Apple accounted for most of the week's news with a run of announcements covering new MacBook Pro models, an OLED iPad mini and a substantial update to its Creator Studio subscription. Attention also turned to the iPhone Duo, which drew reports of inner display damage, while Poco used the week to introduce the X8s for global markets.
The new MacBook Pro lineup brings tandem OLED displays and touchscreen support to the Mac for the first time. Apple markets the panels under the PROLED XDR name, and they cover refresh rates from 10Hz to 120Hz with peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits. The laptops keep the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and swap the notch for a Dynamic Island. Pricing starts at $2,899, with sales beginning November 6.
The refreshed iPad mini moves to an 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with IP67 ingress protection and runs on the A20 Pro chip. Buyers of the 128GB and 256GB versions get a binned chip with one fewer CPU core and half the NPU power of the 512GB model, and the display remains at 60Hz.
On the iPhone Duo, Apple acknowledged reports of damage to the inner display on a small number of units and advised affected owners to contact AppleCare for a replacement. A separate report alleged that Apple lowered its quality inspection standards in order to get more units to retailers ahead of the holiday season. That claim came from an unnamed Foxconn employee, and the same report stated that a batch of components had been replaced while quality control standards had not changed.
Poco's X8s pairs a 6.35-inch 1.5K LTPO AMOLED panel running at 120Hz with up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness. The phone uses the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and carries a 6,330mAh battery with 100W charging and an IP68 rating. Its triple rear camera setup combines a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP telephoto and an 8MP ultrawide.
Apple also began rolling out iOS 27.2, which addresses more than 160 security vulnerabilities. The update extends Siri AI to French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese on supported iPhone models, adds Apple Pencil USB-C support on the iPhone Duo, and introduces new features in Messages, Photos, FaceTime and Apple TV.
Creator Studio, Apple's subscription bundle for creative apps, received its biggest update since launch. Final Cut Pro for Mac now integrates MotionVFX tools, including templates, graphics, transitions and tools for rotoscoping, tracking and color grading. The app also gains Apple's Content Hub, new Pixelmator Pro integration and 23 additional transcription languages.
Elsewhere, a leak claimed the iPhone 18e will carry a 6.12-inch LTPS OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate and Apple's A20 chipset, with a spring 2027 launch possible based on the timing of the iPhone 17e's debut; the details remain unconfirmed. A Portuguese retailer listed the Motorola Signature 27 with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage at €1,594.90, currently marked out of stock, describing a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, a 200MP periscope camera and a 50MP main camera, and also mentioning the upcoming Razr Flex. Instagram, meanwhile, is testing a format called Features that lets users upload horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long, initially with select creators including podcasters, showing clips in Explore with an option to watch the full video and with plans to bring the format to its TV app later.
Sources: GSMArena.