iPhone rumors — under-glass Face ID and a foldable, the iMac Pro’s possible return and our ideal pro Mac lineup, automations that solve problems, and what we do when the power goes out.
Harry McCracken of Fast Company has a great, in-depth story about how Apple is working with filmmakers and other creators to help them build more immersive content for the Vision Pro:
…much of the progress the Vision Pro has made hasn’t stemmed from the routine tick-tock of software and hardware updates. Apple has also been throwing itself into the equally vital work of getting third-party developers and creators to build experiences that will help the rest of us understand what, exactly, its headset is good for. That was the goal of a Vision Pro developer event the company held at its Cupertino campus in late October.
I wrote a little about this event at the time, and met some of the creators Harry interviewed for his story, which really captures the current state of Apple’s immersive content evangelism.
Last week Apple released 26.2 updates to its operating systems, and if you’re on the 26 train, you should install .2 because it includes a bunch of security updates including some zero-days.
In its list of security update details, Apple credits a bunch of security researchers for discovering the issues. Among them is Rosyna Keller of Totally Not Malicious software—fantastic name—who found bugs in MediaExperience, Messages, and Telephony. Keller says that the Messages fix alone is worth updating to iOS 26.2, or if you’re still on iOS 18, updating to iOS 18.7.3. (Though I’m hearing reports that phones that can run iOS 26 aren’t being offered iOS 18.7.3, only iOS 26.2—which is not great, since this is a security update and shouldn’t force migration to iOS 26.)
Apple is developing a high-end iMac featuring the M5 Max chip, according to information from leaked internal software… The software contains references to an iMac with the identifier J833c running platform H17C. H17C is associated with the codename “Sotra C,” which relates to the expected marketing name “M5 Max.” This suggests that an iMac with the M5 Max chip is in active testing.
As Charlton notes, this isn’t the first we’ve heard about Apple potentially doing a high-end iMac. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported back in 2023 that Apple had initially planned an M2-based iMac Pro, but tabled it “due to cost concerns.” However, Gurman emphasized that a pro iMac was still on Apple’s agenda:
It’s worth noting that the pro version was tabled but never canceled. This larger model is still poised to follow the 24-inch one, coming in either late 2024 or 2025. It will have a 32-inch display, making it the biggest iMac in Apple’s history.
Well, it’s very late 2025 and it’s not here, but sometimes these things slip. Perhaps 2026 will be the year of a true large-screen iMac Pro. I have to admit I’m a bit surprised—I was a very happy iMac Pro owner, but I thought the model (introduced eight years ago this month) was just too niche and that Apple would prefer to refer pro users to a MacBook Pro or Mac Studio attached to an external display. Maybe the iMac Pro might once again be used to soften the blow of the possible discontinuation of the Mac Pro?
The Computer History Museum is doing an amazing job trying not just to preserve the history of the computer revolution, but to keep it alive by getting permission to release source code for classic software. The latest is the crowning achievement of the Knoll brothers, Photoshop:
With the permission of Adobe Systems Inc., the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use, the source code to the 1990 version 1.0.1 of Photoshop. All the code is here with the exception of the MacApp applications library that was licensed from Apple. There are 179 files in the zipped folder, comprising about 128,000 lines of mostly uncommented but well-structured code. By line count, about 75% of the code is in Pascal, about 15% is in 68000 assembler language, and the rest is data of various sorts.
CHM had trustee Grady Booch of IBM comment on the (ironically not very commented) code, and he called it “well-structured”, “mature”, and “so easy to read, that comments might even have gotten in the way.”
As the post by Leonard J. Shustek continues:
…this is the kind of code we all can learn from. Software source code is the literature of computer scientists, and it deserves to be studied and appreciated. Enjoy a view of Photoshop from the inside.
I really like the phrase “the literature of computer scientists.” The only shame is that this release doesn’t include the code from the MacApp applications library, which Photoshop used and is owned by Apple. It would sure be nice if Apple made that code available as well.
This is now a home improvement podcast. We do find time to discuss products we wish Apple had shipped before the holidays, what happens when Apple locks you out of your iCloud account, and the Epic court battle.
We discuss what laptops Apple is expected to release in 2026, Apple’s AI parsing of podcasts, that time Jason didn’t really almost work for Apple, and weird snacks.
Siri can be frustrating. And we know from the most recent Apple financials call that Tim “This is Tim” Cook thinks so, too, even if he would intentionally not state that. While Siri doesn’t always know what you want or how to do it, people’s feathers get ruffled when it refuses to understand their name or that of people around them or with whom they refer to all the time.1
Six Colors reader Jackson wrote in with such a situation (and I received permission to share his and his partner’s name):
I have a partner with an uncommon spelling of a common name. Caryn is pronounced like Karen. Routinely my various devices will tell me I don’t have someone by that name in my contacts when I try to tell Siri to call or message her. The extra frustrating thing is that the text display of my input reads “Caryn” and it works if I repeat her full name.
I’ve gone into the contacts in added in the “Pronunciation First Name” field and filled it in with Karen but that doesn’t seem to have made a noticeable improvement. But there are also fields in there like “Phonetic first name” or “Nickname.” That’s three types of fields and I’m not sure if any of them would solve my problem or if I’m using them right when I do it.
I can fully understand why you would not know how to proceed, because Apple doesn’t provide guidance within the app or online about the phonetic and pronunciation fields, nor how to solve this name problem. The three fields each serve a different purpose:
You can add fields in Contacts (or via Phone) to correct Siri’s understanding of the sound of a name as it is spoken or how to speak it.
Pronunciation First Name: This field tells Siri how to say the name. So if you had a contact with the Irish name “Eòghann” and Siri might say “Eh-oh-guh-hann.” The name is often pronounced like “Owen” or “Ewan.” Using Pronunciation First Name, you can enter that anglicized version if Siri isn’t getting it right. With Caryn/Karen, the pronunciation seems to be the same, so this field won’t help. (You can also add last name pronunciation guidance.)
Phonetic First Name: Here’s where you should enter “Karen”—no special phonetic symbols required (or, perhaps, accepted). (You can also add middle and last name phonetic details.)
Nickname: Nickname can work as well, as adding “Karen” to a “Caryn” entry will provide a match. However, Siri might then use “Karen” in text onscreen when it refers to “Caryn”!
You can add any of these fields (and a number of others) by opening Phone or Contacts, selecting an entry, tapping Edit, and tapping “add field.”
Siri recognizes Caryn once I added “Karen” to phonetic first name.
I had several Karens and even a Carren in my address book. I added a “Caryn” with my phone number, and told Siri to “call Karen.” It showed all the Karens and Carren, but not Caryn. I then added “Karen” as Phonetic First Name, tried again, and it suggested Caryn as the first match! (See figure.)
One hopes that Future Siri will be able to deal with the vagaries of spelling names, given that it’s a critical component of what Siri should be able to recognize.
Johny Srouji issues a statement, Disney makes some big deals, and the Apple/Epic fight will outlive us all.
Come back, Johny
After Mark Gurman’s worrisome report last week that Apple SVP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji was considering leaving, the report was contradicted on Monday by a subsequent report from, um, Mark Gurman. Hmm.
In a memo sent to staff, Srouji denied reports that he had been wistfully staring out the window as autumn leaves fell down onto the piles of cash Meta had been dumping on the lawn at Apple Park to try to entice employees into their unmarked, white van.
After poaching Alan Dye, it’s clear Meta isn’t being that picky. They’ll take anyone from Srouji all the way to Gary, the guy who makes those killer chicken Caesar wraps at Caffè Macs. (Mark Zuckerberg will reportedly stop at nothing to get Gary and corner the market on superior chicken Caesar wrap technology.)…
Wrapping things up for the calendar year, Apple has released its final OS 26.2 updates for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Perhaps the biggest changes are on the iPad, which has added a bunch of new ways to multitask using the Dock, including to create/change a Slide Over app and dragging app icons to automatically have them fill half of the screen.
Other new features include more customization of the time in the iOS lock screen, a new method to grant AirDrop permission via a numerical code, and a new “Edge Light” on macOS that places a white ring on your display to increase the overall brightness when you’re on a video call.
My thanks to Coherence X5 for sponsoring Six Colors this week.
Turning websites into Mac apps isn’t a new idea, but for years it’s come with tradeoffs. Safari web apps are limited. Electron apps are heavy. And most “site-specific browser” tools stop short of feeling truly native.
Coherence X5 takes a different approach. It’s a Chrome-based app builder for macOS that turns any website into a clean, isolated Mac app—all while keeping the full power of Chrome extensions, profiles, and modern web compatibility. It supports Chrome, Brave, Edge, Chromium, and even Ungoogled Chromium, giving you flexibility without lock-in.
What makes Coherence X5 special is how native it feels. With a redesigned creation tool built for macOS 26 and Liquid Glass, creating apps is fast and intuitive. And the all-new Coherence Extension brings real Mac behavior to Chrome-powered apps: restoring windows from the Dock, intelligently blocking rogue popups, forwarding links to your default browser when appropriate, and remembering where you left off between launches.
If you want the flexibility of the modern web – without living in browser tabs or slow electron apps – Coherence X5 turns websites into Mac apps that finally feel like they belong on macOS.
Six Colors readers can get 20% off Coherence X5 this week with the code SIXCOLORS. Learn more and download at bzgapps.com/coherence
Bob Iger burnishes his legacy by… making a deal with OpenAI? Also, TV picks and a Listener Letter Challenge! (Downstream+ subscribers also get to hear us talk at length about the potential Netflix purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
The worst Apple platform features of the year, the tech gifts we’re buying for our family, Bluetooth’s Auracast feature, and the emoji we desperately need.
Apple’s top design executive Alan Dye is leaving the iPhone maker to become the Chief Design Officer at Meta in a blockbuster coup for the social networking giant and big loss for Apple.
Did… Alan Dye ghost write that? I’m not sure if Gurman polled the Apple community about this but, despite this supposed “big loss”, people seem just short of giddy about it.
With over 5,000 five star reviews; Magic Lasso Adblock is simply the best Safari ad blocker for your iPhone, iPad and Mac.
And with the new App Ad Blocking feature in v5.0, it extends the powerful Safari and YouTube ad blocking protection to all apps including news apps, social media, games, and other browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
