Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).


The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing significantly better than the iPhone 16.

The ‌iPhone Air‌ is apparently the outlier; Apple plans to reduce production by one million units this year. Meanwhile, Apple plans to increase production of all other models by two million units. The overall production forecast of the ‌iPhone 17‌ series this year has also been increased from 88 million units to 94 million units for the start of 2026.

A separate report earlier today claimed that Samsung has canceled plans to release a successor to its own ‌iPhone Air‌ rival, the Galaxy S25 Edge, due to low sales. Nevertheless, the ‌iPhone Air‌ reportedly sold out within hours in China, despite lower than expected sales in western countries last month.

The same report from Mizuho Securities today revealed details about Apple's first foldable iPhone and other future devices.

This article, "Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The first alleged benchmark result for the M5 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced, allowing for some performance comparisons.


Based on a single unconfirmed result uploaded to the Geekbench 6 database today, the M5 chip has pulled off an impressive feat. Specifically, the chip achieved a score of 4,263 for single-core CPU performance, which is the highest single-core score that has ever been recorded in the Geekbench 6 database for any Mac or PC processor.

In the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. The single-core score on Geekbench 6 refers to the performance achieved by just one of the performance cores, whereas the multi-core score refers to the maximum performance achieved by all 10 of the CPU cores combined.

A chip's multi-core score reflects the maximum CPU performance for multi-threaded tasks, but single-core performance remains important for certain games and apps, and it plays a key role in overall system responsiveness and snappiness.

The top five single-core scores for Mac and PC processors in the Geekbench 6 database:

• M5 (14-inch MacBook Pro): 4,263


• M4 Max (16-inch MacBook Pro): 3,914


• M4 Pro (16-inch MacBook Pro): 3,871


• M4 (Mac mini): 3,784


• AMD Ryzen 9950X3D: 3,399

Unsurprisingly, the M5 chip in the new iPad Pro achieved a similar single-core score of 4,175, based on Geekbench 6 results available so far.


As for multi-core performance, the M5 chip in the 14-inch MacBook Pro achieved a score of 17,862 in the single result, which makes it up to 20% faster than the M4 chip in the previous-generation 14-inch MacBook Pro. The standard M5 chip is faster than the M3 Pro chip, and nearly on par with the M1 Ultra chip.

A selection of multi-core scores for Mac chips:

• M4 Max (16-inch MacBook Pro): 25,645


• M1 Ultra (Mac Studio): 18,405


• M5 (14-inch MacBook Pro): 17,862


• M3 Pro (14-inch MacBook Pro): 15,257


• M4 (14-inch MacBook Pro): 14,726

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro is available to pre-order now, and it launches on Wednesday.

Higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are rumored to launch in early 2026, but the regular M5 chip is clearly no slouch.
This article, "M5 Chip Achieves Impressive Feat in 14-Inch MacBook Pro Speed Test" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's new M5 MacBook Pro will ship without a power adapter in the box in the United Kingdom and European Union, prompting online confusion that the change was mandated by EU law — a claim that is incorrect.


Apple quietly updated its online store following the launch of the M5 ‌MacBook Pro‌ to note that customers in the UK and EU who purchase the new 14-inch model will no longer receive a charging brick by default. The laptop still includes a MagSafe 3 cable, but buyers must purchase a compatible USB-C power adapter separately. The change does not apply to other markets such as the United States, where a 70W USB-C Power Adapter remains included at no extra cost.

The omission led some observers to suggest that the decision was required under new European environmental regulations. Some claimed that the European Union had banned manufacturers from including power adapters with new electronics in order to reduce electronic waste, but this is not the case.

The confusion appears to stem from the EU's 2022 Common Charger Directive, legislation designed to standardize charging ports and give consumers flexibility when purchasing new devices. The directive requires that all smartphones, tablets, and laptops sold within the EU use USB-C for wired charging. It also stipulates that consumers must be offered the option to buy a device without a charger to limit unnecessary e-waste.

The law "ensures that consumers will be able to purchase new electronic devices without having to obtain a new charger each time," but it does not prevent manufacturers from supplying one. In practice, this means companies must provide a version of each product that can be purchased without an adapter, while retaining the freedom to include a charger or offer it free of charge.

Apple's decision to remove the charger entirely from the EU boxes therefore goes beyond what the law requires. The company could, for example, offer customers the option to include a charger at checkout for no additional cost, as long as it also sells a version without one. The lack of charger in the UK is even more unnecessary, since it is not part of the European Union.

The move to charge separately for adapters is therefore a business choice by Apple, not a legal necessity. The company's approach simplifies logistics and packaging, avoiding the need for separate SKUs in Europe, but it also shifts the cost to customers who do not already own a compatible charger.

Apple has historically argued that omitting power bricks from its packaging is part of a wider environmental effort. The company first removed the charger from iPhone boxes in 2020, citing the environmental benefits of smaller packaging and fewer redundant accessories. Similar reasoning has since extended to other product lines. By reducing the size and weight of shipments, Apple says it can cut carbon emissions and limit use of resources across its supply chain.

The M5 ‌MacBook Pro‌ continues to support both ‌MagSafe‌ and USB-C charging. Customers can use existing 67W, 96W, or 140W USB-C adapters to charge the device, depending on the configuration. Apple sells its own USB-C power adapters separately, and the company's online product pages now prominently note that "power adapter sold separately" for the affected regions.

Pricing adjustments partly offset the omission in some regions, although shifts in currency exchange rates likely also factored into Apple's pricing changes as is common. In several European countries, the new 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ is approximately €100 cheaper than its predecessor, but the UK model retains the same starting price.
This article, "EU Didn't Stop Apple From Including Charger With M5 MacBook Pro" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's iPhone Air sold out across online stores in China within hours of pre-orders opening on Friday, the South China Morning Post reports.


Demand for the ‌iPhone Air‌ reportedly surged immediately after pre-orders opened. Apple's online store and the official Tmall flagship both listed multiple color and storage configurations as unavailable within the first two hours of availability, reflecting even higher demand than the device saw in western markets last month. Prices begin at 7,999 yuan (approximately $1,122).

The ‌iPhone Air‌ was introduced globally in September but delayed in mainland China pending government approval for eSIM, which replaces physical SIM cards and enables slimmer smartphone designs.

The launch coincides with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's decision to authorize eSIM trials for smartphones, marking the first time Chinese users can activate a mobile number without a physical SIM card. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom confirmed this week that they had received approval to begin commercial operations, paving the way for the ‌iPhone Air‌ to launch without regulatory restrictions.
This article, "iPhone Air Sells Out in China" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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