iOS 26.4 is coming soon with a massive

fix. And plus, there is a

firstofits-kind software update this

week. Apple just announced a surprise

new product. We have proof that Tim Cook

is not retiring this year. How Apple is

secretly winning the AI wars and much

more. All in today's episode of Apple

Weekly. Okay, so let's start by talking

about the surprise new Apple product

that launched this week. So, we were not

expecting this because we had no rumors

or really nothing indicating that this

product was coming. And that is the

AirPods Max 2. Yes, Apple finally

updated the AirPods Max with a second

generation. Of course, we had the USBC

update a while back, but this is the

true second generation of AirPods Max.

And they look pretty much the exact

same. Same colors, same design, same

$550 price tag. The only thing that's

really changed is internally because we

have that H2 chip inside which is

actually a big upgrade because this will

get you 1.5 times more active noise

cancellation, improved transparency

mode, adaptive EQ. We have that camera

remote feature which is where you press

on the crown to take a picture with your

phone. And of course all the other

features that are enabled with the H2

chip like we saw in the AirPods Pro 2.

But there is bad news about the AirPods

Max 2, and that is the fact that they

are not compatible with the Apple

polishing cloth. I know that's a

dealbreaker for some of you out there,

but anyways, this thing goes up for

pre-order next week. So, the AirPods Max

2 go up for pre-order next week, not the

polishing cloth, and they will be

available in early April. Now, let's

talk about how Apple is secretly winning

the AI wars, and pretty much nobody is

talking about it because we just got a

new report this week from the Wall

Street Journal that shows that Apple

made $900 million from AI apps in 2025

thanks to their revenue cut. And Chat

GPT made up 75% of that, by the way. But

they're on track for $1 billion in 2026

from these AI apps just existing on the

App Store. But that's not the only way

that Apple's winning. Because if you

take a look at Apple's competitors, like

the big tech companies like Amazon,

Microsoft, Google, and Meta, they're all

spending insane amounts of money trying

to win AI. So they're spending between

10 to 40 billion with a B per quarter on

data centers, chips, infrastructure, all

of that. Meanwhile, Apple is spending

literally 10 times less than every one

of those competitors. And plus, Apple's

actually profiting off of AI right now,

which most of these companies out there

are spending so much money on cap eggs,

but they're not actually making profit

or not much profit at all, unlike Apple,

which of course it's in services, so it

is going to be very high margin. But

this is pretty crazy and it just, you

know, shows Apple's kind of secret, you

know, business model surrounding AI.

They're really owning where the AI is

happening instead of making the best AI

out there. Now, of course, keep in mind,

Apple is building their own, you know,

generative AI models in the background.

They're just very slow to adopt this,

but Apple's taking the approach they

always take where they're not spending

all this money. They're not rushing to

be the best and the fastest. They're

taking their time with it. So, pretty

crazy. And these AI wars are going to be

lasting for decades to come. So, it will

be very interesting to see where Apple

is at in 5 years time from now because

we know that they're currently working

with Google to have Google Gemini power

part of this new and improved Siri. But,

will Apple have it all, you know, under

control on their own in 5 years from

now? And they won't need help from

Google Gemini? That's yet to be

determined, but it's going to be very

interesting to see, especially with

Apple spending 10 times less, you know,

on AI infrastructure than everybody else

at this point. Okay, so now let's talk

about the MacBook Neo. This is the new

$5 to $600 MacBook that just recently

came out and it's had the whole internet

going absolutely crazy because it's

powered by an iPhone chip. Everybody

thought it was going to be this weak

computer, but it turns out it's actually

an amazing computer with amazing

performance. And as a testament to how

good the product is, Tim Cook actually

revealed this over on X. He just said,

"Mac just had its best launch week ever

for firsttime Mac customers. We love

seeing the enthusiasm." So, Apple just

had its best week ever for firsttime Mac

customers, and that is undoubtedly

because of the MacBook Neo. So, we don't

have official sales numbers yet, but

this proves that it is selling like

actual hot cakes, just like everybody

assumed that it would. And I would also

venture to guess that this record is

like way up here, whereas second place,

Apple's previous record is way down

here. I would imagine that Apple

absolutely crushed the previous record

for first, you know, first time Mac

users in a week. And there's something

else that's really good about the

MacBook Neo that not a lot of people are

talking about, and that is the fact that

it is the most repairable Mac in the

past 14 years. And this was reported on

by iix it. And they're showing that the

battery inside the MacBook Neo is

screwed in instead of being glued in

with adhesive, which is really good for

repairability. Also, the parts like the

speakers, the ports, and the trackpad

are all easy to access. And the layout

inside just actually makes sense and

it's much easier to repair than previous

Macs. And this makes sense because if

you think about the MacBook Neo, a lot

of people buying these are going to be

schools. schools are going to be buying

up the MacBook Neo and they usually

prefer to repair their products when

they break instead of buying new ones.

So, it makes a lot of sense for the

repairability of the MacBook Neo here as

well. At this point, there's really

nothing bad you can say about the

MacBook Neo. Like, there's really just

not like yeah, you can say things about

the trackpad. You could say things about

the performance not being the best, the

RAM, 8 gigs, but for the price and and

everything else that goes into it, I

mean, there's really I have a hard time

seeing how anybody could say anything

bad about the MacBook Neo. It's really

just a home run product in my opinion.

It's the first time I felt this strongly

about an Apple product in quite some

time. And when I say strongly, I mean

where it's just like a no-brainer to buy

for like the majority of people out

there who need a MacBook for the first

time. So, now let's go from cheap to

something that's going to be very

expensive. And that is the iPhone Fold.

Because we just got a report that the

displays for the iPhone Fold are nearing

mass production. And this comes from

Instant Digital. He says that Samsung

Display is set to begin mass production

of OLED panels for the first foldable

iPhone in May. Now, Fixed Focus Digital,

also on Weibo, claimed that the iPhone

folds screen may be flatter than many of

the existing foldable devices that are

currently on the market, which suggests

that Apple has largely solved the crease

problem. Now, of course, we all expected

Apple to be the first or one of the

first out there with a creaseless

display, but now, of course, you guys

have seen that we've seen several

manufacturers have a fully creaseless

foldable. So, Apple will definitely not

be the first, but it is interesting to

see that that is definitely going to

happen. We're definitely going to have a

creaseless display for the iPhone Fold.

Now, also in a research note for

Barclays, Apple analyst Tim Long said

this. Shipments of the iPhone Fold will

likely begin in December this year, a

few months after the iPhone 18 Pro and

iPhone 18 Pro Max launch in September.

And he also said that Apple plans to

release two other devices alongside the

iPhone 18 base model in March next year,

including a lower-end iPhone 18e

or iPhone Air 2. So, there's a few

things to unpack here. Number one,

iPhone Fold in December. That sounds

very familiar because we saw that with

the iPhone 10. I believe it was in

December, sometime around there, much

later in the year for the iPhone 10.

Whereas the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus at the

time launched in September. So, we could

be seeing something similar where we get

the Pro and Pro Max models in September

like usual and then we have to wait

until December to get the iPhone Fold.

So, maybe Apple have a separate event

for that. Maybe they'll just announce it

at the iPhone event and it launches

later. We'll have to see. But it is also

interesting to note that we're expecting

to see the base models and plus the plus

model and the air model in March of the

previous year. So that's a pretty wide

gap there between the base model and the

pros. And that's apparently how Apple's

schedule is going to be from here on

out, at least for the foreseeable

future. Now, let's talk about Tim Cook

here because there's been several rumors

over the past several months that have

talked about how Tim Cook is going to be

retiring in 2026. Everybody was, you

know, confident that he was going to be

stepping down or at least stepping away

from CEO position, but that doesn't

appear to be the case. And this comes

from Tim Cook's mouth himself. So, he

was on Good Morning America this week

and he told viewers that retirement talk

is nothing more than a rumor. So, when

he was asked about reports that he was

preparing to step down, he told ABC,

"No, I didn't say that. I haven't said

that. I love what I do deeply. 28 years

ago, I walked into Apple and I've loved

every day of it since. I can't imagine

life without Apple." Now, of course,

it's easy to say that those are just

rumors and he never said that and he

actually does end up stepping down later

this year. But it seems like Tim Cook is

not going anywhere, at least not in

2026. Now, is it going to be here until

2030? I don't know about that. It's

probably coming in the next few years,

but it seems like right now 2026 is not

on the table for Tim Cook to retire or

to step down as CEO. Now, let's talk

about some really good news for myself

and any video editor out there who uses

Final Cut Pro. And that's because Apple

just recently acquired Motion VFX, which

is a Final Cut plug-in company. And it's

not just any plug-in company. This is

like the premiere, the gold standard for

third-party plugins for Final Cut Pro.

You know, Marquez uses them. Pretty much

everybody on YouTube uses Motion VFX

when you see the different graphics, the

different titles, transitions. Pretty

much most people, most tech reviewers

especially do use Motion VFX to get

those effects in their videos. So, it's

pretty interesting here. And Motion VFX

said this on their website. We are

extremely excited to share that Motion

VFX is joining the Apple team to

continue to empower creators and editors

to do their best work. And Motion VFX

had 70 employees and they are all

joining Apple now as part of this

acquisition. Now, we don't know for sure

if this means that Motion VFX is going

to exist inside of Final Cut Pro. You

know, maybe as a separate bundle they

have to pay for in the Creative Studio.

We're not sure if that's going to be the

case or if Apple's just going to

implement this and completely shut down

Motion VFX. We don't really know what's

next. I really hope that Motion VFX does

not get shut down because of Apple

acquiring them and their employees. But

we'll have to wait and see on that. But

this could be good news to make Final

Cut Pro much better. Or it could be

really terrible news because Motion VFX

could just cease to ex exist after this.

But regardless, if you are a Final Cut

Pro video editor, this is big, big news.

Now, I have a question for you. What's

the most amount of money you would ever

spend on a MagSafe charger? That just a

charger that goes on your desk or your

bedside to charge like your Apple Watch

and your iPhone? Well, what's the most

amount of money you'd spend? $100, $200,

maybe $300 if you have a lot of extra

money sitting around. What about $5,500?

And that's because Hermes is actually

selling a MagSafe charger for $5,500.

So, this is the Paddock Duo charger in

gold swift calf skin. So, it wirelessly

charges two devices. And ironically, it

does not include the 20 watt power brick

or a USBC cord. You literally just get

the MagSafe charger, you know, and

that's it for $5,500 after fees. That is

insane. So, if you are somebody out

there who is buying that, you know, I

would love to see an unboxing of a

$5,500 MagSafe charger. But that is

insane. Okay, so now let's move over to

our iPhone here. We're going to talk

about iOS 26.4 and that secret update

that Apple pushed out this week as well

here in a moment. But I first want to

talk about the fact that if you're into

sports, you can now view the men's NCAA

tournament bracket, the March Madness

bracket in the Apple Sports application.

So you should see that up there. If not,

you can get to it from the menu. And you

can see that you do have a live, you

know, real time view of the bracket

right here of the tournament. And you

can see all the scores and everything

right there in a really nice view. So

that's something you should definitely

check out if you do have the sports

application and you're into March

Madness. Now, speaking of sports, we

also have to talk about F1 because, as

you guys know, Apple has exclusive

rights to F1 right now and for the next

5 years. And so, they're going to be

streaming everything on Apple TV. And it

looks like that's been a massive hit

because they claim that F1 viewership is

up this season over ESPN. So, Apple's

senior VP of services Eddie Q said that

it's a huge win for the company because

he told the Hollywood Reporter that

viewership for the Australian Grand

Prix, the first race of the season, was

up year-over-year compared to the 2025

race which aired on ESPN. He said this,

"The 2026 Formula 1 season on Apple TV

is off to a strong start with fans

responding positively and viewership up

year-over-year for the first weekend,

exceeding both F1 and Apple

expectations. And I can attest to that

because I myself also found it very easy

to tune in and watch the F1 races

because of the fact that it was on Apple

TV. So that is amazing and it's really

good to see that it's doing well because

that means that it may continue even

after this 5-year partnership. Now if

you are really into racing and cars, you

would know about the game called

iRacing. And this game is actually

coming to the Apple Vision Pro very

soon. So iRacing put out a statement

saying this. iRacing is pleased to share

that through a collaboration with Apple

and Nvidia, the world's premier

motorsport simulation will be available

on Apple Vision Pro later this spring

with a release of Vision OS 26.4 and

Nvidia's Cloud XR 6.0 streaming

platform. So, if you're somebody who's

done sim racing using iRacing and you

happen to have a Vision Pro, this is

pretty big news for you guys. I'm not

entirely sure how it's going to work and

if you're going to have a steering wheel

or what, but it is pretty cool to see

that. And they did also mention that

it's going to come with Vision OS 26.4,

which could be out as early as next

week. Now, we should also talk about

Google Maps because I am personally an

Apple Maps user, but Google Maps just

launched a new feature that's kind of

game-changing for a maps application.

And that's the fact that they just

implemented Gemini into Google Maps. And

it's pretty cool because you can see

right up here, we now have Ask Maps. So,

if you tap on that, you can see that

it's kind of built in right here. here.

So, if I just go with something right

here like cozy date night ideas, take a

look at this. It's going to search the

area and give me some ideas using Gemini

inside of the maps application, which is

pretty crazy. Or I can get really

specific and ask a question like this.

Is there a public tennis court with

lights that I can play on tonight at

1000 p.m. And it's going to search the

area and tell me if there's a public

tennis court with lights on. So, look at

that. It gives me multiple options along

with the lights, availability, the cost,

you know, the directions, how long it's

going to take, all of that right here

because Gemini is builtin and we have

this new ask maps feature. That is a

huge deal and that's honestly going to

be a reason that people use Google Maps

over, you know, Apple Maps or Ways. Of

course, it's not going to be something

you use on a daily basis, but it is

really cool to have when you do need it.

Okay, so now let's talk about iOS 26.4

for because we just got the RC or

release candidate build earlier this

week and we have a pretty massive fix in

this update. So, if you guys watched my

RC video, you already know about this,

but take a look at this last bullet

point here underneath of the list of

enhancements in iOS 26.4. It says

improved keyboard accuracy when typing

quickly. That is a massive deal because

for the past several months, really

since iOS 26.0, zero. I've had non-stop

questions and complaints about the

keyboard being broken, specifically when

you're typing really fast and you know,

your keyboard will miss a key and then

that's going to mess up autocorrect and

everything else because it missed one of

those keys that you typed in. So, that

has been officially fixed. This is the

first time Apple has mentioned a fix for

the keyboard in all of iOS 26. So, it's

a pretty big deal that that has been

fixed here. And then of course we have

the other changes like the new emojis,

the free form changes, purchase sharing.

You can now have a separate payment for

each person in that family. You have the

Apple Music changes, accessibility, and

more. If you want to see more about

that, just watch my iOS 26.4 RC video.

And of course, I will have my full

official video on 26.4 outlining all the

changes when that does get released,

which should be next week. And I should

also give you an update on the

performance of iOS 26.4. And I have to

say that the RC build is very smooth. As

you guys know, if you watch my videos, I

had a lot of issues. I had a lot of

complaints in the first few betas of

26.4. But now on the RC build, now that

I've been using it on my main device and

my test device here for the past few

days, it's really solid. Like

performance is great. Battery life is

great. Battery life is finally great. It

was really bad on the first couple of

betas. If you can see, I'm sitting at

76% right now. Not too sure what I

started this screen recording with. You

guys will have to tell me. But so far,

performance, battery life feels great.

Okay, so let's talk about when to expect

that final build of iOS 26.4. And I

would expect to see that as early as

Monday, March 23rd. So typically after

the RC releases, we see the final build

within, I'd say 5 to 10 days. Usually

between the 6 to 8 day mark is usually

when we see it. So I would guess that

between the 23rd and the 25th is most

likely. Now the 25th would be an exact

week from the RC, which is what Apple

likes to do. Also, that is the day of

the AirPods Max pre-order. So could

those be, you know, related? Could they

be correlated? Maybe, maybe not, but we

should be seeing 26.4 next week. And

then, of course, we do have the iOS 26.5

betas, which will kick off shortly after

the release of 26.4. And those could

very well include a part of the new Siri

that's powered by Gemini. Oh, and we

have to talk about that secret iPhone

update that just launched this week.

That was just released this week. It's

been called secret. It's been called

hidden, but if you guys watch my

channel, you probably know you know

about this. So, if you go into your

settings and go down to privacy and

security and then scroll down all the

way near the bottom, we will have this

section where it says background

security improvements, BSI. And if you

have this set to automatically install

and you were on 26.3.1,

you would have received a 26.3.1A

update, which was just a security

update, a BSI. And keep in mind, this is

the feature that replaced the rapid

security response updates, which we

really never got much of at all. like I

feel like this feature has been super

underutilized, but this week we finally

saw an update go through this BSI

segment, this background security

improvement segment. And you do have to

go in here and make sure it's on to get

that update. And if you're wondering why

this update was pushed out, well, it's

because it patched a WebKit

vulnerability that could allow

maliciously crafted web content to

bypass same origin policy. So, that has

been fixed after you update this. And if

you are on the 26.4 four betas. This

will most likely be resolved in the RC

or the final release. And then finally,

we have another crazy Air Tag story, and

this one's pretty insane, especially the

video. So, this time in Wisconsin, an

Instacart driver and her boyfriend

stopped at a pick and save store to grab

an order. They both went inside and left

their car running in the parking lot.

Well, in that short moment, someone

jumped in and stole the car. Now, at

first it seemed like it was gone for

good, but they remembered that there was

an Air Tag hidden inside the car. So, of

course, they did what everybody would

do. They opened up the Find My

application. They got the location, and

instead of waiting around or calling the

police, they just went straight to where

the car was pinging. And when they got

there, they spotted the stolen car just

sitting at an intersection with the

thief still inside. He was like at a

light. So, they did not hesitate. They

both ran up to the car. The man went to

the driver's side. The woman who was

driving at the time, she went to the

passenger side. and they're both just

trying to get the car back. But this is

where things got insane because the

driver hit the gas and he started going

in circles in the middle of an

intersection while the boyfriend was

halfway in the car trying to stop him

and pull him out of the car. And in all

that chaos, the car even crashed into a

city bus. But somehow the managed to

pull the driver out and a fight broke

out right there in the street. But the

suspect eventually broke free and ran

off. But during that struggle, the

boyfriend managed to grab the thief's ID

straight out of his pocket before the

escape. He stole his ID and that ended

up being the key to everything because

the next day that same guy showed up at

a hospital claiming that he had been

assaulted, but a nurse recognized him

from the incident and police quickly

connected everything. And so he was

later charged with multiple crimes

including recklessly endangering safety

and taking a vehicle without consent. So

that is insane. And without that Air

Tag, none of this would have been

possible. We also wouldn't have this

crazy video to watch. Luckily, nobody

got hurt. So, you know, we could say

it's for entertainment, but yeah, pretty

crazy that if they didn't have an Air

Tag in there, who knows if they would

have ever seen that car again. So,

anyways, guys, that is it for this

week's episode of Apple Weekly. Hope you

guys enjoyed the return. Again, last

week I gave you a warning. I did not

have an Apple Weekly episode because I

was inundated with all the new Apple

products. I still kind of am. I'm still

working on those videos, but hope you

guys can understand that. Hope you guys

enjoyed this episode. As always, if you

did, let me know your thoughts about any

of the stories down in the comments

section below.