📍Apple's next Mac mini will be built in Texas

🤝 Less than a year after Tim Cook's meeting with Trump at the White House, Apple has already opened a factory in Houston, set up production lines, and started assembling Apple Intelligence servers there.

🙂 Next up: production of the new Mac mini, kicking off before the end of 2026.

📰 Cook shared these plans while opening Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Center in Houston — an education hub attached to the factory that will train the next generation of American engineers. Right now it's mainly for Apple employees learning new processes, but the company plans to open it to local college students too, with lectures on PCB design and hands-on access to real equipment.

🇺🇸 Overall, Apple aims to invest up to $600B in the US economy and support 450,000 jobs nationwide. This is the pledge Cook made to Trump last year.

@iPhone

🎧 AirPods with built-in cameras spotted in macOS 26.7 RC beta

🔎 A short clip found in the pre-release build of macOS 26.7 shows someone holding a book close to their face at just the right angle for the cameras built into the upcoming AirPods.

🤪 Siri's voiceover explains that all you need to do is ask her to remember something you've seen, and she'll save it. The assistant will also be able to read the surrounding environment through the cameras — for instance, giving an accurate weather forecast based on what it sees. And if your hair covers the earbuds, Siri will politely ask you to move it.

📷 The firmware also contains references to a codename, B790 which is reportedly the internal name for the upcoming camera-equipped AirPods.

🔜 The announcement is expected as early as September, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra.

@iPhone

💭 ChatGPT can now text people for you

📰 OpenAI gave ChatGPT the ability to read, write, and send iMessages on your behalf. You can ask it to dig through your chat with your boss to find a deadline, or — per OpenAI's own demo — have it "write a poem about soup and send it to a friend." Yeah, that's apparently the bar for useful use cases right now.

ℹ️ To do any of this, it needs to hoover up your entire message history first. That means your bank's SMS notifications, financial details, inside jokes, personal stuff with friends and family, all of it gets fed in, presumably so that when you ask "what should I get my friend for their birthday," it can hallucinate something halfway decent.

🤖 OpenAI says the bot won't just start firing off messages to random people without your permission. Whether that holds up in practice is something users get to find out themselves.

@iPhone

🆕 Foldable iPhone: first impressions

📰 According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, testers who've gotten hands-on time with Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone say it feels comfortable to hold and slips easily into a pocket. The hinge is reportedly quiet and barely noticeable when open, and the inner display runs an iPad-style app layout.

😐 But the premium price tag comes with trade-offs. The device is expected to ship with Touch ID instead of Face ID, and the camera setup won't include a telephoto lens.

💵 On pricing, there's actually some good news: Gurman now expects the foldable to launch around $2,000 which is lower than the $2,400 figure floated in earlier rumors.

@iPhone

⚙️ Next up: the engineer

👋 Say hello to Apple's new CEO, John Ternus — the guy who's spent the last several years running hardware: iPhone, Mac, iPad, all of it his call.

• There's something fitting here: Cook was about operations and supply chains, Ternus is about engineering and product. One built the system, the other builds the things you actually hold in your hand.

• And there's basically no time to settle in. September 9 brings the big iPhone event, where the first foldable is expected. So Ternus steps into the job literally a week before one of the most important dates on Apple's calendar.

• Analysts are split on whether this was the right call. Some argued software chief Craig Federighi made more sense, given how far Apple is lagging in AI. But Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies pushes back: people buy hardware first, and only later figure out what AI is actually good for. So betting on a hardware engineer tracks.

🤝 Then there's China and Trump. Cook spent years threading the needle between Beijing and the White House, dodging tariffs through personal dealmaking and US investment pledges. For Ternus, that geopolitical balancing act is completely new territory. Cook himself isn't going anywhere, as of the same day, he becomes executive chairman of the board, and his mandate is specifically to keep working the policy relationships worldwide. Neatly arranged.

🔜 So Ternus inherits a solid foundation and a supply chain that's already humming – plus 8️⃣ days to get ready for what could be the release of the decade.

@DailyApple

👂 Apple’s Foldable iPhone Ultra by Tom's Guide and Mark Gurman

📱 Fresh intel from a Tom's Guide interview gives us more details on Apple's first foldable iPhone:

• MagSafe support is expected despite the 4.5mm thickness – the iPhone Air already proved magnets can fit in a slim body
• No room Face ID hardware, so Touch ID will handle biometrics
• 5.5" cover display with a front camera, 7.8" inner display with an almost invisible crease
• Passport-style form factor that is wide, but reportedly comfortable to use
• A20 Pro chip, C2 modem
• Dual rear cameras (wide + ultrawide)
• Camera Control returns, but no Action Button
• A reinforced, extra-durable hinge
• Apple has invested heavily in seamless app resizing as you switch between the two displays
• Announcement expected September 9, with launch either alongside the iPhone 18 Pro or slightly staggered

@iPhone