Headlines: Massive Apple Price Increases, iOS 27 Beta 2 and More

The Apple community was rocked this week as the company instituted massive price hikes across a wide range of products, with many products seeing increases of 10 to 20 percent and a few going up to 50 percent or more. The move led many Apple fans to flock to Amazon and other retailers in an attempt to make purchases before the price increases were passed on to third-party sellers.

Other major news this week includes a rundown of Apple’s many products in development slated for release over the next 12 to 18 months, a second round of developer betas for iOS 27 and other updates, changes to Apple’s chip roadmap, and more, so read on below for all the details!

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Apple just raised prices on MacBooks, iPads and more

After Tim Cook reported last week that Apple hardware price increases were “inevitable” in the face of suppliers’ high memory and storage costs, Apple followed up this week with a series of significant price increases across its Mac and iPad lines, as well as HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV and Vision Pro.

Apple explained that the company has “never seen the price of a component increase so much and so quickly,” and although Apple has been reluctant to raise prices for as long as possible, the situation has become serious enough that it feels it must pass the increases on to customers. Apple says it is “working around the clock to find solutions,” but memory suppliers predict shortages and high prices will last until 2027.

Apple’s price increases haven’t yet trickled down to third-party retailers, and shoppers are quickly snapping up all the stock Amazon and others left behind at cheaper prices. If you are interested in making a purchase, you would be wise to act quickly.

Apple will launch these 20 new products for the rest of 2026 and 2027

The cadence of Apple’s product updates has been slowed due to the impacts of delays in the more advanced Siri as well as component shortages, meaning the pipeline of upcoming products is remarkably full at the moment.

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman this week rounded up a list of about 20 new products we should see through the rest of 2026 and into 2027. The list includes updates to much of Apple’s current product lineup, as well as new products like the foldable iPhone, a high-end touchscreen MacBook, camera-equipped AirPods, a smart home hub, and smart glasses.

Everything new in iOS 27 beta 2

Apple rolled out a second round of developer betas for iOS 27 and related updates this week, and the new iOS 27 beta includes some changes as Apple continues to develop the update ahead of a planned public release in September.

A new “Write with Siri” button in several first-party apps makes it easier to find tools for Siri to help you write, while there are improvements to RCS messaging, changes to the Camera and Wallet apps, the ability to update an Apple TV from the Home app on iPhone, and more.

2027 Macs will get AI-focused M7 chips as Apple abandons high-end M6

A significant shake-up of Apple’s chip roadmap is underway, according to BloombergApple removing high-end chips from the upcoming M6 family as the company looks to accelerate development of the M7 family to deliver greater AI optimizations.

It looks like we’ll only get a base M6 chip from this family later this year in some low-end Macs, with Apple quickly moving to an M7 chip in the first half of 2027. High-end chips from the M7 family will follow later in 2027.

Apple’s highly anticipated “MacBook Ultra” OLED touchscreen will reportedly use the current M5 Pro and M5 chips that debuted in the MacBook Pro earlier this year, despite the fact that the new laptop won’t arrive until late this year or even early next year.

Apple explains why watchOS 27 drops support for so many models

Amid user dismay, Apple has explained why five Apple Watch models will not benefit from watchOS 27 and the new Siri AI features that come with it.

The Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, SE 2, and the original Apple Watch Ultra will not receive watchOS 27 and will only receive basic security updates moving forward. With this update, Apple effectively removes three years of device support in a single software update, which is unprecedented for the product line.

Speaking to TechRadar, Apple executives explained that the company wanted to use watchOS 27 to make the Apple Watch a “true co-partner of Apple Intelligence,” which required some sacrifices in supported models for the update. Only the latest generations of Apple Watch include the processing power to be able to adequately deliver the new features both standalone and interfacing with a paired iPhone for heavier workloads with Siri AI.

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