MacBook Ultra with OLED, Creator Studio Upgrades, and the Latest iOS 27 Beta News.
This week: MacBook Ultra with OLED, Creator Studio Upgrades, and the Latest iOS 27 Beta News.
NEWSLETTER
7/7/202611 min read
Newsletter #3
Welcome back!
A few quick updates before we dive in:
I’ve created a dedicated email address to make it easier for you to reply directly to my newsletter. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or feedback, feel free to hit reply. I’d love to hear from you!
Some of you may receive my newsletter in your spam folder. To prevent this from happening with future editions, you can simply move the email to your inbox or add me as a contact. This helps make sure my next newsletters arrive in your inbox.
For some reason, the link to the macOS 26.5.2 security fixes in my previous newsletter didn’t work. Last week, Apple released the latest stable software update, which fixes several important security issues. Apple has shared a full list of everything that was fixed, and you can read it here .
Now, let’s dive into the biggest Apple news and highlights from last week.
MacBook Ultra with OLED display
Apple is reportedly working on a new high-end MacBook Pro, and this could be one of the biggest Mac upgrades in years.
Some people are already calling it the MacBook Ultra, although that name is not confirmed yet. Apple could still keep the MacBook Pro name. But one thing is already clear: this would be a true Pro MacBook with some major new features.
The biggest change? A touchscreen.
For the first time, Apple is expected to bring touch controls to the MacBook. That means you could tap, swipe, and interact with the screen more like you do on an iPad. It would not replace the keyboard or trackpad, but it would make the Mac feel more modern and more flexible.
The display could also get a big upgrade. Apple is expected to use OLED for the first time on a MacBook. OLED is already used on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad Pro. OLED displays brings deeper blacks, richer colors, and better contrast.
Design-wise, Apple could make this MacBook thinner and give it a fresh new look. There are also rumors that the notch could disappear and be replaced by something more like Dynamic Island, which would fit perfectly with Siri AI and macOS Golden Gate.
Dynamic Island is the small interactive area at the top of your iPhone screen. Apple introduced it with the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022. Current MacBook Pro models also have a cutout at the top of the display (notch) but right now it is only used for the camera. It does not work as a notification area like Dynamic Island on the iPhone. With the rumored MacBook Ultra, that could finally change.
The MacBook Ultra is expected to come in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes.
A MacBook with OLED, touch, a thinner design, and maybe even Dynamic Island? That sounds like a serious next chapter for the Mac.
Newsletter #3
What about the chip inside?
You might expect a completely new MacBook to come with Apple’s latest chip, but the rumored MacBook Ultra could be different.
Apple is expected to use the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that are already available in the current MacBook Pro models. The reason is simple: Apple’s chip roadmap may be changing.
Apple introduced the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro chips earlier this year in March.
The regular M6 chip is expected to arrive later in 2026, but Apple reportedly has no plans to release an M6 Pro or M6 Max. This means the MacBook Ultra could continue using the powerful M5 Pro and M5 Max chips until the M7 Pro and M7 Max are ready for the second generation.This also raises an interesting question. Will the MacBook Ultra replace the current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, or will Apple sell it as an even more premium Mac above the existing models? For now, we don’t know.
There may already be a small hint about Apple’s touchscreen Mac plans in macOS Golden Gate. Apple added direct touch support to Sidecar, which means you can now tap and interact with macOS when using an iPad as a second display.
Sidecar is an Apple feature that lets you use your iPad as a second screen for your Mac. You can extend your Mac desktop to the iPad, move apps and windows between both screens, and use the iPad as an extra display while you work.
With macOS Golden Gate, Apple has added direct touch support to Sidecar. This means you can now use your fingers to tap and interact with macOS on the iPad screen, which could be an early hint at how Apple is preparing macOS for a future touchscreen Mac.
But this doesn’t confirm that a touchscreen MacBook is coming, but it shows that Apple is already making macOS work better with direct touch input. And that could be an important step toward the rumored MacBook Ultra.
Price and release
This new MacBook will probably not be cheap. If Apple really brings OLED, a touchscreen, a thinner design, and maybe even Dynamic Island to the Mac, this will most likely become one of the most premium MacBooks Apple has ever made. And that comes with a premium price tag.
The current high-end 14-inch MacBook Pro already starts at $2,499, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,999. So if the rumored MacBook Ultra sits above those models, the price will likely be even higher.
As for the release date, the MacBook Ultra is expected to arrive in late 2026 or early 2027. If Apple launches it this year, it would most likely happen sometime between October and December.
So don’t expect this at the September iPhone event. This sounds more like a separate Mac announcement later in the year. And this could be a One More Thing event...
This is the Space Black 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro in the Apple Store in Singapore.
Apple Creator Studio Upgrades
Apple Creator Studio launched on January 28, 2026, and it is basically Apple’s creative app bundle for people who make videos, music, images, presentations, and content.
In simple words: it brings creative apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage together in just one subscription. On top of that, Apple also adds extra smart features and premium content to apps like Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform. So instead of only buying separate creative apps, Apple now offers one creator-focused package with more AI-powered tools, templates, content, and deeper integration between the apps.
Apple Creator Studio is available through the App Store for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, depending on the app and feature. It costs $12.99 per month or $129 per year, with a cheaper plan for students and educators.
New updates to Apple Creator Studio
Apple Creator Studio gets a big creative upgrade. The latest update makes Apple’s creative apps work better together, especially with deeper Pixelmator Pro integration across Final Cut Pro, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. This means: Apple wants the whole creative workflow to feel more connected.
You can now edit images from apps like Keynote, Pages, and Numbers directly in Pixelmator Pro. Final Cut Pro users can also send a frame straight to Pixelmator Pro, which makes it easier to fine-tune visuals without jumping through extra steps.
Final Cut Pro also gets smarter with new AI-powered tools like automatic captions, edit detection, Auto Mask, improved color matching, and more flexible creator themes.
Final Cut Pro also gets two very useful AI features. The first one is Generate Captions. This automatically listens to the audio in your video and turns it into subtitles on the timeline. You can then adjust the look, including the font, color, position, and even the animation style.
The second one is Edit Detection. This can scan a finished video and automatically cut it back into separate clips on the timeline. That makes it much easier to update an older edit, make changes, or quickly create a shorter version for social media. The best part is that these features use on-device AI, so the work happens directly on your Apple device.
Final Cut Pro on Mac is also getting smarter with Auto Mask.
This feature uses on-device AI to recognize parts of your video, like skin, hair, the sky, clothing, and plants. You don’t have to track everything by hand anymore. Just hover over a clip and Final Cut Pro shows what it can detect.
This makes it much easier to adjust specific parts of a video. For example, you can change the color of the sky, improve skin tones, or apply an effect to clothing without affecting the whole shot.
Match Color is also improved, making it easier to match the look of different clips, even when they were filmed in different lighting. And with Advanced Trimming, editors can fine-tune cuts frame by frame for more precise edits.
Logic Pro also gets new music tools, including improvements to Chord ID and a new Producer Project from a Grammy Award-winning producer.
More updates across Apple’s apps
Apple is also bringing useful new features to Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform.
Keynote gets new transitions and animations to make presentations more dynamic. Pages adds better editing tools on iPhone and iPad, including automatic hyphenation and the option to show hidden formatting marks.
Numbers is also getting easier to use, especially if you work with large spreadsheets. You can now hide individual sheets or give them different colors to keep everything better organized.
Freeform gets one of the biggest updates. With iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, you’ll be able to generate custom shapes, open images directly in Pixelmator Pro, organize your boards into folders, and use the app in Dark Mode.
Apple is also adding support for drawing directly in Freeform on the Mac.
These updates might not be the biggest announcements on their own, but together they make Apple’s creative apps more useful and better connected across the Apple ecosystem.
For creators, this is a strong update. Apple Creator Studio is becoming less like a group of separate apps and more like one connected creative ecosystem.
iOS 27 Public Beta 1 is coming..
In my previous newsletter, I talked about the iOS 27 Public Beta. This beta is expected to launch later this month, and we may already have a possible release window.
Based on previous years, Apple usually releases the first public beta around one week after Developer Beta 3. If that pattern continues, iOS 27 Public Beta 1 could arrive in the week of July 13.
How to prepare your iPhone
Once the iOS 27 Public Beta is available, anyone with a compatible iPhone can install it for free. If you want to test the new beta yourself it's important to prepare your iPhone. First make sure you have enough storage available and create a backup of your device. A beta can still have bugs, so it is always smart to save your important data before installing.
After you created a backup do the following:
Sign up for free at beta.apple.com.
Open Settings on your iPhone, go to General, tap Software Update, and select Beta Updates.
Choose iOS 27 Public Beta and follow the steps on your screen. If you don’t see the option right away, restarting your iPhone can help.
A small warning before you install: even though the first public beta is usually more stable than the first developer beta, it is still beta software.That means you can run into bugs, slower performance, battery drain, or apps that do not work properly yet. Some issues can also affect CarPlay, so keep that in mind if you use your iPhone in the car every day. Also, if you rely on banking apps or other secure apps, keep in mind that they may not work properly with the new iOS beta right away. And like I said, before installing, always make a backup of your iPhone. And if you have a second iPhone, it is safer to install the beta there first.
Also good to know: if you live in the EU, the new Siri AI will not be available at launch. You can still install iOS 27 Public Beta and try the other new features, but Siri AI will remain limited unless Apple opens it up later.
iOS Beta
Yesterday, Apple released two new developer beta updates: iOS 26.6 Beta 4 and iOS 27 Beta 3. Both are available for testing, bringing a mix of bug fixes, performance improvements, and new features. I’ll walk you through everything that’s new in both updates.
iOS 26.6 Beta 4
iOS 26.6 Beta 4 is out and it has version number 23G5057c. So far, this looks like a smaller update, but there are still a few interesting changes. Apple appears to be adjusting blocked contacts, including the limit of up to 20,000 blocked contacts. There are also early signs of a new anti-theft feature for iPhone. This could allow your iPhone to be locked remotely if it gets stolen.
Behind the scenes, iOS 26.6 may also help prepare the Spotlight index on iPhone and iPad for Siri AI in iOS 27.
iOS 27 Developer Beta 3
Apple also released iOS 27 Beta 3 yesterday, with build number 24A5380h.
This update includes several updated features and a few small visual changes. Here is everything new in iOS 27 Beta 3.
The Reminders app has an updated icon, now with hollow colored bullet points instead of solid ones. A small change, but it makes the icon feel a bit lighter and more colorful.
Apple also updated the indexing message in Settings. It now says Optimizing Search and Siri, which shows that your iPhone is preparing Search and Siri in the background.
Some users also noticed that Apple Intelligence assets are being downloaded again between Beta 2 and Beta 3. This can temporarily reset access to the new Siri while everything is being prepared again.
Siri also gets more attention in this beta. In the Camera app, Siri Mode now requires the updated Siri, according to the new UI.
There are also new Siri voice customization sliders for Pace and Expressivity. This new Expressive Voices Preview option finally works in Beta 3. These are part of Advanced Siri, which needs an iPhone with 12GB of RAM. Right now, that includes the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air.
Shortcuts has also been improved. You can now open directly into the action view for editing, instead of only using the new natural language input method. The button to add a new shortcut has been changed and is now simply a "+".
Control Center also shows more information now. When you swipe down, the status bar now both shows your cellular signal and network type, even when you are connected to Wi-Fi.
AirPods also get a useful update in iOS 27 Beta 3. Adaptive Mode now gives you more control over how much ambient noise is allowed through. Just connect your AirPods, put them in your ears, and open the AirPods settings.
Safari now highlights four new features when you open the app: automatically organizing tabs, browsing bookmarks by topic, getting updates with Notify Me for page changes, and doing more with extensions.
There are also some visual changes on app icons. Specular highlights on app icons now look softer, which slightly changes the appearance of clear and tinted icons.
Apple also added new Golden Gate Bridge wallpapers and screen savers in macOS 27 Golden Gate Beta 3. There is a day version and a night version available. Download the wallpapers here
And final, for Apple Watch users, watchOS 27 Beta 3 now introduces Siri AI support and the standalone Siri app. This means you can use the Siri AI app directly from your Apple Watch.
Get the Most Out of Your Apple Devices
Let’s stay connected
Come follow me on my socials for more Apple updates, hidden tips, favorite recommendations, and inspiration to get even more out of your own Apple setup.