Why Your iPhone 18 Pro Will Cost More

Apple should keep the base iPhone 18 Pro at the same price as last year’s iPhone 17 Pro, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to cost you the same. With Siri AI and advanced options for Apple Intelligence expected to become premium services, the lifetime cost is going to rise. I examined the impact of AI here on Forbes:

"It's likely this will be rolled into Apple One, obscuring the true cost of Apple Intelligence behind a trial period and the sticky subscriptions of Apple Music and Apple TV. The addition of a new service, if priced similarly to others, could cost consumers $15 per month to fully realise AI on their smartphones."

Any Colour Of iPhone Ultra You Like, As Long As It's White

More details about Apple’s first foldable, the presumptively named iPhone 18 Ultra, were published this week, and it comes with a significant design choice. Apple may be leaning into cherry as the iPhone 18 colour, but the Ultra may do a reverse Henry Ford. Forbes contributor Davd Phelan brings the reports together for a notable conclusion:

"Black versions of Apple devices are de rigueur, so to omit one for the initial folding iPhone would be a surprise. And it would also mean the foldable would be the first iPhone since 2007, when the original model was released, that was only available in one color."

The MacBook Neo's Promise Of Annual Updates

One of the key advantages of Apple’s MacBook Neo is the use of binned A18 Pro chipsets that were rejected for the iPhone line. Although Apple has decided to open up production of the A18 Pro to meet demand, with the core specs locked to iPhone hardware, the Neo is effectively locked into an annual update cycle, as explained earlier this week on Forbes.

"The indications are that the MacBook Neo will be upgraded on an annual cycle more akin to a smartphone than a MacBook. Given the reliance on ‘binned’ iPhone Pro chipsets in the first production run, it’s logical that the Neo laptops will keep pace with the iPhone Pro smartphone schedule. The binned A19 Pro chipsets from the iPhone 17 Pro models will find themselves in the next Neo, setting a pattern that will cascade over the next few years."

iOS 27’s Big Ask In Beta

Following the Worldwide Developer Conference for 2026, Apple has released public beta builds of iOS 27 ahead of a full release with the iPhone 18 family. This is a regular occurrence, but comes with a twist this year. As David Phelan reports, there’s a request from Apple to those testing the latest builds:

"As usual, it’s advised that if you do download it, your daily driver is not the best place for it. A secondary iPhone is better, as there will inevitably be bugs and some things don’t work. What’s not usual is that this time Apple is encouraging users to ensure that the device has their personal data on it, to enable the context-aware features to be seen at their best."

Is The Answer To Apple Intelligence That ‘It Just Works’?

Those with a long memory or affinity with Apple’s history will recognise the phrase ‘it just works’. Many continue to hold to this ideal. And as M.G. Siegler explains, this could be Apple’s approach to the integration of Google Gemini and Siri AI when it arrives with the public:

"This was always the promise of Apple Intelligence, that Apple would be able to pull in all the iPhone knows about you to handle any query and augment that with "world knowledge". Apple was unable to do that two years ago, but now Google is here to save the day. The fact that they got an actual shout-out tells you just how vital they are to this effort. Yes, Apple "distilled" Gemini to make their own, new "Apple Foundation Models", but it's the heavy-lifting that Google did in training these models which is going to make this all sing for Apple this time.:

Siri AI Will Not Be Available In Europe

Apple will not be releasing Siri AI in Europe. As a designated gatekeeper, its request for exemption from the European Union’s DMA regulations has been declined. This would require Apple to allow competing AI platforms a level playing field. Apple has decided to take another route and, as Reuters reports, it will not ship Siri AI in Europe:

""The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's only," spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels, saying there was nothing in the Digital Markets Act to stop the company from introducing new products in the EU. "Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU ​privacy and security standards," Regnier said.

And Finally...

The Apple community can hold on to hardware for a long time. Those running the Time Capsule system will find that macOS 27 will not support the hardware, and they will need to move on. Malcolm Own reports on what’s next:

"However, as warned in macOS Sequoia 15, support for the Apple Filing Protocol, AFP, was being deprecated and removed in a future macOS release. That turned out to be macOS 27, thanks to a notice in macOS 26 warning about the end of support for AirPort Disk and other Time Capsule disks… From macOS 27 onwards, Time Machine will require hardware using SMBv2 or SMBv3. This will mean it will work with modern NAS devices, but not Time Capsules."

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.