Apple TV‘s adaptation of Cape Fear saw a chilling finale recently, and it was as grisly as we’d expected it to be. Over the past few weeks we’ve followed Javier Bardem’s take on Max Cady, delivering a performance so scary it’s left some of us sleeping with the lights on.

Cady was particularly unhinged in Cape Fear‘s finale, which saw him killing his own family and taking the Bowdens hostage in one final altercation.

cyber-crime

ExfilSquad claims 135,000 contact records weeks after hitting the Department for Education

The Police National Legal Database (PNLD) is the latest UK public sector outfit to admit that cybercriminals made off with its data, including the names and work email addresses of police officers, justice staff, government partners, and customers.

The legal lookup service relied upon by police forces and criminal justice agencies across the UK said it discovered the “data security incident” on July 26 and is investigating alongside specialist cybersecurity firms and the National Crime Agency. 

According to the PNLD, the leaked information includes the names, organizations, and work email addresses of police officers, police staff, criminal justice professionals, government partners, and customers. It insists there is “no evidence” that passwords or other authentication data were compromised.

The breach also affected Ask the Police, a public-facing legal advice website operated by PNLD. There, the fallout appears limited to the names and email addresses of people who previously submitted questions through the service.

That’s about where the explanation ends. PNLD has yet to say how attackers got in, when the data was stolen, how many people were affected, or whether anyone tried to shake it down before the information appeared online. West Yorkshire Police, which operates PNLD, did not immediately respond to The Register’s questions. 

However, the breach appears linked to the same extortion crew that last week claimed responsibility for a similar breach of the Department for Education (DfE). The group, which calls itself “ExfilSquad,” currently lists both the PNLD and DfE among its latest victims on its dark web leak site, seen by The Register. 

For PNLD, the crooks claim to have lifted a 1.9 GB dataset containing roughly 135,000 law enforcement contact records, including names, email addresses, and police force areas. The DfE listing boasts of around 600,000 parent and staff contact records, plus another 7,000 from its Turing Portal. The education department confirmed last week that more than 607,000 records had indeed been exposed.

The DfE has confirmed that the compromised information was limited to customer service contact details from its Customer Help Portal and Turing Scheme, and said no other departmental data had been accessed.

Like most cyber-extortion outfits, ExfilSquad doesn’t exactly do understatement. Its leak site warns victims that once data appears there, it is “NEVER leaving the public eye,” before suggesting any ransom would amount to little more than a rounding error compared with the legal bills that might follow.

The DfE and PNLD’s confirmations don’t validate everything ExfilSquad posts on its leak site. It also lists Microsoft as a victim, alleging a 13 GB haul containing millions of records, password hashes, internal support tickets, and access permissions. 

Having two organizations confirm breaches claimed on its leak site makes ExfilSquad harder to ignore. Whether the gang’s other boasts are equally well founded, or simply the usual cybercrook embellishment, remains to be seen. ®

Updated to add at 1517 UTC, August 3:

The North East Regional Organised Crime Unit told The Reg it is investigating the breach. It told us “No ransom demand has been received.”
It also confirmed some numbers, stating the data of around 114,000 PNLD subscriber was involved.

It added: “This involves the names, work email addresses and work organisation of police officers and other criminal justice partners. There are also around 21,000 email addresses of members of the public who have previously used ‘Ask the Police’. There is no evidence to suggest that passwords or other security credentials have been compromised.”

Many small businesses already tap into AI for market research, image and video creation, copywriting, and idea exploration.

Although this single-prompt approach is helpful, it has its limits. Enter AI agents.

Cybersecurity startup Horizon3 has raised a $250 million Series E at a $2 billion valuation, more than tripling its valuation in 14 months. The San Francisco-based firm drew backing from returning investors NightDragon and NEA.

The funding arrives as two major AI research labs disclosed last week that their models had breached systems outside their intended scope. Horizon3, which has spent six years building AI specifically designed to probe networks for vulnerabilities in a controlled, authorized manner, is riding growing enterprise demand. With AI-driven attacks accelerating, enterprises are rushing to stress-test their defenses at scale, a gap that traditional security vendors have largely left unfilled.

Matt Hartley, the company’s chief revenue officer, said that its NodeZero platform has two core strengths: It can test live systems without shutting down operations, a capability other AI-powered tools have struggled to deliver reliably, and it scans an entire infrastructure continuously rather than once a year, examining the full network rather than just 2-3%.

The company approached $100 million in annual recurring revenue last year with 120% year-over-year growth,and expects to accelerate growth this year, Hartley said.

AI tools have made it easier for attackers to develop new exploits quickly, forcing security teams to handle threats faster than they can fix them. Horizon3 spent roughly $100 million in R&D building automated systems designed to stay predictable and controllable, Hartley said. That’s significant given recent breaches at AI labs, which raised questions about whether any AI system can truly remain contained.

“It’s also making people a lot more careful about how they deploy AI,” Hartley said. “We’re getting a lot of questions today around: can you detect AI? Of course we can. But I think a lot of organizations that rushed to deploy AI across the enterprise are now thinking twice about the ramifications of those deployments; what if my own security team gets too aggressive, could there be unintended consequences? So a lot of organizations are moving into what I’d call a bold new world, which is exactly why you need consistent, predictable testing from a company like Horizon3, to know how to strengthen your own defenses against real-world exploits.”

In a statement, Horizon3 has run 310,000 production security tests with zero disruptions, establishing what it calls ‘AI Hackers’, fully autonomous penetration testing.

The real competition isn’t other software vendors; it’s the existing model, according to Hartley. Most companies hire human security firms to run annual tests and those won’t disappear, he continued. What’s shifting is what clients demand after signing up: Instead of sampling 5% of infrastructure once yearly, they now want to scan everything monthly or weekly, tracking whether they’re actually getting safer.

Horizon3’s founders, Snehal Antani and Anthony Pelletier, met while serving at Joint Special Operations Command, where they saw firsthand how resource constraints made continuous security testing difficult. They founded Horizon3 to automate those repetitive assessments.

With the funding, Horizon3 is expanding internationally,including new offices in Amsterdam (in June 2026), Australia, and Singapore, while building a partner network and maintaining substantial R&D spending.  

Strategic investors now include Singapore’s EDBI, defense contractor SAIC, and Qualcomm, signaling that the vulnerability they’re addressing extends well beyond any single sector.

Horizon3 has roughly 7,200 to 7,300 customers, ranging from managed service providers serving small businesses to Fortune 10 enterprises. The company claims an addressable market of tens of billions of dollars, a figure that aligns with industry estimates of the broader cybersecurity market, valued at $271.9 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $663.2 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research.

Universal Music Group will give paying subscribers in India three days of exclusive access to selected new releases before making them available through ad-supported streaming tiers. Is this a local experiment, or a preview of what could eventually reach North America and Europe?

Universal Music Group lost nearly €9 billion in market value on Friday because investors decided that healthy streaming growth was not growing quickly enough. One of the company’s answers is already on the way: see whether free listeners will pay to stop waiting.

Beginning at the end of August 2026, new releases from major domestic and international UMG artists will be available exclusively to paying streaming subscribers in India for their first 72 hours. Once that window expires, the same music will become available through participating ad-supported streaming services. UMG has not announced a more specific launch date.

UMG’s enormous global roster includes Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, Post Malone, and major Indian artists such as Badshah and Hanumankind.

For American, Canadian and European readers, the most important detail is also the simplest: this has only been announced for India.

There is currently no 72-hour UMG release window scheduled for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or the European Union.

Related Reading: Streaming Is Booming but Universal Music Lost Nearly €9 Billion in One Day

How Will the 72-Hour Release Window Work?

UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge announced the plan during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 30.

Under the new model:

• New music from major UMG domestic and international artists will debut first for paid subscribers in India.
• Listeners using ad-supported tiers will have to wait 72 hours.
• After the three-day window expires, the releases will become available through the participating free tiers.
• The policy begins at the end of August 2026, although UMG has not provided an exact date.
• The policy does not currently apply outside India.

This is not an advance release that lets paying customers hear music before its official launch. The music is being released on schedule, but listeners using free streaming tiers in India will receive it three days later.

That distinction matters. Paid subscribers are not receiving something early. Free listeners are being made to wait.

Which Streaming Platforms Are Participating?

UMG has only said that the policy will apply across “participating global and regional streaming services” in India. It has not published a list of participating platforms.

That means reports naming Spotify, YouTube Music, JioSaavn, Amazon Music, Apple Music or other individual services as confirmed participants are getting ahead of the available information.

Services offering both paid and ad-supported tiers could theoretically restrict UMG’s new releases to their paying customers for the first 72 hours. Apple Music is already an ad-free subscription service, so there is no free Apple Music tier that would need to be delayed. However, UMG has not confirmed Apple Music or any other individual service as part of the rollout.

Why Is Universal Music Doing This?

India has an enormous streaming audience, but only a relatively small percentage pays for music.

According to an EY and FICCI report, India had approximately 178 million online music streamers in 2025, but only 14.4 million paid subscriptions. In other words, roughly 8% of the country’s streaming audience was paying.

Indian listeners generated an estimated six trillion music streams during 2025, but paid streams represented fewer than 3% of that total. Subscription revenue increased 37% to ₹10.3 billion, demonstrating that the paid market is growing quickly, but still has an enormous amount of room to expand.

UMG sees that gap as both a problem and a very large opportunity.

The company says the subscriber-first window will create a healthier music economy, generate improved compensation for artists and songwriters, and encourage deeper fan engagement. There is some truth to that argument because paid subscriptions generally generate more predictable and valuable revenue than free streams supported by advertising.

But let us not pretend this is being done entirely out of artistic charity.

UMG wants more people paying every month, and making impatient fans wait for major releases is a direct way to test how many will open their wallets.

That objective became even more obvious following UMG’s second-quarter results. Total subscription revenue increased strongly, but underlying subscription growth excluding the recently acquired Downtown Music business came in at 6.7% at constant currency. Advertising-supported streaming revenue excluding Downtown increased only 1.7%, while market-share pressure also weighed on performance.

As we explained in our Friday report, consumers are streaming more music than ever. UMG’s problem is that not enough of that increased activity is turning into the level of revenue and profit growth investors expect.

The 72-hour window is one attempt to close that gap.

Universal Music Has Already Tried This Strategy in China

Grainge presented India’s new release model as an extension of a strategy UMG previously pursued in China.

Beginning in 2019, UMG worked with Chinese streaming services to move more domestic and international music behind subscription paywalls. China subsequently became the world’s fourth-largest recorded music market, with revenue increasing 20.1% in 2025. Premium subscriptions and additional paid fan experiences were significant contributors to that growth.

That does not prove that paywalls alone created China’s growth. Increased smartphone adoption, economic development, licensing enforcement, local artist investment and improved streaming services also played important roles.

However, UMG clearly views China as evidence that a market dominated by free listening can be pushed toward paid subscriptions without destroying overall consumption.

India is the next test.

Could This Come to the United States, Canada or Europe?

It is possible, but nothing has been announced.

Grainge said UMG wants India to follow China’s path and that the company believes other “high-potential markets” could do the same. He did not identify the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom or any European country as the next target.

North America and Western Europe are also very different from India. Paid streaming is already well established in those markets, which means a three-day window may convert fewer new subscribers while creating considerably more consumer backlash.

But release windowing is hardly foreign to Western streaming services.

In 2017, UMG and Spotify reached an agreement allowing Universal artists to restrict selected new albums to Spotify Premium subscribers for two weeks, while singles remained available to free users.

UMG’s more recent global agreement with Spotify also calls for new paid subscription tiers, expanded offers and deeper monetization of artist fandom. It does not establish a new 72-hour release window, but it shows that UMG continues to view paid access, premium features and tiered availability as central to its “Streaming 2.0” strategy.

A broader rollout is therefore technically and commercially possible. It is just not confirmed.

The most likely path would be additional tests in markets where free listening remains dominant, rather than an immediate blanket rollout across the United States, Canada and Europe. UMG could also use the concept selectively for major artists, specific platforms or future premium subscription packages.

Much will depend on what happens in India.

If the policy converts a meaningful number of free listeners into paying subscribers without driving them toward piracy, unofficial uploads or competing platforms, UMG will have a reason to expand it. If listeners simply wait three days or find the music elsewhere, the experiment will have created annoyance rather than recurring revenue.

The Bottom Line

UMG’s new policy does not prevent Indian listeners from hearing new music for free. It makes them wait 72 hours while paying subscribers receive immediate access.

For now, the change applies only to India and only through participating services that have yet to be publicly identified. Nothing has been announced for the United States, Canada or Europe.

Three days may not sound like much. But in a music business obsessed with release-week engagement, social media momentum and turning every possible listener into a subscriber, UMG is about to find out how much fans will pay to avoid being late.

Related Reading:

AI AND ML

Taiwanese silicon biz believes it can take up to 20% of $80B market with upcoming ASIC chips

Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek is lining up $5 billion in financing to expand into AI datacenter silicon, targeting a slice of a market it expects to be worth up to $80 billion next year.

The fabless chip producer is perhaps best known for its Arm-based smartphone and Chromebook chipsets, plus wireless silicon for Wi-Fi products. But the firm is the latest to see a “compelling growth opportunity” in the market for compute to power AI and so-called agentic AI in particular.

MediaTek is targeting application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) rather than GPUs and reckons it can capture 15 to 20 percent of the market.

The company’s board has also approved $5 billion in financing to secure supply chain capacity and fuel an expansion from AI ASIC chips to full-scale systems and platforms, MediaTek stated.

Chief exec Dr Rick Tsai spelled it out during an analyst call for the company’s Q2 2026 earnings.

“Recently, the release of increasingly capable frontier AI models, together with the rapid transition toward agentic AI, has become a key driver of compute demand across both cloud and edge AI,” he stated.

“Agentic AI, which executes a series of actions, including planning, reasoning, execution, and self-correction, further increases workloads. This represents a compelling growth opportunity for MediaTek, as we are well-positioned to support both the scaling of AI datacenters and the proliferation of agentic AI experiences across a broad range of edge devices.”

MediaTek says that its first ASIC family has been developed in “close partnership with major US cloud service provider customers,” and is scheduled to enter production in the fourth quarter of this year. A second AI accelerator design is also progressing well and aims to offer a step up in compute performance.

The chip biz expects its AI datacenter ASIC revenue to exceed $2 billion in 2026, scaling substantially next year, primarily driven by increasing customer demand for its technology, which boasts optimized performance for TCO and performance per watt at scale, Tsai claims.

“With close collaboration with our advanced packaging partner, the yield and reliability of the second ASIC are on track for high-volume production in 2028. We’re confident in capturing additional market share when this ASIC ramps up,” Tsai told analysts.

But MediaTek will be facing competition from rivals such as Broadcom and Marvell, which already design ASICs for the AI market, and even Google, which announced plans to start selling its custom tensor processing units (TPUs) to some customers earlier this year.

According to a Bloomberg Intelligence report from January, the market for AI ASICs is projected to expand at a 27 percent compound annual rate to reach $118 billion by 2033, and grow from just 8 percent of the total AI accelerator arena in 2024 to 19 percent in 2033.

MediaTek reported Q2 revenue of NT$152.18 billion ($4.68 billion), up just 1.2 percent year-on-year, but operating income was down by 22 percent to NT$22.87 billion ($705 million). ®

This type of QD-OLED arranges pixels in a way that’s different from LCD, which can cause issues when viewing small text. You may notice “color fringing” visible as an odd burst of green or purple filling the negative space between letters.

The AW2726DM just isn’t a sharp display, and it’s not great for viewing small text. As mentioned, it has a resolution of 2560 x 1440—or 1440p. This provides a pixel density of about 110 pixels per inch. By comparison, a standard 27-inch 4K monitor delivers about 165 pixels per inch.

However, sticking to 1440p feels like the right call for a monitor at this price point. As PC gamers likely know, increasing a game’s render resolution from 1440p to 4K comes with a huge performance penalty, and midrange GPUs struggle to handle demanding games at 4K.

Still, it’s QD-OLED, and all QD-OLED panels have two things going for them: Incredible contrast and superb color performance.

You might be familiar with OLED’s contrast advantage if you’ve bought a TV sometime this decade. OLED pixels are self-emissive, meaning the pixels themselves create light. That’s different from an LCD panel, which requires a backlight that shines through the pixels. OLED’s self-emissive technology provides a lot more control over how the image is lit, and the result is an image with far more contrast and depth than what LCD can achieve.

Samsung’s QD-OLED also uses quantum dots, a very cool tech that requires its own article to explain. Quantum dots generally provide great color, and the AW2726DM is no exception, as it reaches 98 percent of DCI-P3 and 94 percent of AdobeRGB. Those numbers are close to the top of what’s available from any monitor in 2026, regardless of price.

In the real world, the contrast and color translate to a vivid, realistic image with a sense of depth you won’t find from LCD alternatives. Games generally look colorful, rich, and alluring.

Brightness Gets the Boot

While the AW2726DM’s image quality is good, it makes one major sacrifice to achieve a lower price. It’s not very bright.

Alienware lists the AW2726DM’s maximum brightness at 200 nits. My review sample was just above that with a sustained maximum SDR brightness of 202 nits. For comparison, a more expensive OLED monitor (like the MSI MPG 271QR X50) can deliver 300 nits or more. I mostly used the monitor at about 60 percent of its maximum brightness, as the room where I view it doesn’t receive much direct sunlight. However, I had to up the brightness to 100 percent in peak afternoon sun if I left my curtains open.

The low SDR brightness has implications for HDR performance, too. The AW2726DM supports HDR, but it’s not VESA HDR–certified, and it promises just 400 nits of peak HDR brightness. In my testing, HDR brightness was no higher than SDR when the entire display was lit, and I recorded a maximum possible brightness of 398 nits when just 10 percent of the display was lit. For comparison, leading OLED monitors can deliver over 300 nits full-screen and over 1,000 nits in the 10 percent window. The AW2726DM can appear brighter in HDR than in SDR, but gamers who enjoy a lot of HDR titles will find the monitor underwhelming.

For a brand that’s stuck to safer updates for most of its annual updates, Samsung’s odd new passport-shaped foldable was a surprisingly risky move–and it seems like that gamble is paying off. Early demand suggests the company may have underestimated just how many buyers wanted something different.

According to a BusinessPost report, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is selling at roughly three times the pace of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 during the comparable early sales period. Demand has reportedly caught Samsung off guard, leaving the company working to increase production and get more units into stores.

Samsung hasn’t shared exact sales figures for each model, so the threefold comparison should still be treated as an early report. Other signs point in the same direction, however. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 reportedly sold out through Samsung’s online store and several carriers in some markets, pushing estimated deliveries into the second week of August.

Samsung saw this coming, but was still caught off guard

Samsung had already made a sizeable bet on its new design before launch. A Korean supply-chain report placed planned Galaxy Z Fold 8 production at 2.8 million units, compared with 2 million Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra units. The company had previously raised its early production forecast for the wide model by around 200,000 to 300,000 units. But even this larger allocation seems to have fallen short.

The wider foldable has also reportedly beaten the Fold 8 Ultra during preorders despite Samsung producing 40% more units of the cheaper model. The Ultra remained easier to find while several Fold 8 configurations disappeared from online and carrier inventories.

Broader preorder numbers provide another encouraging sign. Samsung’s three new foldables collected more than 271,000 preorders in India within 72 hours. Last year’s Fold 7 and Flip 7 required 15 days to reach a similar combined total. Those figures cover the entire lineup rather than isolating the Fold 8, though they show demand accelerating across Samsung’s foldable business.

Samsung’s odd new shape may be exactly what buyers wanted

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 abandons the tall proportions of the Fold 7 for a 5.5-inch 10:16 cover screen and a 7.6-inch 4:3 inner display. It weighs 201 grams and starts at $1,899.99, placing it $200 below the Fold 8 Ultra. However, it comes with its own set of compromises.

Samsung’s wide foldable has a smaller battery (compared to the Ultra) and also falls behind in camera versatility. Replacing the Z Fold 7’s 200MP triple camera module with two 50MP shooters on the back, dropping the telephoto lens entirely. Although the Fold 8 Ultra is technically the direct successor to the Fold 7, making the reported sales comparison slightly unconventional.

August is upon us, and there is about a month left until Apple’s end-of-year product releases start. The iPhone 18 Pro and folding iPhone are coming, but there’s a lot more on the docket.

Apple has a historically busy schedule of announcements, launches, and major events, and 2026 is no exception. However, while the first half has already been packed with launches, the second half of the year is always busier.

This is chiefly because Apple tends to hold many of its major launches in the fall, making it the busiest period of its calendar.

While the bulk of events that matter will be product launch-related, not everything will be hardware being prepped for sale.

Though Apple’s very regular with its scheduling, it doesn’t telegraph specific dates far in advance for most events. However, it’s not hard to make an educated guess where appropriate.

What follows is a schedule of when you can expect important events to occur before 2027 arrives, and what should emerge from them.

September 1: John Ternus becomes CEO

John Ternus will inherit the role of CEO on September 1. He will be taking over the position from Tim Cook, who will move to a new executive chairman role.

This is the only event on this list with a definitive date, as Apple indicated it was transitioning between CEOs back in April. The aim was to give the company a smooth leadership change, giving Ternus and the entire organization a chance to prepare and gradually shift over.

John Ternus [left] with Tim Cook [right] – Image Credit: Apple

While this isn’t an event that will directly impact consumers in the short term, it is a major one for Apple itself. The CEO sets the tone for future projects and product changes, affecting the company years down the road.

Based on the long tenures of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Ternus can easily be in the same role for a decade or more.

Apple has already made some changes to its structure, including quite a few hardware team alterations. But there will probably be more reshuffles in the months after Ternus takes the reins, as he sets things up for his turn in the saddle.

Early September: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max

The first major event in the Ternus era will happen only a few weeks later. It is also the biggest one for the company.

Typically held in the second week of September, the event is known for Apple’s iPhone launches. It’s a major presentation, since it will show off the iPhone 18 generation and other hardware.

The main launches will be the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, but crucially not the iPhone 18. Apple is expected to be splitting up the iPhone 18 generation, delaying the non-Pro models until early 2027.

It’s a decent idea, as it does allow Apple to concentrate its promotion on the higher-end devices that tend to sell more in the holiday shopping season. It also reduces the strain on the Apple supply chain as mass production for those models can happen later.

iPhone 17 Pro in a case. The iPhone 18 Pro should look very similar.

The iPhone 18 Pro line will be largely similar to the iPhone 17 Pro generation in terms of construction and appearance. The camera bump could be a tiny bit bigger this time around, but aside from new colorways like dark cherry, they should be practically the same.

As usual for Apple, the main changes are internal, with the use of the A20 Pro chip bringing massive performance improvements. Some schematic leaks also show that changes to the packaging will help the chip run cooler for longer, which will reduce the instances of thermal throttling.

The C2 modem is also a good bet for the inbound model.

Sadly, another good bet is a change in cost, as the iPhone temporarily escaped the June price rises of other products. Analysts believe that the iPhone 18 Pro will be more expensive this fall, possibly costing consumers up to $300 more than the iPhone 17 Pro counterparts.

Early September: iPhone Fold/Ultra

The iPhone Fold has been a long-rumored device, but it seems that it will be finally making its debut this fall. That is, barring anything that can delay it further.

Even if there is a delay, it could just be one that affects the ship date, not the unveiling. It’s possible that Apple can introduce it in September but actually put it on sale months later.

This happened for the iPhone X, which was shown in September 2017 but couldn’t be preordered until late October and then actually shipped in early November.

As for what to actually expect from the iPhone Fold, you could end up calling it something different for a start.

There have been rumors of Apple potentially using the Ultra name for the iPhone Fold, following its usage elsewhere in its empire.

A render of what the iPhone Fold could look like – Image Credit: AppleInsider

You can expect it to have two displays, with an external 5.3-inch screen always in view. The internal screen can be unfolded, book style, to reveal a 7.8-inch display.

One that will be supported by a hinge that has been the subject of so many rumors of delays and technical difficulties. The screen, too, has also been talked about a lot, as Apple is keen to eliminate any creasing issues with the model.

Around the back, on the side that doesn’t have a screen, is anticipated to be a dual-camera system with 48MP sensors. Both displays should also have front-facing versions, with the exterior using a punch-hole style and the internal potentially using an under-display system.

Powering the arrangement will be an A20 Pro chip, as you would expect for such a high-end device.

As for how much it will cost, early estimates put it at between $2,000 and $2,500, later rising to as high as $2,900. With the current RAM and SSD crisis in play, it’ll probably be at the higher end of that range.

Early September: Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra

When it comes to things Apple could launch alongside the iPhone, it’s best to look at items that could either be bought as an accessory to it. Or at least for things that can be announced quickly.

The Apple Watch Series 12 fits both categories neatly, for better or for worse.

For a start, the rumors are that Apple isn’t going to make a major update to the design at all. Externally, it will seem that the Apple Watch Series 12 will resemble the Apple Watch Series 11 closely.

Apple Watch Series 11, which the Series 12 will probably look like.

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While the most plausible rumor involves borrowing a watch face from the Apple Watch Ultra, it may still gain some new hardware. One leaker said in early July that there would be a new health sensor added via a fluoroelastomer band.

We don’t know what that sensor will do, but it could involve muscle movement sensing or hydration.

The other Apple Watch update could be for the Apple Watch Ultra, which would bring it up to version 4. The rumors have pointed to a redesign and the inclusion of new sensors, albeit again without saying what they are for.

As it stands, new Apple Watch models are always a decent bet for a September event launch.

Early September: iPad mini 8

You can usually expect there to be some form of iPad representation in the fall. However, with rumors saying an iPad or iPad Air refresh won’t arrive until 2027, the honor falls to the iPad mini.

The eighth-generation model is anticipated to have a major glow-up this time around. Alongside the usual upgrade to a new chip, possibly the A20, it’ll have a new display, too.

iPad mini, sans OLED

Repeated rumors and even a code leak have indicated that OLED is on the way for Apple’s smallest iPad. The rumors say it will have an 8.4-inch LTPS rear panel with hybrid OLED.

However, while it will have a brighter and fancier screen, it won’t necessarily be Pro level. It is reportedly having a refresh rate capped at 60Hz, meaning it won’t have ProMotion.

Like any other hardware coming out in 2026, pricing for the model is unclear. The current non-OLED model was increased to $599, and an OLED edition will certainly put the price even higher.

September/October: Smart home push

One thing that has repeatedly been discussed throughout the year is the smart home, and Apple’s plan for it. However, while a bunch of things are expected to surface this fall, it may not necessarily take place in September.

Apple often spreads its launches in successive months, with an October event frequently being used for overflow hardware. Rarely, this also includes November.

Since the September event will include the significant iPhone Fold launch, which will consume a lot of event time, there’s a probability that repeatedly-delayed smart home items will be pushed to October.

As for what Apple will announce as part of this push, there are three products rumored to be on the way.

An early artist’s rendition of the Home Hub – Image Credit: AppleInsider

The simplest update is the HomePod mini. Expected to cost consumers $129, its refinements will chiefly be processing-based, so it can support Siri AI.

The second is Apple TV, as in the hardware not the streaming service. Again, little is known about the change, aside from a $199 price tag and that all-important chip update for Siri AI.

The element that everyone’s eyes will be focused on is the tentatively-named Home Hub. An all-new device, it’s said to consist of a seven-inch-square screen on a half-dome base, and will be the center of your smart home network.

It may not even be a table-based screen, either. There’s been talk of it having magnetic capabilities, possibly to attach to different mounting points.

The display will facilitate communications with others, including an in-home intercom system and FaceTime. It will also be used for notifications, scheduling with calendars and reminders, and other household tasks.

It’ll naturally handle smart home devices, too, acting as a central control point for everything from HomePods to smart locks, to security cameras.

September: Operating Systems

Since WWDC, Apple has been holding developer beta testing of its next generation of operating systems. Since it releases them to coincide with the introduction of new products, you can anticipate the beta tests ending and the public getting to use the final releases.

While there are many changes in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27, the biggest is Siri AI. Apple’s major overhaul of its digital assistant, designed to compete with other AI rivals like ChatGPT and Claude.

September/October: AirPods Pro, sans cameras

An obvious accessory to the iPhone would be AirPods. Therefore, you would expect there to be a new version launching alongside the new smartphone models.

However, this is where things get a bit difficult to determine.

Apple has long been working on AirPods Pro with cameras, providing users with AI features similar to smart glasses, complete with computer vision elements. Except without the frames and the glass.

AirPods Pro in a charging case

While Apple was close to getting them out the door in 2026, the production schedule works against that from happening. It’s more likely they will come out in 2027.

That said, there has been a report or two indicating another product in the range may see a launch in 2026. On August 2, it was claimed that a device codenamed B790 was further along in development at the same time as the camera-equipped versions.

That particular model is expected to launch as early as 2026, if claims about Apple’s internal roadmap are true.

As for what this other model will bring, it’s probably going to be a general improvement to the current versions, rather than adding cameras to the mix.

October: MacBook Pro

Apple habitually makes its Mac announcements separate from the iPhone ones, usually in a second event one month later. While there is always a small chance of a September launch, it’s more likely for an October event to occur.

The most likely introduction in the MacBook Pro lineup is a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro. There’s not a massive amount to expect here, except for the usual spec-bump update to the M6 generation.

Expect a very short M6 MacBook Pro generation.

It’s an interesting release, since the M6 is believed to have a very short generational lifespan. Apple’s apparently keen to move to the M7 quickly, which promises massive AI processing improvements.

As for how short, Apple’s teeing up multiple MacBook Pro and iPad Pro launches for early 2027 using the M7 range.

There is a small chance of something exciting happening in the MacBook Pro space, though. The long-awaited shift to an OLED MacBook Pro is finally going to happen as part of a major refresh.

However, we don’t know if that will take place in late 2026, or if it will slip to early 2027. The conventional wisdom on this is for it to arrive in the fall, coinciding with other major launches.

October: Desktop Macs

There’s a strong possibility of a Mac mini update this fall, since it is usually associated with the low-end chip updates of Apple Silicon. Rumors in March also said it was a possibility, as well as a macOS Tahoe leak shared with AppleInsider hinting at a summer update.

That summer refresh has probably translated into a fall update. As usual, you can probably expect a spec-bump update to M6 for the Mac mini.

An M5 Ultra Mac Studio is a very real possibility

There have also been rumblings about an update to the 24-inch iMac. Again, a spec-bump update to M6 is anticipated, as well as some color changes.

One product that may not make it to M6 just yet is the Mac Studio. In July, Apple was reportedly testing the Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips.

If true, it would bring a fitting end to the M5 generation.