appleinsider.com/…

iPhone 17 Pro is here with hugely improved cooling & unibody frame — appleinsider.com/…

Apple “started from scratch” to design all-new iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max — arstechnica.com/…

iPhone 17 Pro Only Comes in Three Colors, With No Black or White Option — www.macobserver.com/… (Comes in bright orange, dark blue, and grey)

iPhone 17 Pro Price goes up by $100 but base storage doubles — www.macobserver.com/… & iPhone 17 Pro Max Becomes the First 2TB iPhone — www.macobserver.com/…

Ceramic Shield 2 Explained: What’s New? — www.macobserver.com/…

This second generation is engineered to solve the two biggest real-world complaints about smartphone screens: scratches and glare.

Apple Announces Final Cut Camera 2.0 with Support for ProRes RAW and Genlock — www.macstories.net/…

Why Apple Traded Titanium for Aluminum on iPhone 17 Pro — www.macobserver.com/…

Here’s the deal: the A19 Pro chip is clearly built for sustained performance, not just flashy peak speeds. To keep that thing humming during a long 4K ProRes shoot or a heavy gaming session, you have to get heat out. And let’s be real, titanium is an insulator. It looks cool, but it traps heat. Aluminum, on the other hand, is fantastic at heat dissipation.

iPhone 17 Pro teardown reveals vapor chamber, explains scratches — appleinsider.com/…

Overall, the iPhone 17 Pro is deemed to be marginally less repairable than the iPhone Air, but it still receives a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10.

Reviews:

iPhone 17 Pro & iPhone 17 Pro Max review roundup — fast, excellent, and orange — appleinsider.com/…

iPhone Air Announced: Apple’s Thinnest iPhone Ever With Titanium Build, A19 Pro, and a $999 Starting Price — www.macobserver.com/…

Contrary to what many thought, the iPhone Air is incredibly strong — Jerry Rig Everything on youtube.com/…

eSim only!

Apple’s Thinnest iPhone Ever… Is Actually Repairable? iPhone Air Teardown — iFixIt on youtube.com/… (yes, 7/10)

How Apple made iPhone Air’s USB-C port ultra-thin (and better) — www.cultofmac.com/… (3D-printed Titanium )

MagSafe battery resurrected, gives up to 40 hours of use to iPhone Air — appleinsider.com/…

Analysis:

Why you shouldn’t worry about iPhone Air battery life — www.cultofmac.com/…

Why the iPhone 17 Air Camera Stands Apart from the Pro and Base Models — www.macobserver.com/…

The Air replaces multiple visible lenses with a unified 48MP Fusion camera that uses sensor-level tricks and heavy image processing to give you flexible framing, reliable low-light shots, and pro-grade video in a thinner chassis.

iPhone Air vs 17 Pro: Differences That Matter — www.macobserver.com/…

The Air is the thinnest iPhone Apple has ever made, designed for people who want lightness and elegance above all. The Pro is bulkier, heavier, and built for power users who care about cameras, battery, and sustained performance.

Review: If you touch an iPhone Air, you’ll want to buy it immediately — www.cultofmac.com/…

iPhone Air review roundup: Slim but not perfect — appleinsider.com/…

Apple’s September 2025 Event: All the New Accessories — www.macstories.net/…

Every New Apple Intelligence Feature Announced at Apple’s Awe Dropping Event — www.macobserver.com/… (Mostly small things, peppered throughout the line, and not called out as a single whole)

Overall Analysis: Thinking through Apple’s September 9 announcements — sixcolors.com/…

"This year, Apple is more or less abandoning ProMotion and always-on as iPhone Pro differentiators. That means habitual buyers of the lower-end phones will be getting a really substantial improvement when they next update their phones! … Apple has also chosen not to skimp on its new selfie camera … Similarly, the base iPhone’s ultrawide camera joins its main camera at 48MP … the big camera difference between the [regular and pro] models really is the lack of a third telephoto lens.

New versions of Apple’s software platforms are available today — Apple PR

OS 26.0.1 Updates Fix Early Bugs — tidbits.com/…

Nice one-stop-shop big-picture overview: Apple Brings 200 Documented Changes Across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe — www.macobserver.com/…

The improved parental controls announced earlier in the year have gone live with these OS updates — Apple PR & appleinsider.com/…

Analysis: the best considered critique of Liquid Glass I've seen: On Liquid Glass — pxlnv.com/… (long read)

Spatial widgets add a new dimension to Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 26, available now — appleinsider.com/…

Everything new in visionOS 26: Spatial Widgets and 15 more new features — www.cultofmac.com/…

Reviews:

visionOS 26 review: a necessary evolution in need of new hardware — appleinsider.com/…

Apple made several quality-of-life upgrades to how visionOS works and presents itself to users … Apple Vision Pro isn't being held back by the M2, but the edge cases are starting to show up.

visionOS 26: The MacStories Review — www.macstories.net/…

visionOS 26 keeps [the] rapid development going with a ton of new features, improvements, and capabilities that make Vision Pro even more powerful and enjoyable to use.

tvOS 26 is out now with karaoke mode, redesign, and big sound upgrades — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Releases watchOS 26 With Liquid Glass Design and Health Tools — www.macobserver.com/…

Everything new in watchOS 26: Workout Buddy and 15 other features — www.cultofmac.com/…

watchOS 26: The MacStories Review — www.macstories.net/…

Liquid Glass on the Apple Watch is fine. It’s not adding anything useful, nor is it taking anything away … the Smart Stack is gaining even more utility in the form of Smart Stack hints, which appear as small icons at the bottom of your watch face.

macOS Tahoe with Liquid Glass, Clipboard History, and more is now available — appleinsider.com/…

Excellent overview: Everything new in macOS 26 Tahoe: Supercharged Spotlight and 40+ other features — www.cultofmac.com/…

How to Use Clipboard History on macOS Tahoe — www.macobserver.com/…

macOS Tahoe is getting a new Repair Assistant for part calibration and pairing — appleinsider.com/…

Support for FireWire Removed from macOS 26 Tahoe — tidbits.com/…

Reviews:

The most detailed review I've seen: macOS 26 Tahoe: The MacStories Review — www.macstories.net/…

macOS 26 Tahoe: The Ars Technica review — arstechnica.com/…

macOS Tahoe review — a strong update, just not for the reasons you expect — appleinsider.com/…

Liquid Glass will briefly startle you, but then it's the new features in macOS Tahoe that make this a significant and a significantly useful upgrade … You even very, very soon wonder how you put up with the old macOS, the new one is so much better.

macOS 26 Tahoe review: Power under glass — sixcolors.com/…

macOS 26 Tahoe is two things at once: It’s the broadest and most productivity-focused update for macOS in years, while also taking collateral damage from Apple’s broader design ambitions on its other platforms. If you’re worried about upgrading to macOS 26 Tahoe because of Apple’s 'liquid glass' design, don’t be—it’s mostly a minor reskinning that doesn’t really change how the Mac works … I have found macOS Tahoe to be perfectly usable, and there are moments of beauty separated by long stretches of banality … it sure feels like Apple is building a new vision of how the menu bar works, with old-school Menu Extras joined by individual controls as well as user-created submenus full of controls.

Apple releases iOS 26 with Liquid Glass and more intelligence — appleinsider.com/…

Everything new in iOS 26: Liquid Glass and 70+ new features — www.cultofmac.com/…

A fun video tour of some of the notable new features form Joanna Stern — WSJ on youtu.be/…

How the iPhone Camera App Changed in iOS 26 (and How to Use It) — www.macobserver.com/… & iPhone 16 to Get Bright Photographic Style in iOS 26 Update — www.macobserver.com/…

What is the Preview App in iOS 26? How to use — www.macobserver.com/…

Inside iOS 26 – How to add free custom ringtones to your iPhone — appleinsider.com/…

Boarding Pass Live Activities Arrive in Apple Wallet with iOS 26 — www.macobserver.com/… (looks very useful, but needs airlines to update their apps to use new APIs)

New Apple Intelligence features are available today — Apple PR

Visual Intelligence Explained: Unlocking the Power of Your Device’s Camera — www.macobserver.com/… (now works on any image, including screenshots)

How to Enable and Use Call Screening in iOS 26 — www.macobserver.com/…

iOS 26 Hold Assist: What It Is and How to Use It — www.macobserver.com/…

What is Adaptive Power Mode in iOS 26: Compatibility, Features, and Performance — www.macobserver.com/…

Siri just got 5 secret iOS 26 upgrades and they’re actually useful — www.macobserver.com/… (nothing dramatic, but nice little quality-of-life updates)

Apple’s Foundation Models framework unlocks new app experiences powered by Apple Intelligence — www.apple.com/… (new APIs, so will take time for apps to leverage this new capability)

Apple has finally explained why battery life can be different after an OS update — appleinsider.com/… (the phone has some house-keeping to do, so the first day will be abnormally hard on battery life)

Reviews:

The most detailed feature-by-feature review I've read: iOS and iPadOS 26: The MacStories Review — www.macstories.net/…

iOS 26 review: A practical, yet playful, update — arstechnica.com/… & Reviewing iOS 26 for power users: Reminders, Preview, and more — arstechnica.com/…

iOS 26 review: Smart, glassy, but waiting on Siri — appleinsider.com/…

Siri delays haunt an otherwise excellent upgrade … ['liquid glass' is] an aesthetic that works well, and Apple has certainly worked hard to perfect it. Expect more tweaks in the future as Apple deals with the inevitable complaints, but it's landed in a good position for the operating system's release … Overall, iOS 26 is a great update for most users.

iOS 26 Review: Through a glass, liquidly — sixcolors.com/…

"… worth noting that almost all of the iOS 26 features that Apple demoed during its WWDC keynote this year are available in this initial version … Overall, iOS 26’s quality of life improvements are what are likely to resonate the most" — Dan Moren

AirPods under iOS 26: iOS 26 AirPods Update: Every New Feature You Get — www.macobserver.com/…

CarPlay under iOS 26:

iPadOS 26 arrives with controversial Liquid Glass and Mac-like multitasking — appleinsider.com/… & Apple Launches iPadOS 26 With Major Productivity Upgrades — www.macobserver.com/…

iPadOS 26 review: A computer? — sixcolors.com/…

*“It’s like a weight has been lifted from the soul of the iPad. It remains a very nice device to use in full-screen mode with all the simplicity attendant to that mode. But via a single tap, it can also transform into a multi-window, multitasking device that’s appropriate for the Mac-class hardware underpinning today’s iPads.

Apple refreshes Beats lineup with Powerbeats Fit — www.macobserver.com/… & Compact new Powerbeats Fit earbuds add comfort and durability — www.cultofmac.com/…

Adobe Brings Premiere Video Editor to iPhone — www.macobserver.com/… (and iPad!)

Apple launches new project to protect and restore California redwood forest — Apple PR

Apple's fourth quarter 2025 earnings call to take place on October 30 — appleinsider.com/…

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.

In this solo show Bart describes the technological tricks modern smartphone cameras use to take better photos than traditional optics and sensors alone could possibly achieve.

While this podcast is free for you to enjoy, it’s not free for Bart to create. Please consider supporting the show by becoming a patron on Patreon.

Reminder – you can submit questions for future Q & A shows at http://lets-talk.ie/photoq

Friend of the show Allison Sheridan recently invited me onto the NosillaCast to answer her specific questions about how the iPhone 17 Pro's 3 'holes' translate so to many 'optical quality' zoom modes. Allison is an engineer so she came armed with lots of detailed spec tables and very specific questions. It was a fun discussion, but it was very iPhone specific, and it was focused around Allison's specific questions. That conversation inspired me to re-visit the topic here, but to broaden it out.

You can argue about whether Apple is the best at making phone cameras, but what's undeniable is that Apple is one of the best. None of the techniques Apple uses are unique to Apple, though Apple's use of these techniques is remarkably refined and well executed. Apple seamlessly blend many advanced cutting edge technologies into a single unified camera experience that hides all that complexity from users, gets out of our way, and lets us concentrate on making great photographs.

Since all the high-end smartphone makers use the same technological toolbox, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what's in that toolbox in 2025.

The laws of physics greatly limit what traditional digital cameras can achieve on smartphones — the sensors and lenses simply must be small, and what's more, the entire package much be very thin too. The laws of optics tell you there depth-of-field will be deeper than on traditional digital cameras, the sensors noisier, and the zoom levels lower.

Apple and others have certainly done their best to make the best possible lenses with amazing materials like samphire, the sensors as good as they can possibly be despite their size, and the optical train surprisingly long despite being thin using clever folded light paths like Apple's tetraprism design, but that's nowhere near enough to produce the amazing photos we all take on our modern smartphones. That's where the techniques we'll be focusing on today come into play.

Long before Large Language Models and generative AI because common household concepts, there has been Machine Learning, or ML. This is where you teach artificial neural networks to process data in some kind of optimised way. You give the network billions of sample inputs, grade it on how well the outputs it produces score on some kind of metric of your choice, tweak the network, and repeat, not just once or twice, but millions or billions of times until those neural networks are experts at performing your desired data processing.

Initially the ML was just handling the signal processing needed to translate raw and noisy sensor data into images, but now there is ML optimising countless decisions throughout the entire process, and much of that machine learning is implemented in hardware to really speed it up. This is the so-called image pipeline Apple like to brag about making better with each iPhone release.

Initially, that image pipeline simply converted a single exposure on one sensor through one lens into a singe photo, but now, the inputs to that pipeline can be much more complex.

Let's look at the range of techniques modern image pipelines utilise to assemble our smartphone photos.

If you want less noise in your image, you need more signal! The first trick the image pipelines learned was to fire the sensor multiple times for each requested photo and combine the data from those multiple exposures together to boost the signal to noise ratio. This requires more than just averaging each pixel across each frame, you also need to auto-align the image to deal with movement, which is of course more work for the machine learning!

If you shoot each frame at different exposure time, you can use this technique to boost the dynamic range as well as the signal-to-noise ratio. You shoot one at the 'correct' exposure, one a little shorter to get more detail in the highlights, and one a little longer to get more detail in the shadows, or perhaps even more if the scene has an extremely wide dynamic range, or if the scene is particularly dark.

To optimise this approach sensors can be flipped into video mode, and the video stream combined to make the Harry-Potter-like moving photo effect, or, when pushed to the extreme, to achieve the so-called night mode many modern smartphones offer.

As well as stacking multiple frames at multiple exposures, or a constant stream of frames as if shooting a movie, it's also possible to alter the focus distance between frames to boost the depth of field when shooting things that are very close to the lens. This is one of the two techniques power the macro modes on smartphones.

The second trick macro modes rely on is the logical evolution from combining frames through a single lens onto a single sensor into combining frames from multiple sensors shot through multiple lenses into a single final image.

When iPhones switch to macro mode the ML is combining multiple frames from two of the phone's physical cameras together to produce the image. This is why the iPhone Air doesn't have a macro mode — it only has one back camera!

As well as powering the macro mode, combining simultaneous exposures from multiple lenses also enables high quality shots between the zoom levels that match the physical cameras on the backs of our phones. In early phones these intermediate zooms were always low quality because they relied on interpolation from the lens below, or cropping and zooming from the lens above, but now they are true blends from both lenses either side of the chosen zoom level.

Early smartphone sensors were so cutting edge that the thought of having more pixels on the sensors than were present in the final image was insane — there were so few pixels to start with, why would you throw data away?

Now, sensors have matured to the point that it makes sense to have more physical pixels than are used in the final photos some of the time.

For example, you can ask the iPhone to give you the highest possible resolution in your photos, in which case, the 48MP sensors are used to create 48MP photos at the zoom levels matching the physical cameras, but that's not the default. The default is to give you 24MP or 12MP photos from those 48MP sensors. What's happening is that data from multiple single pixels are being combined into each output photo pixel to reduce the noise and increase the quality.

The other thing that these big sensors allow is for good images that only use a sub-set of the sensor. If you take the iPhone's 1x camera and use all the pixels, binned or not, you get that 1x zoom, but if you use just the centre part of that sensor you get a 2x zoom where you still have one physical pixel for each pixel in the final photo, or, to use Apple's lingo, an optical-quality zoom. The same trick gets you from the physical 4x lens on the iPhone 17s Pro to an 8x optical-quality zoom.

The new iPhones also take this same concept in a slightly different direction to offer vertical and horizontal aspect ratios at the same resolution without needing to rotate your phone. This has been achieved by making the sensor in the front-facing cameras square, so both full-size horizontal and vertical strips of pixels are available to the image pipeline. The pixels in the four corners will never be used in these two modes, but they are used when the same sensor is used for video recording with the motion compensation and/or smart zoom feature that automatically pans around to keep you in shot was you move. What's really happening is that a wandering sub-set of the sensor is being used so there is still one phyiscal pixel per video pixel, but which part of the sensor those pixels are from drifts around as you move the phone and/or your head!

To get around the shallow depth of field inherent to small sensors lidar sensors can be used to add a depth-map to the image. The Lidar resolution is less than the sensor resolution, so it's not that image pipleline knows the exact distance to each pixel, but it does get the average distance for groups of pixels, and that can be used to very accurately simulate a shallower depth of field.

This trick evolved from using just a handful of Lidar sensors for fast auto focus to using a coarse grid of Lidar pixels on just the front-facing camera for face recognition to using ever more precise Lidar sensors on both sides of the camera to give ever better so-called portrait modes.

Finally, I should mention a tool Apple has chosen not to use in its camera, but others are choosing to use — generative AI. Apple have drawn a line in the sand between shooting and editing, offering generative feature when editing, but only using genuine data from one or more sensors when shooting. Some smartphone makers have chosen to work around physical limitations by adding generative AI into their image pipelines to literally confabulate (or hallucinate) data that was never captured to make the photos look better.

Personally, I think it's dishonest and deceptive to just invent data when shooting photos or videos, so I'm all in favour of Apple's approach. There are times I choose to use generative AI when editing artistic shots, but I never want that to happen behind my back!

Every time you tap that shutter button on a modern smartphone and a preview image appears in what feels like an instant, don't assume the process was simple! There is an amazing amount of cutting edge technology sitting between the front of that lens and the image you see in your screen just a few mm behind! Every now and then, take a moment to appreciate just how amazing it is that we can capture such wonderful photos on a device small enough to fit in our pockets that we have with us all the time!

August is the so-called ‘silly season’, and it shows, with just two main stories, but lots more detail than usual in the other regular segments. Starting as usual with feedback and followups the most notable developments are in the secret UK encryption case and the Apple-Epic saga, there are some more regulatory problems for Apple, just one legal story, then the usual HR news before checking in on Apple’s services and original content where there is a very notable price change to discuss. The two main stories are Tim Cook’s ‘Made in America’ charm offensive, and Apple’s US blood oxygen workaround. As usual the show finish with a few smaller stories that made the month’s news.

You’ll find detailed show notes below the fold, and if you enjoy this free show, please consider clicking on the donate button at the top of the left side bar – the show is free for you to listen to, but not for Bart to Produce!

Quick updates to long-running stories the show continues to track, and to stories covered in recent shows.

The UK's super-secret case against Apple got significantly more confusing in August:

August was a relatively quiet month in the Apple -v- Epic saga:

An Australian court has ruled that Apple & Google's app stores are anti-competitive, but there are no details yet of what exactly that will mean — appleinsider.com/…

Nothing substantial happened in the US case, just some ground work preparing for what ever remaining court dates there will be:

August was a relatively quiet month in Trump Tariff news:

Some more details have emerged about how Japan's new Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) will affect Apple, as well as the App Store changes discussed last month, they will also have to offer an EU-like browser ballot — www.cultofmac.com/…

August was a good month for Apple in India:

When the UK passed it's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) that trigged an investigation into Apple and Google by the country's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to determine if those companies have Strategic Market Status, who have now found that Apple & Google do indeed have that status, bringing them under tighter regulations similar to Gatekeeper status under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) — www.macobserver.com/…

Google Allowed to Keep Chrome and Continue Paying Apple $20 Billion for Search Placement — tidbits.com/…

German Court Blocks Apple’s Carbon Neutral Claims for Apple Watch — www.macobserver.com/… (purely on a technicality regarding a specific off-set, not on any broad principle)

Apple App Store Faces Formal Antitrust Investigation in Colombia — www.macobserver.com/…

France's unnecessary iPhone 12 RF patch is spreading across Europe — appleinsider.com/…

Elon Musk baselessly suing Apple for Grok's position on the App Store — appleinsider.com/…

The best description of the legal arguments being made — www.macobserver.com/…

Elon Musk's antitrust claims refuted by Apple citing curation for safe discovery — appleinsider.com/…

Opinion: Musk is wrong and has only influence on his side in a childish App Store spat — appleinsider.com/…

Opinion: Elon Musk sues Apple and OpenAI, revealing his panic over OpenAI dominance — arstechnica.com/…

At this point appearing to be genuinely panicked about OpenAI's insurmountable lead in the chatbot market, Musk has specifically alleged that an agreement integrating ChatGPT into the iOS violated antitrust and unfair competition laws. Allegedly, the conspiracy is designed to protect Apple's smartphone monopoly and block out AI rivals to lock in OpenAI's dominance in the chatbot market.

AI remains the focus of Apple's HR news:

Apple starts hiring AI engineers for a new Answers, Knowledge and Information team — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Loses Sixth AI Leader to Meta’s Superintelligence Push — www.macobserver.com/… (Frank Chu who oversaw AI infrastructure, training & search)

Four more employees depart Apple, join other AI efforts — appleinsider.com/…

Related: Apple machine learning privacy workshop talks help promote AI security — appleinsider.com/…

Related: Xcode 26 beta 7 adds GPT-5 & Claude account support — appleinsider.com/…

Apple TV+ senior executive Chris Parnell poached by Paramount — appleinsider.com/… (was a senior creative executive working on original content)

Apple denies its Fitness chief is bullying his team as an employee sues — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Sues Ex-Employee for Stealing Apple Watch Secrets for Oppo — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple TV+:

Apple have increased the monthly cost of a stand-alone AppleTV+ subscription by 30% ( $9.99 → $12.99), the first price-rise in two years — www.cultofmac.com/…

The change is not for everyone, but for "new customers in the U.S. and select international markets as of today" — tvline.com/…

Note that the annual price remains the same, as Gruber reports, this strongly encourages annual sign-ups over monthly ones — daringfireball.net/…

The usual rule-of-thumb for subscriptions of any sort seems to be to charge 10× the monthly rate for an annual subscription. That’s exactly where the TV+ month/annual prices were before today. Now, the annual subscription price isn’t just a little bit cheaper than 12× the monthly price ($156), but a lot cheaper.

Also note Apple One has also not changed price, so is now an even better offering — www.cultofmac.com/…

'F1: the Movie' is now available to rent or buy — appleinsider.com/… (next release will be streaming on Apple TV+)

'Ted Lasso' now flies the friendly skies on United's in-flight entertainment system — appleinsider.com/… (along with Severance, Shrinking, Slow Horses & Silo)

Apple TV+ show 'Trying' will be free on the BBC soon — appleinsider.com/… (first Apple show to get syndicated this way, nice way to keep monetising the growing back-catalogue)

**Apple Music:

Apple Music migration tool will finally help U.S. Spotify users switch — appleinsider.com/… ( was only available in Australia & New Zealand)

An Apple Support document update spotted by MacRumors says the migration tool is now available in the UK, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, and Mexico, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Apple partners with TuneIn to stream radio stations to 75 million users — www.cultofmac.com/…

Apple Arcade adds fun new content, including NFL Retro Bowl ’26, Jeopardy! Daily, and an exciting update to Hello Kitty Island Adventure — Apple PR

Apple Maps now helps cyclists navigate Hong Kong and Taiwan streets — appleinsider.com/…

Apple Wallet ID Support Expands to Montana — www.macobserver.com/…

Apple really focused on it's made in American push in August:

Apple started the month with a big PR event in the White House announcing an additional $100Bn investment in US manufacturing — www.macstories.net/…

$500Bn → $600Bn over the next 4 years

Additional investments are into Apple's American Manufacturing Program which covers 10 US-based manufacturers (Amkor, Applied Materials, Broadcom, Coherent, Corning, GlobalFoundries, GlobalWafers America AKA GWA, Samsung, Texas Instruments AKA TI)

The first investment to be detailed is in Corning, which will now make the glass for US-bound iPhone and Apple Watch screens — www.cultofmac.com/…

During the event President Trump announced a plan to announce a 100% tariff on semiconductor imports, but said companies like Apple who invest in the US would be exempt — appleinsider.com/…

Tim Cook expertly buttered up President Trump by presenting him with a huge gaudy gold and glass trophy (an engraved Corning Gorilla Glass disk set in a gold base made from 24K Utah gold) — appleinsider.com/…

The trophy, and the private conversations the whole spectacle enabled seem to have worked, at least for now, Tim Cook has succeeded in getting President Trump understand that iPhone final assembly can't just be moved to the US, and that it's better for Apple to source high-value components from US manufacturers instead — appleinsider.com/…

"He makes many of the components here, and we've been talking about it, and the whole thing is set up at other places, and it's been there for a long time, so in terms of cost and all [on Apple's difficulties bringing final assembly to the United States]. But I think we may incentivize him enough that one day he'll be bringing that — but he brings most of the stuff — look, he's not making this kind of an investment anywhere else in the world, not even close." — Trump at the White House event where he was presented with his glass and gold trophy

Tip of the Hat for the best Headline: Trump wanted a US-made iPhone. Apple gave him a gold statue. — arstechnica.com/…

Opinion: Gold, Frankincense, and Silicon — daringfireball.net/… (I agree with Gruber's take)

Faulting Cook for playing ball and kissing Trump’s ring (among other things) is like faulting a local business for paying into a protection racket — one in which the cops are complicit, and the whole scam exists at the behest of a crooked mayor. Moral rectitude can feel good, but not so much when the cops are burning your store to the ground. There is no authority to appeal to for help when the highest office in the country is running the protection racket.

Apple Partners with Samsung to Launch New US Based Chip Technology — www.macobserver.com/… (likely camera sensors, but no details announced)

Apple chips to be made at newly opened Texas Instruments plant — appleinsider.com/…

The good-will and buttering-up continued right to the end of the month with Tim Cook attending a White House dinner where both he and Trump spoke — appleinsider.com/…

"I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing advanced manufacturing here. … I think that says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation, I also want to thank you for helping American companies around the world. This is a very key, key thing. … We're all, we are all different in some ways, but we all believe in the power of technology to improve people's lives, and that is the thing that binds us all together." — Tim Cook

Apple Watch getting blood oxygen sensor back after 18 month absence — appleinsider.com/… ( Apple PR)

Apple found a loop-hole! Masimo's patent covers devices that have the sensors, display, and processing on the device, so Apple is only using the sensor on US Apple watches now, and sending the raw readings to the paired iPhone for both processing and display (within the Health app) — daringfireball.net/…

Masimo responds by suing US Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) — www.macobserver.com/… & appleinsider.com/…

TMO: The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, claims CBP violated the Administrative Procedure Act and due process protections when it issued an internal advice ruling on August 1. According to Masimo, the agency overturned its own January decision without notifying the company or allowing it to respond.

An insightful analysis from John Gruber: daringfireball.net/…

The CBP’s investigation centered around whether the Masimo patents were “limiting” — which seems to mean a device that does all these things: the sensors, the computation of results, and the display of results. Masimo argued that the patents weren’t limiting, and apparently made no argument for how the import ban on Apple Watches should stand if the patents were found by CBP to be limiting. The CBP asked the International Trade Commission — the outfit that instituted the import ban — whether they considered the Masimo patents to be limiting, and the ITC responded yes, they did, that that was the entire basis of the import ban.

CPB have filed a motion to dismiss the Masimo case against them — www.macobserver.com/…

The government maintains that Masimo must first take its objections to the International Trade Commission. If the ITC rules against Masimo, the company can appeal to the Federal Circuit. Customs said Masimo cannot sidestep this process by filing directly in district court.

Apple’s $2.5B Housing Plan Shows More Progress Than Meta, Google — www.macobserver.com/…

Six years after the three companies announced large-scale commitments, Apple has spent more than $1.6 billion of its $2.5 billion plan, funding the creation or preservation of over 10,000 affordable housing units, offering financial help to at-risk residents, and supporting first-time homebuyers.

Apple brings its Self Service Repair program to Canada — appleinsider.com/… (now 34 countries & 25 languages)

Beats Solo 4 launches special Ruby Red JENNIE edition — appleinsider.com/…

Apple's September event will be held at 13:00 EST on the 9th of September and is titled Awe Dropping — arstechnica.com/…

Note: When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by Bart.