Category: Apple Insider

Whether you have your eye on a new M1 Mac or you just want to get rid of an old macOS device in an environmentally responsible way, it’s important to properly sign out of certain services and delete your old data before doing so.

The process is fairly straightforward but may take some time, so be sure to budget some time to preparing your Mac before getting rid of it. Also, these steps only apply to Intel-based Macs, since a couple of steps are a bit different on Apple Silicon machines.

With both of those things in mind, here’s how to prepare your Mac device before you get rid of it.

Make sure to back up your Mac before proceeding.

If you’re planning on selling, regifting, or recycling your Mac device, it’s likely that you’ve already thought about the data stored on it. If you haven’t, let this be a reminder.

Preparing a Mac for transfer to a new owner should involve deleting all the data on it for both security and privacy reasons. If you don’t want to lose that data forever, you’ll need to back up your device before you proceed to any additional steps.

The simplest method of backing up your Mac is using Apple’s built-in Time Machine feature. There are other options to consider, and more information is available here.

Signing out of your services and your Apple ID, is also a good idea.

Erasing your Mac will typically ensure that your data stays in your own hands. But, depending on the version of macOS that the Mac is running, there are a few additional steps you may want to take.

If you’re on OS X Mountain Lion or earlier, then it’s a good practice to sign out of iMessage. Here’s how.

1. Open the iMessage app on your Mac.
2. Choose Messages from the top menu bar, and then select Preferences.
3. In this menu, click on iMessage.
4. Finally, click Sign Out.

If you plan on transferring a device running macOS Mojave or earlier, then you’ll want to sign out of iTunes, too.

1. Open iTunes.
2. In the iTunes window, select Account and Authorizations.
3. From that drop down menu, select Deauthorize this Computer.
4. You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID account credentials and password.
5. Once you do, hit Deauthorize.

Finally, it’s a good idea to sign out of iCloud on any Mac device before you go about erasing the drive.

In macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur, this is done by clicking on the Apple icon in the top menu bar, then navigating to System Preferences > Apple ID. From here, select Overview and then click on the Sign Out button.

It’s a similar but slightly different on macOS Mojave and earlier. Choose the Apple icon in the menu bar, select System Preferences, click iCloud, and then click Sign Out.

You may be asked if you want to keep a copy of the iCloud data on your Mac. It doesn’t really matter one way or the other, since you’ll be erasing your drive and any iCloud data will remain synced to your Apple cloud storage.

Apple also recommends that users reset the NVRAM on their devices.

One step that many people miss is to reset the nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM) and parameter RAM (PRAM) before reinstalling macOS.

It’s a best practice, however. Resetting the PRAM will clear certain user settings from your Mac’s memory. It’ll also restore certain deeper-level security features that may have been changed. Here’s how to do it.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Option, Command, P and R.
3. After about 20 seconds, you can release your keys.

You’ll know that the reset worked if you see the Apple logo appear and disappear for a second time on T2-equipped Macs. On older Macs, you’ll hear that signature startup sound.

Do note that resetting the NVRAM and PRAM using this method only works on Intel-based Macs. There’s no option to manually reset NVRAM on Apple Silicon Macs.

In addition to resetting your NVRAM, you may also want to manually unpair any Bluetooth devices from your Mac.

This step isn’t strictly necessary, but it could avoid confusion if you live with the person you’re transferring the Mac to. It could also mitigate any Bluetooth security concerns you may have.

Just navigate to Apple menu > System Preferences > Bluetooth. Hover over the devices you’d like to unpair and click the X icon next to them.

Once you’re finished with the necessary steps, you can reinstall a fresh copy of macOS.

Now that all of that is done, you’re finally ready to erase your Mac’s drive and restore it back to its factory default settings.

There are a number of ways to go about this, but the easiest is to use Disk Utility to format your drive and reinstall macOS.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and Command and R.
3. You may be prompted to select a user and log in with the password for that account.
4. From here, you’ll be presented with a utilities window. Select Disk Utility.
5. Select Macintosh HD from the sidebar.
6. Click Erase and input a new name and format. For simplicity’s sake, you can leave both to Macintosh HD and APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
7. Next, click Erase Volume group. If that isn’t an option, click Erase.
8. If you have Find My enabled, you’ll be prompted to deactivate it with your Apple ID and password.
9. You may want to delete any other internal volumes besides Macintosh HD. Just click the minus icon next to each volume.
10. Finally, quit Disk Utility

Now that your disk has been erased, you can select Reinstall macOS (Version Name) from the utilities window.

Once macOS finishes installing, you’ll likely be faced with a setup assistant. It’s at this point that you should shut down your Mac and leave the setup process to whomever is receiving it.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun confirmed on the Chinese social media site Weibo and first spotted by The Verge, that the electronics company would be ditching the bundled power brick in the Mi 11 citing environmental concerns. Jun goes on to say that users already have a surplus of chargers and that the charger would be “canceled” for the Mi 11 device.

Jun’s remarks on Weibo

It comes only weeks after Xiaomi derided Apple for the same act. Not long after Apple launched the iPhone 12 line, Xiaomi tweeted that it “didn’t leave anything out of the box” in regard to its own Mi 10T.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 is set to be announced at a press event on Monday, December 28.

Regardless of what holidays you celebrate, this is the time of year when most of us can take a bit of a break from work. Just like you, though, there is never a time when we stop being interested in Apple, so be sure you don’t miss out on any of the year-end specials we’ve got.

It wouldn’t be much fun if we unwrapped everything all at once, so throughout the holidays and into the new year, we’ll roll out articles that are practical, serious — and opinionated. And, of course, we’ll still be on the lookout for breaking news and hot deals, because not everybody associated with Apple takes a break for Christmas.

While we hope you get presents you love, there’s nothing wrong with buying yourself a gift, either — especially not after the year we’ve all had. So throughout the holiday period, we’ll be singling out new products with detailed, hands-on reviews.

Thanks for reading AppleInsider in 2020. This is a fascinating time in the company’s history, and it is a privilege that we get to examine and analyze it all with you.

We’re all used to Apple being the most profitable company in the world, and most of us believe its repeated claim that it doesn’t put money first. But in July 2020, we reached a true financial milestone for Apple: Tim Cook actually seemed a bit embarrassed how much money they’d made. Perhaps he was, perhaps he already had been in June 2020, but it was in July when he was required to speak publicly about the vast amounts of cash Apple has.

“We’re conscious of the fact that these results stand in stark relief during a time of real economic adversity for businesses large and small, and certainly for families,” he said during the company’s financial earnings call at the end of the month.

The coronavirus outbreak led to frightening redundancies and the permanent closure of businesses around the world. But Apple repeatedly showed the real benefits of superb strategic planning, an admirable ability to make major changes in its business — and of having a lot of money in the bank.

We shouldn’t forget, though, that the reasons it has that it has money are the same reasons that it has proven itself able to not only survive this extraordinary pandemic but also thrive.

“We do not have a zero-sum approach to prosperity,” said Cook in that same speech. If you’ve followed the industry for long enough, you could perhaps detect a hint of an allusion to a reference of how other firms set out to earn money, such as how other firms beginning whose names begin with “M” and end with “icrosoft” have perhaps sought to wring every available drop of money out of a situation.

Cook’s non-zero-sum game means he doesn’t think you have to lose money for him to gain it. Instead, Apple believes, with some evidence, that it’s able to help us all. “Especially in times like this, we are focused on growing the pie,” he continued, “making sure our success isn’t just our success and everything we make, build or do is geared toward creating opportunities for others.”

Something like 24 hours before he said that during the call that revealed Apple had earned a record-breaking $59.7 billion in its latest quarter, Tim Cook had been talking up this business of helping other firms. And he was doing so while simultaneously, and unusually, playing down the company’s success.

Speaking while wearing the kind of suit that made you suddenly realize you’ve never seen the man with a tie before, he addressed the US House of Judiciary and its session concerning antitrust allegations. The House had the power to bring Cook plus Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s Sundar Pichai to task.

It didn’t bother to do it, though. All four big tech CEOs gave their hyper-rehearsed bland and reassuring answers, but it hardly mattered because the House wasn’t interested.

If any one of the senators had displayed anything approaching a basic familiarity with the technology in question or the accusations being made, you might think they just distracted. Maybe like the rest of us whenever we watch Tim Cook speak, they were hoping for a “one more thing,” and the launch of a new iMac.

If Apple didn’t launch a new iMac in July as many people expected — chiefly the same ones who expected it in June, too — then it did at least bring out many new releases. They just weren’t hardware.

Or not exactly. There was the new expansion of the Independent Repair Provider Program, which meant, in theory, that we will get to have many new places to go get our devices fixed. In practice it might turn out to mean only that Apple has something to point to the next time it’s brought to task by right-to-repair advocates.

Then there was the release of the digital car key, but the only technology there was BMW’s. Still, just weeks after WWDC announced it, the car manufacturer was adopting Apple’s new software within its own BMW Connected app. Incidentally, Tim Cook is believed to drive a BMW 5 Series.

Perhaps helpful to a slightly larger group of people was July’s unveiling of an online web portal for Apple Card. Instead of being forced to pay through your iPhone, you could now log on from anywhere and do the necessary.

There was also the first public beta release of just about everything we would all be getting later this year, from iOS 14 through to tvOS 14. You don’t care about betas because you’re sensible and wouldn’t ever risk losing all your work. Sure you are. You even resisted while macOS Big Sur took an unusually long time to from beta to public release.

If betas are not for everyone, Apple laudably believes that coding is. Apple’s Everyone Can Code program gained a whole new set of tools and educational resources.

It was impressive just how many projects Apple has managed to keep going during the coronavirus — and fascinating to learn how they’ve done it — but it was also helping other firms in these peculiar days. In July, the London-based arts organization Made in LDN announced the online resumption of its program for local musicians, in collaboration with Apple.

July has never been the busiest time for Apple, but as a sign of how things have changed over the years, take a look at what was reportedly the single largest launch the company made this time.

In previous years, July had seen Mac OS 8 (1997), the iBook G3 and Wi-FI (1999), iCal (2002), and even AppleLink (1985). There was also Windows 98, but we don’t talk about that, this is a family show.

For 2020, Apple’s headline launch was “Greyhound,” the movie. We’re not knocking it at all — it’s an excellent movie, even if it had some technical problems — but Apple didn’t make it. Apple bought it, although in doing so also saved it from sitting in film studio’s store cupboard for even longer than it did.

Rescuing the movie turned out to apparently be such a success for Apple TV+ that the company is looking to see what other movies it can leverage audiences with.

Apple TV+ still didn’t seem to have that one breakout series that gets people talking the way they do about Baby Yoda on the Disney+ show “The Mandalorian,” but reportedly strong ratings for “Greyhound” did come at the same time as more plaudits for the service. It became the first streaming service to get Daytime Emmy wins — for “Ghostwriter” and “Peanuts in Space,” for one thing.

If the general perception is that Apple TV+ just isn’t as high profile as Disney+ or Netflix, those July Daytime Emmy wins mean it had earned 25 awards so far. That’s out of 71 nominations.

And then even if it isn’t strictly part of Apple TV+ per se, there was one more video that did well for the company. The return of “The Underdogs” in a promo video about Apple devices and services was a delight. It was good to go into August 2020 with a smile.

In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, analyst Rod Hall writes that Apple is “well positioned” to design and sell a vehicle because of its strong hardware and software development and integration. His analysis comes on the heels of a Reuters report that Apple is planning to produce an electric vehicle by 2024.

The company’s experience with both battery technology and power management gives it an advantage, Hall writes. Of course, though Apple may be well-positioned to optimize electric vehicular efficiency and architecture, the analyst notes that battery technology breakthroughs have been historically elusive.

Similarly, Apple’s experience in LiDAR sensors — seen on its iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro models — could be a boon to electric car development. However, Hall points out that other automakers are already active testing LiDAR, and by 2024, will likely be using such systems in their vehicles.

Apple does have the unique potential to deliver a “seamless user experience” in a vehicle, thanks to its ability to develop custom silicon that can be deeply integrated with its software.

On the other hand, the auto industry has generally lower gross margins than Apple’s own current businesses. Tesla’s gross margins are about 20%, compared to Apple’s 40%. Operating margins are even lower, typically in the high single digits.

Because of the “poor economics relative to Apple’s existing business and other possible options for providing Apple’s services in automobiles,” Hall notes that the Cupertino tech giant may explore alternate means to provide a seamless user experience without producing an actual electric vehicle.

Even in optimistic scenarios, the release of a production “Apple Car” is likely to have only a minor impact on Apple’s bottom line.

Hall uses one potential scenario as an example. He assumes a 5% unit share in the EV market in 2025; an average selling price (ASP) of $75,000; and an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin of 7%. Based on that scenario, Hall’s calculations would see EBIT and earnings-per-share accretion of just 3%.

“Given the potentially low profit opportunity for Apple, a key question in our opinion is why Apple is attracted to autos,” Hall writes.

The main reason, Hall then contends, is the amount of time consumers are likely to spend in self-driving vehicles using information services. Given Apple’s continuing push to bolster its services business and add services to hardware, adding cars as an additional hardware platform “might make sense.”

Despite that, the analyst says Apple may decide to take those aforementioned alternate options because of the low margins. He uses the TV hardware space as an example. In that market, Apple provides a user experience with its set-top box instead of a full-fledged television unit.

Another option could be the evolution of the “car as a service” model, which Apple could then take advantage of in a similar way.

“We understand that a car is a different type of platform, but we wonder if these platforms might evolve to allow Apple to participate in a different way which provides a lot of the platform position benefits without the potential negative financial implications of competing in the lower margin auto hardware arena,” Hall writes.

AirPods Max come in five different colors, sky blue, green, pink, silver, and space gray. Each color is two-toned, featuring a lighter color on the anodized earcups and a darker one for the headband.

AirPods Max have one of the most bespoke designs ever created for a set of headphones. The top portion of the headphones is made of stainless steel before being coated with a premium soft-touch material akin to silicone. The canopy is made from a proprietary mesh that is designed to wrest just atop your head.

AirPods Max

Each arm of the AirPods Max extend to accommodate user’s heads of different sizes. Anodized aluminum makes up the cups themselves, which is lighter than the steel and allows for the svelte anodization Apple is known for.

Each of the cushions on the earcups are a similar mesh material filled with some form of memory foam. They are easily detachable thanks to magnets, enabling them to be replaced or swapped for another color.

Removable mesh ear cushions on AirPods Max

We don’t mind the mesh fabric but aren’t sure everyone will. Leather is more typical on high-end headphones, but we know that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, either. Leather can get quite warm in the summer months, while the mesh is more comfortable year-round. It wouldn’t be surprising to see third-parties launch their own replacement leather cushions. If that does come to fruition, it would be great to have swappable replacements handy.

AirPods Max Digital Crown

As far as physical controls, AirPods Max have two buttons located atop the right earcup. Apple has borrowed the Digital Crown from Apple Watch and planted it right on the AirPods Max. It is subtly different, including roughly double in size. Apple also neglected to include the original Digital Crown’s haptic feedback that emulates the physical click of a wheel. It still retains the auditory click, so as you rotate the wheel, you’ll hear a faint clicking noise in your ear.

The Digital Crown can be pressed to pause or play your content, double-clicked to skip songs, and triple-clicked to go to the previous track. Holding it down will summon Siri, though you can also use “Hey, Siri.” It is a delightful way to interact with the headphones, though it is prone to accidental bumps.

Between the steel, the batteries, and everything else, the AirPods Max are a bit on the heavy side. They weigh in at almost 14 ounces. Competing headphones typically clock in around eight ounces. Picking up the headphones, you can tell they are hefty, yet it gives them a much more premium feel.

We’ve worn AirPods Max for many hours In our few days with the headphones, and for us, the weight hasn’t been an issue. We feel as though it makes the headphones feel sturdy and solid. This will undoubtedly vary person-to-person as we’ve already seen on social media and comments on existing coverage. Like with any headphones, it will always come down to individual comfort.

Only one port graces the exterior of the AirPods Max, a single Lightning port used for charging and using the headphones in wired mode. Many will undoubtedly rant and rave about the lack of USB-C, but on the positive side, if you’re using the headphones with your iPhone, you only need one cable.

Many people have strong feelings about the origami fabric that is the AirPods Max Smart Case. We won’t go as far as to say we hate it, but certainly, more could be done. It comes off as different for the sake of being different and winds up sacrificing functionality and practicality.

AirPod Max Smart Case

Apple designed the case from a single piece of precision-cut fabric folded, glued, and shaped into a pliable case that the headphones can be inserted into. The case barely covers the two ear cups. The anodized aluminum ear cups are arguably the most vulnerable part of the headphones and most likely to be scratched if tossed into a bag.

The main point of a case is to offer protection to your headphones, but the Smart Case skirts its responsibility. With the case on, parts of the cups are still exposed. There are large gaps on the underside as well as the top that could still be scratched inadvertently.

We don’t mind the lack of top protection on the Max, as it does make them easier to grasp and they take up less space when in our bag. We took ours with us on a road trip and when in our backpack, it was much quicker to pick up the headphones right from the headband.

Recently, we’ve been comparing the AirPods Max to other popular headphones such as the Sony MX4 and Bose NC 700. The Bose has a case that is quite a bit larger than the Max, takes up more space in our bag, and is harder to remove. Had Apple crafted an appropriately luxe case that more adequately covered the earcups, we’d be happier.

Protection aside, the case has a few practical benefits — notably, conserving a portion of your battery life. The case has a magnet in it, it can sleep and wake the headphones, similar to the line of smart covers for the iPad. That magnet is the extent of the smart capabilities.

AirPods Max Smart Case

When AirPods Max are slid into the case, they immediately go into a low-power state but Bluetooth and Find My tracking remain active. After 18 hours of sitting idle in the case, they slip into an even lower state of sleep where Bluetooth and Find My are disabled to conserve even more battery. We’re of a mixed mind about this, given that it doesn’t save all that much battery power, even when in the deepest sleep.

That said, this isn’t crucial to the use of the AirPods Max. Outside the case, the headphones slip into the low power mode automatically after five minutes of sitting stationary off your head. They then drop into the ultra-low power mode after 72 hours. So if you don’t want to use the case, you don’t have to, and you will only lose a few battery percentage points as the tradeoff.

Interestingly, Apple is not just detecting when they don’t have audio playing or are on your head, but they watch for motion as well. That way, if you are moving around with the headphones, they wake up and enable Bluetooth, so they connect instantly when you need them.

If they are in the case and moving, they will stay in the low power mode rather than the ultra-low-power mode. In practice, this is handy because it keeps Find My active. So if we were traveling or just carrying them around, we’d have that last location in Find My or the ability to track them down if we left them somewhere nearby.

Apple could undoubtedly boost battery life ever so slightly by changing how these low power modes work, as well as the Smart Case, but what we got is a good balance of usability versus other concerns.

Apple’s H1 is part of what gives the AirPods Max an industry-leading hundred-foot range. As a general rule, this compares very well to a typical 30 foot range on typical headphones in the class — which we will be discussing more about very soon.

The rest of the range equation comes from Apple’s use of Class 1 Bluetooth audio. Class 1 is harder on battery life than the alternatives, which is why most others don’t use it. In conjunction with the pair of H1 chips, the Class 1 audio provides a more robust signal, cutting way back on any dropouts from a challenging RF environment that may otherwise occur.

The H1 chip allows for effortless setup

Aside from Bluetooth, you do have the option to use AirPods Max in wired mode. There are limitations.

To use AirPods Max wired, you need a Lightning to 3.5mm aux cable, which isn’t included in the box. We’re torn on how we feel about the lack of included cable. On the one hand, the vast majority of users will not be using AirPods Max wired. If Apple had the cable in the box, it would be mostly unnecessary and contribute to the growing pile of e-waste.

At the same time, those who do require the cable are forced to shell out an additional $35 for Apple’s inadequate cable. Apple’s cable is far too thin, fragile, and short for our liking. As usual, third-party companies will make their own, but it relies on non-Apple vendors to fix the issue.

It would have been a better comprise if Apple did sell the cable on its own but dropped the price to something more manageable, especially for what it is.

While using it in wired mode, the Digital Crown can still control volume though it is incapable of controlling playback, and the noise control button can toggle the ANC mode.

Just as with AirPods Pro, there are two ANC modes present on AirPods Max. There are active noise cancelation and transparency modes, which is Apple’s branding for the pass-through audio mode that allows the noise around you to be heard.

Active noise cancelation is even better here on the Max than it is on the AirPods Pro. The larger drivers and additional microphones are likely contributing to that. There are nine microphones on the AirPods Max, eight of which are used for ANC and three used for voice control and phone calls.

AirPod Max are covered in microphones

In all environments we tested, it removed any background noise as well as its competitors. This is easily best-in-class ANC and one of the best features Apple has baked in here.

Transparency mode is also quite good, though it has a few shortcomings during our tests.

In normal conditions, it worked well with only a slight hiss in the background as the exterior audio is passed through. It works exceptionally well, enabling you to be aware of your surroundings, which is vital when you’re wearing over-the-ear headphones.

Our only gripe is with high-pitched noises, even subtle ones. Walking around the studio, our shoes on the wood flooring creates a slight shuffling sound at times, and that gets amplified very loudly through the headphones when transparency mode is on. Many other noises get boosted like this and we can’t see a fix for it.

Turning to audio, we’re underwhelmed. In short, they produce above-average audio but fall short of other $550 headphones.

Baked into AirPods Max are 40mm Apple-designed dynamic drivers. Apple seems to be targeting a neutral audio profile, with excellent fidelity on the mids and highs but no extremes on either end. The soundstage is fantastic and more significant than most comparable models, which is fantastic for listening to music and watching movies.

Bass isn’t bad but is volume dependent. The lows were disappointing when turned down, but as we hit 50 percent or louder volume, the bass came in punchy and strong. At near-max volume, the bass was enough to near shake the cups on your head during a bass-heavy song.

Overall, the audio sounds clean and clear. The simplest way to describe it is as “pleasing.” While that may not suffice for audiophiles, the average consumer who picks these up should be just fine with it.

Spatial audio is another feature altogether that needs highlighting. Between spatial audio and ANC, it is a unique experience to use these headphones. In our testing, we kicked back to watch the latest episode of The Mandalorian through Disney+ on our iPad Pro.

Initially, we legitimately thought our headphones weren’t working, and we were hearing the audio come straight from the speakers in front of us, especially as we moved our heads. Audio continued to come right from the characters on-screen as we turned our heads in any direction. It is surreal. It wasn’t until we removed the headphones that we confirmed that the effect was coming from the AirPods Max.

Listening to Apple Music on AirPods Max

Aside from the effect of audio’s direction coming from the device, spatial audio also allows audio to come from all around you when mixed in Dolby 7.1 surround or Dolby Atmos. With Atmos the effect is especially impressive as sound can come from above, behind, or any direction. It is a next-level listening experience and makes us want to listen more on headphones on our TV due to the better effects.

The only hang-up is the lack of options. At the moment, spatial audio is limited to a few content providers. Apple’s own content, HBO Max, and Disney+ are just a few of the apps that support spatial audio, but big players like Netflix currently don’t. Developers will need to get on board with this because it does make a big difference in media consumption.

Outside of video, developers can integrate spatial audio into games and other apps as well. Apple has opened it up as an API, so as you are playing a racing game, a first-person shooter, or anything else, the action can be happening around you. We can’t wait for this to become more prevalent, and we hope Apple finds a way to designate spatial audio support for apps, perhaps in the App Store listing.

As we said, most everyone will use AirPods Max wirelessly, though there are times when wired makes sense. For us, it is when we need a lag-free experience, such as while recording voiceover or recording the HomeKit Insider podcast.

When wired, it is nice that you can still control the volume with the Digital Crown. We also appreciate the slightly higher level of volume you get. There’s also a bit more clarity in the subtle details of songs we listened to. Not enough that we will prefer wired every time — and it certainly looks ridiculous trying to use it wired with our iPhone, but it is nice that is an option.

The downside is that this doesn’t work via USB audio. You can’t use a Lightning to USB-C cable and get audio over USB — you have to use Lightning to aux. Had Apple gone the USB-C route, we’re sure this would have been a different story.

If you don’t put any value in having a set of headphones tied closely into the Apple ecosystem, we’ll never be able to convince you AirPods Max are worth it. Simply put — they don’t sound like a pair of $500 headphones. They are absolutely above average and compare favorably to many popular models like the Sony XM4, Bowers & Wilkins P7, or Bose NC 700, but they fall short at the $550 price point.

That said, for us and our uses, they are worth the price Apple set — but just barely. The build quality is exceptional. The audio quality is fantastic and is going a long way towards bringing Hi-Fi to the masses. And the tight integration into iOS is a far cry from what third-parties can even hope for.

How these are controllable through Siri, how you can adjust them in Control Center, the ability to automatically switch between your devices, the easy setup process, and the fantastic 100-foot range are all invaluable additions to a set of headphones.

AirPods Max in Sky Blue and Space Gray

Again, spatial audio is the real killer feature for us. Watching videos with these is fantastic and unparalleled to any other headphones we’ve used.

Those features, though, are all secondary. If you are buying headphones purely for the audio quality, you can do just as good for less. It’s up to you what you can justify for a set of headphones. For us, Apple made it worth the splurge.

• Excellent, premium design
• Dual H1 chips for audio processing, range, and signal robustness
• Extremely comfortable
• Deep iOS integration
• Spatial audio is killer
• Better than average audio
• Good battery life
• Excellent ANC
• Solid physical controls

• The case — enough said
• Controls are easy to bump when removing headset
• Audio quality could be better
• Transparency mode harsh on highs
• No aux cable included and Apple’s is expensive and fragile

AirPods Max are available to purchase at leading Apple resellers like Amazon, Adorama and B&H Photo, with the best deals at your fingertips in the AppleInsider AirPods Price Guide.

Introduced in iOS 13 and later macOS Big Sur, Look Around is Apple Maps’ answer to Google Maps’ Streetview. Using photographs caught by its fleet of Apple Maps vehicles, scrollable views from street level are available to access in a number of locations, though it seems more areas will be added to the roster soon enough.

The Apple Maps Image Collection page, which lists countries and regions, the type of image collection mechanism being used, and when the capturing is taking place, has been updated with details relating to three countries. Spotted by MacRumors, listings covering Israel, Singapore, and New Zealand now show vehicles have been active in various parts of each territory.

For Israel, vehicles are passing through the Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, and Tel Aviv districts from October until March, with the same timeframe being used for the Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington regions of New Zealand. For Singapore, the capture period is briefer, running from November until January, with five regions being covered: Central, North East, North West, South East, and South West.

The capture schedules indicate images are being collected for the feature, but not necessarily when the images will be used by Apple Maps itself. It is possible that Look Around could be expanded to cover those areas within months of data collection completing.

In December, Apple rolled out Look Around in Canada, offering the ability to view select parts of cities including Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Other recent expansions include four cities in the United States, and London, Edinburgh, and Dublin in the U.K.

Parallels Desktop Pro is the bundle’s marquee attraction. The well-known tool lets you run Windows applications on your Intel-based Mac, without needing to use Boot Camp or having to acquire a separate and dedicated Windows-based computer. Given that Parallels Desktop Pro is usually $99.99, that alone makes this an astonishing deal before you take into account what else is in it. Please note: The bundle includes a 1-year license that automatically renews, but users can cancel anytime.

Another well-known Mac app in the collection is Luminar 4, a $79.99 photo editor that takes advantage of artificial intelligence to improve your photographs. The software assistance will help make your edits go faster, as it handles tasks such as sky replacement, enhancing portraits, and inserting sunrays into landscapes, among others.

Other highlights on the list include Goose VPN, language learning from uTalk, the duplicate-deletion tool Gemini 2, logo creation app Art Text 4, and calendar management app BusyCal 3.

The deal ends on Monday, Dec. 21, so be sure to act fast. This thousand-dollar pile can be bought for just $42 when you use the link and promo code APPLEINSIDER40 at checkout.

The bundle contains the following apps:

• Parallels Desktop Pro ($99.99 value, 1-year license): Run thousands of Windows programs on your Mac
• Luminar 4 Photo Editor ($79.99 value): Use the power of AI to streamline your editing workflow & create perfect photos with a single click
• PDFpenPro 12 ($129.95 value): Add text & signatures, make corrections, OCR scanned docs and more, just like PDFpen
• Goose VPN ($499 value): Unlimited devices, encrypted data, secure connection
• BusyCal 3 ($49.99 value): Take full control of your tasks with this calendar’s time-saving tools
• Screen Recorder 2021 ($39.95 value): Record video instruction and tutorials
• uTalk Language Learning App ($84 value): Choose two from 140+ languages to learn from any device, any time you want
• Mindmaster ($129 value): Choose the best structure, style, theme, & colors to express your ideas
• Gemini 2 ($39.90 value): Locate & remove duplicate files tucked away in your storage
• Dropzone 4 Pro ($35 value): Open applications, move & copy files faster than ever before
• ForkLift 3 ($49.95 value): Split panes horizontally or vertically, or use a single pane
• Art Text 4 ($29.99 value): Create professional logos & graphics without technical design experience

Despite the fact that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro devices launched later in the year than usual, the San Diego-based chipmaker retook the top spot with $4.96 billion in a quarterly revenue. That’s a 37.6% increase year-over-year, according to Trendforce research.

Trendforce attributes Qualcomm’s rise to a number of factors, including it entering the Apple supply chain earlier in 2020 and the fact that 5G adoption has been steadily increasing.

Apple and Qualcomm ended their years-long, tortuous legal dispute in 2019. The Cupertino tech giant signed a multi-year supply contract with Qualcomm and agreed to pay between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion to settle the patent battle.

Although that contract requires Apple to source chips from Qualcomm for a set period of time, Apple is also said to be working on its own in-house modem chips.

In 2020, Apple was said to have officially kicked off development of first-party cellular modems.

Apple previously used Intel modems in its iPhone until 2018, when the company was unable to deliver 5G chips in time for a 2020 release. After Apple and Qualcomm settled their patent spat, Intel ceased development of its 5G modems and sold its corresponding patent portfolio to Apple.

The deal with Qualcomm includes a six-year supply licensing agreement that took effect on April 1, 2019.